International Media Conference Call and Transcript

CLARESSA SHIELDS VS. IVANA HABAZIN INTERNATIONAL MEDIA CONFERENCE CALL TRANSCRIPT & AUDIO RECORDING

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Transcript Document

Dmitriy Salita
Thank you. I’d like to welcome all the media. We have a great night of action coming up on Saturday, October 5 live on SHOWTIME from the Dort Federal Event Center, Flint, Michigan, beginning at 9:00 pm ET/6:00 pm PT, Claressa Shields versus Ivana Habazin will headline a SHOWTIME BOXING: SPECIAL EDITION

The main event fighters will be joining us for today’s call to preview their clash for the vacant WBO Junior Middleweight World title. The undisputed middleweight world champion Claressa Shields will look to make history once again by becoming the fastest fighter in boxing, male or female, to become a three-division world champion. She’s already a unified world champion at middleweight and super middleweight, just nine fights into her pro career.

She will have a tough challenge in the former world champion Ivana Habazin who is from Zagreb, Croatia, and she’s taking this fight very seriously and we’ll talk about her preparations in a little bit.

Tickets to the live event which is promoted by Salita Promotions can be purchased at Ticketmaster and the Dort Event Center box office.

I would now like to introduce Mr. Chris DeBlasio from SHOWTIME. The reason why we’re experiencing such a big growth on other platforms for women’s boxing and obviously on SHOWTIME is because SHOWTIME believes in Claressa and believes in women’s boxing.

It’s Claressa’s sixth fight on SHOWTIME and we are very blessed and honored to have this fight on this premium network. I’d like to introduce Mr. Chris DeBlasio to talk about the event.

Chris DeBlasio
Thank you, Dmitry. I appreciate that. So on behalf of Stephen Espinoza who is the man behind our support of the sport and of the women’s division in particular; and Gordon Hall, our executive producer who is the co-founder of ShoBox, our popular prospect-oriented series, and he’ll executive produce this SHOWTIME BOXING: SPECIAL EDITION as well, I just want to say how proud we are to be part of the event. We know it’s going to be a special one, a homecoming in Flint, Michigan.

As you alluded to, SHOWTIME has a long history of featuring the best in women’s combat sports, from Laila Ali and Christy Martin in boxing from years ago to Gina Carano, Cris Cyborg and Ronda Rousey in mixed martial arts more recently.

Since 2017, with Claressa Shields leading the way, we have these elite women boxers; Shields, Christina Hammer, Katie Taylor has appeared on the network and Amanda Serrano in several fights. Shields versus Habazin will be our eleventh women’s boxing bout since 2017 on the network. Shields led the way. In 2017, we presented the first women’s main event in premium television history when Claressa fought against Szilvia Szabados on ShoBox.

This event, October 5, we will support with a raft of digital content, short-form content to introduce and to advance the fighters that are going to be featured in the live event. That has become a signature for our network. A series being prepared right now is called THE RISE. It’s three parts and it is on various champions and fighters coming up. This one will be about Claressa Shields and her rise to the level that she’s at today and what the future holds.

RING RESUME is a detailed analysis and highlights of Shields’ biggest bouts to date; and another very in-depth and intimate feature called THE APPROACH, an in-depth look at the mindset of the fighters. These are found on YouTube and across all SHOWTIME Boxing social platforms. It’s something we’re really proud of and we think advances the appreciation and the fandom of these fighters to the casual and hardcore boxing fans.

We’re proud. We’re honored to be in business with Claressa Shields. As you said, Dmitry, this is her seventh appearance on SHOWTIME, each a seemingly more important bout. This is another potential history-making event, but she’s fighting a very tough competitor, someone who’s looking to make a statement here on SHOWTIME.

So we’re looking forward to a terrific contest and a great main event along with some terrific co-feature bouts. Jaron Ennis and Jermaine Franklin are going to try to showcase themselves and make important statements on the network also in tough competition.

So with that, I’ll turn it back over to you. I appreciate the time and the opportunity to be part of it. Thank you.

D. Salita
Thank you, Chris. Claressa has a star team inside and outside the right. She is managed by one of the best in the boxing business, Mr. Mark Taffet who I’d like to invite to make a few comments.

Mark Taffet
Thanks, Dmitry, and thanks, Chris, for joining us today. We started a few years ago with Claressa Shields and it’s on her broad shoulders that women’s boxing is receiving the recognition, the accolades and the growth that it’s experienced over the past few years.

Every time Claressa fights, we look to make history, and October 5 will be perhaps the greatest night of her professional career to date as she attempts to win the title in her third weight division faster than any man or woman in the history of sports. And the incredible thing is that in Claressa’s case, she’s doing it upside down. She’s going down in weight from 168 to 160 and now to 154. It’s going to be a very, very special night. It’s a very, very special and memorable for women’s boxing.

We’re thrilled that the big events are happening and Claressa loves the role that she plays in the continued ascension of the sport and to all of her goals going forward. Thanks for joining us and I’ll turn it back to Dmitry.

D. Salita
Thank you, Mark. Now, I’d like to introduce Ivana Habazin who is not really known in the United States, but in the official press conference announced the fight she came here and she has made a great appearance and was very confident. She’s definitely putting that confidence into her work.

She’s 20 and 3. She’s the former Welterweight World Champion. She’s from Zagreb, Croatia, but she’s been in camp in Colombia and now in Detroit. She’s gotten the best possible training expert for this fight and she has boxed with the world champions and fighters who are the best in their regions.

So I’d like to invite Ivana to talk about her preparations and what we can expect from her. Ivana?

Ivana Habazin
Hello, everyone. Thank you for having me. So my training camp this time was really long, like four months. I’m always in training, always ready and prepared, but this training camp was the hardest ever. I feel great, I feel in shape, I’m healthy. Sparring was good.

I have Raquel Miller in the camp. I have Chris Namus and Tnaja Ovsenik, and I will have Kali Reis next week too, plus I have two teammates from Colombia, one was like five times Colombia national champion. So they really pushed me and that was really, really hard.

I’ve never sparred hard before like this and I feel ready. I’m really confident and I’m coming to win. This preparation makes me much more confident that October 5 is going to be my night.

Q
How does Claressa compare to Cecilia Braekhus?

I. Habazin
I actually can’t compare Claressa and Cecilia because they are totally different fighters and I’m a totally different fighter. And I think that Claressa is definitely a tougher fighter than Cecilia and so physically she’s stronger than Cecilia. So she’s more aggressive and I think this fight is going to be tough. But like I said, I was never prepared like I am prepared now.

So I think maybe this fight for me – I will not tell you it’s going to be easier than the fight with Cecilia, but today I am a more complete boxer than I was before. And I have James Ali Bashir as my coach and we all know that he is definitely the best coach and I learned some new stuff and I’m ready to show that.

Q
How do you expect the weight drop for Claressa to affect her?

I. Habazin
This is really hard to say for me because I never in my life lost so much weight. So that depends on the fighter, how she’s going to prepare or what she eats. She has nutrition and all this stuff. But I really hope that it’s not going to be so effective on her, but maybe it will be because that was a lot of weight to lose. So we’re going to see. I don’t think about that because she’s young, she’s hungry. She likes to fight and she likes to win, which is the most important. She has the mind of a champion. So I think even though she needs to lose the weight, I’m not going to be a problem for her.

Q
What are your thoughts on fighting Claressa in her hometown? If the fight is close and it goes to the scorecards, what are your thoughts on that?

I. Habazin
I really don’t think about that the fight is in Flint. It’s not something important for me, where the fight is. For me, the only important thing is to win, and she’s the biggest name right now in women’s boxing and I want to beat her, that’s all, because I have 10 years in boxing and it wasn’t easy. My world was really tough and right now maybe it’s the last opportunity to do something big and I take it seriously and I’m 100% ready. So I’m not a person who’s going to let other stuff affect me. I have my goals and that’s all.

Q
What’s the difference between the fighter that you are now and the fighter that you were when you fought Cecilia Braekhus?

I. Habazin
Actually, it would be stupid to say what I changed because then I will say what’s my plan, you know, so I will say you’re going to see that. I worked on totally different stuff with my coach and we’re going to show that.

Q
Where does the confidence come from in saying that you’re going to knock Claressa out when she has never even been beaten before?

I. Habazin
I think I can punch, you know, and the difference before was in some parts, I wasn’t finishing people. That was my problem. Right now it’s a different story and like I said, I made the best preparation ever. Never, ever before in my life did I do a preparation like this and I feel strong. I really feel strong and I think I have power to knock people out.

So for this fight, this is my goal. I don’t believe in the scorecards. So when you knock somebody out and especially in that big of a fight, that’s the only way how you can win. And I was really prepared for that all the time.

Q
What was your first reaction when you heard that the fight was going to be delayed for a couple of months?

I. Habazin
My first reaction was, ‘damn, I will not see my dogs for two more months.’ That’s boxing. Everything is possible. Maybe in some way, I maybe expect something like that, but you never know – everything is possible. Everybody can injure and all this stuff. So I prepared myself to stay in the camp, training more. Maybe with this, actually, she helped me because I feel I’m much better right now.

Q
When you go through a loss, what are some of the things you learned from it, and how does that strengthen you mentally having a loss on your record?

I. Habazin
Yes, that’s actually a good question. When I lost the first time, I didn’t think that I lost that fight, but it’s okay. And that was the most painful stuff ever in boxing for me because I give always a lot in boxing and when I suffered this first loss, it was like, ‘oh, my god, everything is done.’

But at that time, I was young still and I was only like three years in boxing but when I came back to train after this, I was ashamed. I came in the gym and everybody was watching me and said, ‘Oh, you lose’ and all this stuff. Nobody was supportive. So every day, almost for one month, every day I am telling myself, ‘You will come back. You will come back. You will come back.’

Even if I didn’t know when I will come back, if I even have a chance or no, but I trained more than ever. And that was actually the first time when I figured out what is professional boxing, because before that I didn’t realize all this stuff and I was focused more on my university.

And after that, I changed everything and then like a year after, I got the chance to fight for the IBF title in Belgium and I said, ‘okay, I’m going to Belgium,’ and that was the hometown of Sabrina Giuliani. So, I came. I won.

After, the fight with Cecilia actually came too early because we didn’t have a chance to make a defense. My sponsor wasn’t supportive for me, so I have two options, to fight with Cecilia for a unification fight — it was the first unification fight in the history — or I can leave the title because I didn’t have logistics for defending my title.

So when I accept that fight, in some way, I knew that I can’t beat her because I didn’t have experience. And like one and a half months before the fight, I had one surgery too, so actually I wasn’t in my best shape and I wasn’t good. So maybe that fight I didn’t take very painful like the fight against Eva Bajic when she beat me.

And the fight against Mikaela Lauren, it was like two years after Cecilia. That was my first offer for the fight after three years and this actually was very, very tough for me because I was without fights. I was without money. I was in the gym actually in the underground when there was like one room without windows and I got the offer and I said, ‘Okay, I want to fight.’ But all preparation, I was so, so bad.

When we made pad work, I couldn’t be one minute on the pad because I would get tired. My heart would start beating so fast and I was thinking, ‘okay, maybe it’s because I start training too much too early.’ But actually, it was that I was so, so sick. And when I came to the fight, I knew before I needed to step in the ring, I had a feeling that it wasn’t going to be good because I knew it – I don’t have power. My body didn’t have power, nothing, and I just said, ‘Okay, god, please save me, I want to be healthy when this fight is finished.’

But after that, I took a break from boxing for like six months and I said I will never box again. So after six months, I wake up one night and it was like 2 a.m. and I go back, I don’t know why, I hear some voice that told me, ‘Go and see the BoxRec.’ And I go to BoxRec and I saw Eva Bajic and I said, ‘Who is Eva Bajic? I never fought with her.’ And then I go and I saw that Eva came back after two years or two and a half.

And I said, ‘okay, you need to go back in the gym. You need to come back.’ And when I come back in the gym, I start training and the old symptoms – what I had in preparation for Mikaela Lauren – started again. It was very bad because I had like some cardiac – you know, my heart starts beating so fast. I was sweating all the time and I didn’t have power.

When I met medical, they said, ‘You have a thyroid problem and if you want to box again, you need to go in surgery immediately.’ I didn’t think about that, I said, ‘okay, let’s go,’ because I want to come back. And in 2017, I made two easy fights then came the offer for the IBO title. I said I want to fight. Even in that fight, I wasn’t 100% healthy because it was like one, one and half year to get healthy, but I made it.

And now, I can say that right now I am really, really 100% healthy. I am prepared and I am motivated more than ever because when I come back, I said I need to be not 100%, but I need to be 500% and I want to change something. I want to change my life. So right now, I think this is the right chance.

Q
You mentioned this was maybe your last big chance. Many people will say that a fighter with nothing to lose is the most dangerous opponent and perhaps we saw that with Otto Wallin. Do you feel you’re in this position that makes you dangerous?

I. Habazin
Yes, definitely, and I said that before the fight. I don’t have nothing to lose right now. I only can change everything and if not now, then when? So I’m ready, I’m 100% ready. I’m really focused on that. Four months I was training only for that fight, so we’re going to see what’s going to happen.

Like I said, this is boxing. One punch can change everything. You can be good all fight, but you can finish on the floor in the last second. So everything is possible. Claressa is a great fighter, but I believe in myself and that’s it.

D. Salita
Thank you. This is also a time when we have two superstar trainers in both of the fighter’s corners. I think it’s the first time in women’s boxing with Ali Bashir training Ivana Habazin and John David Jackson training Claressa Shields. So that’s going to be a very interesting test of stars as well.

Ivana, would you like to finish up with any closing statements?

I. Habazin
Yes, I just want to say thank you for this opportunity. I’m really happy because of that and at the end, actually, I really want for people to enjoy a good fight. So the better [fighter] is going to win and that’s all. I hope that’s going to be me. But I wish good luck to Claressa.

D. Salita
Thank you, Ivana. Now, I’d like to introduce Claressa Shields. Claressa, in her last fight headlined the biggest fight in women’s boxing history and put on a tremendous performance.

She really could have fought anywhere she wanted. We had offers from some big venues in Las Vegas, New York, Atlantic City, elsewhere throughout the country, but Claressa made her point to come back to Flint to give this fight back to the fans and the community she grew up in.

I want to list some of her accomplishments even though I know that most of you know them. She is 9-0 with 2 KOs since turning pro three years ago and will represent her town of Flint, Michigan on October 5.

She’s the first American boxer male or female in the history of the sport to win two Olympic gold medals. She became the sixth fighter in history, male or female, to unify all four major world titles in one weight class. She defeated Christina Hammer in the previous fight in April to earn that honor.

Claressa Shields has accomplished a lot in her life in boxing and as a humanitarian, as a role model, but she will be achieving her first on October 5 because it will be the first time that she’s going to be fighting as a professional in her hometown in Flint, Michigan. So Claressa, talk about your training camp, getting down in weight and how you’re preparing for this fight?

Claressa Shields
Yes, yes. Well, weight is not a conversation that I want to have. I don’t have a problem with my weight. If I did, I wouldn’t want to go down to 154 and accept this challenge. So weight is not a problem.

This camp and every camp, we just want to be a better version of myself. So, me and Coach John David Jackson said with the Hammer fight, we just want to fix a lot of mistakes. Now I know people on here are like, “How many mistakes did you make during the Hammer fight?” A lot, even though it was a unanimous decision, I beat her almost every round, it was still that me and my team having the mentality that we want to fix everything going into the fight with Ivana.

She has faster hands than Hammer. She’s coming from a lower weight class. She’s more comfortable with 154 and of course I’m losing weight. We want to get a knock out.

So the combinations are good. The jab was good against Hammer. We’ve just been working a lot of punches, making sure that we’re throwing our straights over, making sure that we’ll be pacing with our straight and make sure that we just have more precisions for this camp.

So it’s one hard camp. My body is kind of torn apart right now two weeks from the fight, but one more hard week of training and then the last week I get to wind down. So right now I feel really great.

Q
You’ve obviously shown a tremendous chin during your career and she said she’s going to knock you out, I just wonder what you think of that?

C. Shields
She’s going to say a whole lot. I think she called me fat. Many girls in boxing say they can knock me out and I do have a healthy chin and I like to go in and test every girl’s chin and everything like that.

So I respect that she’s coming with that kind of attitude, but, no, it’s not even possible to knock me out. I may have been dropped by Hanna Gabriels, but that was a shot with me off balance. It wasn’t something that hit my chin then I went down and I was woozy or like that. I’ve never been stung by a woman nor man. So Ivana is just talking.

Q
Did you happen to see her fight with Cecilia Braekhus?

C. Shields
There was a whole bunch of bouncing around. They both were off balance throwing their shot.

Ivana likes to put her head down and just throw punches. Whenever she feels like she’s in danger, she just goes in to a straight bull mode and puts her head down and start pulling in. So you have to use a really good jab against her.

I kind of feel like towards the end of the round, Ivana kind of tries to stay in and do a whole lot of holding, and dancing and pulling itself like that. But early on she tried to stand her ground and used her combinations, but it’s nothing that I haven’t seen before. I know for a fact I’m a lot stronger than Cecilia Braekhus so Ivana is going to have a lot of problem on her hands come October 5.

Q
How satisfying would it be to get this knockout in your hometown and have another history-making performance for you?

C. Shields
I just kind of feel like it’s not so much about the knockout, it’s about improvement to me. A knockout is great, but at the same time, I want to go in there and I want to look phenomenal. I want to be sharp. I want to work on everything that I worked on in camp and be able to execute it in the fight.

So I’m not going out there looking for the knockout, but I know that it’s going to come just because of how training has been going. I’ve been hurting my sparring partners with body shots and head shots. I’m doing this coming down in weight and my body is sore too.

It’s sore too, I’m breaking my body down and it’s getting stronger as I break you down, and I can feel going there and boxing in the eighth round and be strong and safe, and be able to do everything that I want to do and let my combinations go and let my hard body shots, the hard head shots still be explosive towards the end of the round.

So just knowing that, I feel like the knockout is going to come. But I’m not going to go out there trying to rush it, I just want it come. So I want to go out there and do everything that I’ve been working on in camp, and I believe everything is going to come together.

Q
Based on what you said earlier in the call, Claressa, were you happy with your performance against Christina Hammer?

C. Shields
I’m my biggest critic. That fight I was happy I became undisputed champion. But when I went back and watched the fight, to me, I made so many mistakes. I was like, “Oh, cut it off,” like I’m just like, “I’m over it,” you know what I mean? Like, I did really well, but I was just like, “Why didn’t you get the knock-out? Why were you not sending out all your shots when you should have sent out all your shots?” and just stuff like that.

For me, it’s just I’ve always been super hard on myself. So I give myself maybe a B minus for that fight, but I want to get an A. I want to do everything right in a fight and even get a knockout, or have it so I was just destroying her in every round, destroying her, destroying her and I’ll take her confidence away from her and I’ll hurt her.

I made some mistakes and she caught me with not even a whole lot of shots, but just the fact that she caught me with a shot that I shouldn’t have gotten hit with. It feels like that. But that is just me, my biggest critic, and me wanting to get better.

So everybody else tells you like “That was the best fight that we’ve ever seen and your defense is on point.” But I’ve known how to do all that stuff. I’ve known that I had defense. I’ve known that I could jab. I know what I could do. I just want to do it the best way that I know I can.

I watched it 40, 50 times. But each time I watch it, I’m seeing a different mistake and it wasn’t something huge, but it’s still just like, “This shouldn’t happen because we worked on it at camp.” It wasn’t a whole bunch, but it was just like just stuff that I see that maybe you guys don’t see.

Q
Do you feel that maybe if they change the rounds from two minutes to three minutes, you would have about three or four knockouts?

C. Shields
Yes, absolutely. Also the refs are super hard on me and It feels like they will not call the fight when I’m hurting these girls.

I can roll back and look at the fight where I fought against Sydney LeBlanc. I put her through eight rounds of hell and they just let her take that and maybe destroyed her as a fighter. She doesn’t want to fight since I beat her. And she came into the fight – me and her, she came down from light heavyweight to fight at 168 and I mean, I destroyed her from the first bell of the first round to the last bell of the eighth.

She never even landed more than 10 punches on me the whole fight and they didn’t even call it. So it’s like with three minutes, I will have a lot more time to break the girls down and be able to get them out there because I’ve hurt every girl that I fought. So as soon as those two minutes ring and it’s the end of the round, and they get that one minute rest, they come back in recuperated and ready to go in the next round. So you have to kind of start all over again.

But would it be in two minutes, I just got to I guess pick up the pace until they actually see that women boxing needs to be the same as the men, or at least give us three minutes a round so we can have the same amount of work time.

Q
Would that be a goal of yours to possibly push to three-minute rounds for one of your future fights?

C. Shields
Yes, absolutely. Me and my team have been going over, we’re just trying to figure out what’s the best way to go to the organizations about it. We don’t know if we want to go over and tell them, “Hey, maybe we could start off with 10 three-minute rounds, or maybe we can start off with 12 two-minute rounds.”

We’re just still going to try to figure it out and try to go with the best way to where it’s safe for the other world champions and also see what they agree with. I’m going to have a talk with all the girls who are world champions to kind of like have a vote on what they want to do because this is not just about me, I want it to about the other women too what they’re comfortable with.

I think the thing to understand is that women will always get paid less than the men unless we fight the same amount of time. So with that, one of the change that got to be made is either 12 two-minute rounds or 10 three-minute rounds.

I think that one of those has to change within this year to get us on the road to equal pay and equal opportunity as far as getting the big knockouts that we can get.

Q
Have you thought someone that you thought might be using PED’s when you fought them as a pro?

C. Shields
Yes, I’m not going to do that. Honestly, I don’t know. I wanted a VADA testing for Hammer. For some reason, we didn’t have it for that fight. But I wanted VADA testing for that fight, but we didn’t get it.

I’m happy that there’s VADA testing for this fight. But I think every world champion should be doing VADA testing especially after Mia St. John came out talking about she was on PEDs her whole career and all this craziness. I think that every world champion, male and female, should be open to do VADA testing because it’s just safer for the boxers and I think that they should be clean.

I’ve always been a clean athlete and I’m not going to say who I think do PEDs, I really don’t know. I hate to have to feel it’s been out there because I don’t know. People think “I just need this,” but I’m just strong because I work my ass off.

Q
What do you think you need to accomplish in order to be deemed the best female boxer of all time?

C. Shields
I think I’ve already accomplished everything to be the best female boxer of all time. But I think that some of the fans or media people may feel like you have to have 25 and 30 fights to be compared to Laila Ali. So I’m just taking my time, I’m racking up the belts and racking up the divisions and making history.

I’ll always be the world’s best and nobody is ever going to make me feel different about that unless somebody comes and beat me, and that’s not going to happen. So I’m going to keep breaking records and doing what no other woman has done.

If I feel great on 154, maybe we’ll stay on 154 and try to become undisputed there. Then if not, maybe I’ll just be looking to that160. I’m always going to go where the best fighter is and the toughest fighters are at, and try to make the most money.

Q
Do you think the nine fights that you’ve had is a better resume than o all the other female boxers in the sport?

C. Shields
Definitely, and that’s talking about the female of boxers, but the male boxers too. Male boxers have people their record is literally padded up so that you are about 20-0, right? 20 or 15-0 and they got padded records against easy opponents.

I haven’t fought against a person who’s had a losing record ever in my pro career, I think someone did the math and it was like 125 wins and seven losses all my opponents together so they’d be able to say that is a nice fight. Well, other boxers, male or female, say fought fighters like that. I haven’t fought against a fighter who has a losing record yet.

Q
Would you like to fight a male fighter in the future if you have opportunities?

C. Shields
I feel like right now I’m just going to fight in women’s boxing right now, trying to get an equal pay. I don’t feel like I should have to fight a man in order for us to be taken as serious athletes.

I’ve gotten in the ring with plenty of men. I fought 16 rounds this week with men, four different sparring partners. I can get in there with guys and I’m going to hold my own, and I know when it comes down to handling my business, I’ve never been knocked out by someone, or dropped, or anything like that.

So I don’t think there’s a difference between women and male fighters. That feels like it’s all about preparation. If you feel like if you have to get ready to fight again, if I have to be ready to fight against the male, I would change my whole training. I think I’m training hard until now.

