Maddalone-Minto II on the verge of being added to Tarver-Jones III undercard?

Last night, after reading reports that he pulled out of a fight with former world title challenger Shannon “The Cannon” Briggs 43-4-1(37) on the televised under card of the Jones-Tarver III. New York based Italian Heavyweight contender Vinny Maddalone 25-2(18) contacted Boxingtalk.com to set the record straight. “There has never ever been a time I have backed out of a fight. Never in my life, that is one thing, and I think Briggs would know how offensive that is being from New York. He knows how we do it, we go in Alleys, we go on the street, it don’t matter we can get it going.” Read on to see what else the always exciting Heavy-handed slugger had to say.  

RC: Vinny what’s going on?
VM: What’s going on is, I got a couple of calls from my boys and they tell me to get on the internet, on Boxingtalk.com of course, and then Boom, there it is. I got Briggs talking, his managers, his promoters all of them are running there mouth. Now the first I heard off all of this was yesterday (Wednesday), my manager called me and told me that Joe DeGuardia said the fight is off. That was it, I was going nutts. I have been in camp for three weeks, I have been sparring with two guys that are just like Shannon Briggs, his size, everything, I have been working like an animal. I mean four times a day. At 5:30am, I run, Spar at 10:00am, 2pm I am doing weight conditioning and at 8pm another run. That’s two runs a day, then I get this call from Joe saying the fight is off and he says “We are trying to work on something else” I say to him are you out of your mind? He had told me for a fact that the fight was done, I was all ready to go, and….

RC: (Cutting in) did you sign the contract?
VM: The contract wasn’t done but everything was supposedly worked out. But I didn’t sign the contract. They just said it was worked out, I was in his office two weeks ago when they found out, when he called (Cedrick) Kushner (Briggs Promoter)and found out what he was making and what I was making and that was it, it was done. So I was like let’s do this, this is it! Then all of a sudden my manager is calling me saying the fights off, and he wanted me to give Joe a call. So I just spoke to Joe and asked him what the hell is all of this shit. So he told me, he is working on something else. He said that the money wasn’t there, the money was supposed to be there but it wasn’t there.

Then I am hearing that they used his name (Shannon Briggs) for ticket sales, am I saying are you out of your mind? These people want to come see me; they are not interested in seeing Shannon Briggs. He had his time in this sport years ago; I had two of the most exciting fights on ESPN in recent times.

RC: Does it bother you that allegedly he said you’ll used his name to sell tickets?
VM: I don’t know if it was him, his manager, his trainer… I don’t know, but that is no where near right. First off, the fight was sold out before hand. I think Jones and Tarver are doing there own thing with that, it is a Florida fight. It is not a New York fight; if it was a NY fight then I can say it can make a difference because we are both NY guys, but it is a Florida fight. If Briggs was fighting in New York, then I am sure people are going to go see that but not in Florida.

RC: So what now?
VM: Now they are talking, well Joe is saying he has something and it looks like I am going to get the Minto fight on that card.

RC: So as of right now it looks like it is going to be Minto instead of Briggs on the Tarver-Jones II card?
VM: Yeah, it is for a lot less money, but you know what. Let’s go, this kid (Minto) has been calling me out, so we will start with him and then we will go to Briggs after. Everyone is calling me out, so we will do it like that.

RC: How disappointed are you that you won’t get to face the bigger name opponent in Shannon Briggs on HBO PPV after dedicating your preparation towards him?
VM: It’s a real big disappoint. That is all I have been thinking about the last couple of weeks. That is the step I wanted to take. I had the sparring guys in, his size, 6’-4” and 6’-5”, but guys like 240-250lbs. And I am banging everyday with these guys, it was my shot. It is an HBO fight, and if I beat this guy (Briggs) I am on top of the world. I knew I was the underdog, but I had everything to gain and nothing to loose. I was going to go in there, you know my style I was going in there winging, swinging everywhere.

Now I have to hear that I backed out of a fight, listen, there aint no way I am ever going to back out of a fight. I had this kid Minto call me out, this was like two three weeks ago saying that I don’t want to fight him. But you know what? I am glad it worked out like this, things work out for a reason. So I take care of Minto and I will take care of Briggs after.

RC: Vinny can that be a problem, that you might be facing Brian Minto, but looking past him already setting your sites on Shannon Briggs?
VM: Nah, definitely Briggs is a tougher step than Minto so I was focused on Briggs. But hey whoever they put in front of me I have to get ready for. It doesn’t matter; I train for every fight as if it was a world championship fight. So I will be ready for him

RC: Briggs is 6’4 around 260lbs, and Minto is about 5’11, 210lbs, how many changes will you have to make in camp to prepare yourself for a much smaller guy in Brian Minto?
VM: Well you know you just have to move around the sparring guys. Tomorrow we are going to bring in a different guy, and maybe next week we will start moving with (David) Telesco, a Light Heavyweight. You know, move around because this kid (Minto) isn’t going to stay there. Briggs would have stood in front of me and banged. So that is the difference, this kid is going to move. So we are going to get some Light Heavyweights and Cruiserweight and move around a little bit.

RC: What do you feel you are going to have to do against Minto to be successful this time around? 
VM: It will be totally different now. With Al Certo now it is going to be a totally different fight, it is going to come. If the knockout doesn’t come, I am going to win every round because this kid isn’t going to stay toe to toe with me, he is going to be moving, I know what he is going to do. He is going to look to pop shot, and move around. So I am going to look to cut the ring off and that’s it.

RC: How excited are you about fighting on a card of this magnitude?
VM: This is huge, this is what I have been training for my whole life, and this is it. HBO PPV. You can’t get any bigger than this, there are no more excuses, and I am pulling it all out. I am getting up two times a day running, in the morning and in the night. This is it, I am giving everything I got, and I am leaving it all in the ring.

The only thing that is getting to me it, is I don’t know if it is Briggs, his manager or whoever, but people are calling me up asking if I backed out of the fight. There has never ever been a time I have backed out of a fight. Never in my life, that is one thing, and I think Briggs would know how offensive that is being from New York. He knows how we do it, we go in Alleys, we go on the street, it don’t matter we can get it going. That is never going to happen; you are never going to hear I pulled out of a fight unless I have a legitimate reason.

RC: Sounds like you got a lot off of your chest, is there anything else you’d like to add?
VM: You know what it is, after that fight with (Shannon) Miller; a lot have been saying they want to fight me. It is almost like right now, I am the TV guy, I am the entertaining guy that makes it a fight.

RC: Well I would have to agree with you somewhat. Having Brian Minto call you out says that in itself. Because if he already beat you (TKO 10), and he is still calling you out, that alone proves that he needs your name to make a very good all action TV fight. 
VM: That’s it, it’s funny because (Joe) Mesi was in that situation and I was doing that to him. You see how roles reverse? But listen, I am just going there to take care of business. There aint going to be no shit talking, I am not going to be popping off like everyone else is doing. You know what… my thing is if you want to fight, then we are going to get it on in the ring. That’s it, my fists are going to do the talking, and that’s the bottom line.

RC: Now exactly how close is the fight with Minto to being done and made official?
VM: You know I got the contracts right here for Minto, so I am going to see tomorrow (Friday). Last I spoke to Joe he said he was waiting on the response from Minto. So he has sent it to him.

RC: Well, I guess we have to give Brian Minto a call, and ask him what’s the deal on his end.
VM: Yeah give him a call, and then call me back. Let me know what he says, if he is going to sign and is everything going to be done.

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