WHAT are the plans for your next fight, is it the Gennady Golovkin fight we have been hearing rumours of for April?
Yes, there?s nothing solid or set in stone yet. There?s been talks with Adam [Booth] and often Lou DiBella. I?ve been proposed as an opponent, but there?s been no contract yet or offer for the fight. This week maybe we will have some more news.
Is the Golovkin fight a fight that you?re interested in?
Certainly, yeah. It?s a world title fight and it?s a chance to fight the best in the world. I think that?s what every fighter in the world wants to do. That?s what I want to do. I turned professional to fight the best and put myself against them and see where I?m at. So it?s definitely a challenge I?m looking forward too if it happens.
Well that should be the case, that every fighter wants to fight the best fighter in the world but not many want to fight Golovkin, do they?
I guess he hasn?t been invited by some of the bigger name fighters [the elite level fighters] because he?s a dangerous opponent to them but for a fella like me, in my position, it?s a wonderful opportunity and something that when it was mentioned to me I jumped at. And I said if it can be made then get the fight sorted out.
Do you think a fight with Golovkin you would go into the fight with nothing to lose because he?s so highly rated?
Of course there?s a lot to lose, obviously there?s the fight, then reputation maybe some physical and emotional damage! I hate losing in anything, if it?s a game of cards or a game of FIFA, I hate losing so especially when it comes to boxing, something that I love and pride myself on then I?ll be there going to win the fight and giving it 110 per cent.
How are things going with Adam Booth?
Really good. Recently I?ve been sparring in the gym and I?m really starting to come in to it now. I?m getting to grips with the style of training and the style of fighting Adam was trying to put into me. So I?m really enjoying the training and starting to see the fruits of it. At times it was very frustrating, it was so hard to get used to the different techniques and different style of boxing and just mechanically I don?t think my body was up to it, but I really put the work in the last few of months and it?s going well.
When you arrived at the Hayemaker Gym there was David Haye and George Groves, who might not have been ranked as highly as you but had been with Adam since day one, and then you came along. Now you?re sort of top dog in the gym aren?t you?
I don?t know about that, Adam gives his time to everyone fairly. Nathan Cleverly?s in the gym also and he?s working hard. We?ve had Curtis Woodhouse there and Richard Towers as well so we?ve got a good little stable of fighters going. There?s a good atmosphere. Everyday in the gym there?s a great buzz around, with Gary Logan, Chris Okoh who?s been helping out with the training, Bobby Rich as well has been doing the conditioning. We?ve got a good team there and we should have a lot of good results this year.
Have you sparred Cleverly since he?s been down there?
I have sparred Cleverly; we only did a couple of rounds a couple of weeks ago. There wasn?t much in it really, but it was enjoyable. He?s physical, and a very big lad. I think with Adam there he will add a lot to his game, the technical side of it as well.
David Price has come and gone since you?ve been down there, what did you make of David?
He was in the gym looking very good. I thought he was enjoying the training. I don?t know what happened between him and Adam personally but I thought it was a shame because he looked good. Just from a boxing point of view I was excited to see what he would have done with Adam. He?s with Tommy Brooks now, who I?m sure is a good trainer and he?s going to progress.
Obviously you had a massive American influence on the start of your career with Emanuel Steward?
I spent so much time with him that everywhere you go and everywhere you look there?s always reminders, things he would say. I can?t put words on to it. It was such a valuable time in my life. I just learnt so much from being around him, inside and outside of the ring, how to be a man as well as a fighter? It was a great education just spending time with him. I was very fortunate. So every day I miss him and every day I?m reminded of him everywhere I go really.
We have seen different successes from Emanuel still carrying on today, with Adonis Stevenson being trained by Sugar Hill from the Kronk and obviously Wladimir Klitschko?s still reining, is that something you thought about, staying with someone who was involved with the Kronk?
For me, it was personal reasons as well as boxing reasons to leave Detroit. I was 28 or 29 when I left, I had been there for eight years but I?m from Ireland so part of me wanted to come back and be close to home and close to my wife. To work with Adam Booth as well, he was somebody I had admired for a long time. I wanted to try something new. I?d been there all that time, I?d gone for a world title shot, it was time for a change. I certainly have a good relationship with Sugar Hill though, who?s now taken over from Emanuel. Him and me keep in touch all the time, actually. Maybe some day I?ll go back and do a bit of training with him and organise some sparring. I?m glad to see Adonis doing well and Wladimir, I?m sure he will have left his legacy on the game.
Did you train with Adonis Stevenson at some point in the USA?
Yeah, he was in the gym for the last year or so. We sparred a few times and it was no surprise when I saw what he did to Chad Dawson. Chad was in the gym, too, I trained with him as well, because Emanuel trained him for one or two of his fights. Adonis was an unusually strong guy. When you see him shadow box he doesn?t look like nothing, but put those fight gloves on him though and he?s a different animal. He?s improving a lot as well under Sugar Hill; he?s adding a lot to his boxing, He?s doing well.
With regards to your own career, it looking like you might be out in the end April, with regards to where you were, it didn?t seem that long ago maybe November/December that you and Matthew Macklin were getting it on in Ireland in February?
I know and part of me is disappointed for that fight not happening because it was there to be made. As far as I was concerned that was the fight I was looking forward to, that was the fight that would naturally happen. It never happened I don?t know why. He said he was looking to fight Felix Sturm and if that didn?t happen then he might fight me, but the Sturm fight didn?t happened and I didn?t hear anything. It could happen still but it would need to be this year, otherwise it would lose the public demand.
If you could fight one person in the world today, who would it be?
I?d fight Golovkin and next to him I?d fight Macklin.
Were you impressed with what you saw of Golovkin in the Osumanu Adama fight?
He is impressive, you can?t not be impressed with all of his performances. Although Adama might not have been his best performance, it was still very good and he kind of just knew it was a matter of time before he got to Adama. Even though it went a little longer than his other fights, he knew it was a matter of time. When he wanted to he just picked it up and when he wanted to take a breather he did, then he picked it up again when he wanted to. Impressive guy? To box him you?re going to have to be in great condition and be ready to trade with him. I don?t think you can give him too much respect. You?re going to have to meet him in the centre of the ring and be ready to trade. When you fight someone like that you know you?re going to get hit and you?re going to have to walk through the fire, but that?s what you?re going to have to do when you fight a great champion. Fighting him is like fighting years ago, when to be the champion you had to beat the champion, the real champion. That?s what a fight with him is, and I look forward to it.
If it does happen, there?s talk of it being Madison Square Garden in New York?
It?s also an extra incentive for the fight because, to fight in Madison Square Garden, it?s a great, historical venue. I?ve fought there twice before so I?m familiar with the place. Irish crowd as well, it will be a great occasion and a massive fight. I know there?s a lot of risk in the fight but there?s also a massive reward. If you win the fight, not just financially but overnight you will become a star in boxing. That?s a chance that doesn?t get offered very often.
