Welcome to this curated educational transcript of the Joe Rogan Experience. In this session, we provide a deep-dive examination of the critical perspectives and historical dialogues presented in Episode #1548. Our mission is to offer a high-fidelity, searchable research resource for students of cultural history, emerging technology, and global discourse. This transcript has been specifically optimized for academic reference, linguistic study, and archival preservation regarding Boxing Science, Human Performance Dynamics, and the Psychology of Competitive Resilience. The Joe Rogan Experience. Train by day, Joe Rogan
Podcast by night, all day. Roy Jones Jr., ladies
and gentlemen. What's up, my brother? How you
doing? I'm honored to have you in here. I've
been a fan forever. I noticed and I was going
to tell you that I'm 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. You've always supported me since day
one. 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. Thank you, sir.
Thank you. My pleasure. I feel like we're brothers
now, you know? For sure. I've been a fan forever.
Thank you. Like from way back in the day, you
know. You know, your song, Y 'all Must Have Forgotten.
I didn't forget shit. I remember all of it, man.
I remember when your fights were basically executions.
Yes, exactly. There was some years, man, where
you would just like, see, how is this guy going
to survive and how long? And you had, 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. Very few jabs you
would throw. A lead hook. No one knew. how to
prepare for it because there was no sparring
partners that could emulate it. Your speed was
off the charts. Your movement was off the charts.
I think to this day, you're the only person in
CompuBox history that went a full round without
having a single punch scored on him. And they
say I'm not the best defensive fighter ever.
Listen, that's... No one's ever... I mean, maybe
Willie Pepp might have done that back in the
day. Before CompuBox. Since CompuBox era, nobody
has ever gone a complete round. without getting
a punch scored on him. It was ridiculous. 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. But I don't argue.
I just listen to what people say. No, there was
a time where I always said, like, people would
say, oh, but he didn't fight anybody. I'm like,
the fuck he didn't? They just couldn't compete.
That's all it was. You fought world champions.
Like the song say, I just make them look like
nobody. Y 'all must have forgot. You had such
a strange style, man. How did you devise that
style? Honestly, man, it was a lot. My father
was a fighter who was trained by Sarge Johnson
in, I think, some part of the armed services.
Anyway, my father learned a lot, but he also
learned a lot of things not to do. So by learning
those things, he was able to give me a very good
foundation. With that foundation, My father had
roosters, fighting roosters when I was young.
So I would watch the roosters all the time because
roosters develop a pecking order. And people
always talk about, you know, fighting animals,
this, that. They develop a pecking order on their
own anyway. They're going to do that anyway.
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. And when I learned
what that was, it was a few things I figured
out. Once I would figure them out, I started
emulating them. emulating those things in my
boxing style. So from fighting chickens. Yes.
What was the thing that you noticed? Well, first
of all, the one that usually was on top, he knew
and he cared himself for the error, error of
confidence that he was going to be messed with.
So when he fight, he do a lot more faking, a
lot more faking, never let him know when he coming.
All of a sudden, there he goes. And he stayed
powerful. He stayed the same the whole day. And
it's like any time he went against anybody, he
did the same thing. He used the same fangs, same
fangs. And he often would do things that other
chickens just didn't know to do. But that's God
-given. Man didn't teach them that. God gave
them that. 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
ready when the other ones came around. People
say, people used to think that I was very egotistical.
I've never been an egotistical person, but what
I was was a highly confident person. I'm God's
game rooster. You feel me? You bring another
one around, guess what? I'm ready to defend my
turf. That's a funny thing to say to a world
champion fighter who's one of the greatest of
all time. You're egotistical. I mean, listen,
if you're not confident, you don't get to that
place. Never, ever. Impossible. Never, ever.
You have to have a belief in yourself. There's
no other way. If you don't, who's going to believe
in you? Yeah, nobody. Yeah, I was a fan back
when you got fucked over in the Olympics, man.
God damn, did they ruin that. That was terrible.
That was one of the worst Olympic decisions I've
ever seen in my life. Maybe the worst. It was
so bad, but it was in Korea, right? Yep, it was
in Seoul, South Korea. And the Korean fighter,
yeah. God damn, that was ridiculous. It was one
of those fights where you're like, well, he got
the gold medal. Clear. And then you see the decision,
your jaw drops. You're like, what is this? It
hurt the sport of boxing, especially amateur
boxing. 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. Yeah. And you still don't go back
and fix it. Nobody to this day has come back
and tried to fix it. They gave me Olympic orders.
They gave me the. Val Walker Cup, which is for
the best boxer at the Olympics. Well, that's
a contradiction. That's a contradiction. How
is the best boxer here not wearing a gold medal?
Yeah. It was bad, but it also was... In one way,
it made people really root for you. It was a
blessing in disguise. And I understood that the
second day, I think I might have cried the whole
first 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 beat me. Because
if he said yes, then he didn't know it, but he
was going to get another one. But he said, no,
I know I didn't win, but it wasn't my fault.
It was the judge's. I shook his hand, and I left.
I never had another bad feeling towards him because
he didn't do it. You feel me? You're right, for
sure. You have to understand what is coming.
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. and
turned into a positive for me. And look where
I'm at now. It was a big talk. I remember when
you began your career, there was a big talk of
your career, how you got fucked over in the Olympics.
It wasn't a question. Not at all. There was no
debate. I never saw a single person that made
an argument that he won. Nope. It was all you.
And so that when you began your career, you had
a lot of people rooting for you. Yes, and that
was a beautiful thing. That's the blessing above
all for me because to me, it was God's will making
me not. put my life on idle, but turned me up
on high. Yeah. I had no clue what he was doing,
but that's why you just trust in God. Look where
you at now. 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. And again, you caught him with that
leaping left hook, man, that crazy left hook
and dropped him. 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. That's what makes a real
superior athlete. Not that you can do it to guys
who are beneath you, but you can do it to guys
who are supposed to be, You're equal or above
you. That's when you're really doing it. Now,
maybe people don't know, but you had been active
and you fought up until about, what, like two
years ago? 2018. So you decided you're done,
or were you 100 % done, or were you just 100
% done? 100%. Walk me through this call. How
do you get this call to fight Mike Tyson? Well,
one of his guys, Azeem, calls McGee and tells
McGee, my partner, to tell me to call. So I call
Azeem. Azeem says, hey, Mike wants to do a comeback.
He wants to do an exhibition, but he wants you
to be his dance partner. Me? Yeah. I said, okay,
well, let's see if we can work out. He said,
yeah, we've 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 taken care of and everything
is good. Well, that didn't try to be necessarily
what the case was, but... Me being Roy Jones
Jr. and us being in COVID, I'm like, you know
what? Six weeks, that's right around the corner.
He ain't been fighting. I can get ready. 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. So six weeks, I know it's
Mike Tyson. He's big as heck, and he's still
Mike Tyson, and he still can punch. But six weeks,
there's no way he can get prepared for this.
So I said, you know what? I'll take that, and
I jumped on it. Lo and behold, something happens.
And they changed. Now, why did they change? Did
they give a reason? They said something about
marketing. They told me something about marketing,
but I don't really believe much of what was said.
I mean, I just can't believe it. You know, because
we had a September 12th date. That was before
football season started. Basketball may have
started, but people at home with nothing to do.
And that's why I was like, you know what? I wanted
him when I was in my prime. Why not take him
now? I mean, six weeks, that's easy. 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. I'm like, man. So I was
thinking about it, and Dean, too, my guy, he
posted something about the new date on my site.
And when he did that, they were like, well, that
means that you admitted, that you agreed to it.
I didn't, but okay. That's how it goes. I'll
be that guy, you know. I don't back out of nothing.
It ain't like I'm scared of Mike Tyson because
he's Mike Tyson. It's just that I know that in
six weeks, he had no chance to deal with me.
You understand me? In 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. Now,
during the time where you were off, were you
working out? Of course. Were you still staying
fit? Because you always stayed slim. You looked
good. I have to work out because I train a lot
of guys. And when you train guys, for me, I like
to not only just teach them, I like to also give
them an example. The best example is the best
that I think did what I'm teaching them. And
I want to teach them what I learned and what
my style was. So I like to be able to demonstrate
by example, lead by example. So do you have young
guys that fight in your style? They are trying
to. It's hard to say they're fighting my style.
And really, I don't really necessarily teach
them to fight like me. My style is not necessarily
just me. My style means that you know how to
counter everything. You know offense, you know
defense, you know footwork, you know everything.
Every aspect of boxing is what my style is. Now,
all the craziness, that's your individual person.
Your DNA will decide what you do with that. What
I do is... I try to make guys comfortable and
to give them every opportunity to execute on
another guy's mistakes. If I can make you do
that and have you always prepare for the next
move, then that's my style. Your style required
extreme physical attributes, though. Well, physical
attributes, it does require extreme attributes,
but when you come and watch one of my classes,
like I got a... apprentice over in sweden i got
an apprentice over in south africa i got a few
apprentices that i've been teaching 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 there's
a lot more knowledge to it than people ever would
begin to understand you understand me so yeah
people say ah he was just a super athlete no
take me back yeah i can go visually or verbally
walk you through every knockout that i got and
or every setup to the knockout before it happened
sometimes rounds before it happened sometimes
you want to have them quick i can tell you exactly
what happened exactly what i saw and why i did
what i did is that physical attributes no there's
no way it could be just that it's impossible
you gotta know a lot there's a lot of freak athletes
of course of course you had freak athleticism
as well as like an insane comprehensive understanding
of boxing that's what that's what makes it great
right yeah you gotta have a insane comprehension
but what i do have the freak the freak the freakiness
about me is my hand speed because how can i still
be this fast at 51 years old I was watching you
hit the pads. Holy cow. I'd be looking at it.
I'd be saying, whoa, is that? Yeah. I mean. Double,
triple, quadruple, left hands in a row. Pop,
pop, pop, pop, pop. How? Yeah. It's crazy. We
were just talking about that at 51. I know it's
not 51 like in the day. No. Back in the day,
51 was done. Oh, 51 was over with. It's different
today with the new training methods and understanding
of the human body and supplements. People are
different. But you were always different, too.
I always tell people, like, you had crazy biceps
but small triceps. Like, you were built to throw
hooks. Exactly. Like, if you look at your body
when you were in your prime, you had these. Best
hook in the game. No, it's still like this. Look
at that thing. Look at the size of that thing.
That's ridiculous. That's that hook. The right
ain't like that, but that hook. That's true.
Your left is way bigger than your right. That's
crazy. That's why I say I'm the best hook in
the game. Yeah, that's nuts, man. That's a serious
imbalance right there. 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? Or do you just let them do whatever their
style is and just teach them what you know about
boxing? I take whatever you got, whatever your
best attributes are, and we work from there.
I am not God. I cannot reinvent the wheel. You
feel me? I can invent some stuff, but not the
wheel. The wheel was already made like it is.
You can't reinvent the wheel. So what I do is
whatever God has given you, we try to take that
and take that to the next level. Now, you get
this phone call. Do you just immediately start
training? And when you immediately start training,
how are you ramping up for a fight like that?
You know, it's like I heard Mike say something
about when he started training, he was in the
bed for a week. Yeah. 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. Did you,
I mean, did it feel good to say, oh, wow, I got
a big fight coming up. I got a goal. We're back.
I was excited. yeah because it's mike tyson so
it's like in most cases you'll say yes i got
a big fight on on on on the road coming you know
but this time i was like you know what Your buddy
get in a little shape because you are going there
with Mike Tyson. Yeah, it is Mike Tyson. You
don't know what Mike Tyson might come in there
and do. You don't know if you got to protect
your ears, your chin, your jaw. You don't know
what he might do. So what you better do is get
in shape and be prepared for whatever Mike, whichever
Mike shows up. 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. Get
the fuck out of here. I mean, you think about
it. Oh, it's an exhibition, but we got 12 -ounce
gloves. But it's an exhibition. Exhibition. No
headgear. Exhibition. Judges. I mean. It's still
Mike Tyson. And exhibition. Mike Tyson, who knocked
Corey Sanders down in the first round of an exhibition
back in 2004. Correct. So what is your definition
of an exhibition? Because going in the ring with
Mike Tyson has nothing exhibitionist about it.