But to get ready for a man, I would definitely upgrade and I think I have a great team who makes sure that I’m at my strongest, that I’m explosive, that my legs are strong and my muscles are strong. I feel like men have better body endurance than women and I say that because they’ve been fighting so long for so many more rounds in men than women just throughout my whole career.

Like even in amateurs, we’ve got four two-minute rounds; and the men, they have three three-minute rounds. And now in a pro, I’ve only fought 10 two-minute rounds; and men who are world champions have fought 12 three-minute rounds, so I don’t know how long. So when you have that, they just have a better body endurance than I think women do. But I think it’s all about the preparation.

Q
What does fighting in front of your home town friends mean to you especially with all that you’ve accomplished? And did you think that you would get this homecoming fight sooner in your career or later in your career?

C. Shields
No, I feel like that the fight came at the right time. I wanted to be super accomplished when I went back home to Flint and that’s just because I want the kids to see that like I’m from Flint, Michigan and I have accomplished all this. I’m not waiting for the end of my career to come back to Flint, I’m coming back and I’m going back to Flint in the peak of my career.

I’m going back while I’m the world champion, while I’m the undisputed champion, while I’m breaking records. I’m bringing the fight back to Flint and I feel like me becoming a three- time division world champion, the best time to do so is now. I feel like that was the perfect fight to bring back to Flint while we have all these other fights that are going on. I just feel like right now is the right time to just inspire the city and inspire the kids.

Q
In this fight being your first fight at 154 pounds or really your first world title fight at that weight class, is this sort of the start of a journey to maybe try to do the same thing as you did at 160 and unified the entire division, or is this sort of a one-time deal at 154 and then move back up to middleweight?

C. Shields
I don’t really know yet. I feel like it really depends on how I feel doing the fight. I feel great right now. I’ve been doing great in camp. I’ve been eating healthy and dropping the weight the way that I’m supposed to. I’m dehydrated.

So it’s all about going into the fight, actually catching 154, getting on the scale and getting in the ring. So what I’m going to do there is going to fight.
.
Q
How does that impact your performance in the sport also having another really big visible job as a role model?

C. Shields
I’m only 24 years old and I think that women’s boxing has been quiet long enough. I feel like we haven’t got our due just because we haven’t spoken up enough about it.

I feel like there are women who did speak about it, but they’ve spoken about it in the wrong way like they just came up at people the wrong way and it’s more of like a “I’ve got the skills to pay the bill. I’ve got the power to knock people over.” And I’m not just talking to impress like I would go in there and try to do it. I’ll really just try to go in there and do whatever I say, and I feel like I’ve been putting on performances that even men aren’t putting on.

So I don’t really feel the need to have to be quiet and has to be whatever they call lady-like. Like I’m a lady and I spoke a lady, and I’m going to do what I want to do and that makes me feel good at night. The day that you can hear me not talking, something is wrong. So I’m going to do what I want to do.

As far as me being a role model, I feel like I’m a great role model like you don’t see me in the newspaper talking about like killing nobody or going to jail. I hadn’t been arrested. You don’t see me drinking so I feel like I’m a great role model and I just want to tell everybody to be who they are, and don’t try to pretend to be somebody you’re not for social media or for cameras.

You’ll never have to keep lying about who you’re not. So it’s about me being comfortable with myself and just being who I am and doing what I’m most comfortable doing. And I feel like I’m being a great role model if I’m doing that because a lot of girls look up to me and they say, “You being so confident makes me confident,” so why would I stop being confident.

JERMALL CHARLO VS. BRANDON ADAMS INTERNATIONAL MEDIA CONFERENCE CALL TRANSCRIPT & AUDIO RECORDING

Click HERE for Audio

Ray Flores
We want to welcome the media that is joining us from all over the world. This Saturday, SHOWTIME CHAMPIONSHIP BOXING is back with a tremendous night of boxing featuring Jermall Charlo, the interim WBC middleweight champion of the world, as he puts his title on the line against the rising Brandon ‘The Cannon’ Adams.

It all comes your way from NRG Arena down in Houston, which is a wonderful fight town. Houston has the Charlo brothers to really look up to and this is a homecoming for Jermall this upcoming Saturday, but it will not be easy. He has a very difficult contender in front of him in Brandon Adams.

Saturday night’s event comes your way starting at 9 p.m. ET/6 p.m. PT, brought to you by Lions Only Promotions, TGB Promotions, in association with Banner Promotions and also The Tournament of Contenders, Artie Pelullo of Banner, and also Jeff Wald, the Tournament of Contenders, they’re on the call, if the media has any questions for them.

Tickets are going fast and they’re available now through Ticketmaster.com. This is a tremendous card, but obviously our focus is the main event with Jermall Charlo and Brandon Adams to further dive into that here’s the president of sports and event programming of Showtime Networks, Stephen Espinoza.

Stephen Espinoza
Thanks very much, Ray. We are thrilled to be hosting this call and hosting the event, Charlo versus Adams this Saturday. For Jermall Charlo, we welcome him back to SHOWTIME. This will be his ninth appearance on SHOWTIME, and in many ways, both Jermall and Jermell sort of came of age on SHOWTIME.

Jermall has appeared on ShoBox, has appeared on Showtime Extreme and five times on SHOWTIME CHAMPIONSHIP BOXING. So he truly has matured as a professional. We’ve seen him grow into the middleweight division. This will be Brandon’s first appearance on SHOWTIME and we welcome him to the network.

This is a homecoming for Jermall Charlo. This will be his third fight in Houston, but really his first fight as a headliner in a championship level event. He’s fought twice in Houston before, back in 2009 and 2012. But both of those were six round fights, I believe. So after 20 fights in seven years, this is a true homecoming after being away from Houston in other fights for quite some time.

Jermall, in just his fourth fight in the middle weight division, has clearly established himself as one of the top fighters in the division. That is without question. One thing that you know that you get with Jermall Charlo is fireworks. He has stopped 19 of his last 22 opponents.

I’m sure everyone on this call saw a very impressive stoppage by his brother some nights ago on Sunday. And as competitive as these two are with each other, I’m sure Jermall has similar plans in mind. Of course, Brandon Adams has something to say about that. Brandon is an up and coming star of his own, has impressed quite a bit through The Contender tournament, and certainly earned his way into the top 15 of the division, and earned his fight.

So we expect fireworks on Saturday as usual, a big homecoming night for Jermall, a good test in Brandon Adams, and we will see you all there on Saturday night.

R. Flores
Thank you very much, Stephen. Without further ado, I want to turn it over to a promoter that is involved in Saturday night’s events. She’s the Vice President of the TGB Promotions, does an excellent job of helping to put together so many different things when it comes to the sport of boxing. Please welcome Brittany Goossen Brown.

Brittany Goossen Brown
Thanks, Ray. We’re excited for Saturday night and for our second fight in a week with a Charlo brother. We’re looking forward to working again with SHOWTIME and NRG Arena, plus Banner Promotions and The Tournament of Contenders, on this great event on Saturday. We’ll see everyone in Houston for a great night of fights.

R. Flores
Thank you very much. Let’s meet the team for the adversary of Jermall Charlo. A Hall of Famer and trainer of the year countless times. Someone who is just a visionary when it comes to the sport of boxing and knows talent. It is an honor and pleasure for me to introduce Freddie Roach.

Freddie Roach
We had a great training camp. It went really well. He’s in great shape to fight, and he’s 100% ready for this fight. Brandon is a good puncher, good boxer, and we know Charlo is a tough opponent for us, but we did everything in our power to get in shape to win this fight.

R. Flores
Thank you very much, Freddie. Now I also will turn it over to the longtime trainer of Brandon Adams, who Freddie has been working hand in hand with. He’s always smiling, always in great spirits, and has devoted so much time to the sport of boxing. Please welcome the longtime trainer of Brandon Adams. Here is Dub Huntley.

Dub Huntley
This is Dub Huntley and I’m glad to be here and looking forward to a great fight.

R. Flores
Thank you very much, Dub. Greatly appreciated. Now let’s welcome the man who is going to be inside the ring across from Jermall Charlo. His record, 21 wins, 13 of those coming by way of knockout against two defeats, fighting out of Watts, California. He went up the middleweight rankings by winning the 2018 reboot of The Contender where he was victorious over Shane Mosley Jr. by unanimous decision.

I’ve had an opportunity to get to know Brandon Adams through the years and he’s always in tip top shape. He’s always prepared. He’s always focused and when he got the call to fight Jermall Charlo, he immediately said yes when other people would deny it. Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome Brandon ‘The Cannon’ Adams.

Brandon Adams
Hey everybody. How is everybody doing? I’m excited about Saturday, June 29, to get in the ring and share the ring with Jermall Charlo. I’m sure he did everything he was supposed to do to prepare for this fight. His name is “The Hit Man” and I’m “The Cannon”. So, we’re going to see who shoots the biggest shot.

R. Flores
Thank you very much to Brandon ‘The Cannon’ Adams. It’s going to be explosive down in Houston. I hear the weather is hot down in Houston. It’s going to be hotter inside the ring, and inside NRG arena.

Let’s meet Brandon Adams’s opponent. When it comes to his team, Ronnie Shields has been very, very busy as of late. He was in the corner on Sunday of Guillermo Rigondeaux, trained countless outstanding fighters, and he is the lead trainer for Jermall Charlo. Ronnie has done and accomplished so much in boxing. A round of applause and please welcome my dear friend, Mr. Ronnie Shields.

Ronnie Shields
Thanks, Ray. Hello to everybody. We’re looking forward to everybody coming out to Houston for this event. We have been working hard. We’ve been training as we always do. We know Brandon is a really, really good fighter and we’re looking forward to the fight.

R. Flores
Thank you very much, Ronnie. Greatly appreciate it. Now let’s meet the man who is going to be having his homecoming on Saturday night on SHOWTIME.

This man’s record, 28 bouts, 28 victories, 21 of those coming by way of knockout. He’s the interim WBC middleweight champion of the world, former junior middleweight world champion, having defended his interim title with a unanimous decision over Matt Korobov in December.

Very focused, determined, hard hitting, understands his craft and looking to make another definitive statement in his homecoming fight. Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome Jermall Charlo.

Jermall Charlo
Hey. How’s everybody doing today? I want to thank everybody who made this fight possible. I want to thank the Brandon Adams’ team and Dub Huntley and Freddie Roach, and of course Ronnie Shields also. Thank you to everyone in Houston who has bought tickets to come out for this event.

It’s going to be a great night. I’m looking forward to having a good night and a good, strong performance from our behalf. I’m putting everything on the line, so that’s what it’s all about. I’m ready to get in there and do what I have to do.

Q
Brandon, how is the preparation for this fight being a 12 rounder against the top middleweight compared when you were doing five round fights and in quick succession last year for the show?

B. Adams
The preparation for this fight was sort of similar to how I prepared to fight Shane. Knowing and understand that in the five rounds that we fought on The Contender, we had to display as much as we can within five rounds to get the victory, and then making that transition to fighting for 10 and 12 round fights.

It’s about the work you put in, the conditioning and the training. And I felt like, me and my team went over that pretty well. So I’m excited to try to go 12 rounds if need be or whatever pace is possible. I’m just excited to get this opportunity and to be in a ring with one of the top fighters in the world and establish myself.

Q
Can you talk a little more about that time that you took out of the ring after the loss to John Thompson, what went through your mind as you were making the decision to come back and fight on The Contender?

B. Adams
Mainly really the three years that I had off, I just had some time to really self-reflect, to figure out what went wrong in that fight. It was weight loss. There was a lot of weight loss right before I fought John. So understanding that that was just a shell of myself, and knowing that I was capable of much more.

Like I said, when I had three years of reflecting, it was dark times, dark hours, but I needed that and that’s also molded me into the person I am today. And that’s why I’m looking forward to challenge myself and also challenging the boxing world and to prove that I belong at the top.

Q
Jermall, we haven’t really heard anything from the WBC in forcing a fight between you and Canelo Alvarez. Does it get frustrating at times knowing that you’re essentially his WBC mandatory and there’s no real time ever for when you’ll your shot at the world title?

J. Charlo
Definitely not frustrated and I’m living the best life I can possibly live right now. I’m young. I’m very healthy. I have my family. I have my closest friends, my trainer, Ronnie Shields. We’ll handle the situations as they come. Right now I’m focused on Brandon Adams. I’m locked in. I’m loaded. I’m ready. I’m ready to put on the best performance I have in me.

Q
Did you get to see much of Brandon during The Contender season? And if so, what did you think of him?

J. Charlo
I’m really cool friends with Shane Mosley and his son. I’ve spent a lot of time with those guys. So of course yes, I know him well, when I got the call and was told we have an opponent. But as far as studying goes, you have to get in the camp and really break down some of the things.

And my trainer, Ronnie Shields, does an awesome job of that, and we implement everything perfectly. He’s drawn out a game plan. He’s drawn out some shots that I feel like will be needed and much intended to throw in this fight.

Q
Brandon, when you were away from the ring for so long, did you think that you would not fight again?

B. Adams
To be honest man, I was always optimistic about the opportunity of being able to fight. I just didn’t know how long it would take. That’s was pretty much at the front and back of my mind, honestly just getting the opportunity to be able to fight again.

We know naturally I fight 154, but the opportunity for me to fight at 160 came and it was The Contender situation. So I jumped towards it and I moved forward from that, and now I’m in this position right here, and I’m extremely grateful for this.

Q
Brandon, what is your thought on being the smaller of the two in the upcoming fight?

B. Adams
Not too much of a thought. My whole life, I’ve always been small. So fighting guys who are taller than me, never really brought too much of an issue. I’ve just got to focus on me, period, whomever I’m fighting against, whether they’re big, tall, short, wide. I just focus on being the best Brandon Adams and I always feel like I’m going to prevail.

Q
Brandon, how big of a step up do you consider this in terms of competition from Shane Mosley Jr to Jermall? How big of a step up do you consider this?

B. Adams
This is the step up. This is the biggest fight of my career. My first opportunity to fight on SHOWTIME, to fight in front of a huge crowd like this, to fight a guy in his hometown who brings what he brings to the table. But I appreciate it all, man.

I’m looking forward to challenge myself, to show that, the three years that I had off and what they meant to me, whether if it was good or bad, to put it all on the line and bite down and get through this one and then reflect on it all.

Q
What would pulling off an upset Saturday mean to you, and what would it do for your career and your life?

B. Adams
Well, to be quite honest, I don’t know exactly what it would do for my life at this particular moment. I haven’t won it yet, but I can imagine that it could definitely make me feel good beating a guy like Jermall. It could definitely build the confidence a little higher than what it is.

I definitely need to build the confidence a whole lot more, but I was already confident and believed in myself from day one. I’m sure it, it will do wonders for my morale and everything. But I don’t know exactly what it would do for me at this particular moment because I haven’t won just yet. I know the skies could be the limit.

Q
Ronnie, what kind of challenges does Brandon present for Jermall?

R. Shields
Well, there’s a lot of challenges. Anytime he’s stepping in the ring with somebody who is a good puncher, he presents a challenge. Brandon has a frame of style that we have to get used to and have to prepare for.

He seems like a very confident young man. So we know that. And so we had to put out all the stops. We’ve always trained hard, like we do for every fight. But we look at this as the biggest challenge that we’ve ever had, because we just have a different opponent.

Q
Jermall, what have you done to kind of guard against distractions so you don’t become distracted leading up to the fight?

J. Charlo
I’m not distracted. It’s all been fun. It’s a big experience for me. This is my first time fighting in my hometown in seven years. So the first time actually I helped sell tickets. And now it’s like, I’m not really a part of that ticket thing. So I just want to tell you that I’m focused. I’m locked in.

Q
How motivating is it going to be for you to fight in front of your home crowd on Saturday?

J. Charlo
I’m excited. It feels good to be at home. It feels good to be able to have the hometown fans behind me and become the hero here but I’m locked in. I’m loaded. I’m ready for everything Brandon has to present to me, and I’ll deal with it as it comes, , just as well as the crowd.

Q
How proud are you of your brother who got his knockout victory on Sunday night?

J. Charlo
Oh, I’m proud. I’m proud of my brother. My brother delivered a statement. He did exactly what he was supposed to do. Got a chance to go out and see it and train with him and go away with him and have fun with him and the end results was everything.

Q
Now, fighting at home, does that mean a lot, not only to you, but to your mother as well? Because last week, your mother talked about some of the adverse situation that you all had gone through.

J. Charlo
Yes. My mom is one of the biggest factors in my career right now. She means a lot to me. So fighting in front of her is nothing different. I’ve always fought in front of my mom. She’s always been tuned in. We’re just doing it at home now. That’s the only difference.

Q
Mr. Adams, how great is it to have world renowned Freddie Roach in your corner?

B. Adams
Having Dub and Freddie Roach in my corner means a lot to me because I started boxing pretty much when I was around 20. So that’s over 100 years of boxing learning from the both of those guys.

So I’m just being a student, soaking it all in and taking as much as I possibly can, and performing to the best Brandon that I possibly can.

Q
My first question is for Jermall. You were in Jermell’s corner on Sunday. Is he going to return the favor and what does he bring to the table?

J. Charlo
You know, Jermell, yes, he returns the favor. We both support each other and we realize how much we need each other in today’s age and everything we’re up against. So yes, let’s say he’ll return the favor.

Q
Do you feel any pressure to outdo your brother’s spectacular knockout on Sunday?

J. Charlo
We are mirror motivation instead of having any jealous or envious feelings about each other’s performance. I’m very, very happy and astonished by his win and his performance. I’m definitely not in competition with him because each fight is different, and every fight is different. We train hard for this fight. So I’m ready.

Q
Next question is for Brandon. Some previous contestants on The Contender have gone on to win both titles. Are you aware of that and has that motivated you in any way?

B. Adams
Yes. To some degree it did motivate me about what the past contenders did. But at the same time, when I say no, every man is their own man. So I have to put in the work. I have to do what I have to do to establish myself and do what I’m supposed to do to get my hand raised or become a world champion.

Q
How do you deal with the pressures of being an underdog, and is that a role that you embrace?

B. Adams
I’ve felt pretty good about the whole ride up. It hasn’t had a negative effect and I haven’t let it bother me. I understand what’s going on here, me fighting the champ in his backyard and everything. But my whole life I was never able to really cut corners and take shortcuts. And then in boxing, it kind of just followed the same way. So I don’t want it easy.

This is probably – well, in my opinion, this is the best route for me to take to be able to establish myself. I see everything that Jermall and his brother did in the sport of boxing, and I think that’s real dope. I like what they’ve done and I know what they mean for boxing. So with that being said, it’s going to be a pleasure to share the ring with him this Saturday.

Q
During your time with Freddie now, what has Freddie added to your training? What have you taken away from his wealth of knowledge?

B. Adams
Freddie, him and Dub are just alike, but the difference I would take from Freddie and Dub is, Freddie would talk to me a lot more through certain things, and Dub, kind of like everything is off a reaction. With him is more so of like, Dub knows how he does things without even thinking about it.

It’s just it’s ultra-instincts. And with Freddie, he walks and talks and does everything. So it’s fun. I appreciate working with both of them because they both know how to work me down, just talk to me, understand so that I will prevail.

Q
Freddie, during your time with Brandon, what have you seen from Brandon that catches your eye and shows you that he has what it takes to win?

Freddie Roach
Brandon had a very good last year. He’s really growing because of and since The Contender. Brandon, he’s a machine and we have everything we need and we’re going to do our best to let Saturday decide.

Q
Jermall, on the flipside, you’re expected to win the fight this week. Do you feel pressure to deliver an eye catching performance just based on the expectation that media and odds makers threw out there?

J. Charlo
No. I never pay attention to the odds makers because those guys don’t fight. So they don’t understand, every fight is different. I’m in for a big fight, a big night and I’m just focused on where Ronnie Shields has brought me, and this is going to be a good night. It’s going to be a good night of boxing.

Q
With this fight, you’re the big favorite in your hometown and all of that. And there’s a lot of discussion in the middleweight division about future fights and so forth. With all of this, how are you staying focused on this particular fight, knowing there have been a lot of upsets recently and that anything could happen in the ring?

J. Charlo
I’m just motivated by those guys who don’t finish the job. And this is a legacy fight for me. This is the best I’ve felt in a long time. My career is definitely where it needs to be. The pressure is on me. I can’t let anybody down. And it’s one of those fights where it’s much needed with another hungry opponent.

And everyone that’s doubting me, and everyone who is not on a side with me, it makes me want to fight even harder. So it’s just one of those things I have to do and go through.

Q
What do you see as your advantages over Brandon Adams in the fight?

J. Charlo
We both have advantages, so I’m not saying much about the game plan, but also much about, Brandon Adams. My advantage is that I’ve been here before.

Q
Brandon, tell us why you’re confident you’re going to be able to win this fight? We all know you’re the underdog, but why do you think you’ll win?

B. Adams
I think Charlo said it best when he said stay tuned. It’s Saturday. Oh man. It will be Showtime June 29.

Q
Would either of you like to make a prediction for the fight, how it’s going to turn out? Jermall?

J. Charlo
It’s going to be a great night. Just tune in on SHOWTIME. In primetime is going to be a nice show. I predict fireworks regardless.

B. Adams
Yes, man. I just want to piggyback off what he said and just say man that there will be a heck of a show being thrown this Saturday man. And you hear it yourself man. We both are already, fine-tuned and we’re looking to be explosive. So get your shades. There’s going to be fireworks blowing in the sky.

R. Flores
Before they get ready for their match up on Saturday, final comments, first from the challenger, Brandon Adams, as he gets set to battle with Jermall Charlo this Saturday on SHOWTIME.

B. Adams
My final comment is I hope everybody is prepared. I hope everybody is ready. I hope everybody is just as excited as we are. And Jermall, man you already know, bro. It’s go time. Looking forward to sharing that ring with you. Stay blessed.

J. Charlo
Final comments, thanks to everybody who tuned in. Thanks to everybody who made this happen. I’ll be damn if I let anybody come to my hometown and take something from me. So I hope everyone is prepared and I’ll be ready. I’ll see you on Saturday.

CLARESSA SHIELDS VS. CHRISTINA HAMMER, PLUS JERMAINE FRANKLIN & OTTO WALLIN INTERNATIONAL MEDIA CONFERENCE CALL TRANSCRIPT & AUDIO RECORDING

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Kelly Swanson
Thank you, operator. Thanks, everyone, for calling in. This is fight week for what’s going to go down as the greatest fight in women’s boxing history for the undisputed World Middleweight Championship between Claressa Shields and Christina Hammer, Saturday, April 13, from Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, New Jersey and live on SHOWTIME.

I’m going to let the other parties talk about the fighters, in particular Stephen Espinoza, President of Sports and Event Programming for Showtime Networks, Stephen?

Stephen Espinoza
Thanks, Kelly. We’re obviously thrilled. We have two consensus Top 10 pound for pound fighters, probably more like top five or six pound for pound fighters.

And as importantly, they’re facing off in a unification to crown the undisputed Middleweight World Champion. That would be only the seventh time in boxing history that that has happened.

We talk about the names of the other six undisputed champions. It’s an impressive list, Usyk, Crawford, Jermain Taylor, Bernard Hopkins and Cecilia Brækhus.

So after Saturday we will have one more name on that list and it will be either Shields or Hammer. We have two fighters here with a combined record of 32 and 0 with 13 KOs. So not just two champions but two undefeated champions and two very charismatic, talented and certainly not shy to speak.

If you haven’t caught it yet, there are two episodes of our Emmy award-winning series “All Access” previewing this event. Both are available on social media platforms.

A reminder, this fight will be on SHOWTIME live this Saturday, the 13th, at 9:10 p.m. If you’re curious, the reason why it’s 9:10 we are premiering a documentary called THE RESURGENCE regarding DeMarcus Cousins of the Golden State Warriors at 8:00 p.m. and therefore it carries over until 9:10.

Before we get to our main event, and I’m sure all of you are very anxious to talk to our fighters, I do want to point out two interesting undercard bouts, two televised bouts, in which we are featuring two undefeated prospects in the suddenly resurgent heavyweight division.

