"It's locked in and I'm training right now, so I'm focused. I'm focused on getting ready for the big fight, you know what I'm saying, and just make sure I get this protein right, get my hands right, get my wind right, and, you know, I'm just going to step in the ring and let my hands do the talking...it's just about me as a man, so once we get in the ring, I'ma show him what it is, you know what I'm saying...We gonna get this money and I'ma beat the shit out of this dude, you know what I'm saying," stated world-renowned rapper Soulja Boy, who opened up on his ongoing beef with fellow hip-hop artist and former friend Chris Brown. Check out what Soulja Boy had to say about promoter Floyd Mayweather, who has agreed to train him for a pay-per-view celebrity boxing match that he's setting up between the two.
BT: Soulja Boy, what's up with this fight with Chris Brown? Is this thing really going to happen?
SB: Yeah, it's legit, man. It's locked in, you know what I'm saying. It's locked in and I'm training right now, so I'm focused. I'm focused on getting ready for the big fight, you know what I'm saying, and just making sure I get this protein right, get my hands right, get my wind right, and, you know, I'm just going to step in the ring and let my hands do the talking.
BT: So what exactly got the beef started between you two?
SB: Um, I mean, it could be a couple different things, man, but most recently what it is is his ex-girlfriend, Karrueche. You know, I liked one of her pictures and I left a comment and he called my phone just all riled up and going off, so that's where the whole problem started at right there.
BT: So it's the classic tale of two friends turned enemies over a female.
SB: Yeah, man; most of the time, it's always over a female, but I don't even fight over a woman like that; that's not player, you know what I'm saying. But once a man disrespects me as a man, it's not even about the female; it's just about me as a man, so once we get in the ring, I'ma show him what it is, you know what I'm saying.
BT: So was anything actually going on between you and Karrueche or was he just jumping to conclusions over an Instagram post?
SB: I mean, you know, I don't know, man. I just feel like, yo, can't nobody tell me what to do, man, you know what I'm saying. I do what I want to do. If there's going to be repercussions, there's going to be repercussions. But I'm a player, bro. I don't air people's business, you know. I'm very respectable to all my friends, females, and all of that, so we ain't even going to go back and forth about that. This is just about the fight, you know what I'm saying. This is about the fight, this is about The Money Team, this is about Big Boy Floyd, this is about Big Soulja, and that's it, man. We don't see no competition or none of that, you know what I'm saying. We gonna get this money and I'ma beat the shit out of this dude, you know what I'm saying.
BT: You just mentioned Floyd Mayweather. How exactly did he get involved? You guys were originally talking about doing something with Adrien Broner, right?
SB: Basically what happened was, you know, Chris wanted to fight. He said call AB and set the match up. I've been knowing Adrien Broner. We was born on the same day, July 28th, we got the same birthday, so that was my homie, but I've been rockin' with Floyd for years. So once I found out Chris wanted to fight, I had my management reach out to them to tell them, "Yeah, let's do it! Let's fight!" Basically what happened was I wanted Adrien Broner to train me. I was like, "Yo, train me." He was like, "I can't train you, but I can have my trainer train you. I got a fight coming up." I was like, "You know what? Cool! I'll just go get my big brother Floyd. Fuck that shit, nigga. You ain't gotta train me, nigga," you know what I'm saying. I called Floyd, he picked up, and he was like, "I'll train you. You just gotta listen to me, Soulja." I pulled up on my big bro, we chilled, and I've just been training hard ever since, man, just getting ready for that big day, you know what I'm saying.
BT: I know you guys are looking to put this on pay-per-view. Have any other details, like a date or a venue, been ironed out yet?