No, he doesn't have that in him. When you watch
him spar, his sparring was fights. Nothing exhibition
-ish about it. Yeah, they were fights. His sparring
was fights. Everything he does is a fight. Yeah.
Now, you said that he was always kind of on your
radar. He was. When you were the heavyweight
champ, when you beat John Ruiz. He was the only
other person I would have fought as a heavyweight.
Really? Because he was the youngest heavyweight
champ ever. And to be honest, I probably was
the lightest. I started lighter than anybody
that's only junior middleweight to ever go win
a heavyweight title. So I was the smallest guy
to ever come up and win a heavyweight title.
How much did you weigh when you fought Ruiz?
200. 200, wow. And so did you think when you
were getting ready to fight, what do you walk
around at right now? Now I'm heavier than I was
then. Really? Yeah, now I walk around like 220
sometimes. 220. I've been up to 220. So do you
feel good at 220 or would you like to be lighter
when you fight him? I'm at about 210 now. This
is where I want to be at. Right there. Hands
fast as ever. Still a lot of mobility. Not too
much weight on these knees. So I feel pretty
good at 210. So I think I'm going to stay around
this area. 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. A lighter,
rather, heavyweight. A light explosive heavyweight.
Super. Super explosive heavyweight. So it's like
size doesn't really matter with Mike. I mean,
it mattered with Reese because I knew I was going
to push a little bit in the hole. With Mike,
size don't really matter. Now, when you decided
to go up and fight Ruiz for the heavyweight title,
did you think that was one and done? Or did you
think, once I win that title, maybe I'll defend
it a few times? Like, what was your thoughts
getting ready for that fight? So, as you know
me, I'm a man of my word. I try to be. And I
said I wanted to go do 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, the heavyweight title, and
then he recaptured the light heavyweight title.
That's a big segment of the whole thing, recapturing
the light heavyweight title. So if I go up and
do what I did, win the heavyweight title, and
don't recapture the light heavyweight title,
I can't look you in your eyes and say I did what
Bob Fitzsimmons did because I didn't. I did a
part of what he did, but the hardest part is
to come back from heavyweight, and recapture
that light heavyweight title. That's why I came
back and did it. But before I departed the heavyweight
division, I would have fought Mike Tyson because
of what I told you earlier. He was the youngest
heavyweight champ of all time. 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. 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. I mean, both of you were in that Nas song.
You know that song? Yeah. The new Mike Tyson's
Roy Jones, and that's a line. Exactly. Yeah,
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. Of course. Why didn't that fight
take place back then? Because nobody ever saw
me coming to heavyweight back then. And by the
time I did it, he was already on the way out
of boxing. He already had departed. So people
say... I think they say someone told them that
I was offered $40 million to fight Mike Tyson.
No, I wasn't. If I was offered $40 million, we'd
been fighting. I mean, I tell people today, like,
they always talk about, you know, what's going
on with the zone and all these fighters. Listen,
man, if I was in today's time and I was Roy Jones,
the same Roy Jones I am, if they told me, Roy,
we'll pay you $20 million per fight for five
fights, we get to pick the opponents. I say,
matter of fact. Don't even worry about picking
an opponent. Y 'all call me, tell me what date
I'm fighting, what weight I'm fighting at, and
I don't care who it is. Just tell me when I'm
fighting and what weight I need to be. I believe
it. You understand me? That's who I am. So it's
like when they talk about I would have fought,
no. If they would have offered me for me to fight,
if Mike would have just said, yeah, I would have
fought him for whatever we fought for. That's
how bad I wanted to fight him back then. People
love to talk, though. Yeah. They just say a lot
of stupid shit that doesn't make sense. But that's
just. people need something to talk about. 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. If I would have been, if
I would have, I would have fought Mike back then.
I wanted to fight Mike. He's the only other heavyweight
I would have fought. But I was like, no, I'm
not giving y 'all the opportunity. First of all,
I'm a small guy coming up to the heavyweight
division. I don't belong up here anyway. 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 a light heavyweight
title and he passed out. So he didn't win it.
So, of course, we always want to try or challenge
ourselves. I want to see what the Scott, what
the Ruth feels. Can I win the heavyweight title?
Am I really that good, as good as I think I am?
Maybe I am. Let's find out. Now, how difficult
was it to get from 200 pounds to go all the way
back down to 175? That was the hardest thing
I ever did in my life. 25 pounds of muscle. Yeah.
Put on by Maggie Shieldstone. That's the difference.
Because if you look at you when you fought Ruiz,
there was nothing to be lost. 25 pounds of pure
muscle. So that first fight, I went on pure heart.
With Tarver. Yeah. Pure heart. That's when people,
and I had people even text me and call me and
tell me, you know, I was a fan. I liked you.
But I like you a whole lot more now because I
realize what you really are. I never knew you
had that big of a heart. that was a big transition
for you i mean and maybe a bad transition to
go from heavyweight down to light heavyweight
again because you could see physically you weren't
the same because of that weight cut you were
struggling and that was the talk of all the commentators
they were like what is what is happening to his
body that he's going from 200 pounds ripped down
to 175 and then competing. I mean, you must have
cut an extreme amount of weight for the weight.
And was this the day before weigh -ins or the
day of weigh -ins? It was the day before, but
it didn't matter because I had pulled so much
muscle off. So you can't put that back. Right.
You know what I mean? So I couldn't put that
back. But what's so 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
said. Did, I mean. So because my mind was locked
on something, you can't get me out of there.
My mind locked in. I was weak as I probably ever
have been. My mind said, no, we're going to forget
this. And I got there. And then you went and
fought him again. Yeah, I probably shouldn't
have because, like I said, my body hadn't came
back yet. And I didn't have nothing mentally
to get there. I was just doing it because people
say, well, he gave you a hard time. Okay, well,
I ain't scared to fight nobody. So y 'all want
me to fight him again? Sure, why not? But I had
nothing to gain, so it was a little bit harder.
So he closed his eyes, got lucky. It's called
good, but, I mean, hey, it's boxing, you know?
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. Because your body just wasn't
performing right. Body wasn't there. Now, when
you were walking around after the Ruiz fight,
what did you weigh when you started cutting down
for the Tarver fight? 203. 203 and how did you
do it like what what did what kind of were you
doing crazy cardio like what were you doing to
try to lose all that weight crazy cardio is the
only way i ever did it only way i ever did it
i run two sometimes three times a day to get
the weight down yep that's the only way i ever
lost rubber suits the whole time god damn what
kind of a impact must that have had on your body
well that's what people I fail to realize now
I hear kids talk about, oh, we couldn't make
weight. Man, don't tell me that. I'm from the
old school. Don't tell me none of this new school
stuff. You couldn't lose a pound? Don't tell
me that. Man, when I was an amateur, when I was
an amateur, my dad made me go down to 147 for
the Eastern Olympic trials. I fought that night.
I made 147. I fought that night. I got out to
fight. I went and got on the scale. I was 165
pounds. I had to fight the next day. At 147.
I had to make weight that next morning. Wait
a minute. Ran all night. 730 the next morning,
I got all the way down to 148 and a half. And
I said, I can't go no more. My dad's like, why
you can't lose more? You can lose another pound.
No, pound and a half. I said, no, because it
hit me. And it was God talking to me. I knew
it was God talking to me. How you going to do
this every night? In an unfamiliar country, you
don't know if it's going to be cold. You don't
know if it's going to rain. You're not going
to know where to go run at. You might not even
be allowed to go out and run in the area you
are. So if you make the Olympics at this weight,
how are you going to make weight every night?
You went from 147 to 165. Yeah, that's a big
jump. Then back down to 148 and a half. And you
tell me y 'all can't lose a pound or two pounds?
Get out of here with that, bro. So was that when
you made a decision to go up? Yeah, I was already
up, but he made me come down. Then I went back
up. How old were you then? 17. Oh, so your body's
just starting to get thick, too. 18, 18. You're
filling out. 18, yeah. That's, yeah. I think
one of the big problems with MMA as opposed to
boxing is there's a very limited number of weight
classes. Yes. And I think there's a lot of fighters
that ruin their body cutting too much weight
and going down. And you hear about these guys,
sometimes they get so dehydrated they pass out.
I had that happen to me before. So I understand
it. I know how it goes. But there's a science
to it, and there's a limit that you should do
it to, but you got to know the science and know
the limit to how far you can go. If you don't
ration that out, then it's bad for you. Yeah,
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. I wish
MMA had more weight classes. I don't know if
boxing. Is the right number? Because there's
a lot in boxing. Sometimes it's like 47, 54,
60, 68. There's so many weight classes. But there's
a good argument that that's better. 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. There's just
a few pounds here or there. It's better because
it gives a lot more people the opportunity to
become world champions. But at the same time,
like you said, they cut it back down to eight
weight classes. Only the strong will survive,
baby. We got to go. We'll cut out some of these
paper champions. They get cut out real quick.
So do you think it would be better that way?
I know it would be that way. Look, look, look,
look, look. I want a title from, I mean, I fought
from junior middleweight to heavyweight. All
the reason I didn't win a title at junior middleweight
is because my daddy wouldn't let me fight for
one. And I knew I was going to outgrow the weight
class. 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 going to be
able to stay at this weight no way. And he didn't
let me do it, but I would have had titles from
54 all the way to heavyweight. Wow. That would
have been unprecedented. Of course. What made
you go from 68 to 75? I ran out of competition.
I always just went to wherever the competition
was. So after I beat James, I fought Paz Jones,
I think. Then they started giving me the, God
bless the day, but Tony Thornton's. No more contenders
that really the world didn't know. 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. So I went to set in fire Lou
DelVal. I went to set in fire to make bigger,
better fights. Those guys were all bigger than
me too. But I went wherever I had to go to make
fights. So it's like people often, I mean, there's
a guy, the guy that used to coach Triple G, I
can't think of his name, Abel Sanchez. I said,
Triple G should have went up a long time ago.
And tried Andre Ward. He's only 8 pounds. Right.
But Abel Sanchez says, oh, he's too little to
do that. Well, he's fighting 68 now. Yeah. You
understand me? Canelo went all the way from 54
to 75. So how you tell me he's too little? Then
you say, oh, you did it against a bomb. Mike
McCallum, a bomb, ever. Gave James Toney two
of the hardest fights of James Toney's career
before me. And Montel Griffin did it. Knocked
out Milton McCrory. You feel me? So you tell
me he was a bomb? But I fight him and say, oh,
he's a little bit older, but like you said, look
at us now. Oh, he knocked out Donald Curry. Donald
Curry. Yeah, that Donald Curry knockout made
me so sad. I was a giant Donald Curry fan, and
I was rooting for him. I got my shoes on. I'm
running. I ran like three miles, and I came home,
and I said, I am never investing that much in
a fighter again. Because it was like I lost.
Because I remember he caught him with that left
hook to the body and then the left to the chin.
And I went, oh, no. And seeing Donald laid out
on the canvas, I was like, fuck. Because when
Donald knocked, out mccrory when when donald
knocked out uh milton mccrory i remember thinking
like damn like he's so fast yes you know he was
so he was the cobra you know the cobra he was
so fast and then when he got ko'd like that i
was like i can't believe this is happening i
had to go running i know it was bad but for for
able to say i fought a bomb no crazy i mean so
it was an animal yeah to me you you trying to
no You fought Hopkins. You fought animals. But
you're covering up for what you're not doing.
Because if Triple G was good, we'd say, yeah,
what's one more weight class? Canelo came to
him. I mean, to me, you cheated Triple G out
of opportunity. Yeah. If he'd won, he'd become
one of the Powerful Pound. You can't say John
Ruiz is the greatest heavyweight of all time.
No, you can't. But he was no bum. No, he wasn't.
He beat Holyfield. Yeah, exactly. Knocked Holyfield
down with the right hand. Exactly. And with two
or three people, he knocked Holyfield down. Right,
yeah. He was one of them. He was a tough guy.
