The Joe Rogan Experience - Joe Rogan Experience #1548 - Roy Jones Jr.

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00:00:12.000 Roy Jones Jr., ladies and gentlemen.

00:00:14.000 How's up, my brother?

00:00:14.000 How you doing?

00:00:15.000 I'm honored to have you in here.

00:00:16.000 I've been a fan forever.

00:00:18.000 I know this, and I was going to tell you that I am very happy to be here for you and for me because I've been a fan of yours as well, but I always love the support that you give me.

00:00:27.000 You've always supported me since day one.

00:00:29.000 You've been one of the best people that I could hear talk about me since day one, so I just want to say thank you, man, for all the support, for being a brother.

00:00:36.000 Thank you, sir.

00:00:36.000 Thank you.

00:00:37.000 My pleasure.

00:00:38.000 I feel like we're brothers now, you know?

00:00:39.000 For sure.

00:00:40.000 I've been a fan forever.

00:00:42.000 Thank you.

00:00:42.000 Like, from way back in the day, you know, your song, Y'all Must Have Forgot.

00:00:47.000 I didn't forget shit. 0.99

00:00:48.000 I remember all of it, man. 0.99

00:00:50.000 It is.

00:00:50.000 I remember when your fights were basically executions.

00:00:52.000 Yes, exactly.

00:00:53.000 There was some years, man, where you would just like, see, how is this guy going to survive and how long?

00:00:59.000 And you had...

00:01:02.000 There was a time in your career when you were at your peak where you had devised this style that was so different than anyone else's.

00:01:10.000 Very few jabs.

00:01:12.000 You would throw a lead hook.

00:01:14.000 No one knew how to prepare for it because there was no sparring partners that could emulate it.

00:01:18.000 Your speed was off the charts.

00:01:20.000 Your movement was off the charts.

00:01:22.000 I think to this day, you're the only person in CompuBox history that won a full round without having a single punch scored on them.

00:01:28.000 And they say I'm not the best defensive fighter ever.

00:01:31.000 Listen, that's, that's, no one's ever, I mean, maybe Willie Pett might have done that back in the day.

00:01:38.000 Before CompuBox.

00:01:39.000 Since CompuBox era, nobody has ever gone a complete round without getting a punch scored on him. 0.91

00:01:45.000 It's ridiculous.

00:01:46.000 And you tell me he ain't the best pound for pound, or he ain't the best, at least defensive fighter, and we know about the offense. 0.94

00:01:51.000 But I don't argue.

00:01:52.000 I just listen to what people say.

00:01:53.000 No, there was a time where I always said, like, people would say, oh, but he didn't fight anybody. 1.00

00:01:57.000 I'm like, the fuck he didn't? 0.99

00:01:59.000 They just couldn't compete. 1.00

00:02:00.000 That's all it was.

00:02:01.000 You fought world champions.

00:02:03.000 Like the song say, I just make them look like nobody.

00:02:05.000 Y'all must have forgot.

00:02:08.000 You had such a strange style, man.

00:02:11.000 How did you devise that style?

00:02:12.000 Honestly, man, it was a lot.

00:02:14.000 My father was a fighter.

00:02:25.000 My father learned a lot, but he also learned a lot of things not to do.

00:02:31.000 So by learning those things, he was able to give me a very good foundation.

00:02:35.000 With that foundation, my father had roosters, fighting roosters when I was young.

00:02:40.000 So I would watch the roosters all the time because roosters develop a pecking order.

00:02:44.000 And people always talk about, you know, fighting animals, this, that they develop a pecking order on their own anyway.

00:02:50.000 They're going to do that anyway.

00:02:52.000 So I would always watch them to figure out what made one the king of the pecking order, what made him better than the rest.

00:03:00.000 And when I learned what that was, it was a few things I figured out.

00:03:03.000 Once I would figure them out, I started emulating those things in my boxing style.

00:03:08.000 So from fighting chickens?

00:03:10.000 Yes.

00:03:11.000 What was the thing that you noticed?

00:03:13.000 Well, first of all, the one that usually was on top, he knew and he cared himself for the era of confidence that...

00:03:20.000 He wasn't going to be messed with.

00:03:21.000 So when he fight, he do a lot more faking, a lot more fainting, never let him know when he coming.

00:03:27.000 All of a sudden, day goes.

00:03:28.000 And he stayed powerful.

00:03:30.000 He stayed the same the whole day.

00:03:32.000 And it's like, anytime he went against anybody, he did the same thing.

00:03:35.000 He used the same faints, same faints.

00:03:37.000 And he often would do things that other chickens just didn't know to do.

00:03:42.000 But that's God-given.

00:03:44.000 Men didn't teach them that. 1.00

00:03:45.000 God gave them that.

00:03:46.000 So if you learn his characteristics, which I would watch how he would carry himself all day long, the way he carried himself when he wasn't around the other ones, the way he got rid of when the other ones came around.

00:03:56.000 People say, people used to think that I was very egotistical.

00:04:01.000 I've never been an egotistical person.

00:04:03.000 But what I was was a highly confident person.

00:04:06.000 I'm God's game rooster.

00:04:08.000 You feel me?

00:04:09.000 You bring another one around, guess what?

00:04:11.000 I'm ready to defend my turf.

00:04:13.000 That's a funny thing to say to a world champion fighter who's one of the greatest of all time.

00:04:17.000 You're egotistical.

00:04:18.000 I mean, listen, if you're not confident, you don't get to that place.

00:04:23.000 Never ever.

00:04:24.000 Impossible.

00:04:26.000 You have to have a belief in yourself.

00:04:27.000 There's no other way.

00:04:28.000 If you don't, who's going to believe in you?

00:04:30.000 Yeah, nobody. 0.99

00:04:32.000 Yeah, I was a fan back when you got fucked over in the Olympics, man. 1.00

00:04:36.000 Goddamn, did they ruin that. 1.00

00:04:38.000 That was terrible. 0.97

00:04:39.000 That was one of the worst Olympic decisions I've ever seen in my life.

00:04:43.000 Maybe the worst.

00:04:44.000 It was so bad, but it was in Korea, right? 1.00

00:04:46.000 Yep, it was in Seoul, South Korea.

00:04:48.000 And the Korean fighter, yeah. 1.00

00:04:51.000 Goddamn, that was ridiculous. 0.99

00:04:52.000 It was one of those fights where you're like, well, he got the gold medal, clear. 0.99

00:04:56.000 And then you see the decision, your jaw drops.

00:04:58.000 You're like, what is this?

00:05:00.000 It hurt the sport of boxing, especially amateur boxing.

00:05:03.000 It hurt it because when you can take a kid 19 years old, he defeats his rival, clearly, and you rob him, it really eliminates the integrity of that sport.

00:05:17.000 Yeah.

00:05:17.000 And you still don't go back and fix it.

00:05:19.000 Nobody to this day has come back and tried to fix it.

00:05:22.000 They gave me Olympic orders.

00:05:24.000 They gave me the Val Barker Cup, which is for the best boxer at the Olympics.

00:05:29.000 How crazy is that?

00:05:30.000 How is the best boxer here not wearing a gold medal?

00:05:34.000 Yeah.

00:05:34.000 It was bad, but it also was, in one way, it made people really root for you.

00:05:40.000 It was a blessing in disguise.

00:05:41.000 And I understood that the second day, I think I might have cried the whole first day.

00:05:46.000 But the second day, well, I didn't cry until after I went to the back and asked the interpreter to ask him if he really thought he'd beat me.

00:05:53.000 Because if he said yes, then he didn't know it, but he was going to get another one.

00:05:57.000 laughter laughter But he said, no, I know I didn't win, but it wasn't my fault.

00:06:06.000 It was the judge's.

00:06:07.000 I shook his hand and I left.

00:06:09.000 I never had another bad feeling towards him because he didn't do it.

00:06:13.000 You feel me?

00:06:14.000 You're right, for sure.

00:06:14.000 You have to understand what is coming.

00:06:16.000 But then I also realized that not only were the judges not necessarily, they are to be blamed, but what God did was take their negative side.

00:06:27.000 It was a big talk. 0.93

00:06:29.000 Remember when you began your career, there was a big talk of your career, how you got fucked over in the Olympics. 0.95

00:06:35.000 It wasn't a question. 0.83

00:06:37.000 Not at all.

00:06:37.000 There was no debate.

00:06:38.000 I never saw a single person that made an argument that he won.

00:06:42.000 It was all you.

00:06:43.000 And so that when you began your career, you had a lot of people rooting for you.

00:06:46.000 Yes, and that was a beautiful thing.

00:06:47.000 That's the blessing above all for me because To me, it was God's way of making me not put my life on idle, but turn me up on high.

00:06:56.000 Yeah.

00:06:56.000 I had no clue what he was doing, but that's why you're just trusting God.

00:07:00.000 Look where you at now.

00:07:01.000 Yeah, I remember when you fought James Toney and that was a big fight because James Toney was in his prime and you were in your prime.

00:07:09.000 And again, you caught him with that leaping left hook, man, that crazy left hook and dropped him.

00:07:14.000 When you beat James Toney like that, I think a lot of people had to go, whoa, like he can do this to an elite top of the food chain world champion.

00:07:24.000 That's what makes a real superior athlete.

00:07:26.000 Not that you can do it to guys who are beneath you, but you can do it to guys who are supposed to be your equal or above you.

00:07:33.000 That's when you're really doing it.

00:07:35.000 Now, maybe people don't know, but you have been active and you fought up until about, what, like two years ago?

00:07:42.000 2018. 2018. Yep.

00:07:43.000 So, you decided you're done, or were you 100% done, or were you just 100% done?

00:07:49.000 100%.

00:07:50.000 Walk me through this call.

00:07:52.000 How do you get this call to fight Mike Tyson?

00:07:54.000 Well, one of his guys, Azeem, calls McGee and tells McGee, my partner, to tell me to call.

00:08:00.000 So I call Azeem.

00:08:02.000 Azeem says, hey, Mike wants to do a comeback.

00:08:05.000 He wants to do an exhibition, but he wants you to be his dance partner.

00:08:09.000 Me?

00:08:10.000 He said, yeah.

00:08:11.000 I said, okay, well...

00:08:13.000 Let's see what we can work out.

00:08:14.000 He said, yeah, we got a lot of different situations going on, but they want to do it in a different format, and they want to do it in a way that you and Michael are taking care of, and everything is good.

00:08:23.000 Well, that didn't turn out to be necessarily what the case was, but me being Roy Jones Jr. and us being in COVID, I'm like, you know what?

00:08:31.000 Six weeks, that's right around the corner.

00:08:34.000 He ain't been fighting.

00:08:35.000 I can get rid of it.

00:08:36.000 I'm pretty sure I can get a little bit more ready than he can because he's been inactive a lot longer than I have.

00:08:42.000 So six weeks, I know it's Mike Tyson.

00:08:44.000 He's big as heck and he's still Mike Tyson and he still can punch.

00:08:47.000 But six weeks, there's no way he can get prepared for this.

00:08:51.000 So I said, you know what, I'll take that.

00:08:52.000 And I jumped on it.

00:08:54.000 Well, lo and behold, something happens and they change.

00:08:59.000 Now, why did they change it?

00:09:00.000 Did they give a reason?

00:09:02.000 They said something about marketing.

00:09:03.000 They told me something about marketing, but I don't really believe much of what was said.

00:09:07.000 I mean, I just can't believe it, you know, because we had a September 12th date.

00:09:11.000 That was before football season started.

00:09:14.000 Basketball had started, but...

00:09:16.000 People at home with nothing to do, and that's why I was like, you know what?

00:09:19.000 I wanted him when I was in my prime, so why not take him now?

00:09:23.000 I mean, six weeks, that's easy.

00:09:26.000 And they said, well, we got more attention than we expected to get, and this happened and that happened, so we want to move it.

00:09:34.000 I'm like, man, so...

00:09:35.000 I was thinking about it, and Dean Tool, my guy, he posted something about the new date on my site.

00:09:43.000 And when he did that, it was like, well, that means that you admitted, that you agreed to it.

00:09:48.000 I didn't, but okay.

00:09:50.000 That's how it goes.

00:09:51.000 I'll be that guy, you know.

00:09:52.000 I don't back out of nothing.

00:09:54.000 It ain't like I'm scared of Mike Tyson because he's Mike Tyson.

00:09:56.000 It's just that I know that in six weeks, he had no chance to deal with me.

00:10:00.000 You understand me?

00:10:03.000 12 weeks, well, he'll have a better chance to deal with me, but his chance is still going to be rough, but it's going to be better than it would have been in six weeks, because six weeks, he didn't have a chance.

00:10:13.000 Now, during the time where you were off, were you working out?

00:10:16.000 Of course.

00:10:16.000 Were you still staying fit?

00:10:17.000 Because you always stayed slim, you looked good.

00:10:20.000 I have to work out because I train a lot of guys.

00:10:22.000 And when you train guys, for me, I like to not only just teach them, I like to also give them an example.

00:10:27.000 The best example is the best that I think did what I'm teaching them.

00:10:32.000 And I want to teach them what I learned and what my style was.

00:10:34.000 So I like to be able to demonstrate by example, lead by example.

00:10:39.000 So do you have young guys that fight in your style?

00:10:42.000 They're trying to.

00:10:46.000 It's hard to say they fight in my style.

00:10:47.000 And really, I don't really necessarily teach them to fight like me.

00:10:51.000 My style is not necessarily just me.

00:10:53.000 My style means that you know how to counter everything.

00:10:56.000 You know offense, you know defense, you know footwork, you know everything.

00:11:00.000 Every aspect of boxing is what my style is.

00:11:03.000 Now, the craziness, that's your individual person.

00:11:06.000 Your DNA will decide what you do with that.

00:11:09.000 What I do is, I try to make guys...

00:11:14.000 Comfortable and to give them every opportunity to execute on another guy's mistakes.

00:11:20.000 If I can make you do that and have you prepare, always prepare for the next move, then that's my style.

00:11:27.000 Your style required extreme physical attributes though.

00:11:31.000 You know, that's a...

00:11:32.000 Well, physical attributes, it does require extreme attributes, but when you come and watch one of my classes, like I got an apprentice over in Sweden, I got an apprentice over in South Africa, I got a few apprentices that I've been teaching.

00:11:45.000 I got one out in Washington State, and when I teach them, they understand that, yeah, people blame it on athleticism, but it's not all athleticism.

00:11:53.000 There's a lot more knowledge to it than people ever would begin to understand.

00:11:58.000 You understand me?

00:11:58.000 So, yeah, people say, ah, he was just a super athlete.

00:12:01.000 No, no.

00:12:02.000 If you take me back, I can go visually or verbally walk you through every knockout that I got or every setup to the knockout before it happened.

00:12:11.000 Sometimes rounds before it happened.

00:12:14.000 Sometimes when it happened quick, I can tell you exactly what happened, exactly what I saw and why I did what I did.

00:12:20.000 Physical attributes?

00:12:21.000 No, there's no way it could be just that.

00:12:24.000 It's impossible.

00:12:25.000 You gotta know a lot.

00:12:25.000 There's a lot of freak athletes out there.

00:12:27.000 Of course, of course.

00:12:28.000 But you had freak athleticism as well as like an insane comprehensive understanding of boxing.

00:12:34.000 That's what makes it great, right?

00:12:36.000 Yeah, you gotta have an insane comprehension.

00:12:38.000 But what I do have, the freakiness about me is my hand speed.

00:12:43.000 Because how can I still be this fast at 51 years old?

00:12:46.000 I was watching you hit the pads.

00:12:48.000 Holy cow. 0.89

00:12:49.000 I'd be looking at it.

00:12:49.000 I'd be saying, whoa.

00:12:51.000 Is that...

00:12:51.000 I mean...

00:12:52.000 Double, triple, quadruple, left hands in a row.

00:12:55.000 How?

00:12:56.000 Yeah.

00:12:57.000 It's crazy.

00:12:58.000 We were just talking about that at 51. I know it's not 51 like in the day.

00:13:02.000 No.

00:13:02.000 Back in the day, 51 was done.

00:13:04.000 Oh, 51 was over with.

00:13:06.000 It's different today with the new training methods and understanding of the human body and supplements.

00:13:11.000 Like, people are different.

00:13:12.000 But you were always different, too.

00:13:14.000 I always tell people, like, you had crazy biceps but small triceps.

00:13:18.000 Like, you were built to throw hooks.

00:13:20.000 Exactly.

00:13:21.000 Like, if you look at your body when you were in your prime, you had these...

00:13:24.000 Best hook in the game.

00:13:24.000 No, it's still like that.

00:13:25.000 I show people.

00:13:26.000 Look at the thing still there.

00:13:26.000 Let that rock still there.

00:13:27.000 It ain't went nowhere.

00:13:28.000 Look at the size of that thing. 0.96

00:13:29.000 That's ridiculous. 0.98

00:13:30.000 That's that hook. 0.98

00:13:31.000 The right ain't like that, but that hook.

00:13:32.000 That's true.

00:13:33.000 Your left is way bigger than your right.

00:13:35.000 That's crazy.

00:13:36.000 That's why I see I'm the best hook in the game.

00:13:38.000 Yeah, that's nuts, man.

00:13:39.000 That's a serious imbalance right there.

00:13:43.000 Now, when you train young guys, when you're showing them your style, do you try to get them left hook heavy the way you are?

00:13:51.000 Or do you just let them do whatever their style is and just teach them what you know about boxing?

00:13:55.000 I take whatever you got, whatever your best attributes are, and we work from there.

00:14:00.000 I am not God.

00:14:02.000 I cannot reinvent the wheel.

00:14:03.000 You feel me?

00:14:04.000 I can invent some stuff, but not the wheel.

00:14:06.000 The wheel was already made like it is.

00:14:07.000 You can't reinvent the wheel.

00:14:09.000 So what I do is, whatever God has given you, we try to take that and take that to the next level.

00:14:15.000 Now, you get this phone call.

00:14:17.000 Do you just immediately start training?

00:14:19.000 And when you immediately start training, how are you ramping up for a fight like that?

00:14:23.000 You know, it's like I heard Mike say something about when he started training, he was in the bed for a week.

00:14:28.000 Yeah.

00:14:28.000 I went in the bed for a week because I was going a lot already, but I was a sore person for a couple days.

00:14:34.000 Did you, I mean, did it feel good to say, oh, wow, I got a big fight coming up.

00:14:39.000 I got a goal.

00:14:40.000 We're back.

00:14:41.000 I was excited.

00:14:42.000 Yeah.

00:14:42.000 Because it's Mike Tyson.

00:14:43.000 So it's like, in most cases, you'll say, yes, I got a big fight on the road coming, you know?

00:14:49.000 But this time I was like, you know what?

00:14:51.000 Your buddy get in a little shape because you are going there with Mike Tyson.

00:14:55.000 Yeah, it is Mike Tyson.

00:14:57.000 You don't know what Mike Tyson might come in there and do.

00:14:58.000 You don't know if you got to protect your ears, your chin, your jaw.

00:15:02.000 You don't know what he might do.

00:15:04.000 So what you better do is get in shape and be prepared for whichever Mike shows up. 0.99

00:15:09.000 Yeah, when I read that it was going to be an exhibition, they weren't going to try and knock each other out, I went, the fuck out of here. 0.96

00:15:15.000 I mean, you think about it. 0.98

00:15:16.000 Oh, it's an exhibition, but we got 12-ounce gloves.

00:15:18.000 But it's an exhibition.

00:15:20.000 Exhibition.

00:15:20.000 No headgear.

00:15:22.000 Exhibition.

00:15:23.000 Judges.

00:15:24.000 I mean...

00:15:24.000 It's still Mike Tyson.

00:15:26.000 And exhibition.

00:15:27.000 Mike Tyson, who knocked Corey Sanders down in the first round of an exhibition back in 2004. Yeah.

00:15:34.000 Correct.

00:15:35.000 So, what is your definition of an exhibition?

