Floyd Mayweather Jr. SOUNDS OFF!
By G. Leon
By G. Leon
"The fans already know what'll happen if Ricky Hatton ever decides to face me!"
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GL: Tell us what's good Floyd. We're just weeks ago from your PPV fight, a battle for the WBC junior welterweight championship against Arturo Gatti. "Right now I'm ready mentally and physically and I'm going in there to put on a great show and I'm looking forward to a big victory. This is going to my night and it's going to be easy work."GL: What did you think about the Ricky Hatton-Kostya Tszyu fight?
Floyd Mayweather Jr.: "I actually didn't even see the fight. From what I heard it was a wrestling match. I couldn't believe that so the other night I saw a round or two of the fight, and from what I saw there was a whole lot of wrestling going on. You know I tried to get the Ricky Hatton before I fought DeMarcus "Chop Chop" Corley, but the guy turned me down. They turned down the fight and Frank Warren sent us a letter saying they weren't ready to fight."
GL: Prior to last weekend you really seemed to want to make a fight with Kostya Tszyu. Do you have that same desire to face Ricky Hatton?
FM: "I think there's always going to be bigger money when you got two young undefeated fighters instead of one guy having a loss. On both ends, both fighters are looking to upset one another and the fans would be on the edge of their seats because they would want to see who's going to get the loss. But the fans should already know what'll happen if Ricky Hatton ever decides to face me. He's a real, real, dirty fighter, he rabbit punches all night and he loves to go low, but he's nothing that I can't deal with.
"I think Ricky Hatton has been promoted extremely well. Everyone he's beaten had a rough career and was pretty much over the hill. When a guy is over the hill and worn down that's what happens. I truly believe they caught Kostya Tszyu at the right time. He was off for so long and all he fought was Sharmba. And we saw he had Sharmba beat before the fight even started. Sharmba was still intimidated by him from the first fight."
"Zab could've beaten Tszyu if he would have got inside and tied him up. Tszyu doesn't have the best chin and he doesn't like fighting. He likes chess games. One thing Tszyu does got is a good equalizer, he could punch. But from what I saw all they were doing was wrestling with each other."
GL: What do you think about Tszyu quitting on his stool?
FM: "It's easy for a commentator or a writer to say he quit. But you don't know what was going through that man's mind in a big fight like that. Most writers and commenatators can talk about a fighter but they ain't never been in there, so the people who should really be writing the stories are the fighters.
"And the people who should really be commentating are the fighters because they're the ones who know what it's really like. Guys talk like they're experts but how can you be an expert if you never boxed?"
GL: Do you have to be a criminal to cover crime?
FM: "That's two different things. We're not talking about crime, we're talking about boxing. We're here talking about boxing. I didn't say boxers should be the only one's but people need to think about what they're saying before they label this guy a quitter. Think about all the people he's beat.
"They still say Julio Cesar Chavez is legendary and he quit before. I take my hat off to Kostya Tszyu, you don't know what was going on in his mind. You know what? If he wanted to quit, he deserved to quit after all the guys he done beat. And I'm not guys can't write about boxing if they're not fighters, and I like talking to you, but there's certain things that go on in that ring that people on the outside don't really know what it's like.
"Boxing is like being a cop. One shot can end your whole career. I done bumped heads with a guy and been dizzy for two rounds. That's happened to me and I didn't really know where I was for a round or two, but I hide it from my opponent and everyone watching really, really well."
GL: That's why when your career is over we're going to see the Flamboyant one in Hollywood.
FM: "I'm trying to be what I can be. Like I always tell everyone, it doesn't matter what you write about me, as long as you write about me. No matter what happens, I'm comfortable and I'm truly blessed that God has put me in this position. I got my mansion and I got my Rolls Royce's, and I know there's other things I'm going to be doing outside of boxing that are going to make me millions as well. I know I'm capable of being involved with music, I know I'm capable of being an actor, I know I'm capable of writing a movie or a book. There's a lot of things I know I could do and I haven't taken any abuse in this sport so I'm going to be able to do all of them.
"I will never show my weakness. Arturo Gatti has shown his weaknesses. He's shown that he could go down from a body shot. He's shown that he could bust up easy. He's shown that he's flatfooted and throws wide punches and I know I can go to his body and put him. They put Gatti against Micky Ward and Micky Ward never won a world title. I'll tell you what they did, they took two club fighters and threw em on HBO and acted like it was a mega-fight or something.
"Micky Ward never won a world title, so what has he done. He's not going history for anything he's done."
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