GL:  I spoke with Dmitriy Salita, he spoke of his excitement working with Square Ring, and Roy Jones Jr., and the probability of his fighting for a title on the undercard of the Calzaghe show.  Tell us about the Salita signing, and how you feel about Dmitriy, and his world title fight on the undercard of the Calzaghe show.  "I think he's good where he's at, I think Dmitriy's a great fighter, a great prospect.  He's a great name for Square Ring to have, and great addition to the team.  I'm looking forward to seeing great things out of him."

GL:  Have there been any further developments as it relates to the promotion of the Calzaghe event?  Are there things that HBO is going to do the maximize...

Roy Jones Jr.: (cutting in)  In the pre-sale of the tickets yesterday, they did pretty good.  It's been the most money, the highest one yet, so far, with me and Calzaghe.  That was a good thing, and I'm just looking forward to making it happen.

GL:  Do you expect a sold-out Garden on the 8th?

RJJ:  Most definitely.

GL:  After the Trinidad fight, you made it clear that Roy Jones Jr. is the draw in the light heavyweight division.  The other fighters who you referred to as not being the draw, basically tried to disregard that as it being Trinidad who sold the fight, and made those PPV numbers what they were.  Do you feel this is a case to re-cement that fact with Calzaghe, who's never fought on PPV over here?

RJJ:  It's not for me to re-cement it, I'm not worried about them.  Like I said, for them, all they have to do is look at it.  Put them against me, anywhere, and they'll still see the PPV numbers shoot up, any one of them.  When they fight each other, the people don't even want it on PPV.  That tells you right there what the real deal is, I don't have to cement anything.  It's already concrete, you already know.  Tell the world Roy Jones is fighting, the world is going to pay attention.  Tell the world Bernard Hopkins is fighting, they're going to ask who he's fighting.

GL:  I've been talking to a lot of the top American boxers in the last couple of days.  Even though Calzaghe's undefeated, everybody's predicting that you're going to beat him pretty handily.  Does that surprise you, and do you like playing that position, or would you rather be in the underdog role?

RJJ:  I like being in the underdog role, but Calzaghe is not going to be an easy win, even if he wasn't on top.  Don't get me wrong, Roy is going to be conditioned and ready.  I'm looking forward to it, they know that I'm focused.  They know that if they think I can't do things, those are the things I'm supposed to do.  That's why most of them said I was going to win.  They, pretty much, have it right.  It's a matter of showing and proving.

GL:  If you're in the ring with Calzaghe, and you feel that his punches are as pitty-patty, and slappy as everyone described, do you plan on getting on some search and destroy to get him out of there?

RJJ:  I don't know, I haven't really thought of it.  Only thing is, Oscar has a PPV date on December 6th.  I'm trying to talk him into taking me for that PPV date.  I'm not going to get myself cut or anything waiting for Oscar, but if he's not going to fight me, then yes, I might do that.

GL:  In other words, if Oscar wants to fight you on December 6th, and keep that open until November 9th, you'll go in there and try to get rid of Calzaghe as soon as possible?

RJJ:  I would get rid of him as soon as possible, so I can fight Oscar in December.  You're exactly right.

GL:  If December comes and goes, and Oscar has no opponent solidified.  Then what?  If you're just a possibility to fight Oscar some time next year or not...

RJ:  I'm going to take my time, do what I have to do, and slowly break him down.

GL:  Don't you think that blazing Calzaghe out of there as quickly as possible, either way, makes it harder for guys to not fight you?

RJJ:  It does, but you've got to look at it like this.  I've got to be smart in the way I do it.  If I find I can get Calzaghe early, I'm going to do it early.  If not, I've got to make sure I don't do anything stupid and get cut, because if De La Hoya wants to fight in December, it would be the first time anyone has done something back-to-back like that on PPV.  I can do it.

GL:  Closing thoughts.

RJJ:  I want to tell my fans, I love them all.  I'm not scared, or ducking and dodging anything.  I look for a big one every time I come out to box.  I ain't got but two more times to bring the boat out, but when I bring the boat out, I'm looking for the big fish.

M

Send questions and comments to: boxingtalkg@yahoo.com