Of course he was. Very tough guy. It's just...
You had the style to beat him. He just couldn't
compete with your speed and your fluidity and
your understanding of distance. You just controlled
that fight. I try to teach guys every aspect
of boxing so that you understand. Some guys,
because you're tall, you're going to have to
fight close. Sometimes. Because there are guys
that realize you're tall and they know they got
to get close for you to win. That's their best
opportunity. Hagler -Hearns. So you got to get
close. Look what Hagler did. Yeah. Took him out.
But Hearns was trying. Hearns was trying because
Hearns knows how to fight close, too. Just that
he's not in condition to fight close for a long
time because that's not what he trains at doing.
Well, Hagler had a ridiculous chin, too. It was
ridiculous. Ran it. Ridiculous. Ran it. It was
one guy knocked him down, but it was a bullshit
knockdown. His entire career. Who was it that
knocked him down? I'm trying to remember the
name. I don't even remember who knocked him down.
I don't remember the dude. Juan Roldan? Was it
Domingo? Juan Domingo rolled in? It might have
been Juan rolled in. Yeah, it might have been
Juan rolled in. He might have knocked him down,
and then Hagler eventually stopped him. Yeah.
You know what? I heard the Elementor passed,
too. Oh, did he? Yeah. I was saddened to hear
that because those days were the real days of
boxing. Oh, yeah. Almost one champion, maybe
two, but mostly one champion. You knew who the
champ was at every weight class. I remember when
they started adding IBF and WBO. How many champs
are you going to have? Well, see, my point, though,
is here's my problem with that. 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? When I was a light
heavyweight, I had seven of the eight known available
belts. 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 got robbed in Seoul,
Korea. So I learned my lesson. I can't go way
over there to fight Darius, and I'm the man right
now. He needs to come see me. If you're offering
5 million to come see me, he turned it down.
So what does that tell you? He don't want this
smoke. 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. So I feel
like any fighter that is aspiring to be champ
or is champ. If you don't want every belt in
your weight class, you don't thank you the best.
Yeah, it should be, if you're calling someone
a world champion, they really should fight the
other world champions. If you're going to have
a bunch of different sanctioning bodies, if they're
available, they should have to fight each other.
Every year, the East play the West in the NBA.
for the championship. Every year, the AFC played
NFC in football. Every year, the American League
plays the National League. Every year. So it's
like, come on, baby. At some point, we got to
prove that somewhere, y 'all got to show me who
the real man is. Yes. And that's what I wanted
to do. That's why I had seven that I knew of.
And I didn't care what they were. You could have
put any letter on them. If they were known belts,
if you can call me and tell me y 'all got a president,
I need that belt. Yeah, it was simpler times
back in the day. For me it was. When there was
one champion in each weight class. But you got
to also understand that a lot of this stuff happens
because of promoters. So because I was doing
my own thing, I could do what I wanted to do
when I got ready. That's why I used to tell them,
y 'all can call me. It ain't hard to get a fight
with Roy Jones. You just call me. Either call
me or get a belt. I don't care what belt it is.
It could be the National Walmart belt. If it's
light heavy, I want that. When you go back to
the Hagler days, how many belts were there? It
was only one or two then. WBA and WBC, right?
WBA and WBC, I think, yeah. You know what I watched
the other day? Hagler versus Mugabe. That was
a good fight. Mugabe was killing people back
then. Yes, he would, but Hagler wasn't having
it. 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. Right
back at him. Like it was nothing. Like it didn't
even work. Hagler was in my dynamite dozen that
I learned things from as a kid. And what I learned
from Hagler was consistency. He wore the same
maroon and white trunks, and he was the same
Marvin Hagler. Every time he saw him. Yep, yep.
If you fought Hagler, guess what you're going
to get? Hagler. Yep. Yeah, he was so disciplined
too. So disciplined. Yes. I think he was training
for Mustafa Hampshire. I forget who he was training
for, but it was when I was a kid. I was living
in Boston, and I was watching this thing they
had on the news where Hagler was running down
the Cape, Cape Cod, in the wintertime, running
the sand dudes, screaming war. And I got chills.
I got goosebumps just watching, like, just the
discipline that man had. He was never out of
shape. He psyched himself out the whole training
camp. Oh, yeah. Every day. Every day. Every day.
What a mind he had. I mean, he just was so fierce
as a champion. But once again, see, what I liked
about people like Marvin, he was so consistent
that not one time did he not make weight. Right.
He wasn't going up to meet you. He wasn't going
down to meet you. Right. Meet him at 160, he'll
fight him. I don't care what your name is. Yep.
160, come on. Yeah. And I love the fact that
when he fought, sugar ray and i kind of gave
it to him i mean i'd have to watch it at the
i'd have to watch it again now as an adult but
i remember when i watched it back then i thought
he won the fight and he just said that's it i'm
done Never came back. Went to Italy. Started
making movies. You ever watch some of those movies?
I ain't never watched them, but I see him every
now and then. They're hilarious. He's still in
good shape. He looks really good still. I'm sure.
He talks great. I mean, he has no problems at
all, which is amazing. It's beautiful to see
someone get out clean. Of course. And have a
new life after. Yes, yes. 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. I understood
why Sugar won it, because Sugar painted a picture
before the fight that I'm not even supposed to
be in here. Right, right. You understand me?
So anything he did, he's going to get two points
for it, whereas Hagel was going to get one. Yeah.
Because Sugar painted a picture to the public
that I'm not even supposed to be in here with
this monster. It's always a problem judging underdogs,
right? You feel me? So that's why. And the fans,
he also knows how to play with the crowd. Yeah.
So Sugar used his brain. And got the decision
that night. 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.
But I would have said, looking at it as an adult,
I would have probably scored a draw. But both
of them put on an immaculate fight that night.
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. And he was
really phenomenal for where he had been all five
years. So he made it look like I'm defeating
the odds. And everything he did, he did it to
such a high level that it made it look like he
did defeat the odds. When you were coming up,
did you watch a lot of films of the greats? Well,
I only watched a few guys. And I can tell you
a lot of the guys I watched. One was, I used
to watch Salvador Sanchez every opportunity I
got. Because to me, he was the best offensive
-minded guy of all. What a tragedy that guy died
so young. Yes, because my... Dream fight. This
is why I get so pissed off about fights not happening.
Like right now, I'm mad because Crawford and
Spence aren't getting the opportunity to fight
one another. One of my dream fights was Isibio
Pedroza versus Salvador Sanchez. Both of the
featherweight champions. One of the two champs
back then. The two featherweight champs. The
best at the division. I want to see them lock
up. See who wins that because I love both of
them. I love Pedroza because of his... uh bolo
punches and because of his knowledge inside he
was real smart but dirty guy inside the ring
right but salvador has so much offense that i
wanted to know how was he going to keep salvador
off of him with the offense yeah and uh then
salvador unfortunately was killed in the car
wreck and that that that just blew my mega fight
away that was my mega fight probably besides
hers leonard that was my other mega mega mega
fight to me to me The original Hearns letter
is an all -time classic. Just an all -time. When
Angelo Dundee's in the corner. You're blowing
it, champ. You're blowing it, kid. And he goes
out and wins and stops him. Goddamn. That was
epic. Woo. That was epic. Especially because
Hearns at 147 could hit people and knock them
into another fucking dimension. Wasn't that odd
to Hearns' credit? He could do that at 168. Yeah,
he did it. Remember when he did it to Duran?
Yes. He did it to Duran. Only person ever to
do it to Roberto Duran. Yeah. The only other
person I think knocked Durant down was Esteban
De Jesus. He face -planted Durant. I'm talking
about cold. Cold. He had that snap because he
had that wide torso. Wide shoulders. Thin waist.
Yes, sir. He would torque that punch. Yes, sir.
Smack. But to show you how much mental it is,
Sugar Ray would take that punch like nobody else.
Yeah. Except in the second fight, I think. He
dropped Sugar Ray a few times in the second fight.
But the first fight, Sugar Ray took all of it.
He took it, yeah. Because they had such a beef.
That was his rival. Yeah, well, he had known
that this was the fight that he had to win for
greatness. There was so much. I mean, it's hard
for people to imagine how big Sugar Ray Leonard
was. People don't know the sport of boxing. When
he was the Olympic champion and he was, I mean,
what was it? He did 7 -Up commercials or something?
I forget the commercial. Sprite. Sprite. He was
huge. And this was when boxing was on ABC, ABC
Wide World of Sports. People don't know. There
was no cable back then. None. It was giant. He
was America's superstar. Yes, he was. And Tommy
Hearns was an assassin. Killer. He was an assassin.
Killer. Yeah. And the two of them getting together
was like one of those who knows fights, you know?
Yes. It's like you get them occasionally today,
you know? And see, this is what hurts me about
the Olympics right now, about that move that
they did to me to lose the integrity. See, I
follow Ray Leonard from the Olympics. I followed
Howard Davis Jr. from the Olympics. You feel
me? These guys were incredible to me because
they set a precedence for me. They made me want
to go represent my country one day at the Olympics.
Then turn pro and do like they did and become
somebody. They draw me a blueprint to follow.
You feel me? Muhammad Ali, all of them. George
Foreman, they draw us a blueprint to follow.
That Olympic blueprint meant something because
that was the epitome of amateur sports. The Olympics
was the highest level. of amateur sports. If
you can get there, get there and represent your
country, you're doing something. You feel me?
You're on your way. And then they have robbed
me. Well, remember that was like the doorstep
to professional stardom. That's right. Meldrick
Taylor, Pernell Whitaker, Evander Holyfield.
Remember that one class? They had a heck of a
class. Mark Breland. Yes. They had a heck of
a class. Leo Randolph. Yes. What a class that
was. Even a guy from my area, Clint Jackson,
was on that team. And everybody was following
that. 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. He wasn't
on that team. He was on the 76 team, my bad.
Okay. Well, another great team. Yeah. But watching
those guys leave the Olympics and go on to superstardom,
that was what you wanted to see. That's what
the normal trajectory was. You go from the Olympics
to superstardom in Boston. And now it's like.
We don't even half the time know who all made
it to the Olympics. No one knows anymore. You
know, but also like the Olympics have gotten,
I don't know if you ever saw that movie Icarus.
Did you ever see that movie? I don't watch many
movies. It's a documentary that Brian Fogle did
on the Olympics. It's a crazy documentary. 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. the race clean and then he
employs this russian cat who was responsible
for uh olympic doping in russia and they show
he shows them how to do it now along the way
they find out that there was something at the
sochi olympics where a lot of the athletes had
they 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. And they figured
out how to work it. So all these athletes that
were supposedly clean were on steroids. Or dirty,
right. And so you see that, and you realize,
like, what happened to you? What happened in
the Beijing Olympics? It's so politicized. It's
become such a big thing for the country that
they're willing to do all kinds of shenanigans.
Anything to win. Bribe judges. If those judges
that ruled it against you weren't bribed, I would
be stunned. Of course they had to be. They had
to be. There's no way. I mean, someone told them
to do that. There's no other way that makes any
sense. Not whatsoever. But 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. None. None. Zero. They like college
sports. A lot like college sports. A lot like
college sports. And college sports even worse
maybe, right? Of course. Because they can't even
say, hey, we're going to hook you up with an
apartment. Nothing. You can't say nothing. Nothing.
Nothing. Yeah. And meanwhile, they're making
billions. It's dirty. It's ridiculous. It's really
dirty. I mean, I don't know how they should distribute
the money, but they should distribute the money.
Somehow. But I mean, come on, 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? 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. Nine years of mine and got robbed
and they got nothing for it. Yeah. So I got robbed
twice. You got double robbed. Literally. I got
robbed twice. And all the people that put that
on, they all made a shitload of money. And they
do it right now. They're making money off of
it right now. Of course. And what are they going
to do with the Olympics now with no audience?
Because it's a weird thing now with the UFC.
It's a weird thing now with boxing. These fights
with no crowd are very strange. It's very strange
to me. I don't know how. I mean, the crowd meant
so much to me. That's why when they moved the
fight, I was like, you know what? I don't know.
