"They not judging top 10 by skill anymore. When it comes to skill, I'm still skilled and probably the best out there. You don't see none of them young fighters, nor the old fighters in this game, throwing six or seven hooks at a time. You do not see this dawg. This don't happen in boxing. We don't see that no more. That's why boxing is dying. Ain't nobody interested...Bernard didn't look impressive against nobody. Let's just face the music. That's why people don't like boxing because he don't look impressive against nobody. Pacquiao looked impressive against Ricky Hatton. Very impressive. Pacquiao looks impressive when he knocks people out...Bernard Hopkins has never been impressive. Never! You ain't never see him knock a guy out cold or take a decent fighter and knock him down good with one punch because he don't do that. He's gotta wear them down because Bernard's so boring," stated former multi-division champion Roy Jones Jr. as he continued to blast Oscar De La Hoya, Bernard Hopkins and Golden Boy Promotions. You don't want to miss what else he had to say in this explosive interview as he talks more about Manny Pacquiao, Floyd Mayweather Jr., the current state of boxing and much more.
BT: How far away do you think you are from being the elite, in-his-prime Roy Jones Jr.? Or can you even get back to being that in-his-prime Roy Jones Jr.?
RJ: I'm 90% back already. If you look at the fight the other night, you saw handspeed that you ain't seen in 10 years. I mean, I saw punches the other night that I was like, "Whoa!" They threw me off, some of them were so good. And it was fun to me because I enjoyed it. I did things that I hadn't did in a long time. I felt good about it and I'm always looking forward to bettering myself. I felt really good.
BT: Good enough to be best pound-for-pound fighter out there? Top 5? Top 10?
RJ: Hey, you show me who can throw 13 hooks in the matter of 10 seconds like that like I did. I was throwing 6, 7, 5 like it wasn't nothing. Yack, yack, yack, yack, yack, yack, yack! Show me who can throw hooks like that! You tell me one top 10 fighter who can put together hooks like I was putting them together the other night. Just tell me one top 10 fighter that you see who do that. You don't see none of them doing it. They not. They not judging top 10 by skill anymore. When it comes to skill, I'm still skilled and probably the best out there. You don't see none of them young fighters, nor the old fighters in this game, throwing six or seven hooks at a time. You do not see this dawg. This don't happen in boxing. We don't see that no more. That's why boxing is dying. Ain't nobody interested. Ain't nobody doing nothing that everybody else can't do no more, but I am. I hit Jeff Lacy with 5, 6 or 7 hooks at a time. Ain't nobody else doing that. So let's look at the skill. When you look at that pound-for-pound thing and then you go look at my fight, like I said, I'm not taking anything away from Jeff Lacy, but you don't have just judge on Jeff Lacy, judge on any fighter they fight and show me any one of them that are throwing 4, 5, 6 or 7 left hooks at a time. You can't find one of them because they not doing it.
BT: That's true, but honestly, I don't think they ever really base pound-for-pound strictly on skill...
RJ: (Cutting in) That's what I'm trying to tell you. So for me, you can say that, but they're not really saying that like it really is because I'm the only one who's doing it like that. Nobody else is doing anything like that.
BT: Well, if they solely based it on skill, then guys like Jermain Taylor and Ricky Hatton might not ever make it anyone's top 10 pound-for-pound (laughing).
RJ: Because they can't do that. They don't have the skill to do that, you know what I mean? These guys don't have the skill to throw 4 or 5 left hooks, but you call them pound-for-pound? That's really a slap in the face to the other guys who really were pound-for-pound some of the greatest fighters of all time, like Sugar Ray Robinson, because these guys could do this. They have these guys they got now, they can't do that.
BT: That's true. Well, Floyd might be able to do that. You don't think Floyd would be able to do that?
RJ: He can, but he don't. Even when he fights bums, he don't. You never see him do it. You see him peck, peck, peck; you never see him do that like that.
BT: Maybe that's because he's too worried about focusing on his defense (laughing).
