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BT: Sugar Man, what's up bro? There's been a little internet buzz about a potential fight between you and Canelo Alvarez. I wanted to touch base real quick to find out what was up with that.
SM: I just got back in town, but I seen a couple of Google alerts and stuff talking about me fighting Canelo. I think that's right up my ally. That's a good thing if that's what they want to do, Golden Boy, Richard Schaefer, and Oscar and those guys. I'm all for it. Like I was telling you, I'm ready to smash people in 2012, so if they want to give up their young, prized possession, I mean, if they think he's ready, let's do it.
BT: Have you heard from anyone at Golden Boy about it? Have they reached out to your team at all?
SM: Eric Gomez reached out to Josh Dubin right after the fight with Kermit Cintron and asked if I would fight Canelo. Josh said, "Yeah, he would fight him no problem." I believe they think they see an oppening, maybe the age or whatever, but that's a facade, an illusion. I mean, it's good for me. I'm not sure if it's good for Canelo, but it's great for me if that fight happens. Me and J. Prince talked about it, and Josh Dubin talked about it. It's a possibility, but you also have James Kirkland as well. I'm definitely looking to fight, but it doesn't matter if I'm fighting Canelo, Cotto, Kirkland or whoever. I'm just looking to go through the whole group. It can be Canelo or any fighter that Golden Boy has. I'm just clearing house, cleaning up all the 54-pounders they got, and then maybe fight Cotto. Cotto would definitely be a good fight to do again later on. There's a lot of good jr. middleweights out there.
BT: Well I know Kirkland already has a fight with Carlos Molina coming up in March, but Canelo is talking about possibly fighting in April or May.
SM: Yeah, I mean, they might want to do a fight with me on May 5th at the Staples Center, but it's up to them. If I was them, I probably wouldn't do that just yet, especially against me, but maybe they feel that's the right thing to do. I have no objections to it. I think that's it's definitely a great fight. He's like my height. We're like the same thing, like 150; same height and everything, so it would be good. But whoever it is, it doesn't really matter to me. I'm just ready to get back in there and get back to doing my thing.
BT: So do you plan on making a permanent move to jr. middleweight now, or is a fight at welterweight still a possibility?
SM: I'm kind of stuck in the middle with the weight classes because I'm really in between. I'm really like a 151 type of fighter, so I could fight at 154, but I could also fight at 147 as well too. I'm thinking 154, I don't know, might be a better weight, but I'm not really certain. Maybe getting down to 147 can make me a little bit weaker than what I'm supposed to be, but I'm still not certain on that right now. I mean, I've been working real good. I'm still on weight, so whether it's a fight at 147 or at 154, I can make the weight comfortably.
BT: You know you're going to have your detractors based on your last performance against Pacquiao. Do you think that will make it more difficult for you to get some of those fights with these youger guys coming up?
SM: Man, there's a lot of people to fight and me having the big name, everybody wants to take a crack at me. I'm excited and I'm all for the sport of boxing and giving back and fighting these younger guys. It's going to be a good thing. I'm ready to go out there and do my thing. Like I said, I'm feeling better. I'm healed up. My achilles is healed; everything has healed up. I took the proper time off to rest it and now I'm ready to go back into action. I'm just going to do my thing. I'm excited about 2012. I think it's going to be a much better year all the way around. My body healed up great. I'm getting back to normal with my movements, my punches, and stuff. It feels good to be able to do the things that I visualize I can do. Sometimes when you're in the ring, you see certain things that you can't do because you have a handicap going on. It's just a good feeling to be able to see it and be able to react to it and do it. That makes a world of difference. Sometimes, you know, you believe you're Superman and you can just do whatever you want to do even though you're hurt, but it doesn't work like that all the time. But now, I feel great. I feel like my body has recuperated 100% and it's a good thing. Like I said, I think it's a win-win situation for me. Him [Canelo], Cotto, Bundrage, I might have to give him a shot too because he's been wanting it something bad. I'm going to go ahead and take of Canelo first and then take care of him (lauging).
