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Unedited. From the chapter of my book, THE ICEMAN DIARIES, that deals with my 1992 U.S.B.A title fight with Tim Littles on the undercard of Bowe-Holyfield 1....
"Late in the fight I had planned on coming on strong and taking over. Tim was a busy fighter and I was tough and durable. I kept my hands up well and blocked enough of his blows that "Compubox" had him only landing nineteen percent of his total shots. I was tired from losing weight, though, and probably a little nervous and tight, too, being on such a big show at that stage of my career. It's funny the things that pass through your mind when you are in the middle of a battle. I distinctly remember in the 10th or 11th round I was feeling fatigue but I still wanted to come on, bite down and take over. I went for it, too, but I just couldn't pull the trigger. I kept telling myself "OK, do it. Do it NOW!" And when I failed to turn the juice on- believe it or not- I thought of Sugar Ray Leonard in the 14th round of his first fight with Tommy Hearns back in 1981. Right there in the middle of the round I was thinking about how Ray had ****** it up and did what he had to do to overcome the fatigue and pain of a tough professional fight to go ahead and grab victory from the jaws of defeat. There was a sequence in that fight when Ray started really getting his shots off and Tommy was desperately trying to tie Ray up and not let him go off. And Sugar Ray bit down on his mouthpiece, dug down deep and let go a wild flurry of overhand lefts and rights that put Tommy in deep trouble. That was inspiring to me. Very motivating and inspirational. I knew I was watching a legitimate and true World Champion in action when I saw that. I had heard so many times about the great fighters being able to do that when they absolutely needed to. I thought of Sugar Ray showing that type of will and I wanted to do the same thing. I wondered if he was as dehydrated as I was on this night would he have been able to pull this victory out? I think probably so, Yes.
Or as Sugar Ray said in an interview I read today (January 14, 2006): “What separates the truly great champions from the other top guys is that little additional heart, a hidden reservoir of inner strength. All fighters possess it but the difference is what activates it, what forces you to want to fight that bit harder when you’re already exhausted after 12, 13 rounds. Very few can call upon that in the later rounds. That, for me, is very significant.
I couldn't, though, on that particular night under those particular circumstances and I realized right there during the late rounds of my fight with Littles what the difference was between the good fighters and the great ones."
ICEMAN JOHN SCULLY
"Late in the fight I had planned on coming on strong and taking over. Tim was a busy fighter and I was tough and durable. I kept my hands up well and blocked enough of his blows that "Compubox" had him only landing nineteen percent of his total shots. I was tired from losing weight, though, and probably a little nervous and tight, too, being on such a big show at that stage of my career. It's funny the things that pass through your mind when you are in the middle of a battle. I distinctly remember in the 10th or 11th round I was feeling fatigue but I still wanted to come on, bite down and take over. I went for it, too, but I just couldn't pull the trigger. I kept telling myself "OK, do it. Do it NOW!" And when I failed to turn the juice on- believe it or not- I thought of Sugar Ray Leonard in the 14th round of his first fight with Tommy Hearns back in 1981. Right there in the middle of the round I was thinking about how Ray had ****** it up and did what he had to do to overcome the fatigue and pain of a tough professional fight to go ahead and grab victory from the jaws of defeat. There was a sequence in that fight when Ray started really getting his shots off and Tommy was desperately trying to tie Ray up and not let him go off. And Sugar Ray bit down on his mouthpiece, dug down deep and let go a wild flurry of overhand lefts and rights that put Tommy in deep trouble. That was inspiring to me. Very motivating and inspirational. I knew I was watching a legitimate and true World Champion in action when I saw that. I had heard so many times about the great fighters being able to do that when they absolutely needed to. I thought of Sugar Ray showing that type of will and I wanted to do the same thing. I wondered if he was as dehydrated as I was on this night would he have been able to pull this victory out? I think probably so, Yes.
Or as Sugar Ray said in an interview I read today (January 14, 2006): “What separates the truly great champions from the other top guys is that little additional heart, a hidden reservoir of inner strength. All fighters possess it but the difference is what activates it, what forces you to want to fight that bit harder when you’re already exhausted after 12, 13 rounds. Very few can call upon that in the later rounds. That, for me, is very significant.
I couldn't, though, on that particular night under those particular circumstances and I realized right there during the late rounds of my fight with Littles what the difference was between the good fighters and the great ones."
ICEMAN JOHN SCULLY
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