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by Geoffrey Ciani - This week’s edition of On the Ropes Boxing Radio featured an exclusive interview with former WBC light heavyweight champion Montell Griffin, who was in final preparations for his bout last night against Ross ‘The Boss’ Thompson. Griffin was going for win number fifty in his career against Thompson but came up short. The fight was ultimately ruled a ten round draw with final scorecards read 96-94 for Griffin, 97-93 for Thompson, and 95-95. During the interview, Montell spoke about various moments throughout his long and illustrious career as a professional boxer. Here is some of what he had to say:
On being the first man to defeat Roy Jones Junior:
“Because Roy Jones was the star and I was like a new guy coming up I never get the benefit of the doubt. I have heard so many stories. I had seen the story that Dan Rafael wrote. The fight was what, thirteen years ago, and they are still saying stuff about how I was faking it and I needed an Oscar or whatever. It’s just funny coming from a guy who ain’t never fought before, but it’s just funny, all my peers come up to me and say that’s dirty what Roy did to me, but as far as the whole fight—first of all, I was glad for the opportunity.. I knew I was good enough to beat him. I had the best trainer in the world Eddie Futch and Thell Torrence. We had the greatest game plan in the world and I took my game plan to the best of my ability. I thought I was winning the fight earlier across the board but because they gave him a knockdown earlier in the fight, I think he was winning by one point on one scorecard, he was winning by two points on one scorecard, and I was winning but I thought I was winning the fight. So what happened was instead of me blocking a right hand I tried to roll with it. He caught me with a good right hand behind the head and I was a little dizzy. I knew what was going on so I just told myself, ‘Montell, it’s the ninth round. You got three rounds left. You got to be winning this fight. Take a knee! Take a knee, clear your head, and we’ll just come out and we got to win 10, 11, and 12’. So when I took the knee, I pulled back, went down on my knee, and looked at up at the referee to start his count. By the time I looked up, the man hit me. He hit me the first time and it caught me off guard and then he loaded up and hit me the second time and at that point I could hear everything that was going on but it was like my body was paralyzed. I couldn’t move, I couldn’t do anything, I was trying to get up but I couldn’t move and I heard the referee counting and I was like, ‘Man, I can’t believe this! They’re going to count me out on this dirty punch.’ When I got up, came to, and got my faculties together I heard my brother say to Larry to disqualify Roy. Roy came over and apologized to me on like three occasions, said he was sorry. As we found out later on in his career that he failed steroid tests so I just feel that he was having roid rage. He was frustrated from what I was doing to him, he caught roid rage, he was frustrated so he hit me. The funny thing about it is you still have people saying that I was faking and I needed an Oscar, but if I would have got killed in the ring then what would they have said? So that’s the part that frustrates me, because you got guys who ain’t never been in the ring saying stuff like that. I mean, like you said I’m known for that fight. I beat the best Roy Jones. When he was at his peak in his prime, I beat him fair and square. I didn’t tell the man to hit me while I was down, and he didn’t knock me down, I took a knee. So it’s always so many different stories but since he was the star and I was up and coming so all of the stories pretty much favor him.”
On the similarities between his DQ win against Jones and Andre Dirrell’s DQ win against Arthur Abraham:
“Yeah, I saw that fight and I was sad. I hate to see that because the guy was pretty much winning the whole fight. I actually met Dirrell a few years ago, we sparred in Vegas. He’s a nice kid and I got a chance to talk to him and I watched the fight. He looked real good. He slipped and fell, got caught. You know, Abraham, I guess had to do what he had to do. I don’t know if he was trying to be dirty or not, but he caught the kid. The thing I didn’t understand, his people shouldn’t have let him talk because he didn’t know where he was at. It ended up being like a sad situation because he didn’t know what happened and he was crying and it was just a bad situation. I think I heard Tarver brought up my name along with Roy Jones. It’s just something that happens in the game. You hate that it happens but things happen.”
Regarding his rematch with Roy Jones five months after their original encounter:
“The two major things that were different in that fight—the most major part of that fight—and like I said, I don’t have to make no excuses. It’s over. It’s thirteen years ago. I didn’t warm up five minutes for that fight. One of my trainers, Kenny Crooms, had went to Roy’s room to watch him get his hands wrapped. He came back to the dressing room and said, ‘Man, Roy Jones is dressed, warming up, and sweating’, and I had on street clothes and I’m like, ‘Why?’ I don’t have to lie. It’s all in the past. There was a sign on the door that said ‘Get ready at 10:45, the fight will be starting at 11’. So this was much earlier than 10:45, I was sitting in my street clothes when they told me I had two minutes to get into the ring. I don’t have to lie. It’s over with, it’s been done. I forgot his name, John—I forgot his last name, but John actually told Chris Byrd that it’s a shame what they did to Montell, how they just rushed him out there. Roy Jones is a great fighter—one of the greatest fighters ever, but like I said, when I found out he failed the steroid test I just lost a lot of respect for him because I just thought he was on steroids when he beat me so that’s the only way I can look at it.”
