PRESS RELEASE: After I did Dancing with the Stars, I came back and they said, “You can fight anywhere except in New York.”  I said, ‘I don’t want to fight in New York anyway.’  Well, I kept training and all the sudden we got the license to fight in Texas.  So the guys said, let me come down and watch you train.  So it just so happens, in the first day of sparring – with Adam Richards, he came in to hit me and I went “ooh (and ducked it). Then I hit him with a right and then I hit him with a left hook.  Then I called Ronnie (Shields, trainer) and said, ‘I got it, I can hook again.’  I hadn’t been able to hook off a jab to save my soul.  Then all the sudden my nephew Mike said, “Hey man, you’re back.”  So then I called George, who works with me and I said ‘hey, I’m back.’  He said, “What do you mean.”  I told him I can do the things I used to do. 

 

So that got me thinking.  I don’t want to get in the rankings because no one will want to fight me.  So I told George that we need a strategy, because this guy they are going to want me to fight, this guy is probably not going to even touch me.  My hands are back.  He’ll swing at me but I’ll hit him with so many combinations.  I told Ronnie I can move like I’m not used to, and I don’t know, but everything is back. 

 

I realized that when I was real good, I would hold my hands where a person is trying to hit me and I can slip it right down and catch him with a left hook.  So all the sudden I can do it again.  So after I got this Jeremy Bates guy, they told me they want me to fight Oquendo.  I told them 'that’s not the type of fighter that I want to fight.'  He is so boring, but if he is going to put me closer to the rankings, I’ll fight him.  They thought the step was too big.  I told them, you’ll see, when I catch him with one punch, he’s not going to want to fight anymore. 

 

So Oquendo came out and he backhanded me.  So I said ‘OK, he if comes out and backhands me again, I’m going to hit him with this right hand.’  So he tried it again and I went, “Whop.” And he didn’t try to fight no more.  So that was it, and it was a boring fight after that.  And that was the fight that I didn’t get paid for.  After my whole career, everybody used to say, did anybody aver get you?  And I would say so one ever got me.  But he got me (laughter).  And that’s when we talked to Kathy (Duva, Main Events). 

 

That’s when the guy from New York, what’s his name?  (Vinny Maddalone), you don’t want me to fight that guy, do you?  I may hit him five times in a row.  I know his style.  They asked me why I was worried about it and I told them I didn’t want it to scare other people.  People out there will say that you don’t want to fight me because I’m good.  And if I want to get in the rankings, I need to fight someone in the rankings so I can get in there and move up to No. 1 to get the title shot.  But I said, he (Maddalone) can’t get out of the way of my hands.

 

So I hit him, and he went “Ahh.”  But he still did the same thing. So that’s how it was.  So then it came down to Lou Savarese.  I told Kathy, I don’t want to fight Lou Savarese.  I just have a problem fighting guys that are real humble and real cool.  So I said I don’t want to fight him, because I don’t have to.  I’m not the kind of guy that wants to beat you up so I can say, I can beat you up.  I am not that type of person.  But they kept wanting to fight, and I heard that he said, “What, he doesn’t want to fight me?”  That made me mad.  I don’t have anything to lose, but I know that he can’t beat me. 

 

I always go to the gyms and watch heavyweights.  I’m always casing the gyms because one of those guys may end up wanting to fight me.  That is just my competitiveness. 

 

So when I get in the ring against Savarese, my buddy who I let take pictures by the ring, keeps me from hitting Lou.  Every time I got ready to throw a punch, he would yell the punch to throw.  He would yell, “Left Hook.”  So I would throw it and Lou would put his right hand up there to block it.  Everything he told me to do was right, but he said it just in time for the guy to put his hand up.  So when it got to the end of the first round, I knew I had him, and I had someone tell my photographer friend to keep quiet.  But one thing is when you throw a right hand to the body, you leave yourself open.  So I thought I have to throw this right hand real quick before he responds and hits me on the chin.  So I threw the right hand and then I threw another before he could get his hand up (laughter) quick enough. 

 

When I got home and saw the tape, I thought ‘do you know how many times I tried to throw that combination and missed?’  But that right I threw to the body hurt him and he went down just a little, then I was able to get that hook up before he could respond.  I was surprised that he got up that quick.  I thought it was over.  But when it all turned out, it made me look good at then end.  Because he stood up and went on, no one could say, ‘he beat a chump.’ 

 

Question:  What about Ibragimov?

 

He’s quick.  What he brings to the game, he is probably going to throw more punches than any of the heavyweights that I fought.  The difference between he and Michael Moorer, is Moorer is going to throw three punches.  When I see this guy, he throws four or five punches.  He does awkward stuff that I’ve never seen a heavyweight fighter do. 

 

I never looked at his feet, but fighters who have good footwork can get their hands out faster.  He can do this, and throw the jab, then come back under.  When I saw the tape, I thought, whoa, this guy loves to go under.  There is no one that likes to get hit to the body.  No one.  So I thought he’s going to be going to my body, so I’m going to have to go to his body too.  Because if he is throwing them, that means he can’t take no body shots.  People who throw body shots, they can’t take none either.  If they go to your body, it makes you whole up, so you can’t go to their body.  So I knew that I had to get my back in shape so I could be able to stay low the whole way.  This is my first time ever seeing this stuff.  That uppercut.  But he understands that I am going to throw straight though.  The only way to catch him is if I throw it straight.  Buster Douglas tried to hit me with that – and I caught him straight down the middle

 

That’s the whole art of this boxing game.  If he is going to do that, then I am going to do this.  I can hit him quicker than he can loop the thing.  He’s dangerous when he gets close, but from the outside, he throws the looping punches.  I just have to throw all my stuff right down the pike and circle and do this.  And whatever I do, even if I close my eyes, I throw it down the pike.  I always hold my hands like this and I am hiding behind my shoulders and my arms

 

Question:  Do you have problems going to Russia for the fight?

 

I have to go to Russia if I want to be the champion.  I’m not the champion, and if you want something, you have to go out of your environment.  I could stay at home, where it is comfortable, but I won’t make any money or become the champion. 

 

He’s (Ibragimov) training over here, in Florida, so I would wonder how soon he would go over there also.  I will go over 7 days early.  But when I found out HE was training over here (laughter), I thought, why would I go over early.  He’s thinking the same thing I’m thinking.  “I’m not going over there.  For what?”  I figure the least amount of days that we can go over there, we will do that. 

 

Every fight that I fought in everything was great, except the one that I lost to Moorer.  Before the fight I thought, my heart isn’t doing anything.  And I didn’t fight good either.  From the time I fought my first professional fight, my heart would beat so fast, but it didn’t in that fight.  And I was wondering what was going on.

 

But now, my heart is beating already.