In this interview, heavyweight Monte Barrett (35-9-2, 20 KOs) talks about his first week of training with the FCW (Florida Championship Wrestling), a professional wrestling promotion, discusses his intentions with his career as a professional boxer, and sends a message to fellow heavyweight Tyson Fury.
 
DL: How’s training going with the FCW?
 
MB: It’s a lot of work, but anything worth having you have to work hard for.  But I’m having a lot of fun.  I’m an athlete and I’ve played a lot of sports, so I thought that I would be able to pick wrestling up really quickly.  Now, I’ve always had a lot of respect for wrestlers.  But coming here, I have a whole new respect.  It’s a totally different experience.  The bumps and the takedowns and just being in sync with the guy you’re wrestling with…  You might know the outcome of it [Author's note: it is common knowledge the winner of professional wrestling matches are predetermined], but in between all that, it’s a lot of contact and physical abuse that your body takes.  It’s a sacrifice.  You have to be motivated and determined and focused.  Being here and experiencing this with these great guys, this is only making me a better person and a better athlete.  I wasn’t really a fan of boxing before I started fighting.  I was a fan of Muhammad Ali and Sugar Ray Leonard, but I wasn’t really a boxing fan.  But I’ve been a wrestling fan since grade school.  And being an athlete, you want the best possible outcome, but it doesn’t happen overnight.  It takes time.  But this is refreshing, because it’s new.  I’ve always liked change.  This organization here, it’s called Florida Championship Wrestling.  That’s the name of the camp.  I came out here on a recommendation and I want to live up to the recommendation.  I’m a hard worker and I knew it was going to be hard.  But I didn’t know it was going to be THIS hard, to be honest with you.
 
DL: So is the plan now to compete as a wrestler?
 
MB: I’m far away from that.  I need a lot of practice first.  But they do shows once a week, so we’ll see.  But as far as me having a future? I don’t know.  It’s up to the coaches and the powers that be.  It’s a lot to learn and it’s not just the wrestling.  It’s the drama. You have to work on your character.  I took drama classes in college. You have to create an illusion.  You have to sell your story. And these guys are tremendous athletes, I’ll tell you that much. It’s a total package.  It’s more mental than physical.  I think any sport is.  But there are no limitations.  You have to be creative and try different things.  
 
DL: What’s the plan with your boxing career?
 
MB: I’ve got a couple things I’m working on.  I was hoping to get a fight with Seth Mitchell, but Golden Boy and HBO decided to go with Timur Ibragimov.  For what reason?  I don’t know.  I’m a more established fighter.  But in this game, you have to bring up new talent.  Seth Mitchell is probably in the top five on the radar as far as upcoming talent.  But there’s no way he beats me.  Not the way I am today.  He doesn’t stand a chance.  And I hear Tyson Fury calling out Alexander Povetkin.  And Tyson better respect that man, because he’s the champion of the world.  I have a lot of respect for Povetkin.  Not only is he a great guy, he’s a hell of a fighter.  I’ve boxed with him and I think he’d kick Tyson Fury’s ass all over the place.  Tyson’s people turned down a fight with me after my second fight with David Tua.  They said he’s not ready.  So how the hell are you going to be ready for Povetkin when you’re not even ready for me?  Me and Povetkin are toe-to-toe, to be honest with you.  He’s a tough guy.  He doesn’t have a lot of experience, but he has an experienced corner.  And he’s strong willed.  But Tyson Fury, his chin is soft and his hands are soft.  So why is he calling out Povetkin?  Have some respect when grown folks are around. 
 
DL: The fight that actually makes sense to me is you and Alexander Povetkin.
 
MB: I would love to fight Povetkin.  I don’t know what kind of plan [Povetkin's trainer] Teddy Atlas has.  But if he has any input, I don’t think he would want that fight to happen.  Alexander and I went about forty rounds and I think I had him about thirty to ten.  It was good sparring though.  It was good work for both of us.  But Teddy is trying to build up his fighter and you have to consider the politics of boxing.  And Cedric Boswell (who Povetkin is fighting next) is nobody you can sleep on.  He’s tough when he’s on his game.  He’s a strong, strong guy and this could be an upset.  
 
DL: What are the fights you want?
 
MB: I want to fight for the heavyweight championship of the world.  I’d love to fight Wladimir [Klitschko, who defeated Barrett in 2000], but he’s not going to want to fight me again.  For him, there’s no sense in going backwards.  So I just have to be patient.  I’m just trying to get in where I fit in.  There aren’t too many places for me to go, considering all the guys I’ve fought.  I just have to be patient and hopefully another fight will come about.  They’ve talked about Chauncy Welliver and I wouldn’t mind beating up on Chauncy.  I wouldn’t mind fighting Shane Cameron either.  They’ve talked about that fight.  So we’ll have to see.  But when something comes along, I will be in shape and I will be ready.  To be honest with you, I think Vitali Klitschko should give me a shot.  He’s been fighting guys who won’t challenge him.  But I’d fight him in really close quarters and I wouldn’t let him look like a superstar.  I would make him fight and I hope he reads this and I hope his people read this and I hope we get it on.  I’ve earned the shot.  I beat David Tua and Tua was the guy who everybody thought was going to challenge the Klitschkos.  So why not fight me?
 
DL: What about Tomasz Adamek?
 
MB: I was going to fight Adamek before, but he fought Vinny Maddalone instead.  I have a lot of respect for Adamek.  I have a lot of respect for any fighter who steps in the square.  But for me, that fight isn’t as good as it was.  If I beat him, then what?  He just got pulverized by Vitali Klitschko.  So what does that do for me?  I’m just going to be smart about it.  I haven’t always made the best choices in my career, but I’m a lot smarter now.  When I fight, I want to make it count.  I want it to count for positioning or money or a personal goal.  It’s got to count for one of those three.  I would love to fight Povetkin, but he has to get past Cedric Boswell.  We might actually be talking about me fighting Cedric Boswell next March.  We’ll have to see what happens.  But when you look at the top fifteen of these sanctioning bodies, they have some changes to make.  It’s supposed to be about fighting the best to be the best, not just because of the promoters and who knows who.  And some of these match-ups out there are hurting boxing.  A lot of unwarranted rankings, a lot of fights that shouldn’t be made…  And the networks aren’t putting the best fights together and boxing is hurting because of that.
 
DL: Anything in closing?
 
MB: I just want to tell Tyson Fury to shut his big mouth up.  I’m going on the record right now saying that I want to put an ass whipping on him.

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