Y 'all give him a chance to go get. Even more
already now when he's the bigger guy and we got
no crowd. So I came, look over there and see
somebody saying, yes, go get him, champ. You
know what I'm saying? Get me hyped up. You know
what I mean? So I'm like, wow. You should be
able to have one hype man. At least a few of
them. You know what I mean? Yeah, I got to have
a few of them. Yeah, I got to have a few of them.
Sometimes it's the least you'll think. Get that
thing going, you know? When you were fighting,
did you ever look into the crowds? Oh, yeah,
all the time. Really? All the time. I want to
know that you're enjoying yourself. If I'm not
giving you something to make you enjoy yourself,
then I'm wasting your time. I shouldn't be out
there. That's how I feel. If I'm boxing for you,
that's with anything. 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.
Well, at the end of the day, it is entertainment.
Yeah, that's what I'm saying. So if I ain't entertaining
you, I'm wasting your time. Certain time in your
career where you had to do other shit to entertain
too. Like you played a full basketball game and
then fought that night. Who's ever done that
before? Nobody. Nobody. Nobody. I mean, that
was part of the thing you had to do. To entertain.
Because you were so dominant. Of course. You
had to get people to pay attention in different
ways. Other than just destroying people. You
want to make them feel like there's a chance.
You're giving this guy a chance. Yeah. So by
playing that basketball game, it gives him a
chance. Right. You know you got to use your legs
to play basketball, so your legs shouldn't be
rested like they should be in a 12 -round title
fight. Right. After the fight, this guy went
on to win the super middleweight title and held
it for three years. Who was that again? Eric
Lucas from Canada. Okay. Held it for three years,
but they said you ain't fight nobody. This guy,
after that game, after that fight, he went and
won the WBC super middleweight title and held
it for three years. It's funny that it still
bothers you that people say you didn't fight
anybody. Well, it don't really bother me. I'm
just saying I'll just be arguing back with him
sometime. I got an opportunity to argue back
with him right here on Joe Rogan's show, so why
not argue with him? Do you remember when Jordan
was, was it Hall of Fame? What was it when he
got up there and he's just talking shit about
all the writers and talk shit about them over
the years? 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. 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.
The all -time greats have to have a chip on their
shoulder. 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. Yeah. Me, I had two chips.
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.
So those were my chips. And because I had those
chips, I can't lose. Because if I lose, he win.
You understand me? So in my prime, if I lose,
he win. Because he said I can't do it without
him. And in my life, the way I was taught, the
way I was brought up, All I need is God. Nothing
against my dad, but all I need is God. So to
me, God prepared you to get me to a certain level,
but God took those roosters. God took a guy named
Charlie Campbell. And you wouldn't know Charlie
Campbell because he was a boxer back in the day,
an amateur boxer. 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.
Really? Charlie Campbell taught me so much about
charisma. that my father could never have taught
me, that it was unbelievable. Charlie Campbell
beat all my father's fighters as amateurs that
were in his weight class easily almost every
time because he had charisma. Now, they were
better than him, but he had charisma, and he
beat them with that charisma. How did he beat
them with charisma? Because he believed in himself,
he had confidence, and he knew how to do stuff
that made me love watching him. You understand
me? And he wasn't the best puncher. He really
didn't have the best boxing skills. But his motions,
he breathed with everything he did. Even though
he was slapping, he had sharp breath with it.
You understand me? And to me, I was like, whoa.
And he beating these guys that are on my team.
So they learned 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.
He won't allow them to perform with that kind
of confidence. You understand me? I need to learn
how to do what he doing. Because if I can add
what he doing to what we doing, now I got something.
And how did you incorporate it? Well, I started
doing the stuff he did, a little bit of it, until
I figured out what it really was. You understand
me? 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. So like
when you hear Bruce Lee go, woo, Charlie Campbell
would do stuff like that in a boxing match. Now,
his punches weren't nearly as effective as the
sound was, but he kept them on beat and in tune
with the sound. So it made him look way better
than he really was. And he won the fights against
these guys because these guys don't know how
to do that. Wow. So I started copying some of
it. Not all of it, but I started adding it to
my stuff. When I met him, it became hell for
all the little kids in the area. Really? What?
Now I learn charisma. Something my daddy can't
teach me. And he beat my daddy in fighters. And
to me, these guys are older than me. I'm 12.
They 17. He beating them. So they ought to be
better at what we're doing than I am. Because
they're older and bigger than me. Right. He beating
them. No, I got to get that. So I got that. So
was it also like you obviously had animosity
with your father. So you were looking for other
ways to do it too. No, I had to find other ways.
God had to talk to me in other ways. If God didn't
speak to me in other ways, here's the real deal.
What people don't understand, there's nothing
against my father. It's just kind of our destiny,
right? This is why I tell people that nature
is also a Bible, right? When a lion gets a certain
age, his dad will kick him out. He got to go.
You got to go get your own pride. Because this
is my pride. And that's kind of how me and my
father were. So it's like at a young age, I knew
I was going to have to go because just the way
things shaped up. You understand me? So me growing
up watching, even these guys watching before
me, I watched all of them get to their age, but
my daddy would never allow them to be as confident
and as charismatic as Charlie Campbell was because
he didn't allow that. Because he was the boss.
He's the boss. He was in control of everything.
But he ain't got to fight nobody. Right. So then,
after the 76 Olympics, God gave me a second confirmation.
Howard Davis Jr. won the Val Barker Cup. I mean,
he was the best fighter at the Olympics. But
he probably was the only one of them gold medalists
that didn't become world champion. Why? Because
his dad had waited way too long. So he waited
so long that when he finally fought Jim Watt,
he couldn't beat Jim Watt. Because... in howard
davis the fire had died now in his daddy the
fire still was there but guess what his daddy
got a fight what right how it does right you
understand me that was my second confirmation
that when i get old enough i gotta go yeah you
understand me so it's like i start to understand
and like i said nature has always been my bible
so people always say why you love animals why
you love chickens that's where i learned god's
teachings from because god made those animals
and people can't change them You understand me?
You can neuter them, but when you neuter them,
you change them to a whole other animal. And
to me, in society, sometimes that's what they're
trying to do to us. They're trying to neuter
us. So when they neuter us, we don't fight back.
Well, that's a giant thing with men today. That's
what I'm trying to tell you. That's what toxic
masculinity and all that bullshit. That's what
I'm trying to tell you. They're trying to mentally
neuter us. When you neuter a horse, he becomes
a gelding. He don't fight back no more. He don't
care no more. You understand me? So it's like...
If you neuter a man, he becomes nothing. He don't
care no more. He ain't going to fight back. He
ain't going to even stand up for himself because
he ain't got no what God gave. You took that
out. You feel me? And to me, that's emotionally,
mentally, what they try to do to us without physically
doing it. So that was a problem that me and my
father also had. And people say, well, why are
you so against what goes on? Well, to me, that's
what he was trying to do. But what I learned
is, and this is going to take you down that road
too. I used to hunt when I was a kid, right?
We would hunt squirrels. When we hunt squirrels,
there would be some squirrels that would have
a penis but no balls. Because the other squirrels
bit their balls off. The daddy. The daddy did
it? The daddy have a nest about anywhere from
10 to 25 females. Every time one of them have
a little babies, he goes and bites the nuts out
of all the males. Because he wants no competition.
But you got to know this now. So this shows me
he can't do it physically, but this is what he's
doing. I watched him do it to all these other
guys I told you about before me. They can't beat
Charlie Campbell because they're geldings. Charlie
Campbell's a stud. He ain't better than them.
He ain't stronger than them. He ain't even a
better puncher than them. But in his mind, he's
a stud. In their mind, they're geldings. 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 because they got to be second to my father
first. I can't be that guy. If you're going to
rule the world, you ain't never seen a gilding
rule the world in breeding. You understand me?
You understand me? Now you see some fast gildings
because they're just fast naturally. But they're
not going to rule the past because once you cut
the balls out of them, he's no more a man. Yeah.
You feel me? I do. So it's like. I'd be saying,
you know, it's like nothing personal against
nobody. I don't care. You do what you want to
do. But for me, I couldn't be world champion
if I let my father make me a guillotine mentally
and emotionally. You understand me? So I could
not stay there and become a guillotine like I
watched them do before me and expect to be Roy
Jones Jr. that you know today. It just couldn't
happen. That's a difficult balance with some
trainers, right? Because some trainers were fighters
and they're tough guys. Yep. And they don't want
to let the other guys surpass them. Yeah. That's
one of the reasons why a lot of fighters don't
make good trainers. And that's why a lot of father
-son relationships don't work as fighters because
the father don't want to let the son grow up.
And in order to stop him from growing up, you've
got to almost turn him into a guillotine so that
he'll go for anything and not fight you back.
It usually works out in a weird way. It's very
rare that a father -son fight coach. combination
works. Lobanchinko, his dad do a good job. Yeah.
Yeah. Well, his dad is an unusual cat. Yeah.
His dad told him you're going to just dance for
two years. Like what? I think it might've been
more than two years. His dad is God gifted. Yeah.
A lot like, a lot like Joe Kawasaki's dad was.
He was God gifted. These guys never boxed, but
they made world champions out of their sons.
Because they knew, they seen something and they
knew what it took to get him there. 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. So God gave him a vision way
before his son got to where he was going. He
showed him where he was going, but way before
it happened. He gave my father the same vision,
just that my father's personality wouldn't allow
him to enjoy the fruits of that vision. Did you
ever resolve it with your father? No. Never?
No. Is he still alive? Oh, yeah. Wow. Do you
talk at all? No. Damn. That's got to be weird
for him. No, it's not weird for him. He understands
he's a lion and I'm a lion. I understand, but
his son's Roy Jones Jr. Yeah. 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. Well, he don't talk to you
because you don't want to talk to him. Right.
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. So if you don't want to talk to
him, then he's not going to chase you down and
talk to you. Why would he? I couldn't, me personally
as a father, I couldn't. I couldn't handle that.
I couldn't handle it with none of my kids. That's
why I didn't raise my kids the way that I was
raised. So me and all my kids, my kids can talk
to me about anything. I'm like you as a father.
I couldn't handle that either. But sometimes
there are sacrifices. But sometimes a guy like
you has to come out of a situation like that.
You have to fight your way through the struggle
of being dominated by your father to become your
own man. And then that's one of the reasons why
you're such a bad motherfucker. If I didn't beat
that, I never would have made it in boxing. Sean
O 'Grady used to tell me all the time, you did
the one thing that I never could do. I said,
what's that, Sean? He said, I just couldn't walk
away. I said, well, I thought God had me destined
to be great, so I had to walk away. And look
what I am now. Yeah, indeed. Indeed. What does
it feel like after, like, you're already an all
-time great. You're already Hall of Famer. And
now you're getting back into the ring again.
Like, what does that feel like? Is it exciting?
Is it? It's a new feeling. You know, right now
I got to tell, while I'm here, I got to tell
them they got to go to Roy Jones Jr. I mean,
rjjfightstore .com to get a shirt like me. That's
where I got it. rjjfightstore .com. Don't miss
that. Y 'all must have forgot it's on the back.
Exactly. So it's like, for me, it's a whole new
game now. You got to do a little bit more promoting
stuff. You got to try to do a little bit more
media work. I'll come talk to you because you
always supported me. You've been one of the best.
There it is. One of the best people that I have
known as far as being a Roy Jones person. I would
have came to you if I was doing nothing. But
having a Mike Tyson fight for us to talk about,
what better time to come see you? You feel me?
So I've been trying to get here, but I said I
want to wait until we got something interesting
to really talk about. Oh, yeah. Because we good
people. You are good people. So I wanted something
big when I came here, and now I got something.
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. You feel me? Listen,
I appreciate it. I'm happy to talk to you anytime,
anyplace. What is it like, though, when you see,
like, now Holyfield's thinking about coming back,
he's training hard, Oscar De La Hoya, that could
be a fight for you, too. Like, if you decide
to keep going with this, that's someone who's
more your size as well. Yeah, he more my size,
but he look at me like I look at Mike. He say,
you know, he's too big. Well, he fought some
middleweights, right? He fought Bernard. Bernard
stopped him with that body shot. You see that?