00:15:38.000 Because going in the ring with Mike Tyson has nothing exhibitionist about it.

00:15:42.000 No, he doesn't have that in him.

00:15:44.000 When you watch him spar, his sparring was fights.

00:15:47.000 Nothing exhibitionist about it.

00:15:49.000 Yeah, they were fights.

00:15:50.000 His sparring was fights.

00:15:51.000 Everything he does is a fight.

00:15:53.000 Yeah.

00:15:54.000 Now, you said that he was always kind of on your radar.

00:15:57.000 He was.

00:15:57.000 When you were the heavyweight champ, when you beat John Ruiz...

00:15:59.000 He was the only other person I would have fought as a heavyweight.

00:16:02.000 Really?

00:16:02.000 Because he was the youngest heavyweight champ ever.

00:16:05.000 And to be honest, I probably was the lightest.

00:16:08.000 I started lighter than anybody, only junior middleweight to ever go win a heavyweight title.

00:16:12.000 So I was the smallest guy to ever come up and win a heavyweight title.

00:16:15.000 How much did you weigh when you fought Ruiz?

00:16:17.000 200. 200. Wow.

00:16:20.000 And so did you think when you were getting ready to fight, what do you walk around at right now?

00:16:26.000 Now I'm heavier than I was then.

00:16:27.000 Really?

00:16:27.000 Yeah.

00:16:28.000 Now I walk around like 220 sometimes.

00:16:30.000 220?

00:16:30.000 I've been up to 220. So do you feel good at 220 or would you like to be lighter when you fight him?

00:16:37.000 I'm at about 210 now.

00:16:38.000 This is where I want to be at.

00:16:39.000 Right there.

00:16:39.000 Hands fast as ever.

00:16:41.000 Still a lot of mobility.

00:16:43.000 Not too much weight on these knees.

00:16:45.000 So I feel pretty good at 210. So I think I'm going to stay around this area.

00:16:48.000 That's not much different than him because when he was in his prime, he was about 215. I mean, he was a light heavyweight, you know, a lighter rather heavyweight.

00:16:56.000 A light explosive heavyweight.

00:16:58.000 Yeah, super.

00:16:59.000 Super explosive heavyweight.

00:17:01.000 So it's like size doesn't really matter with Mike.

00:17:04.000 I mean, it mattered with Reese because I knew I was going to push a little bit in the hole, but Mike's size don't really matter.

00:17:10.000 Now, when you decided to go up and fight Ruiz for the heavyweight title, did you think that was one and done?

00:17:16.000 Or did you think once I win that title, maybe I'll defend it a few times?

00:17:20.000 Like, what was your thoughts getting ready for that fight?

00:17:22.000 So, as you know me, I'm a man of my word.

00:17:24.000 I try to be.

00:17:25.000 And I said I wanted to go do...

00:17:28.000 What Bob Fitzsimmons did, but I was going to add a little bit to it because I was also super middleweight champion, which was a division that wasn't around when Bob Fitzsimmons did this in 1896. Well, what Bob Fitzsimmons did was he won the middleweight title, the light heavyweight title,

00:17:44.000 the heavyweight title, and then he recaptured the light heavyweight title.

00:17:49.000 That's a big segment of the whole thing, recapturing the light heavyweight title.

00:17:54.000 So if I go up and do what I did I think?

00:18:17.000 I would have fought Mike Tyson because of what I told you earlier.

00:18:20.000 He was the youngest heavyweight champ of all times.

00:18:23.000 To me, he was one of the most explosive, entertaining guys you want to see because you never know what he's going to do.

00:18:29.000 And it's the same reason I'm going in with him right now because he's explosive, entertaining, and you never know what he's going to do.

00:18:37.000 I mean, both of you were in that Nas song.

00:18:40.000 You know that song?

00:18:41.000 Yeah.

00:18:42.000 The new Mike Tyson's Roy Jones.

00:18:43.000 Yeah.

00:18:43.000 And that's a line.

00:18:44.000 Exactly.

00:18:45.000 Yeah.

00:18:45.000 I mean, very similar in that regard that you both were so dominant over your divisions when you were in your prime that those fights were like executions.

00:18:52.000 Of course.

00:18:53.000 Why didn't that fight take place back then?

00:18:55.000 Because nobody ever saw me coming to a heavyweight back then.

00:18:58.000 And by the time I did it, he was already on his way out of boxing.

00:19:01.000 He already had departed.

00:19:03.000 So, people say, I think they say someone told them that I was awful 40 million to fight Mike Tyson.

00:19:09.000 No, I wasn't.

00:19:10.000 If I was awful 40 million, we've been fighting.

00:19:12.000 I mean, I tell people today, like, they always talk about, you know, what's going on with DAZN and all these fighters.

00:19:17.000 Listen, man, if I was in today's time, And I was Roy Jones, the same Roy Jones I am.

00:19:24.000 If they told me, Roy, we'll pay you $20 million per fight for five fights, we get to pick the opponents.

00:19:31.000 I say, matter of fact, don't even worry about picking an opponent.

00:19:34.000 Y'all call me, tell me what day I'm fighting, what weight I'm fighting, and I don't care who it is.

00:19:39.000 Just tell me when I'm fighting and what weight I need to be.

00:19:43.000 I believe it.

00:19:44.000 You understand me?

00:19:44.000 That's who I am.

00:19:45.000 So it's like when they talk about I would have fought, no.

00:19:48.000 They would have offered me for the meeting to fight.

00:19:50.000 If Mike would have just said, yeah, I would have fought him for whatever we fought for.

00:19:52.000 That's how bad I wanted to fight him back then.

00:19:54.000 People love to talk though.

00:19:55.000 Yeah. 1.00

00:19:55.000 They just say a lot of stupid shit. 1.00

00:19:57.000 It doesn't make sense. 1.00

00:19:58.000 But that's just, people need something to talk about.

00:20:00.000 Well, I know, but I'm just saying I'd be wanting to clear it up because I was not offered money to fight Mike back then.

00:20:04.000 If I would have, I would have fought Mike back then.

00:20:07.000 I wanted to fight Mike.

00:20:08.000 He's the only other heavyweight I would have fought.

00:20:09.000 Everybody else, I was like, no, I'm not giving y'all the opportunity.

00:20:11.000 First of all, I'm a small guy coming up to the heavyweight division.

00:20:14.000 I don't belong up here anyway.

00:20:16.000 I just wanted to do what Bob Fitzsimmons did and prove I could do it or see if I could do it because Sugar Ray Robinson tried to go win the light heavyweight title.

00:20:22.000 And he passed out.

00:20:23.000 So he didn't win it.

00:20:24.000 So, of course, we always want to try or challenge ourselves.

00:20:27.000 I want to see what the sky with the roof is.

00:20:29.000 Can I win the heavyweight title?

00:20:31.000 Am I really that good, as good as I think I am?

00:20:34.000 Maybe I am.

00:20:35.000 Let's find out.

00:20:37.000 Now, how difficult was it to get from 200 pounds to go all the way back down to 175?

00:20:42.000 That was the hardest thing I ever did in my life.

00:20:44.000 25 pounds of muscle put on by Megan Shearstone.

00:20:48.000 That's the difference.

00:20:49.000 Because if you look at you when you fought Ruiz, there was nothing to be lost.

00:20:53.000 25 pounds of pure muscle.

00:20:56.000 So that first fight, I won on pure heart.

00:20:59.000 We're talking.

00:21:00.000 Yeah.

00:21:01.000 Pure heart.

00:21:02.000 That's when people, and I had people even text me and call me and tell me, you know, I was a fan.

00:21:07.000 I liked you, but I like you a whole lot more now because I realize what you really are.

00:21:13.000 I never knew you had that big of a heart.

00:21:16.000 That was a big transition for you.

00:21:18.000 I mean, and maybe a bad transition to go from heavyweight down to light heavyweight again.

00:21:23.000 Because you could see physically you weren't the same.

00:21:26.000 Because of that weight cut, you were struggling.

00:21:28.000 And that was the talk of all the commentators.

00:21:29.000 They were like, what is happening to his body that he's going from 200 pounds ripped?

00:21:36.000 Down to 175 and then competing.

00:21:39.000 I mean, you must have cut an extreme amount of weight for the weight.

00:21:43.000 Was this the day before weigh-ins or the day of weigh-ins?

00:21:46.000 It was the day before, but it didn't matter because I had pulled so much muscle off.

00:21:49.000 So you can't put that back.

00:21:51.000 You know what I mean?

00:21:52.000 So I couldn't put that back, but it was so...

00:21:56.000 Ironic about that is that as weak as I was, he still couldn't get me out because my mind said I got to do what Bob Fitzsimmons did.

00:22:04.000 So because my mind was locked on something, you can't get me out of there.

00:22:07.000 My mind locked in.

00:22:08.000 I was weak as I probably ever have been.

00:22:10.000 My mind said, no, we're going to forget this.

00:22:12.000 And I got that.

00:22:14.000 And then you went and fought him again.

00:22:15.000 Yeah, I probably shouldn't have because, like I said, my body hadn't came back yet.

00:22:19.000 And I didn't have nothing mentally to get there.

00:22:21.000 I was just doing it because people say, well, he gave you a hard time.

00:22:23.000 Okay, well, I ain't scared to fight nobody.

00:22:25.000 So, y'all want me to fight him again?

00:22:27.000 Sure, why not?

00:22:28.000 But I had nothing to gain, so it's a little bit harder.

00:22:30.000 So, he closed his eyes, got lucky.

00:22:32.000 It's called good, but, I mean, hey, it's boxing, you know?

00:22:36.000 For me, though, that first win was one of the most impressive wins of my career because it's the first time I ever had to win a fight with strictly my heart.

00:22:44.000 Because your body just wasn't performing.

00:22:45.000 Body wasn't there.

00:22:46.000 Now, when you were walking around after the Ruiz fight, what did you weigh when you started cutting down for the Tarva fight?

00:22:53.000 203. 203. And how did you do it?

00:22:57.000 Were you doing crazy cardio?

00:22:59.000 What were you doing to try to lose all that weight?

00:23:01.000 Crazy cardio is the only way I ever did it.

00:23:03.000 The only way I ever did it.

00:23:05.000 I run two, sometimes three times a day just to get the weight down.

00:23:09.000 That's the only way I ever lost weight.

00:23:10.000 Rubber suits the whole deal?

00:23:11.000 All the time. 0.99

00:23:15.000 Goddamn, what kind of an impact must that have had on your body? 0.99

00:23:18.000 Well, that's what people fail to realize. 0.98

00:23:20.000 Now I hear kids talk about, oh, we couldn't make weight or we couldn't.

00:23:23.000 Man, don't tell me that.

00:23:25.000 I'm from the old school.

00:23:26.000 Don't tell me none of this new school stuff.

00:23:27.000 You couldn't lose a pound?

00:23:29.000 Don't tell me that.

00:23:29.000 Man, when I was amateur, when I was amateur, my dad made me go down to 147 for the Eastern Olympic trials.

00:23:36.000 I fought that night.

00:23:37.000 I made 147. I fought that night.

00:23:40.000 I got out of the fight.

00:23:42.000 I went and got on the scale.

00:23:43.000 I was 165 pounds.

00:23:46.000 I had to fight the next day at 147. I had to make weight that next morning.

00:23:50.000 Wait a minute.

00:23:51.000 Ran all night.

00:23:55.000 7.30 the next morning, I got all the way down to 1.48 and a half.

00:24:01.000 And I said, I can't go no more.

00:24:03.000 My dad's like, why you can't lose money?

00:24:04.000 You can lose another pound.

00:24:05.000 No, pound and a half.

00:24:06.000 I said, no, because it hit me.

00:24:08.000 And it was God talking to me.

00:24:10.000 I knew it was God talking to me.

00:24:11.000 How are you going to do this every night in an unfamiliar country?

00:24:14.000 You don't know if it's going to be cold.

00:24:15.000 You don't know if it's going to be rain.

00:24:17.000 You're not going to know where to go run at.

00:24:18.000 You might not even be allowed to go out and run in the area you are.

00:24:22.000 So if you make the Olympics at this weight, how are you going to make weight every night?

00:24:25.000 You went from 147 to 165. Yeah, that's a big jump.

00:24:31.000 Then back down to 148 and a half.

00:24:34.000 And you tell me y'all can't lose a pound or two pounds?

00:24:37.000 Get out of here with that, bruh.

00:24:38.000 So, was that when you made a decision to go up?

00:24:41.000 Yeah, I was already up, but he made me come down.

00:24:44.000 Then I went back up.

00:24:45.000 How old were you then?

00:24:46.000 17. Oh, so your body's just starting to get thick, too.

00:24:48.000 No, 18. You're feeling out.

00:24:50.000 18, yeah.

00:24:50.000 That's, yeah.

00:24:52.000 I think one of the big problems with MMA, as opposed to boxing, is there's a very limited number of weight classes.

00:24:58.000 Yes.

00:24:58.000 And I think there's a lot of fighters that ruin their body cutting too much weight and going down.

00:25:03.000 And you hear about these guys, sometimes they get so dehydrated they pass out.

00:25:07.000 I had that happen to me before.

00:25:09.000 So I understand it.

00:25:10.000 I know how it goes.

00:25:11.000 But there's a science to it and there's a limit that you should do it to.

00:25:15.000 But you got to know the science and know the limit to how far you can go.

00:25:19.000 If you don't ration that out, then it's bad for you.

00:25:22.000 There's a lot of guys that are very good at it, but ultimately the damage that it does, particularly to your kidneys, it's just not worth it.

00:25:30.000 I wish MMA had more weight classes. 0.98

00:25:32.000 I don't know if boxing is the right number, because there's a lot in boxing.

00:25:36.000 Sometimes it's like 47, 54, 60, 68. There's so many weight classes.

00:25:43.000 But there's a good argument that that's better.

00:25:45.000 And when you look at boxing, there's so many super fights that can be had, too, because there's champions that are so close to each other.

00:25:51.000 They're just a few pounds here or there.

00:25:52.000 It's better because it gives a lot more people the opportunity to become world champions.

00:25:57.000 But at the same time, like you said, if they cut it back down to eight weight classes...

00:26:03.000 Only the strong gonna survive, baby.

00:26:05.000 We gotta go.

00:26:06.000 We'll cut out some of these paper champions. 0.90

00:26:09.000 They'll get cut out real quick.

00:26:10.000 So do you think it'd be better that way?

00:26:11.000 I know it would be that way.

00:26:12.000 Look, look, look, look, look.

00:26:14.000 I won a title from, I mean, I fought from junior middleweight to heavyweight.

00:26:18.000 All the reason I didn't win a title at junior middleweight is because my daddy wouldn't let me fight for one.

00:26:22.000 And I knew I was gonna outgrow the weight class.

00:26:24.000 So I told him I wanted to fight Gio Franco Rossi early because if I can fight Rossi now, vacate the title because I ain't gonna be able to stay there at this weight no way.

00:26:32.000 And he didn't let me do it, but I would have had titles from 54 all the way to heavyweight.

00:26:37.000 Wow.

00:26:39.000 That would have been unprecedented.

00:26:40.000 Of course.

00:26:43.000 What made you go from 68 to 75?

00:26:45.000 I ran out of competition.

00:26:47.000 I always just went to whoever the competition was.

00:26:49.000 So after I beat James, I fought Paz Jones, I think.

00:26:54.000 Then they started giving me the, God bless the dead, but Tony Thornton's and no more contenders that really the world didn't know.

00:27:03.000 So I wanted to go up and fight somebody that the world knew, which was like a Virgil Hill type guy, Reggie Johnson type guy.

00:27:08.000 So I went to set the fire, Lou DelVal.

00:27:10.000 I went to set the fire to make bigger, better fights.

00:27:13.000 Those guys were all bigger than me too.

00:27:15.000 But I went wherever I had to go to make fights.

00:27:18.000 So it's like people often, I mean, there's a guy, the guy who used to coach Triple G, I can't think of his name, Abel Sanchez.

00:27:26.000 I said Triple G should have went up a long time ago and tried Andre Ward.

00:27:31.000 He's only eight pounds.

00:27:33.000 But Abel Sanchez said, oh, he's too little to do that.

00:27:35.000 We're fighting 68 now.

00:27:37.000 Yeah.

00:27:38.000 You understand me?

00:27:38.000 Canelo went all the way from 54 to 75. So how you tell me he's too little?

00:27:43.000 Then you say, oh, you did against a bomb.

00:27:45.000 Mike McCallum, a bomb ever, gave James Toney two of the hardest fights of James Toney's career before me.

00:27:51.000 And Montel Griffin did it.

00:27:53.000 Knocked out Milton McCrory.

00:27:54.000 You feel me?

00:27:54.000 So you tell me he was a bomb.

00:27:56.000 Yeah.

00:27:56.000 But I fight him and say, oh, he's a little bit older.

00:27:58.000 But like you said, look at us now.

00:27:59.000 Oh, he knocked out Donald Curry.

00:28:00.000 Donald Curry, that's right.

00:28:02.000 Yeah, that Donald Curry knockout made me so sad.

00:28:04.000 I was a giant Donald Curry fan, and I was rooting for him.

00:28:07.000 I got my shoes on, I ran running.

00:28:09.000 I ran like three miles, and I came home, and I said, I am never investing that much in a fighter again.

00:28:14.000 Because it was like, I lost.

00:28:16.000 Because I remember he caught him with that left hook to the body, and then the left to the chin.

00:28:19.000 And I went, oh, no. 1.00

00:28:20.000 And seeing Donald laid out on the canvas, I was like, fuck! 1.00

00:28:24.000 Because when Donald knocked out McCrory, when Donald knocked out Milton McCrory, I remember thinking like, damn, he is so fast. 1.00

00:28:32.000 Yes. 0.98

00:28:32.000 He was the Cobra. 0.98

00:28:34.000 I want to say the Cobra.

00:28:35.000 Woo! 0.99

00:28:35.000 He was so fast. 0.99

00:28:36.000 And then when he got KO'd like that, I was like, I can't believe this is happening.

00:28:41.000 I had to go running.

00:28:42.000 I know.

00:28:42.000 It was bad.

00:28:43.000 But for Abel to say, I fought a bomb.

00:28:46.000 No, it's crazy. 0.92

00:28:47.000 McCallum was an animal.

00:28:48.000 Yeah, to me, you're trying to...

00:28:50.000 No.

00:28:51.000 You fought Hopkins.

00:28:52.000 You fought animals.

00:28:53.000 But you're covering up for what you're not doing.

00:28:54.000 Because if Triple G was good, we'd say, yeah, what's one more weight class?

00:28:57.000 Canelo came to him.

00:28:58.000 I mean, to me, you cheated Triple G out of opportunity.

00:29:01.000 Yeah.

00:29:02.000 If he didn't win, he'd become one of the pound for pound.

00:29:04.000 You can't say John Ruiz is the greatest heavyweight of all time.

00:29:06.000 No, you can't.

00:29:07.000 But he was no bum.

00:29:08.000 No, he wasn't.

00:29:09.000 He beat Holyfield.

00:29:09.000 Yeah, exactly.

00:29:11.000 Knocked Holyfield down with the right hand.

00:29:12.000 He was one of them.

00:29:16.000 He was a tough guy.

00:29:17.000 Very tough guy.

00:29:18.000 It's just you had the style to beat him.

00:29:21.000 He just couldn't compete with your speed and your fluidity and your understanding of distance.

00:29:26.000 You just controlled that fight.

00:29:28.000 I try to teach guys Every way, every aspect of boxing so that you understand some guys, because you're tall, you're going to have to fight close.

00:29:38.000 Sometimes.

00:29:38.000 Because there are guys that realize you're tall and they know they got to get close to you to win.

00:29:42.000 That's their best opportunity.

00:29:43.000 Hagler Hearns.

00:29:44.000 So you got to get close.

00:29:45.000 Look what Hagler did.