Our co-feature will see Jermaine Franklin, an undefeated young heavyweight 17 and 0, 13 KOs, versus Rydell Booker at 25 and 1, 12 KOs. If you haven’t heard of Jermaine Franklin then you’re probably not studying the heavyweight division very closely.

He is considered one of, if not the top, American young heavyweight prospect. And he’s making his national television debut against the once beaten Rydell Booker.

In the opening bout, Otto Wallin, at 20 and 0, 13 KOs, versus Nick Kisner. Wallin is also an undefeated heavyweight. He’s from Sweden making his U.S. debut and is already ranked Number 5 by the WBA.

So we all know that the heavyweight division has gotten considerably more exciting lately. And these are two of the young guys who are looking to make a name for themselves. I think a worthy undercard for a fight of this magnitude.

I’ll now turn it back over to you, Kelly, and get to the fighters.

K. Swanson
Thanks, Stephen. Thank you so much. Also I did want to remind everyone, tickets are still on sale for this event, which is promoted by Salita Promotions.

Also the official hotel for the event is the Ocean Resort Casino. So we’re excited to have them be a part of the promotion as well.

Now I would like to turn it over to Salita Promotions and the President of Salita Promotions in particular, Dmitriy Salita, to talk a little bit more about the fight and make the introductions for the heavyweights. Dmitriy?

Dmitriy Salita
Thank you, Kelly. We’re very proud to promote this historic event on April 13 featuring two champions, Claressa Shields and Christina Hammer, and a great undercard with Jermaine Franklin and Otto Wallin.

I want to thank SHOWTIME and Stephen Espinoza for believing in women’s boxing, for believing in this fight and giving it this incredible platform to be able to build it through this very special event.

It feels very big now, but a month after the fight, a year after the fight, it’s going to be historic. And people are going to talk about it for a very long time. And we’re very, very proud to be a part of this magnificent event.

On the undercard we have two incredible heavyweights, one in Otto Wallin, who is from Sweden. He is 20 and 0, ranked Number 5 in WBA and Number 5 in IBF. He is an example of when dreams and hard work comes true.

He’s from a small town in Sweden and he believed since he was a kid that he was going to be the heavyweight champion of the world. And he’s going to have a chance to prove his worth on April 13 when he fights Nick Kisner in the opening fight.

In the co-main event, Jermaine Franklin, who is considered by many, as well as myself, as the best American heavyweight, he was a National Golden Gloves Champion as an amateur.

He beat many of the top weighted heavyweights in the game today. As a professional he’s beaten numerous undefeated fighters and gatekeepers.

I have seen him in the gym preparing for this fight. He looks in great shape. I believe that he will have the chance to showcase his skills on April 13.

But he’s fighting a very, very tough and skilled Rydell Booker, who I’ve also seen prepare for this fight. And Rydell also had a tremendous amateur career, a great professional career. So this is going to be a great fight. It’s going to reassure the boxing fans what Jermaine is made of.

K. Swanson
Okay. Great. Thank you so much, Dmitriy. I’m going to go ahead and ask Otto if he would like to make an opening comment. And I’m going to start also, Otto, by asking you if you can share a little bit about your background. I don’t think a lot of the U.S. press has had a chance to really talk to you.

But also how important is it for you to have a great performance in your U.S. debut? And how do you accomplish that? Is there any extra pressure that you feel making this U.S. debut?

So, Otto, introduce yourself and talk a little bit about that.

Otto Wallin
Thank you. First of all I want to thank Dmitriy and SHOWTIME for putting me on this show and it’s very exciting to be on this show. It’s a huge, huge fight with Christina Hammer and Claressa Shields. And I’m happy to be a part of it.

As far as myself, I’m from Sweden. I’m from Sundsvall. It’s a small town with 100,000 people. I was the second pro ever to come out of that town. I’ve captured the WBA, Continental Belt and the EBU, European Union Belt.

I’ve been a pro since 2013. And I train with Joey Gamache. I’ve been with him since late 2013. And we were training in Denmark for four years. Then Joey moved back here in 2017 so I followed him over here.

I had my last fight April 21 last year. So it’s going to be a year on this fight. And I’m just looking forward to it. It’s finally here and the training has been going very well. I feel ready and I can’t wait to get in the ring.

K. Swanson
Okay. Thank you so much for that. And now I’m going to turn to Jermaine. And, Jermaine, welcome to the conference call. We look forward to seeing you fight. You are a very exciting fighter and definitely a big name in the heavyweight division.

And so, Jermaine, if you’d like to open up with your own comments and also do you see Booker as a step up in competition? And do you have to do anything differently in camp to prepare for this fight and what can fans expect to see from you on April 13?

Jermaine Franklin
Well, it’s an honor. First off it’s an honor to be able to fight on SHOWTIME and to be able to showcase my skills and talents. I want to thank SHOWTIME and I want to thank Salita Promotions for giving me my opportunity.

I think Rydell is a step up in opponents that I have fought but I don’t think it’s nothing that I really have to change up. We make game plans for every opponent that I fight. So we don’t take anybody lightly.

We treat everybody like they’re the best. So I’m just going to come out there, stick to the plan and do what we got to do. And let the world see our skills. Shock the world.

Q
What do you think of Booker and his ability at this stage of his career?

J. Franklin
Rydell, I think he still has the ability to fight. Experience does play a big part in boxing. So I have seen a lot of guys with talent lose to guys with experience. So we can’t knock him for that.

I know he’s a little older, but like I said, he still has more experience than me. He has fought a Hall of Famer in James Toney so I still have to give credit where credit is due. I’m not going to take anything lightly.

Q
How do you view him, Jermaine, in terms of comparing him to your other opponents so far?

J. Franklin
I think he’s going to be a little smarter. With experience from what I’ve seen, he likes to keep, a man in between, with some space. He uses his jab but he paws a lot.

So a lot of guys I fought they really try to get on the bike or some of them try to fight me. So I expect for him to try to use his jab and be on the bike a little bit.

Q
I know you can’t go in there looking for knockouts obviously but he’s never been knocked out. How important is that for you to do that in this fight?

J. Franklin
Earlier in my career that’s all I looked for were knockouts. But now I just come out there and give a good show. I’m a warrior. If the opportunity presents itself, I’m going to take it.

Q
Otto, I was just wondering if you could tell us, those of us who are not really all that familiar with you, what you bring to the table in terms of your abilities and your style?

O. Wallin
I’m a southpaw. I’m a good, clean boxer. I’m fast for a heavyweight. I’ve got good defense, good offense. And I’m pretty agile for a heavyweight. I’ve got good footwork and head movement. So I would say I’m a good boxer. I’m a crafty southpaw.

Q
What can you tell us about your opponent?

O. Wallin
Nick Kisner is from Maryland. He’s 21 and 4. He’s smaller than me. So I think he suits me well. Yes, there’s not too much really out there on him. But there’s some and I definitely believe it’s enough. So I know what I got to do and we’ve been training hard. So I feel ready for him.

Q
How far away do you feel you are from fighting maybe a rank contender or someone of that ilk?

O. Wallin
I don’t think I’m very far. I just want to come back now on Saturday and put in a good performance and stay busy this year and hopefully a big shot is going to come very soon.

Q
Jermaine, could you talk about your history with Claressa, your relationship with her and growing up in the same area?

J. Franklin
Me and Claressa met probably about a good five or six years ago, maybe longer. We met a while ago at the James Toney tournament. And I had fought this guy from Detroit.

And after the fight she said she liked the way I was throwing my punches straight down the pipe. My coach and her old coach was very close so we used to go to the gym when we didn’t have no gym in Saginaw.

There was a point in time we didn’t have a gym so we used to go to Berston Field House and we used to train up there. So I got real close and familiar with Claressa.

So it’s just an honor to see her. She’s always been great. She was always did great things. It’s just an honor to be on the same card with her.

Q
Did your sister know her or were friends with her?

J. Franklin
No, my little sister, she knows her a little bit. Like, my family, my immediate family, they know her. They’ve seen her around. And she’s seen them at fights and stuff like that.

Q
Otto, at what point do you feel like you can challenge for those heavyweight titles?

O. Wallin
I’m not very far. First of all, I just want to get back now and be successful and have a few fights this year. And I think by next year I’ll be ready.

Q
Do you feel like there’s not maybe more pressure but more incentive to go out and have your best showing out there?

O. Wallin
Yes. I’m used to fighting on TV back home. I think all of my fights have been on TV. But, of course, it’s different over here. It’s a huge show and there’s going to be a lot of people tuning in.

And it’s very important for me to put on a good performance. I want to show Salita Promotions and SHOWTIME that they made the right choice to put me on.

Q
Jermaine, do you feel like a win like this against a guy like Rydell Booker who has never really been knocked out is the type of win that will really push your name out there as a rising contender?

J. Franklin
Yes. I think this fight will push my name out there as a rising contender. Because Rydell is still who he is. He still has a little name. So the fight being on SHOWTIME, I think it would give me the exposure I need. So I think it’s a great fight to push me out there as a contender.
Q
Otto, what was your reaction to that to being able to fight in the states, on SHOWTIME and in Atlantic City?

O. Wallin
I was very happy, very thrilled. It’s been a dream for me since I was a kid to fight in the U.S. and to do it on SHOWTIME is amazing. So I was very excited.

I’ve never been to the Boardwalk Hall but I hear it’s a very nice venue and people around me are saying that all these great fighters fought there. So I’m very looking forward to going there and putting on a good performance.

K. Swanson
All right. Thanks, guys. See you soon. We’re going to transition over to our main event, Shields versus Hammer. I’m so excited about this fight. I’m going to turn it back over to Dmitriy Salita to make the introductions.

D. Salita
Yes. Christina Hammer is 28 years old. She’s 24 and 0 with 11 knockouts. She has been champion for over eight years and is one of the longest reigning champions in boxing.

She’s the current WBO and WBC champion in recess. And for those of you that have watched All Access, you can see how seriously she’s taken this fight training in Austria and in Germany. She is a star in Germany and in Europe and is one of the best fighters in boxing.

Christina Hamme
Yes. I prepared a long time for this fight. We have built this fight up and it’s very great. I’m thankful for the opportunity to fight on April 13 live on SHOWTIME.

It’s a big step for women’s boxing and a big step for me to unify all of these belts in one fight. I’m proud for this and I will give everything to be the champion and to step out of the ring as the undisputed champion at middleweight.

D. Salita
Claressa Shields is a two-time Olympic gold medalist, currently two division world champion, only 8 and 0. And she has always had great aspirations from very early on in her career as an amateur and as a professional.

On April 13 she’s going to face the toughest test of her career fighting the world champion Christina Hammer for the Unified World Title. The winner of the fight is not only going to have all four belts but is also going to have a page in the history books. She’s trained in Colorado and is back in Florida now and is ready for April 13.

Claressa Shields
Hello, everybody. I’m here to answer you guy’s questions. It’s the last five days until training camp. I know we have a lot to say. I’m just waiting to beat Christina Hammer and also make her shut up.

Q
Hi. This is a question for both fighters. I was wondering if you guys have ever been to Atlantic City and if you’re aware of the history of boxing in the town and the many great champions that have fought there?

C. Shields
I’ve been there. I know that Laila Ali fought against Jacqui Frazier here in a world title fight. I can’t think of anybody else that fought there. But that’s one of the women’s fights that I know of. But that’s about it that I know from – and Floyd Mayweather fought against Arturo Gatti at the Boardwalk Hall.

C. Hammer
Yes. Atlantic City is a very talked about city. I never fought there, but it’s the first time and my second fight in the USA. I’m very happy to get this fight and show real boxing. I’m looking forward for this and I can’t wait to step into the ring.

Q
Christina, what was your reaction upon hearing that news and that that fight was going to have to be delayed until now for April?

C. Hammer
Yes. It was very disappointing for me that the doctor told me and didn’t allow me to fight in November. But, yes, everything happens for a reason.

I am stronger now. I feel better. And everything is going in the right direction. And now the time is coming that we’re ready for the fight and ready for the undisputed championship.

Q
Has this fight kind of taken a more personal feel than perhaps any of your previous fights?

C. Hammer
I think it’s the biggest fight of my career because I am looking forward for a long time to unifying all of these belts. I think every boxer dreams of that

I prepare for everything. And this fight I focus 100%, 110%. And, yes, to fight and I accept. We are both champions, both undefeated.

Q
Claressa has that experience of getting to stay busy and fighting against different types of fighters, does that kind of give you an edge over Christina, who sort of had to sit on the sidelines for a little while?

C. Shields
Well, I can that just because she was sick doesn’t mean that I’m sick. With my career at the time, I was only, 5 and 0, 6 and 0. So I wanted to get more fights under my belt.

With the time that I had, I wanted to just take advantage of it. Like, I’ve been only a pro two years. And there’s a lot that I have to learn. And the only way that you learn is from actually getting inside the ring and fighting.

I’ve been able to have 20 rounds since fighting against Hanna Gabriels. So just with that, that’s great for me and it helps me with my experience.

From those two fights, I’ve been able to fight against a girl who, idolizes Christina Hammer, Hannah Rankin. And I was able to beat her all 10 rounds.

And then I was able to fight against Femke Hermans, who also a strong, tall fighter. And it got me more prepared for the fight with Hammer. I feel like I’ve learned a lot of good things in those two fights. That’s going to help me win April 13.

Q
Do you feel like you are more ready now because you had those fights against Femke Hermans and Hannah Rankin than maybe compared to if the fight would have taken place last year?

C. Shields
I still would have won the fight if it would have happened on November 17 or if the fight happens now. I’m happy with the things that I’ve learned, but it wouldn’t have been a different outcome.

It may have been a little tougher, I can say, because of the things I didn’t know or that I hadn’t experienced yet. But either way, if we would have fought November 17, if we would have fought when I had my second, third pro fight, I still would have won.

Q
Claressa, I just want to know what it was like to be the subject of an All Access series, something that’s usually afforded for fighters that are fighting on PPV and just what your overall impression was of the All Access episode?

C. Shields
What I love most about the All Access was it really showed the inside of our training camp. And it showed that, even though people look at women’s boxing and sayoh, those girls aren’t athletic. They aren’t good. But with me and the Hammer, you see that we both are athletic. We both do train hard. We both do put boxing first. And we do talk trash.

I think that’s what sells. And when I saw the All Access, it was just more fuel to the fire. Her and her team said some things that I didn’t like and I’m quite sure I said some things that she didn’t like.

And that just brings more fire to the fuel for April 13, which gets to be a big old house fire by the time that we get into the ring and fight.

Q
Is any of this personal with Christina or, like, is it just your way of selling the fight?

C. Shields
It’s a fight. What I can say is I don’t hate anybody. I never have. I can say I don’t like her as much as she doesn’t like me. But at the end of the day after the fight I’ll give as much sportsmanship as I can. But whatever, it’s a fight. No matter what she says or what she does, I’m still going to fight her the same.

She wants to say things to get under my skin and it’s really been making me laugh. I’ve enjoyed this whole trash talk thing of going back and forth, her lying and saying I missed weight, all this crazy stuff that she’s doing I really just sit back and I laugh about it. And I’m still going to train and fight and make weight just the way I’m supposed to.

Who knows what else she’ll do by the time that the fight is here? We got five more days. You never know what she’ll pull out of her bag of tricks.

But it’s not nothing personal for me. It’s a fight. And when I get in the ring with anybody, it’s always no face no name. I just get in there and win.

Q
Claressa, how big a deal is this for you to get to that GWOAT status that you’ve been talking about that you’ve been wanting to be from day one?

C. Shields
Yes, absolutely. Part of the big picture is fighting again. Right now we are one and two of the top boxers at middleweight. So for us to have this fight, for her to be completely healthy and me be completely healthy and she’s 28 and I’m 24, this is a great fight to be made right now.

When you’re saying I’m the greatest of all time I can beat any kind of fighter — a fighter that moves, a fighter who’s standing there, a fighter who can do both. Being the greatest woman of all time comes with being able to win those fights that people say that you can’t win. She’s 24-0 11 knockouts. I’m 8-0 with 2 knockouts, right.

Everybody’s like how can a person who’s been professional only two years beat a person who’s a professional ten, eleven years and they’re the reigning champion nine, eight years and all this stuff like that. And that’s what the greatest woman of all time can do. Just like I beat Hanna Gabriels I’m going to beat Christina Hammer.

Q
What do you say to your critics that said they saw some cracks in your game with the Hanna Gabriels fight?

C. Shields
They don’t want to fight. It doesn’t matter. The thing is that I’ve learned a lot from my fights. And like I said, like that fight with Hanna Gabriels, one thing was like I say she was 18-1. I was only 5-0. She was my 6th win.

I don’t know any fighter who gets in the ring with somebody like that, gets knocked down in the first round and then comes back and wins every round after the knockdown. To me that’s what you call a superb athlete. That’s the epitome of being a great fighter.

They can say I had holes in my game but I’m not a perfect fighter. But just know that I’m getting there. Every fight I get better. Every fight I add something to my arsenal. And I’m going to get better on my own schedule, on my own time. I’m not going to do what everybody think I should do just because I got knocked down. Who doesn’t get knocked down?

Q
How big a deal is it to be that face of women’s boxing and be that cash cow?

C. Shields
Right now with me being the face of women’s boxing, I just always have to be reminded to keep being me. All the women before me they all had this way of what they think is promotion or the way or what a world champion is.

And the truth is a world champion is a world champion. We’re all different. Some of us are quiet. Some of us don’t talk trash. Some of us don’t have confidence. Some of us have a lot of confidence. Some of us are ignorant. I mean, some boxers are ignorant and I can say that. But I’m not one of those boxers.

And I love that Errol Spence, that he stands behind me and doesn’t want me to change. Same thing with Andre Ward. One of the best things that Andre Ward told me was continue being who I am. Despite people saying a woman talking trash is not classy or it’s not cute and women shouldn’t be like that, you should be more soft spoken. I’m just so happy that when I had that conversation with Andre Ward he was like sis, be who you are, like if you talking trash is really who you are, if you’re being confident with who you are, then he said keep doing it. Don’t be fake for nobody.

And that’s what I continue to do. I’m going to be the kind of world champion that I want to be. I’m not trying to be like nobody else.

Q
Christina, do you think people overlook you?

C. Hammer
Got it. No, I think the people in the USA accept me and respect me very much and I see it every day, like they’re so interested in this fight. And I think it’s time that these fights are coming for the whole world and it’s a huge step for women’s boxing.

We’re undefeated. And I feel very good in the USA. And I’m looking forward to fighting April 13th and beyond in the USA.

Q
Do you feel like you can be to women’s boxing what Serena Williams has been to women’s tennis?

C. Shields
Absolutely. Growing up there weren’t a lot of women boxers to look up to — again, that I knew about. And Serena Williams was an athlete who I did look up to, like I’ve seen the pictures of Serena Williams with both gold medals on the side of her face and that was my motivation to go back to my second Olympics so I can win another Olympic medal and take that exact same picture. Like that was my ultimate motivation, besides no other American had won two Olympic gold medals in boxing.

I think that I have a great life story, I came from nothing and I made a lot of myself. And just to be dominant like Serena Williams, just to win all the things that she won, I want to be looked at as dominant as she is in tennis but just in boxing.

Q
How personal is this fight? How important is it for you to go out and prove that you’re the face of women’s boxing, the best female fighter in the world?

C. Shields
Hammer can say whatever she wants. I know that they believe in mind games and tricks and all this stuff over there in Germany. But over here in the US people play mind games, too. And we talk trash, whatever the case may be. But inside the ring, I think she has to realize it’s just me and her. No matter what she says or how she says it or what she does, it’s not going to make me box any different. I’m going to stick to what my game plan is. I’m going to win the fight. And I’m going to be happy with my performance at this fight.

She wants to stay on the outside and look cute and wear a dress but I’m going to rough her up all night. Like I don’t know why she just want to come out there and jab me and move and I’m going to be like this kind of punching bag that’s going to stand there and just look at her like my gosh. Like no, I have a jab too and I can box. And I’m not worried about anything else but getting inside the ring and fighting.

All this trash talking is actually fun to me. No matter if she’s spreading fake rumors to the fans saying that I missed weight or saying that I’m overweight, I’m going to have a hard time making weight, I fought 160 in my last two fights. I didn’t miss weight any of them, so I don’t know where she gets that from.

She’s just saying something that she thinks is going to bother me when it doesn’t. It doesn’t. I’m just enjoying this time right now while we have this platform. And if she wants to talk trash, we can talk trash. As long as she doesn’t get too disrespectful, we’re good. I don’t think it went to the point of like the Anthony Joshua – Jarrell Miller disrespectful. Now, when it gets there, then you’ll see, maybe something different out of me. But till then, I’m all good.

Q
What fuels you more, the trashing talking from the trolls or the trash talking between you two?

C. Hammer
I think it’s normal. That’s boxing. That’s business. And yes, we make this fight on fire and the people love it, this trash talking and reposting, whatever. And I think it’s normal, like it’s the game of boxing and on fight night, who has the better plan and has the better game plan will win. And that will be me.

C. Shields
I feel like on social media some days people like me, some days people don’t. Some days I post stuff just to get the reaction out of fans and make them upset because I don’t care.

I can say that the trash talking between me and her I believe is funny. Some of the trolls get out of hand. They say weird stuff. I’m actually fueled by the fans who believe in me, who are behind me, who want me to win the fight. And the ones that’s against me, I’ve just been on social media just saving receipts. Everybody that say she’s going to knock me out I’m just saving that receipt. Everybody that says she’s going to win the fight and going to outbox me, there’s going to be a clear decision win for her and all this stuff, I’m just more like letting them say whatever they want to say.

So once I do win the fight, trust and believe me, I’ll be right back on social media tagging all those people. Asking them hey, where you at? She lost. Where you at?

I don’t mind that kind of stuff. I really don’t. Like it’s actually funny to me. But I’m just ready to go out there and show that no matter who you put me in the ring with, I will come out victorious. No matter if it’s a world champ with 24-0 with 11 knockouts, or rather it’s a champion with 24-0 with 24 knockouts. It doesn’t matter who you put me in the ring with. I can win and I will win April 13th.

Q
And last question for both of you. Describe yourself in one word both of you.

C. Hammer
Hammer.

C. Shields
A word for myself, destroyer.

Q
What do you see is being the key in this fight for you and do you have a prediction?

C. Shields
I think the key to me is to do what I always do. One key is just don’t be out jabbed. Use my jab, move my head, my combinations. And just letting her know it’s a fight.. If she wants to be the mover in the box, then she can do that. But just know that I’m going to be the one landing the points. I’m going to be the one controlling the ring action. So that’s just kind of what the game plan is from what I can tell you. Everything else will come into play during the fight.

Q
Do you have a prediction?

C. Shields
I really haven’t thought about a prediction. I feel like I can knock her out in the 7th round or I can knock her out toward the end. I feel like the earlier rounds she’ll be moving, running, holding, stuff like that. But I feel like as the fight goes on I’ll just keep beating her down until I’m ready.

C. Hammer
Why you say always like beat you down, beat you down? I don’t know.

C. Shields
What? Just because you have 11 knockouts don’t mean you’re a better fighter than me. I’ve been professional two years.

C. Hammer
You don’t beat someone down. You every time say I beat you down. I beat a lot of people down.

C. Shields
I beat a girl down…

C. Hammer
But not in your professional career.

C. Shields
It doesn’t matter. You are not unbeatable. You ain’t no secret. You are not hard to beat. I’m going to mess you up.

Q
Has Hammer showed you she could deliver that same shot you were knocked down with?

C. Shields
I know that she’s probably been in camp working on that same shot but it’s so weird how the shot came. It was more like I was off balance. So I don’t even care if she works on the same shot or not. If it was the same shot that could get me out of the fight, Hanna Gabriels tried those same shots after she knocked me down and she couldn’t land it again and I was able to win the rest of the rounds.

Everybody has to find something to make them feel confident about something, you. And I feel like if Hammer wants to use that as a way to push herself and feel like she can do the same thing, I am all fine with that. I just know that I’ve seen, she’s been knocked down plenty of times too. I’ve been knocked down one time but she’s been knocked down more than one time.

And it was a DQ fight that I thought she got knocked out but they called it a disqualification. They can’t talk like I’m just unbeatable fighter. So of course they’re going to use that to push it and whatever. But I’m not worried about it.