That's fighting a middleweight. They're a little
different than me, and they're a little different
than Mike. 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,
at that time, who are they going to look at again?
They're going to look at Mike Tyson again. They're
going to look at Roy Jones again. And they're
going to look at Roy Jones again first because
Roy Jones do so much crazy stuff that he's like
high in the world. Not only do, like you say,
it's a basketball game for the fight. Method
Man and Red Man bring him to the ring. He got,
I mean, Radio City Music Hall. I mean, come on.
Roy Jones got so much stuff that he going to
win that debate. And if you remember, Mike Tyson
probably going to be right behind him because
Mike Tyson got some knockouts that are unbelievable.
You understand me? So it's like that's the two
most. entertaining guys over the last two decades
without a question. Without a question. You said
you learned that move when you put your hands
behind your back. Who'd you knock out when you
put your hands behind your back? I knocked him
down, James Toney. Oh, no, no. Glenn Kennedy.
You're right. You knocked him out. You said you
learned that from a rooster, too. From a rooster,
too. That's right. That's right. Who else learned
shit from roosters? That's right. The rooster
man. But see, you got to understand this, too.
There's a little bit more to it. I'm also big
on the kung fu movies. So the kung fu movies,
you know, they got tiger style, crane style,
all these, the toad, the lizard, all these different
things. So I said, you know, I love roosters.
So let me see how I can incorporate the roosters
into my style of boxing. Do you think this is
one and done? Do you think this Tyson fight is
one and done? 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?
It really depends on how it goes because You
know, I'm like this, man. I think Mike is an
awesome person. And I know Mike has had his ups
and downs in the world. I know Mike is really,
you know, he is Mike. You understand me? So you
don't know what Mike you're going to get. Right.
You understand me? So in this exhibition, you
got to prepare for the best you can prepare for.
And, you know, anything can happen. If Mike hits
you with the elbow and cuts you on purpose, anything
can happen. You don't know. And you try to get
him back, and they may stop it before you get
to get him back. then they say, well, y 'all
want to do a real fight? Hell yeah, I want to
do a real fight with my get back. You understand
me? If that happened like that. You understand
me? You've already got it played out in your
head. I'm just saying, yeah, because you ain't
going to do just anything. I ain't getting no
get back. You feel me? Right, I understand. It
ain't going to go like that. You feel me? So
now if we go, if we have a straight up one, this
time is good, then I'm cool. That may be the
end of it. It might turn out like I want it.
Everything will be great. You understand me?
So it may be a great opportunity. We both may
put up great performances and we might call it
a day. We might be too tired to talk about it
if it's called we owe. You understand me? Yeah.
That may happen too. But it all really probably
depends on the outcome of this. You understand
me? Because when you're the smaller guy and you're
fighting 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 might come in and do. You understand
me? So I got to be ready. I mean, I feel safe
with these earmuffs on because he might bite
you in your damn ear. That's the thing about
Mike is he's so crazy. He's so wild. You feel
me? You don't know what he might do. I think
he's a different human now. You know, he was,
he's, I've talked to him twice on a podcast.
I talked to him once. It was about 10 months
ago and once just a couple weeks ago. And he's
two different people from those two times. That's
what I'm saying. That's just 10 months. So imagine
what he'd do in 10 days. Well, 10 months ago,
he was smoking weed. He wouldn't even work out.
He said he couldn't work out because he didn't
want to reignite his ego. And then he said his
wife called him fat. And then he started working.
He said, I got on the treadmill, started doing
it for 15 minutes. Next thing you know, it's
two hours. And then he's obsessed again. And
now his ego has been reignited. Yes, he said.
The gods of war reignited his ego. You feel me?
But they called it an exhibition. Okay, so anyway.
He looks shredded. Oh, he is shredded. Yeah,
he's ready to go. And he's good. He's doing the
right thing because DBs ain't playing. You feel
me? I understand. He's doing the right thing.
But like I said, if everything goes good, then
I won't have to do it twice. But if it don't
go like I want it to and they say, yeah, I want
to do a real one, then give me some 10s and let's
go for real. 10s and would you do 10 rounds?
No, 10 or 12. 10 or 12. I want 12. I can't. I
want to. See, they got me doing. Eight two minute
rounds now. That's a two minute round. That's
his advantage. Everything is to his advantage.
That's to his advantage, too. Why'd you agree
to it? At this point, the fans are so excited
about it. I wouldn't want to pull a rug from
under the fans. Then they try to sue me. Right.
You know what I'm saying? So it's not really
worth it. You know what I'm saying? So I'm going
through these two rounds just that I'm going
to have to figure out a little bit different
way. I'm going to have to work a little faster
than I expected to. Yeah, two -minute rounds
is a totally different kind of rhythm. Totally
different kind of rhythm. Yeah, it's weird that
they decided to do it that way. Do you think
they decided to do that because of the September
12th date where it was only six weeks for him
to prepare? No, they just decided this last week.
Really? Yeah, they changed up on me about the
week. So it was originally three -minute rounds?
I thought. I guess I read the memo wrong. Like
I said. Wow. It changes so much on me, man. 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.
They said something about that Arce and Chavez
senior fight, how fatigued they were after the
fight, and they feel like that's a safety measure.
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. Yeah, for sure.
So I need to get Mike. unfresh, quick, so we
can get out of this danger zone. What happened
with Chavez Sr.? He and Arce, I think, fought
a true exhibition with headgear and big gloves.
Right. But they said they were so exhausted afterwards
that they felt like that is what could inhibit
somebody's health. Huh. Well, how much did they
train for? That's what I don't know. So they're
making it two different things. You feel me?
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. Time is the best
component I have. The longer he goes, the more
he wears, the better my chances are. The longer
you keep him strong and fresh, the more dangerous
it is for me. So they didn't discuss this beforehand?
It's not a part of the contract? They just contacted
you and said they're dropping it down in two
-minute rounds? They said the commission is dropping
it down in two -minute rounds. You can pull out.
The commission said that? They said, yeah, the
commission. You drop it down in two -minute rounds,
you can either pull out or you can fight. Man.
So this is the commission's idea? Well, I guess.
They said WBC came in and said it along with
the commission. So I don't know if it's... The
commission told me it's WBC's. WBC told me it's
the commission. So I ain't really sure who it
is. But my point is... That's not good for me.
That's good for him again. You feel me? He already
a bigger man. Y 'all started giving him everything
he want. Yeah, I want it to be three -minute
rounds. I want it to be three -minute rounds.
It's safer for me for three -minute rounds. Yeah,
it's just better. It's boxing. It's traditional.
It's what it's always been. Guess what, though?
What they're going to do is turn that light back
on. When they turn that light on, bad things
happen. You heard me. I heard you. And they turn
that light back on. Slowly but surely, they turn
that light back on. And I'm going to say, I didn't
want to be this person, but since y 'all going
to do me like this, now y 'all starting something.
That mean trouble. Listen, I'm excited about
this fight no matter what, but now I'm more excited
about it. This is going to be a gigantic fight,
too. I mean, I've heard so many people talk about
it that are just casual boxing fans that are
excited. I was cool in the beginning, but like
I said, once you only kick me around so much,
then the hook comes out. I see myself and I'm
turning green. Well, you always said that, that
there's like two dudes inside of you, right?
There's Roy Jones Jr. and there's RJ. And they're
starting to wake him up. Well, who's RJ? The
one to be effed with. When did you realize there
was like a second person? Well, I've been new
it my whole life. I've been new it my whole life.
I always try to suppress that person because
that person will end up in somebody's penitentiary
somewhere if you don't watch him. Because he
ain't really thinking about or caring about what
nobody thinks. So is this, do you think that
this, you developed this as... a way of is it
just always been inside of you or is this how
you dealt with certain situations in your life
where you had to like shut off parts of who you
are I think all real men have it 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 gildings because any man like
you you got kids somebody did something to your
kid and you saw it RJ coming up. You understand
me? I do. So it's always there, it's just that
you try to keep it suppressed. So I try to keep
it suppressed, but Jingle kick on me with so
much, then he coming. And once he start coming,
guess what? He's just like a pit bull, he has
no off switch. Who was it that you fought? You
fought this dude, jack guy, shorter guy, first
fight. That's right. that's right yeah the second
fight rj came out in a big way yes that was an
annihilation of course yeah you just hunted him
down of course that's who rj is yeah seek and
destroy that was haggle's words seeking destroy
you can destroy it so the first fight what happened
in the first fight he got injured no i hit him
he went down one knee but he was already short
right so i couldn't take it down so i tapped
him again and i thought the referee was gonna
say stop oh that's right i'm waiting for the
referee to say stop he didn't say that so i tapped
him again he looked at the referee and thought
oh crash on his head, face down. That's okay.
Okay, I'll take that disqualification, but now,
it's a little bit harder for me when you... Did
they give him the title for that? Yeah. That's
right. Hey, that was my first loss. If it wasn't
for that loss, I probably still wouldn't have
lost today. That was my first loss. So now, around
the Olympics, here I go again. So you know how
I feel come the second time, right? Yeah. Now
I got robbed twice, or three times. We talked
about how the Olympic Committee robbed me too,
so now I've been robbed. Three times. Now somebody
got to die. How many times does RJ come out and
fight? Just that one time. Just one time? It's
because he talk crazy to me after I'm knowing
you got my title while you down face down the
mat. How you can't talk to me like that now?
And if he would have left me alone, it would
have never came out. If he would have 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. I try
to suppress that guy. You feel me? But when he
start talking, now you make me be a person I
don't want to be. and i know i'm glad we're friends
now we don't you know we ain't got no beef no
more we cool now we shook hands 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 and you will talk crazy about
me too no no you oh have always showed great
sportsmanship and and also control like 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. He done, bro. What you
want me to do to him? The referee wouldn't stop
it, and then you just finished it real quick.
I said, okay. Yeah. Yeah, it was devastating.
But that was an excellent example of you being
a good sportsman. Of course. I'm not out there
to hurt people. That's what I try to tell people.
I'm not out there to hurt people. When you...
And Gerald McClellan. Gerald McClellan, who was
at the time a destroyer. You know what I mean?
He was the man that people thought of as being
a great challenger for you. And then he had that
fight with Nigel Benn and wound up getting brain
injury and just devastated and was never the
same again. How much did that affect you? 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. How bad did that affect you?
It affected me pretty bad because being that
I knew Gerald and we were friends, and he won
a 3 -2 split decision over me in the amateurs.
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.
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.
I was the only person. And people called me the
next day and said, how did you know he was not
going to win? I said, because he's good. He's
a very strong puncher. But punching is all that
Nigel really has. Nigel does not believe in boxing
skills. Nigel don't care about boxing skills.
Nigel is just what he say he is, a dark destroyer.
You go into his country, you go into his backyard,
and you're going to fight him just like he fights.
That's not a good recipe. You feel me? And just
what I didn't think was going to be quite that
bad. I didn't think he was going to end his career.
But I thought that he was going to end up losing
to Nigel because of the fact that he would fight
the wrong fight. He would fight the style which
Nigel shines in. The only style that Nigel could
shine in. When he knocked Nigel down the first
round, 99 % of fighters would have been done.
When he sent him through the ropes, it looked
like it was over. And that's what Gerald was
doing to everybody. Gerald was destroying people.
Everybody. Destroying people. What a puncher
he was. And what a classic, crunk -style fighter
he was. Tall, long dude, serious power, super
hyper aggressive. Both hands. But Nigel Benn
could fucking take it. You know, he almost had
a comeback recently. Yeah, he did. He had some
shoulder injuries and sidelined him. The bad
part about it is, and this is what we're seeing,
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'd have had nothing to urge him back
on. 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. Yeah. And he did just
that. He survived. But the crowd made him do
that. Yeah. And then when he started taking it
to Gerald, I mean, that was crazy. Gerald just
emptied his gas tank trying to take him out of
there. And Gerald was also another guy who cut
a tremendous amount of weight. Of course. He
was big for a middleweight. Huge. He probably
should have gone up to light heavyweight even
before then. Or super middleweight. Yeah. And
that's what most people thought was going to
happen. 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. It's really
only been a couple instances. What 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, because tomorrow
is not promised to nobody when you go in that
ring. Anything can happen at any time. Nobody
suspected that that would be Joe McClellan's
last fight ever. You understand me? Nobody suspected
that. You understand me? Same with the guy, the
heavyweight that it happened to up in New York.