00:29:46.000 Yeah.

00:29:47.000 Took him out.

00:29:47.000 But Hearns was trying.

00:29:48.000 Hearns was trying because Hearns knows how to fight close too.

00:29:51.000 Just that he's not in condition to fight close for a long time because that's not what he trains at doing. 0.94

00:29:56.000 Well, Hagler had a ridiculous chin, too. 0.99

00:29:58.000 It was ridiculous. 1.00

00:29:59.000 Ran it. 0.99

00:30:01.000 Ridiculous. 0.99

00:30:01.000 Ran it. 0.99

00:30:02.000 Yeah, it was one guy knocked him down, but it was a bullshit knockdown his entire career. 0.99

00:30:07.000 Who was it that knocked him down? 0.99

00:30:08.000 I'm trying to remember the name.

00:30:10.000 I don't even remember who knocked him down.

00:30:11.000 I don't remember the dude.

00:30:13.000 Juan Roldan?

00:30:14.000 Was it Domingo?

00:30:15.000 Juan Domingo Roldan?

00:30:16.000 It might have been Juan Roldan.

00:30:17.000 Yeah, it might have been Roldan.

00:30:18.000 And then Hagler eventually stopped him.

00:30:20.000 Yeah.

00:30:20.000 You know what?

00:30:21.000 I heard the elementary pass, too.

00:30:23.000 Oh, did he?

00:30:24.000 Yeah.

00:30:24.000 I was sad and sad because those days were the real days of boxing.

00:30:30.000 Oh, yeah.

00:30:30.000 Almost one champion, maybe two, but mostly one champion.

00:30:33.000 You knew who the champ was at every weight class.

00:30:36.000 I remember when they started out in IBF and WBO. How many champs are you going to have?

00:30:40.000 Well, see, my point, though, is here's my problem there.

00:30:43.000 I don't have a problem with you having more champs, but why not make every champ have to fight one another to find out who is the champ?

00:30:50.000 When I was a light heavyweight, I had seven of the eight known available belts.

00:30:55.000 And the only reason I didn't have the eighth one is because I wasn't going to Germany to take all my seven belts for that one belt, and they may rob me because I had gotten robbed in Seoul, Korea.

00:31:05.000 So I had learned my lesson.

00:31:06.000 I can't go away over there to fight Darius and I'm the man right now.

00:31:09.000 He needs to come see me.

00:31:11.000 If you're offering me to come see me, he turned it down.

00:31:14.000 So what does that tell you?

00:31:15.000 He don't want this smoke.

00:31:20.000 But if I could have got it, if I could have got it, I'd have had every belt at Light Heavyweight because that's who I am.

00:31:26.000 So I feel like any fighter That is aspiring to be champ or is champ.

00:31:31.000 If you don't want every belt in your weight class, you don't think you're the best.

00:31:35.000 Yeah, it should be if you're calling someone a world champion, they really should fight the other world champions.

00:31:40.000 If you're going to have a bunch of different sanctioning bodies, if they're available, they should have to fight each other.

00:31:45.000 Every year.

00:31:46.000 The East play the West in the NBA for the championship.

00:31:50.000 Every year, the AFC play the NFC in football.

00:31:54.000 Every year, the American League plays this league every year.

00:31:58.000 So it's like, come on, baby.

00:32:00.000 At some point, we got to put somewhere.

00:32:02.000 Y'all got to show me who the real man is.

00:32:04.000 And that's what I wanted to do.

00:32:06.000 That's why I had seven that I knew of.

00:32:09.000 And I didn't care what they were.

00:32:10.000 You could have put any letter on them.

00:32:11.000 If they were known belts, if you can call me and tell me y'all got a president, I need that belt.

00:32:20.000 Yeah, it was simpler times back in the day.

00:32:22.000 For me it was.

00:32:23.000 When there was one champion in each weight class.

00:32:26.000 But you gotta also understand that a lot of this stuff happens because of promoters.

00:32:30.000 So because I was doing my own thing, I could do what I wanted to do when I got ready.

00:32:33.000 That's why I used to tell them, y'all can call me.

00:32:35.000 It ain't hard to get a fight with Roy Jones.

00:32:37.000 You just call me and either call me or get a belt.

00:32:39.000 I don't care what belt it is.

00:32:41.000 It could be the National Walmart belt.

00:32:43.000 If it's light heavy, I want that.

00:32:47.000 When you go back to the Hagler days, how many belts were there?

00:32:50.000 It was only one or two then.

00:32:51.000 WBA and WBC, I think.

00:32:53.000 You know what I watched the other day?

00:32:55.000 Hagler versus Mugabe.

00:32:56.000 That was a good fight.

00:32:59.000 Mugabe was killing people back then.

00:33:01.000 Yes, he would, but Hagler wasn't having it.

00:33:02.000 There's a time in the fight where he hits Hagler with an uppercut, snaps Hagler's head back, and Hagler just right back at him.

00:33:09.000 Like it was nothing.

00:33:10.000 Like it didn't even work.

00:33:11.000 Hagler was in my dynamite dozen that I learned things from as a kid, and what I learned from Hagler was consistency.

00:33:18.000 He wore the same maroon and white trunks, and he was the same Marvin Hagler every time you saw him.

00:33:24.000 If you fought Hagler, guess what you're going to get?

00:33:27.000 Hagler.

00:33:27.000 Yep.

00:33:29.000 Yeah, he was so disciplined, too.

00:33:32.000 So disciplined.

00:33:33.000 Yes.

00:33:33.000 I think he was training for a Mustafa Ham show.

00:33:35.000 I forget who he was training for, but it was when I was a kid.

00:33:37.000 I was living in Boston, and I was watching this thing.

00:33:41.000 They had him on the news where Hagler was running down the Cape, Cape Cod, in the wintertime, running the sand dudes, screaming war.

00:33:48.000 Mm-hmm.

00:33:49.000 And I got chills.

00:33:50.000 I got goosebumps just watching.

00:33:52.000 Just the discipline that man had.

00:33:54.000 He was never out of shape.

00:33:56.000 He psyched himself out the whole training camp.

00:33:58.000 Oh, yeah.

00:33:58.000 Every day.

00:33:59.000 Every day.

00:34:00.000 Every day.

00:34:01.000 What a mind he had.

00:34:03.000 I mean, he was just so fierce as a champion.

00:34:08.000 But once again, see, what I liked about people like Marvin...

00:34:11.000 Yeah.

00:34:19.000 Yeah.

00:34:30.000 I kind of gave it to him.

00:34:32.000 I mean, I'd have to watch it again now as an adult.

00:34:35.000 But I remember when I watched it back then, I thought he won the fight.

00:34:38.000 And he just said, that's it.

00:34:39.000 I'm done.

00:34:40.000 Never came back.

00:34:41.000 Went to Italy.

00:34:42.000 Started making movies.

00:34:43.000 You ever watch some of those movies?

00:34:44.000 I ain't never watched them, but I see him every now and then.

00:34:46.000 They're hilarious.

00:34:47.000 He's still in good shape.

00:34:48.000 He looks really good still.

00:34:49.000 I'm sure.

00:34:49.000 He talks great.

00:34:50.000 I mean, he has no problems at all.

00:34:53.000 No whatsoever.

00:34:54.000 Which is amazing.

00:34:54.000 It's beautiful to see someone get out clean.

00:34:56.000 Of course.

00:34:57.000 And have a new life after.

00:34:59.000 Yes, yes.

00:35:00.000 But for me, for Marvin, I thought that fight, after I looked at it as an adult too, I thought the fight should have been called a draw at least, or at best.

00:35:08.000 And I understood why Sugar won it, because Sugar painted a picture before the fight that I'm not even supposed to be in here. 0.94

00:35:16.000 Right, right.

00:35:17.000 You understand me?

00:35:17.000 So anything he did, he's going to get two points for it, whereas Hagel was going to get one.

00:35:22.000 Yeah.

00:35:22.000 Because Sugar painted a picture to the public that I'm not even supposed to be in here with this monster.

00:35:27.000 Right.

00:35:27.000 It's always a problem judging underdogs, right?

00:35:29.000 You feel me?

00:35:30.000 And the fans, he also knows how to play with the crowd.

00:35:34.000 So Sugar used his brain and got the decision that night.

00:35:38.000 But if you look at the actuality of the fight, it either was a draw or you probably could have gave it to Hagler because he was champ.

00:35:45.000 But I would have said, looking at it as an adult, I would have probably scored a draw.

00:35:49.000 But both of them put on an immaculate fight that night.

00:35:53.000 It was a beautiful fight for me because Sugar came back and, like I said, he painted that picture like, I shouldn't even be in here.

00:36:00.000 And he was really phenomenal for what he had been on five years.

00:36:04.000 So he made it look like, I'm defeating the odds.

00:36:08.000 And everything he did, he did it to such a high level that it made it look like he did defeat the odds.

00:36:14.000 When you were coming up, did you watch a lot of films of the greats?

00:36:18.000 Well, I only watched a few guys.

00:36:20.000 And I can tell you a lot of the guys I watched.

00:36:22.000 One was, I used to watch Salvador Sanchez every opportunity I got.

00:36:27.000 Because to me, he was the best offensive-minded guy of all.

00:36:30.000 What a tragedy that guy died so young.

00:36:32.000 Yes, yes.

00:36:32.000 Because my dream fight, this is why I get so pissed off about fights not happening.

00:36:36.000 Like right now, I'm mad because Crawford and Spence aren't getting the opportunity to fight one another.

00:36:42.000 One of my dream fights was Ecibio Pedroza versus Salvador Sanchez.

00:36:47.000 Mmm.

00:36:47.000 Both of the featherweight champions.

00:36:49.000 One but two champs back then.

00:36:50.000 The two featherweight champions, the best at the division.

00:36:53.000 I want to see them lock up.

00:36:54.000 See who wins that because I love both of them.

00:36:57.000 I love Pedroza because of his bolo punches and because of his knowledge inside.

00:37:02.000 He was a real smart but dirty guy inside the ring, right?

00:37:05.000 But Salvador had so much offense that I wanted to know how was he going to keep Salvador off of him with the offense.

00:37:11.000 And then Salvador, unfortunately, was killed in a car wreck.

00:37:14.000 And that That just blew my mega fight away.

00:37:18.000 That was my mega fight probably besides Hearns Leonard.

00:37:21.000 That was my other mega fight to me.

00:37:24.000 The original Hearns Leonard is an all-time classic.

00:37:28.000 Just an all-time classic.

00:37:29.000 When Angelo Dundee's in the corner.

00:37:31.000 You're blowing it, champ.

00:37:31.000 You're blowing it, kid!

00:37:33.000 And he goes out and wins and stops him. 1.00

00:37:36.000 Goddamn. 0.99

00:37:36.000 That was epic. 0.99

00:37:38.000 That was epic. 1.00

00:37:39.000 Especially because Hearns at 147 could hit people and knock them into another fucking dimension. 0.99

00:37:45.000 Well, now, to Hearns' credit, he could do that at 168. Yeah, he did it. 0.99

00:37:49.000 Remember when he did it to Duran?

00:37:50.000 Yeah.

00:37:51.000 He did it to Duran.

00:37:52.000 The only person ever to do it to Roberto Duran.

00:37:54.000 Yeah.

00:37:54.000 The only other person I think knocked Duran down was Esteban DeJesus.

00:37:57.000 He face-planted Duran.

00:37:59.000 I'm talking about coke.

00:38:01.000 Cold.

00:38:01.000 He had that snap because he had that wide torso.

00:38:04.000 Wide shoulders.

00:38:05.000 Thin waist.

00:38:06.000 Yes, sir.

00:38:07.000 Torque that punch.

00:38:08.000 Yes, sir.

00:38:09.000 But to show you how much mental it is, Sugar Ray would take that punch like nobody else.

00:38:13.000 Yeah.

00:38:14.000 Except in the second fight, I think.

00:38:15.000 He dropped Sugar a few times in the second fight.

00:38:17.000 But the first fight, Sugar Ray took all of it.

00:38:19.000 He took it, yeah.

00:38:20.000 Because they had such a beef.

00:38:22.000 Mm-hmm.

00:38:23.000 That was his rival.

00:38:25.000 Yeah, well, he had known that this was the fight that he had to win for greatness.

00:38:29.000 You know, and there was so much.

00:38:31.000 I mean, it's hard for people to imagine how big Sugar Ray Leonard was.

00:38:35.000 Like, people don't know the sport of boxing.

00:38:38.000 When he was the Olympic champion, and he was, I mean, what was it?

00:38:42.000 He did 7-Up commercials or something?

00:38:44.000 I forget the commercials.

00:38:45.000 Sprite.

00:38:46.000 He was huge.

00:38:48.000 And this was when boxing was on ABC, ABC World of Sports.

00:38:53.000 I mean, people don't know.

00:38:55.000 There was no cable back then.

00:38:56.000 None.

00:38:57.000 It was giant.

00:38:58.000 He was America's superstar.

00:39:00.000 Yes, he was.

00:39:00.000 And Tommy Hearns was an assassin.

00:39:03.000 Killer. 0.99

00:39:03.000 He was an assassin. 0.99

00:39:04.000 Killer. 1.00

00:39:05.000 Yeah.

00:39:05.000 And the two of them getting together was like one of those who knows fights, you know?

00:39:09.000 Yes.

00:39:10.000 It's like you get them occasionally today, you know?

00:39:13.000 And see, this is what hurts me about the Olympics right now.

00:39:15.000 About that move that they did to me to lose the integrity.

00:39:19.000 See, I followed Ray Leonard from the Olympics.

00:39:22.000 I followed Howard Davis Jr. from the Olympics.

00:39:24.000 You feel me?

00:39:25.000 These guys were incredible to me because they set a precedence for me.

00:39:30.000 They made me want to go represent my country one day at the Olympics.

00:39:33.000 Then turn pro and do like they did and become somebody.

00:39:36.000 They drawed me a blueprint to follow.

00:39:39.000 You feel me?

00:39:40.000 Muhammad Ali, all of them.

00:39:41.000 George Foreman, they drawed us a blueprint to follow.

00:39:44.000 That Olympic blueprint meant something because that was the It's the epitome of amateur sports.

00:39:49.000 The Olympics was the highest level of amateur sports.

00:39:52.000 If you can get there, get there and represent your country, you're doing something.

00:39:56.000 You feel me?

00:39:57.000 You're on your way.

00:39:58.000 And then they have robbed me.

00:40:00.000 Well, remember that was like the doorstep to professional stardom.

00:40:05.000 That's what I'm saying.

00:40:06.000 Meldrick Taylor, Pernell Whitaker, Vanderholy.

00:40:09.000 Remember that one class?

00:40:11.000 They had a heck of a class too.

00:40:12.000 Mark Breland.

00:40:12.000 Yes.

00:40:13.000 They had a heck of a class.

00:40:14.000 Leo Randolph, yes.

00:40:15.000 What a class that was.

00:40:16.000 Even a guy from my area, Clint Jackson, was on that team.

00:40:19.000 And everybody was following that.

00:40:21.000 When those guys left the Olympics and when they were on the podium with their medals and then they went on to their pro careers.

00:40:26.000 He wasn't on that team.

00:40:27.000 He was on the 76 team, my bad.

00:40:29.000 Okay.

00:40:29.000 Another great team.

00:40:31.000 But watching those guys leave the Olympics and go on to superstardom, that was what you wanted to see.

00:40:38.000 That's what the normal trajectory was.

00:40:41.000 You go from the Olympics to superstardom in boxing.

00:40:45.000 And now it's like, we don't even half the time know who all made it to the Olympics.

00:40:49.000 No one knows anymore.

00:40:50.000 But also, the Olympics have gotten...

00:40:53.000 I don't know if you ever saw that movie, Icarus.

00:40:55.000 Did you ever see that movie?

00:40:55.000 I don't watch many movies.

00:40:56.000 It's a documentary that Brian Fogle did on the Olympics.

00:40:59.000 It's a crazy documentary.

00:41:01.000 And the documentary starts out where he's a cyclist and he wanted to do this race and do the race clean and then get someone to show him how to dope and then do the race doped and see what the difference was.

00:41:15.000 So he does the race clean, and then he employs this Russian cat who was responsible for Olympic doping in Russia, and he shows them how to do it. 0.96

00:41:28.000 Now along the way...

00:41:30.000 They find out that there was something at the Sochi Olympics where a lot of the athletes had...

00:41:36.000 They had done something where they had built a hole in the wall and they had taken the dirty piss, snuck it through the hole in the wall and replaced it with clean piss.

00:41:45.000 They figured out how to work that...

00:41:47.000 So all these athletes that were supposedly clean were on steroids.

00:41:51.000 Or dirty, right.

00:41:52.000 And so it happened in the...

00:41:53.000 And so you see that and you realize like...

00:41:55.000 What happened to you?

00:41:57.000 What happened in the Beijing Olympics?

00:42:00.000 It's so politicized.

00:42:02.000 It's become such a big thing for the country that they're willing to do all kinds of shenanigans, bribe judges.

00:42:08.000 If those judges that ruled it against you weren't bribed, I would be stunned.

00:42:12.000 Of course, they had to be.

00:42:13.000 They had to be.

00:42:14.000 There's no way.

00:42:15.000 I mean, someone told them to do that.

00:42:17.000 There's no other way that makes any sense.

00:42:19.000 None whatsoever.

00:42:19.000 But it's, you know, it's a problem anyway that amateur sports, like, one of the things that drives me crazy about the Olympics is how much money it brings in, but the athletes don't get any money.

00:42:27.000 None.

00:42:28.000 Zero.

00:42:28.000 Just like college sports.

00:42:30.000 A lot like college sports.

00:42:32.000 A lot like college sports.

00:42:33.000 And college sports is even worse, maybe, right?

00:42:35.000 Of course.

00:42:35.000 Because you can't even, they can't even say, hey, we're going to hook you up with an apartment.

00:42:39.000 Nothing.

00:42:39.000 You can't say nothing.

00:42:40.000 Nothing.

00:42:41.000 Nothing.

00:42:41.000 Yeah.

00:42:41.000 And meanwhile, they're making billions.

00:42:44.000 That's how, that's...

00:42:45.000 It's dirty. 0.99

00:42:46.000 It's ridiculous. 0.99

00:42:47.000 It's really dirty. 0.98

00:42:49.000 I mean, I don't know how they should distribute the money, but they should distribute the money.

00:42:53.000 Somehow, but I mean, come on, if you want the top athlete to come to your school, that's going to add to your school's credibility, then why he have to not be able to make money off of that too? 0.95

00:43:02.000 Yeah, and if someone wins the Olympics, if they dedicate years of their life for this one goal and they win, they should make some fucking money.

00:43:08.000 Nine years of mine and got robbed and they got nothing for it. 0.96

00:43:11.000 So I got robbed twice.

00:43:15.000 You got double robbed.

00:43:17.000 Literally.

00:43:17.000 I got robbed twice.

00:43:19.000 And all the people that put that on, they all made a shitload of money.

00:43:22.000 And they do it right now.

00:43:23.000 They're making money off of it right now.

00:43:24.000 Of course.

00:43:25.000 And what are they going to do with the Olympics now with no audience?

00:43:27.000 Because it's a weird thing now with the UFC. It's a weird thing now with boxing.

00:43:31.000 These fights with no crowd are very strange.

00:43:35.000 It's very strange to me.

00:43:36.000 I don't know how.

00:43:37.000 I mean, the crowd meant so much to me.

00:43:40.000 That's why when they moved to fight, I was like, you know what?

00:43:44.000 I don't know.

00:43:45.000 Y'all give him a chance to go get even more ready now when he's the bigger guy and we got no crowd.

00:43:51.000 So I came, look over there and see somebody saying, yes, go get him, champ.

00:43:56.000 You know what I'm saying?

00:43:57.000 Get me hyped up.

00:43:58.000 You know what I mean?

00:43:59.000 So...

