Mansour Talks Wilder-Stiverne, Joshua, Chambers, More

By Ben Jacobs

Heavyweight contender Amir Mansour (20-1, 15 KOs) was involved in one of the year's most entertaining bouts back in April when he lost a decision in what appeared to be a very close fight to fellow American, Steve Cunningham.  Since then, frustration has set in as a July fight fell through and the prospect of a rematch with Cunningham never materialized.  Nevertheless, the Delaware man is back in action on November 8 against Fred Kassi (18-2, 10 KOs) and will be looking to get back into the mix for 2015.  Currently training at the same gym as Bernard Hopkins who is preparing for his fight with Sergey Kovalev, Mansour spoke to BoxingScene about his upcoming contest and discussed some of his fellow heavyweights.

BoxingScene:  Has it been annoying being out of the ring for so many months?

Amir Mansour:  It has been annoying, I like to fight three or four times a year, I like to stay busy, to me that's the key to success in this sport, just to stay consistent.  It's disappointing that I couldn't get the rematch with Steve Cunningham but he's not going to define my career, and I won't define his.  We're both going to continue to move forward.

BoxingScene:  How's training so far?  Whereabouts are you?

Amir Mansour:  I'm in Philadelphia, training's going good, as usual, working on some technical things. 

BoxingScene:  How much do you know about your next opponent, Fred Kassi?

Amir Mansour:  I don't know too much, obviously he has a decent record, he can punch, he has 10 knockouts.  He's a very durable fighter so I'm looking forward to mixing it up with him.  I'm always going to bring my A game, prepared for war, whatever's put in front of me.  One of the mistakes that I did make against Cunningham was not necessarily conditioning but not keeping my composure and staying sharp throughout the fight.  It's quite easy to lose your composure and let an easy win get away from you, and I'm going to be aware of this from now on.  The knockout will come, speed comes with power, I'm very fast and sometimes I take away from my speed and technique because I'm looking for the knockout.  I got frustrated with Cunningham after I knocked him down, I was trying to hit him with something where even the referee can't give him enough time to get up.  That was an error on my part. 

BoxingScene:  Have you been training all the time during these few months?

Amir Mansour:  Of course, I love working out, it's about staying healthy in the off time so I always train anyway.  When I get a call that a fight's coming up, I'm always in the shape I need to be in for camp.

BoxingScene:  I read on FightHype that you will be working with Floyd Mayweather Sr after this bout.  How did that come around?

Amir Mansour:  He's an associate of a friend of mine, they were talking and my friend said to him that I was sitting with him so we spoke on the phone.  He said, 'You need to come out here'.  I told him after this fight I'll be out there, hopefully it'll be a good fit.

BoxingScene:  Are you looking to position yourself to get a shot at the winner of Deontay Wilder and Bermane Stiverne?

Amir Mansour:  Of course, that's my goal, that's why I'm doing this, to eventually fight for the world title.  Sometimes it depends on who you know, not how good you are.  Hopefully in 2015 I'll see one of these guys, whichever one, I don't care.

BoxingScene:  Do you think Wilder can handle Stiverne's power?

Amir Mansour:  I think he can, he's a strong, young guy.  I just don't think Arreola has a very strong chin.  I don't know any solid fighter that Stiverne has stopped besides Arreola.  I just feel that Stiverne capitalized on Arreola's not so solid chin.  Obviously he hits hard and Wilder's chin is supposed to be suspect.  I do think Wilder has the physical advantage if he boxes smart and moves smart.  I mean Arreola was outboxing him by a long short, it wasn't even close at the time of the knockout.  Stiverne has to get very busy with Wilder, he has to get on the inside, he can't sit on the outside like he was against Arreola.  Wilder is a lot taller and longer in reach than Arreola so it'll be far more difficult to land a solid shot on this big kid. 

BoxingScene:  I saw some back and forth between yourself and Eddie Chambers on Twitter a few months ago.  What happened there?

Amir Mansour:  I don't really use Twitter much but someone said I was being offered to fight Tyson Fury, I said, 'Where?'  These guys are just being Internet gangsters and I saw this guy on Twitter saying, 'You're scared, you're not responding.'  I don't even go on Twitter but I went on and said I will fight Fury or Eddie, I will whip both of their asses, let's make it happen.  I would have done it for July 26 or something, I was scheduled to fight then so I had been training but it fell through.  I would have jumped at it, those guys know they can't beat me.  Eddie is a decent dude, I would hate to even do that to him, but Fury I'd love to beat up on him. He's a big guy but he has nowhere near the boxing skills that it would take to beat me.  He's too slow, not strong enough.  He can sing his ass off, he can sing pretty good, I'll give him that.  But it wasn't Fury's people making those assertions, it was some wannabee asshole on Twitter trying to stir things up.

BoxingScene:  What do you make of the young British gold medal winner, Anthony Joshua?

Amir Mansour:  I've seen him, I think he's like 9-0, right?  I know he has the perfect physique to be a great world champion, he looks like he has some very good skills.  He's solid, I wish him the best, he's a young brother over there in the United Kingdom.  I know he's been in a camp with Klitschko so he's definitely learning.