He fought the Cuban guy, Mike, whatever his name
was. I can't remember his last name, but nobody
ever suspected that that would be that heavyweight's
last fight. I remember that, yeah. I know the
fight you're talking about, but I can't remember
the name. Yeah, same sort of situation. Yeah,
man. It's just like... you never know so in boxing
you have to take every fight that's why people
say well why you say that man you don't know
you know you get hit by somebody like mike tyson
anything can happen right mike tyson is not just
an ordinary puncher right he one of those guys
that could do just that to you so you should
know what you're going into and you should be
ready for that because this is mike yeah you
understand me now for me i don't really give
a damn i fight for a living i feel just like
a game rooster I'd be ready to die for my spot.
So if you want me, it's right down my alley.
I ain't tripping at all because I know that death
is a probability. You feel me? So, yeah, that
could happen to anybody. And I know it could
happen to me even more going in there with somebody
as dangerous as a Mike Tyson. Problem with me
is why I love what I love and why I do what I
do is because I love boxing. So if I got to die
boxing, I'm going to die a happy man. You understand
me? What? Is that the way you'd like to go? Well,
I mean, well, it's probably one or two other
ways I'd rather go. Like a grandpa sitting on
a porch. Yeah, but if I went that way, I'm not
mad at that. Right, I understand. Because I know
that when I started boxing. Right. I know that
people get hurt in this. Some people don't make
it out of this a lot. So if that's how you got
to go, you got to know that. 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 because that's what boxing is.
Yeah. That's a great philosophy to have to go
into combat because nobody gets out alive in
this life. Got to leave some way. Better believe
it. And you want to talk about a man who's been
dedicated to a craft and a sport. I mean, your
whole life. has been dedicated to his craft and
sport. And because of that, you are universally
recognized as one of the all -time best. Yep.
And I ain't caring tomorrow what it is, who it
is. When y 'all say let's go, it's time for me
to go. Yeah, there's a legacy that you've left
it like no matter what happens. No one can ever
take that away from you Yep, you've accomplished
some crazy shit. Thank you, brother It is what
it is, right and your era to men I mean, there's
so many so many amazing fighters of your error.
I mean you you really came up and, I mean, boxing
is in a good place now. There's a lot of exciting
champions and a lot of exciting fights to be
made. But, I mean, your era was one of the golden
eras of boxing. Yeah, it was. And you know what?
The only thing, like I said, what hurts me now
is like I be wanting to see the best fighters
fight the best fighters. Like right now, a good
fight that's on tap is two good fights. Tank's
about to fight a good fight. Lomachenko about
to fight a really good fight. You understand
me? But the guy, His opponent hasn't been proven
yet, Teofimo Lopez, but I think he's a really
good prospect, and if he does get into this fight,
it could be really interesting. Yet, at the same
time, this tells us if it's too early for him
or not, because he still has time to grow. He's
young, but he's a good -looking prospect. You
feel me? Good -looking prospect. The guy Tank's
fighting, and just forgive me, I don't know names.
I don't remember names that well, but... He's
a pretty good fighter too. 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. So he'll be big on fight night.
And if he's that big on fight night, it makes
it very difficult to take those hammers, those
tanks that he throws when he throws them. So
it's going to be a good fight too. I can't wait
to see that. But there are some good fights on
tap and I'm looking forward to it. But I still
say that right now, the best fighter out there
besides Roy and Mike is... Crawford versus Spence
in their prayer. I agree. Yeah. Why are we still
not making it happen? I don't know. I'm amazed
Spence came out of that car accident unfazed.
You watch that car flip like that, you're like,
Jesus Christ. God had to be with him. Something
was with him. That's for sure. God had to be
with him. Had to be. Something. And Terrence
Crawford, to me, is one of the most interesting
champions alive today. Beast mode. He think like
me and Pernell Whitaker thought. If you want
it, come and get it. I love how he switches stances
too. I mean, he fights as good from orthodox
as Southpaw. And when he decides to switch it
up on guys, you see the look on their face where
they get confused. He'll fight two, three rounds
one way and then switch it up. And you see, like,
Hagler used to do that. Hagler was a fantastic
switch fighter. One of the best I've seen in
Ted Crawford, yeah. Yeah, and Crawford just,
he's got a mind for the sport. It's like this,
you could see when he's putting it on a guy.
You know, he just, he's as game as they come.
Yes, sir. Yes, sir. So those are fights I want
to see. I have some interesting guys. I got a
guy, Chris Eubank Jr. I really want to see him.
I really want to see him with one of the Charlo
brothers first. And when we get... I think that
would be a very good competitive fight. So you're
training Chris Eubanks? Yes, and that'll show
us where he's at. I think the winner of that
fight should fight Canelo. I think he's good
enough. You can't down a champion. You can't
just say, oh, he'll beat the champ. I don't do
that in boxing because that's not my thing. But
we do want to fight the champ, which right now
I think the WBA champ, middleweight, is a Japanese
guy, and we need to fight him to find out. get
us a real title then we should fight the charlotte
brother to have a unification title i'll fight
i mean then he should fight canelo to find out
who demanded the weight class is canelo going
to stay at 68 or is he going to go back and forth
between 68 and 75. i think canelo's going to
go where the money fight is which is smart yeah
you know just kind of freelance and wrong he'd
been always signified go from 75 to 60. i think
that's comfortable for him It kind of reminds
me of what I kind of did, just dominate the area.
You know what I'm saying? So if you get lucky
enough to come get high enough in the area, he'll
take you. 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. It's beautiful. His defensive skills
are so much better than they've ever been before.
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. 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
weigh -in. He didn't wait and try to outbox Roger
because he's never going to outbox Roger. Right.
But he started chasing Roger at the weigh -in.
And he chased Roger all night until he ran Roger.
complete ragged, then he would beat Roger. Well,
Julio did that to everybody, right? Melvin Taylor,
too. Yeah, but what I'm saying is that's the
way to beat a guy who's a better boxer than you.
So if you notice, then why don't you send Canelo
in to chase Floyd from round one? Right. You
don't go out there and try to outbox Floyd Mayweather.
I mean, think about it, man. That's true. Think
about it. You think I'm going to go out and try
to send somebody to go out and shoot Larry Bird?
No, I'm not. No, I'm not. No, I'm not. That's
stupid. That's what Larry does best. Right. No.
I understand. 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. Yeah, but
you've been pro since you was 15. Yeah. So you
probably got a little bit more experience than
Floyd had at the time as far as professional
boxing goes. So if you really think about it.
You don't outbox the boxer. Didn't Floyd make
him suck a lot of weight too? I think he made
him get down to like 52 or something like that.
Yeah, but he came in the ring at like, I think
he was 16 pounds heavier than Floyd. So if you're
16 pounds heavier than him, that tells you that
you've got to use that 16 pounds. Try to use
it against him if you can. Not saying that he
would beat Floyd, because Floyd is a smart guy.
Floyd knows how to change up. That's the good
thing about Floyd. Floyd also is an elite fighter
who knows how to make adjustments. But for your
best, for your optimal chances, you got to go
and get on him from round one. Like Maidana did
in Florida the first fight. Gave him all kinds
of problems the first fight because he stayed
right there on it. And he's not the puncher that
Canelo is. He's not as big as Canelo is. But
Maidana's a wild man. It don't matter. That's
the only chance Canelo had that night. You're
not going to outbox Floyd Mayweather. Come on,
bro. You got to risk losing. That's what I'm
saying. At that point, he wasn't ready for that.
So to say that he's a better fighter, we could
say that, but he's an older fighter, too. So,
of course, the older you get, the better you're
supposed to get. Right. But we can't necessarily
say he's a better fighter until we see him...
Against a guy like Floyd. Or see him fixed because
he had the same problem with Arizona De Lara.
Oh, okay. With Arizona De Lara as he had with
Floyd because Arizona De Lara is a boxer. right
so that fight that fight was a fight that some
people thought could have went either way yeah
i thought me being one of them you feel me so
it's like that don't mean you got better that
means that you've been facing different types
of competition right because until we see you
do that and handle that style then we can say
you got better yeah now he's a great fighter
don't get me wrong to me here in my top three
because i like i love canelo i think canelo one
of the best out there yeah but we can't say we're
always quick to say he got better after the floor
fight I'm not going to say that necessarily he
got better because he was going to get better
anyway because he was going to grow up, which
he did. He was 21 and he grew up. Most people,
when they grow up, they get smarter, so they
have to get better. But I don't think the Floyd
fight made him better because he still didn't
show me that he made the necessary adjustment
to come back and beat Floyd if he fought him
again or give Floyd an even better fight if he
fought him again because if he's not pressuring
Floyd, he's never going to outbox Floyd. Yeah.
Styles make fights, right? That's what I'm saying.
Yeah. Were you stunned by the Kovalev fight?
No, I wasn't. No, I wasn't. Kovalev took the
fight at a time I thought was bad for him because
he took it right after one of his other fights.
And it's like, to me, I don't think Kovalev took
the fight with the intent to win it. I think
he felt like, I'll get a chance to fight Canelo.
I'll get good money. I'll take it. You think
so? That's what I felt like. Really? I don't
think, I didn't see the real Kovalev. I mean,
then you try to box Canelo and move away and
let Canelo stalk you. But now the way Canelo
stalked him is the way he should have stalked
Mayweather the first time. Yeah. Because that's
what he had to do to beat Mayweather. And he
turned Kovalev, the crusher, turned into a boxer.
I think with Kovalev, the word's always been
that he drinks too much. I hear that, but what
I'm saying is, Kovalev, your nickname is the
crusher. Right. Why would you let a guy coming
up two weight classes make you alleviate or deviate
from where you normally are? You're normally
called the crusher. Now you're going to go to
the boxer all of a sudden for a guy that's coming
up two weight classes? No. I understand. No.
You understand me? I understand. I mean, I love
Kovalev to death, too. That's my boy. You know
what I'm saying? But I just feel like he... fought
the wrong fight against Cano. I don't know if
he was physically capable of fighting any other
fight. I just don't think he's as durable as
he used to be. I agree with that too, but to
me, you must fight the right game plan or you've
lost before the fight starts. Right. Yeah. True.
Well, you're a fantastic commentator, man. That's
one of the things that got me really bummed out
when HBO died. I can't believe they took away
boxing. I don't know why HBO did that. I just
don't understand it. 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. They can't be number one. They ain't doing
it. And so I can kind of... So what put them
into number two? Well, I'm just saying they want
to be the best at it. Was it DAZN? I don't know.
Or was it just money and streaming, ESPN Plus?
I don't really know. I just feel like they want
to be number one or they want to be nothing.
Well, I mean, I don't know, man. Between you
and with Jim Lampley. And Max Kellerman. And
Max Kellerman, who's fantastic. You guys did
an amazing job. Fun stuff. The commentary team
was unparalleled. The best ever. The best ever.
So that's what I'm saying. But like I said, I
just feel like maybe they were used to having
the elite champions. And because the elite champions
became dispersed, maybe that was it. I don't
know. But to me, I feel like, like I said, I
feel like they. Just wanted to be. Or maybe people
that bought him out. I don't know. I don't know
either, but it's a sad state of affairs. It hurt
me. I tell you that. It still hurts me to this
day. That's kind of. I mean, they have been in
boxing for how many years? 30 plus years? It
still hurts me to this day. And it's amazing
that no one has brought that team back. Max Kellerman
to this day is not doing boxing commentary that
I'm aware of. He do a little bit on ESPN. Does
he? Yeah, he does a little bit. But where's Jim
Lampley? I don't know, but those two guys are
two of the best guys you ever can work with.