RJ: That's what I'm trying to tell you. That's what I'm trying to tell you. So, my point is, you know, they say what they want to say, but they're not doing it like that. To me, if you're not doing that, I don't care if you fighting a less credible fighter or an A-class fighter, if you not doing it, then you're not showing that you're pound-for-pound one of the best. They not showing that they pound-for-pound one of the best. They can't do what I'm doing so what proves it? Because he's the most popular? Because he's fighting the bigger names in the weight class? That don't mean nothing. The bigger name in the weight class might not be a skillful boxer either because Ricky Hatton...I mean, he's tough, but pound-for-pound means skill-for-skill. It means you got offense and defense, you can mix the two together and still throw combinations. I can do all of that; none of them don't do that. None of them. So ya'll gonna tell me I ain't pound-for-pound one of the best? Who else you see throwing the combinations with the fluidity that I do it, throw as many of them back to back like that and then can throw it with one hand that many times?
BT: You know you're boy Oscar came out and said he thinks you should retire?
RJ: Who said that?
BT: Oscar De La Hoya.
RJ: Yeah, well, I ain't quit like he did, did I?
BT: (Laughing)
RJ: I ain't quit like he did, did I?
BT: You know what, I think that's all you gotta say. You ain't even gotta touch on Oscar anymore after that.
RJ: I don't even think he's got enough respect to talk to me. I never gave up. He gave up to a smaller man. I don't owe no explanation for that. I don't even think he earned the right to talk to me. I ain't never quit. Got cut and still went on against what they called pound-for-pound one of the best fighters out there and never thought about quitting. And he gonna tell me what I need to do? I'm the kind of dude that will fight him, Shane Mosley and Bernard Hopkins all in the same night. I don't care. I'll fight all three of them four rounds each in the same night. That's Roy Jones. I've never ever thought about quitting. Like I said, me, if I ain't knocked out, I ain't quitting. I don't know what that means. If I can see, I can perform, I got to go. You better knock me cold if you gonna beat me. I feel like I owe that to the fans. I feel like if they paid to see me fight, they should get a whole fight whether I'm getting my behind whooped or I'm whopping behind, they deserve a whole fight. They pay you for that. You don't quit on them. If you quit, you need to do the right thing, you need to retire. If you quit in the ring, you need to stay out the ring too. I ain't never quit in the ring so don't tell me what I need to do.
BT: So what's the biggest fight right now that Roy Jones Jr. can be in? What's the biggest pay-per-view, the biggest event that you can give to the fans?
RJ: Anderson Silva!
BT: Anderson Silva. Isn't it a shame that you have to pick an MMA fighter (laughing)?
RJ: It's true though. It's true though. But you know, once they get their hearts built around a fight that the people want to see, they don't care about the rest of them. The rest of them are boring to the fans. They want to see someone who can bring something to it and make it a little more interesting and not be boring. What fight do you think is bigger than that? Maybe me and one of the Klitschkos, which I would fight either one of them, I don't care, but that would be a big fight too; it would be history because they'd have to try and knock me out while I was tearing their ass up.
BT: Honestly, I think we already talked about it. I think the Bernard Hopkins fight is the biggest fight for both of you out there. I think that's big in boxing. Obviously the Anderson Silva fight would be bigger because that's two sports so you're going to have a lot of crossover fans tuning in, but I think, just strictly in boxing, you and Bernard is it and I don't know why HBO or whoever isn't putting up the money to make that fight happen.
RJ: Because Bernard don't want to do it. In that interview, this is how stupid he sounds. He said, "Why would I fight Roy Jones when the fans want to see me fight Chad Dawson or Adamek?" But the fans don't want to see that crap. The fans want to see you fight Roy Jones and see you redeem your loss, or try to redeem it, but you just talking about, "Well, I beat the guy he lost to!" That's because you didn't come down from 200 pounds to fight the guy though. When you fought Tarver, that was your normal, natural weight. You didn't come down from 200 pounds after winning the heavyweight title. Yeah, you beat them with ease, but they not me. You couldn't beat me with one hand. I beat you with one hand. The same ease you beat them with, I beat you with. So what are you saying? He ain't saying nothing.
BT: You already gave them the solution. 60/40 and the winner gets 60. I don't see how it can be any fairer than that.