On being the first man to defeat Roy Jones Junior:
“Because Roy Jones was the star and I was like a new guy coming up I never get the benefit of the doubt. I have heard so many stories. I had seen the story that Dan Rafael wrote. The fight was what, thirteen years ago, and they are still saying stuff about how I was faking it and I needed an Oscar or whatever. It’s just funny coming from a guy who ain’t never fought before, but it’s just funny, all my peers come up to me and say that’s dirty what Roy did to me, but as far as the whole fight—first of all, I was glad for the opportunity.. I knew I was good enough to beat him. I had the best trainer in the world Eddie Futch and Thell Torrence. We had the greatest game plan in the world and I took my game plan to the best of my ability. I thought I was winning the fight earlier across the board but because they gave him a knockdown earlier in the fight, I think he was winning by one point on one scorecard, he was winning by two points on one scorecard, and I was winning but I thought I was winning the fight. So what happened was instead of me blocking a right hand I tried to roll with it. He caught me with a good right hand behind the head and I was a little dizzy. I knew what was going on so I just told myself, ‘Montell, it’s the ninth round. You got three rounds left. You got to be winning this fight. Take a knee! Take a knee, clear your head, and we’ll just come out and we got to win 10, 11, and 12’. So when I took the knee, I pulled back, went down on my knee, and looked at up at the referee to start his count. By the time I looked up, the man hit me. He hit me the first time and it caught me off guard and then he loaded up and hit me the second time and at that point I could hear everything that was going on but it was like my body was paralyzed. I couldn’t move, I couldn’t do anything, I was trying to get up but I couldn’t move and I heard the referee counting and I was like, ‘Man, I can’t believe this! They’re going to count me out on this dirty punch.’ When I got up, came to, and got my faculties together I heard my brother say to Larry to disqualify Roy. Roy came over and apologized to me on like three occasions, said he was sorry. As we found out later on in his career that he failed steroid tests so I just feel that he was having roid rage. He was frustrated from what I was doing to him, he caught roid rage, he was frustrated so he hit me. The funny thing about it is you still have people saying that I was faking and I needed an Oscar, but if I would have got killed in the ring then what would they have said? So that’s the part that frustrates me, because you got guys who ain’t never been in the ring saying stuff like that. I mean, like you said I’m known for that fight. I beat the best Roy Jones. When he was at his peak in his prime, I beat him fair and square. I didn’t tell the man to hit me while I was down, and he didn’t knock me down, I took a knee. So it’s always so many different stories but since he was the star and I was up and coming so all of the stories pretty much favor him.”
On the similarities between his DQ win against Jones and Andre Dirrell’s DQ win against Arthur Abraham:
“Yeah, I saw that fight and I was sad. I hate to see that because the guy was pretty much winning the whole fight. I actually met Dirrell a few years ago, we sparred in Vegas. He’s a nice kid and I got a chance to talk to him and I watched the fight. He looked real good. He slipped and fell, got caught. You know, Abraham, I guess had to do what he had to do. I don’t know if he was trying to be dirty or not, but he caught the kid. The thing I didn’t understand, his people shouldn’t have let him talk because he didn’t know where he was at. It ended up being like a sad situation because he didn’t know what happened and he was crying and it was just a bad situation. I think I heard Tarver brought up my name along with Roy Jones. It’s just something that happens in the game. You hate that it happens but things happen.”
Regarding his rematch with Roy Jones five months after their original encounter:
“The two major things that were different in that fight—the most major part of that fight—and like I said, I don’t have to make no excuses. It’s over. It’s thirteen years ago. I didn’t warm up five minutes for that fight. One of my trainers, Kenny Crooms, had went to Roy’s room to watch him get his hands wrapped. He came back to the dressing room and said, ‘Man, Roy Jones is dressed, warming up, and sweating’, and I had on street clothes and I’m like, ‘Why?’ I don’t have to lie. It’s all in the past. There was a sign on the door that said ‘Get ready at 10:45, the fight will be starting at 11’. So this was much earlier than 10:45, I was sitting in my street clothes when they told me I had two minutes to get into the ring. I don’t have to lie. It’s over with, it’s been done. I forgot his name, John—I forgot his last name, but John actually told Chris Byrd that it’s a shame what they did to Montell, how they just rushed him out there. Roy Jones is a great fighter—one of the greatest fighters ever, but like I said, when I found out he failed the steroid test I just lost a lot of respect for him because I just thought he was on steroids when he beat me so that’s the only way I can look at it.”
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