Roy Jones Jr: "Several guys haven’t taken the test, they’ve been avoiding it, that's the problem Floyd Mayweather is having with Manny Pacquiao"
Roy Jones Jr: "Several guys haven’t taken the test, they’ve been avoiding it, that's the problem Floyd Mayweather is having with Manny Pacquiao" By Jenna Jay, OnTheRopes Boxing Radio, Doghouse Boxing (Nov 1, 2012) Doghouse Boxing - Tweet
Click to listen to On The Ropes # 173 in its entirety now!
Roy Jones Jr. Interview starts at about the 32:00 minute mark.
Exclusive Interview by Jenna Jay, Doghouse Boxing. The 173rd edition On the Ropes Boxing Radio (hosted by Jenna) featured an exclusive interview with former 4 division world champion
Roy Jones Jr. (56-8, 40KOs), who discussed a wide variety of topics
including his recent victory over Pawel Glazewski, potential bouts at
cruiserweight, thoughts on: Nonito Donaire; performance enhancing drugs;
corruption in boxing; how long he sees his career continuing; and much,
much more! Here is what Roy had to say...
Jenna Jay:
Roy, you recently made a return to the ring over in Poland, you got a
split decision victory. How do you feel about your performance?
Roy Jones Jr: I
felt good about the performance. You know it was a difficult situation,
because until the day before the fight I didn't know who I was actually
going to be in the ring with the next day. And you know being a
veteran, you don't deal with those situations too often, however it was a
good situation, and it turned out it was. I got the victory, and that's
all that matter to me. And that's how it goes.
Jenna:
Alright, let’s talk about the fight a little bit, I got a chance to
watch and the first five rounds you had a pretty easy time. Then in the
sixth round you got a little bit too comfortable and you got caught out
of position, it was kind of flash knock down. Can you describe what
happened in that round?
RJJ: Yes he caught me, I was
kind of off balance, out of position for a minute. He caught me with a
good shot, and like I said, I don't complain and make excuses; it was a
decent knock down. I was breezing through the first five rounds that it
got so easy that I probably got a bit complacent, because it had gotten
so easy, and he woke me up with that one, and he probably won that
round. I know he won that round and probably won round 7 and 8, but I
got it back in rounds 9 & 10.
Jenna: Yes, you definitely did close the fight strong. How did you feel in the later rounds?
RJJ: I felt good, I felt really good you know. You know, just making a few
adjustments, and he was making adjustments but something we all have to
do, especially when you have to perform at an older age. It felt a bit
different, but I got to do what I go to do. So I had a great time. I
felt wonderful and I am looking on to the next thing.
Jenna:
Well the fighter you just beat was 17-0, he was ranked 9 by the WBC at
light heavyweight. What do you think the win did for you?
RJJ: You know it just got me up and going, kept me busy. I really was
looking to fight because I wanted to look for a fight with the WBC
cruiser weight champ, Wlodarczyk. However, since I got the win, I heard
talks that Lateef Kayode wants to fight me for the vacant IBO title now,
because the IBO I guess stripped Tarver because of substance abuse or
something. I am not sure of that case or what happened with it, but I
heard Lateef Kayode say that he wants to fight Roy Jones Jr at cruiser
weight for the IBO title, so now it’s a matter of who comes up first for
the best situation for RJJ to fight, whether it’s Kayode or whether
it’s Diablo over in Poland for the WBC title. And let me tell you
something about Glazewski, which is the guy I just fought in Poland, let
me tell you about the guy I just fought, he was a guy who was looking
for a great opportunity, they didn't pick him by chance I don't think. I
think they knew from the beginning, you know, he was a decent fighter
that had better knock out power than he showed on his record. Now it was
only a flash knock down, but the guy showed great punching power for a
light heavyweight. Actually I am looking to see him do much better and
bigger things in LHW. I don't think he was a guy who was picked randomly
to fight. But I knew that coming in, and that's why I knew when coming
in I took it easy, took my time being careful and was very cautious
about what I did.
Jenna: Now you mentioned a couple of
opponents, Lateef Kayode and Diablo. You want to win the cruiser weight
title, does it have any more importance for you to win the IBO belt,
which is less regarded or the WBC belt?
RJJ: Well, of
course I want the WBC first, because it’s highly regarded, but to me, I
want to win a cruiser weight title and if I need to win both, I can do
that, because I love wining most of the belts, so either way it's fine
with me.
Jenna: Now you mentioned Antonio Tarver, with
what came up with him. He did test positive according to the CA
commission. What are your thoughts on that whole situation?