I watched the fight and watched the knockdown and got caught but it’s not like a heartbreaking thing for me. I know that I can get back up and win so that brings me more fire, knowing that I can do that.

Q
Has facing that adversity in a fight helped you feel that you can overcome whatever situation you might find yourself in?

C. Shields
I’ve been to the Olympics twice. I’ve been to the world championships twice. I won the Pan American games multiple times. I’ve always fought outside the country. I just started fighting back inside the USA when I turned professional. And it doesn’t matter where a fight is held at. I just know I show up to fight with one mindset and one goal and that’s to win the fight. So she’ll have her fans. I’ll have my fans. She wanted it in a neutral site. I guess she was scared to come back to Detroit and fight me in Detroit so we’re fighting in Atlantic City, New Jersey.

It doesn’t matter to me where we fight at. It could have been Vegas. It could have been New York. It doesn’t matter. Same outcome. I wouldn’t have any different mindset. I keep telling people no matter where we fight at or whatever, when we get inside the ring it’s just me and her. It doesn’t matter what her coach yells out or nobody. Nobody can help her in the ring with me. It’s just me and her. That’s it.

Q
How involved will you be in the Barry Jenkins project about your life? And then who would be the ideal actress to play you?

C. Shields
Well, the Universal story we’ve actually had the contract done with them for about a year now. Barry Jenkins is writing the script for it. And when last time me and Barry Jenkins talked when we met in person — which was about a year ago — we were just talking about like what we wanted the ending of the story to be and we were kind of like do you want the story to be the second Olympics or the story be when you won the world title. It was actually before I had my first world title fight.

He just was like let’s take our time and let’s see. And I think now the ending of the story will be when I become undisputed champion. So I think I would like Nafessa Williams to play me. I think she’s pretty bad ass and she should definitely play me in the movie.

Q
Christina have you had the opportunity to get anybody to emulate the style of the game Claressa had?

C. Hammer
No. I fought a girl from the US from the same team as her. And I always fight starting with men. And yes, everybody has a game plan. I have my game plan. And I will use my reach and you will see what’s going on in the ring. Yes. it’s a very historical night for us and I’m ready for this.

Q
Being a champion why didn’t you make a big deal about come over there to face you?

C. Hammer
Yes, a lot of people and a lot of fighters are always fighting in Europe and Germany. But it’s normal to take the risk that you can come to USA and fight here and everything. But yes, I’m very motivated and I want to show who’s the real champion. When you get it in the USA, everybody knows it. The whole world knows you. It’s great to have these opportunities to fight live on SHOWTIME.

For me it’s a very big step. But I’m not afraid. I’m not scared of this. I know what I can do. And I give everything for that. I prepare very hard for this. And yes, it will be a great fight. I hope a lot of people will watch this fight and celebrate it.

Q
Claressa what would be the next goal for you?

C. Shields
There’s always more history to be made. I feel like I’m trying to make history faster than everybody else. I believe I’ll be the fastest fighter to become undisputed with only nine fights. And after that, I would love to have a super fight with Cecilia Braekhus. We’ll be the only undisputed women fighters. And I believe that we’re close enough in weight for one of us to come up and for me to go down and we meet at 154 for a fight.

Other than that, there’s always girls who are coming up. We have girls who are ranked, three, four, and five. I’ll just fight the mandatory till another super fight comes. But the way that women’s boxing is coming now, there’s a lot of girls coming out of retirement to get back into the game who want to fight world champions. So who knows what we’ll see in the middleweight division? But I know I’ll be at the top and I’ll just fight the best. That’s my only goal — continue to fight the best and prove that I’m the greatest woman of all time.

D. Salita
Yes, thank you all for joining us today. Thank you Claressa and thank you Christina. Saturday night is going to be a great, historic night of boxing. And all the media attention, all the social media trolling and things like that are just showing us how big of a fight this is.

I look forward to Saturday night. Those that are going to be there are going to witness history and those that are going to watch the fight on SHOWTIME are going to witness history. I’d like to thank Stephen Espinoza and Gordon Hall for believing in this fight and for giving the time to build it to the super fight that it is. Thank you all and I’ll see you all guys on April 13th.

MIKEY GARCIA & CHRIS ARREOLA INTERNATIONAL MEDIA CONFERENCE CALL & AUDIO RECORDING

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Richard Schaefer
Thank you and welcome to all the media members. It’s Fight Week, I can’t wait. I have been waiting for this for so long and I know many fighters have as well.

I want to first off thank FOX and FOX Sports. They are really rolling from one big weekend this past Saturday where we saw a tremendous card in Los Angeles to now a history making weekend in Dallas.

This is without doubt the biggest pay-per-view of the year. I mentioned it last week, top to bottom an unreal card of a combined 207 wins against 9 losses when you add up the entire card — 155 of those wins by the way of knockout.

So I don’t remember if we ever did a card top to bottom which packed that much of a punch. It really is one of the best pay-per-view cards top to bottom I can remember and we certainly have done some big ones.

Today we have Mikey Garcia and Chris Arreola on the call to talk about camp and the excitement of fight week and they will be available for your comments.

But first up I would like to introduce to you Tom Brown President of TGB and co-promoter of this event who really is largely responsible for almost week after week putting together these stacked cards on FOX and SHOWTIME and all the other platforms.

So Tom please if you would like to make some comments and then introduce Chris as well.

Tom Brown
Thank you Richard. Everybody at TGB is honored to work once again with Richard and Ringstar Sports. Not only is Chris Arreola a fan favorite, he was one of my brother-in-law, Dan Goossen’s, favorite all time fighters.

He will be taking on an undefeated opponent Saturday night in Jean Pierre Augustin who is 17-0-1. Arreola’s last fight as we know was back in December on the Wilder Fury cards so it’s great to have him back so quickly as he makes another run at the heavyweight title.

It will be opening fight on PBC on FOX Sports Pay-Per-View so it gives me great pleasure to introduce the former heavyweight title challenger Chris Arreola. Chris?

Chris Arreola
Hey, how are you guys doing? It’s a pleasure to be here. I’m more than ready for Jean Pierre. I’m excited. It’s a big fight and it’s time for me to jump in and make a noise in the heavyweight division again.

Q
Chris, it’s been almost two and half years since you fought Deontay Wilder and then you returned last December, how did it feel being back in the right after such a long layoff?

C. Arreola
I was actually the main event that night. I was literally the last fight while the people were putting their chairs up and stuff like that so it was a very, very humbling experience. It was nice being backstage and watching everybody fight.

The atmosphere, I missed the whole atmosphere, the whole comradery that people had in the backstage. It felt great being back in the ring, man.

I didn’t feel any ring rust. I felt the one thing that I did feel the most is the excitement, all the commotion, all the people and so I was more than ready and happy to fight that day.

Q
Do you look at this as maybe perhaps your last chance at getting another shot at the world heavyweight title?

C. Arreola
Yes. Absolutely. So I am approaching 40 years old. But I had two years off and in between I took some time off, so I don’t feel like I’m so much of a beam or a worn fighter.

This is my last title run. This is my absolutely last title run and I have to make it count. I’m in boxing again to leave a legacy and to leave something behind. I don’t want to go out the way I did in my last fight against Wilder.

So yes. I’m chasing the title. This is my last title run and I’m going to give you hell. I’m working my butt off because hey, it’s better late than never.

R. Schaefer
By the way I think you are only 38, right? So at that point we don’t just round up because I think by the time you are going to be 40 or well before you are going to be heavyweight champion again. Let’s round down.

C. Arreola
Exactly. I strongly agree with you Mr. Schaefer. I have the experience, I have the ring knowledge and like Schaefer says, you know, let’s round down. The reason being because I have the ring knowledge, I have the ring smarts.

Q
If you get a victory on Saturday who are you looking to face next?

C. Arreola
First and foremost, I will fight anybody. I’m not looking for one name in particular. The one thing that I am looking for is to stay busy this year because I want my name to resonate through the heavyweight division. When they talk about names like Breazeale and a name like Kownacki and stuff like that I want my name to be mentioned also.

And it’s a great time. It’s a perfect time to come into the heavyweight division again because, yes, all these fighters are making names for themselves and the reason being because Wladimir Klitschko is out of the picture.

Ever since Klitschko was out of picture these titles just opened up and a lot of fighters were hungrier to get one of those titles. So it’s a beautiful landscape right now in the heavyweight division. Even though the fight we want to happen is not happening God willing it’s going to happen soon.

Q
We should expect you to keep bringing the fight going forward not only with this fight but with everything else, correct?

C. Arreola
Yes. Absolutely. Absolutely. But the main thing now like I said earlier I have a little more knowledge than most of these fighters. First off I’m a little bit smarter and not taking unnecessary punishment. So it’s time for me to incorporate a lot of more of the boxing skills that I do have that I have never really used.

And so it’s time for me to fight a little smarter and when the going goes to get tough and it’s time for me to get the nightmare going that will come out with no problem.

Q
Your time away from the ring how much did that help you prepare for this fight and going forward with your career?

C. Arreola
The main thing is my time away from the ring gave me time to see everything in perspective as far as my boxing career and as far as my family, as far as life, you know.

The way I see it now, we have one last chance and we have got to do it right. We have got to leave a legacy. We have got to leave something behind. I can’t waste my life.

So I’m a big Mexican and I’m lucky and I’m blessed we have had a father that stayed with me and made me box when I was a kid. So it’s time for me to do something with it. So that’s why I I’m fighting and this is my last roll like I said before and I have got to make it happen.

Q
How much more important is it to you to kind of send a message that this isn’t just like a last comeback but that you are really here to be a contender?

C. Arreola
This is very important. Like I said, I have to make noise in the heavyweight division. I’m not here to just make money. I’m in here for a reason. I’m in here for legacy. I’m in this for a title.

And the one time if I look bad and I look stupid in the ring man, I will retire. I don’t need to be in this sport to make it look bad. To make myself look bad and to make the sport look bad. So yes, this run is very important for me. Very important.

Q
Do you see a way to kind of use it to your advantage that actually the top heavyweights aren’t fighting each other because it seems like everyone is getting a shot these days?

C. Arreola
You know what? Absolutely man, because there are more than enough heavyweights out there to make noise with. Why can’t I fight every two or three months and fight a heavyweight? There is plenty of heavyweights out there to make noise with.

There is plenty of good heavyweights, not just heavyweights but good heavyweights, built for heavyweight, heavyweights with names, heavyweights that know how to move, heavyweights that once played basketball and now they are boxing because, they had no other choice.

The heavyweight landscape it’s in its best as it’s been in years. I believe that has a lot to do with PBC, the way PBC presents fights, the way PBC makes fights happen. If you know in the beginning of PBC there were a lot of young fighters up and comers. And now those up and comers, now they are champion.

Spence was one of the first ones that was up and coming on PBC and now he’s on the brink of being a star. So boxing is in the best part right now that it has been thanks to PBC.

Q
Could you tell us specifically what changes you have made this time in preparation for this fight?

C. Arreola
Yes. The main thing is that I know that Jean Pierre is a very crafty and a young fighter that’s very hungry. And for that reason alone man, I had to get my cardio up, I had to make sure that I started boxing again. And what I mean by boxing is not being a brawler. Being able to move. Being able to chase a man down and being able to be light in my feet because this man he is a good mover.

He’s a good fighter. He’s one of those crafty fighters they are going to cut a stick and move on top of things and I’m going to have to be chasing him down. So I have got to make sure that my cardio is up. I had to make sure that I’m able to go the 10 rounds at the pace that I want to go.

So the main thing is my cardio is up. The sparring is the most important thing because shoot, you could run a marathon but that ain’t never going to get you ready for a fight. So sparring, a lot of good lefty sparring. That’s one of the main things that I had to work on.

R. Schaefer
Excellent. Okay. Thank you very much Lisa. And I just want to add that I saw Chris last week at the Garcia Gym. My reaction was the same reaction as everyone else who was at that gym, it was wow. I have never seen Chris in such an incredible shape physically and mentally I think you heard that today

His comments as well on this call show that this is the best Chris Arreola I have seen and that is exactly what he needs to beat the undefeated Augustin with 17 wins and 12 knockouts. And I can’t wait for this fight and I know so can’t Chris.

Thank you very much Chris for being on the phone and I will see you in Dallas tomorrow.

When we first announced this fighter Spence versus Garcia virtually everyone picked Spence to win. In fact, Spence was in the Vegas sports book an eight to one favorite. Now that we have fight week the odds have clearly changed.

In Vegas we are slowly but surely getting close to a 50-50 fight. This morning while I was taking coffee I heard some news flash over my screen. It was from ES News who asked three iconic boxers Mike Tyson, Sugar Ray Leonard and Floyd Mayweather about their picks.

Here is what they had to say. Mike Tyson, “Oh, man. Forget it. Mikey Garcia is the man. He’s just great. I was telling my wife, watch this. He’s one of those special fighters who comes along once in a long, long time.”

Sugar Ray Leonard, “Mikey will beat Spence this weekend. You know why? Because he’s Mikey.”

Floy Mayweather, “I want to see Mikey Garcia and I don’t care what I have to do or what it takes. He will be undisputed world champion.”

So I saw Mikey this weekend at the fight in Carson and what jumped out at me was his calm confidence. Something which you cannot learn. Something which was instilled in him through his family legacy. For his early days on when we could barely walk he was already throwing punches in his parent’s living rooms. We all have seen these pictures.

Since then he has become a four division world champion. But since then he has as well captured the hearts and the minds of fight fans and sport fans. And with this crossover fight this coming Saturday he wants to capture the heart of the general public and show everyone that with hard work and determination anything is possible. Or as we say in Spanish ‘si se puede’. Yes, we can.

It’s a pleasure for me now to introduce to you the legendary four division world champion, the undefeated Mikey Garcia. Mikey?

Mikey Garcia
Thank you Richard. Good morning everyone. We are in fight week now and the fight is just a few days away so I’m just very happy, very excited and can’t wait to get in the ring, you know.

Q
Has there been a bigger emphasis on building up your body to handle the sense of power at welterweight for this weekend?

M. Garcia
Yes. There was a bid more of a physical change and we needed to make sure that moving up to welterweight would be a good decision by adding weight in the right areas, the right amount of muscle mass.

So that’s why we did go those five weeks up north at SNAC to work and I wanted to make sure that I gain the weight – the right weight. But we also didn’t want to lose the speed, we did not want to lose the reaction time, the explosiveness.

And that’s what we worked with with Victor Conte. We made a program that could help me to gain a little bit of mass but at the same time, improve my speed, my reaction, my reflexes and all the things that I will use on fight night.

Q
Do you feel that the winner of this fight should call themselves the best pound-for-pound boxer in the world today?

M. Garcia
Well, look, when I took on this fight and I wanted to get this fight, I was not doing it for any reason other than to prove to everybody that I’m the best and that I can fight anybody and I’m not scared to fight anybody even in the welter division.

I’m going to move into welterweight and just be considered one of the best. And if that puts me number one fighter in town then that’s extra another accolade. But there is no other fighter doing what I’m doing.

There is no other fighter moving up in weight and back down and back up and keeping weight classes, fighting champions, undefeated champion. No other fighter is doing that.

So I mean, when you talk about pound-for-pound well I’m actually proving it. I’m doing it in different divisions. So I mean that’s kind of why people will remember me for, that I was willing to fight anybody in any division.

Whether you put me number 1 pound-for-pound or not everybody has an opinion but there is no one else doing what I’m doing.

R. Schaefer
I just want to add on this quickly. I think it’s important when you look at the fact that Spence and Garcia are both right now top five pound-for-pound fighters, they are both undefeated, they are both champions. And there is no other pound-for-pound fighter who really has a signature win like Garcia would have if he beats or Spence would have if he beats Garcia.

These are two prime fighters in their absolute prime and I think that is what will elevate them – the winner of this fight to pound-for-pound the best fighter in the world and that’s why I do call it the coronation in Dallas.

Q
What about this fight do you feel conditioning wise you have been able to attune moving up three weight classes?

M. Garcia
Well, look, we did all the work like I mentioned for those five weeks with the SNAC team. And then we finished my training camp here and stayed with my brother. We got all the sparring in, we got the best sparring with big guys that can really push me and get the best out of me to be in the best shape possible.

We also worked with natural welterweights that are fast and quick and sleek just so I can be sharp and explosive. So I have all the confidence in all my abilities and I have all the confidence in my boxing and my abilities because I know I did all the work, I know I’m in great shape and I don’t worry about the size.

That’s something that I was willing to challenge myself and prove to everybody that you don’t win fights just with mere size and weight. There is a lot more that goes into it. And so that’s why I chose this fight to overcome that challenge and prove to everybody I’m the best.

Q
Do you feel the scrutiny pushes you forward and allows you to fight in an elite level?

M. Garcia
I think I need a fight like this to get the best out of me. I meet an opponent that will challenge me, that will push me and is matched almost identically to me. I keep telling people I love his fight.

He’s almost like similar to me, like, he reminds me of myself. He does everything well, he’s very effective, he’s strong, he has very good footwork, good combination, very similar to the way I fight. Nothing crazy, flashy out there like the flashy speed or hand speed or footwork. Nothing like that. But everything is done very well, very effective and I need someone like that to allow me to perform to the best of my ability.

And that’s why this fight is so important and that’s why it’s such a big fight. It deserves to be in the stadium, it deserves to be getting all this coverage and all this attention because you hardly ever see two of the best pound-for-pound fighters, in their prime, undefeated champions fighting each other.

It’s rare that you get that and I totally knew that this is the fight that I wanted and I’m just very happy that I was able to secure it and we are only a few days away from me making history.

Q
When you look at the welterweight division do you see yourself sticking around after this fight?

M. Garcia
I will definitely have options. The great thing in my position is that I can move up in weight, come back down, I will have options and different names in different divisions.

And I will look to see who the best name, who the best fight, for me, if it’s a lighter weight class I will move down, it’s a welterweight I will switch back. I know the welter division has many names, many great fighters so I could possibly stay here.

I don’t know what I’m going to do yet but I’m very happy to be in the position that I am.

Q
When was it exactly that you decided you wanted to challenge yourself against Errol Spence?

M. Garcia
Look, I was watching him fight Kell Brook and I saw him really turn the fight around and showed to everybody why he’s the world champion and why he deserves all the credit.

And then I saw him fight Peterson. And we were watching with my dad and my brother and I told Robert my brother and my dad that after a fight or two I want to fight Spence. And they all thought I was crazy and just joking but I was serious. I told them, “I’m going to move into welterweight because I’m coming I’m moving to welterweight. I will fight and challenge Spence.”

I saw his fight with Peterson and even though he did great I just feel like there is a lot more that I can do. People keep asking me what did I see in him. Was there a particular fight? Something that I saw in his game? Some holes in his game? No. It’s not even about that.

It was just what you guys haven’t still seen in me and I know what I can do and what I’m capable of and that’s what I’m betting on. That’s exactly why I took this fight because I know there is a lot more to my game that you guys still haven’t seen.

Q
How convinced are they now that you can go out there and get this job done?

M. Garcia
Spence and his camp and his trainer obviously have the confidence and that’s the mindset that they have to be in. You know they are champions and they believe in themselves, they believe in the fighter — much like my dad and my brother have always been in my team, my corner and they always believed in me and that’s why we agreed to this fight.

My dad and my brother wouldn’t allow me to take a fight if they didn’t believe I could pull it off, if I didn’t have enough to do this. So they analyzed the fight – they analyzed and studied Spence more in depth and they both agreed that I definitely have everything that it takes to beat Spence. And that’s why we are confident in our boxing and my training and that’s why we are here.

Q
So how now that you are going to try and settle into the welterweight division does that play into the fact that naturally your weight when you would hydrate from the lower weight classes was kind of around that welterweight limits. Did that play into how you went about building mass for this fight?

M. Garcia
I’m naturally a smaller guy so yes, we had to build a little more mass, a little more muscle leading up to this fight. But we did not want to compete against Errol with size and muscle. I want to use my other talents. I want to use my other attributes like my speed, my reaction time, my explosiveness.

Like I keep saying, there is a lot more that goes into winning fights. And I did need to gain a little bit of weight for that reason to move to welterweight but I do not want to be slow and sluggish.

We want to make sure that we kept all of my feet and muscle work and everything. And I feel very good with the results. We had a great training camp and I don’t think the size is what I’m going to be using. So that’s what we have focused on and making sure that everything else was done in the right way and I’m just very happy with all the results.

Q
Is that playing in with the use of your jab as far, like, your timing and all that and being able to use your jab as a range finder?

M. Garcia
Look, we made sure that we work on the things that we will need on fight night. And we had to figure out how to use my range and my timing against a bigger guy, against a left handed fighter, so we had to pick some different things like finding the range and the speed, the timing.

We had to make adjustments but I’m just very happy with everything. We had great range finders. I have speed and skills and we have some guys that are bigger and stronger, way bigger than me just so I could be prepared for whatever Errol Spence bring on fight night.

I needed to make sure that I was in the best shape and I had the best training camp and I’m just very happy with everything.

Q
How does it feel being in this big fight for you and your career and you my family and what kind of transition would that be for you?

M. Garcia
This is the biggest fight of my career and I’m very happy and very excited to be able to do this. We’re a few days away from making history where I will definitely leave my legacy and my name in the history books.

We are about to make history being a four division champion is no easy task and I’m a kind of fighter that gets motivated by challenges. Challenging myself to move up to welterweight is huge and I’m going against everyone’s opinion and it’s going to be great to prove to anybody that I’m much more than they have ever expected or ever seen in me. So I’m just very happy and excited to be here. I’m excited to be able to accomplish this with my family together which is just unbelievable.

Q
What your daily routine is in the lead up to the fight?

M. Garcia
Oh man, just a lot of rest. Look, we did all the hard work, for example already all the hard rounds of sparring, all the tough parts are done with. This week we would like to rest as much as we can, and just kind of wait patiently but we will still do a little bit of workout just to stay loose.

Maybe do like a stretch, some nice good stretching and just to keep our body flexible. We don’t want to injure our self by punching anything hard or doing strenuous activities that could hurt me for fight night. So maybe like light stretching and light shadow boxing is all we need.

Q
Are you expecting to come significantly under the welterweight limit? Do you have to cut weight? What are your expectations in terms of that?

M. Garcia
No. You know what? We did the work and I did gain weight. I was up at 160 actually at one time. But then as we started training and sparring we noticed that – I was just getting too big or at least I didn’t feel as comfortable as I could.

So we started to get more spurring, more training and the weight came off just because that’s the way we started working harder. And I’m very comfortable right now.

I’m very good. We are just big enough to be a welterweight but not big enough where I will be slow and sluggish.

R. Schaefer
All right. Before turn it over to Mikey to make a few closing comments I want to thank you all from the media. Its fight week, I can’t wait to see you all there starting tomorrow Tuesday March 12 at 5:00 pm Dallas time Central Time at the Renaissance Dallas Hotel, the fight hotel.

We will have the fighter arrivals and the media workout. So I will see you all there. Mikey, closing comments?

M. Garcia
Well, like I said, we are about to make history so make sure everybody comes in and watches the fight. If you can make it live it’s going to be amazing. The energy is going to be amazing and just the whole experience to be able to be fighting at AT&T Stadium in the home of the Dallas Cowboys in front of all my fans like that.

When when people talk about some of the greatest, you talk about the Ali, Frazieer, you talk about, Leonard and Hagler and some of these fights like that. Well, this is going to be one like those. It’s going to be one of those fights.

So we obviously invite everybody to come out and watch this live. And if they can’t watch it live then make sure they tune in pay-per-view because this is one fight you don’t want to miss. It’s going to be history on Saturday night. We’re making history.

Shawn Porter vs. Yordenis Ugas International Media Conference Call Transcript & Audio Recording

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Ray Flores
We greatly appreciate the media for calling in for today’s conference call as we get set for next Saturday, March 9 at Dignity Health Sports Park here in Southern California in Carson.

As we prepare for PBC on FOX, the WBC Welterweight Championship of the World, “Showtime” Shawn Porter making his first defense against the challenger Yordenis Ugas, originally from Cuba.

