Exclusive Interview: Roy Jones Jr (02/18/08)

RJ'S PLANS: Elvir Muriqi and then Jermain Taylor! Editor: Before we get into any questions regarding your next fight, can you give us some thoughts on Pavlik-Taylor II? Roy Jones: "I thought it was a good fight. Both guys came to fight and Jermain has nothing to be ashamed of. He should have worked a little bit more, but Pavlik had a lot of fans there so everything he did was amplified because of the way the crowd was reacting to what he was doing. Both guys deserve to be commended for the fight they put on, but it's like this, you know coming into this fight I said I would have NO PROBLEM fighting the winner. We all know Pavlik won the fight, but he's made it clear that he's going to be moving back to 160. What's funny about that though is that he's talking about fighting Felix Trinidad, a guy I just beat. I'm not going to knock him for that because it's a good fight for boxing, but at the same time I don't think people should have any problem with me fighting the Jermain Taylor, a guy he just beat. I know it's a fight the fans want to see and I'm ready to make it happen as long as Lou DiBella and Jermain don't get crazy with their asking for." Editor: Once you made the Pavlik remark, your follow up took away my next question, so you obviously feel Jermain Taylor is a viable option? Roy Jones Jr: "Definitely. Most definitely. It's like I said, if DiBella and them want to make a fight and they come talking business like they're interested, the fans will get another big Roy Jones Jr fight, it's simple as that. They know who I am, I know who they are and they know what I bring to the table. It's simple, all they need to do is want to make the fight." Editor: In our last interview you made it clear that you feel you're the draw at 168 and 175. Since then Bernard Hopkins and Antonio Tarver have both stated that Trinidad was the draw in that fight, how do you feel about that? Roy Jones Jr: "I saw that, but I also saw that they still want to fight me. If I ain't the draw, what would they want to fight me for?" (laughs really hard) I said it before and I'm going to say it again, I am the draw at light heavyweight. Bernard Hopkins is a living legend, but nobody really wants to see him fight unless he's fighting somebody more exciting than he is. And now he's fighting one of the greatest British fighters ever and they can't do it on PPV. What does that tell you? It tells me that he's not a draw and to avoid an embarrasing PPV number for a fight with two great fighters, they're putting it on regular HBO. But if Roy Jones Jr fights Bernard Hopkins or if Roy Jones Jr fights Joe Calzaghe, there's no way they ain't on PPV. "The next week you got all them light heavyweights on the other show with Tarver fighting Clinton Woods for the titles and they can't get that on PPV. But if Roy Jones Jr fights Antonio Tarver it's PPV. They could say I'm not the draw all they want, but Tarver would be nothing without me and he knows that. If the winner of Bernard and Calzaghe wants to make big money, they have to come my way." Editor: When might your next fight take place? RJJ: "I want to get right back in there, we're looking at a couple of things for a few months from now." Editor: In previous discussions , we were talking about a fight with Elvir Muriqi, is that something that interests you? RJJ: "My thing is this, my fans want to see me in the ring and if I can give them one of the big fights they really want to see I'm going to stay busy. Muriqi's name has come up and it's something I might have to explore if I can't make nothing bigger in the meantime. If a fight like that happens, I'll tell you like this, I'm not Antonio Tarver. You ain''t ever seen Roy Jones Jr win a majority decision over somebody like Elvir Muriqi. He's the kind of guy I can give my fans what they want to see, entertainment. That's what I do, I entertain my fans. I've been doing it and I'm going to continue to do it until the wheels fall off." Editor: If you knew a fight with Taylor could get done, would you still look to fight Muriqi or somebody like him? RJJ: "It depends. If they want to make something with Jermain and it was a couple of months difference I would go straight to Jermain. If they're talking about sometime later this year, then I'll probably be looking at Muriqi or another contender like him." Editor: Is there anything you'd like to say in closing? RJJ: "I love my fans. I want to thank them for their love as always and get ready because I'm going to continue to give you guys what you want to see while showing guys like Bernard Hopkins and Antonio Tarver, and Joe Calzaghe that I am the only draw in this division."