00:44:00.000 You should be able to have one hype man.

00:44:01.000 At least a few of them, you know what I mean?

00:44:03.000 Yeah, I gotta have a few of them.

00:44:06.000 Sometimes the least little thing can get that thing going, you know?

00:44:09.000 When you were fighting, did you ever look into the crowd?

00:44:11.000 Oh yeah, all the time.

00:44:12.000 Really?

00:44:12.000 All the time.

00:44:13.000 I want to know that you're enjoying yourself.

00:44:15.000 If I'm not giving you something to make you enjoy yourself, then I'm wasting your time.

00:44:18.000 I shouldn't be out there.

00:44:19.000 That's how I feel.

00:44:20.000 If I'm boxing for you, that's with anything.

00:44:23.000 If I'm doing something for you and I'm not making you excited or happy that you're doing it, then I'm wasting your time.

00:44:31.000 Well, at the end of the day, it is entertainment.

00:44:33.000 Yeah, that's what I'm saying.

00:44:34.000 So if I ain't entertaining you, I'm wasting your time. 0.97

00:44:36.000 There was a certain time in your career where you had to do other shit to entertain, too. 0.96

00:44:40.000 Like you played a full basketball game and then fought that night. 0.94

00:44:46.000 Who's ever done that before?

00:44:47.000 Nobody.

00:44:48.000 Nobody?

00:44:48.000 Nobody.

00:44:49.000 I mean, that was part of the thing you had to do to entertain.

00:44:53.000 Because you were so dominant.

00:44:54.000 Of course.

00:44:54.000 You had to get people to pay attention in different ways other than just destroying people.

00:44:59.000 You want to make them feel like there's a chance.

00:45:02.000 You're giving this guy a chance.

00:45:03.000 Yeah.

00:45:04.000 So by playing a basketball game, it gives him a chance.

00:45:06.000 Right.

00:45:07.000 Because you know you got to use your legs to play basketball.

00:45:09.000 So your legs shouldn't be rested like they should be in a 12-round title fight.

00:45:13.000 Right.

00:45:14.000 After the fight, this guy went on to win the super middleweight title and held it for three years.

00:45:19.000 Who was that again?

00:45:20.000 Eric Lucas from Canada.

00:45:21.000 Okay.

00:45:21.000 Held it for three years.

00:45:23.000 But they said you ain't fighting nobody.

00:45:24.000 This guy, after that game, after that fight...

00:45:27.000 He went and won the WBC, Super Middleweight title, and hit it for three years.

00:45:33.000 It's funny that it still bothers you, that people say you didn't fight anybody.

00:45:37.000 Well, it don't really bother me.

00:45:38.000 I'm just saying, I'll just be arguing back with him sometime.

00:45:40.000 I got an opportunity to argue back with him right here on Joe Rogan's show, so why not?

00:45:43.000 Do you remember when Jordan was...

00:45:45.000 Was it Hall of Fame? 0.97

00:45:47.000 What was it when he got up there and he was just talking shit about all the writers? 0.99

00:45:52.000 Did he talk shit about them over the years? 0.99

00:45:53.000 It's funny, but I think that for all the greats, there has to be something that's pissing you off, something that you're fighting against. 0.98

00:46:04.000 There's no way you're going to have peace of mind and still have the drive to succeed and to conquer the way the all-time greats do.

00:46:12.000 The all-time greats have to have a chip on their shoulder.

00:46:15.000 If you don't have a chip on your shoulder, then you're not going to ever reach the heights or take the measures that it takes to become an all-time great.

00:46:24.000 Me, I had two chips.

00:46:26.000 They robbed me at the Olympics, and I had a father that I separated from that I know in my heart didn't really want me to succeed without him.

00:46:34.000 So those were my chips.

00:46:36.000 And because I had those chips...

00:46:39.000 I can't lose.

00:46:40.000 Because if I lose, he win.

00:46:42.000 You understand me?

00:46:43.000 So in my prime, if I lose, he win.

00:46:45.000 Because he said I can't do it without him.

00:46:47.000 And in my life, the way I was taught, the way I was brought up, all I need is God.

00:46:50.000 Nothing against my dad, but all I need is God.

00:46:53.000 So to me, God prepared you to get me to a certain level.

00:46:56.000 But God took those roosters. 1.00

00:46:58.000 God took a guy named Charlie Campbell.

00:47:00.000 And you wouldn't know Charlie Campbell because he was a boxer back in the day, an amateur boxer.

00:47:04.000 But God showed me so much through Charlie Campbell that to this day, I still speak to Charlie Campbell because without Charlie Campbell I might have never gotten to be Roy Jones Jr. Charlie Campbell taught me so much about charisma that my father could never have taught me that it was unbelievable.

00:47:24.000 Charlie Campbell beat all my father's fighters as amateurs that were in his weight class.

00:47:29.000 Easily almost every time because he had charisma.

00:47:33.000 Now they were better than him, but he had charisma and he beat him with that charisma.

00:47:38.000 How did he beat him with charisma?

00:47:40.000 Because he believed in himself, he had confidence, and he knew how to do stuff that made me love watching him.

00:47:48.000 You understand me?

00:47:48.000 And he wasn't the best puncher.

00:47:50.000 He really didn't have the best boxing skills, but his emotions, he breathed with everything he did.

00:47:55.000 Even though he was slapping, he had sharp breath with it.

00:47:58.000 You understand me?

00:47:59.000 And to me, I was like, whoa, and he beating these guys that own my team.

00:48:05.000 So they learn the same thing I'm learning, but they can't have that kind of charisma because my daddy won't allow them to beat them people.

00:48:12.000 He won't allow them to perform with that kind of confidence.

00:48:14.000 You understand me?

00:48:16.000 So, I need to learn how to do what he doing.

00:48:18.000 Because if I can add what he doing to what we doing, now I got something.

00:48:22.000 How did you incorporate it?

00:48:24.000 Well, I started doing the stuff he did.

00:48:26.000 A little bit of it.

00:48:28.000 Until I figured out what it really was.

00:48:31.000 You understand me?

00:48:31.000 So some of the grunting, some of the moaning he did while he was fighting to show that he had breath control, I started doing it.

00:48:38.000 So like when you hear Bruce Lee go, woo!

00:48:40.000 Charlie Campbell will do stuff like that in a boxing match.

00:48:44.000 Now his punches weren't nearly as effective as the sound was, but he kept them on beat and in tune with the sound.

00:48:52.000 So it made him look way better than he really was.

00:48:55.000 And he won the fights against these guys because these guys don't know how to do that.

00:49:00.000 So I started copying some of it.

00:49:02.000 Not all of it, but I started adding it to my stuff.

00:49:05.000 When I met him, it became hell for all the little kids in the area.

00:49:10.000 Really?

00:49:10.000 What?

00:49:11.000 Not a little charisma?

00:49:13.000 Something my daddy can't teach me?

00:49:14.000 And he beat my daddy fighters?

00:49:16.000 And to me, these guys are older than me.

00:49:18.000 I'm 12. They're 17. He beating them.

00:49:23.000 So they ought to be better at what we're doing than I am.

00:49:26.000 Because they're older and bigger than me.

00:49:28.000 He beating them.

00:49:30.000 No!

00:49:31.000 I gotta get that!

00:49:32.000 So I got that.

00:49:33.000 So was it also like, you obviously had animosity with your father.

00:49:39.000 So you were looking for other ways to do it too?

00:49:41.000 No, I had to find other ways.

00:49:43.000 God had to talk to me in other ways.

00:49:45.000 If God didn't speak to me in other ways, here's the real deal.

00:49:48.000 What people don't understand.

00:49:49.000 There's nothing against my father, it's just kind of our destiny, right?

00:49:52.000 This is why I tell people that nature is also a Bible.

00:49:57.000 Right?

00:49:57.000 When a lion get a certain age, his dad will kick him out.

00:50:00.000 He got to go.

00:50:00.000 You got to go get your own pride because this is my pride.

00:50:04.000 And that's kind of how me and my father were.

00:50:06.000 So it's like at a young age, I knew I was going to have to go because just the way things shaped up.

00:50:13.000 You understand me?

00:50:14.000 So me growing up watching, even these guys watching before me, I watched all of them get to their age, but my dad would never allow them to be as confident and as Charismatic as Charlie Campbell was because he didn't allow that.

00:50:29.000 Because he was the boss.

00:50:30.000 He's the boss.

00:50:31.000 He was in control of everything.

00:50:32.000 But he ain't got to fight nobody.

00:50:34.000 Right.

00:50:34.000 So then, after the 76 Olympics, God gave me a second confirmation.

00:50:39.000 Howard Davis Jr. won the Val Barker Cup.

00:50:41.000 I mean, he was the best fighter at the Olympics.

00:50:44.000 But he probably was the only one of them gold medalists that didn't become world champion.

00:50:48.000 Why?

00:50:49.000 Because his daddy waited way too long.

00:50:52.000 So he waited so long that when he finally fought Jim Watt, he couldn't beat Jim Watt.

00:50:57.000 Because in Howard Davis, the fire had died.

00:51:00.000 Now in his daddy, the fire still was there.

00:51:03.000 But guess what?

00:51:03.000 His daddy ain't got to fight Jim Watt.

00:51:05.000 How it does.

00:51:07.000 You understand me?

00:51:08.000 That was my second confirmation that when I get old enough, I got to go.

00:51:13.000 You understand me?

00:51:14.000 So it's like...

00:51:15.000 I started to understand, and like I said, nature has always been my Bible.

00:51:18.000 So people always say, why you love animals?

00:51:20.000 Why you love chickens?

00:51:21.000 That's where I learned God's teachings from, because God made those animals, and people can't change them.

00:51:28.000 You understand me?

00:51:29.000 You can neuter them, but when you neuter them, you change them to a whole other animal.

00:51:33.000 And to me, in society, sometimes that's what they're trying to do to us.

00:51:36.000 They're trying to neuter us.

00:51:37.000 So when they neuter us, we don't fight back.

00:51:39.000 Well, that's a giant thing with men today.

00:51:41.000 That's what I'm trying to tell you. 1.00

00:51:42.000 That's what toxic masculinity and all that bullshit. 0.99

00:51:45.000 That's what I'm trying to tell you. 1.00

00:51:46.000 They're trying to mentally neuter us.

00:51:47.000 Yes.

00:51:47.000 When you neuter a horse, he becomes bland.

00:51:52.000 Again, he don't fight back no more.

00:51:53.000 He don't care no more.

00:51:55.000 You understand me?

00:51:55.000 So it's like, if you neuter a man, he becomes nothing.

00:51:59.000 He don't care no more.

00:52:00.000 He ain't gonna fight back.

00:52:01.000 He ain't gonna stand up for himself.

00:52:02.000 Exactly.

00:52:02.000 Because he ain't got no what God gave.

00:52:05.000 You took that out.

00:52:06.000 You feel me?

00:52:07.000 And to me, that's...

00:52:09.000 Emotionally, mentally, what they try to do to us without physically doing it.

00:52:12.000 So that was a problem that me and my father also had.

00:52:15.000 And people say, well, why are you so against what goes on?

00:52:18.000 Well, to me, that's what he was trying to do.

00:52:21.000 But what I learned is, and this is going to take you down that road, too.

00:52:24.000 I used to hunt when I was a kid, right?

00:52:27.000 We would hunt squirrels. 0.99

00:52:29.000 When we hunt squirrels, there would be some squirrels that would have a penis, but no balls. 1.00

00:52:34.000 Because the other squirrels bit their balls off. 1.00

00:52:36.000 The daddy. 0.96

00:52:37.000 The daddy did it?

00:52:38.000 The daddy have a nest about anywhere from 10 to 25 females. 0.81

00:52:43.000 Every time one of them have little babies, he goes and bites the nuts out of all the males because he wants no competition.

00:52:50.000 No, listen.

00:52:51.000 But you got to know this now.

00:52:52.000 I get it.

00:52:53.000 So this shows me he can't do it physically, but this is what he's doing.

00:52:57.000 I watched him do it to all these other guys I told you about before me.

00:53:00.000 They can't beat Charlie Campbell because they're gettings.

00:53:03.000 Charlie Campbell's a stud.

00:53:07.000 He ain't better than them.

00:53:08.000 He ain't stronger than them.

00:53:09.000 He ain't even a better puncher than them.

00:53:10.000 But in his mind, he's a stud.

00:53:13.000 In their mind, they're guiltings.

00:53:15.000 Because my dad has made them so, he's meant to beat them down so low that they have no real fight back in them.

00:53:22.000 Because they got to be second to my father first.

00:53:25.000 I can't be that guy.

00:53:28.000 If you're going to rule the world, you ain't never seen a gilding rule the world in breeding.

00:53:33.000 You understand me?

00:53:34.000 You understand me?

00:53:35.000 Now you see some fast gildings because they're just fast naturally. 0.99

00:53:38.000 But they're not going to rule the pastor because once you cut the balls out of him, he's no more a man. 0.99

00:53:43.000 You feel me? 0.99

00:53:44.000 I do.

00:53:44.000 So it's like, I be saying, you know, it's like nothing personal against nobody.

00:53:49.000 I don't care if you do what you want to do.

00:53:50.000 But for me, I couldn't be world champion.

00:53:53.000 If I let my father make me a gilding, mentally and emotionally.

00:53:57.000 You understand me?

00:53:58.000 So I could not stay there and become a gilding like I watched them do before me and expect to be Roy Jones Jr. that you know today.

00:54:07.000 It just couldn't happen.

00:54:08.000 That's a difficult balance with some trainers, right?

00:54:10.000 Because some trainers were fighters and they're tough guys.

00:54:13.000 Yep, and they don't want to let the other guys surpass them.

00:54:18.000 That's one of the reasons why a lot of fighters don't make good trainers.

00:54:22.000 And that's why a lot of father and son relationships don't work as fighters because the father don't want to let the son grow up.

00:54:28.000 And in order to stop him from growing up, you got to almost turn him into a guilty.

00:54:32.000 Yeah.

00:54:33.000 So he'll go for anything and not fight you back.

00:54:37.000 It usually works out in a weird way.

00:54:39.000 It's very rare that a father-son fight-coach combination works.

00:54:44.000 Lomachenko, his dad do a good job.

00:54:46.000 But his dad is an unusual cat.

00:54:48.000 His dad told him, you're going to just dance for two years.

00:54:52.000 Like, what?

00:54:53.000 I think it might have been more than two years.

00:54:54.000 His dad's God-gifted.

00:54:55.000 A lot like Joe Calzac's dad was.

00:54:58.000 He's God-gifted.

00:54:59.000 These guys never boxed, but they made world champions out of their sons.

00:55:02.000 They knew, they seen something, and they knew what it took to get him there.

00:55:06.000 The fact that he told his son to take up Ukrainian dancing and then you look at Lomachenko's footwork, it's off the charts.

00:55:15.000 So God gave him a vision way before his son got to where he was going.

00:55:18.000 He showed him where he was going, but way before it happened.

00:55:20.000 He gave my father the same vision, just that my father's personality wouldn't allow him to enjoy the fruits of that vision.

00:55:28.000 Did you ever resolve it with your father?

00:55:30.000 No.

00:55:30.000 Never?

00:55:31.000 No.

00:55:31.000 Is he still alive?

00:55:32.000 Oh yeah.

00:55:33.000 Wow.

00:55:33.000 Yeah.

00:55:33.000 Do you talk at all?

00:55:34.000 No. 1.00

00:55:35.000 Damn. 0.99

00:55:36.000 That's gotta be weird for him. 0.99

00:55:38.000 No, it's not weird for him.

00:55:39.000 He understands.

00:55:39.000 He's a lion and I'm a lion.

00:55:41.000 I understand, but his son's Roy Jones Jr. Yeah. 1.00

00:55:45.000 When you're a boxing trainer and your son's one of the greatest of all time and he doesn't talk to you, that's got to fuck with you. 0.99

00:55:51.000 Well, he don't talk to you because you don't want to talk to him. 0.99

00:55:53.000 Right.

00:55:54.000 So it's not like he wouldn't talk to you if you wanted to talk to him, but you don't want to talk to him.

00:55:58.000 So if you don't want to talk to him, then he's not going to chase you down and talk to you.

00:56:01.000 Why would he?

00:56:04.000 Me, personally, as a father, I couldn't handle that.

00:56:07.000 I couldn't handle it with none of my kids, so I didn't raise my kids the way that I was raised.

00:56:10.000 So me and all my kids, my kids can talk to me about anything.

00:56:14.000 I'm like you, as a father, I couldn't handle that either, but sometimes there are sacrifices.

00:56:19.000 But sometimes a guy like you has to come out of a situation like that.

00:56:23.000 You have to fight your way through the struggle of being dominated by your father to become your own man. 1.00

00:56:28.000 And then that's one of the reasons why you're such a bad motherfucker. 1.00

00:56:31.000 If I didn't beat that, I never would have made an inbox. 0.99

00:56:35.000 Sean O'Grady used to tell me all the time, you did the one thing that I never could do.

00:56:39.000 I said, what's that, Sean?

00:56:41.000 He said, I just couldn't walk away.

00:56:42.000 He said, well, I thought God had me destined to be great, so I had to walk away.

00:56:46.000 And look where I am now.

00:56:48.000 Yeah, indeed.

00:56:49.000 Indeed.

00:56:50.000 What does it feel like after, like, you're already an all-time great.

00:56:54.000 You're already Hall of Famer.

00:56:55.000 And now you're getting back into the ring again.

00:56:58.000 Like, what does that feel like?

00:56:59.000 Is it exciting?

00:57:00.000 Is it...

00:57:01.000 It's a new feeling, you know.

00:57:03.000 Right now, I gotta tell...

00:57:04.000 While I'm here, I gotta tell them they gotta go to Roy Jones Jr. I mean, rjjfightstore.com to get a shirt like me.

00:57:09.000 That's where I got it.

00:57:10.000 rjjfightstore.com.

00:57:11.000 Don't miss that.

00:57:12.000 Y'all must have forgot it's on the back.

00:57:14.000 Exactly.

00:57:14.000 So, it's like, for me, it's a whole new game now.

00:57:17.000 You gotta do a little bit more promoting stuff.

00:57:19.000 You gotta...

00:57:20.000 Try to do a little bit more media work.

00:57:23.000 I'll come talk to you because you always supported me.

00:57:25.000 You've been one of the best daddies, one of the best people that I have known as far as being a Roy Jones person.

00:57:30.000 I would have came to you if I was doing nothing.

00:57:32.000 But having a Mike Tyson fight for us to talk about.

00:57:36.000 What better time to come see you?

00:57:38.000 You feel me?

00:57:39.000 I've been trying to get here, but I say I want to wait until we got something interesting to really talk about.

00:57:44.000 Because we good people.

00:57:45.000 You are good people.

00:57:46.000 So I wanted something big when I came here, and now I got something.

00:57:50.000 So having this Mike Tyson fight, it has its advantages, although I told you the timing and all was a disadvantage, but it does have its advantages because now We get to have a great conversation first time with me being here.

00:58:02.000 You feel me?

00:58:03.000 Listen, I appreciate it.

00:58:04.000 I'm happy to talk to you anytime, anyplace.

00:58:06.000 What is it like, though, when you see now Holyfield's thinking about coming back, he's training hard, Oscar De La Hoya, that could be a fight for you, too.

00:58:16.000 If you decide to keep going with this, that's someone who's more your size as well.

00:58:20.000 Yeah, he's more my size, but he look at me like I look at Mike.

00:58:24.000 He say, you know, he's too big.

00:58:27.000 Well, he fought some middleweights, right?

00:58:28.000 He fought Bernard.

00:58:29.000 Bernard stopped him with that body shot.

00:58:31.000 You see that?

00:58:32.000 That's fighting middleweights.

00:58:35.000 They're a little different than me, and they're a little different than Mike.

