Steve Forbes: I'm Going To Ruin Mayweather-de La Hoya Ii (02/28/08)
Editor: Congrats on landing the De La Hoya fight. Can you tell us how you felt when you first heard the news and tell us what you plan on doing to destroy the mega-fight in September?
Steve Forbes: "When I first heard the news I thought somebody was playing a bad joke on me. I didn't think it was serious, but being that it's probably been a good month where I couldn't say much at all because there was a lot of speculation. But now everything is done and I'm heading out your way. I'll be in NYC tomorrow and I'm really excited about it. I'm here to interrupt that Mayweather-De La Hoya rematch."
Editor: You're fully aware that they're trying to use you as a tune-up to Mayweather. How does that motivate you?
Steve Forbes: "It motivates me even more. I look at it like this, it don't matter how I got here. Now I'm here. I've been waiting for this my whole career. This is the opportunity for me to show against a legendary figure in boxing. He's not a legend yet, but he's still breaking barriers with everything he's done. With a guy that well known and that appreciated, it's the biggest stage anybody could ever ask for. I'm definitely motivated to pull off the shocker."
Editor: How confident are you that you'll be able to last twelve rounds with him at 147 pounds?
SF: "I'm supremely confident. It's funny because I've never really talked about this, and people want to go off of the Grady Brewer fight where I didn't train at all. I never remarked on that because I didn't want to take anything away from Grady. He had a good night that night, but I didn't train properly. I did what a lot of the others fighters and I let me supposedly being a shoe in to win the show get to my head. That's why I so anxious to fight a guy like Demetrius Hopkins to show that I Can go out there and whoop on a young prospect. I did that and I then took short money to fight Bojado to once again show that I Can fight anybody. I have no problem knowing that I"m going to be able to go for twelve rounds and I'm going to be winning a lot of these rounds man. I really honestly feel that way."
Editor: Can you tell us why you fell you stylistically have what it takes to defeat De La Hoya?
SF: "It's simple. I have the Mayweather style. Oscar has trained with Mayweather, but I've been training with them my whole life so I think I'm more used to the style than he is. I think Oscar's going to want to prove that he can walk through me, but I'm slick and I'm going to have everything working. I'm bringing 100% of everything. I know he's going to try to use the Mayweather style, but I know that style better and I think that's going to be the difference."
Editor: Are you concerned that Roger is training you to beat Oscar who is supposed to be fighting his nephew in the biggest fight in boxing this September?
SF: "Not at all. One thing about the Mayweather's and I Said this at the press conference, is if they train you they want to win. They're so competitive that they want to prove that they can make the difference. Roger is taking this fight no different. He would love to say he's got two wins over Oscar with two different guys. And now he's going against his brother this time, so I know he's going to show me everything I need to do to win. It's my job to put it into action."
Editor: I know you're coming to win, but at the same time is this a win-win for you based on the fact that most people are expecting to you to lose, so even if you lose you're still viable at 140?
SF: "Absolutely. I couldn't have said it better myself. It's true. I'm the huge underdog which is fine, but when people don't expect a whole lot whatever you give them is going to be better than they expected. And when people see I how come to fight on May 3, I think people will be impressed at the showing I give them. This is right up my alley because Oscar might believe he's going to be able to walk through me also. I know Mayweather Sr doesn't think that."
Editor: HBO is going to bill this as the prelim to the super-fight. The last time such a prelim took place was when Oscar fought Felix Sturm as a prelim to Bernard Hopkins. When Oscar fought Sturm, many felt Sturm deserved the decision but didn't get it because of all of the money that loomed in the Hopkins fight. Are you in the same position here where winning a decision might be impossible based on the $150,000,000 event already set for September?
SF: "Yeah, but it's like I said, boxing is ran by you guys and the fans. They can make or break your career pretty much. With the Demetrius Hopkins fight, everybody knows I won that fight and it lead to better opportunities, so I'm sure if I win this fight and they give him the decision, it's going to lead to bigger and better things for me. Oscar is such a huge name that people would be outraged if I deserved the decision and don't get it. It would only make me bigger like the Hopkins fight did, so I'm not worried about that at all. I'm expecting things to be fair, I'm sure they'll be a little slanted towards Oscar and they should be, but I'm confident that if I come performing at my highest level, I'll be fine."
Editor: Floyd Mayweather viewed De La Hoya as a one handed fighter, do you feel the same way and will you focus on his left because you're not going to be as concerned with his right?
SF: "Of course, I know he's big with his left hand. I'm looking for both of them, but we know the left hand is where it's at with him, so there's going to be a lot of focus on his left hand."
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