BT: You said you took the proper time to rest, but you've stayed in the gym too, right? I know you said you helped Cintron prepare for his fight with Canelo.
SM: Yeah, yeah, I worked with him a little bit and I noticed the difference even when I was working with Kermit. My body was good...my movement and punching and everything is a lot better. Like I said, I'm feeling better and better every day and it's making me more excited every day, like wow. I feel like a new me. It feels good. I'm just excited to get in the ring and just show what I've been doing.
BT: You were still with Golden Boy Promotions when they first signed Canelo. How much do you think he's improved over the years? Did you see anything in that Cintron fight that you think you can take advantage of?
SM: I mean, I think he's gotten a little bit better. He's progressed a little bit, but when I seen him with Citron, and me working with Cintron, I know where Cintron was at mentally and physically because I worked with him a couple of days. That just makes me drool even more when I think about the fight happening, knowing what Cintron was capable and able to do to Canelo. He was able to hit him with jabs and right hands. He was able to do a lot of different things to him and that just makes me drool because I know the state that Kermit was in. He has good power, some snap, and all that stuff; he has the tools to be able to beat a Canelo, but I think the time when Kermit fought Canelo, I think that Kermit wasn't mentally there, and that's just knowing where he was at mentally. He wasn't mentally ready for the fight. Physically, kind of, but mentally, I know that he wasn't ready for that fight. The whole idea for me when I went down there to work with Kermit wasn't to work physically. It was to work more on the mental aspect of it, as far as his career, where he wants to go, how he wants to do it mentally, you know, being the world champion when you go into the ring and not being the opponent. He was at a crossroads in his boxing career and, you know, he needed like a big brother type of thing where I'm talking to him while we're working and just building confidence in himself and in what I know and everybody knows what he can do, but he wasn't showing it. He wasn't letting it go in the fight and you could see how he gave Canelo a lot of respect. He didn't really try to step on the gas early in the fight, and when he did step on the gas, he'd catch Canelo with some good shots. I think he hurt him a couple of times at the end when he was getting ready to get stopped. When he was forced to fight, he started fighting. It wasn't like, "Okay, I'm going to go out there and I'm going to fight." So, you know, being that, like I said, I knew Kermit's situation, I knew his state of mind; that makes me drool when I think about fighting Canelo. But you never know. Anything can happen in a fight, but I just know that I'm not going to be like I was when I fought Pacquiao. I'm not going to be like I was when I fought Mayweather. I'm going to be better than that because physically, I'm going to be 100%. I'm not going to have anything holding me back. For Pacquiao, you never seen me really run in Fight Camp 360. That's because I couldn't run. That's why you never see the hard running, the sprints, and none of that stuff. You never seen that because I couldn't do it. I was hurt because of the achilles. With Mayweather, you know, actually, it wasn't even with Mayweather; it was really with Berto. With Berto, I actually hurt myself before the Berto fight. Berto fell out, but I was still hurt leading up to the Mayweather fight. I mean, it was all my fault. I can't blame anybody. I mean, it is what it is, but you know, these type of fights, when you get hurt, you gotta take sometimes. I figured my punching power would be the equalizer to all the other stuff, and you know, it was for a couple of rounds, but then it fell out the way. For Pacquiao, I thought that maybe, you know, he's a smaller guy, he comes to me, so I could punch him, but he proved to have good punching power too, so I couldn't do what I wanted to do. I was second-guessing myself with my punches because I couldn't move and throw the punches the way I wanted to. Like I said, in both of those fights, I wasn't 100%, but I did what I had to do to get in there. I figured that maybe I could overcome and do some things, which I couldn't, and **** happened. This time, if I fight Canelo or if I fight whoever, the next time I get in the ring, I'm going to be better than I was, a lot better than I was when I fought those two guys. That's just the reality of it and that's just the truth. I mean, I'm excited. I know I'm talking about it and talking about it, but once I get in the ring and do it, then I can say I told you so and everybody can jump back on the bandwagon.