It is going to be a tremendous night of boxing as we go live at 8:00 Eastern, 5:00 Pacific Time, local time for the fans in Southern California, all brought to you by TGB Promotions. Tickets are selling fast. They start as low as $50. If you don’t have your tickets, you can purchase them on AXS.com.

Without further ado, it gives me great honor and pleasure to introduce a man who has been promoting for a very long time and been a part of some of the biggest events in the history of boxing. He knows the sport. He loves the sport. He has a passion for the sport and no doubt next Saturday, March 9 PBC on FOX it will be an historic night here in Southern California.

Please welcome the President of TGB Promotions, my dear friend, Mr. Tom Brown.

Tom Brown
Well thank you Ray. Good afternoon and welcome everyone. The Dignity Health Sports Park is the premier boxing outdoor boxing venue in the United States. I’ve said this before but it’s worth mentioning, three out of the last six Ring Magazine and Boxing Writers Association Fights of the Year have all been at the Dignity Health Sports Park.

They weren’t all fights of the year going into the show. Something happens at that arena when fighters walk down that tunnel. It’s like gladiators walking into the coliseum.

We have an outstanding card from top to bottom and I’ll turn things back over to Ray to get things going with fighters. Thank you.

R. Flores.
Thank you very much Tom. And before you meet the main event fighters, I want to let you know what is a part of our televised broadcast with PBC on FOX brought to you by TGB Promotions.

Again we go live 8:00 Eastern, 5:00 Pacific Time. We have Francisco Santana going head to head against Abel Ramos, a matchup in the welterweight division.

Also Efe Ajagba, who’s undefeated, a heavyweight out of Nigeria goes head to head against Amir Mansour so it’s a triple header loaded for PBC on FOX. Now let’s meet the challenger in our main event of the evening.

This guy who’s certainly gone ahead and has been on a roll coming off a win over Cesar Miguel Barrionuevo on September 8 at Barclays Center. Twenty-three victories. Just three defeats. A 42% knockout percentage to his credit. Please welcome Yordenis Ugas.

Yordenis Ugas
Hi to everybody here on the call. I want to thank the promotor Tom Brown and I’m just very, very excited to be on FOX.

R. Flores
Thank you very much Yordenis. And now we meet the champion who is making the first offense of his World Championship. You want to talk about exciting fighters in boxing? I look at this man.

The Welterweight Division has always been one of the most loaded divisions and one of the most exciting divisions in all of boxing. And this man brings excitement every single time out.

Aside from that he loves the sport. He owns 29 wins and 17 of those by knockout. Just two defeats and one bout even, having most recently captured the WBC Welterweight Crown by defeating Danny Garcia in a tremendous fight on September 8th.

Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome the champion, “Showtime” Shawn Porter.

Shawn Porter
Ray, thanks for such a humbling introduction. What’s up everybody? We’re almost there and I’m sure Yordenis is feeling good and excited. I am as well. Let’s do it.
you would like to ask a question at this time, please press star one on your telephone keypad. If you would like to ask a question at this time, please press star one on your telephone keypad. Our first question is coming from (Carlos) from Fight Sports. Please go ahead.

Q
Yordenis did you think that at any point throughout the break from boxing you had, that you would get to this point and challenge for a world title on such a big stage?

Y. Ugas
Well, absolutely. I always knew in my heart that I could fight at this level and be at the highest level. I needed a little break away from boxing.

I needed a change of scenery, a change of coaches and a better way to stay focused. And those other losses, they were majorities and splits. I did feel I won some of those fights but I still needed a change. And now I’ve got the change and feel perfect.

Q
What about your skills that makes you think that you can defeat Shawn Porter on March 9?

Y. Ugas
Because I’m a competitor at the highest level whether, it’s the amateurs or the pros now and I just know it. I know I’m prepared mentally. I know I’m prepared physically.

But on March 9 I’m going to have the chance to show the world why I’m one of the best welterweights in the whole world and better than Shawn Porter. You’ll see that on March 9 yourself as well.

Q
Do you consider this the biggest fight of your career? How do you compare this title opportunity to your experience at the Olympics?

Y. Ugas
100% this is the biggest fight of his career. This is my first chance at a world title fight. Since the age of nine years old I’ve been boxing and this is what I’ve always dreamt of.

So obviously this is the biggest fight of my career and I’m prepared. The Olympics are a huge thing too but that’s for amateurs. That’s in the past. Right now winning this World Title is the main focus for me. And nothing’s bigger than that, not the Olympics or anything else right now.

Q
Shawn, how do you measure the risk of facing Ugas when a loss could derail potentially massive fights against Pacquiao, Spencer or a Thurman rematch?

S. Porter
I’m going to ignore that perception of this fight, even that perception of Yordenis Ugas. Every fight is a dangerous fight. Every fight is a must win fight and for anyone that doesn’t realize that, it starts when you turn professional.

You do the best you can to put yourself in line to win every fight, to climb the ladder and get to the point where I’m at right now. I didn’t do all that and look at all those fights like they were must win fights and then get here now and look at this fight like it’s any different.

This fight is just like my very first fight. It’s just like my second, my third and my last fight. This is a must win fight and it’s definitely a dangerous fight, but they are always going to be dangerous when you get in the ring with the high level caliber fighters that I fight.

I’m simply saying then that every fight is a dangerous fight. Every fight is a must win fight, as far as this being low risk, high reward, I’m going to get paid what I deserve to get paid.

Outside of that, this is another fight that I have to win and do what I have to do. So after the fight I expect my hand to be raised and move on from there.

Q
How satisfying was it for you to surprise the naysayers with that performance against Danny Garcia?

S. Porter
I’m not going to downplay it like it wasn’t satisfying. I think first and foremost it was satisfying to be able to perform like that against Danny Garcia and win a unanimous decision like that but at the same time yes, to be able to prove to other people out there who think that I have just one level to my game.

It was definitely an opportunity to show everyone out there that I have more and if you thought that was it, wait until you see me against Yordenis Ugas.

Q
So this fight is going to be at a venue that used to be known as the StubHub Center. And the last time you fought there you actually lost your IBF Title in a close decision to Kell Brook. So just wondering if it holds a personal significance for you if you’re looking at some type of vindication that way or it’s just another venue to you?

S. Porter
You know what? I love the venue. Actually I’ve maybe been there just maybe once or twice since my fight. I think twice since my fight. And certainly yes, understanding, when I went there to fight Kell Brook, I was very, very excited to have that fight there.

It didn’t go the way I wanted it to go. So this is definitely another opportunity for me to not only shine but have all the feelings that I expected and wanted to have the first time around. So yes, it’s definitely in my mind and definitely something I’m looking forward to.

Q
Do you had an appreciation for Shawn giving you a title shot in his first defense?

Y. Ugas
I’m just excited. I respect Shawn Porter. I know he’s had a rough road, just like I had a rough comeback. Always on the other side of the ring against the A-side.

I’m just excited. I’m motivated. It’s my first chance to become world champion. I’m prepared to show everyone in the ring and come March 9 I’ll be world champion.

Q
Does he feel like as great as it’s been like no one really has seen the best of him yet?

Y. Ugas
I really don’t feel you’ve seen the best of Yordenis Ugas. I feel like every day I’m growing as a fighter and as a person. I’m learning more things. I’m getting stronger.

I feel like every day I’m improving. And like I said, I just want to reach my height and on March 9 face a great champion like Shawn Porter. On March 9 I’m looking to climb that old mountaintop and keep going from there.

Q
For Yordenis, what has changed from two losses in a row in 2014 to where he stands now as a legitimate, top welterweight contender?

Y. Ugas
I just felt like I needed a change of team and just a change of lifestyle, a different view. Moving to Las Vegas and working with Ismael Salas I kind of just went back to being the old Ugas that I always was.

It was just boxing only and let everything else play its role. So I think a lot has to do just with changing the scenery and getting good input in his boxing career.

When you think positive and do positive things, positive outcomes occur and that’s what I’ve been doing lately.

Q
Was part of this run moving up to welterweight? Did he suffer like severe confidence loss? Or did it just give him more motivation to keep going, try again to make sure he got somewhere?

Y. Ugas
Obviously in boxing weight is fundamental and when you struggle with weight, sometimes you want to be the bigger, stronger guy height wise but you don’t think about how it can affect your body during the fight.

Obviously the 140-pound limit really affected my body. I’m pretty big for 147 let alone 140. But that’s in the past. Now obviously when I step to 147 I’m undefeated. I feel good. I feel strong.

Mentally after those two losses, I just took a step back and just in my mind I just kept telling myself, don’t worry. Your chance is going to come. Your chance is going to come.

With the good change of team and change of atmosphere. I’m at the weight I need to be. I feel ready to go and I’m excited for this opportunity.

Q
Shawn, can you appreciate what this guy’s gone through to get to this point?

S. Porter
Oh definitely. Honestly man, Yordenis and I, we aren’t enemies by any means. We don’t dislike each other. He’s after something that I have and I’m trying to keep something away from him.

At the end of the day, our backgrounds are quite similar. Our struggles in life are a little similar. Our adversities have brought us to the point that we’re at right now.

So 100% I understand Yordenis. I understand where he’s from. And at the same time, this is a sport. What we do is we fight to win. And I understand he’s going to come in here and do that and I’m looking forward to it man. Honestly, I really am.

Q
You’re in a situation where like if you win a lot of people aren’t going to give you a whole lot of credit maybe and if you lose, it’s like, he lost to a guy I never heard of. How do you square that in your mind?

S. Porter
You square it by not losing. You square it by doing what I do which is, going out there, being energetic, throwing a lot of punches, throwing the right punches, making the right moves, a responsible defense and just being me.

That’s how you handle that. Once the fight’s over, in the end, my hand’s raised. Anyone who’s going to complain or not respect what I did that night, that’s their problem. That’s not my problem at all.

We put ourselves and our lives on the line and anyone that’s not willing to respect that just based on who we’re in the ring with, then they don’t have a good understanding of boxing.

So that’s not my job. My job isn’t to convince people that I’m getting in the ring with a tough fighter. My job is not to convince people that this guy can take everything I have. It’s my job to get in there and make sure that he doesn’t do that and hopefully dazzle the crowd along the way.

All the rest of it, and this is just something I don’t focus on and don’t care about.

Q
Have you allowed yourself to think about a possible next step for some big fight or has it just been Ugas on your mind?

S. Porter
Obviously it’s been Ugas for a number of weeks now. But before Ugas, before I knew I would be fighting him, the list was very short. It was Keith Thurman. It was Errol Spence Jr. It was Manny Pacquiao when I heard he was signed to come along with PBC which is pretty awesome and it’s still that way.

We’re not going to look past Yordenis Ugas. We’re going to respect everything the man can bring in the ring. We’re going to send it right back at him, look to win this fight and then after that look to see who else is out there and willing to get in the ring with me.

Q
When you’re approaching this fight, is there a different mindset that you have to go through now that you’re the one with the target on your back versus say you gunning for a title like you did against Danny Garcia for the vacant WBC title your last time out?

S. Porter
No, there’s no different mindset. I think maybe if anything there’s just excitement. It’s like you said, I’ve been here before so I’m excited to make another title defense.

I think that is something that’s special, something that you have to do once you win a title. So I think maybe if anything, I’m just looking forward to being able to put that label on what we’re doing March 9, which is making the title defense. I’m definitely looking forward to making it a successful one.

Q
Does that excitement, does part of it come from the fact that you’re fighting the main event of a boxing card on FOX where audience has a potentially much larger than your previous fights?

S. Porter
It all adds to it. It all becomes one big ball of excitement that you have to kind of hone in on and turn that energy into the right energy that you need for the fight.

That’s the best part about it for me, man. I enjoy opportunities to perform in front of big crowds and I enjoy opportunities to do what so many people hope to do. I hope to fight March 9 in front of thousands and thousands of people and even more than you would normally expect from a network standpoint.

I’m looking forward to being successful and moving on from there but yes, definitely all of it just kind of combines into this one big ball of great energy that I look forward to.

Q
Here’s a fun question. If your Cleveland Cavaliers end up in these top three slots in the draft, for the NBA, who do you want them to take?

S. Porter
My barber said, we’re marching towards Zion (Williamson). That’s what we’re looking at man. That’s the guy Cleveland is looking at.

Q
So I’m just wondering what kind of fed into moving camp from the Porter Hy Performance Center and spending some time in D.C. for this fight?

S. Porter
A lot like Yordenis. Yordenis said he had to get out and change his program. And not that our program was flawed but we just felt like we needed a little bit more than we had been getting here in Vegas.

And my dad said, hey Barry Hunter, what can we do? We want you to come out. And Barry said, “Man, I’ve got everything in house. All the sparring you need, all the training you need, all the recovery you need. It’s all right here, come.”

And that’s exactly what we did. We put in a great couple of weeks out there in D.C. and now we’re back in Vegas finishing it off in the good weather. And God bless, while we were out there it snowed here.

Now that I’m back though, the weather’s great and definitely looking forward to tapering off as the end of this week comes. And Barry will be out here with us in L.A. soon enough and we’ll get ready to rock-n-roll.

This is what we do and we do it as a team. Anybody out there that doesn’t know me, I played football and one of my favorite parts of football was the team and the comradery.

So I make sure that my team is set and we’re locked and loaded and ready for any and every one that they put in front of us. And collectively, myself, my dad and my whole team, we’re ready and we’re counting down and we’re looking forward to it.

Q
Does this seem like a new challenge to you that motivates you in a new way?

S. Porter
Every fight’s a challenge. Every fighter is going to fight differently. I think you hit the nail on the coffin when you aid that we knew how Danny was going to come.

We prepared for that and he came exactly how we thought he would and wanted him to. And it played into our hands. Same goes for Yordenis.

We trained for Yordenis. We’re expecting him to come a certain way at us and we’re prepared to fight the right fight to be successful. So I think that we are very prepared and we’re very ready for Yordenis.

As far as his being a different type of challenge, like I said before, every fight’s a challenge. But he fights a different type of fighting style than most guys that I fight, so I think second to him would be Adrian Granados in terms of being aggressive.

So we have a pretty good idea of how we expect him to come and if he doesn’t come that way, we’ll be ready for some adjustments. We got great sparring and we got a lot of different looks.

Q
Yordenis is at more fight nights than most fighters, is he may be studying how guys move in between fights or camps? Or just picking up on world class boxing, if he’s at a championship fight? Is this something to be taken away from taking all of these fights in person?

Y. Ugas
I love being at the fights just because this is my world. Boxing is my life. It’s everything for me. It’s always been.

I just love being at the fights personally just to watch the fights and attend them and be part of this world.

I’ve got a picture perfect memory of fights ten years ago that I’ll talk about. Like it’s all I do all day. I study fights on You Tube and basically if I’m not going to fights, I’m studying fights all day.

R. Flores
All right, well we want to thank both Shawn Porter and Yordenis Ugas for their time as they continue final preparations for March 9 with PBC on FOX.

Before we say bye to them we want to go ahead and open up the floor to you, Yordenis Ugas first for closing comments. Yordenis.

Y. Ugas
I just want to thank obviously everyone involved here at PBC on FOX and just everyone who’s helped put this fight together. On March 9 you’re going to get a great fight, an exciting fight, a war, a great world champion and someone looking to be a world champion.

So I’ve got a destiny that I’ve got to fulfill and March 9 is my opportunity to do that. So make sure everyone tunes into FOX. You’re not going to want to miss this fight. This is going to be a throwback old school type war. Thank you guys.

R. Flores
I want to thank Yordenis Ugas. Now I want to turn the floor over for final comments to the champion, Shawn Porter. Shawn.

S. Porter
I’m just going to mimic what Ugas said. I think that this is a fight that people are expecting to be exciting. It’s definitely going to be all that and more.

I appreciate Yordenis for stepping up and being the next guy in line. I understand what that is. I understand what that feels like. I’m look forward to the challenge and I’m looking forward to defending this belt with honor and keeping it around my neck and around my waist. So we’ll see you guys soon and God bless you guys out there.

Gervonta Davis vs. Hugo Ruiz International Media Conference Call Transcript and Audio Recording

Click HERE for Audio

Kelly Swanson
Thank you everybody for joining this call. I’d like to kick the call off and commend Premier Boxing Champions, Mayweather Promotions, TGB Promotions and SHOWTIME CHAMPIONSHIP BOXING and the network for saving this really special card that’s going to take place Saturday, February 9.

Everybody’s aware of the unfortunate injury to Abner Mares, who was going to fight Gervonta Davis, but fortunately a great replacement was found in Hugo Ruiz. Now I’m going to turn it over to Stephen Espinoza to make opening comments.

Stephen Espinoza
Thanks very much. By now all of you are aware of the substitution. I don’t think it’s any exaggeration to say that Abner was heartbroken at this development about the injury.

The Davis fight was a fight that Abner asked for, that he pursued and is a fight that’s in his backyard. It was well on its way to breaking the attendance record and it remains to be seen whether that will happen or not but certainly had the cards stayed together it almost certainly would have broken the attendance record based on the trajectory of ticket sales.

At this point the priority was in fact saving this card. We’ve got a whole host of various fighters who’ve been training very hard for this. They all want to remain active. Davis wants to remain active so it was a priority to save this card and to find the best possible, available opponent.

There were a number of options pursued, a number of calls went out to a variety of different fighters. Not surprisingly it wasn’t easy to find someone who was willing to take on Gervonta Davis on ten days’ notice. Thankfully we did get Hugo Ruiz interested and he immediately accepted after he understood the situation.

Hugo Ruiz obviously was on our January 19 PPV on the Pacquiao vs. Broner undercard at 126-pounds. He will be moving up in weight further and I realize that there has been some concern about that. But the one thing that gave us comfort in approving this opponent was the physical size. Hugo Ruiz has a significant height advantage and reach advantage over Gervonta Davis.

Yes, this will be his first fight above 126 but his body frame gave us some confidence that he would be able to be competitive in this fight. In fact, with his reach advantage and height advantage he presents some problems to Davis that Abner did not. So we’re looking forward to a very competitive fight.

We know Hugo is here. He was disappointed that he did not get the title shot that he expected to on the Pacquiao undercard. And in a certain way there’s karma is repaying him in that he gets a title shot here on February 9.

K. Swanson
Thank you so much Stephen. Now I’m going to introduce Leonard Ellerbe, CEO of Mayweather Promotions to make a brief comment of just about the card in general. Leonard?

Leonard Ellerbe
Thank you Kelly. I’d like to thank everyone for joining today’s call. As Stephen mentioned with Hugo Ruiz being a last-minute replacement, his reach and height advantage, that does create somewhat of a problem obviously because anytime as a fighter when there’s a last-minute replacement you haven’t trained and prepared for this particular fighter.

So Davis is going to have to obviously make some immediate adjustments for those things with the height and reach advantage that Hugo brings. Again Hugo is a proud Mexican warrior and we expect a very, very entertaining and exciting fight for the fans.

K. Swanson
Okay thanks so much Leonard. At this time I’d like to introduce Tom Brown, President of TGB Promotions to make the introductions for Hugo Ruiz. Tom?

Tom Brown
Well thank you Kelly. I want to say thank you to Sampson Boxing who is the promoter of Hugo Ruiz. Sampson’s always got these guys that we’ve never heard of and they step up and they’re household names a few years later.

It’s also great to be here at the former StubHub Center, the premier outdoor boxing venue of the United States at Dignity Health Sports Park. And three out of the last six Ring Magazine and BWAA Fights of the Year have all been at the Dignity Health Sports Park. And let me tell you they weren’t all Fight-of-the-Year candidates going into the fight.

I know Hugo Ruiz very well. He fought two absolute wars for me back in 2015 and 2016 for the WBC title against Julio Ceja. And a couple weeks ago, as Stephen said, he didn’t blink an eye when there was a last-minute opponent change.

Ruiz is a more experienced guy and experience matters. That’s what he’ll need to rely on in this fight. So it gives me great pleasure to introduce the former world champion, Hugo Ruiz.

Hugo Ruiz
Well first of all good afternoon to everybody, this is Hugo Ruiz and I’m very happy with my promoter Sampson Lewkowicz to get this fight. Sampson told me keep yourself ready, there might be something coming down the pipe and that’s how I got this fight to fight for the 130-pound championship. I’m very happy, training hard.

I also want to thank my father who’s going to be in my corner. So this is a big opportunity for me for this fight that’s taking place on February 9 and I cannot wait for the February 9 date.

Q
Have you had time to sort of process what these last two weeks have gone for you?

Hugo Ruiz
Basically I was preparing to fight a southpaw before my opponent was changed on the PPV bout. So I had that change and I’ve been basically still training for a southpaw in the last two weeks. I’ve been feeling very strong and very active. And that last fight was basically, it was more like a training then a real tough fight, so I’m ready. I’m rested and I’m good to go.

Q
Aside from your size what else do you think you have that makes you think you can beat Gervonta Davis on February 9?

H. Ruiz
I’m very hungry. I want to of course be a champion at 130. Those are the other attributes that I have besides what you stated. The height advantage that I have I feel very comfortable at 130. Sampson has taken me to be a champion at 118, 122. I’m close to 126 but also this is a big challenge for me I understand that, but besides the height, it’s the hunger that I have to be champion at 130.

Q
If you fought on January 19 what day did you get back to the gym after that fight?

H. Ruiz
I was back training that Tuesday after the fight, I was back in the gym.

Q
How familiar are you with Davis?

H. Ruiz
I’ve seen him fight of course a few times and I know he’s a counterpuncher. He looks for the knockout just like me. So this could be very electric starting early because as you well know I’m also a guy that looks for the knockout from the first round immediately. So that’s what I’ve seen and it should be exciting.

Q
Are worried at all that Davis might have the natural advantage in strength and size?

H. Ruiz
No not really. I feel very comfortable at this weight. If I was 126, if I was planning for 126 this Saturday coming up, the 9th of February, I wouldn’t have made it because I’m already going to make 130. That’s how strong I feel at this weight so that does not pose a problem for me against Gervonta Davis.

Q
Why did you go back so quickly to the gym after your last fight?

H. Ruiz
I usually take maximum five days off a week after a fight but with this fight with Guevara there was really not that much physical abuse from my part. I didn’t receive that many hard hits. So I started training right away.

My promoter Sampson told me, “Hey stay active there might be something coming up the pipe.” And that’s what happened. So I’m glad that I started that Tuesday after the fight.

Q
If the fight on the Pacquiao undercard would’ve been a little more taxing this wouldn’t have been possible for you?

H. Ruiz
That’s correct, if the fight would’ve been more physical draining if it would’ve been a toe-to-toe battle where I would’ve received a lot of punches and stuff then maybe I would’ve not taken this fight. But I continued my training leading up to the fight with Guevara and I just continued it because again, I felt physically well after the fight. There were no major damages.

Q
How much of a factor do you feel maybe rust will be for Davis?

H. Ruiz
Yes, definitely I think that rust might show. I’ve been very active. I fought in August, November and just a couple of weeks ago. You lose a lot of rhythm when you don’t fight for a while so that might definitely be an advantage that I have going into this fight.

Q
Can you use your boxing style that you currently have to defeat Davis or do you feel you need to adopt another style and how quickly can you adopt that style?

H. Ruiz
No my style will definitely not change. That’s been my style. I didn’t think this fight would come so soon but I definitely was looking at being champion at 130. This is a great opportunity that’s been given to me to fight this upcoming week. My style will not change. I will look toward the knockout against Gervonta Davis. If you’ve seen my 39 wins, 33 have come via the knockout. So I’m going to maintain my style, that’s the way I fight.

K. Swanson
Thank you so much Hugo for joining us for that part of the call.
.
Now we’re going to turn it back over to Leonard Ellerbe, CEO of Mayweather Promotions to make the formal introduction for Gervonta Davis and his trainer Calvin Ford.

L. Ellerbe
Thank you Kelly. This next gentleman, he’s really more than a coach. His call of duty, it really goes far beyond the ring. And because of his actions, he really gained and earned respect from many different people including myself, in addition to all the young kids that are out there, all the teens and a lot of fighters that he mentors.

He’s really helped people through the streets of Baltimore. He’s done a phenomenal job in playing a vital role in Gervonta’s entire career. He sets a really positive example for all the youth that are in that particular area. There’s not enough accolades to go around to say about Calvin. So without further ado I’d like to introduce Calvin Ford, trainer of Gervonta Davis.