00:58:38.000 It's like, when you look at it, the true fact is that if you ask people, and you can pull the highlights up right now and say, look at this guy, this guy, this guy, this guy.

00:58:47.000 At that time, who they're going to look at again?

00:58:50.000 They're going to look at Mike Tyson again, they're going to look at Roy Jones again.

00:58:53.000 And they're going to look at Roy Jones again first, because Roy Jones do so much crazy stuff that You're like, hot in the world.

00:58:58.000 Not only do, like you said, it's a basketball game before the fight.

00:59:01.000 Method Man and Red Man bring him to the ring.

00:59:03.000 He got, I mean, Radio City Music Hall.

00:59:06.000 I mean, come on.

00:59:07.000 Robert Jones got so much stuff that he going to win that debate.

00:59:10.000 And if you remember, then Mike Tyson probably going to be right behind him because Mike Tyson got some knockouts that are unbelievable.

00:59:15.000 You understand me?

00:59:16.000 So it's like that's the two most Entertaining guys over the last two decades, without a question.

00:59:23.000 Without a question.

00:59:24.000 You said you learned that move when you put your hands behind your back.

00:59:27.000 Who'd you knock out when you put your hands behind your back?

00:59:28.000 I knocked him down.

00:59:29.000 James Turner.

00:59:30.000 Oh, no, no.

00:59:31.000 Glenn Kelly.

00:59:32.000 You're right.

00:59:32.000 You knocked him out.

00:59:33.000 You said you learned that from a rooster, too.

00:59:35.000 From a rooster, too.

00:59:35.000 That's right.

00:59:36.000 That's right. 1.00

00:59:37.000 Who else learns shit from roosters? 1.00

00:59:39.000 Just for what? 1.00

00:59:39.000 The rooster man. 1.00

00:59:40.000 But see, you got to understand this too.

00:59:42.000 There's a little bit more to that.

00:59:43.000 I'm also big on the kung fu movies.

00:59:45.000 So the kung fu movies, you know, they got tiger style, crane style, all these, the toad, the lizard, all these different things.

00:59:52.000 So I said, you know, I love roosters.

00:59:54.000 So let me see how I can incorporate the roosters into my style of boxing.

01:00:00.000 Do you think this is one and done?

01:00:02.000 Do you think this Tyson fight is one and done?

01:00:04.000 Does it depend on the outcome or you just have to focus on the fight right now and then decide what else is going on afterwards?

01:00:10.000 It really depends on how it goes because You know, I'm like this, man.

01:00:14.000 I think Mike is an awesome person.

01:00:17.000 And I know Mike has had his ups and downs in the world.

01:00:19.000 I know Mike is really, you know, he is Mike.

01:00:23.000 You understand me?

01:00:24.000 So you don't know what Mike you're going to get.

01:00:26.000 Right.

01:00:27.000 You understand me?

01:00:27.000 So in this exhibition, you got to prepare for the best you can prepare for.

01:00:31.000 And, you know, anything can happen.

01:00:33.000 If Mike hits you with the elbow and cuts you on purpose, anything can happen.

01:00:37.000 You don't know.

01:00:38.000 And you try to get him back, and they may stop it before you get to get him back.

01:00:43.000 Then they say, well, y'all want to do a real fight?

01:00:45.000 Hell yeah, I want to do a real fight with my get back.

01:00:47.000 You understand me?

01:00:47.000 If that happened like that.

01:00:48.000 You understand me?

01:00:49.000 You've already got to play down your head.

01:00:50.000 I'm just saying, yeah, because you ain't going to do just no anything.

01:00:52.000 I think I ain't getting no get back.

01:00:53.000 You feel me?

01:00:54.000 Right, I understand.

01:00:54.000 It ain't going to go like that.

01:00:55.000 You feel where I'm coming from?

01:00:56.000 So now if we have a straight up one, this time is good, then I'm cool.

01:01:00.000 That may be the end.

01:01:01.000 It might turn out like I want it.

01:01:03.000 Everything will be great.

01:01:04.000 You understand me?

01:01:05.000 So it may be a great opportunity.

01:01:06.000 We both may...

01:01:07.000 Put up great performances and we might call it a day.

01:01:10.000 We might be too tired to talk about it after it's called we old.

01:01:14.000 You understand me?

01:01:15.000 That may happen too.

01:01:17.000 But it all really probably depends on the outcome of this.

01:01:22.000 You understand me?

01:01:22.000 Because when you're the smaller guy and you find a guy that you know is over here today and over there tomorrow, then you just got to prepare yourself for whatever because you don't know what he may come in there and do.

01:01:35.000 You understand me? 1.00

01:01:36.000 So I got to be really I mean, I feel safe with these earmuffs on because he might bite you in your damn ear. 1.00

01:01:45.000 That's the thing about Mike is he's so crazy. 1.00

01:01:48.000 He's so wild. 0.97

01:01:49.000 You feel me?

01:01:49.000 You don't know what he might do.

01:01:50.000 I think he's a different human now.

01:01:53.000 I've talked to him twice on a podcast.

01:01:55.000 I've talked to him once.

01:01:56.000 It was about 10 months ago and once just a couple weeks ago.

01:01:59.000 And he's two different people from those two times.

01:02:01.000 That's what I'm saying.

01:02:01.000 That's just 10 months.

01:02:02.000 So imagine what he do in 10 days.

01:02:04.000 Well, 10 months ago, he was smoking weed.

01:02:05.000 He wouldn't even work out.

01:02:07.000 He said he couldn't work out because he didn't want to reignite his ego. 0.65

01:02:10.000 And then he said his wife called him fat.

01:02:13.000 And then he started working.

01:02:14.000 He said, I got on the treadmill, started doing it for 15 minutes.

01:02:16.000 Next thing you know, it's two hours.

01:02:18.000 And then he's obsessed again.

01:02:20.000 And now his ego has been reignited.

01:02:21.000 Yes.

01:02:22.000 He said the gods of war reignited his ego.

01:02:25.000 You feel me?

01:02:26.000 But they called it an exhibition.

01:02:28.000 No.

01:02:30.000 He looks shredded.

01:02:32.000 Oh, he is shredded.

01:02:33.000 And he's good.

01:02:34.000 He's doing the right thing because DBs ain't playing.

01:02:37.000 You feel me?

01:02:37.000 I understand.

01:02:38.000 He's doing the right thing, but like I said, if everything goes good, then I won't have to do it twice.

01:02:44.000 But if it don't go like I want it to and they say, y'all want to do a real one, then give me some 10s and let's go for real.

01:02:50.000 10s and would you do 10 rounds?

01:02:52.000 No, 10 or 12. 10 or 12. I want 12 if I can.

01:02:55.000 I want it.

01:02:56.000 See, they got me doing...

01:02:58.000 Eight, two-minute rounds now.

01:03:00.000 Is it two-minute rounds?

01:03:01.000 That's to his advantage too.

01:03:02.000 Everything is to his advantage.

01:03:03.000 That's to his advantage too.

01:03:05.000 Why'd you agree to it?

01:03:06.000 At this point, the fans are so excited about it.

01:03:10.000 I wouldn't want to pull the rug from under the fans, then they try to suit me.

01:03:15.000 You know what I'm saying?

01:03:15.000 So it's not really worth it.

01:03:17.000 You know what I'm saying?

01:03:18.000 So I'm going through these two rounds just that I'm going to have to figure out a little bit different.

01:03:22.000 I'm going to have to work a little faster than I expected to.

01:03:25.000 Yeah, two-minute rounds is a totally different kind of rhythm.

01:03:28.000 Totally different kind of rhythm.

01:03:30.000 Yeah, it's weird that they decided to do it that way.

01:03:32.000 Do you think they decided to do that because of the September 12th date?

01:03:35.000 It was only six weeks for him to prepare?

01:03:38.000 No, they just decided this last week.

01:03:41.000 Really?

01:03:41.000 Yeah, they changed stuff on me about the week.

01:03:43.000 So it was originally three-minute rounds.

01:03:45.000 I thought.

01:03:46.000 I guess I read the memo wrong.

01:03:49.000 Like I said.

01:03:50.000 Wow.

01:03:51.000 It changes so much on me, man.

01:03:53.000 I mean, I think the WBC came in and said they want to put up some kind of title or something, so they want to cut it back to two-minute rounds.

01:03:59.000 They said something about that Arce and Chavez Sr. fight, how fatigued they were after the fight, and they feel like that's a safety measure.

01:04:07.000 But what they don't realize is that if you keep Mike fresh, the longer you keep Mike fresh, the more dangerous that is for me.

01:04:13.000 Yeah, for sure.

01:04:13.000 So I need to get Mike unfresh quick so we can get out of this danger zone.

01:04:17.000 What happened with Chavez Sr.?

01:04:19.000 He and Arce, I think, fought a true exhibition with headgear and big gloves.

01:04:26.000 But they said they were so exhausted afterwards that they felt like that is what could inhibit somebody's health.

01:04:32.000 Huh.

01:04:33.000 Well, how much did they train for?

01:04:35.000 That's why I don't know.

01:04:36.000 So they're making it two different things, you feel me?

01:04:38.000 So I don't know why, and they cut it back, but like I'm telling them, no, that's not right for me because I'm a smaller guy.

01:04:45.000 Time is the best component I have.

01:04:48.000 The longer he goes, the more he wears, the better my chances are.

01:04:51.000 The longer you keep him strong and fresh, the more dangerous it is for me.

01:04:56.000 So they didn't discuss this beforehand?

01:04:58.000 It's not a part of the contract?

01:04:59.000 They just contacted you and said they're dropping it down to two-minute rounds?

01:05:02.000 They said the commission is dropping it down to two-minute rounds.

01:05:04.000 You can pull out.

01:05:05.000 The commission said that?

01:05:06.000 They said the commission, you drop it down to two-minute rounds, you can either pull out or you can fight.

01:05:12.000 So this is the commission's idea?

01:05:13.000 Well, I guess.

01:05:14.000 They said WBC came in and said it along with the commission.

01:05:17.000 So I don't know if it's...

01:05:17.000 The commission told me it was WBC. WBC told me it was the commission.

01:05:20.000 So I ain't even sure who it is.

01:05:21.000 But my point is, that's not good for me.

01:05:24.000 That's good for him.

01:05:26.000 You feel me?

01:05:27.000 Y'all are the bigger man.

01:05:28.000 Y'all started giving him everything he want.

01:05:30.000 Yeah, I want it to be three-minute rounds.

01:05:32.000 I want it to be three-minute rounds.

01:05:33.000 It's safer for me for three-minute rounds.

01:05:35.000 Yeah, it's just better.

01:05:36.000 It's boxing.

01:05:37.000 It's traditional.

01:05:38.000 It's what it's always been.

01:05:40.000 Guess what, though?

01:05:41.000 What they going to do is turn that light back on.

01:05:45.000 When they turn that light on, bad things happen.

01:05:49.000 You heard me?

01:05:50.000 I heard you.

01:05:50.000 And they turn that light back on.

01:05:52.000 Slowly but surely, they turn that light back on.

01:05:54.000 And I'm going to say, I did want to be this person, but since y'all going to do me like this, now y'all start something.

01:06:03.000 That mean trouble.

01:06:07.000 Listen, I'm excited about this fight no matter what, but now I'm more excited about it.

01:06:10.000 Of course.

01:06:14.000 This is going to be a gigantic fight, too.

01:06:16.000 I mean, I've heard so many people talk about it that are just casual boxing fans that are excited.

01:06:21.000 I was cool in the beginning, but like I said, once you only kick me around so much, then the hook comes out.

01:06:28.000 I see myself, I think I'm turning green.

01:06:30.000 Well, you always said that, that there's like two dudes inside of you, right?

01:06:33.000 There's Roy Jones Jr. and there's RJ. And they're starting to wake him up.

01:06:37.000 Well, who's RJ? He didn't want to be after it.

01:06:42.000 When did you realize there was like a second person?

01:06:44.000 Well, I've been new it my whole life.

01:06:46.000 I've been new it my whole life.

01:06:47.000 I always try to suppress that person because that person will end up in somebody's penitentiary somewhere if you don't watch him.

01:06:52.000 Because he ain't really thinking about or caring about what nobody thinks.

01:06:57.000 So is this...

01:06:58.000 Do you think that this...

01:06:59.000 You developed this as a way of...

01:07:03.000 Has this just always been inside of you?

01:07:05.000 Or is this how you dealt with certain situations in your life where you had to like shut off parts of who you are...

01:07:12.000 I think all real men have it.

01:07:14.000 They just don't ever have to tap into it, or they never have been pushed to that measure, which is why I say society tries to make us guiltings, because any man like you, you got kids.

01:07:28.000 Somebody did something to your kid and you saw it, RJ coming out.

01:07:33.000 You understand me?

01:07:34.000 I do.

01:07:34.000 So it's always there, it's just that you try to keep it suppressed.

01:07:37.000 So I try to keep it suppressed.

01:07:39.000 But Gene gonna kick on me so much, then he coming.

01:07:43.000 And once he start coming, guess what? 0.70

01:07:45.000 He's just like a pit bull.

01:07:47.000 He has no off switch.

01:07:48.000 Who was it that you fought?

01:07:50.000 You fought this dude, Jack guy, shorter guy, first fight.

01:07:53.000 Martin Griffin.

01:07:54.000 That's right.

01:07:55.000 That's right.

01:07:55.000 The second fight, RJ came out in a big way.

01:07:58.000 Yes.

01:07:59.000 That was an annihilation.

01:08:00.000 Of course.

01:08:00.000 Yeah, you just hunted him down.

01:08:02.000 Of course.

01:08:02.000 That's who RJ is.

01:08:04.000 Yeah. 0.66

01:08:04.000 Seek and destroy. 0.66

01:08:05.000 That was Hagel's words. 0.55

01:08:06.000 Seek and destroy.

01:08:07.000 Seek and destroy.

01:08:08.000 So the first fight, what happened in the first fight?

01:08:10.000 He got injured?

01:08:11.000 No, I hit him.

01:08:12.000 He went down one knee, but he was already short.

01:08:14.000 Right.

01:08:15.000 So I couldn't take him down, so I tapped him again, and I thought the referee was going to say stop.

01:08:18.000 Oh, that's right.

01:08:19.000 It's disqualification.

01:08:20.000 I'm waiting for the referee to say stop.

01:08:21.000 He didn't say that, so I tapped him again.

01:08:22.000 He looked at the referee and thought, oh, he crashed on his head, face down.

01:08:27.000 That's okay.

01:08:28.000 Okay, I'll take that disqualification, but now, it's a little bit harder for me when you... 0.82

01:08:33.000 Did they give him the title for that?

01:08:34.000 Yeah.

01:08:35.000 That's right.

01:08:35.000 Hey, that was my first loss.

01:08:37.000 If it wasn't for that loss, I probably still wouldn't have a loss today.

01:08:40.000 That was my first loss.

01:08:42.000 So now, around the Olympics, here I go again.

01:08:45.000 So you know how I feel come the second time, right?

01:08:48.000 Now I got robbed twice or three times.

01:08:51.000 We talked about how the Olympic Committee robbed me too.

01:08:53.000 So now I've been robbed three times. 0.99

01:08:55.000 Now somebody got to die.

01:08:56.000 How many times has RJ come out and fight?

01:08:58.000 Just that one time.

01:08:59.000 Just one time?

01:09:00.000 It's because he talked crazy to me out there.

01:09:02.000 I'm knowing, you got my title while you're down, face down on the mat.

01:09:05.000 You can't talk to me like that now.

01:09:07.000 If he would have left me alone, it wouldn't have came out.

01:09:09.000 If he was just left alone, let's go to the second fight, I would have probably beat him, but I wouldn't have beat him like that because I'm not that dude.

01:09:17.000 I try to suppress that guy.

01:09:18.000 You feel me?

01:09:19.000 But when he started talking, now you make me be a person I don't want to be.

01:09:22.000 And I'm glad we friends now.

01:09:24.000 We ain't got no beef no more.

01:09:26.000 We cool.

01:09:26.000 Now we shook hands.

01:09:28.000 He understands and I understand, but it's like, at that time, you can't talk when you took my belt while you was face down the mat.

01:09:36.000 And you gonna talk crazy about me too?

01:09:38.000 No.

01:09:41.000 No, you have always showed great sportsmanship and also control.

01:09:46.000 I remember when you tried to get the referee to stop the Pazienza fight, you looked at the referee, you're like, come on, stop it.

01:09:52.000 He done, bro.

01:09:53.000 What do you want me to do to him?

01:09:55.000 The referee wouldn't stop it, and then you just finished it real quick.

01:09:58.000 I said, okay.

01:09:58.000 Yeah.

01:09:59.000 Yeah, it was devastating.

01:10:01.000 But that was an excellent example of you being a good sportsman.

01:10:04.000 Of course.

01:10:06.000 I'm not out there to hurt people.

01:10:07.000 That's what I try to tell people.

01:10:09.000 I'm not out there to hurt people.

01:10:09.000 When you and Gerald McClellan, who was at the time a destroyer, you know what I mean?

01:10:16.000 He was the man that people thought of as being a great challenger for you.

01:10:21.000 And then he had that fight with Nigel Benn and wound up getting a brain injury and just devastated and was never the same again.

01:10:29.000 How much did that affect you?

01:10:31.000 Because a guy who was your peer, who was a man that many people thought was going to be a rival to you, and you guys were eventually going to have a big super fight.

01:10:40.000 How bad did that affect you?

01:10:42.000 It affected me pretty bad because being that I knew Gerald and we were friends, he won a 3-2 split decision over me and the amateurs.

01:10:49.000 So he was one up and I was definitely looking to get that one back, which I got a little bit back when I sparred with him at Sugar Ray Leonard's gym, but I still wanted an organized get back.

01:10:59.000 So I definitely was looking to fight him down the road, but When that fight happened, when I saw that fight was happening, I was the only person that said that he wouldn't win that fight.

01:11:09.000 I was the only person.

01:11:10.000 And people called me the next day and said, how did you know he was not going to win?

01:11:15.000 I said because...

01:11:17.000 He's good.

01:11:18.000 He's a very strong puncher.

01:11:19.000 But punching is all that Nigel really has.

01:11:22.000 Nigel does not believe in boxing skills.

01:11:24.000 Nigel don't care about boxing skills.

01:11:27.000 Nigel is just what he say is, a dark destroyer.

01:11:30.000 You go into his country, you go into his backyard, and you're going to fight him just like he fights.

01:11:36.000 That's not a good recipe.

01:11:38.000 You feel me?

01:11:40.000 I didn't think it was going to be quite that bad.

01:11:44.000 I didn't think he was going to end his career.

01:11:46.000 But I thought that he was going to end up losing to Nigel because of the fact that he would fight the wrong fight.

01:11:52.000 He would fight the style which Nigel shines in.

01:11:55.000 The only style that Nigel could shine in.

01:11:57.000 When he knocked Nigel down the first round, 99% of fighters would have been done.

01:12:01.000 Yeah.

01:12:02.000 When he sent them through the ropes, it looked like it was over.

01:12:04.000 And that's what Gerald was doing to everybody.

01:12:06.000 Gerald was destroying people.

01:12:08.000 Everybody.

01:12:08.000 Destroying people.

01:12:09.000 What a puncher he was. 0.53

01:12:10.000 And what a classic, cronk-style fighter he was.

01:12:14.000 Tall, long dude, serious power, super hyper-aggressive.

01:12:18.000 Both hands. 0.99

01:12:19.000 But Nigel Benn could fucking take it. 0.99

01:12:22.000 You know, he almost had a comeback recently. 0.99

01:12:24.000 Yeah, he did.

01:12:24.000 He had some shoulder injuries and sidelined him.

01:12:27.000 The bad part about it is, and this is what we're saying we're missing right now, if it was in today's society, Nigel never would have recovered from that first round knockout because today with no crowd, He had nothing to urge him back on. 0.98

01:12:38.000 But with that crowd and he at home, if he has breath in him, he better get up and get his ass back in that ring. 0.98

01:12:45.000 And he did just that. 0.99

01:12:47.000 He survived.