And Jim Lampley has a memory that is unparalleled
to anybody I've ever met in my life. This guy
can look at a paper one time and remember that
whole damn page almost word for it. I believe
it. I mean, I ain't never seen nothing like it
in my life. No, he is as good a play -by -play
commentator as has ever lived. Yes, sir. He's
phenomenal. HBO was pretty awesome 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.
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... King Pina Fox. Yeah.
No, they were uncrowned. I mean, undoubtedly
the ones who wore the crown. Now, do you do any
commentary now? No, I can't until my contract's
over and my contract's not over until December.
Oh, okay. Yeah, so after December I can do other
commentary. Are you talking to anybody about
doing that? Not yet. I hope you do. I haven't
spoken to nobody about it yet. I'm sure after
it ends we'll start speaking to people, but I
haven't spoken to anybody yet. How did you get
involved with Russia? How did you become a Russian
citizen? When I read that, I was like, what is
happening with Roy? What are you doing? Man,
I do so much. My partner got a movie coming out
right now called Four Kings, me and Mike Tyson
in that movie too. But I do so much. 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. And Russia is like
a Roy of 1990s. Really? Yeah. When I go somewhere,
it's all here at the King. That's how much they
love boxing. Wow. So to go to Russia and to see
that you love that much, as bad as I hate the
cold. 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. But wanted is the big key.
and i always tell i tell my kids don't date a
girl that you want they're the girl that wants
you she'll treat you better smart words right
there so that's very important loves and appreciates
me you understand me do you appreciate some love
me too don't get it wrong 99 the population of
russia knows me really yes so it's like when
they said you should become a part of Us too.
It's not to say, oh, I don't like you. No, it's
not like that. It's like, why can't we all get
along? Why can't we? What's the problem? 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. No,
but there are several Russians that are dual
citizens. So why would y 'all give me grief when
y 'all ain't giving them grief? True. I mean,
is it? We always talk about this racism stuff.
Is it? If I got grief, what could it be? Because
there are several Russians over here in this
country right now that they. to have dual citizenship.
So I can't. Why can't you? That's what I'm saying.
So how did it come up? They just brought it up
to me. 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. I was like,
wow, that's not a bad idea. I never thought in
my life that it would be possible to become a
Russian citizen and an American citizen. I said,
but that can't be a bad thing. And people forget
that we fought together in World War II. So,
It's like, we're not really enemies. We're enemies.
Sometimes politics try to make us enemies, but
we're really not enemies. And if we're all children
of God, then why are we enemies? Or how can we
really be enemies? So do you split time in Russia?
Yes. How much time of the year do you spend there?
I usually go about, spend probably about six
months a year there. Really? So you do hit that
cold. Yeah, I do hit it. I hate it, but I hit
it. And my fighters, I meant to. I mentioned
that I have several fighters all over the world,
too. I have a Russian heavyweight. I have a Swedish
middleweight. I have a Swedish coach. I got some
fighters in South Africa. I got fighters everywhere.
And then I got a team here. I got Andrew, Glenn,
I was telling you about Chris Eubank, Kevin Newman,
Delisco Shady Gamora, I said him, Ikram. I got
a lot of good Michael Williams Jr. I got a good
stable of young fighters up and coming. Brian
Pirello, I think his last name is, Bryant. I
got a really good stable of Glenn Hagler Jr.
Really good stable of fighters that I'm trying
to work on bringing up. Fernando. And I'm trying
to get them to understand my thought process
in boxing because they can understand my thought
process. They're already ahead of the curve.
If they don't understand my thought process,
they're not going nowhere. Right. You understand
me? 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. What do you think is
different about your thought process? My thought
process is some of it is already understood before
I go in there. You understand me? So it's like
certain things that you do, you know. You have
do's and don'ts before you go in there. You understand
me? So it's like when I come out to fight, if
you got a bad jab, you won't live tonight. You
will not win tonight because you're not going
to beat me with a bad jab. Not because it's the
first punch you learn in boxing. If your jab
is bad, you're not beating Roy. You understand
me? If you can't block this hook, you're not
beating Roy. You understand? Those things are
understood before the fight ever starts. I don't
care who you are. If your jab bad and you ain't
going to block this hook, you ain't going to
beat Roy. 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. 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.
Yeah, it does. That's what I try to do. Some
kids get it, some kids don't. But my goal is
to try to get it to all of them or get it in
all of them's head. Get them at least to start
thinking in the right direction. Because if I
can make them think in the right direction, now
I got something. You understand me? I got to
make them think in the right direction first.
See, most guys want contact. You understand me?
Contact is like, I got a guy, one of my guys
I work with often, his name is James Wilkins.
He works harder than everybody everywhere. But
I got to teach him that it's not about how hard
you work, it's how smart you work hard. You understand
me? Because you're working hard without smart.
you're not going to get nowhere. Then you can
overtrain. Yeah, you're going to overtrain, and
you're not getting no better because you're not
working some more. Right. So many boxers have
now gone to basically strength and conditioning.
So my friend Tom Yankelo has started a channel.
And Tom Yankelo has a channel, and his thing
is he teaches boxing. Is it a YouTube channel?
Yeah. How do you say his name? Tom Yankelo. How
do you spell that? Y -A -N -K -E -L -O. Okay.
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. So he's teaching boxing
the right way now. You understand me? 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. There you go.
There he is. Okay. I've seen him work with you.
So he's, those pads, those little flippy pads,
those are like. They're different, right? Yes.
What do you like about those? Well, I like them
because they don't hurt your hands. And if you're
a big puncher like I am, you ain't got to ever
hurt your hands. But the ones where guys hold
with their hands, they hurt your hands. But he
gives a lot of knowledge. He teaches a lot. He
teaches the sport the right way. You understand
what I mean? So I like people like him because
he doing his thing the way it's supposed to be
done. Well, the beautiful opportunity that people
have now to learn shit on YouTube that just was
not available before. You could spend day after
day after day watching YouTube videos and instructions
and watching old fights too, man. Of course.
Old fights is some of the best knowledge you're
going to get. But having somebody like him that's
also teaching it helps you a whole lot. Out of
all the old fighters, is there one that really
stands out to you that you enjoyed watching?
Sugar Ray Robinson probably was the one I watched
the most. But my favorite fighter of all time
is Muhammad Ali. Muhammad Ali, Muhammad Ali,
Sugar Ray Leonard, and Salvador Sanchez would
be my second and third. Muhammad Ali, Sugar Ray
Leonard, Salvador Sanchez. And you can mix them
in a kind of way because I got my top three qualities
from those three. What did you get from Muhammad
Ali? How to be a showman and how to have class
inside and outside of the ring. And how to outthink
your opponent with your mind before you beat
him with your fists. No one played better mind
games than him. Exactly. And he was doing it
back when nobody did. Exactly. The Sonny Liston
fight. Exactly. They literally, they were almost
not going to let him fight. They thought he was
crazy. They're like, your heart, your blood pressure's
off the charts, man. He did that every time.
He did that every time, though. Because he got
so hyper before he fought. Yeah. Yeah. But he
was, man, what a unique human being. He was about
as unique as it gets. I always point to people,
too. I say, if you look at Muhammad Ali, you
got to look at Muhammad Ali before they made
him take three years off. You watch the Cleveland
Big Cat Williams fight. I'm like, name a fucking
heavyweight that moved like that. Not now. Not
with that kind of speed. Not with that kind of
footwork. I mean, come on. Footwork, precision,
everything. They were faster than a middleweight.
Literally. Literally. No bullshit. Literally.
Faster than a middleweight and a full -blown
heavyweight with length and reach and power and
everything. Couldn't deal with it. And then also
as a human being outside of the ring. I mean,
a cultural force. I remember when I was a kid.
My parents weren't boxing fans at all. 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. They're like, we want
to see him win the title back. And it wasn't,
my parents were hippies. They weren't boxing
fans, but he stood for more than boxing. He stood
for what's good in the world. He stood for rejecting
evil. 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. And people don't understand,
but that's the second reason I accepted the Russian
citizenship. Because Muhammad Ali showed me that
we live here as one. We shouldn't live as individuals.
We should live here as one. Everybody should
be respected, looked upon, equal. You understand
me? And because the Russians did that, that's
why I accepted. 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. That's a beautiful
way to look at it. You talk about a country that
has a great history of combat sports, too, man.
My God. 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. But everything is carried over
now because of the internet, people can now see
things differently. You know, you can learn.
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. That's why I used to look for what made
people great. Like, you understand this. I got
my left body shot from Eddie Mustafa Muhammad
back when he was Eddie Gregory. Oh, wow. Wow.
Priest Spinks. Exactly right. Wow. That's where
I got my left level shot from. Eddie Gregory,
also known as Eddie Mustafa. Who became a great
trainer, too, by the way. You better believe
it. Wow. That's old school, man. Yes, sir. And
I got my defense. I could go a whole round without
getting hit from Wilfred Benitez. Ah. Best defensive
fighter besides Willie Pipp, I think, to ever
live. He was pretty special. Well, you got to
throw Pernell Whitaker in that mix, too. Well,
he was good defensively, too, but he wasn't as
defensively as those guys were. Hmm. Yeah. Yeah,
I mean, there's so many greats to study and learn
little bits and pieces from. I mean, that was
one of the big things that Mike Tyson did, of
course, is just spend a giant chunk of his youth
watching video. And that's what people don't
understand about Mike. Mike is very well versed
in boxing. He knows what the hell he's doing.
He knows how to solve a puzzle in a boxing ring.
More so than anything else in life, he knows
how to solve any riddle he needs to solve in
a boxing ring. People don't give him enough credit
for that. No, they don't. I mean, Mike Tyson,
he's a fascinating human being. And his mind
is, he has things that he focuses on. And that's
where you find out who he is. When you talk to
him about the things he focuses on. Because he
knows a lot about the things that he focuses
on. Exactly. A lot more than you ever expect.
Yeah. He's intense. When he talks to you about
the things that are interesting and important
to him, you see that intensity. That's when it
all comes out. Yeah. Now. you're 51 now yep what
is the difference between training at 51 than
training at 31. 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?
Yeah, you got to do things differently. 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.
I'd go all the time. 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 knee will
say, okay, you might want to go. But I ain't
going today. Right. So are you using any technology
in terms of like heart rate monitors? No, you're
just going by feel? I'm old school. You know
me. Old school. Yeah, I do. I go by feel. I feel
it today. I get it today. I don't feel it today.
We'll rest and get it tomorrow. Are you using
any new school recovery methods? Like are you
using sauna? Are you using ice punches? I do
a little ice. I did a couple little things. I
tried 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. What is that? ProTech, it's
a thing like they're giving you, it's for my
knees, basically. And it's supposed to help get
the cartilage back in my knees. Oh, okay. Wasn't
working? It was working, but they said there
are things that may not work. pass a test if
you take a test. So you got to stop. You can't
do that no more. So I couldn't do it. But I really
enjoyed it because it made my knee feel a lot
better. But they say you got to be careful now
because I guess something on there may not. Some
forbidden thing. It's called ProTech? It's called
ProTech, yeah. See, what is that? Okay. I'm curious
about that because my knees are all fucked up.
Yeah. And I got a couple of people that can help
you out with your knees though because there's
another lady down where I live, Dr. Debra. She
can really help your knees out too. She's also,
she's the one who gave me the shot. With the
protest, but she has another product that she
uses that I think her is may pass test. So mm
-hmm I don't know I'm not gonna take it this
time though cause I was tried Disney said the
doctor told me that I can't do it again So I
got to stop now. What kind of testing are they
doing for this fight? They said they do a regular
fight testing So just like they would do in a
normal fight We're gonna get tested as though
we are regular athletes as though we're fighting
a regular sanctioned fight Vada has already been
to my house once. Vada? Yes. So you can't be
on any testosterone replacement, no growth hormone,
no peptides. Nope. No nothing. Just 51 years
of life. Yep. And if you ain't got it in them
51 years of life, then too bad you ain't getting
it. Well, it certainly helps if you had it and
never lost it. Right. And we were talking about
that before we got here. Like you never stopped
moving. I never stopped moving. That's a good
thing for me. Yeah, it's when we were kids and
we looked at 51 -year -olds. We thought they
were super old. They were grandfathers. Yeah,
they were dead. They were throwing triple F hooks
at lightning speed. Not at 51. No, not at 51.