Calvin Ford
Training camp has been going great. We’ve made a transition here to Los Angeles. Everything is going fine and whatnot. We were looking forward to fighting Abner Mares. Just looking forward for that, but this happens in a fight. I hope he gets better so we actually get another chance at him but right now we’re just concerned about this new opponent we have in front of us.

I think he a little bit stronger and I know from watching some of his, he’s going to come to put on a good show for this upcoming fight with Gervonta Davis.

L. Ellerbe
He became the youngest reigning American champion in 2017 obviously fighting on SHOWTIME after knocking out Jose Pedraza at just 22-years-old. He became also the youngest two-time world champion last April when he knocked out Jesus Cuellar in round three.

So without further ado, he’s earned the reputation in sports and entertainment as being the next PPV star, the WBA Super Featherweight Champion of the World, Gervonta “Tank” Davis.

Gervonta Davis
I just want to say I’m excited for February 9. I’m looking forward to my new opponent. Sorry to the fans who purchased tickets thinking that I was fighting Abner. My main focus was fighting Abner.

February 9 I’m just trying to give them an action-packed fight no matter who I fight. I’ll put on a great performance for the fans so they can enjoy the fight and go home with something to talk about.

Q
What was your mindset when you first heard that Abner got injured?

G. Davis
I was actually asleep when I got a call that Abner pulled out. At first I thought he was lying but then I had to think, if I was in his shoes I knew his health means more than our fight. Hopefully he will be okay and we’ll get another shot at fighting him sometime in 2019 but my main focus is on February 9 and on my new opponent.

Q
Why do you truly believe that Ruiz is a stronger opponent than Abner?

G. Davis
I believe that he’s stronger because look at his knockout ratio. He’s 39 and 4 with 33 knockouts. That had to play a big part. And I didn’t even know he was coming up from 126. I didn’t know that. I just knew that they gave me a new opponent. I didn’t know who he was, I’m just excited for February 9.

Q
How relieved are you knowing that everything you have set out for 2019 is going to stay on course?

G. Davis
I’m actually in a better space knowing that I. I never had dates lined up like this with me being the main event. I have my dates and I’m just super excited. This camp I really haven’t been down, so I’ve been happy knowing that I have a big future and three big fights lined up for me. I’m just excited. I’m just soaking it all in, making sure I’m training hard so every fight I bring excitement to the sport. I’m just, I’m in a great space right now.

Q
What do you think is the main difference between Hugo Ruiz and Abner Mares stylistically if there is any?

G. Davis
I believe that Hugo, he’s more aggressive than Abner. I think he has more pop on his punches. I just watched a little clip of him. I haven’t studied him like that. I just watched a little a clip once I knew who I was fighting just to be aware of what I have in front of me.

Q
Did you actually get a chance to watch Hugo at all when you were there at his last fight?

G. Davis
I was doing a SHOWTIME interview right after. So my main focus was the SHOWTIME interview so I didn’t watch his fight.

Q
Gervonta have you heard the criticisms that you replaced one guy moving up in weight for another guy moving up in weight? How would you respond to that?

G. Davis
My mind was focused on Abner. Not to throw any other fighter under the bus but, Vasyl Lomachenko, he fought someone that was two weight classes under him and not only one time, he fought another person that was smaller than him, Rigondeaux and Miguel Marriaga.

But I’m just excited to put on a great show no matter who I’m in there with. It’s all about the performance that Gervonta Davis puts on and I’m here to put on a great performance.

Q
Leonard was it in your mind and belief that we will absolutely salvage this show and find somebody for Gervonta Davis?

L. Ellerbe
Most definitely. That was definitely the mindset. Obviously he’s a prideful champion. He’s been off for, it’ll be ten months when he steps in the ring and he needed to fight. So Hugo was the best available guy that we could find. He’s in shape. He’s ready. He’s a proud Mexican warrior. He’s going to put on a very entertaining fight for all the fans in attendance and all the fans that are watching on SHOWTIME.

Q
Have there been any changes in preparation or training camp by the time you guys found out about the new opponent, or since it was too close to fight day have you guys been pretty much sticking to the same routine?

C. Ford
No we’ve been sticking to the same routine. We didn’t change anything. Actually Gervonta has various different sparring partners in there because I’m still a student of the game too and I always say you never know when a fighter is going to change their stuff. If you look at when Gennady Golovkin fought Danny Jacobs, he went southpaw. So you have to prepare yourself for anything that’s going to happen that night. So we look at different looks and just like you prepare for anything else. Most coaches and trainers want to prepare for any situation that’s going to come so you’ll be prepared for it.

G. Davis
This camp I actually sparred different type of guys. I sparred someone that’s come after me. He was much taller with a longer reach, so I thank him for the work and things like that because now I needed it. I’m excited. Nothing other than training. We’ll adapt to whatever was in front of us, so. I’m just excited to see what he brings February 9.

Q
Is there a lot more excitement for this fight considering that it’s been a long time since you last fought?

G. Davis
I’m just excited. This is my first main event in the US, so like I said I’m in a great space right now. I know that 2019 is very big for me and I’m just soaking it all in. I don’t feel like I should be nervous though when you have good food on your plate. I’m just, I’m ready.

Q
How will you take advantage of the taller fighter with the longer reach, how do you plan to take advantage of this guy?

C. Ford
We’re not going to try to take advantage, we’re just going to see, what type of fight he’s going to bring. Tank, he’s in a good spirit. He’s been great this camp. He’s been coming in doing what we asking him to do. If you look at his Instagram he’s been posting how he’s coming along. Everything has been on point.

So when we look at a situation of opponent change, we want to roll with it. The main thing is, we want to put on a good performance, because at the end of the day that’s what you all are going to talk about especially after the long layoff.

So we’ve been preparing for the long layoff. We want to make him look sharper and like he never was off the ring. That’s going to show that he’s not looking past this opponent right here, but to let everyone know, man he’s the truth and that’s what we trying to show. Tank is the truth. Gervonta is the truth.

Q
What do you consider a good performance?

C. Ford
Like I always say if you watch any of my interviews it’s what the opponent brings to Tank because you all still haven’t seen the best of Tank. Watching him sparring with certain people and doing certain thing, it gets real exciting there. So I’m just waiting to see what Tank does.

Tank is like Michael Jordan to me in the ring. He puts on a show and makes you watch what he going to do next. So that’s what I’m looking forward to. I’m looking for a great performance from him.

G. Davis
For me it’s just getting in there to do what I do best. I want to just capitalize off of that mistake and make them pay for it all night, that’s all. Show them that I’m not just best in my weight class, I’m probably like one of the best fighters on TV, if not the best.

Q
Leonard what assurances did you get from each other that that everything was going to go smooth this year?

L. Ellerbe
It’s actions. He knows firsthand that in 2018 a lot of things happened and a lot of things people don’t know about and that those were personal things. Again he’s a young man. He made a few mistakes and he stepped up. He owned those mistakes and he’s moved on.

He wants to have a phenomenal year and everything’s in place for him to do that. We think the world of Gervonta Davis. We think that he’s going to eventually be the biggest star in this sport and right now he’s the most exciting fighter in the entire sport.

So that’s what we’re looking forward to, him just getting back. That’s why Floyd was very adamant to me when Abner fell out. He called me it was, like really the wee hours of the morning and he said, “Tank has to fight.” And we’re all on the same page with that.

He’s young, he needs to be active. He wants to be out there showcasing his skills to show you that he is what he is. And again come next Saturday night I think we can expect another sensational performance from Tank.

Q
Leonard was Ruiz on that short list immediately or did you initially reach out to other fighters who ultimately declined?

L. Ellerbe
Yes, there was a short list but I want to give props to Tom Brown. With Tom being a Hall of Fame matchmaker and an excellent promoter, and again with having the resources and having worked with a lot of these fighters, being in his position, it made things that much easier.

So there were a few options, a few guys we looked at but this was the best guy who was available. We know style-wise that he brings excitement. He’s a very aggressive fighter with a bunch of knockouts. And he’s coming to bring the fight for the fans. He’s a proud Mexican warrior and we know there’s going to be a very entertaining fight. His style and Tank’s style are matched very well and it’s going to be a very, very entertaining fight.

Q
Gervonta how are you maintaining your focus with the opponent change?

G. Davis
I’m not tripping off of changing opponents and things like that because when I actually first started, they used to change my opponents a lot. A lot of fighters used to pull out and things like that. And also I came from the amateurs. We used to fight five times a week and with different opponents then.

So I’m not really tripping off the opponent change. All I’m here to do is put on a good performance on February 9 and we’re looking forward to it.

K. Swanson
Okay great. Gervonta we’re all looking forward to it and we appreciate how great of a boxing star you are for this sport and the sports world in general. So congratulations on your careers to date and we look forward to seeing you fight on Saturday night. Thank you so much to the media for joining us and we will see you next week at the fights.

KEITH THURMAN vs. JOSESITO LOPEZ INTERNATIONAL MEDIA CONFERENCE CALL TRANSCRIPT & AUDIO RECORDING

Click HERE for Audio Recording

Tom Brown
Thanks everybody for joining us today for this call to kick off the 2019 season of Premier Boxing Champions on FOX and FOX Deportes live on primetime on Saturday, January 26 at the Barclays Center, the home of BROOKLYN BOXING™.

After a string of injuries sidelined him for nearly two years, WBA welterweight champion Keith “One Time” Thurman returns to the ring to defend his title against the “Riverside Rocky” Josesito Lopez in one of the hottest divisions in boxing today.

Television coverage for the event begins at 8:00 pm Eastern Time, 5:00 pm Pacific Time. We also have an outstanding co-feature featuring fast-rising, unbeaten Polish heavyweight contender Adam Kownacki taking on former world title challenger Gerald Washington in a 10-round heavyweight bout.

It’s great to be back at Barclays Center, one of the best boxing venues in the country. BROOKLYN BOXING™ is now a very well-known brand because of the dedication to boxing and the support of Brett Yormark, the CEO of BSE Global.

So now it’s my pleasure to introduce the hard-hitting challenger from Riverside, California — the Riverside Rocky — Josesito Lopez. Jose?

Josesito Lopez
Yes. Thank you for having me. I’m exciting to be showcasing my talents and skills here in Brooklyn, and I thank TGB Promotions, FOX and FOX Deportes for having me. And you won’t be disappointed Saturday night.

Q
Do you feel like coming into this fight that you’re kind of getting him at the opportune time?

J. Lopez
You know what? I’m not expecting that or counting on that. I prepared for the best Keith Thurman that I’ve seen. I think it’s not easy coming back from a layoff.

I know that myself, because I was myself in a two-year layoff about two and a half years ago. So I know the feeling. I know the obstacles that you have to go through physically and mentally. So I can’t assume it will be easy.

But either way — no matter what — he chose the wrong opponent to come back to. And I’m going to prove that.

Q
Does that sort of discussion about being a comeback fight irritate you, offend you or just make you more motivated to go do what you have to do? What’s your point of view on that?

J. Lopez
Yes, I wouldn’t say it offends me. There’s a lot of casuals that don’t understand the ins and outs and then don’t realize what I bring to the table. So no. It’s not bothersome, but to a lot of people — to those people that are thinking that way — it’s going to come as a surprise.

But for the people that really know boxing and really know the inside of my camp and my training, it won’t be a surprise when I pull off the victory.

Q
What is it that you have to do and excel at on Saturday to be able to turn back Keith Thurman, who you expect to be the best Keith Thurman that you’ve been seeing over the years?

J. Lopez
You know what? Like I’ve mentioned before, I think overall in the fight, my skill, my power and my will will outshine all these obstacles that I have to get through to get a victory against a champion like Keith Thurman. So I’m just going to plain simply win.

Q
Can you tell us about your mental preparation for the fight?

J. Lopez
I’ve had a great preparation. I’ve been training in the training camp, actually the same training camp that Mikey Garcia trains in for his fights. Everything has gone great, went perfect, so I can’t complain about training camp.

The road here hasn’t been just this training camp. It’s really been a three-fight training camp where I’ve been casually just working my way up into a championship level with the help of Robert Garcia. He’s helped me get into the best shape and best skills possible for a fight at this level.

So I’m definitely championship-level. And I’m going to prove that I’m championship material.
Q
Does the top competition you’ve faced give you confidence going into this Thurman fight?

J. Lopez
Well I wouldn’t say necessarily it gives me confidence. I would say this is not a place where I haven’t been before. My back’s against the wall, per se. I’m going in against a champion and I’m going against a tough opponent, a world champion.

So it’s all somewhere where I’ve been before and doesn’t – I’m not new to the game. I’m not -, this is not a new feeling. I’m going in. I know exactly what I have to do. And I’ve just got to go out there and execute.

Q
What are some of your favorite two fights that you’ve had that people would know about? What two fights do you like to talk about or remember in particular?

J. Lopez
You know what? I’ve had several great battles against some warriors, some very good champions. You know, I would say most recently would probably be versus Canelo Alvarez and Marcos Maidana. Those were great battles.

I had a big disadvantage against Canelo weight-wise. But I showed my true grit and my will.

And Maidana was a very tough opponent, caught me with a good punch, and I was stopped early. But I think what I bring to the table now is adding a little more intelligence and skill to that will that I’ve showed in previous past fights.

Q
And you’re training now with Robert Garcia in Riverside. Who are some of the guys that you’re sparring with up there?

J. Lopez
Oh, I’ve sparred absolutely everybody in the camp. I’m sparring guys as heavy as fighting at middleweight. I really can’t name them all, absolutely everyone from 140 to 160 that Robert Garcia has in Riverside Training Camp. I sparred them all. They’ve all helped me.

For this training camp — I’ve pretty much sparred every undefeated fighter that we have. I’m definitely prepared. I put in the work and now it’s time to execute.

Q
What’s it like where everybody’s going to be fighting almost at the same time?

J. Lopez
Well I think when it comes down to the work in training camp, , we’re all focused and mentally prepared for this moment. I know we all have different obstacles and are going to different places in the world to fight. But we all want the same outcome for each one of us.

So we’re all prepared. It’s great being amongst other champions and other great undefeated fighters training for the same goal that we all have. So it’s definitely motivating. And we’ve all prepared well. And we’re all ready to get a W.

Q
When a fighter has those sorts of injuries Keith had and has to come back from that, you know, does that put a little seed of doubt in his mind?

J. Lopez
Yes. Like I mentioned before, I’m not counting on that. I know that I’ve gone through the same thing and it’s not quite the same the first fight back or maybe even the second fight back. But he’s a champion, and he’s obviously ready to come back, he feels like. So he must feel well with recovery.

I’m definitely counting on seeing a good Keith Thurman, a refreshed Keith Thurman from a two-year layoff. And just like it can be a bad thing, it can also be a good thing. So that’s something we can’t know, really, until we’re up in the ring.

Q
In those first initial rounds, do you believe that those are the best time to take advantage of Keith Thurman, while he’s still trying to shake off the ring rust?

J. Lopez
No. I wouldn’t necessarily say that. I’m going in there with a smart game plan to win round by round. But we’ve worked on every aspect of our game. So we’re prepared mentally and physically to just going in there and then doing our thing.

It’s not necessarily going in there to try to jump on him early. But I’m prepared to go as many rounds as it might take.

Q
Do you feel like people are kind of overlooking you for this fight? And if so, do you believe that has that added any motivation into the training camp?

J. Lopez
I don’t feel like people are overlooking me. People are overlooking me. It’s shown. I don’t mind it. Does it bother me? Not at all, really. It motivates me. It has motivated me. I’m definitely ready. And to whoever it may be a surprise to — I’m taking the championship belt this Saturday.

Q
Have you kind of taken anything from those past big fights?

J. Lopez
Yes. For those that haven’t seen since some of those big fights that I had in previous years, you’re definitely going to see an improved fighter, overall, in my aspect of boxing.

I had some good tough battles against some good champions. But if you look back and look at my fights, you could say I was one step behind them, in whatever it might have been.

When other opponents face those same fighters those champions that I’ve fought really displayed a lot more and were able to look a lot better against other opponents. But I’m definitely prepared. I’m ready to go. I’m anxious and I can’t wait to get this done.

Q
What most concerns you about Thurman going into the fight this weekend?

J. Lopez
You know what? I’m aware of everything. I wouldn’t say I’m just concerned of one thing. But, I know he’s obviously an undefeated champion for a reason. So he brings a lot to the table.

He’s skilled. He’s strong. He has good movement. So I’ve just prepared for that. So I’m aware of everything that he brings to the table. I’ve just got to go out there and execute my own plan.

Q
What would you like boxing fans to know about you coming out of this fight on Saturday?

J. Lopez
That you can’t really judge a fighter by his wins and losses. I’ve had some tough defeats and some close defeats. But wins and losses aren’t everything.

I’m a better fighter than I’ve ever been. And I’m at my best. So it doesn’t matter how many bumps on the road I might have had throughout my career. I’m still going to be a world champion.

J. Lopez
I’d like to let everyone know that come Saturday night, you’re going to see a great, great fight, a fight that you won’t forget. And make sure you don’t miss it and be there if you can.

T. Brown
Now I’d like to introduce the undefeated WBA welterweight champion of the world from Clearwater Florida — he’s got a record of 28 and 0, and it’s great to have him back — Keith Thurman.

Keith Thurman
Hi, guys. How are you guys doing today? It’s just great to be back. I’m looking forward to this fight back in Brooklyn, 22 months in the making. It’s real exciting for me, for my team. I know a lot of fans miss me. And it’s going to be a great show. I’m happy. I’m happy to be here.

Q
Could you just sort of explain if there were injury frustrations and what they were like for you?

K. Thurman
Definitely. The elbow surgery, I kept like pressing my doctor to give me like a turnaround date. Like, “How long, Doc? How long, Doc?” And I wasn’t under – I didn’t understand why he kept really beating around the bush. He was very clever with his wording.

He pretty much never answered the question, no matter how many words he used. And I didn’t understand. So probably about six months after the surgery when I realized like this is a long recovery because it’s not healed yet, and I know I still need more time.

So it was more of a 10-month to a full 12-month recovery, which would have been okay. It’s not the longest layoff. That was frustrating in itself.

But luckily for me, I spent a lot of time with my wife. And I was surrounded by her family and just a lot of new life experiences. And I was able to cope with that.

When I was trying to get back in the ring and I had another injury due to my left hand, that’s when I just was like, “Man, this is not – this is not fun at all. I just want to get back into the sport. I wish somebody could tell me what day I’m going to be back in the ring.”

It just was very frustrating for me. I really just wanted to have a fight date. I wanted to be able to get back into the ring. The doctors were telling me “You’re not going to be out forever” — this and that — and I’m like, “It just feels like forever.”

It just felt like a long time. So I’m just truly happy to be back with this fight date against a truly game fighter. I think this is a great comeback fight for myself.

Josesito Lopez has been moving up. He’s been catching some momentum. He’s got a new trainer, new set of confidence. He wants to showcase his skills and talent. I want to remind the world who Keith Thurman truly is.

Q
How are they now? Are you as healthy as you’ve been going into a fight coming off his layoff? Or are you still having any issues with anything?

K. Thurman
Well the doctor told me the hand may need monitoring throughout my whole career, which fighters have gone through that many times. Some have to get surgeries and things like that. I’m hoping to avoid such things. But we’ll see what happens in the future.

Q
Did it never get to that point where you thought you wouldn’t be able to box again? And if it did, how did you deal with that?

K. Thurman
No. The worst part is, I’ve been out of the ring for two years. I was 28 years old the last time I fought. I’m 30 now. It’s just a little disappointing, missing some of those years of my youth.

But luckily I still am in my prime. And just being in shape now motivates me for my future. Watching Manny Pacquiao win a fight at 40 years old also motivates me.

So there were moments where I had some morbid thinking and negative thoughts. But at the end of the day, we’re back in action. And we’re really excited. And we’re looking forward to the future.

Q
Does that Pacquiao fight interest you for down the road?

K. Thurman
It does interest me. I just know he’s interested in fighting Mayweather again. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to understand how much money they’re going to generate, even if they were to generate half the income that they did last time.

Some people believe that people don’t want to see it. But I tend to find out people watch what’s on TV. So it’s interesting. I would love an opportunity to fight a legend such as Manny Pacquiao.

I’ve never had the opportunity to negotiate any fights against Floyd Mayweather. So if I was ever given such an opportunity, it would be an honor. And I would definitely take it.

Q
Are you looking at this fight as not just a simple title defense but an opportunity to reestablish yourself as the best fighter 147 pounds and kind of show people why you were the unified champion two years ago?

K. Thurman
Well definitely. We’re back on the stage. So we’re going to perform. We’re going to give you guys a great performance. You guys are the critics.

You get to say what Keith Thurman looks like and who looks like they’re about to be the top guy and x, y, and z and all that stuff. But like I stated when we first were on FOX — I’ve always been the original problem. I am the truth and I’m swift.

It’s showtime at FOX. I belong here. I belong here. I’ve been telling people that Keith Thurman was ranked number one. Two years out, do I hold my position? Some people say yes. Some people say no.

Let’s say I don’t hold my position. Where do you put Keith Thurman? “Oh, he’s not number one. Maybe he’s number two. Oh, wait, but you also have that Crawford guy there. Well then he’s number three.”

Look, man. I worked my whole life to be at the top of the game, and if you’re ranked number one, two or three, you’re at the top. So I don’t stress that stuff. I don’t look at anything negative. I constantly focus on the positive.

And I’m stepping back in the ring against Josesito Lopez to remind the world who Keith Thurman is, what it looks like when he’s fighting, how entertaining I can be and that I’m an elite fighter at 147.

Q
Could you sort of put dates or at least time frames to your first surgery on your elbow, when you thought it was going to be good, and then when you injured your left hand so we have a pretty good time reference on that?

K. Thurman
Well the doctor wouldn’t give me a turnaround date, which sucked, which frustrated me a little bit. I just had to go based off of feel, and it felt – it really did feel good after a year. We started to get into a camp, and then we reinjured ourselves, and it just really – it just prolonged the whole process. I kind of started that camp where I got re-injured about a year ago from now, actually.

Q
Is this the perfect time for you to reestablish yourself?

K. Thurman
It’s a beautiful moment in the sport of boxing. And I’m truly blessed to be at the top. That’s how I feel. I’ve always known that we were going to be here one day but — luckily for me — the day is today.

For it to be my first appearance on FOX – FOX is highly dedicated to what they’re doing in the sport.

For the sport of boxing and for a lot of the top fighters and top contenders — this is just a great moment to be a part of a beautiful sport which is boxing.

I’m happy to be here. I’m looking forward to my return — this performance Saturday night — and I’m going to give you guys a good show.

Q
Do you think that Floyd is going to come back and fight Manny? Or what is your gut feeling on that?

K. Thurman
90%. Floyd said everything when he said absolutely nothing. A lot of people don’t know how to read body language the way I do.

When the question was asked and Floyd said absolutely nothing, he actually almost looked in the other direction. He actually started to like look away from the camera instead of towards the camera.

And really, it’s not like he flinched. He didn’t do a lot of movement. It was very subtle. But by sometimes not saying something, that does mean that you’re saying a lot.

And pretty much what he said is, “Why are you asking me a question? I don’t answer questions. You need to give me a statement. You need to tell me that you’re going to give me 150 million up front and that you’re going to give me my kickback on the pay-per-view, and then we can start to actually negotiate. And you’ll get some answers but not from asking questions.”

You see what I’m saying? That’s the way Floyd Mayweather thinks. He’s a very smart and brilliant businessman, tremendous fighter. They’re both past their prime. Floyd beat him once.

Floyd’s silent talk is really him saying, “Show me – give me a statement, not a question, of $150 million up front, whatever the numbers may be. It just needs to be pleasing to the ears” before Floyd will consider it.

But it’s really hard for any human being to not take $100 million or greater for a 36-minute performance. I believe if Floyd was to make half of what he did against Pacquiao the first time, it’s still worth it. It’s still worth it, man.

They’re both past their prime. Floyd is just a very slick boxer even though he does throw one punch at a time, similar to what Adrien Broner did. He just does it way more effectively. He has better defense, better movement throughout the ring with the ring awareness.

