By Ben Jacobs

Amir Mansour (21-1, 16 KOs) thrilled fans back in November with his superb knockout punch to vanquish Fred Kassi, a shot that many observers considered to be the knockout of the year for 2014. The Delaware native has had to wait for a ring return, but on May 8 he faces Joey Dawejko (14-3-2, 7 KOs) in Philadelphia with an eye at a world title shot later in the year, should he continue to win. Mansour spoke to BoxingScene ahead of the bout and also touched on the current heavyweight scene and its champions, Wladimir Klitschko and Deontay Wilder.

Amir Mansour: For sure. It's my job, it's the life that I chose so I'm always excited. The more you fight, the more you get noticed. The more you win, the more you get recognised. It's a job too, it's a pay check. As any working person knows, the more you get paid the better off you live. We've all got families to take care of, that comes into it as well.

BoxingScene: How do you feel physically?

Amir Mansour: You're going to see a totally different fighter, I'm in twice as good shape as last time. One thing about me, each fight I get better and better. I'm a student of the game, I'm always eager to learn more and more and spar better. These guys talk about my age, let's see who's faster and more fit. I will challenge everybody, I am the fastest heavyweight in the top five on the planet. My speed is right there, I challenge anybody to prove me wrong. We have to fight each other, all the top guys over the world but as soon as guys get to the top ten they want to fight guys below that. It's ridiculous.

BoxingScene: Did you want to fight sooner because there has been a fairly big gap between now and your last fight?

Amir Mansour: Yes I did, honestly, I'm old school. I would like to fight every month if possible. They have so many regulations it's just ridiculous. Back in the day those guys fought 12 round championship fights twice a month! Ray Robinson fought 15 round fights twice a month, for years. I wish I could fight more often but at the level I'm at I can't go fighting in bar rooms, I've got to fight as big a fight as I can possibly get.

BoxingScene: How much do you know about your opponent?

Amir Mansour: Anybody that punches like he punches, you don't want to get caught with that. Same with me, nobody wants to get caught with one of my punches. That goes with anybody. My mother hits hard, I don't want to get caught with one of her punches! This guy's physique is deceptive. He looks chubby but he's not slow at all. He has skills. I believe though that I have the best arsenal out there.

BoxingScene: How pleasing was it to get the knock out of the year in many people's opinion?

Amir Mansour: Very pleasing, I've had lots of great knockouts that were newsworthy but finally someone looks at one of my knockouts and says it should be recognized as one of the best knockouts of the year. It also got people to be interested in some of my other knockouts as well.

BoxingScene: Do you want to get a shot at someone like Deontay Wilder?

Amir Mansour: You know, we're living in an era where the top ten constantly duck the top ten. Usually when a guy challenged for the heavyweight championship of the world, we knew who he was. Do you know who Klitschko's last few opponents were? They hadn't been mixing it with the top ten. Bryant Jennings, give him his due, he came off a nice win over Mike Pérez, so that was two quality fighters and the winner got a shot at Klitschko. But normally these top guys are ducking each other. I'm fighting someone who is not even in the top 20. He's a good fighter, don’t get me wrong, he's not someone I'm sleeping on and a guy like him always has a puncher's chance. But at the end of the day we should all be fighting top ten guys, but you call them up to fight Amir Mansour and they say, 'I'm not fighting him'. Because they all want to do what Deontay Wilder did - fight a bunch of bums and then get a title shot against a guy that is tailor made for him.

You've got that belt now, you 're going to have to start fighting quality opponents. But you know what? He might get away with it like Klitschko's been doing for the past five years. Picking and choosing to fight guys who don't have a shot to beat you. But as the American champion, you're not going to be able to get away with what you do in Europe, fighting bum after bum after bum. Don't get me wrong, I have full respect for Klitschko. He came up in that era and outlasted a lot of opponents, a lot of the guys he came up with, he's still champion of the world. The American people won't watch their champion fighting bums, they want guys who can beat him. I also don't want to take anything away from Deontay, he did exactly what he said he was going to do in that ring, whooped his ass. I was proud of that kid. Deontay is another fighter getting better and better and three or four years nobody will be able to touch him because he's still learning.