SB: You gotta holla at Big Boy Floyd, but I'm pretty sure y'all seen everything on Instagram, @FloydMayweather, you're going to see the flyers for the fight. It's locked in. It's official. It's a lot, a lot of money on the table. This is going to be one of the biggest fights of all time. I'm ready, man, you know what I'm saying. I'm ready and Big Bro Floyd, he's training me and he's setting up the fight. That's who's doing the fight. Ain't nobody doing the fight but Floyd Mayweather and Mayweather Promotions. That's how we doing it because I don't want nobody else to do it. I said, you know what, Floyd's been doing this a long time, he's undefeated, and the best person that can train me is him professionally. I've been knocking niggas out in the street all my life, but once you get in the ring and do a professional boxing match, it's different than being on the street. Ain't no rules in the street. I can punch him in the temple or kick him in the throat, all types of shit, but in a boxing ring, I gotta use techniques and fundamentals, you know what I'm saying, so right now, that's all I'm worried about. I was like, I gotta get the best, so I got the best to train with, you know, and that's what it is. Soulja Boy and Floyd Mayweather, that's a lot of money together.
BT: Just to be clear, you're going into this with no amateur experience at all, right? In other words, other than fighting in the streets, you've never actually laced up a pair of gloves and stepped into a boxing ring?
SB: Exactly. No in-the-ring; none of that. People be like, "If he know how to fight, why he getting Floyd to train him?" Because I need to be trained professionally in the ring, you know what I'm saying. Street brawling is a different game.
BT: Some of the posters that have been popping up on social media have the tagline "Put the guns downs and put on the gloves!" Obviously the goal is to settle your beef, but are you guys also using this as a platform to shed some light on gun violence?
SB: Basically what we're doing is, as you can see, there's been a lot of violence. We just had a shooting in the airport down in Florida. We just had a lot of shootings from the police on innocent people that lost their lives due to excessive force. We've lost a lot of good rappers, just a lot of people due to gun violence, man. This beef with me and Chris Brown is serious, you know what I'm saying, and it could go to a bad place. We was going to have to fight, whether it was in the streets or whether it was in the ring, we was going to have to fight. It's good that we're putting the guns down and we're not going that route. We're just going to do it the right way and at the end, shake hands and that's still my homie. You just tried me as a man and I'm a grown ass man, so I gotta tell a nigga what's happening, but that's still my boy. Brothers always fighting; afterwards, they back to cool, you know what I'm saying. But yeah, man, it's for charity. We donating money to charity. We estimating, right now, to make like $188 million just off of tickets, you know what I'm saying, just off of pay-per-view. It's going to be a big fight fasho!
BT: Once the fight is over, do you think you guys will be able to shake hands and that will be the end of it, or will you have to cross that bridge once you get to it?
SB: I mean, in a perfect world, in my head, I see us after the fight shaking hands and just ending it because we duked it out like men, but at the same time, you never know, man. You just never know. There's been a lot of back and forth. He's been dissing me a lot, I've been dissing him a lot, so, you know, sometimes once you touch a certain thing, things can never be the same. Who knows, man. We just gotta wait and see, just like the whole world, you know.
BT: Obviously fans are going to have their opinion on the fight, but a lot of your peers in the music industry are going to chime in as well. In fact, battle lines are already being drawn, with 50 Cent already backing Chris Brown. When you look at who is saying what as far as taking sides, does that change your opinion about some of your fellow artists?
SB: Man, um, um, I don't pay attention to none of that. I'm so focused on training and I'm so focused on the fight, I can't pay attention to social media. I just hear certain little things. You know, me and Floyd, we talk about it and we hear stuff. They doing all that to throw me off of my focus on the fight. Every artist going to talk. I'm the hottest rapper in the game right now. If you a rapper and you not talking about me right now, then you irrelevant. I already knew that was going to happen. I knew every rapper was going to comment on this shit because it's the biggest shit in the world. I just don't pay attention to nothing. I don't know what nobody said, you know what I'm saying. I ain't heard nothing from nobody. I'm in the gym, nigga, training, running, punching, you know what I'm saying. I don't give a fuck about the media right now. After the fight, I'll go back and look at it, what everybody said, but until the fight, I'm blacked out. I just hit you to do this interview because I know you my Big Bro's people, so I'ma look out for you, but everybody else, I'm not watching the media right now. I done heard everything; they said I was on ESPN, they said I was on CNN. That's what they said, but I didn't get to see nothing yet. They said Chris Brown posted about me every couple of hours on his Instagram. I don't see nothing. All I see is the inside of this fucking gym, these weights, these boxing gloves, and that's it.