01:12:47.000 But the crowd made him do that.

01:12:50.000 Yeah, and then when he started taking it to Gerald, I mean, that was crazy.

01:12:53.000 Gerald just emptied his gas tank trying to take him out of there.

01:12:57.000 And Gerald was also another guy who cut a tremendous amount of weight.

01:13:00.000 Of course.

01:13:01.000 He was big for a middleweight.

01:13:02.000 Huge.

01:13:02.000 He probably should have gone up to light heavyweight even before then.

01:13:06.000 Or super middleweight.

01:13:06.000 Yeah, or super middleweight.

01:13:07.000 Yeah, and that's what most people thought was going to happen.

01:13:11.000 Yeah, that's to me one of the great tragedies of boxing because it's very rare that an elite top of the food chain world champion in his prime is cut down like that.

01:13:21.000 It's really only been a couple instances.

01:13:23.000 Well, it puts people on notice again as to why fighters ask to get paid properly every time they go in a ring, especially against another elite fighter.

01:13:32.000 Yeah.

01:13:33.000 Because tomorrow is not promised to nobody when you go in that ring.

01:13:37.000 Anything can happen at any time.

01:13:39.000 Nobody suspected that that would be Gerald McClellan's last fight ever.

01:13:44.000 Yeah.

01:13:45.000 You understand me?

01:13:45.000 Nobody suspected that.

01:13:47.000 You understand me?

01:13:48.000 Same with the guy, the heavyweight, that it happened to up in New York.

01:13:52.000 He fought the Cuban guy, Mike, whatever his name was.

01:13:55.000 I can't even remember his last name, but nobody ever suspected that that would be the heavyweight's last fight.

01:14:00.000 I remember that, yeah.

01:14:01.000 I know the fight you're talking about, but I can't remember the name.

01:14:03.000 Yeah, same situation.

01:14:05.000 Yeah, man.

01:14:06.000 It's just like...

01:14:07.000 You never know.

01:14:07.000 So in boxing, you have to take every fight.

01:14:09.000 That's why people say, well, why you say that?

01:14:12.000 Man, you don't know.

01:14:13.000 You know, you get hit by somebody like Mike Tyson, anything can happen to you.

01:14:16.000 Mike Tyson is not just an ordinary puncher.

01:14:19.000 He's one of those guys that could do just that to you.

01:14:21.000 So you should know what you're going into, and you should be ready for that because this here is Mike.

01:14:27.000 You understand me?

01:14:28.000 Now, for me, I don't really give a damn.

01:14:33.000 I fight for a living.

01:14:34.000 I feel just like a game rooster.

01:14:36.000 I'd be ready to die for my spot.

01:14:37.000 So if you want me, it's right down my alley.

01:14:41.000 I ain't tripping at all because I know that death is a probability.

01:14:45.000 You feel me?

01:14:46.000 So yeah, that could happen to anybody.

01:14:49.000 And I know it could happen to me even more going in there with somebody as dangerous as a Mike Tyson.

01:14:53.000 Problem with me is why I love what I love and why I do What I do is because I love boxing.

01:15:01.000 So if I got to die boxing, I'm going to die a happy man.

01:15:04.000 You understand me?

01:15:05.000 What?

01:15:06.000 Is that the way you'd like to go?

01:15:08.000 Well, I mean, well, it's probably one or two other ways I'd rather go.

01:15:11.000 Like a grandpa sitting on the porch.

01:15:13.000 Yeah, but if I went that way, I'm not mad at that.

01:15:17.000 Right, I understand.

01:15:18.000 Because I know that when I started boxing, I know that people get hurt in this.

01:15:23.000 Some people don't make it out of this a lot.

01:15:25.000 So if that's how you got to go, You gotta know that.

01:15:28.000 But if you ain't that game, if you ain't that committed to what you're doing, then you shouldn't be talking to me about boxing.

01:15:34.000 Because that's what boxing is.

01:15:37.000 Yeah, that's a great philosophy to have, to go into combat, because nobody gets out alive in this life.

01:15:45.000 Gotta leave some way.

01:15:47.000 Better believe it.

01:15:48.000 And you want to talk about a man who's been dedicated to a craft and a sport.

01:15:53.000 I mean, your whole life has been dedicated to this craft and sport, and because of that, you are universally recognized as one of the all-time best.

01:16:01.000 Yep, and I ain't caring tomorrow what it is, who it is.

01:16:05.000 When y'all say let's go, it's time for me to go.

01:16:09.000 Yeah, there's a legacy that you've left that no matter what happens, no one can ever take that away from you.

01:16:13.000 Yep. 0.99

01:16:14.000 You've accomplished some crazy shit. 0.99

01:16:16.000 Thank you, brother. 0.99

01:16:18.000 It is what it is, right?

01:16:20.000 And your era too, man.

01:16:21.000 I mean, there's so many amazing fighters of your era.

01:16:25.000 I mean, you really came up and, I mean, boxing is in a good place now.

01:16:29.000 There's a lot of exciting champions and a lot of exciting fights to be made.

01:16:32.000 But, I mean, your era was one of the golden eras of boxing.

01:16:37.000 Yeah, it was.

01:16:38.000 And you know what?

01:16:38.000 The only thing, like I said, what hurts me now is like I be wanting to see the best fighters fight the best fighters.

01:16:47.000 Like right now, a good fight that's on tap is two good fights.

01:16:51.000 Tank's about to fight a good fight.

01:16:52.000 Lomachenko about to fight a really good fight.

01:16:54.000 You understand me?

01:16:55.000 But the guy, his opponent hasn't been proven yet, Teofimo Lopez, but I think he's a really good prospect.

01:17:02.000 And if he does get into this fight, it could be really interesting.

01:17:07.000 Yet, at the same time, this tells us if it's too early for him or not, because he still has time to grow.

01:17:13.000 He's been in it, he's young, but he's a good-looking prospect.

01:17:17.000 You feel me?

01:17:17.000 Good-looking prospect.

01:17:19.000 The guy Tanks fighting, just forgive me, I don't know the names, I don't remember the names that well, but He's a pretty good fighter too.

01:17:26.000 And I don't know that he's going to be able to take Tank's power because Tank's one of these guys that comes way down in weight too.

01:17:31.000 So he'll be big on fight night.

01:17:33.000 And if he's that big on fight night, it makes it very difficult to take those hammers or them tanks that he throws when he throws them.

01:17:40.000 So it's going to be a good fight too.

01:17:41.000 I can't wait to see that.

01:17:42.000 But there are some good fights on tap and I'm looking forward to it.

01:17:45.000 But I still say that right now, the best fighter out there besides Roy and Mike.

01:17:53.000 Is Crawford versus Spence in their pride?

01:17:56.000 I agree.

01:17:57.000 I just am amazed.

01:17:59.000 Why are we still not making it happen?

01:18:00.000 I don't know.

01:18:01.000 I'm amazed Spence came out of that car accident.

01:18:03.000 Man.

01:18:04.000 Unfazed.

01:18:04.000 You watch that car flip like that?

01:18:06.000 You're like, Jesus Christ.

01:18:08.000 God had to be with him.

01:18:09.000 Something was with him, that's for sure.

01:18:11.000 God had to be with him.

01:18:12.000 Had to be.

01:18:12.000 Yep.

01:18:13.000 Something.

01:18:14.000 Yep.

01:18:14.000 And Terrence Crawford, to me, is one of the most interesting champions alive today.

01:18:18.000 Beast mode.

01:18:18.000 He think like me and Pernell would have thought, if you want it, come and get it.

01:18:22.000 I love how he switches stances, too.

01:18:25.000 Yes.

01:18:25.000 I mean, he fights as good from Orthodox as Southpaw.

01:18:28.000 As he does, yep.

01:18:29.000 And when he decides to switch it up on guys, you see the look on their face where they get confused.

01:18:34.000 He'll fight two, three rounds one way and then switch it up.

01:18:37.000 Yep.

01:18:37.000 And you see, like Hagler used to do that.

01:18:39.000 Hagler was a fantastic switch fighter.

01:18:41.000 One of the best I'd seen in Ted Crawford, yeah.

01:18:43.000 Yeah, and Crawford just, he's got a mind for the sport.

01:18:47.000 It's like this, you could see when he's putting it on a guy.

01:18:50.000 You know, he just, he's as game as they come.

01:18:53.000 Yes, sir.

01:18:54.000 Yes, sir.

01:18:55.000 So, those are fights I want to see.

01:18:56.000 I have some interesting guys.

01:18:58.000 I got a guy, Chris Eubank Jr., I really want to see him with one of the Charlo brothers first.

01:19:05.000 And when we get, I think that'll be a very good competitive fight.

01:19:08.000 So you're training Chris Eubanks?

01:19:10.000 Yes, and that'll show us where he's at.

01:19:12.000 You know, I think the winner of that fight should fight Canelo.

01:19:15.000 But I think he's good enough that, you know, it's like you can't down a champion.

01:19:19.000 You can't just say, oh, he'll beat the champ.

01:19:21.000 I don't do that in boxing because that's not my thing.

01:19:24.000 But we do want to fight the champ, which right now I think the WBA champ, middleweight, is a Japanese guy.

01:19:29.000 And we need to fight him to find out, get us a real title.

01:19:32.000 Then we should fight the Charlo Brothers to have a unification title.

01:19:35.000 I mean, then he should fight Canelo to find out who's the man of the weight class.

01:19:39.000 Is Canelo going to stay at 68, or is he going to go back and forth between 68 and 75?

01:19:44.000 I think Canelo's going to go where the money fight is, which is smart for him.

01:19:48.000 Just kind of freelance and rolling.

01:19:50.000 He's been always to 75. He can go from 75 to 60. I think that's comfortable for him.

01:19:55.000 It kind of reminds me of what I kind of did.

01:19:57.000 Just dominate the area.

01:19:58.000 You understand me?

01:19:59.000 So if you get lucky enough to come get high enough in the area, he'll take you.

01:20:04.000 He's an interesting cat because what he's learned from particularly the Floyd Mayweather Jr. fight, if you watch the way he moves now, his head movement is so much better than it ever was before.

01:20:14.000 It's beautiful.

01:20:15.000 His defensive skills are so much better than they've ever been before.

01:20:19.000 Yeah, but to me, that's not the thing that he needed to learn, because you have to look at the past to teach you about the future.

01:20:27.000 So if you look at history, Julio Cesar Chavez Sr., and God bless the dead Roger Mayweather, but Julio beat Roger because he started chasing Roger at the weight end.

01:20:39.000 He didn't wait and try to outbox Roger because he's never going to outbox Roger.

01:20:43.000 Right.

01:20:44.000 But he started chasing Roger at the weight end.

01:20:46.000 And he chased Roger all night until he ran Roger complete ragged.

01:20:50.000 Then he would beat Roger.

01:20:51.000 Well, Julio did that to everybody, right?

01:20:54.000 Meldrick Taylor, too.

01:20:54.000 Yeah, but what I'm saying is that's the way to beat a guy who's a better boxer than you.

01:20:58.000 So if you notice, then why don't you send Canelo in to chase Floyd from round one?

01:21:04.000 Right.

01:21:05.000 You don't go out there and try to outbox Floyd Mayweather.

01:21:07.000 I mean, think about it, man.

01:21:08.000 That's true.

01:21:09.000 Think about it.

01:21:09.000 You think I'm going to go out and try to send somebody to go out and shoot Larry Bird?

01:21:13.000 No, I'm not.

01:21:14.000 No, I'm not.

01:21:15.000 No, I'm not. 1.00

01:21:16.000 That's stupid. 1.00

01:21:17.000 That's what Larry does best. 1.00

01:21:18.000 Right.

01:21:18.000 No!

01:21:19.000 I understand.

01:21:21.000 I think he was a little overwhelmed, you know, because that was a big fight for him, his first real super fight, and he's in there with Floyd, who's a defensive wizard.

01:21:29.000 Yeah, but you've been pro since you was 15. Yeah.

01:21:32.000 So you probably got a little bit more experience than Floyd had at the time as far as professional boxing goes.

01:21:37.000 So if you really think about it, you don't outbox the boxers.

01:21:43.000 Didn't Floyd make him suck a lot of weight, too?

01:21:46.000 I think he made him get down at like 52 or something like that.

01:21:48.000 Yeah, but he came in the ring at like, I think he was 16 pounds heavier than Floyd.

01:21:52.000 So if you're 16 pounds heavier than him, that tells you that you've got to use that 16 pounds.

01:21:57.000 Try to use it against him if you can.

01:21:59.000 I'm not saying that he would have beat Floyd, because Floyd is a smart guy.

01:22:02.000 Floyd knows how to change up.

01:22:03.000 That's the good thing about Floyd.

01:22:04.000 Floyd also is an elite fighter who knows how to make adjustments.

01:22:08.000 But for your best, for your optimal chances, you got to go and get on him for round one.

01:22:13.000 Like Maidana did in the floor of the first fight. 0.98

01:22:18.000 Gave him all kinds of problems in the first fight because he stayed right there on it.

01:22:21.000 And he's not the puncher that Canelo is.

01:22:24.000 He's not as big as Canelo is.

01:22:26.000 But Maidana's a wild man.

01:22:27.000 It don't matter.

01:22:28.000 That's the only chance Canelo had that night.

01:22:31.000 You're not going to outbox Floyd Mayweather.

01:22:33.000 Come on, bro.

01:22:34.000 You got to risk losing.

01:22:35.000 That's what I'm saying.

01:22:36.000 At that point, he wasn't ready for that.

01:22:37.000 So to say that he's a better fighter, we could say that, but he's an older fighter too.

01:22:43.000 So of course, the older you get, the better you're supposed to get.

01:22:46.000 But we can't necessarily say he's a better fighter until we see him...

01:22:49.000 Against a guy like Floyd.

01:22:51.000 He had the same problem with Arizlandi Lara.

01:22:57.000 Oh, okay.

01:22:57.000 Arizlandi Lara as he had with Floyd.

01:22:59.000 Because Arizlandi Lara is a boxer.

01:23:02.000 So that fight was a fight that some people thought could have went either way.

01:23:06.000 Me being one of them.

01:23:07.000 You feel me?

01:23:07.000 So that don't mean you got better.

01:23:10.000 That means that you've been facing different types of competition.

01:23:13.000 Because until we see you do that and handle that style...

01:23:18.000 Then we can say you got better.

01:23:19.000 Now, he's a great fighter, don't get me wrong.

01:23:21.000 To me, he's in my top three because I love Canelo.

01:23:23.000 I think Canelo's one of the best out there.

01:23:25.000 But we can't say, we're always quick to say he got better after the floor of a fight.

01:23:29.000 I'm not going to say that necessarily.

01:23:31.000 He got better because he's going to get better anyway because he's going to grow up.

01:23:34.000 Which he did.

01:23:35.000 He was 21 and he grew up.

01:23:37.000 Most people, when they grow up, they get smarter, so they have to get better.

01:23:40.000 But I don't think the Florida fight made him better because he still didn't show me that he made the necessary adjustment to come back and beat Florida if he fought him again or give Florida an even better fight if he fought him again because if he's outpressing Florida, he's never going to outbox Florida.

01:23:55.000 Yeah.

01:23:56.000 Styles make fights, right?

01:23:57.000 That's what I'm saying.

01:23:57.000 Yeah.

01:23:58.000 Were you stunned by the Kovalev fight?

01:24:01.000 No, I wasn't.

01:24:02.000 No, I wasn't.

01:24:03.000 Kovalev took the fight at a time I thought was bad for him because he took it right after one of his other fights.

01:24:08.000 And it's like, to me, I don't think Kovalev took the fight with the intent to win it.

01:24:14.000 I think he felt like, I'll get a chance to fight Canelo, I'll get good money, I'll take it.

01:24:18.000 You think so?

01:24:19.000 That's what I felt like.

01:24:20.000 Really?

01:24:21.000 I don't think, I didn't see the real Kovalev.

01:24:23.000 I mean, then you try to box Canelo and move away and let Canelo stalk you, but now the way Canelo stalked him, It's the way he should have stalked Mayweather the first time.

01:24:33.000 Yeah.

01:24:34.000 Because that's what he had to do to beat Mayweather.

01:24:36.000 And he turned Kovalev, the crusher, turned into a boxer.

01:24:41.000 I think with Kovalev, the word's always been that he drinks too much.

01:24:44.000 Yeah.

01:24:44.000 I hear that, but what I'm saying is, Kovalev, your nickname is the crusher.

01:24:48.000 Right.

01:24:48.000 Why would you let a guy coming up to weight classes make you alleviate or deviate from where you normally are?

01:24:55.000 You normally call the crusher.

01:24:56.000 Now you're going to go to the boxer all of a sudden for a guy that's coming up to weight classes?

01:25:00.000 No!

01:25:03.000 No.

01:25:04.000 You understand me?

01:25:05.000 I mean, I love Kovalev to death too.

01:25:07.000 That's my boy.

01:25:08.000 You know what I'm saying?

01:25:09.000 But I just felt like he fought the wrong fight against Cano.

01:25:12.000 Yeah.

01:25:13.000 I don't know if he was physically capable of fighting any other fight.

01:25:16.000 Well, but like I said...

01:25:17.000 I just don't think he's as durable as he used to be.

01:25:19.000 I agree with that too, but to me...

01:25:21.000 You must fight the right game plan or you've lost before the fight starts.

01:25:27.000 Right.

01:25:27.000 Yeah.

01:25:28.000 True.

01:25:29.000 Well, you're a fantastic commentator, man.

01:25:31.000 That's one of the things that got really bummed out when HBO died.

01:25:34.000 I can't believe they took away boxing.

01:25:37.000 I don't know why HBO did that.

01:25:39.000 I just don't understand it.

01:25:41.000 Well, I understood what they told me was that they don't like the fact they are not going to do something and be number two.

01:25:47.000 If they can't be number one, they ain't doing it.

01:25:50.000 And so I can kind of understand it.

01:25:53.000 So what put them into number two?

01:25:55.000 Well, I'm just saying they want to be best at it.

01:25:57.000 Was it DAZN or was it just money and streaming, ESPN Plus?

01:26:01.000 I don't really know.

01:26:02.000 I just felt they want to be number one or they want to be nothing.

01:26:05.000 Well, I mean, I don't know, man.

01:26:07.000 Between you and with Jim Lampley.

01:26:10.000 And Max Kellerman.

01:26:11.000 And Max Kellerman, who's fantastic.

01:26:13.000 You guys did an amazing job.

01:26:14.000 Fun stuff, man.

01:26:14.000 Fun stuff.

01:26:15.000 The commentary team was unparalleled.

01:26:17.000 The best ever.

01:26:18.000 The best ever.

01:26:18.000 So that's what I'm saying.

01:26:19.000 But like I said, I just feel like maybe they were used to having the elite champions.

01:26:25.000 And because the elite champions became dispersed, maybe that was it.

01:26:29.000 I don't know.

01:26:29.000 But to me, I feel like, like I said, I feel like they...

01:26:36.000 Just wanted to be, or maybe people that bought them out, I don't know.

01:26:39.000 I don't know either, but it's a sad state of affairs.

01:26:42.000 It hurt me, I tell you that.

01:26:43.000 It still hurts me to this day.

01:26:45.000 I mean, they have been in boxing for how many years?

01:26:48.000 30 plus years?

01:26:50.000 It still hurts me to this day.

01:26:52.000 And it's amazing that no one has brought that team back.

01:26:56.000 Max Kellerman to this day is not doing boxing commentary that I'm aware of.

01:27:00.000 He do a little bit on ESPN. Does he?

01:27:02.000 Yeah, he does a little bit.

01:27:03.000 But where's Jim Lampley?

01:27:05.000 I don't know, but those two guys are two of the best guys you ever can work with.