RJJ: I
mean the guy is a decent fighter. If he tested positive, I don't know
for sure or what happened or how it happened, I mean in this sport, a
lot of guys have been testing positive for steroid and things. I am not
familiar for what he tested positive for, so I can’t say really whole
lot, because I don't know, as the story comes out more, or as they put
more about, than you'll know, but you hate to see this happen to any
athlete, especially these athletes, because than it gives you
indication, that wait a minute, about how long it’s been going on; but
that's where you need to make sure of things, but hey you know it could
be true or it could false. I don't know.
Jenna: Roy you mention a lot people are testing positive. Do you think steroids in boxing are a problem?
RJJ: Yes,
because so many guys have been testing positive, as matter of fact,
there are several guys, who haven’t taken the test, they’ve been
avoiding tests, it’s got to be problem if its showing up so much, and I
mean truthfully that's the problem Floyd (Mayweather Jr) is having with
Manny Pacquiao, that’s the start, that he is worried
about steroids, so it’s got to be a problem, because its one the key
hold up in the biggest fight that could happen in boxing today. So that
tells you it’s got to be a problem
Jenna: Well Roy your
43, and in your last fight you had to adjust to something’s differently,
because you are a little bet older, how do u feel performing at this
stage, how well do you think you can continue to do so?
RJJ: I
can perform wonderful, there were days in the gym. I felt my self
performing, and I was like wow 43 and you could still do this. And it
just totally amazed me. Just to be able to do it like that totally
shocked me, and its like why would you just stop, when u can perform at
this level, it shows people, and its encouraging to other people just
because you get older, doesn’t u have to stop what your doing, you may
have to make few changes, but you don’t have to stop
Jenna:
Alright, besides being boxers, you are also HBO analyst, you recently
called a couple of fights on the network, both the Pavlik and Nonito
Doniare fights. What did you think?
RJJ: They were great
fights. Kelly Pavlik I was glad to see him come back
from his tragedy, well not tragedy, but the situation his being going
through, you love to see a guy come back form a bad story and turn it
around, and make them good. So I am glad to see Kelly Pavlik in the ring
and back in the action. As you know Nonito is one of my favorite
fighters to watch. To see him go out there and challenge himself, and
face a guy who was six foot tall 122 pounds, was a beautiful thing.
However, this guy probably did put more of a fight, than what I would
think he would give him credit for, but Nonito handled the situation and
in he 1th round made adjustment and finished the fight strong.
Jenna:
Well Nonito Donaire is getting a lot attention, his moved up from 112,
115, 118, now 122. He is already talking about fighting at 126. Do you
think maybe he is taking on too much too soon by fighting all these big
guys.
RJJ: No I don't think you take on too much too
soon at all. He is a guy who is capable of handle himself in any weight
class. So I think he is doing a wonderful thing by going up and
challenging and finding the next big challenge and take it on. I love
it.
Jenna: Let’s talk about something’s going around the
sport. Some hot topics of the sports. One thing that’s seeing lingering
for a while, Manny Pacquiao's decision loss to timothy Bradley, this
fight in the world stage got so much negative press attracted so much
attention to negative. You yourself were involved in a high
controversial fight back in the amateurs, back in the Olympics. I'm just
curious what your thoughts about all the press that decision got the
one against Pacquiao and Bradley compare the one you got.
RJJ: It's
a lot of similar press. But the problem with me is. And I am not saying
this, because you got to understand, my hat still goes off to Timothy
Bradley, because timothy Bradley said best said it him self, I don’t
know, I was going and look at it and see what happens before I make that
call so that shows you that he didn't feel comfortable about the
decision or that he truly dominated or that he defeated Pacquiao in a
dominating fashion. However, he did want to go back and look to see if
did he do enough to make it a close fight or make it seem like it could
of been close than what it seems by most of the
viewing public, so that to me said a lot about Timothy Bradley. Secondly
I though Pacquiao pretty much dominated the fight, but here is the real
problem... the real problem is, when organization, or higher up
personal go and they review the fight, just like the IOC did in my
Olympic case, and you go back and you review the fight and you realize
that the judges made a bad decision or made a mistake and it could of
been due to any reason. They could of been of mad, because Pacquiao held
up the fight watching the basketball game that night, any reason...
They could of made a mistake. Sometimes we makes mistakes out of anger,
but when you realize that there was a mistake made, you don’t go
reschedule another fight, you fix the mistake first, and if the IOC had
fix the decision, you know what these guys made a bad decision, and RJJ
won the fight, and what were going to do, is were not going blame Parsky
Hearns for the fight but what will do is say is RJJ is gold medal 2 and
maybe this year we gold medal a & b instead of gold, silver,
bronze, you understand, because of the situation, we want to fix it.
This kid dedicated a year of his life to become a gold medalist so they
robbed him out, so were not going to let that go unfixed, and were going
to fix that situation, and punish the judges.