And he beat him once. I think he would beat him twice and I think Manny Pacquiao would be able to retire happily after such a paycheck. So that’s why I say the likelihood in my opinion is 90%.

Of course I would love to be wrong. I would love to be wrong because that would open up doors for me. Hopefully, hopefully it would open up doors for me to negotiate against the legend Manny Pacquiao, but we’ll see. There’s tons of opportunities at 147, so regardless, I still have a beautiful job.

Q
Do you think he would beat Pacquiao in similar fashion to last time or worse?

K. Thurman
I think probably similar. It could end up being worse. All it takes is the right connection at the right time. But it should be similar. Floyd is just very cautious. He potshots and he’s just very accurate when he does so.

Throughout his whole career, he was snapping heads back, hitting them with that jab to the body, doing little curve ball change-ups — slow, fast — doing his best to be very unpredictable. And yes, I think he would just craftily coast his way to victory once again.

Q
So what has it been like to deal with that backlash of being out of the ring for you?

K. Thurman
I can care less what people say and what they think about Keith Thurman and, “Oh, he’s ducking guys. He’s getting injured to avoid people.” I’m a seven-figure fighter, there’s a lot of money out there to be made.

And I’ve worked really hard my whole life since the age of seven. I’m 30 now. There’s just a lot of people that really don’t understand what it means to be a world-class fighter.

So a lot of opinions just really don’t get to me. If anything, some of them were humorous and my favorite, you know – I’m Keith “One-Time” Thurman. I’m Keith “Run-Time” Thurman, Keith “Sometime” Thurman, Keith “Once-Upon-a-Time” Thurman. That was pretty amusing.

Q
How painful was it when you incurred this hand injury? And how much concern do you have that this could be a chronic type thing that you have to deal with over and over again?

K. Thurman
Well, when it occurred, it was painful enough to where it hurt to land a jab on my sparring partner with 16-ounce gloves. So that’s when I knew, if I can’t punch my sparring partner with a jab, I’m not going to have a fight date.

In the back of my head, yes, we’re a little worried about things going into the future, but we’re also doing our best to stay positive because we feel great. We’re ready for this fight. And I just want my health to hold up because I just want to be an active fighter at the top of the welterweight division once again.

And no matter what happens, I believe that I will be able to do that, even if I do have to monitor things. Maybe I do have to make adjustments in my fight style or things of that nature. I’ll do whatever it takes to continuously showcase the skills and talents that I have.

I’ve always been versatile. And there’s many ways to get to the finish line when it comes to a 12-round championship bout. I didn’t knock out Shawn. I didn’t knock out Danny. I’m hard to beat even if I’m not trying to knock you out. So at the end of the day, I have confidence.

Q
What did you learn about yourself in this 22-month layoff?

K. Thurman
The longest layoff prior to this was a 14-month layoff. So I’ve had layoffs in my career. I didn’t learn anything new from that aspect.

But what I did learn is a little bit about getting back in shape, because some people would think, “Was he still training? Was he doing this and that?” And not being able to punch – first, my elbow was hurt. I couldn’t punch with my right hand. So I don’t want to be hitting the bag with only my left.

And then I hurt my left and now my right’s good. I don’t want to just really hit the bag with just my right. So it was a little depressing. So I ended up not doing a lot.

And once when I felt good and I knew we were going to create a fight date, I had to tell myself, “Hey, man. You’ve got to wake up. You’ve got to get moving. And you’ve got to be a champion again.” And I knew I could do it. But I learned a lot in the process of doing it.

I also believe that I learned that even though I can do it, I should not. There’s many things in life that you could do that are things that you should not do. So yes, I can get back in shape in ten weeks’ time and I can be ready to perform a 12-round fight.

I did start moving around before – a little bit before prior just ten weeks, but real camp was about a ten-week camp. So at the end of the day I would love to stay healthy and stay active. And even if I’m not healthy, I think I’m ready to stay active.

Take a Tom Brady approach to the sport of boxing. Take a Bernard Hopkins approach to the sport of boxing. What I learned is actually I’m still learning it. And I want to carry this into the coming years, especially this year and the further years down the line. So that’s pretty much what I’ve gotten from this experience.

Q
Are you saying that you want to fight over 40 years old?

K. thurman
No. It’s always been my lifelong dream to retire young and successful. I just keep debating what young age that is, especially with some career setbacks. But I would like to have an option to retire, but maybe not necessarily need to retire.

In reference to Manny Pacquiao, Bernard Hopkins, and Tom Brady, even Floyd Mayweather — really when I look at these individuals, it’s really just inspiring for a man in my situation. It’s very inspiring.

It really keeps me in a positive light, even witnessing Pacquiao win the other weekend. After he won, I pulled a Floyd Mayweather and I ended up running three miles in the rain at 2:30 in the morning.

It’s just something about seeing a 40-year-old man being victorious just said, “You’ve got this. It doesn’t matter what God throws at you, what obstacles. You’re here for a reason and you’ve got this.”

Not every individual is an individual. Some people have greater success than others. I’m not here to go tit for tat with any champion of the world. I’m here for my own story. I’m here for my own legacy.

Q
What concerns you most about Lopez this weekend, going into the fight this weekend?

K. Thurman
His confidence. He shouldn’t have any. What’s up with that?

But in all seriousness, I’m interested in seeing where this confidence comes from. There’s got to be a logical reason. Where’s it coming from.

I know he knows he’s a little smarter. He’s maybe he’s a little stronger. Maybe he just feels faster. I don’t know. He’s going to have to show me where this confidence comes from.

He’s fully aware of my boxing style and that I do bring a lot into the ring, speed, power, movement. Yet he’s still confident. So I want to see what that’s all about Saturday night.

He’s had tough fights. He’s a real dog. He doesn’t mind mixing it up. And I’m prepared for that. But I just feel like maybe he is a new Josesito Lopez. But what is new? I’ll find out in a few days.

Q
Can you promise an explosive performance on Saturday night? Or is this fight more about making sure your body is 100%? What can fans look forward to?

K. Thurman
Really, I just want to have fun. I want to have fun. I want to move around the ring. I want to see how much I can mix it up. It’s been so long since I’ve been punched by eight-ounce gloves. So there’s just a lot to look forward to for myself, for the fans.

I’ve been very accurate in camp. I do feel sharp. And I just want to know how this sharpness is going to play out against another man that’s prepared for this 12-round performance.

Am I going to be able to land my counters the moment that I want to land them? Is everything really going to go my way? Is it going to be smooth? Is it going to be rough? Is it going to be tough? But the fans should expect to see a world-class performance from world-class fighters, especially from myself.

I’m going to do what I always do. I’m going to be looking to land some big punches and I’m going to be looking to win the rounds. Because if you’re not getting the knockout, you still want to win the fight.

So we’ll see what happens. And like I said, at the end of the day, it’s going to be fun. 22 months and Keith One-Time Thurman is back.

Q
What are the toughest aspects of returning after the layoff? Is it physical or mental or timing or stamina or what exactly for you?

K. Thurman
Well, for me, probably the biggest one — which I still feel confident about — is the timing. Like I said, my timings were sharp against the sparring partners, but I’m not fighting my sparring partners. And neither is he fighting his sparring partners.

So at the end of the day, I just hope that I can do what Ben Getty used to always say. “If you do your homework, you pass the test.” I just hope that in the gym, when two plus two equals four Saturday night, two plus two equals four, that really there shouldn’t be a new equation.

This is boxing. I know how to handle myself in the ring. I know how to scope out my opponent, look for the openings, and piece my punches together at the right moments. And that’s what I’m looking forward to Saturday night.

Q
Do you have to do anything differently than you did earlier in your career aside from coming back from the layoff?

K. Thurman
The only thing differently that I really made sure that I did because of the layoff is I just guarantee myself ten weeks of a real training camp over the allotted eight weeks that I normally do. And I might need to continue that at this stage and at this age just to guarantee that I stay sharp and that I can’t say to myself, “You didn’t give yourself enough time to prepare for the fight.”

Jermall Charlo vs. Willie Monroe Jr. & Jermell Charlo vs. Tony Harrison International Media Conference Call Transcript & Audio Recording

Click HERE for Audio

Ray Flores
On behalf of PBC we’re very excited about next Saturday, December 22, at Barclays Center where we have Jermell Charlo defending his championship against Tony Harrison. Also Jermall Charlo in action defending his title against Willie Monroe, Jr.

PBC on FOX and FOX Deportes begins at 8 ET/5 PT. I also want to mention that next Saturday’s event is being brought to you by TGB Promotions along with Lions Only Promotions and DiBella Entertainment.

What an early holiday gift for fight fans in the New York area. Tickets start as low as $50 and their own sale now. They’re going quickly. Ticketmaster.com, Barclayscenter.com or by calling 800-745-3000. We have a dynamic night of action. I also have to mention PBC on FOX will open up with the heavyweight showdown featuring 2012 United States Olympian Dominic Breazeale and Carlos Negron.

But right now we have the privilege of being joined alongside an undefeated world champion who is coming off a win over Austin “No Doubt” Trout, from Houston, Texas I want to go ahead and welcome the world champion, the WBC Super Welterweight Champion of the World, Jermell Charlo.

Jermell Charlo
I just want to say you know I’m super thankful to be on this card and I’m glad the world got the chance to recognize the talent that we all have.

R. Flores
This young man who is from Detroit, Michigan. He’s very hungry. He’s a former world title challenger. He’s coming off of three straight victories in a row, please welcome, Tony “Super Bad” Harrison.

Tony Harrison
Hi everybody. Oh man, like I said it’s a pleasure for me to get back on this stage. It’s rare you see a challenger get two shots at a title and I want for Jermell being the champion that he is for giving me the opportunity, you know this is a great fight for the fans.

This shows the world champion you’re dealing with in Charlo. To take a fight like this you know he’s something and on December 22, I know it’s just going to be a dynamic fight. The abilities are going to be unlimited in the ring.

So I’m just looking for a great night. Like you said, I’m glad he made it out of camp healthy and I made it out healthy. He’s probably in great shape. I’m in great shape. There’s no excuses on this side and hopefully there’s none on that side and we just going to put on a good night of fighting.

Q
Jermell, if you get past Tony Harrison, how likely is that you’re going to face Jarrett Hurd in the future?

J. Charlo
Hurd is another fighter that we’re looking to fight in 2019. He wants to fight someone else possibly in his hometown and build up a little bit more. I don’t know why it took him forever to get ready for that fight, but you know I guess it happens to some people.

Q
Is this something we can expect in the future that you and your brother will be fighting on the same card?

J. Charlo
It could be whatever the fans want to or the fans and the people want to think. Normally we fight on cards together. We’ve done this a lot in our careers so it’s comfortable. But we like to build our legacy separately. We both took a fight at the same time so it was perfect and it was on the same card.

Q
Jermell, what do you remember from Tony Harrison’s performance against Hurd, particularly in the maybe the first half of the fight when he may have been doing better in the fight. What do you remember from that?

J. Charlo
I’m not Jarrett Hurd. My skills of boxing are way different. My style of boxing is different and I definitely don’t really care what he did. I remember paying attention to that fight in the dressing room and I was rooting for Tony because he came out like the dude wanted to win.

And that’s what I like about Tony. And I like for fighters to come in there with that mentality of fighting and wanting to win. And I know that’s where he comes from and that’s what he possesses. So you know he was winning in the beginning of the fight, whatever happened, happened. That was all she wrote.

Q
How has that respect between you and your opponent been maybe different in some sense than some of your previous fights?

J. Charlo
You guys will see on the 22nd, when we come out to fight, people have certain ways that they feel certain times. I don’t care about how much somebody respects me or how much they don’t respect me; I’m going to still treat both fighters the same.

I have to defend myself in every manner that I can and it doesn’t matter if they act properly, it can be a respect and all that be done and said, but it’s about the fight game and about what’s really been built inside of me. I’m not worried about all the respect right now.

He can be respectful and all of that. He’s coming to take my title and that’s messing up my legacy and that’s a whole different ballgame for me. That hunger is a different kind inside of me, it means different to me. I hope everyone is safe and I hope it doesn’t cause too much damage, but I’m coming. I defend it with my life on the line.

So if he feels that same way, it’s going to be an exciting fight for the fans. It will be a good fight for the PBC and for whoever is watching. At the end of the day my life is at risk when I’m in that ring every time.

Q
Is there perhaps anymore added pressure to have to deliver a memorable performance in front of wide audience on FOX or are you kind of approaching this fight kind of the same as any other?

J. Charlo
As any other fight. Regardless what TV network is promoting this fight or putting this fight on, I’ve been there before. I’ve done this before and I have to continue to do what I do. So yes, I’m super excited about FOX being such a marquis television network that allows more to see what we do.

I wish that a lot of people were able to see this beforehand, then they would have a little bit more respect for me and what I do. So I’m glad that we got this opportunity.

Q
Could you maybe kind of talk more about you what’s been different about this particular camp compared to others?

J. Charlo
I’ve taken a lot of time to settle down within myself you know. I have everything I want, everything I need and so there’s no point of this disobedience to any of my people. And I look at my coach a little bit different in this camp. He’s like a father figure to me now. He’s not a father figure, but when I go up to Dallas to do my training and stuff, I definitely pay attention to everything he’s doing and we’re well plugged in with each other. We connect really well.

The greatest thing is he let me do me, he let me be me in that ring. Regardless of anything, if I feel like throwing a certain punch. “Hey coach look listen I’m going to talk about this one punch that I think I can throw well because my body allows me to do it.” And so those are the things that I’ve been doing differently. I’m going to pull some tricks out the hat, its’ going to be different.

Q
Tony, has that been any extra motivation for you especially now that you have a chance to kind of right the wrong that you weren’t able to win the world title in your last attempt?

T. Harrison
Man I’m not even thinking about Jarrett Hurd, that fight was years ago. I left that fight right where I left it. I moved on. I fought four times after that. I don’t need no more added motivation. I’ve got a family I got to feed. I’ve got people that’s rooting me on. And just with me, I’m competitive in my own without nobody else. So I want to do it for me. I want that fight back with Hurd just as bad as Jermell wants it for the first time.

So in order for me to get the fight I got to win the title. I know for sure I won’t get it again. So for me, I just keep doing what I’m doing man. But I left that in the past. I had a great training camp two months — two months and two weeks’ worth is actually the longest I’ve ever trained for a fight. Basically it costs five weeks, four weeks or something like that. I feel good, body feels good. I’m focused on December 22, I’m focused on Jermell. I’m focused on the WBC title and I just want to give a good show.

Q
Are you going to dedicate this fight to the Kronk Gym and Adonis Stevenson for all that’s happening with him and his trauma out in Canada?

T. Harrison
It doesn’t have to be a a guy from Kronk. This is a rough sport that we in. Just like Prichard Colon, I pray for everybody to make it out of that ring safe and go back to their families. It hit a little more home that I do know that guy that’s in that situation.

This sport is so dangerous. I pray each and every day. I pray for my opponents before I walk in there and I fight them. So, it’s a dangerous sport we in and I think we all know what we signed up for when we signed up. But that never hurts you less when you see somebody in those conditions. So I’m praying for him and I’m praying for Adonis I’m praying for his family.

Q
Have you done anything different in training camp to make sure that you will be able to box as good as you do the first half in the second half?

T. Harrison
Only on December 22, you’ll be able to tell. I think the other times I think I just over trained. I usually get in these big fights and then I tend to want to climb Mount Everest in one day and I think that’s what been happening.

This time like I said I’ve been the guinea pig for my stable. We don’t have any world renown trainers or a city that’s more recognize than the other. Like I said, I’ve been the guinea pig. We’ve been learning as a group, together, this whole way. So I think they’ve gotten better with how my body is and knowing how my body feels.

We’ve done everything together and as a unit and as a team. Nobody is to blame man. But we’ve all been working together and trying to figure this out a day a time and that’s all we can do.

Q
How different is this from any of your other fights? And has it been taxing? Has it been overwhelming?

J. Charlo
No it’s not overwhelming. Because actually whenever you put a camera in my face or you put a camera in my brother’s face. We want to be on cue with everything and on point. So it can be overwhelming. The only thing they can do is just push you to be in better shape and make you want to go harder. We always doing something different. Me and my brother are twins. And the thing about being a twin is that’s automatically something that you have to show the world, the world has already seen. They got their eyes looking just because I was a twin. And that’s something I’ve dealt with.

Every time you go to the grocery store with Mom you ask somebody, “Oh are those twins you know?” The attention was always there, they always looking to know who was older. They always want to know do I feel the same thing my brother feels? A lot of these questions is no. I’m my own man and I try to do everything in the world to separate, so people can understand the difference between us. But as well the things that I love about being a twin. And there’s things I take with the punch.

Being into fashion and being into certain marketing things. Knowing the business behind boxing is greater than just getting in the ring and fighting. It was my brother’s idea to go a large facility where people would’ve enjoyed being around us for our Houston workout. And put a ring in there build a ring and have special guests — Floyd Mayweather. I’m thankful for him being able to fly in and everyone know Floyd flies on jets and different things. So for him to come in and do this for us was major. He sees something different in us and speaking with him yesterday he could see the fire and the throb that we really have in the world. And I’m glad they’re getting a chance once again to see to put this one and do this for the world. This is big for us in our city. You know this is big for us in our legacy and our careers and everything that we build in the future.

R. Flores
All right. Thank you guys very much to Jermell and Tony for going ahead and I want you first Jermell if you want to give some closing comments as you get set for a big title defense coming up next Saturday with PBC on FOX. So Jermell the floor is all yours.

J. Charlo
I’m just thankful for allowing me to be able to show my skills and my talent. This is something that God placed in my life in and I’m able to do this. I got a family myself, I’ve got a son that looks up to me that watches. He’s nine years old. And I know he’ll be paying attention to this very closely. I know Tony got a family. And I just pray that everybody is safe, but come the 22nd I come to bring destruction again and to build my legacy. And I hope that the world gets a chance to capture the moment.

T. Harrison
We almost a week away. This is one of the best jams I’ve been in. I applaud Jermell for being the champion that he is and taking this fight like this. Knowing I’m not Trout, I’m not Lubin, I’m not Hatley and he sees that I bring a different kind of dynamic to the ring. I ain’t 21 I’m not 20. I’m not going to do all the jawing. I’m not going to even go there. I’m thankful that he made it out healthy. Thankful I made it out healthy. And come December 22, he got something I need. He got something I want. I’m coming to get it.

R. Flores
Tony, thank you guys very much that was Jermell Charlo and Tony Harrison. Now we shift our attention towards the main event. And if you guys remember at the press conference the main event was determined because of a coin flip with heavyweight stand out and heavyweight legend Gerry Cooney at Barclays Center. But we’re going to get set for Jermall Charlo vs. Willie Monroe Jr. That is for the interim WBC Middleweight Championship of the World. Don’t forget tickets are going quickly. It’s PBC on FOX next Saturday December 22, at Barclays Center in Brooklyn.

But now we’re set for Willie Monroe Jr., who is a terrific fighter. With a record of 23 wins just three defeats. He’s won two straight victories from Rochester, New York please welcome Willie “El Mongoose” Monroe Jr. Willie if you have opening comments?

Willie Monroe Jr:
This is the opportunity we’ve been looking for. It’s a blessing and I can’t wait.

R. Flores
And now we’ll get set for the champion out of Houston, Texas. He has 78% knockout percentage. He’s undefeated 27 wins, no losses, 21 wins coming by way of knock out. Please welcome Jermall Charlo.

Jermall Charlo
I’m ready to go. Welcome me back to Brooklyn, I get a chance to fight basically in Willie’s hometown. So I know a lot of people expecting this fight is going to be fireworks.

Q
Austin Trout said that after he lost to you that Gennady Golovkin, Canelo Alvarez, those guys need to get you then rather than later because you’re only going to get better. Do you feel he’s correct?

J. Charlo
Right now, my main focus is Monroe. Wise words from Austin Trout but it’s a matter of time. I’m really just learning on the job at the same time, being in this position and being at the top level. So sooner or later I’ll get my shot.

Q
Did it take you any time to acclimate yourself to middleweight?

J. Charlo
Most definitely. My first fight at 160, the guy had a hurt leg. It didn’t give me the chance to show the fans and the people around boxing what I was made of. But fighting Hugo, he only had one loss and him being a bigger guy than me, knowing that, let me know that I had a future at 160.

Now I’m fighting Monroe who has experience at 160 and he’s a big guy also, but not a statue. So it’s going to be a tangle. It’s going to be a tussle. But I’m learning like that 160 pounds is just like 154 pounds. My body’s constantly growing. I’m filling out at 160. I feel good. This is probably my one of my most fun and best camps that I’ve had because I got a chance to experience it twice already.

Q
What’s the upside of fighting on national TV as opposed to premium or streaming networks?

J. Charlo
Well, the upside is that everyone in the world gets a chance to see it for free. It’s almost like it’s there for the people and it’s not like an option where you have to have money. This’ll be at all bars around the world because normally bars don’t play HBO or pay-per-view and stuff like that where they have to buy expensive cable offers.

It’s a chance to fight in front of the world, and it’s something I always dreamed of. But I would’ve never thought it would come this soon.

Q
Willie Monroe, Jr. doesn’t have a very high knockout percentage. Are you expecting to just walk through him?

J. Charlo
No, not at all. When a fighter is criticized by his knockout ratio, things like that, you kind of tend to think that okay now he’s going to try to develop power, more snap or something like that, things you have to watch out for. So he’s not like a wild guy. He’s a southpaw, a technical mover, real slick boxer. So there’s going to be some times in there where I might have to really export the game plan that we have for him. So no, I’m not expecting to walk out and just have an easy fight. It’s going to be a big fight, for me and Willie both.

Q
Willie, you fought through world champions in the past. How does Jermall Charlo compare to Gennady Golovkin and Billy Joe Saunders?

W. Monroe
That’s something I can’t answer yet. We haven’t fought yet. So I’ll be able to tell you how he compares to those guys after the 23rd.

Q
Are you a better fighter since losing to both Gennady Golovkin and Billy Joe Saunders?

W. Monroe
I think I am. But then again, like I said, that’ll be proven on the 22nd.

Q
Willie, do you think that there’s an element of being overlooked in this fight and just used as a stepping stone so that he could position himself for a fight with Golovkin?

W. Monroe
No. It’ll play is in my favor if I use it right. People pretty much do what they’re told to do. People like who they’re marketed. Certain fighters are marketed and a lot of people don’t actually know a lot about any of us fighters.

It’s like football and basketball. One day they’re a Lakers fan, they next day they’re a Golden State fan, next day they’re a Knicks fan. My job is to keep focusing on the task at hand.

Q
How disappointed were you with the results of the Saunders fight? And did you go out of your way for this particular training camp to prepare for a different result for Jermall on the 22nd?

W. Monroe
I wouldn’t say I went out of my way but we did what we have to do to prepare for two totally different fighters. You put together a game plan for what you have to deal with.

The whole Saunders thin leading up to the fight and what I had to deal with in London, you know what I mean, leading up to the fight, you know, had a lot more to do with who had my back. But I make no excused and I’m ready for December 22.

Q
Jermall, this question is for you. How good was the experience last night to partake in that toy drive with Floyd and all that that entails for your Houston community?

J. Charlo
It was great. The community came out. Floyd Mayweather, Jr. came out. A shout out to him. Shout out to the people. We raised awareness and we got toys to the kids who aren’t fortunate enough to get toys for Christmas. Just to see the smiles on people’s faces.

I got work to do. And that was my motto for this fight. I appreciate everybody’s support. The major thing was that we got the job done and we got the toys.

Q
How important is it for you to look good and avoid overlooking what’s obviously a very motivated Willie Monroe, Jr.?

J. Charlo
We don’t overlook anyone. There’s no such thing. Every fighter’s a hard fight. That’s how I’m coming into this fight. Willie Monroe, Jr. has been in there with great guys. But this is a different fight. Every fight is a different fight. You can’t even look at my last fight and say that I’m going to fight the same way.

It’s how I make my adjustments according to changes. I’m ready to go. This what we do. That’s how I make a living for my family. I put out for my legacy. So at this point I’m ready to go. I’m ready to go. Next week, on Saturday, you guys will get a chance to see again what I’m made of.