01:27:10.000 And Jim Lampley has a memory that is unparalleled to anybody I've ever met in my life. 0.88

01:27:16.000 This guy can look at the paper one time and remember that whole damn page. 0.97

01:27:22.000 Word for it. 0.99

01:27:23.000 I believe it.

01:27:24.000 I mean, I ain't never seen that like it in my life.

01:27:27.000 No, he is as good a play-by-play commentator as has ever lived.

01:27:32.000 Yes, sir.

01:27:32.000 He's phenomenal.

01:27:33.000 HBO was pretty awesome.

01:27:35.000 As an organization because, you know, it's like I built my career there at HBO and then to be able to build that commentary career there was so fabulous for me.

01:27:43.000 So they were really, I mean, it hurt me bad that they got out of boxing because that was like, man, that was really the kingpin of boxing.

01:27:54.000 Yeah, no, they were, they were uncrowned.

01:27:56.000 I mean, undoubtedly the ones who wore the crown.

01:27:59.000 Now, do you do any commentary now?

01:28:01.000 No, I can't until my contract's over and my contract's not over until December.

01:28:05.000 Oh, okay.

01:28:06.000 Yeah, so after December I can do other commentary.

01:28:08.000 Are you talking to anybody about doing that?

01:28:10.000 Not yet.

01:28:10.000 I hope you do.

01:28:11.000 I haven't spoken to anybody about it yet.

01:28:12.000 I'm sure after it ends we'll start speaking to people, but I haven't spoken to anybody yet.

01:28:18.000 So, how did you get involved with Russia?

01:28:21.000 How did you become a Russian citizen?

01:28:22.000 When I read that, I was like, what is happening with Roy?

01:28:25.000 What are you doing?

01:28:25.000 Man, I do so much.

01:28:26.000 My partner got a movie coming out right now called Four Kings, me and Mike Tyson in that movie too.

01:28:31.000 But I do so much.

01:28:33.000 So I was over at Russia doing fights, doing stuff, and I never realized how big I was in Russia until I started going over there.

01:28:40.000 In Russia, it's like a Roy of 1990s.

01:28:44.000 Really?

01:28:44.000 Yeah.

01:28:45.000 When I go somewhere, it's all hell to king.

01:28:48.000 That's how much they love boxing.

01:28:52.000 Wow.

01:28:53.000 So to go to Russia and to see that you love that much, as bad as I hate the cold.

01:29:02.000 As bad as I hate the cold, to be revered that much, it's always like I tell people, I always want to be somewhere that I'm wanted and needed if possible.

01:29:15.000 But wanted is the big key.

01:29:17.000 And I tell my kids, don't date a girl that you want. 1.00

01:29:21.000 Date a girl that wants you.

01:29:22.000 She'll treat you better.

01:29:24.000 Smart words right there.

01:29:27.000 That's very important.

01:29:28.000 So Resha loves and appreciates me.

01:29:30.000 Mm-hmm.

01:29:31.000 You understand me?

01:29:32.000 The U.S. appreciates and loves me, too.

01:29:34.000 Don't get it wrong.

01:29:35.000 99% of the population in Russia knows me.

01:29:38.000 Really?

01:29:39.000 Yes.

01:29:39.000 So it's like when they say you should become a part of us, too, it's like it's not to say, oh, I don't like you.

01:29:45.000 No, it's not like that.

01:29:46.000 It's like, why can't we all get along?

01:29:48.000 Why can't we?

01:29:49.000 What's the problem?

01:29:50.000 Well, one of the things I was going to say is that you haven't really taken any grief publicly about being a dual citizen that I've ever seen.

01:29:56.000 No, but there are several Russians that are dual citizens.

01:29:59.000 So why would y'all give me grief when y'all ain't giving them grief?

01:30:02.000 True.

01:30:02.000 I mean, is it?

01:30:03.000 We already talked about this racism stuff.

01:30:05.000 Is it?

01:30:06.000 If I got grief, what could it be?

01:30:08.000 Because there are several Russians over here in this country right now that they have dual citizenship.

01:30:14.000 So I can't.

01:30:16.000 Why can't you?

01:30:17.000 That's what I'm saying.

01:30:18.000 So how did it come up?

01:30:20.000 A Russian guy brought it up to me and said, hey, they love you so much, you should look at becoming a citizen here too.

01:30:28.000 I was like, wow, that's not a bad idea.

01:30:29.000 I never thought in my life that it would be possible to become a Russian citizen and an American citizen.

01:30:34.000 I said, but that can't be a bad thing.

01:30:35.000 And people forget that we fought together in World War II. Yes.

01:30:39.000 So it's like we're not really enemies.

01:30:42.000 We're enemies.

01:30:43.000 Sometimes politics try to make us enemies, but we're really not enemies.

01:30:46.000 And if we're all children of God, then why are we enemies?

01:30:50.000 Or how can we really be enemies?

01:30:51.000 So do you split time in Russia?

01:30:53.000 Yes.

01:30:54.000 How much time of the year do you spend there?

01:30:56.000 I usually go about, spend probably about six months a year there.

01:30:58.000 Really?

01:30:58.000 So you do hit that cold?

01:31:00.000 Yeah, I do hit it. 0.92

01:31:02.000 I hate it, but I hate it.

01:31:03.000 And my fighters, and I meant to mention that I have several fighters all over the world who have a Russian heavyweight I have a Swedish middleweight.

01:31:12.000 I have a Swedish coach.

01:31:14.000 I got some fighters in South Africa.

01:31:16.000 I got fighters everywhere.

01:31:19.000 And then I got a team here.

01:31:20.000 I got Andrew, Glenn, I'll tell you about Chris Eubank, Kevin Newman, the list goes Shady, Ikram, I got a lot of good Michael Williams, Jr. I got a good stable of young fighters up and coming.

01:31:38.000 Brian Pirello, I think his last name is.

01:31:40.000 Bryant.

01:31:41.000 I got a really good stable of Glenn Hagler, Jr. Really good stable of fighters that I'm trying to work on bringing up.

01:31:47.000 Fernando.

01:31:48.000 And I'm trying to get them to understand my thought process in boxing.

01:31:54.000 Because if they can understand my thought process, they're already ahead of the curve.

01:31:58.000 If they don't understand my thought process, they're not going away.

01:32:02.000 Right.

01:32:03.000 You understand me?

01:32:04.000 So it's like you have to understand the thought process in order to be able to really pursue a career doing it my way.

01:32:11.000 You understand me?

01:32:12.000 What do you think is different about your thought process?

01:32:14.000 My thought process is some of it is already understood before I go in there.

01:32:19.000 You understand me?

01:32:20.000 So it's like certain things...

01:32:23.000 That you do, you know you have do's and don'ts before you go in there.

01:32:28.000 You understand me?

01:32:29.000 So it's like when I come out to a fight, if you got a bad jab, you won't live tonight.

01:32:33.000 You will not win tonight because you're not going to beat me with a bad jab.

01:32:37.000 Not because it's the first punch you learn in boxing.

01:32:39.000 If your jab is bad, you're not beating Roy.

01:32:42.000 You understand me?

01:32:43.000 If you can't block this hook, you're not beating Roy.

01:32:45.000 You understand?

01:32:46.000 Those things are understood before the fight ever started.

01:32:47.000 I don't care who you are.

01:32:48.000 If you jab bad and you ain't going to block this hook, you ain't going to beat Roy.

01:32:52.000 So do you think like for young fighters, well, first of all, it's got to be an amazing opportunity to train with an all-time great, period.

01:32:59.000 But to get into your head and for you to explain to them how you approach situations, how you approach fights, how you approach stepping into that ring, how you approach dismantling opponents, that's got to rub off on young kids.

01:33:14.000 Yeah, it does.

01:33:15.000 That's what I try to do.

01:33:16.000 Some kids get it, some kids don't.

01:33:18.000 But my goal is to try to get it to all of them.

01:33:20.000 I get it in all of them's head.

01:33:22.000 Get them at least to start thinking in the right direction.

01:33:24.000 Because if I can make them think in the right direction, now I got something.

01:33:27.000 You understand me?

01:33:28.000 I got to make them think in the right direction first.

01:33:30.000 See, most guys won't contact me.

01:33:32.000 You understand me?

01:33:34.000 Contact is like, I got a guy, one of my guys I work with off and on named James Wilkins.

01:33:39.000 He works harder than everybody everywhere.

01:33:42.000 But I got to teach him that it's not about how hard you work, it's how smart you work hard.

01:33:48.000 You understand me?

01:33:49.000 Because if you're working hard without smart, you're not going to get nowhere.

01:33:52.000 And you can overtrain.

01:33:53.000 Yeah, you're going to overtrain and you're not getting no better because you're not working smart.

01:33:57.000 So, so many boxers have now gone to Basically, strength and conditioning.

01:34:03.000 So my friend Tom Yankello has started a channel.

01:34:08.000 And Tom Yankello has a channel.

01:34:10.000 And his thing is, he teaches boxing.

01:34:14.000 Is it a YouTube channel?

01:34:15.000 Yeah.

01:34:16.000 How do you say his name?

01:34:16.000 Tom Yankello.

01:34:17.000 How do you spell that?

01:34:18.000 Y-A-N-K-E-L-O. Okay. 1.00

01:34:22.000 And his thing, he has a thing where he starts to teach because he realizes There's not a lot of coaches left in boxing.

01:34:29.000 So he's teaching boxing the right weight now.

01:34:32.000 You understand me?

01:34:32.000 And with that being said, he's going to help give back to people because if you just go on YouTube and Look him up, you'll see him, but he got a lot of stuff on me on that right now.

01:34:43.000 There you go right there.

01:34:44.000 There he is.

01:34:44.000 Okay, I've seen him work with you.

01:34:46.000 So those little flippy pads, those are like, they're different, right?

01:34:51.000 Yes.

01:34:51.000 What do you like about those?

01:34:53.000 Well, I like them because they don't hurt your hands.

01:34:54.000 If you're a big puncher like I am, you ain't got to ever hurt your hands.

01:34:57.000 But the ones where guys hold their hands, they hurt your hands.

01:35:00.000 He gives a lot of knowledge.

01:35:02.000 He teaches a lot.

01:35:03.000 He teaches the sport the right way.

01:35:05.000 You understand me?

01:35:05.000 So I like people like him because he's doing his thing the way it's supposed to be done.

01:35:12.000 Well, the beautiful opportunity that people have now to learn shit on YouTube that just was not available before. 0.84

01:35:18.000 You could spend day after day after day watching YouTube videos and instructions and watching old fights too, man. 0.97

01:35:24.000 Of course.

01:35:25.000 Old fights is some of the best knowledge you're going to get.

01:35:27.000 But having somebody like him that's also teaching it helps you a whole lot.

01:35:32.000 Out of all the old fighters, is there one that really stands out to you that you enjoyed watching?

01:35:41.000 What did you get from Muhammad Ali?

01:35:58.000 How to be a showman and how to have class inside and outside of the ring.

01:36:03.000 And how to outthink your opponent with your mind before you beat him with your fists.

01:36:08.000 No one played better mind games than him.

01:36:10.000 Exactly.

01:36:11.000 And he was doing it back when nobody did.

01:36:13.000 The Sonny Liston fight.

01:36:14.000 They literally were almost not going to let him fight.

01:36:17.000 They thought he was crazy.

01:36:19.000 Your blood pressure is off the charts, man.

01:36:21.000 He did it every time.

01:36:22.000 He did it every time, though.

01:36:23.000 Because he got so hyper before he fought.

01:36:25.000 Yeah.

01:36:26.000 But he was what a unique human being.

01:36:30.000 He was about as unique as it gets.

01:36:31.000 I always point to people, too.

01:36:33.000 I say, if you look at Muhammad Ali, you got to look at Muhammad Ali before they made him take three years off.

01:36:38.000 You watch the Cleveland Big Cat Williams fight. 0.98

01:36:41.000 I'm like, ain't my fucking heavyweight that moved like that. 0.99

01:36:43.000 Not now. 0.99

01:36:44.000 Not with that kind of speed.

01:36:45.000 Not with that kind of footwork.

01:36:47.000 I mean, come on.

01:36:48.000 Footwork, precision, everything.

01:36:50.000 They were faster than the middleweight.

01:36:52.000 Literally.

01:36:53.000 Literally. 0.76

01:36:53.000 No bullshit. 0.76

01:36:54.000 Literally.

01:36:55.000 Faster than a middleweight and a full-blown heavyweight with length and reach and power and everything.

01:37:01.000 Couldn't deal with it.

01:37:02.000 And then also as a human being outside of the ring.

01:37:05.000 I mean, a cultural force.

01:37:06.000 I remember when I was a kid, my parents weren't boxing fans at all.

01:37:11.000 But when Muhammad Ali was making that comeback fight against Leon Spinks, he lost to Spinks the first time, and then the second time they're fighting again, my parents watched it.

01:37:20.000 They're like, we want to see him win the title back.

01:37:22.000 My parents were hippies.

01:37:24.000 They weren't boxing fans.

01:37:25.000 But he stood for more than boxing.

01:37:28.000 He stood for what's good in the world.

01:37:30.000 He stood for rejecting evil.

01:37:33.000 There's a man who gave up his career because he didn't want to fight in Vietnam because he thought the war was wrong.

01:37:37.000 And people don't understand, but that's the second reason I accepted the Russian citizenship.

01:37:42.000 Because Muhammad Ali showed me that we live here as one.

01:37:45.000 We shouldn't live as individuals.

01:37:47.000 We should live here as one.

01:37:49.000 Everybody should be respected, looked upon, equal.

01:37:52.000 You understand me?

01:37:53.000 And because the Russians did that, that's why I accepted it. 1.00

01:37:56.000 What they gave me because they're looking at me as equal, not that I'm an athlete, not that I'm a boxer, not that I'm black, but that I'm equal and that they love what I did, they love what I stood for, and they would love to invite me to be a part of their culture as well as the United States.

01:38:11.000 That's a beautiful way to look at it.

01:38:12.000 Yep.

01:38:14.000 You talk about a country that has a great history of combat sports, too, man.

01:38:18.000 My God.

01:38:19.000 Between wrestling, MMA, boxing, I mean, there's so many of these up-and-coming boxers now that also are these great fighters that happen to be Russian.

01:38:29.000 But everything is carrying over now because of the internet, people can now see things differently.

01:38:35.000 And, you know, you can learn.

01:38:36.000 Like I said, you can look at this and you can watch old fights over and over and learn what your favorite fighter did or what his attributes were or what you like about him, what made him great.

01:38:45.000 That's why I used to look for what made people great.

01:38:47.000 Like, you understand this.

01:38:49.000 I got my left body shot from Eddie Mustafa Muhammad back when he was Eddie Gregory.

01:38:53.000 Oh, wow!

01:38:55.000 Wow.

01:38:57.000 Pre-Sphinx. 0.81

01:38:58.000 Exactly right.

01:38:59.000 Wow.

01:39:00.000 That's where I got my left-level shot from.

01:39:02.000 Eddie Gregory, also known as Eddie Mustafa of Muhammad.

01:39:05.000 Who became a great trainer, too, by the way.

01:39:07.000 You better believe it.

01:39:08.000 Wow.

01:39:08.000 That's old school, man.

01:39:10.000 Yes, sir.

01:39:11.000 And I got my defense.

01:39:12.000 I could go a whole round without getting hit from Wilfred Benitez.

01:39:17.000 Ah.

01:39:17.000 Best defensive fighter besides Willie Pipp, I think, to every little.

01:39:20.000 He was pretty special.

01:39:21.000 Well, you got to throw Pernell Whitaker in that mix, too.

01:39:22.000 Well, he was good defensively, too, but he wasn't as defensively as those guys were.

01:39:26.000 Hmm.

01:39:27.000 Yeah.

01:39:28.000 Yeah, I mean, there's so many greats to study and learn little bits and pieces from.

01:39:34.000 I mean, that was one of the big things that Mike Tyson did, of course, you know, is just spend a giant chunk of his youth watching a video.

01:39:41.000 And that's what people don't understand about Mike.

01:39:43.000 Mike is very well versed in boxing.

01:39:45.000 He knows what the hell he's doing.

01:39:46.000 He knows how to solve a puzzle in a boxing ring.

01:39:49.000 More so than anything else in life, he knows how to solve any riddle he needs to solve in a boxing ring.

01:39:55.000 People don't give him enough credit for that.

01:39:57.000 No, they don't.

01:39:58.000 I mean, Mike Tyson, he's a fascinating human being.

01:40:01.000 And his mind is, he has things that he focuses on.

01:40:06.000 And that's when you find out who he is.

01:40:08.000 When you talk to him about the things he focuses on.

01:40:10.000 Because he knows a lot about the things that he focuses on.

01:40:13.000 Exactly.

01:40:13.000 A lot more than you would ever expect.

01:40:15.000 Yeah, he's intense.

01:40:18.000 When he talks to you about the things that are interesting and important to him, you see that intensity.

01:40:24.000 That's when it all comes out.

01:40:26.000 Now, you're 51 now?

01:40:28.000 Yep.

01:40:29.000 What is the difference between training at 51 and training at 31?

01:40:34.000 At 51, you need one or two more days to recover than you did at 31. Stuff that hurts, it hurts a little bit longer at 51 than it did at 31. Are you doing things differently?

01:40:44.000 Yeah, you got to do things differently.

01:40:45.000 You have to take days off a little bit more frequently than you would have wanted to back when you were 31. When I was 31, I didn't need no days off.

01:40:52.000 Right.

01:40:52.000 I go all the time.

01:40:53.000 At 51, after about two or three days, you got to say, okay, let me hold up a minute because if you don't, that need to say, okay, you might want to go, but I ain't going today.

01:41:02.000 Right.

01:41:04.000 So, are you using any technology in terms of like heart rate monitors?

01:41:10.000 Nah.

01:41:10.000 No, you're just going by feel?

01:41:11.000 I'm old school, you know me.

01:41:12.000 Old school, yeah, I do.

01:41:14.000 I go by feel.

01:41:15.000 I feel it today, I get it today.

01:41:17.000 I don't feel it today, we'll rest and get it tomorrow.

01:41:19.000 Are you using any new school recovery methods?

01:41:22.000 Like, are you using sauna?

01:41:25.000 Are you using ice plungers?

01:41:26.000 I do a little ice.

01:41:29.000 I did a couple of little things I tried.

01:41:31.000 One thing that made me stop, I was doing a thing called ProTech, I think, and they said I got to stop because it got something in it that didn't work.

01:41:38.000 What is that?

01:41:39.000 ProTech, it's a thing like they give you, it's for my knees, basically.

01:41:42.000 And it's supposed to help get the cartilage back in my knees.

01:41:45.000 Oh, okay.

01:41:47.000 Wasn't working?

01:41:47.000 It was working, but it said there are things that may not pass the test if you take a test, so you got to stop.

01:41:53.000 You can't do that no more.

01:41:53.000 So I couldn't do it, but I really enjoyed it because it made my knee feel a lot better.

01:41:57.000 But they said you got to be careful now because I guess something on there may not...

01:42:00.000 Some forbidden thing?

01:42:02.000 Yes.

01:42:02.000 It's called Pro-Tech?

01:42:03.000 It's called Pro-Tech, yeah.

01:42:04.000 See, what is that?

01:42:06.000 Okay. 0.97

01:42:07.000 I'm curious about that because my knees were all fucked up. 0.98

01:42:09.000 Yeah. 0.96

01:42:10.000 I got a couple people that can help you out with your knees, though, because there's another lady down where I live, Dr. Deborah. 0.99

01:42:16.000 She can really help your knees out too.

01:42:18.000 She's also, she's the one who gave me the shot with the protec, but she has another product that she uses that I think hers may pass the test, so I don't know.

01:42:27.000 I'm not going to take it this time though, because I tried this and they said the doctor told me that I can't do it again, so I got to stop.

01:42:33.000 Now, what kind of testing are they doing for this fight?