RJ: You already know Oscar gonna pay off the judges so if I don't knock you out, I'm gonna lose. I already know this so I'm good fighting the uphill battle. I could say no and want to co-promote between Square Ring and Golden Boy and if I'm going to do 50/50 then we're going to mutually pick the judges so that will make it much more fair for me. Then he was like, "Nah, I ain't fighting like that." They [Golden Boy Promotions] want to tell you what you're gonna eat before you come in the ring, they're going to tell you what weight you're going to come in at, they're going to tell you what color to where, they're going to tell you who's gonna work your corner, they're going to tell you what doctor to use; they don't want you to do nothing. They want you to show up and give them a win; that's what they want. And if you don't, the minute they realize they have a fight on them, they're bound to quit.
BT: Yeah, I don't think that was any more obvious than last weekend in that 118-110 scorecard in that Paulie Malignaggi fight.
RJ: Ain't no way in hell. Ain't no way in hell. That boy completely outclassed, and nothing against Baby Bull, but Malignaggi completely outclassed Baby Bull. He showed you that if you just move around to your left, the Baby Bull is pretty much useless; there's nothing he can do to you. Malignaggi is not a big puncher, but he just walked around him and completely boxed his ears off all night long. He wasn't hitting him with no big power punches because Malignaggi is not a big power puncher, but he was clearly winning and controlling the fight that whole night.
BT: You shouldn't have to be a big power puncher in order to win a fight anyway.
RJ: It's called boxing. Styles make fights. That's why it's called boxing. If you can go out there and dominate your opponent and make him look like a child and do him like I did Jeff, you supposed to win the fight. But he didn't because he doesn't belong to Golden Boy. We had a talk the other day about that shit. Now Baby Bull goes on to make $1 million in his next fight and Malignaggi is probably going to get $100,000 in his next fight all because of a bad decision. That's not fair. He got a family to feed just like the Baby Bull got a family to feed and that's not fair. That's what's wrong with boxing right now. Not only are people like Bernard avoiding the big fights for the fans, at the same time, when you do have a decent fight, you got people in Houston and other people in New York who support Malignaggi, and they see how boxing is treating them and they say, "You know what? We not watching boxing no more either. Boxing is full of crap!" And that's what it feels like. A perfect example of it is here's a man who says he can beat me, yet he won't fight me 60 to the winner and 40 to the loser unless his company can pick the judges and all that. He'll say, "Okay, I'll do it, but Golden Boy is going to be the sole promoter." No, Golden Boy will not be the sole promoter. You think ya'll going to set me up so you can just push back every card ya'll got against me...you're going to want to pick the gloves, you're going to pick the ring size, ya'll want to pick everything. You don't want to give me nothing. Why? Because he knows he can't beat me. So if you is a scared man, you can say, okay, let's do 50/50, ya'll get half, we get half, we agree on everything mutually like me and Joe did and let's just fight. But they can't do that so that tells you right there that they with that same old foolishness that has helped destroy the game over the last 10 years.
BT: And you know what kills me about it? Bernard prides himself on the fact that he did it his way and...
RJ: (Cutting in) He didn't do nothing his way. He's lying.
BT: Well, I know a couple of times in the past, he's complained about certain judges or refs in his own fights. Now, he's a partner with Golden Boy Promotions, his company, and before the fight, he heard Paulie Malignaggi crying about some of the same things that he would cry about and yet, he didn't do anything about it. He didn't do a damn thing about it.
RJ: Thank you! Thank you! That's what I'm trying to tell you. They're not being a part of the solution. They're being a part of the problem. They're just doing what all the rest of the promoters have been doing and that's not right. And they want to do it to me, but I'm not going for it. I can tell them right now, no! If we fight, make it a 50/50 co-promotion and we'll do 50/50 down the middle, or, we do 60 to the winner and 40 to the loser and we're still going to co-promote. How about that if you want to fight? Now, if you don't want to fight, then shut-up and go about your business. I ain't bothering ya'll. You talk about, "Oh, I beat this guy. He beat you." He did, but I came up to 200 pounds and you didn't. You have never been heavyweight champ of the world and ain't gonna be heavyweight champ of the world. You've been the middleweight champ, but I was that too. Everything you've been, I have been and some. Remember, when I was in my prime and you were in your prime, people didn't even want to see you on TV because you're too ugly and too boring. They wanted to see somebody that looked good and can fight and can entertain them. That's why they didn't watch Bernard Hopkins until Roy fell off. And when Roy fell off, it was a sacrifice for the sport because Roy went up to 200 pounds to be the first man in over 100 years to win the middleweight and heavyweight title. When Roy came back down, and he had to come back down to regain the light heavyweight title or he didn't do what Bob Fitzsimmons did, so I had to come down and do that because that's what Bob Fitzsimmons did. After I won it, I should have taken some time and let my body recuperate, but you know, I didn't realize my body took such a banging coming down like that. But that's cool and that's totally understandable and they caught me at a good time and they did beat me, that's true. But you talking like you beat me. You didn't beat me. You beat them. You ain't beat me.