BT: I know they've done things like celebrity boxing matches before, but this is the first time that a well-known boxing promoter has tried to use a real life beef to stage a pay-per-view event. Given the amount of exposure this has gotten, are you starting to realize just how big this could be?
SB: I mean, when it first started, I was just looking at it like, yo, I just want to fight. I don't care nothing about no money; I'm already rich. I don't care about no numbers, none of that shit; I just wanted to beat the fuck out this nigga 'cause he made me mad, you know what I'm saying. But now, as I hear, they like, "Oh, 50 Cent keep talking about it." I'm like, yo, I'm not interested in listening to what nobody say except Floyd. If Floyd ain't telling me something, I don't give a fuck what nobody say because that's who doing the fight. All these other niggas, I don't even know what they talking about. But at the same time, I already knew what it was. Come on, man, I'm Soulja Boy, man. I just got 100 million views in one day yesterday on my Instagram, you know what I'm saying. I'm beefing with CB; we both used to be best friends. This is going to be the biggest fight of all time. With all due respect to everybody, just watch the fucking numbers, man. We about to break the fucking world. I ain't being cocky; that's just stating facts, you know what I'm saying. This about to be the biggest shit ever. If you ain't at this fight, you ain't nobody. Every artist, every actor, every boxer, everybody gonna be at this shit. It's going to be huge!
BT: Have you had a chance to do any training with Floyd yet?
SB: I mean, I don't really want to put too much out there, you know what I'm saying, when it comes to the training part. I can't really speak on that because, you know, Chris Brown is gonna be reading this interview. That's why I didn't put no videos up of me training. I put up like one video of me in the gym, but that was before I got with Floyd. Now that I'm with Floyd, there's not going to be no more videos of me training. There's not going to be nobody telling nobody my technique. Y'all just gonna have to watch me get in the ring and KO this nigga real quick. Wop wop! They gonna be like, "What the fuck?" So many people going to lose money that night because a lot of people gonna want to bet on Chris Brown. When I knock this bitch ass out and everybody lose they money and me and Floyd walk away laughing, it's going to be a movie. Come on, man. He got Mike Tyson training him; what the fuck Chris gonna do, bite my ear off (laughing)?
BT: I know you guys haven't officially signed any contracts for this yet. Is there any concern that Chris Brown may have a change of heart and back out of it?
SB: Yeah, man. I thought about that a lot. It's set in stone [as far as I'm concerned]. Once Floyd put the flyer on his Instagram and once me and Floyd did the interview on camera, I said, you know, it's done; it's no backing out. I had thoughts about it because he don't know I got hands. He think he just gonna get in the ring and just do me; nah nigga. As he starting to see and see and hear and hear, he might be like, I don't know, he might get a little scared. Let's see. We'll see what happens. Just know Big Soulja's not backing out of shit. I got Floyd in my corner. Fuck everybody. Let's get it!
BT: My man, I'm definitely looking forward to seeing you guys settle your differences peacefully inside the ring. Is there anything else you want to let the fans know before I let you go?
SB: Man, just make sure y'all get y'all tickets. If you can't make it to the fight, make sure you get your pay-per-view set up. It's going to be the biggest match. Shout out to The Money Team. Shout out to SODMG. My new album is about to drop. The song I'm coming out to in the ring is going to be crazy. And man, I just want everybody, all my young fans reading this, I just want y'all to stay focused and stay out of trouble, man, because we don't want to promote no violence, man. We doing this legally in the ring and that's going to be the end of it, man. We not promoting no violence. Put the guns down and you gotta put them hands up, you know. It's your boy, Soulja Boy. I'm signing out, man. Big Soulja!
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