"I'm finally in a correct situation and I'm with the best in the game, Floyd Mayweather and The Money Team. I feel real good about it too...it's going down now, period. I'm just gonna put the work in. I ain't gonna talk about this and that and what I'm gonna do. I'm just gonna show everybody. People just got to understand that I am a real dude. I'm gonna die that way. If anybody thought I was gonna be on some sellout stuff just because they are bigger than me at the moment, they gonna see. We don't have nothing but time," stated undefeated lightweight contender Mickey Bey, who talked about signing with Floyd Mayweather, his future plans, and much more. Check it out!
PC: You had a lot of people in the media questioning your decision to not fight off TV on a Friday Night Fights card. You have since left Top Rank Promotions. After everything you have been through this year, do you have any regrets?
MB: No, not at all. Everything turned out good now. I'm in a much better situation. I'm finally out of the little blackballing circle of people who have been trying to hold me back throughout my whole career for reasons that people won't understand. Anybody that did bash me in the media, I actually bookmarked their sites. They didn't even know that hours before my fight, I wasn't the co-main event. For them to switch my fight 40 minutes before the fight and expect me to jump in the ring without my trainer or none of that on the first or second bout like I'm a 4-round fighter, it was spite behind it. People will never understand that. They think I backed out of the fight because it wasn't on TV. If they would have told me that a week before or even the day before, I might have still fought, but I know for a fact it was done out of spite. The full story gonna come out one day. I'm just chilling now and staying positive. I don't want to dwell on it, but I'm gonna put the whole thing out on what's been going on my whole career and all of the people that's been holding me back. I'm a different type of cat. I have been hungry every day. The difference is not one of these times where I have been getting blackballed did I ever get discouraged. I stayed on my craft and made sure I always did what I had to do as far as staying sharp. My whole career, I have been taking one or two week notice fights every single fight. My back has always been against the wall. It was basically you're gonna be with me or have a hard time your whole career. They followed me and sabotaged everything I did. I'm finally in a correct situation and I'm with the best in the game, Floyd Mayweather and The Money Team. I feel real good about it too.
PC: Floyd is someone who has been watching you since you were an amateur. When we spoke awhile back, you said you wanted to work with him, but the situation at the time wouldn't allow it. How does it feel to finally be where you kind of always wanted to be in the first place?
MB: Oh, it feels great, man. Like you say, Floyd has been watching me since I was young. I knew Floyd for over a decade. One thing about him, man, this cat been a solid, good dude ever since I met him. He been the same and ain't changed one bit. He is a real good guy. A lot of stuff people seeÂ…people think they know him; even a lot of fighters and stuff, but they don't. They see "Money" Mayweather, the person on TV and entertaining. I have known him for over a decade and he has been a solid, good cat. He is a real solid guy. Everything is great. He's got some good plans for me and I'm gonna go straight to the top. I got that weight off my legs of people trying to hold me back. Now I am with somebody that really loves me and care about me, and not just financially, but health-wise and all of that stuff. And it ain't nothing fake about it either because I have known him since I was in high school. He has been the same cat.
PC: When people look you up, they are gonna see that you didn't fight the entire year. For most fighters, that is a red flag, but you tell me that the layoff won't affect you. Why not?
MB: It won't affect me. I'm a freak of nature. Big Floyd, one thing you know about him more than anybody is he don't give credit where it's not due. I don't like to boast about myself, but you can do an interview with him and ask him and he will tell you one or two good fights in and then it's whatever after that. I'm real sharp. You won't be able to tell that I took a week off. Of course, in due time and with more activity, I'm gonna be a straight up animal because I have always fought at about 30% during my career. But now it's a different story because I got health on my side and I got time and I'm gonna be able to fight healthy instead of just taking what I can get and people sneaking trying to get me beat and giving me short notice fights. I'm gonna be well prepared so that's a weight off my back in itself. I don't have to fight battles out of the ring anymore and then hurry up and pull it together in a week and then jump in the ring and fight.
PC: No fighter wants to take a year off, but you have had time to heal and now it's just gonna be time to fight come next year.