Yeah, so just the days off, that's the only thing
that's different. That's really the only thing.
Well, I don't go as long. What's a typical session
for you? A typical session is now 12 to 13, 12,
maybe 15 rounds max. It used to be 16 to 24 rounds.
Now it's like 12 to 15 max. And some of those
are low -impact rounds 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. You don't want to mess nothing up, but
a fight does not happen. Now, do you have a person
who's... making your schedule or do you do everything
yourself? I do a little bit of it myself. I've
got a few people to help out. My wife helps out
some, but she's doing her thing with the She
Warrior brand as well. So She Warrior, IamSheWarrior
.com. Make sure y 'all check that. That's where
you get your wife to stuff. Yes, thank you. So
yeah, if you can pull it up, IamSheWarrior .com.
So she helps you put your schedule together as
well? She helps me put my schedule together and
she trains with us every day. Really? Wow. Yeah,
so it's all good. Yeah, we're doing some good
things. There it is right here. Yeah, there it
is. Oh, very nice. That's what I'm trying to
get you. Embrace every challenge as a strong,
confident woman you are. Yeah. Yeah. Now, what
about when you were briefly talking about strength
and conditioning, do you do strength and conditioning?
Like you see a lot of these fighters are doing
like circuit training, high intensity, you know,
like kettlebells and ropes. Yeah, I do a little
bit of that, but I don't make that. a vital part
of my workout i get up and do it in the mornings
like three or four days a week i got a friend
named leaf usually he brings this guy over and
we go to work we do it like three or four days
a week and um but we don't make that a priority
because i'm not a weightlifter i'm not a football
player i'm a boxer right so boxing skills still
should have to be the priority you want to be
in shape too but don't mistake fitness over boxing
skills. Some people now prefer fitness over boxing
skills. But when you run into a guy that has
boxing skills and a little bit of fitness, he
gonna beat you. Yeah. The most important thing
is efficiency and skill. Boxing skills. Yeah.
How did that happen where this thing got confused
that way? Well, I think what really happened
is a lot of the foreigners started picking up
a little bit of our boxing skills too. And they
were always super fit. But they didn't have the
boxing skills. Now that they have the internet,
they can get the boxing skills. So they can pick
up one or two little tricks, put it with that
conditioning, and you're going to get beat. Because
they can do this all night. Well, when you see
a guy who's super strong and super fit and dominates
people with that, it tempts people into thinking
that that's the way. Like Arthur Bitterbeef.
That's exactly right. Super strong guy. That
motherfucker's a tank. A killer. He's such a
tank. A killer. I love watching that guy fight.
But he's been down twice, too, though. Yes, he
has. But he gets in wars. Yeah. Yeah, he gets
in wars. But that fucking guy, he is seek and
destroy every fight. One of the strongest pound
for pound punches I've ever seen. Ever. I mean,
I'm a giant fan of his. And I love watching his
fights because that's what you're going to get.
You're going to get seek and destroy every fight.
And see, the problem is, in our country, we don't.
We're not open -minded enough to be able to see
good fights no matter what race they are. Because
if you think about it, Arthur Bitterbeer and
B -Ball, Demetri B -Ball, will be a sugary little
tamarind type fight right now. Huge. Right now.
There he is. Look at that motherfucker. He's
so jacked. These two guys can freaking punch
and they both can fight. You feel me? Yeah. 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. Yeah, we're more closed
-minded. Well, it's just unfortunate because
I think he's like 37 now. Getting to the later
stages of his life. He's in his prime still,
but he's like the outside edge is, how old is
he? 35. Oh, that's not that bad. But still, you
know, really. From 35 on is when, unless you're
Bernard Hopkins. Fucking that guy, man. And again,
but that guy speaks to discipline and boxing
skill, right? Of course. I mean, that's what
led Bernard Hopkins to have such an incredible
career. That's right, because of the boxing skills,
not just. strength and conditioning, but boxing
skills along with a little strength and conditioning.
I remember back when he was the executioner,
when he fought Felix Trinidad. People were already
counting him out. They were like, he's too old.
And you think about, he knocked out Felix Trinidad.
I want to say he was like 36 back then. And that
was just the beginning. That was just the beginning.
He went on to have this incredible career post
-36. 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, because he
really wanted to fight McGann 200 cents, but
it wasn't really the money that he wanted. So
I told him, listen, you could beat all those
small guys. Go down one, fight Felix Trinidad,
Oscar De La Hoya, be your name back up, and you'll
get someone. And he did exactly that. I know
he won't ever tell him about the truth that I
told him that, but I did. And I ain't got no
reason to lie to you. I did. Just like I told
Tyson Fury that if he just took five years of
his life. and dedicated back to boxing, he beat
the majority of the heavyweights out there today
because the ones that are on top, mentally, he
can beat them. He's mentally better than most
of them, but he's got to dedicate himself to
the sport. And look where he's at right now.
Well, it's funny that when you talk to Tyson
Fury, his father told him to not take the first
Deontay Wilder fight. He said, you're not ready.
He said, you haven't fully recovered physically
from all the years of drinking and abuse that
he's put on his body. After he beat Vladimir
Klitschko and won the title, he kind of went
crazy for a while. He was open about that, about
his issues with alcoholism and mental illness.
But his father was like, you haven't come back
yet. You're not all the way back. So they have
that fight. Fight ends in a draw. Crazy fight.
And then the rematch. Jesus Christ. It was like
seeing him take it to Deontay Wilder. You want
to talk about a hard puncher. Deontay Wilder
is one of the freakiest punchers I've ever seen
in my life. Freaky. Freaky powerful. With the
right hand especially. Yeah, freaky. 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? He's just crazy power, but Tyson Fury's
boxing skill, his boxing skill, and the fact
that he started training with Sugar Hill, cronk
fighter before that, cronk trainer, and had that
super aggressive in -your -face style and just
really used those boxing skills and got super
aggressive in the rematch and had Deontay on
the back heel. That was the main thing. And when
you're not as powerful as Deontay, you have to
think of other ways to do it. And the fact that
when they fight Tyson Fury, same thing happened
with Klitschko. They're not punching down or
straight ahead. They got to punch up. That takes
a lot of power away from those good right -hand
punchers. So if 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. The hook is still deadly
up here, but the right hand going up here takes
a little bit off of it. That's just the law of
gravity. If you don't know that, there's something
wrong with them. I was just amazed that he got
up after the 12th round of the first fight. I
was too. I was too. I truly was too. 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. And that's what really
shocked him the most. That put him in a state
of shock for Fury to come off of that floor and
come back the way he did. And come back and win
the rest of the round. He'd never had nobody
do that to him before in his life, I guarantee
you. No, no. I guarantee you. I couldn't believe
he did it. Guaranteed. He never had nobody in
his life to do him like Tyson Fury did that in
his life. I think that's one of the greatest
comebacks ever in a round. Without a question.
To have him flat. I thought it was over. I remember
watching it at home. I went, oh! I'm going to
see the front of my bed going, oh! 12th round!
Stopped him in the 12th round. And Deontay, 209
pounds for that fight. Which is crazy. I mean.
He's about as light as anyone who's ever fought
for the title and been a title holder. And then
also you think about how many fights he won by
KO. He won all his fights by KO except one. But
that hurt him, though, because he never had to
box. So now he don't know how to box and go that
way. I mean, no, go this way. He knows how to
go this way, but he never had to learn how to
box and go that way. And that hurt him. when
you met somebody that can fight going both ways
right so the first way tyson fear fought him
going like this second way tyson fear fought
him going like this straightforward yeah what
would you what advice would you give dionte like
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 well we go back to learning how to
use our jab and developing our left hand Because
once we develop the left hand, the right hand
already left. We don't need that. We learn how
to operate with developing that left hand. We
develop that left hand, make it become a weapon
before the right hand. Now it's hard to beat
us with the left hand. If we add the right to
it, we're unstoppable. So you would concentrate
on the left hand? Right away. Right away. 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. How much
time would you like to see him spend working
on something like that? Six months. Six months.
Yep. Six months and nobody would beat him again.
They'd have a hard time beating him again, I
should say. But it'd take him six months. What
would you want him to do with his footwork? Because
one of the things about Deontay is he throws
everything into his punches and sometimes...
And that's what we would change. That's why we
would focus on the left hand more. Because the
left hand right now, he don't think it's a killer
hand. He throws a jab with it, but he looking
to kill with the right hand. Right. But we got
to become, you got to make him diverse. You got
to be able to kill with the left or the right.
And you got to make everything used as a unit.
You got to make him use everything as a unit.
If you don't make him use everything as a unit,
then it's not good for him. So to focus on one
punch kind of takes everything else out the game.
If that one punch don't work, what are we going
to do now? Now, in his struggles with backing
up and moving back, what would you have him do
with that? Would you have him concentrate on
cutting angles? No. We know how to fix that too,
but that's part of that jab. Right. You know,
it's how we use the left hand. The left hand
is going to allow us to go in every direction
whenever we need to. But the left hand is most
important. The left hand and feet as defense.
Now, do you ever reach out to fighters? Like
you see a fighter like that have a loss? No.
Now, the only fighter I ever tried to reach out
to was... I forget the guy's name, Linares. Well,
Linares was about to fight Lobanchenko because
I knew it was going to be a good fight. And I
was going to reach out to him, but he had to
train, so I didn't even reach out to him. But
if he would have asked, I would have accepted
that because that's a hard fight for him to fight.
And I know Linares, he's a good guy, but he had
a chance to win that fight. But the way they
trained him to fight, it took all of it away.
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. Right away. Yeah. Did you
ever have fighters come up to you and thank you
for that point? Thank me, tell me what I told
them, tell me what I said they need to get better
at, tell me I made them a better fighter if they
listened to the commentary and saw the mistakes
that they were making. So often I can look at
a guy and break him down right away. It's also
got to be crazy for a fighter to be fighting.
And, I mean, 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. That's got to be
a trip. My guy got Andrew. I think it's Andrew
Murphy's last name. I ain't sure what Andrew's
last name is. But Andrew, he always says, they
say, I'm so amazed still that I'm here taking
instructions from you. You understand me? And
Bryant says it, too. So it's just they always,
they're happy to be there. So I got another kid
named Mark, too. I forgot, from Mobile, Alabama.
And Waylon. Waylon, my next door neighbor, 15
years old. He's going to be a banger, too. But
they love taking instruction from me, and I enjoy
it. So it's all good. Well, it's obvious that
you enjoy it. And for them, first of all, it's
an amazing honor for them. But also, it's got
to be so motivational. Yeah. You know? It is.
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. So now we understand what
he's saying. Because how can we be slower than
him? He's 51. And we can't do it that fast. So
we got problems. Yes, y 'all got major issues.
Now get off your asses and let's go. Well, it's
just beautiful to see how much energy you have
and how much enthusiasm you have. And that's
really what life's all about, right? Yes, it
is, man. It's about having energy, being a positive
force in the world, and just helping other people.
If you do that, you're doing the right thing.
If you're not doing that, then you're almost
wasting time. Because why did God give you life
if you're not going to help the next person?
Beautiful. I love it. Roy Jones Jr., November
28th. I'm going to be watching. I think I'm going
to be there. I think I'm going to go. I hope
you're out there. I think I'm going to go. I
think I'm allowed to go if I just have to take
a COVID test and I can sit. I really appreciate
it. I would love for you to be there. I'm starting
a YouTube channel too soon. So if you want to
look out for that. Well, let me know what that
is and I will promote that for you. I'll let
everybody know. And I'll be back on here soon
too. Let's do it. Thank you, sir. Appreciate
you very much, man. Thank you. Roy Jones Jr.
See ya.