G. Leon Scott Shaffer Stephen Edwards Bert Sugar Ray Campbell Darren Nichols John McCormick Christian Schmidt Socrates Palmer Doveed Linder Matthew Goldstein Rob Soucy Tommy Canez Mike Walters The Nonpareli Hilario Michael Herron Cara Castronuova Alonzo Benezra Michael Gonzalez Cory Rapacz Wyatt Johnston Ramon Rodriguez Hector Linares Alex Stone Tim Schluter Dan Rodkewich Tiffany Leon Jenny Nichols Rick Pineda

Maurice tells it his own way:

I like Germany.  I went there last fall when I sparred with Edmund Gerber, and then I went there a couple weeks ago when I fought him.  Germany is different.  It’s a country that has a history.  There were hard times in Germany and even though it’s not like that anymore, you can tell that some of the people have been affected by it.  They have really nice restaurants in Germany and the people treated me really good.  There are a lot of boxing fans over there.  It’s not like America.  The fans love boxing, and some of them came up to me and asked for an autograph, but they were really there to support their man Edmund Gerber.  That’s why they were so quiet during our fight.  They weren’t used to seeing their man fall behind like that.
 
The main thing about fighting in Germany is having to adjust to the different time zone.  As soon as I got off the plane, I slept for two hours and then got up and went for a run.  The air was good.  Everything was good.  It was relaxing and peaceful.  Some fighters don’t like to go overseas to fight, but I don’t care.  When you’re a fighter, you fight.  This is our job.  It doesn’t matter if you’re in Alaska.  True fighters will fight anywhere.
 
I get nervous before my fights and I always pray before I go out there, because anything can happen in the ring.  When you get in the ring, you have to be ready to die.  It’s a blood sport and I accept my role as a fighter.  This is what God put me here to do.  I haven’t had a fortunate career like a lot of other guys, but I’m a student of the game.  I study it, inside and out.  I have an eye for it.  It takes me about thirty seconds to see what type of fighter you are.  I know how to adapt and capitalize on your mistakes.
 
I knew from sparring Edmund Gerber what to expect from him.  He’s strong, but I knew what I had to do in there.  It had been ten months since I fought Derric Rossy, so I had a little rust in the first two rounds.  I gave those rounds away, but from rounds three to eight, I did my thing.  I put the jab on him, I had him cut…  He panicked and I could see it.  Let me tell you something though – Edmund Gerber is a real nice guy.  When I sparred with him last fall, he used to pick me up himself and take me to the gym.  He’s a good man, but when you get in the ring and fight somebody, you get into a different zone.
 
When they announced the decision, I was real disappointed.  I thought I won, my team thought I won…  Sometimes you have to knock a guy out to beat him.  After the fight, I took a shower and watched the other fights.  Kubrat Pulev beat Alexander Dimitrenko and I saw that Scott Welch was the trainer for Dimitrenko.  Scott Welch is from England and he came to New Jersey to spar with Ray Mercer back in the day.  You know Ray Mercer, don’t you?  He’s my son’s Godfather.  I’ve boxed a lot of rounds with Ray in the gym.  I’ve also been in with Mike Tyson, Lennox Lewis, both of the Klitschkos, Sam Peter, Alfred Cole, Dominick Guinn, Malik Scott, Bert Cooper…
 
I’ve even been in with Larry Holmes in a real fight.  I was twenty-one years old and he was forty-eight.  There’s another forty-eight year old making a comeback and that’s “Razor” Ruddock.  Check this out, right?  When “Razor” fought Tyson the first time, he was 228 pounds.  The second time, he was 238 pounds.  Now, he’s 211.  I like “Razor”.  He would throw his left hand at a 45 degree angle, like a half hook, half uppercut.  He called it “The Smash” and he knocked Michael Doaks out with it.
 
Man, talking about all this makes me feel old!  I’m only thirty-six, but I’ve been doing it a long time.  Before I hang ‘em up, I want to be heavyweight champion.  For everything that I’ve put into boxing, I feel like I have to walk away with something.  As long as I’ve got God in my life, I can’t go wrong.  I get on my knees and pay homage.  I’ve even seen the great Floyd Mayweather get on HIS knees.  Somebody is responsible for all this, right?  We think we’re the ones doing great things, but all victories belong to God.