MB: It feels good to be healthy. I have actually been ready since March. It was just fights being pushed back. It was like, "You fighting in May," then it will go to June, then July, then August. I never complained once. I'm a real cat and to be honest, I ain't got a problem with Bob Arum at all. When me and Big Floyd met with him, he had a good plan for us. Unfortunately, it's people under him. Bob older now, so he don't really keep his eye on stuff and know what's going on. My thing is this, I ain't even got nothing personal with the guy that pulled it off because at the end of the day, I don't think he got it in for me. I think he made a mistake and listened to some people that told him to do something. Think about it, a few days before I fought, what did we talk about in that interview? You can pull it up; I knew something was gonna happen like that because of the energy I was getting from them. I remember saying we need to get an interview in to talk about all of this corrupt stuff. I wasn't saying that for nothing. It was a whole lot of BS going on the week of the fight, but I said forget it, I'm gonna still get it in because I knew it wouldn't change the result of what was going to happen in the ring. But you know, at the end of the day, come on, switching the fight up 45 minutes before the event starts is like enough is enough. I have been getting over the blackballing, the short notices, and the BS, but it's like enough is enough. I felt like if I stand for this and keep letting this type of stuff go on, then I don't know what I would be asked to do next. I couldn't do that one right there. Man, they might ask me to touch my toes and pick the soap up.
PC: How important is 2013 for you now?
MB: Man, it's super important. I'm just gonna continue to be positive and do what I gotta do. I train hard and stay on my craft. I have always been doing that. It's never been an issue of something that I was lacking. I live the life of a fighter, even when I'm off. I'm always doing what I gotta do. I just couldn't force somebody to do what they are supposed to do on the other end. A lot of people ain't gonna understand it now. Boxing is a bandwagon sport. They gonna see in the next 6 months or whenever when I'm successful, people will hear me out and hear the facts. It's all facts that I got. I'm not even putting everything out right now, but we definitely gonna get to the bottom. I got facts on everything I'm saying. But I don't dwell on it because it's negativity. I just put it in the back, but the truth is the truth and enough was enough. But that was meant to be that it did happen like that. It put me in the situation that I'm in and I feel that maybe that's why people say what they say about Bob Arum's company. I can't even really say Bob, but everybody else working with each other except for them. All of the other promotes work together. It might not even be Bob; it may be the same few people under him that just do what they want to do.
PC: What do you think of the possibilities with the stable that Floyd is putting together with Mayweather Promotions and The Money Team?
MB: I think that it's a great thing. Its fresh air when you got somebody that…people don't understand that fighters…they think fighters are just piñatas. They think you are just a crash dummy and you don't have a life outside of boxing. You don't have a family. People don't consider that. They think you are just a fighter 24/7. And of course you are when it comes to training and the way you live as far as discipline-wise. But you are not just a crash dummy. Me, for instance, I'm a spiritual person. I'm a real cat. It's like a cat want me to jump in there in 45 minutes and think I'm gonna fight because he told me too? Nah! That don't fly with me. With somebody like Floyd, he see it from a fighter's point of view. He knows how it is and that's all we talk about. He knows how it is in these situations. He wouldn't want it done to him. A lot of these guys…the crazy thing Percy is a lot of these guys are not even fans of boxing. Where do a lot of these managers and stuff come from? No offense to anyone, and I'm not knocking anyone's job, but you got car salesman and stuff that call themselves top managers and they don't have a passion for the sport. We need people that really have a passion for the sport, not people that look at fighters as a hustle. And that's how a lot of these guys are. They don't care whether you die or not. These managers don't come off to you as people that care about boxing. They not even boxing fans or know about the sport or the history of the sport. If that's the case, all of the writers should just manage because y'all got more of a passion for the sport. You could probably do a way better job than a lot of these managers.
PC: I have been to fights and managers are doing meet and greets while there guy is fighting. They don't even watch or pay attention to the fights.
MB: They don't care. That's just a hustle to them. That's just a way for them to get money. They don't care what happen to the fighter. A dude could be left for dead and they won't call and make sure they are okay. They don't care about your well -being at all unless you can make money for them. If you not doing that, you ain't no good to 'em. That's the majority of them. You got maybe one or two. People think fighters are dumb, but not all fighters are dumb.
PC: Mickey man, it's good to see you in a great situation. I can't wait to see you back in the ring. Give me something in closing my man.
MB: I just want to say it's going down now, period. I'm just gonna put the work in. I ain't gonna talk about this and that and what I'm gonna do. I'm just gonna show everybody. People just got to understand that I am a real dude. I'm gonna die that way. If anybody thought I was gonna be on some sellout stuff just because they are bigger than me at the moment, they gonna see. We don't have nothing but time. They can sit back and watch my career from another point of view now that I got the blackballers out of the way. It's going down. But other than that, I just want to wish everybody out there much love and respect and peace and happiness. That's all behind me. It's going down, TMT time. I definitely want to thank Floyd from the bottom of my heart for just everything he has done for me for over a decade. He did so much for me. One day, we can do a full interview on how real he been with a lot of stuff that a lot of people don't even know about. But I want to thank Floyd from the bottom of my heart. I'm just ready to get it in.
[ Follow Percy Crawford on Twitter @MrLouis1ana ]