Jones Jr. TO ALL SUPER MIDDLES AND LIGHT HEAVIES: "I AM THE DRAW!"

Editor: Much has happened in the week since your fight with Felix Trinidad. First of all, congratulations on your 500,000 number, I don't know how you feel about it, but congratualtions. Can you give us some thoughts on the fights success on PPV? Roy Jones: "Thank you, that just goes to show that Roy Jones Jr. is still a household name. A lot of cats can't make certain moves and do certain things because they're not household names. Just because you beat Roy Jones Jr., doesn't make you a household name. A lot of people are just starting to understand that. To me, a fight with Hopkins or Calzaghe is good free on HBO. If I fight them it's not going to be a regular fight on HBO. They won't get an impressive number from a fight of that magnitude on PPV, they're afraid to put that fight on PPV, because they know it probably won't sell. Nobody is familiar with Joe Calzaghe is this country, and no one want to see Bernard Hopkins fight someone that they're not that familiar with. It goes to show how beautiful and strong God is." Editor: Hopkins-Calzaghe being on free HBO is something that's good for boxing, no? Roy Jones Jr.: It's good for boxing for the for the fans, but it's bad for them. To me that's not the type of fight that's supposed to be on Free HBO. That's supposed to be a PPV fight. The whole reason for having regular HBO fights is to be able to capitalize on them on PPV. They're not doing a PPV to capitalize on this because Bernard knows nobody buys him. PPV is the way you capitilize on notoriety. Oscar De La Hoya did a good thing, he capitilized on his public notoriety. Because he's good, and everyone knows him, you can sell him to the people because he's in the eyes of the people, they recognize him, and he's had a very illustrious career. That's where he makes his paper at, off the PPV, not off the regular TV HBO fights. When you see a fight of that magnitude, you expect it to be PPV, but you can't do it unless you've got a household name. That goes to show you, neither Bernard Hopkins, nor Joe Calzaghe are a household name, because they can't carry their own weight like that right now. If Roy Jones Jr. fights either one or the other, that would easily be a PPV fight. Editor: Antonio Tarver and Clinton Woods got finalized. Give us your thoughts on that. RJJ: That's a good fight for them to have. If I was Clinton Woods, I'd definitely fight Tarver. He's got himself a good chance against Tarver. Tarver's got a chance to beat Woods, he's a puncher, so he's better be in shape, because Woods is going to make it hard. Editor: The idea that they have is that Tarver and Woods are going to fight on the some show as Dawson against Glen Johnson. The winners are going to fight each other, who do you think will be the last man standing? Editor: Look how this shapes up and look how ugly all of this looks. Look how ugly this picture is, if Glen Johnson happens to beat Dawson, then you've got to see Tarver-Johnson 3 , or you're going to see Woods-Johnson 4, none of which you want to see. Let's go on and face the facts and be real about it. What they should do is have the rounds and see who's going to emerge and be the next man to have a big PPV event against Roy Jones Jr., because they realize Roy Jones Jr. is back. That's what they truthfully and honestly are over there doing. They are over there settling the dust trying to figure out who's going to be last man standing, to have a PPV duel against Roy Jones Jr. Roy Jones Jr. can go make a PPV with any of those those guys, with Glen Johnson, with Chad Dawson or with Antonio Tarver. There no secret about that. Am I lying? Editor: No, you're right on the money, Jones. RJJ: I'm keeping it real with you. Editor: That number is a heavy fact to be hitting him with. RJJ: They've got to fight free TV. Part of it is because they're not entertainers. I had to go back, look, and re-find myself. These guys are boxers, Roy Jones Jr. is an entertainer, there is a big difference. Editor: Have you had a chance to review the fight on film yet? RJJ: Most definitely. Editor: I don't know if you remember, but in our last discussion I told you that when you see the tape you're going to wish you put him in the trunk in the 7th round. RJJ: I'm going to be honest with you, for me, figuring out the fight, I don't think I did what I did, now that I looked at it, I know exactly why I was doing what I'm always doing. To me, Tito is a guy who's a very good fighter, he tried his hardest, he did what most of them won't do. For the betterment of the sport, he stepped up and he met me at a catchweight to make a fight happen. Oscar wouldn't do that right now. For me, why would you go and kill a guy who's willing to take a chance like that for the betterment of the sport? He knows there's better fights, that he's putting his life on the line, but he also knows I'm not going to kill him. That's just not my way, I'm going to beat you, but I'm not no killer. That's not what I'm there for, I actually have a good time in the ring, and I wait. I had a wonderful time, and I thank God that I didn't have to crush him like I probably would have, with me being me. With the way that God wants me to do it, that's not what I was supposed to do. That's when I knew that I have lost respect and lost control of myself, it had got to where I wanted to hurt people. Now it's different, don't think I won't knock you out. I will put you on your behind, but I'm not out to kill you, I'm out there to do my job. When I go now, we have a good time. If I can't entertain, that probably means that I'm not prepared for the fight. Lately I haven't been in shape, I haven't been conditioned enough to entertain, I haven't been properly prepared. This is the first time I went back and got in shape, I got in enough shape to able to entertain when I fight. It's been about eight years since I've been in a fight this physical. I didn't even entertain when I fought John Ruiz I felt like I was really putting my life on the line. Editor: With all of these other guys fighting on free TV, does the winner of Pavlik-Taylor who are fighting right at 166, does that become the... RJJ: (cutting in) If they want to come up to 168, unless Oscar decides that he wants to break all the PPV numbers, and he wants to do something in boxing history, if he wants to participate in boxing history because he's not going to win the fight. Which is the same thing he's doing with Floyd, he won't win the fight, but he will break the PPV record and sell more homes than ever been sold. Fighting me will be the same for him as Mayweather, he won't win the fight, but it will be the biggest event of all time. He's not going to take the fight, because what kind of chance will they give him. Bernard killed him and I beat Bernard with one, so what chance would they give him? None. Editor: But that was 156, not 166, right? RJJ: Yes. 1-6-6. Bernard crushed him, and I crushed Bernard, ain't no way in the world he's taking that. It would have been a beautiful thing for the sport of boxing because it would have broken all PPV records. That's the only fight, I think, because besides him and Floyd this is the only fight that could emerge and surpass what even him and Floyd could make right now. Editor: You mentioned earlier in previous discussions that you think Calzaghe is just going to outwork Hopkins, is that still your position? RJJ: Don't get me wrong, Hopkins is going to get himself into shape and he's going be as physically prepared as he can be for it. That's one thing I give him credit for, he goes in there properly prepared. He's not going to make it easy for Calzaghe, I don't think that. I do think that overall Calzaghe will outwork him. If you put his work ethic against Winky Wright, but he's little down on power. He does what he has to do, he just fights power with workrate Winky was a much smarter fighter, Calzaghe is not as smart as Winky, but Calzaghe is also left handed, so he's going to have to work a little more. Editor: Are you planning on a spring return, for sometime in May? RJJ: Yeah. Editor: Do you have an exact date? RJJ: No, I don't know the exact date yet. I'm just looking around, if I get a tune-up between, I'll fight again in April or May, I don't care. I want to keep doing what I'm doing. I'm not going to do it for much longer, but while I know I've still got it, I've got to stay hot. I don't want to sit on the shelf for too long. I've been on the shelf for two years. It took me that long to find myself, and get myself off the shelf. Now, I'm ready to go, I wan't to cook. If I had it my way, I'd have fought 8 times this year. If I find a way to do it, I'm going to fight 8 times this year. Don't think I'm not trying to.