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SM: I just got back in town, but I seen a couple of Google alerts and stuff talking about me fighting Canelo. I think that's right up my ally. That's a good thing if that's what they want to do, Golden Boy, Richard Schaefer, and Oscar and those guys. I'm all for it. Like I was telling you, I'm ready to smash people in 2012, so if they want to give up their young, prized possession, I mean, if they think he's ready, let's do it.
BT: Have you heard from anyone at Golden Boy about it? Have they reached out to your team at all?
SM: Eric Gomez reached out to Josh Dubin right after the fight with Kermit Cintron and asked if I would fight Canelo. Josh said, "Yeah, he would fight him no problem." I believe they think they see an oppening, maybe the age or whatever, but that's a facade, an illusion. I mean, it's good for me. I'm not sure if it's good for Canelo, but it's great for me if that fight happens. Me and J. Prince talked about it, and Josh Dubin talked about it. It's a possibility, but you also have James Kirkland as well. I'm definitely looking to fight, but it doesn't matter if I'm fighting Canelo, Cotto, Kirkland or whoever. I'm just looking to go through the whole group. It can be Canelo or any fighter that Golden Boy has. I'm just clearing house, cleaning up all the 54-pounders they got, and then maybe fight Cotto. Cotto would definitely be a good fight to do again later on. There's a lot of good jr. middleweights out there.
BT: Well I know Kirkland already has a fight with Carlos Molina coming up in March, but Canelo is talking about possibly fighting in April or May.
SM: Yeah, I mean, they might want to do a fight with me on May 5th at the Staples Center, but it's up to them. If I was them, I probably wouldn't do that just yet, especially against me, but maybe they feel that's the right thing to do. I have no objections to it. I think that's it's definitely a great fight. He's like my height. We're like the same thing, like 150; same height and everything, so it would be good. But whoever it is, it doesn't really matter to me. I'm just ready to get back in there and get back to doing my thing.
BT: So do you plan on making a permanent move to jr. middleweight now, or is a fight at welterweight still a possibility?
SM: I'm kind of stuck in the middle with the weight classes because I'm really in between. I'm really like a 151 type of fighter, so I could fight at 154, but I could also fight at 147 as well too. I'm thinking 154, I don't know, might be a better weight, but I'm not really certain. Maybe getting down to 147 can make me a little bit weaker than what I'm supposed to be, but I'm still not certain on that right now. I mean, I've been working real good. I'm still on weight, so whether it's a fight at 147 or at 154, I can make the weight comfortably.
BT: You know you're going to have your detractors based on your last performance against Pacquiao. Do you think that will make it more difficult for you to get some of those fights with these youger guys coming up?
SM: Man, there's a lot of people to fight and me having the big name, everybody wants to take a crack at me. I'm excited and I'm all for the sport of boxing and giving back and fighting these younger guys. It's going to be a good thing. I'm ready to go out there and do my thing. Like I said, I'm feeling better. I'm healed up. My achilles is healed; everything has healed up. I took the proper time off to rest it and now I'm ready to go back into action. I'm just going to do my thing. I'm excited about 2012. I think it's going to be a much better year all the way around. My body healed up great. I'm getting back to normal with my movements, my punches, and stuff. It feels good to be able to do the things that I visualize I can do. Sometimes when you're in the ring, you see certain things that you can't do because you have a handicap going on. It's just a good feeling to be able to see it and be able to react to it and do it. That makes a world of difference. Sometimes, you know, you believe you're Superman and you can just do whatever you want to do even though you're hurt, but it doesn't work like that all the time. But now, I feel great. I feel like my body has recuperated 100% and it's a good thing. Like I said, I think it's a win-win situation for me. Him [Canelo], Cotto, Bundrage, I might have to give him a shot too because he's been wanting it something bad. I'm going to go ahead and take of Canelo first and then take care of him (lauging).
