by David P. Greisman

Barely a month off training with Antonio Margarito, J’Leon Love will take the experience he got and bring it to the season premiere of “Friday Night Fights”

Love says he’s been told his fight will be on ESPN2. That could depend, however, on what happens in the featured bouts scheduled for the broadcast.

If he does make it to national television, though, he’s looking forward to making an impression.

In this interview with BoxingScene.com, Love talked about his upcoming fight, about his recent relocation from Michigan to Las Vegas, and what he thought of what happened in the rematch between Margarito and Miguel Cotto.

BoxingScene.com: Tell us about your upcoming fight on Jan. 6.

Love: “This is my first ESPN fight. ‘Friday Night Fights.’ So it’s quite exciting. I cant wait to get in and do what I do best and show the world what J’Leon is made of.”

BoxingScene.com: Is this your first time on national television?

Love: “Not at all. In the amateurs, we fought in the Golden Gloves finals with Shawn Porter on Comcast. And a lot of people seen me fight. People seen me fight on the Internet and different things like that. So I guess it’s not the first time, but it’s the first time that it’s like ESPN or ‘Friday Night Fights.’ It’s something really big.”

BoxingScene.com: What do you know about your opponent?

Love: “I checked the videos out. There’s not too much with him. I haven’t seen anything too much spectacular about him. He’s a pretty strong guy, I guess. I don’t know. It’s just a common fighter that I got to take out.”

BoxingScene.com: Do you look at this as a keep-busy fight that just gets you going for 2012?

Love: “No, not at all. I take every fight as if it was the hardest fight in my life. Every fight is as important as it comes. I would never down any fighter as a tune-up or anything like that, because anything can happen in this sport. I’m training as I train for anyone else: hard work, running, sparring, everything else. We’re going into it with a good game plan and we’re going to dominate.”

BoxingScene.com: What have you done to stay in top form in the month or so since your time in camp with Antonio Margarito ended?

Love: “Just doing the same things I was doing in camp: running, sparring. It’s a nice altitude here in Las Vegas, where I relocated from Detroit. So it’s pretty good running in the mountains and things like that. My confidence is high. I’ve been in sparring, getting great sparring from a lot of these good guys out here. I’m in shape, ready to go rounds, ready for an early night, ready for whatever.”

BoxingScene.com: What made you decide to relocate to Las Vegas?

Love: “Everything is better. It’s more sparring, more gyms, things like that, better for my career. Why not move here? It’s a good scene. It’s something I’ve always wanted to do is relocate to Las Vegas, so I made the transition.”

BoxingScene.com: Are there more distractions there for you in Sin City?

Love: “I’m not big with the casinos. I can’t gamble, so I’m not really good with that. If you let it distract you, it could be a distraction. But I’m not down with the partying. It’s not my type of thing. So there’s not really much to distract me here. I just keep it going, maybe every now and then go down to the strip and see the different shows and things like that.”

BoxingScene.com: Who are you sparring with?

Love: “Right now I’m sparring with Badou Jack, who is currently 9-0, a super middleweight, another up and coming prospect. Good work. He works with Eddie Mustafa Muhammad. Great sparring. Really, really good sparring that’s helping me out. You would pay for the sparring if you’d see it in the gym.”

BoxingScene.com: You’d sparred with Antonio Margarito for his rematch with Miguel Cotto. What did you think of that fight?

Love: “Miguel Cotto fought a great fight, man. He was smart. He didn’t exchange too much. He boxed. He was the smarter man in the ring. He did very well and he was victorious. The whole thing about the stoppage, you kind of knew they was gunning for the eye. So when the cut appeared, you kind of knew they weren’t going to be lenient on letting him fight. It is what it is.

“He [Margarito] was kind of fighting the commission and Cotto at the same time. I wish this fight was back when Gatti and Ward was fighting. All those great fights that we’ve seen, those wars. Even though Cotto was dominating, the first fight he was dominating, too. And he got stopped in the 11th round.

“I just say let fighters fight, man, you know what I mean? That’s not always the best decision, but Cotto wasn’t really damaging him like that, yyo know what I mean? He was landing the cleaner shots, but I kind of feel like [Margarito] was fighting the commission, like they wanted anything to stop the fight in case of that eye. Real fighters want to fight. I’d want to fight, cut or not, ‘til the end. A lot of fighters are not like that nowadays. It’s harder now with commissions and stopping the fight prematurely. So, you know, it is what it is.”

BoxingScene.com: I understand. Your job, as boxers, is to be warriors, and the commission’s job is to protect you. But it’s tough. There’s that fine line. You never want them to be too late stopping the fight, but you never want them to be too early.

Love: “Of course. I understand it’s hard for a referee or a doctor, stopping the fight. That’s a hard decision. Like you said, you don’t want it to be too early and you don’t want it to be too late. But you go back to those great fights we’ve seen with Gatti-Ward and things like that. They fought through cuts, brutal cuts, nasty cuts. They ended up in the hospital. That’s when boxing was great. Tommy Hearns and Marvin Hagler, just duking it out. Cuts or whatever, it didn’t matter.

“That’s what boxing is missing — that excitement. To me, I’ve always said there’s a lot of actors in this sport. There’s a lot of guys who are talented but don’t have the heart to do what the fighters that we grew up watching can do. That’s something I want to bring. My heart, let alone my skills.”

BoxingScene.com: Let’s bring it back to you, then. Obviously you’re not taking this opponent lightly, but what do you feel you need to do with this fight on Jan. 6 in order to get 2012 started off right?

Love: “Definitely close the show. I’m not looking for a stoppage I never look for a stoppage. If it happens, it happens. But look spectacular, show my skills, show everything in my repertoire. Show the world that I’m exciting, that I’m definitely going to be a world champion, that I definitely have what it takes to be a world champion.

“It’s great to be on this card. There’s so much I can do. I’ve been waiting for this moment all my life, to be fighting on a national network. I’m definitely not going to hesitate. I’m doing everything I’m supposed to do. And I’m going to shine. That’s what I must do. I must shine on this network.”

David P. Greisman is a member of the Boxing Writers Association of America. Follow David on Twitter at twitter.com/fightingwords2 or on Facebook at facebook.com/fightingwordsboxing, or send questions and comments to fightingwords1@gmail.com