That makes the
next set of judges very aware, that if you cheat a guy, that something
could happen to, and it makes it less likely that it will happen. And if
you cheat a guy, it won’t do any good, because were going to go back
review it and were going fix it. Now that discourages you from cheating!
Why didn't the WBO go back and say you know we see clearly that
Pacquiao won the fight were going too give Pacquiao his title back and
were going to ask Pacquiao if you don’t mind coming back and fighting
Timothy Bradley again. Which I am sure Pacquiao would do because you
know what I got some decent money for it and it wasn’t a hard fight so
why not fight him again, I beat him once and next time I am going to
knock him and show you how I feel about it. You understand me? That
makes it right, because now WBO came back and fixed the situation that
was wrong. Not order a new fight, a new fight don't fix the first one.
Because timothy Bradley shouldn't go to the second fight as a champion.
That's my problem with it.
Jenna: Roy, what do you think
boxing could do to fix the bad decisions, that continuously are
happening, I mean you don’t see it once, its just not one fight, there
have been plenty of bad decisions that are happening more and more.
RJJ: The
way you fix it you go the problem who build it the judge? OK. If you
make a bad decision, were going to reverse and were ban you from boxing
or were going to suspend you for a year or two. You understand me? Now
we suspend you for making bad decisions. So if you get involved in a bad
decision that's obvious, your gone you’re out here. That way we don't
have to worry about dealing with you no more. Right or wrong?
Jenna:
Do you think Judges should be ranked, some of the best judges out
there, should get the biggest call for the biggest fights, so these
mistakes don’t happen.
RJJ: No, that's not going to
happen because you never know what instances it will happen. Because you
got to think of it like this, when money is involved, anything can
happen. So what if somebody came up to him and say hey were going to
give you 2 million to rob this guy. And he say 2 million, well I am gong
to be suspended for 2 years or for a year, but for 2 million I don’t
mind being suspended. Would you? Wouldn't you not, making that kind of
money anyway so you understand me...? That don't fix the problem. What
fixes the problem is if you go back and have these decisions reversed
and fix the decision, because its no good to cheat the guy, because the
organization that sanctions the fight is going to go back and reverse
the decision anyway. Now than it does you no good too cheating Manny
Pacquiao, because they came back and fix it. So that's the biggest
issue.
Jenna: You know Roy after all these years,
especially regarding you and what happened to you in Olympics, I am just
curious do you have any ill feelings that they did give you gold, even
though its been prove that there was something wrong done.
RJJ: Yeah
I have ill feelings, because it decreases the integrity of the sport.
When you can cheat somebody and don’t do anything about it. That’s like
saying were going to go let a man going around here and rob a lady, and
we know he did it, and we know what he did one tape, and were not going
to do nothing to him, and were not going to give her money or whatever
he stole from her back, than what good does it do to us to have a
judicial system. Right or wrong. Integrity dies. If you let people go
around and do whatever they want, what good does it do to us to have a
judicial system? If your not going to fix it what good does it do u to
have organization. It's automatic no way. No way you can cheat and get
away with it.
Jenna: Let me go back and what you were
talking about before, and that was Manny Pacquiao and that was the fact
you know what he should do next, a lot of people don't want to see him
fight Bradley. What do you think his next move should be?
RJJ: I
don’t want him to fight Bradley either because to me that’s a waste of
time and there is no reason he should be fighting Bradley, first of all
he should have his title back, second of all if he wants to fix the
fight, and he wants to create something go beat Marquez, because that’s
the fight that’s always up in the air, that’s the fight we all wonder
who won, we ain't wondering who won in the Bradley fight we know who won
that, we wonder who won the Marquez fight so go fix what’s unproven
that’s something you could do, I think the fight could of gone either
way 1st time, I think it should of been a draw, I had the fight 6-6, but
people want to see winner emerge from those bouts. No true winner has
emerge, every time its been a wonderful fight, without a true winner, so
if you want to do something, and prove something to yourself and us, go
beat Marquez, not a timothy Bradley, that wasn’t even a hard fight for
Pacquiao.
Jenna: You know that's the fight that people
want to actually see right now, and if Pacquiao can beat Marquez, we all
know the fight that people truly want to see, Mayweater vs. Pacquiao,
Do you think it will happen?
RJJ: Yeah after that we
would like to see him in a Mayweather fight, but because of the
situation, because of the abuse of the steroids, which happens in
professional sports today, people are afraid to make some of those calls
and make some of those decisions, so people are having second guesses
about certain fights, because they're worried about that, which makes
sense, but at the same time you know boxing fans suffer. So we don't
know what's going to happen there.
Jenna: Pacquiao
obviously hasn't wanted to take steroid testing, because apparently he
is afraid of needle’s. Do you think he should move pass that to make the
big fight?