01:42:35.000 They said they're doing regular fight testing, so just like they would do in a normal fight, we're going to get tested as though we are regular athletes, as though we're fighting a regular sanctioned fight.

01:42:45.000 Vada has already been to my house once.

01:42:47.000 Vada?

01:42:47.000 Yes.

01:42:48.000 So you can't be on any testosterone replacement, no growth hormone, no peptides, no nothing.

01:42:54.000 Just 51 years of life.

01:42:56.000 Yep.

01:42:57.000 And if you ain't got it in them 51 years of life, then too bad you ain't getting it.

01:43:03.000 Well, it certainly helps if you had it and never lost it.

01:43:06.000 Right.

01:43:06.000 We were talking about that before we got here.

01:43:08.000 You never stop moving.

01:43:10.000 I never stop moving, so that's a good thing for me.

01:43:12.000 Yeah.

01:43:13.000 When we were kids and we looked at 51-year-olds.

01:43:16.000 We thought they were super old.

01:43:17.000 They were grandfathers.

01:43:18.000 Yeah, they were dead.

01:43:19.000 They were throwing triple F hooks. 0.99

01:43:21.000 No, not almost.

01:43:22.000 Lightning speed.

01:43:22.000 Not at 51. No, not at 51. Yeah.

01:43:25.000 Yeah, so just the days off, that's the only thing that's different?

01:43:29.000 Well, I don't go as long when I train.

01:43:32.000 What's a typical session for you?

01:43:33.000 A typical session is now 12 or 13, maybe 15 rounds max.

01:43:38.000 It used to be 16 to 24 rounds.

01:43:41.000 Now it's like 12 to 15 max.

01:43:44.000 And some of those are low-impact rounds even because you don't want to overdo it because you do too much, tear the tendons in your arm again, mess your hands up again.

01:43:53.000 You don't want to mess nothing up when a fight does not happen.

01:43:56.000 Now, do you have a person who's making your schedule, or do you do everything yourself?

01:44:02.000 I do a little bit of it myself.

01:44:03.000 I've got a few people that help out.

01:44:06.000 My wife helps out some, but she's doing her thing with the SheWarrior brand as well.

01:44:10.000 So, IamSheWarrior.com.

01:44:12.000 Make sure y'all check that.

01:44:14.000 That's where you get your wife this stuff from. 1.00

01:44:15.000 Yes, thank you.

01:44:15.000 So, yeah, if you can pull it up, IamSheWarrior.com.

01:44:19.000 So, she helps you put your schedule together as well?

01:44:22.000 She helped me put my schedule together and she trains with us every day.

01:44:25.000 Really?

01:44:25.000 Wow.

01:44:26.000 Yeah, so it's all good.

01:44:28.000 There it is right here.

01:44:30.000 Yeah, there it is.

01:44:31.000 Oh, very nice.

01:44:32.000 That's what I'm trying to get.

01:44:32.000 Embrace every challenge as a strong, confident woman you are.

01:44:36.000 Yeah!

01:44:39.000 Now, what about when you were briefly talking about strength and conditioning?

01:44:43.000 Do you do strength and conditioning?

01:44:45.000 Like you see a lot of these fighters are doing like the circuit training, high intensity, you know, like kettlebells.

01:44:53.000 Yeah, I do a little bit of that, but I don't make that a vital part of my workout.

01:44:59.000 I get up and do it in the mornings like three or four days a week.

01:45:02.000 I got a friend named Lee Fusula.

01:45:04.000 He brings this guy over and we go to work.

01:45:06.000 We do it like three or four days a week.

01:45:08.000 But we don't make that a priority because I'm not a weightlifter.

01:45:13.000 I'm not a football player.

01:45:15.000 I'm a boxer.

01:45:16.000 So boxing skills still should have to be the priority.

01:45:20.000 You want to be in shape too, but don't mistake fitness Over boxing skills.

01:45:27.000 Some people now prefer fitness over boxing skills.

01:45:30.000 But when you run into a guy that has boxing skills and a little bit of fitness, he gonna beat you.

01:45:35.000 Yeah.

01:45:36.000 The most important thing is efficiency and skill.

01:45:39.000 Boxing skills.

01:45:40.000 Yeah.

01:45:41.000 How did that happen where this thing got confused that way?

01:45:44.000 Well, I think what really happened is a lot of the foreigners started picking up a little bit of our boxing skills too. 1.00

01:45:50.000 And they were always super fit, but they didn't have the boxing skills.

01:45:55.000 Now that they have the internet, they can get the boxing skills.

01:45:57.000 So they can pick up one or two little tricks, put it with that conditioning, and you're going to get beat.

01:46:03.000 Because they can do this all night.

01:46:05.000 Well, when you see a guy who's like super strong and super fit and dominates people with that, it tempts people into thinking that's the way.

01:46:13.000 That's the way.

01:46:13.000 Like Artur Bitterbeef.

01:46:15.000 That's exactly right.

01:46:17.000 Super strong guy. 1.00

01:46:18.000 That motherfucker's a tank. 1.00

01:46:19.000 A killer. 1.00

01:46:20.000 He's such a tank. 0.96

01:46:22.000 I love watching that guy fight.

01:46:23.000 But he's been down twice, too, though.

01:46:25.000 Yes, he has.

01:46:26.000 He gets in wars.

01:46:28.000 Yeah, he gets in wars. 1.00

01:46:29.000 But that fucking guy, he is seeking to destroy every fight. 1.00

01:46:33.000 One of the strongest power-for-power punches I've ever seen. 1.00

01:46:36.000 Ever.

01:46:36.000 I mean, I'm a giant fan of his and I love watching his fights because that's what you're going to get.

01:46:41.000 You're going to get seek and destroy every fight.

01:46:42.000 And see, the problem is, in our country, we're not open-minded enough to be able to see good fights no matter what race they are.

01:46:51.000 Because if you think about it, Arthur Bitta Biff and B-Ball, Demetri B-Ball, will be a sugary little Tamar Heron type fight right now.

01:47:01.000 Huge.

01:47:01.000 Right now.

01:47:02.000 There he is. 1.00

01:47:03.000 Look at that motherfucker. 1.00

01:47:04.000 Hey. 1.00

01:47:04.000 He's so jacked! 1.00

01:47:06.000 These two guys can freaking punch and they both can fight. 0.97

01:47:09.000 You feel me? 0.91

01:47:09.000 Yeah. 0.91

01:47:10.000 Well, I just think people maybe don't have the understanding and appreciation of boxing as a whole as they used to back in your day.

01:47:17.000 Yeah, we're more closed-minded, you know what I mean?

01:47:20.000 Well, it's just, it's unfortunate because he's, I think he's like 37 now.

01:47:26.000 So he's, you know, he's...

01:47:27.000 Getting to the later stages of his life.

01:47:29.000 He's in his prime still, but he's like, the outside edge is...

01:47:34.000 How old is he?

01:47:35.000 35!

01:47:36.000 Oh, that's not that bad.

01:47:37.000 But still, you know, really, from 35 on is when, unless you're Bernard Hopkins. 0.99

01:47:45.000 Fucking that guy, man. 0.98

01:47:47.000 And again, but that guy speaks to discipline and boxing skill, right? 1.00

01:47:50.000 Of course.

01:47:51.000 I mean, that's what led Bernard Hopkins to have such an incredible career.

01:47:54.000 That's right, because of the boxing skills.

01:47:56.000 Not just...

01:47:58.000 Strength and conditioning, but boxing skills along with a little strength and conditioning.

01:48:02.000 I remember back when he was the executioner, when he fought Felix Trinidad.

01:48:07.000 People were already counting him out.

01:48:09.000 They were like, he's too old.

01:48:10.000 And you think about, he knocked out Felix Trinidad.

01:48:12.000 I want to say he was like 36 back then.

01:48:16.000 And that was just the beginning.

01:48:18.000 That was just the beginning.

01:48:19.000 He went on to have this incredible career post-36.

01:48:22.000 Yeah.

01:48:23.000 And he won't tell nobody the truth ever, but he came to Pensacola before he did that and asked me what should he do now?

01:48:30.000 Because he really wanted to fight me again, too, in a sense, but it wasn't really the money that he wanted.

01:48:34.000 So I told him, listen, you could beat all those small guys.

01:48:37.000 Go down to one to fight Felix Trinidad, Oscar De La Hoya's of the world.

01:48:41.000 Be your name back up, and you'll get someone.

01:48:43.000 And he did exactly that.

01:48:45.000 I know he won't ever tell nobody the truth that I told him that, but I did.

01:48:49.000 And I ain't got no reason to lie to you.

01:48:51.000 I did.

01:48:52.000 Just like I told Tyson Fury that if he just took five years of his life and dedicated it back to boxing, he'd beat the majority of the heavyweights after the day because the ones that are on top, mentally he can beat them.

01:49:04.000 He's mentally better than most of them, but he's got to dedicate himself to the sport.

01:49:08.000 And look where he's at right now.

01:49:10.000 Well, it's funny that when you talk to Tyson Fury, his father told him to not take the first Deontay Wilder fight.

01:49:16.000 He said, you're not ready.

01:49:18.000 He said, you haven't fully recovered physically from all the years of drinking and abuse that he's put on his body.

01:49:25.000 After he beat Vladimir Klitschko and won the title, he kind of went crazy for a while.

01:49:30.000 Of course.

01:49:30.000 He's open about that, about his issues with alcoholism and mental illness.

01:49:35.000 But his father was like, you haven't come back yet.

01:49:38.000 You're not all the way back.

01:49:39.000 So they have that fight.

01:49:41.000 Fight ends in a draw.

01:49:42.000 Crazy fight.

01:49:43.000 And then the rematch.

01:49:45.000 Jesus Christ.

01:49:46.000 It was like...

01:49:48.000 Seeing him take it to Deontay Wilder, you want to talk about a hard puncher.

01:49:52.000 Deontay Wilder is one of the freakiest punchers I've ever seen in my life.

01:49:56.000 Freaky.

01:49:57.000 Freaky powerful.

01:49:58.000 With the right hand especially.

01:49:59.000 Yeah, freaky. 0.98

01:50:01.000 When he knocked out Ortiz with that right hand to the forehead and just flatlined him, he was like, he's sitting there like, what in the fuck just happened?

01:50:09.000 He's just crazy power, but Tyson Fury's boxing skill, his boxing skill, and the fact that he started training with Sugar Hill, Kronk fighter before that, Kronk trainer, and had that super aggressive in-your-face style,

01:50:25.000 and just really used those boxing skills and got super aggressive in the rematch, and had Deontay on the back heel.

01:50:31.000 That was the main thing, and when you're not as powerful as Deontay, you have to think of other ways to do it.

01:50:38.000 And the fact that when they fight Tyson Fury, same thing happened with Klitschko.

01:50:42.000 They're not punching down or straight ahead.

01:50:44.000 They got to punch up.

01:50:46.000 That takes a lot of power away from those good right hand punchers.

01:50:49.000 So unless you have a good Joe Frazier type, George Foreman type hook or Ken Norton type hook, then you're going to be in trouble if you got to punch up here.

01:50:57.000 The hook is still deadly up here, but the right hand going up here takes a little bit off of it.

01:51:01.000 That's just the law of gravity.

01:51:02.000 If you don't know that, there's something wrong with them.

01:51:05.000 I was just amazed that he got up after the 12th round, the first fight.

01:51:08.000 I was too.

01:51:10.000 I truly was too.

01:51:11.000 When you know what a crusher Deontay is, and the fact that he went right hand and then left hook on the way down, and then went like this, because he's like, it's over.

01:51:19.000 And that's what really shocked him the most.

01:51:20.000 That put him in a state of shock for Fury to come off of that floor and come back the way he did.

01:51:26.000 And come back and win the rest of the round.

01:51:28.000 He'd never had nobody do that to him before in his life, I guarantee you.

01:51:31.000 I couldn't believe he did it.

01:51:34.000 I guarantee you never had nobody in his life to do him like Tyson Fury did that in his life.

01:51:39.000 I think that's one of the greatest comebacks ever in a round.

01:51:42.000 Without a question.

01:51:43.000 To have him flat.

01:51:44.000 I thought it was over.

01:51:46.000 I remember watching it at home.

01:51:47.000 I went, oh!

01:51:48.000 I'm on the front of my bed going, oh!

01:51:52.000 12th round!

01:51:53.000 Stopped him in the 12th round.

01:51:54.000 And Deontay...

01:51:56.000 209 pounds for that fight, which is crazy.

01:51:58.000 I mean, he's about as light as anyone who's ever fought for the title and been a title holder.

01:52:05.000 And then also you think about how many fights he won by KO. He won all his fights by KO except one.

01:52:11.000 But that hurt him though, because he never had to box.

01:52:15.000 So now he don't know how to box and go that way.

01:52:18.000 I mean, he'll go this way.

01:52:19.000 He knows how to go this way, but he never had to learn how to box and go that way.

01:52:23.000 And that hurt him when he met somebody that can fight going both ways.

01:52:26.000 On the first wave, Tyson Fury fought him going like this.

01:52:33.000 What advice would you give Deontay?

01:52:35.000 If he came to you, if he's listening to this, because I've heard that Floyd is interested in training him, but if he came to you, what advice would you give to him?

01:52:44.000 Well, we go back to learning how to use our jab and developing our left hand.

01:52:50.000 Because once we develop the left hand, the right hand already left.

01:52:53.000 We don't need that.

01:52:54.000 We learn how to operate with developing that left hand.

01:52:57.000 We develop that left hand, make it become a weapon before the right hand.

01:53:02.000 Now it's hard to beat us with the left hand.

01:53:04.000 If we add the right to it, we're unstoppable.

01:53:07.000 So you would concentrate on the left hand?

01:53:09.000 Right away.

01:53:10.000 How much time would you give him if you said, like, if we have all the time in the world, it's up to you to pick when the next fight is.

01:53:17.000 How much time would you like to see him spend working on something like that?

01:53:20.000 Six months.

01:53:21.000 Six months.

01:53:23.000 Six months and nobody would beat him again.

01:53:26.000 They'd have a hard time beating him again, I should say.

01:53:28.000 But it would take him six months.

01:53:29.000 What would you want him to do with his footwork?

01:53:32.000 Because one of the things about Deontay is he throws everything into his punches and sometimes...

01:53:36.000 And that's what we would change.

01:53:37.000 That's why we would focus on the left hand more.

01:53:39.000 Because the left hand right now, he don't think it's a killer hand.

01:53:41.000 He throws a jab with it, but he's looking to kill with the right hand. 0.85

01:53:44.000 Right.

01:53:44.000 But we've got to become, you've got to make him diverse.

01:53:47.000 You've got to be the killer with the left or the right.

01:53:49.000 And you've got to make everything used as a unit.

01:53:53.000 You've got to make him use everything as a unit.

01:53:54.000 If you don't make him use everything as a unit, then it's not good for him.

01:53:58.000 So to focus on one punch kind of takes everything else out the game.

01:54:01.000 If that one punch don't work, what are we going to do now?

01:54:04.000 Now, in his struggles with backing up and moving back, what would you have him do with that?

01:54:08.000 Would you have him concentrate on cutting angles?

01:54:10.000 No.

01:54:11.000 We know how to fix that, too.

01:54:12.000 But that's part of that jab.

01:54:14.000 Right.

01:54:15.000 You know, it's how we use the left hand.

01:54:16.000 The left hand will allow us to go in every direction whenever we need to.

01:54:19.000 But the left hand is most important.

01:54:21.000 The left hand and feet as defense.

01:54:24.000 Now, do you ever reach out to fighters?

01:54:26.000 Like, you see a fighter like that have a loss?

01:54:28.000 No.

01:54:28.000 Now, the only fighter I ever tried to reach out to was...

01:54:33.000 I forget the guy's name, Linares.

01:54:35.000 Well, Linares was about to fight Lomachenko because I knew it was going to be a good fight.

01:54:39.000 And I was going to reach out to him, but he had to train, so I didn't even reach out to him.

01:54:43.000 But if he would have asked, I would have accepted that because that's a hard fight for him to fight.

01:54:47.000 And I know Linares, he's a good guy, but he had a chance to win the fight.

01:54:51.000 But the way they trained him to fight it took all of the way.

01:54:54.000 Yeah.

01:54:57.000 It's interesting because you as a multiple division world champion, but also a commentator, when you were doing it for HBO, you could point out little things.

01:55:07.000 Right away.

01:55:08.000 Yeah.

01:55:08.000 Did you ever have fighters come up to you and thank you for that point?

01:55:11.000 Yes.

01:55:11.000 Thank me.

01:55:11.000 Tell me what I told them.

01:55:12.000 Tell me what I said they need to get better at.

01:55:15.000 Tell me I made them a better fighter if they listened to the commentary and saw the mistakes that they were making.

01:55:19.000 So often I can look at a guy and break him down right away.

01:55:22.000 It's also got to be crazy for a fighter to be fighting.

01:55:26.000 I know there's a giant amount of them that were huge Roy Jones Jr. fans, and now they're looking over, and you're talking about them while they're fighting.

01:55:34.000 That's got to be a trip.

01:55:35.000 My guy got Andrew.

01:55:36.000 I think it's Andrew Murphy's last name.

01:55:37.000 I ain't sure what Andrew's last name is.

01:55:39.000 But Andrew, he always says, they say, I'm so amazed still that I'm here taking instructions from you.

01:55:44.000 You understand me?

01:55:46.000 And Bryant says it too, so it's just they always, they're happy though to be there.

01:55:50.000 So I got another kid named Mark, a guy from Mobile, Alabama.

01:55:54.000 And Waylon.

01:55:55.000 Waylon, my next door neighbor, 15 years old, he's going to be a banger too. 0.99

01:55:59.000 But they love taking instruction from me and I enjoy it, so it's all good.

01:56:03.000 Well, it's obvious that you enjoy it.

01:56:04.000 And for them, first of all, it's an amazing honor for them.

01:56:07.000 But also, it's got to be so motivational.

01:56:10.000 It is.

01:56:12.000 And I think for them to really see me still getting active at 51, now they're like, wow, he still does it like that.

01:56:18.000 So now we understand what he's saying.

01:56:21.000 Because how can we be slower than him?

01:56:22.000 He's 51. And we can't do it that fast.

01:56:25.000 So we got problems.

01:56:26.000 Yes, y'all got major issues. 1.00

01:56:28.000 Now get off your asses and let's go. 1.00

01:56:32.000 Well, it's just beautiful to see how much energy you have and how much enthusiasm you have. 0.99

01:56:36.000 And that's really what life's all about, right?

01:56:39.000 Yes, it is, man.

01:56:40.000 It's about having energy, being a positive force in the world, and just helping other people, you know?

01:56:45.000 If you do that, you're doing the right thing.

01:56:46.000 If you're not doing that, then you're almost wasting time.

01:56:49.000 Because why did God give you life if you're not going to help the next person?

01:56:52.000 Beautiful.

01:56:52.000 I love it.

01:56:53.000 Roy Jones Jr., November 28th.

01:56:55.000 I'm going to be watching.

01:56:55.000 I think I'm going to be there.

01:56:56.000 I think I'm going to go.

01:56:57.000 I think I'm allowed to go if I just have to take a COVID test and I can sit.

01:57:01.000 I really appreciate it.

01:57:02.000 I would love for you to be there.

01:57:03.000 I'm starting my YouTube channel too soon, so be on the lookout for that.

01:57:07.000 Let me know what that is and I will promote that for you.

01:57:09.000 I'll let everybody know.

01:57:10.000 And I'll be back on here soon too.

01:57:11.000 Let's do it.

01:57:12.000 Thank you, sir.

01:57:12.000 Appreciate you very much, man.

01:57:14.000 Thank you.

01:57:14.000 Roy Jones Jr. Let's be up.

The Joe Rogan Experience - October 13, 2020

Joe Rogan Experience #1548 - Roy Jones Jr.

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Transcript