JA: How is everything going Jose? " Everything is going great. Thank God that I am feeling healthy and strong, the move up in weight has been a blessing for me. I am very excited and I can’t wait for Saturday night to do my thing."

JA: Ticket sales have been going great, is it a blessing for you to fight in your hometown again?

JR: It’s always a blessing to fight for a world title and then fight in your hometown on top of that is great. Ticket sales are going much slower this year than they did last year; I am hoping that it picks up.

JA: I recently talked to John Scully and he was telling me that Alejandro Garcia says that he punches hard but he doesn’t have the power like a Tommy Hearns. Do you agree with that statement?

JR: To me as a fighter I have to look at it as this guy punches like Mike Tyson, that way I can train my ass off to be prepared for whatever he brings to the table. That means if he doesn’t punch hard like Scully sees than I am safe.

JA: Is this a must win fight for you because you lost your last title fight there?

JR: This is a must win situation for me, absolutely. Not just because I lost my last fight but because I am fighting for a world championship, everything changes when you win a championship opposed to you losing a championship fight. Every fight is a must win, and the fight after that is a must win and obviously I have to keep winning to keep having those fights.

JA:  Tell us about the move up to 154, is it a drastic move up for you?

JR: It is exactly what you have said, it is a drastic move up for me. It is a drastic change because this time last year I was trying to lose 10 pounds, right now I am only trying to lose 3 pounds. How I gage my training and everything is a whole lot better. I can really slow things down and work my way up to the scales, where as I had to train hard, work hard and before the weigh in I was running to lose weight and at the scales I still had to lose weigh. It’s a drastic change.

JA: Does it help more mentally than it does physically for you too move up in weight?

JR: No I try not to let things affect me mentally. Mentally last year is what helped me get through the fight. It affected me physically because I wasn’t able to perform at the best of my ability.

JA: Do you feel stronger at 154?

JR: Absolutely.

JA: Are you going to be more powerful at 154 or are you going to feel more energized?

JR: I don’t know if I am going to be more powerful at 154, I won’t know that till the fight but I do feel that I will be more energized at 154.

JA: What is your prediction for the fight?

JR: My prediction is that I am going to win and become a 2 division world champion and look forward to bigger and better things down the line. I tortured myself for this fight and nothing less than a victory would be satisfactory for me.

JA: Is there anything that you would like to say to your fans in closing?

JR: I would like to thank my fans for being there for me and supporting me. If you can get down to the DCU center to watch the fight you should go down there and if not you can watch the fight on Showtime and watch me be apart of history as a two division world champion.

,M

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