RJJ: It's not my call to make, and Pacquiao
is a man of his own, and you cant really blame a guy for you know if he
has something that bothers him like that, and you can't get mad at him
for that, that's just what it is, if he has afraid of needles, than he
has fear of needles, nothing we can do about that, nothing we should
worry about hats not our fear, thats his fear, so same thing goes with
Floyd, well if Floyd says no I want to fight him because of x, y, z well
if he don’t want to fight because of that, than that’s Floyd decision
to make, and Floyd says, and I ask Floyd, if he doesn’t want to take it I
don’t want the fight. Okay than we have to respect that. But than at
the same time its not my call to say who should move past what, because
people have different feelings about different things.
Jenna:
Roy, you yourself have also been crtiziized in the past for fight big
fight that did not happen, with the lineal champion at LHW. Why is it
that fight never happened?
RJJ: I must mention this two I
was asked about that situation in Germany, right before I was getting
ready to fight in Poland and they kept trying to imply to me that I was
never going to Germany to fight Dariusz Michalczewski, well it wasn't
that I was afraid to go to Germany you know, Germany is cool just like
is the United States and I will visit anywhere but at the time like I
told them I was, at the time I was the top fighter in the world, why
would I go to his turf to fight him, and when I had 7 titles and he only
had 1. So it's not like I won't go to Germany I'd go to Germany if it
was a good situation for me, I heard a lot of bad things about Germany
to enough, but you know people always have bad stories especially when
things don't go there way so I was never truly afraid to go to Germany
just that it had to be the right situation and the right money. They
offered him $5 million to come to U.S but he said No, but he will fight
me in Germany. But that prompted me to say something is wrong, you know I
am not going on your turf you feel me? But not that I was afraid to
come to Germany that I was going on his turf on his terms and I had the
most belts.
Jenna: Since you brought that up, 3 of your
last 5 fights have been overseas, is this is a trend were going to
continue to see from you?
RJJ: Most definitely, because I
got to go where the champs are that have the belts right now if your
not the man, you have to find the champs. And that's what I was telling
about Dariusz, I was the man you should come find me, so right now I am
looking for the people that have the belts. Wherever the champ is, is
who I am going to go. If I have to go to Africa to get it that's where I
am going. If I have to go to Egypt that's where I am going. If I could
it find it in the united states that's where I ma going, because right
now I want cruiser weight title, I don’t care where it comes, I want it,
so I go to go where ever I got to go to get it.
Jenna:
Roy that was the one belt you never did win. If you do win a true
cruiser weight title belt will that be the piece that you need in career
where you will say I've done all I could do.
RJJ: That's enough for me. That will be enough for me.
Jenna: Speaking of that, I did mention before that you are 43. How more many fights do you think you got in you Roy?
RJJ: I probably got about 10 left, but I don’t want to use them all up
(Laughs) So I want to do maybe 2 or 3 maybe the 5 at the most. I hope I
don't have to fight that many, but In Poland they say
want me to say to do 3, so I did 1, if they want 2 more, they still got
that right, the option for 2 more. Lateef Kayode, he says he wants some
of me, if its for the IBO cruiserweight title, I will chose that,
because that's what I am looking for. So whatever happens you know I am
willing to do whatever, and if they say well, after you fight Kayode and
you win the belt, which I want to do, but you still have to fill you
obligation in Poland, I say will finish the 3 fights, and win them.
Jenna:Final
2 questions. Between Krzysztof Wlodarczyk and Lateef Kayode who would
be stylistically would be a good stylistic match for you Roy?
RJJ: I
don't know they're both pretty tough, they are both pretty strong, for
me it don't matter, you got to fight, you got to fight it don’t matter
who you fight stylistically both of them aggressive hard punching
fighters that counter very similar you know your going to have to go
Poland on Diablo's turf to fight him, so it's not neutral turf. In the
United States fight with Lateef, you fight him on neutral turf. It's
toss up, but I got to do what I got to do to get it.
Jenna: You got a lot of fans out there Roy, you have had a lot of and through out your career anything you want to say to them?
RJJ: Yes,
thanks to all my fans for all the support I do understand the concern
about boxing about a late age however most of the people that got messed
up that I know in boxing got messed up at the end of there career, or
they got messed up early in there career before they realized they could
get messed. I've been having a wonderful career, I’ve been enjoying
myself, I still feel really well, better than I did 5 years ago, so you
know with that being said, I don’t feel like its a danger for me to
continue and if I did feel like its a danger I will be the first to
stop, because I want to be able to have fun, play basketball, and enjoy
my kids, so I am not going to be doing things that hurt myself, and do
things that will hurt me in the long run, I thank every one for that
concern, but Roy knows Roy. ***
I’d like to send out a special thanks to Tim for helping to bring this article to boxing readers.
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