BT: And what's funny is that when he did beat Tarver, Tarver had to do the same thing you did by coming down in weight.
RJ: This what I'm trying to tell you. But he don't talk about none of that. Tarver had to come from 200 and some pounds when he was done with the movie. I ain't really no Tarver fan either, but don't start acting like you did so much because you didn't and you still looked boring do it. You couldn't do it like I do. The only fight he ever won in good fashion that he looked halfway decent is when he beat Kelly Pavlik and that was because Kelly Pavlik was so slow and so methodical that he could look good against Kelly Pavlik. That was the only fight I seen Bernard Hopkins look good in. He didn't look good against Oscar, he just outlasted Oscar. And Oscar laid down from a body shot. I don't even think he really hit Oscar. Oscar just knew he couldn't do nothing to Bernard and laid down from a soft body shot. Against Tito, he didn't look impressive. He was just stronger and bigger than Tito. He didn't look impressive. He didn't take Tito and just whoop Tito down like that. He was just stronger and bigger than Tito. He didn't look impressive against Winky Wright. He just outslapped Winky Wright. Bernard didn't look impressive against nobody. Let's just face the music. That's why people don't like boxing because he don't look impressive against nobody. Pacquiao looked impressive against Ricky Hatton. Very impressive. Pacquiao looks impressive when he knocks people out. He goes out there, overwhelms you and he's impressive because he's entertaining with all the punches he's throwing. He throws a vast amount of punches and he's impressive. He beat Oscar De La Hoya and made him submit impressively. Bernard Hopkins has never been impressive. Never! You ain't never see him knock a guy out cold or take a decent fighter and knock him down good with one punch because he don't do that. He's gotta wear them down because Bernard's so boring.
BT: Who do you like in that Manny Pacquiao vs. Miguel Cotto fight?
RJ: That's tough. I think Cotto might be a little bigger and I don't know if he ever fought anybody who's naturally as big and as strong as Cotto is so I ain't really sure. I love Pacquiao because he's such a busy fighter and he's such an exciting fighter and you love to watch him because he throws so many punches, however, I do like Cotto in that fight because Cotto is a bigger man so we'll have to see, but I do like Cotto.
BT: What about Mayweather vs. Marquez?
RJ: I definitely like Mayweather in that fight. Mayweather is really a sharp-shooter. Like I said, what I say discredits none of the guys that they got ranked in the top 10 pound-for-pound. They have good fighters, but they just don't display the skill that I display. But Mayweather is definitely one of the best fighters out right now and I do think he is a little too much for Marquez. I think he's gonna be too much for that kid.
BT: Well I done used up way too much of your time champ. I definitely appreciate the interview. Is there anything you want to say to the fans in closing?
RJ: We had some great topics Ben, I appreciate it man. Like I said, it's nothing to discredit none of the guys that they got in the top 10 pound-for-pound, but when you look at my skills against theirs, you gonna find out I should be in the top 10 pound-for-pound. Secondly, I don't fear or run from no fighter. I'll fight anybody from the Klitschkos on down. I don't duck or dodge no fight whatsoever. No matter what they tell you, I don't duck or dodge nothing. Third, I'm glad to be back in boxing. I'm glad to be feeling good and when the fans watch Roy Jones, be assured that ya'll will be entertained. As a matter of fact, check out the replay of the Jeff Lacy fight on ESPN on September 5th and watch how entertained ya'll are in that fight.
CLICK HERE FOR PART 1 OF THIS EXPLOSIVE INTERVIEW
[ Follow Ben Thompson on Twitter @fighthype ]