Q
After this fight, do you have any desire or plan to have your – have a fight in 2019 take place in Texas? Or are you comfortable fighting in Brooklyn?

J. Charlo
I’m most definitely comfortable fighting in Brooklyn. But the ultimate goal is to fight here at home in front of my fans, in front of my people. But like I’ve never really been on that side of it. So I don’t have any say so to that as of right now.

Besides, you know, TGB Promotions is doing great in Brooklyn, and that’s where we’re campaigning there right now. I know I got a place at home and I’ll be able to make the fans happy sooner or later. But right now, my focus is to keep fighting where the fans are and where they’re happy at.

Q
Do you kind of feel like you’re being overlooked by those Golovkin and Canelo?

J. Charlo
Man, it’s god’s time. It could be something that I want or something I’m ready for at the time. But it’s all a matter of time if I fight him now or I fight him later, I’m only getting wiser, stronger, faster and smarter. So they’re going to have to deal with that as it comes. But hopefully those fight happen for me sooner or later.

But right now, my main focus is Monroe. And that’s what we got on the 22nd. So I’ll let those guys take care of what they’re doing on their campaigns with Canelo and them and Golovkin. But sooner or later, they got to answer to Jermall Charlo.

Q
Now that you’re fighting in New York instead of having to go overseas to face Billy Joe Saunders, has there been kind of any difference in the mood around training camp?

W. Monroe
One thing that’s been different is that I’m thankful to PBC because I fought twice already going into a championship fight where in the other position where I went over to London I fought on HBO as the co-feature to Canelo when he fought Liam Smith. And I was supposed to have been fighting maybe four months after that. And I didn’t fight until a year after that, which was the Billy Joe Saunders fight. And while I was under the promoter I was under, there were two different times where I would go – it was the time where I was off 13 months, and the time that I was off 12 months, not due to anything that I was doing. That’s just the business.

I was making a point to keep me busy. And a fighter like me who fights off skill, intelligence, moving, you need to keep a fighter like me busy so I can stay sharp.

You have different type of fighters. You have the fighters who rely most on power. You can give them a long layoff because they have what’s called a game changer. They may be somebody may be able to out sharp them for four or five miles, but then they come through their power, and it may even the odds.

But when you have a guy like me who fights a super-intellectual style, you need to keep me busy.

We had the money to actually put together a great camp. We’ve fought twice, we’re coming off of two wins, so we’ve been busy. And I’ve been able to pay the sparring partners accordingly so they stay around.

We had about three different cruiserweights, both amateur and pros. Just to exaggerate the height and the quote, unquote power advantage that Jermall has.

I was able to sit down, put things together and create a camp accordingly, rather than just coming off of just being in shape and going in there and fighting off of what I know. So that would have put together a great camp, accordingly.

So I think that will play a huge amount of favor. This is the first time ever in my whole career that I’ve been able to do this, that I’ve been able to put together a full camp with the right sparring, after bringing these guys in to spar and have a great schedule.

So under those circumstances, I feel like that just boosts my confidence into who I am and what I can do all around. I mean, I’m sure Jermall and his team has put together a great camp, I just can’t wait to see what happens on December 22. I know him as a fighter, I’m also a fan. I’m excited to see what’s going to happen myself.

Q
What is it that you see in Jermall Charlo that you think you’re going to capitalize on?

W. Monroe
I’m not going to talk about that. We ain’t going to talk about what I’ll try to capitalize on. That’s like giving away the game plan. I just want to be in the mix. Because you’re in the mix, you can come out as champion. When you’re dealing with a promoter that’s just holding you, holding you, holding you, and then try to make a little money off of you, it’s hard to really gauge and really work and get into a mold.

I just like to fight. That’s just been me since I was a kid. I love to fight, I love to contend, I had a 142 amateur fights. I wish I had 100 more. Fighting is just what I love to do.

If you’re the big guy on campus that everybody’s saying no one can beat, then I want to try my chances against you. I was pretty much still a kid when I fought Golovkin. I was a 19 and 1. And that was really early in my career, but I been let to fight. I don’t turn down no fight. I don’t turn down anything.

And just as a challenge, I love to challenge myself. I’m just very ambitious and vigorous like that. And I mean, what Charlo has done in the box appropriate, you can’t deny it.

Q
Do you think the pressure is on him?

W. Monroe
The pressure’s more on him. I’ve seen the comments that I’m a stepping stone fight. I’m this, I’m that. But like I said earlier, the fans say what they say and then when you win then it’s “Oh, I knew you could do it.” Or I knew you was this, I knew you was that.

A lot of fans like the bandwagon, so a lot of that really doesn’t bother me. It doesn’t shake me either way because come December 22 it’s going to be me and him in the ring. Can’t nobody help me. Can’t nobody help him, no matter what’s said on the inside or outside. Jermall Charlo has to execute his game plan the best way to beat Willie Monroe, and Willie Monroe has to execute his game plan the best way to beat Jermall Charlo.

And December 22, we’ll just have to see who executes their game plan the best.
Q
Is there any question for you because the world is going to gauge you versus Gennady and your performances against Monroe?

J. Charlo
I’m focused on the 22nd. Do you hear where Willie saying? He’s had a great camp. I’m glad I’m able to put other fighters in position and to be able to make the type of money at this stage and at this level. I’m glad that everything is where it won’t be any excuses. And then on the 22nd, I’d better show the world why I’m so explosive. Why Golovkin and all those others don’t really want to take this high risk.

Q
Did the fact that this is on network TV take anything away from the camp? Or did you remain more focused than ever because of the limelight?

J. Charlo
No. No. None of this stuff bothered me. You get cameras every fight. The light is there. My future is bright. It’s always right in front of me. I’m not worried about none of the talk and none of the so-called this, so-called that.

I’m here to fight, man. I’m here to fight the best out there. I didn’t get the best fighter out there to fight me so I’m taking a fight with a guy that’s right there in the rank and he’s with me. So look, we’re going to make a show, we’re going to make him do what he do.

Brooklyn, the 22nd, that’s all I care about right now.

R. Flores
Thank you very much. Before we let them go, Willie, we’ll start off with you. If you have any final comments before you get set for, you know, your match of next Saturday for PBC on FOX from Barclays Center in Brooklyn, December 22nd.

W. Monroe
I just want to say thanks to everybody that’s part of this. Thanks to FOX. Thanks to PBC. Man, our prayers and wishes to every fighter. A lot of people talk a lot of stuff on the outside, but they don’t realize just how dangerous this boxing really is.

So all prayers and blessings to every fighter on the card, man. And I’m elated, thankful man. It’s five days after my birthday, a few days before Christmas. I keep reiterating that. So I’m blessed, man, and thank you guys for considering Willie Monroe and thanks for the opportunity and I promise I won’t disappoint on the 22nd.

J. Charlo
We got another one. We got work to do. We’re going to stand up. Houston, stand up. Everybody that’s on the phone lines, I want to thank them. PBC on FOX, this is bigger than pay-per-view. Like Willie said, you all don’t realize what we do, we’re putting our life on the line to entertain the world, so that’s what we’re going to do and we promise not to let you down with a great fight. And my hands will be raised after this fight and it’s going to mean so much to me, so I can’t wait to get in there.

Errol Spence Jr. vs. Carlos Ocampo International Media Conference Call Transcript & Audio Recording

Errol Spence Jr. vs. Carlos Ocampo International Media Conference Call Transcript & Audio Recording

Click HERE for Audio Recording

Ray Flores

We are very excited. We want to thank the media for joining us. So this is going to be a very historic event in Dallas, Texas as we are very excited to be at the Ford Center at The Star in Frisco for a big night of action, the return of Errol Spence Jr. making his homecoming as he defends his IBF welterweight crown against Carlos Ocampo.

We have a terrific undercard as well as we go ahead and have Daniel Roman defending his super bantamweight championship against Moises “Chucky” Flores. Also to open up SHOWTIME CHAMPIONSHIP BOXING we have Javier Fortuna matching up with Adrian Granados.

We go live on SHOWTIME at 9 p.m. ET/8 p.m. CT, that’s local time there in Frisco. And on Saturday night the card is being brought to you by TGB Promotions and Man Down Promotions, and presented by Premier Boxing Champions and sponsored by Corona Extra, La Cerveza Mas Fina.

Right now I will turn it over to the Vice President of TGB Promotions, Brittany Goossen Brown. TGB Promotions has been promoting quality and world class matchups for years upon years and they’re excited to bring this world title matchup.

Brittany Goossen Brown

Thank you Ray and thank you all for joining us today as we kickoff the Spence vs. Ocampo Fight Week. We are thrilled to be promoting the homecoming of the IBF Welterweight World Champion, Errol Spence Jr. as he faces his mandatory challenger Carlos Ocampo.

It has been a privilege for our family to promote countless home title defenses over the years but none of those compare to what we are about to witness this Saturday night in front a nearly sold-out crowd at the Ford Center at The Star in Frisco.

It has been a pleasure to work alongside Errol’s Man Down Promotions, the Dallas Cowboys organization and our friends at SHOWTIME to bring this fight to the fans in Dallas and all of those fans watching at home.

Errol’s a special fighter, he’s a good friend and Saturday will certainly be a special night of fights not to be missed. I’m going to send it back to Ray and I’ll see ya’ll in Texas.

R. Flores

Thank you very much Brittany. Well you know what, it’s no secret that the leader when it comes to televised boxing has been SHOWTIME. They have done an amazing job starting off with Errol’s title defense back in January over Lamont Peterson at Barclays Center. They followed it up, and it’s been a tremendous year where we’re coming off of a riveting night of action with Leo Santa Cruz-Abner Mares the rematch.

Now I will turn it over to the President of Sports & Events Programming, for Showtime Network Inc., who works extremely hard and does a fabulous job, here is Mr. Stephen Espinoza.

Stephen Espinoza

Thanks very much Ray. SHOWTIME has distinguished itself as the leader in boxing by televising the brightest stars in their most important fights on a regular basis, of course live on SHOWTIME.

This Saturday will be the 10th SHOWTIME CHAMPIONSHIP BOXING telecast just during the first half of this year. We are the home of the biggest stars in boxing and Errol Spence Jr. is certainly one of those.

So far this year in just the first half of ’18 we’ve seen four of the top ten welterweights fighting on SHOWTIME from Danny Garcia to Yordenis Ugas to Jessie Vargas and now of course Errol Spence. Spence is leading a dynamic crop of young stars who are regularly appearing on SHOWTIME. He is a top ten pound-for-pound ranked fighter.

He has not fought in Dallas since 2015 when he was 18-0 and not yet champion. He won the title last year in Sheffield, he defended it earlier this year in Brooklyn and now obviously he is bringing it back home to Dallas. Errol has knocked out ten straight opponents as his level of competition has steadily risen which is something you rarely see in the sport. To continue that kind of knockout streak at the highest caliber level is something to be recognized.

As for Carlos Ocampo I was asked if I could describe him in one word and the one word I would use is unimpressed. He gives the appearance of a veteran well beyond his 22 years of age. He’s certainly, in my conversations with him has said he respects Errol Spence but he is unimpressed with the champion, unimpressed with the Cowboys. He’s here to win a fight and he is going to do whatever it takes to do that.

With the Super Bantamweight World Championship and the Fortuna vs. Granados opening fight we are expecting an action-packed very entertaining card. It all starts 9:00 pm ET/6:00 pm PT on SHOWTIME. Thank you.

R. Flores

Thank you very much Stephen, greatly appreciate it. TGB Promotions has to thank the Dallas Cowboys. What a wonderful organization. They are America’s team here in the NFL. They have been tremendous to work with on this promotion. They’re a world class organization led by Jerry Jones and we’re so excited for Fight Week.

This is going to be an amazing atmosphere on Saturday night with the return of Errol Spence Jr., a fighter from Dallas, now defending his world title.

With that being said I want to introduce the IBF Welterweight Champion of the World as Saturday night’s card is brought to you by TGB Promotions in association with Man Down Promotions and presented by Premier Boxing Champions.

This young man has really set the bar extremely high as Stephen has mentioned. When you talk about guys that are the future, they are the superstars in boxing, Errol Spence Jr. is one of those superstars; 23-0, 20 knockouts as he makes his second defense of his IBF welterweight crown, ladies and gentlemen, it’s a great honor and pleasure to introduce Errol “The Truth” Spence Jr.

Errol Spence Jr.

I’m happy to be working with TGB Promotions and to be back on SHOWTIME. It’s going to be a great event. I can’t wait to be fighting in front of my hometown crowd in front of 15,000 fans and you know it’s going to be great.

My hope is Carlos Ocampo comes to fight, and gives the crowd a fan-friendly fight. I’m in shape and I’m ready and training very hard for this fight and I can’t wait to put on a great performance.

What are you expecting from the rest of division after Saturday night? And are you thinking about other fights yet or you’re very focused on this Saturday night?

E. Spence Jr.

I’m focused on my opponent right now, that’s Carlos Ocampo,. I might have to worry about other opponents later, but they’re going to play their self out and I’m going to fight. Shawn Porter’s supposed to be fighting Danny Garcia so hopefully I can get the winner out of that. We can unify.

We’re both with the same management, both fight on the same network. So I don’t see why that fight can’t happen but right now I have to get past Carlos Ocampo to even think about that unifying fight.

When you were first presented with Ocampo what were your initial thoughts?

E. Spence Jr.

I didn’t know who he was to tell you the truth. I didn’t know who he was. And I don’t really look at the rankings. So I think, like, two days after my fight, the IBF had ordered me to fight my mandatory then they said it was Carlos Ocampo. My original thought was just, let’s do it. I’d rather get it out of the way now so it’s not a bump in the road later on when I’m trying to get bigger and better fights. So I’d rather get my mandatory out the way right now.

Have you been able to find anything on him to be able to prepare for him or do you really just leave that up to the training camp or what are your thoughts on Carlos Ocampo as a fighter?

E. Spence Jr.

I found tapes on him. There’s nothing that you just see that’s special but I mean the guy comes to fight. He’s young, he’s undefeated and he’s fighting for a world title. Mexican fighters are known to be tough, they’re known to be durable and they’re known to come to fight.

So that’s what I’m expecting out of him to give it his all, come to fight and try to take my belt from me in my hometown. There’s not much that I’ve seen that just sticks out to me but he looks like a durable fighter who kind of thinks in the ring a little bit.

How do you stay focused on the task at hand and not look forward to what everyone’s already predicting for you later on in 2018 and beyond?

E. Spence Jr.

Because I can’t give myself a false sense of security, because once you’re in the ring, there’s no turning back. So he’s been training hard and he’s going to show up on the night. And I just know he’s hungry. He’s 22 years old, he’s undefeated. He’s hungry and this is his dream to win a world title and make a lot of money so he can help his family.

I know what’s in the future for me. I know there’s big fights in the future so I can’t let someone like Carlos Ocampo detour my route of becoming a unified champion and soon, to become undisputed welterweight champion of world. So I have to get past him to reach those goals and those dreams.

I just wanted to get your quick thoughts on what did you think of Terence Crawford’s performance and do you feel like that is the fight to be considering where your stature is at in the welterweight division?

E. Spence Jr.

I think he did what he was supposed to do. So even a week before their fight I said Terence Crawford stops him. I wasn’t surprised about what he did in there to Jeff Horn. I feel like Jeff Horn has limited ability and he basically tried to come there and just bully you. I think he lacks a lot of fundamentals but he did what he’s supposed to do.

I think there is definitely a future fight. He holds one of the belts and like I said I want to be undefeated welterweight champion of the world so I’m going to have to come over there and snatch the belt from him. It’s a fight that’s going to happen definitely in the future.

R. Flores

So right now I want to go ahead and bring on a man who is 22-0 with 13 knockouts. He is the number one contender for Errol Spence’s IBF welterweight championship of the world. From Ensenada, Baja California, Mexico, I will turn it over to Carlos Ocampo.

Carlos Ocampo

Hi everyone, hope everything is going well. I’m ready for this fight. I’m looking forward to fighting in Dallas. Everything is going well with the weight, with my training and I just can’t wait to be there.

Errol, do you kind of feel that you have any extra pressure for this particular fight because you’re fighting your hometown?

E. Spence Jr.

No I always have pressure to perform and look good. Since I turned pro I’ve been in the spotlight. All of my fights have been on TV. I’m always pressured to look good and perform all day. I’ve been dealing with pressure since I’ve been fighting and this is just another fight for me.

How do you predict the atmosphere’s going to be this Saturday compared to the last two venues?

E. Spence Jr.

I think this is going to be electrifying. There’s going to be a great atmosphere. It’s going to be a very lively crowd and it’s going to be a great event. I’m a hometown guy and they get to see one of their hometown guys and not just somebody out of state. But I think it’s going to be loud, it’s going to be a great crowd and great atmosphere and great energy all around.

Carlos, how do you prepare for someone with the power that Errol Spence has?

Carlos Ocampo

We did tons of training. We know about the power of Spence. We respect Spence but we prepared like never before and we are ready to go for that belt and bring it to Mexico.

Do you kind of enjoy the fact that you’re going to be such a big underdog?

C. Ocampo

I think it’s good for me, I have nothing to lose. I have a lot of motivation and everything to prove and I’m going to come down and I’m going to go and enjoy it.

Errol I just wanted to clarify something you said earlier, had you literally never heard of Carlos Ocampo before you were ordered to fight him?

E. Spence Jr.

No I never heard of him, which doesn’t mean anything. I mean there’s a lot of fighters that, you know, pop up out of the blue that could fight that you never heard of. They just don’t have the management or the promotion team for the spotlight to be seen. Those are the guys you have to watch out for.

How gratifying has the excitement for your fight in Dallas been for you because I know you’ve wanted a hometown fight for a while now?

E. Spence Jr.

Very satisfied because, this is my my home, this is where I started. To see my core fans appreciate me enough to come out and spend their time and their money to come watch me fight, that’s great.

It shows that a lot of my hard work, blood, sweat and tears paid off and I feel like that’s the ultimate justification to be at home and to feel that at home and have people come out and support you. It’ll be a great event.

Errol you mentioned earlier that you would like to fight the winner of the Danny Garcia/Shawn Porter fight. Who do you think will win that fight and why?

E. Spence Jr

I don’t know. I think Danny Garcia could pull it out. He doesn’t do anything spectacular but he has great timing, good fundamentals and mostly really good timing. He just pulls it out. Whenever we think he’s going to lose the fight, he ends up winning the fight so I’ll go with Danny Garcia on that one, by decision.

Carlos a lot of people obviously think that Errol is a very special fighter for a variety of reasons. What do you think of him overall?

C. Ocampo

I consider him a great fighter. He has been destroying all his opponents. He’s a well-respected fighter and a fast fighter with power. As I said before, I’m ready for it. I’m mentally ready to overcome everything Spence brings and make my name.

Carlos, which advantages do you feel you have over Errol Spence that will enable you to beat him?

C. Ocampo

My advantages are my height, distance and I’m going to take advantage of that on Saturday night.

First of all, in order to prepare for Ocampo have you watched any of video on him in order to prepare?

E. Spence Jr.

I watched a couple videos of him when I first got the name. That’s about it. My coach has been watching. But I definitely watched them when we first got his name.

When you watched his video what were some of the tendencies that he does that you think you can exploit in the ring?

E. Spence Jr.

Oh you’ll find out Saturday night.

Some people are making a big deal about Terence Crawford’s performance against Jeff Horn, do you think that your performances against guys like Lamont Peterson and Kell Brook were just as noteworthy if not more impressive?

E. Spence Jr.

To tell you the truth I haven’t thought about it. It was a good performance. Jeff Horn was the champion and he did what he was supposed to do. I don’t know if he’s better or not.

Do you think that you deserve more respect as a pound for pound fighter?

E. Spence Jr.

As soon as I get the top five welterweight in my weight class in the ring with me, I’m going to get what I deserve. I’m not worried it. A lot of timing is in it. Timing is everything and I will soon get there.

Out of all the different names that have been thrown around, who do you think would give you the best fight out of that group of fighters?

E. Spence Jr.

It’s hard to say because Shawn Porter will give anybody a tough fight, just with his style and how he just comes forward and how he rolls in, so he’ll give anybody a tougher fight, doesn’t mean you’re going to lose but he just hits with his style, he’s tough. Danny Garcia, Keith Thurman, Terence Crawford too, so any one of those guys would give you a tough fight. It’s hard to say who would be my toughest fight.

Wouldn’t it make more sense to fight and still pursue a fight with Keith Thurman? Are you more interested in that fight than you would be in fighting Terence Crawford right now?

E. Spence Jr.

Oh I definitely would be interested in that but I think that’s a fight, that it’ll be easier to make because we have the same management and we fight on the same network so we deal with the same people businesswise.

So I feel like that fight is easier to make. That’s a definite fight that I’ve been wanting to fight that I still want. I just have to see how he comes back and how long it takes him to feel the same.

You usually prepare hard for fights but did you train just as hard for this fight and as focused for this fight as you would be any other?

E. Spence Jr.

Oh definitely, I’m already on weight. I trained like I am facing a top five welterweight. And I’m already on weight. We’ve been training for about ten weeks for this fight. Been in camp with Jermell Charlo. We had the same camp together so I’ve been getting grade A sparring and everything. So we’ve been training hard and taking notes.

Carlos, this is your first appearance in the United States on a really, really big stage against one of the best welterweights in the world, how are you prepared for this fight and what makes you think that you can win this fight?

C. Ocampo

As I said before I think Spence is a great fighter but I stay always in my sight so I just focus on the guy in front of me. I don’t focus on what the press said or the people said. I’m just focused on doing my best and doing this one fight. I just don’t care about what’s happening outside. And I’m just doing my work as I always do. I’m ready for it.

When you were hanging out with the Dallas Cowboys at their facility, who are they saying they would like to see you fight when you run into them or talk to them? Derrick James and Errol if you could answer that.

E. Spence Jr.

At first everybody saw us and talked about Keith Thurman, “when you going to fight Keith Thurman? Man, I want to see you fight Keith Thurman.” But as of recently everybody’s in the moment. Terence Crawford just had his win against Jeff Horn. So now everybody wants to see me fight Terence Crawford.

Derrick James

I think that everybody for the longest time was thinking about Keith Thurman. They want to see the fight. They think that’s a big fight, a mega fight.

But now since Terence Crawford moved up everybody started to talk about Terence Crawford. I think those are the people that they really think that, really will give us a challenge or be a more competitive fight than fighting Danny Garcia or Shawn Porter or any of the other guys. So that’s really what the guys have been talking about.

What would be the most meaningful definitive fight to have in this position for you guys?

E. Spence Jr.

Right now when we are in the gym when we’re talking about fights, we’re talking about Carlos Ocampo.

We haven’t been talking about any other welterweights or anybody else or who we’re going to fight next. The way everything plays itself out after this fight, we’re not going to think about that yet.

This could be the toughest fight of my career. We’re going to give Carlos Ocampo his respect as a fighter and an undefeated fighter and just focus on him right now.

What would be a fight that you would find most challenging to you as a trainer and you think would be a definitive victory among those guys for Errol?

D. James

I think that what’s funny about it is he’s in one the most challenging fights, that I would say is the fight we have right now and only because it’s right in front of us and there’s not a lot of footage and there’s not a lot you can watch video of him. But you can really tell how deep his desire is, how great his skills are, and his will.

This is the fight that’s right in front of me, this is the fight that causes a little bit more difficultly because he’s not one of the guys that you see, not one of the guys that you know, so he can come in and be whoever he wants to be.

Like Errol said regardless we don’t talk about who he’s going to fight other than this guy in particular because there’s no other conversation.

I’ve never asked him about fighting Terence Crawford. I’ve never, ever asked him about fighting Keith Thurman. We might be required to answer other people’s questions but we’re so content about what’s in front of us, this guy right here, that’s the key element to success. Keeping your eye on the prize.

R. Flores

I wanted to thank the media again for joining us. We’ll see you guys down in Dallas for Fight Week. I want to thank Errol, Carlos, Brittany, Stephen and everyone involved. Looking forward to SHOWTIME CHAMPIONSHIP BOXING this Saturday. We’ll see you guys down in Dallas for Fight Week later on this week. Thank you.

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