BT: You said you took the proper time to rest, but you've stayed in the gym too, right? I know you said you helped Cintron prepare for his fight with Canelo.
SM: Yeah, yeah, I worked with him a little bit and I noticed the difference even when I was working with Kermit. My body was good...my movement and punching and everything is a lot better. Like I said, I'm feeling better and better every day and it's making me more excited every day, like wow. I feel like a new me. It feels good. I'm just excited to get in the ring and just show what I've been doing.
BT: You were still with Golden Boy Promotions when they first signed Canelo. How much do you think he's improved over the years? Did you see anything in that Cintron fight that you think you can take advantage of?
SM: I mean, I think he's gotten a little bit better. He's progressed a little bit, but when I seen him with Citron, and me working with Cintron, I know where Cintron was at mentally and physically because I worked with him a couple of days. That just makes me drool even more when I think about the fight happening, knowing what Cintron was capable and able to do to Canelo. He was able to hit him with jabs and right hands. He was able to do a lot of different things to him and that just makes me drool because I know the state that Kermit was in. He has good power, some snap, and all that stuff; he has the tools to be able to beat a Canelo, but I think the time when Kermit fought Canelo, I think that Kermit wasn't mentally there, and that's just knowing where he was at mentally. He wasn't mentally ready for the fight. Physically, kind of, but mentally, I know that he wasn't ready for that fight. The whole idea for me when I went down there to work with Kermit wasn't to work physically. It was to work more on the mental aspect of it, as far as his career, where he wants to go, how he wants to do it mentally, you know, being the world champion when you go into the ring and not being the opponent. He was at a crossroads in his boxing career and, you know, he needed like a big brother type of thing where I'm talking to him while we're working and just building confidence in himself and in what I know and everybody knows what he can do, but he wasn't showing it. He wasn't letting it go in the fight and you could see how he gave Canelo a lot of respect. He didn't really try to step on the gas early in the fight, and when he did step on the gas, he'd catch Canelo with some good shots. I think he hurt him a couple of times at the end when he was getting ready to get stopped. When he was forced to fight, he started fighting. It wasn't like, "Okay, I'm going to go out there and I'm going to fight." So, you know, being that, like I said, I knew Kermit's situation, I knew his state of mind; that makes me drool when I think about fighting Canelo. But you never know. Anything can happen in a fight, but I just know that I'm not going to be like I was when I fought Pacquiao. I'm not going to be like I was when I fought Mayweather. I'm going to be better than that because physically, I'm going to be 100%. I'm not going to have anything holding me back. For Pacquiao, you never seen me really run in Fight Camp 360. That's because I couldn't run. That's why you never see the hard running, the sprints, and none of that stuff. You never seen that because I couldn't do it. I was hurt because of the achilles. With Mayweather, you know, actually, it wasn't even with Mayweather; it was really with Berto. With Berto, I actually hurt myself before the Berto fight. Berto fell out, but I was still hurt leading up to the Mayweather fight. I mean, it was all my fault. I can't blame anybody. I mean, it is what it is, but you know, these type of fights, when you get hurt, you gotta take sometimes. I figured my punching power would be the equalizer to all the other stuff, and you know, it was for a couple of rounds, but then it fell out the way. For Pacquiao, I thought that maybe, you know, he's a smaller guy, he comes to me, so I could punch him, but he proved to have good punching power too, so I couldn't do what I wanted to do. I was second-guessing myself with my punches because I couldn't move and throw the punches the way I wanted to. Like I said, in both of those fights, I wasn't 100%, but I did what I had to do to get in there. I figured that maybe I could overcome and do some things, which I couldn't, and **** happened. This time, if I fight Canelo or if I fight whoever, the next time I get in the ring, I'm going to be better than I was, a lot better than I was when I fought those two guys. That's just the reality of it and that's just the truth. I mean, I'm excited. I know I'm talking about it and talking about it, but once I get in the ring and do it, then I can say I told you so and everybody can jump back on the bandwagon.
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