In an exclusive with eScapistMagazine, former world champion Carl Froch looked ahead to this weekend’s huge rematch between Oleksandr Usyk and Daniel Dubois, whilst also advising Anthony Joshua to RETIRE from boxing immediately.
On Oleksandr Usyk vs Daniel Dubois
Question: Usyk said he’d beat you over 12 rounds. Would you agree?
Carl Froch: I can’t argue really, because his amateur career was outstanding. And he was Undisputed Cruiserweight. Stepped up to Heavyweight, f**king demolished everybody. So yeah, I take that.
Q: Fight week, couple more days now – what are your final thoughts?
A: Usyk Vs Dubois is a good fight. I’m looking forward to it. It’s another one where I would expect Usyk to get in there and just do what Usyk does, which is fast hands, light on his feet, good head movement, good movement, no straight lines, just sort of dominating the ring, just picking and choosing his spots and just putting on a performance where he just outclasses Dubois.
But the flip side to that is Dubois has had three good wins. Since losing to Usyk. I say good wins, he beat Jarrell Miller. Beat Hrgovic, absolutely f**king flattened Anthony Joshua, which we saw. There are three good wins, which makes him confident.
It sort of makes him a bonafide World Champion because he was kind of gifted the IBF Title. He got elevated to IBF, when the title became vacant. He got fragmented when Usyk had it, they took his belt off him. I think that was an Eddie Hearne move. And that gave AJ the chance to fight Dubois for the IBF title. There’s politics in boxing. And if AJ would’ve beat Dubois, AJ could’ve said he was a three time World Champ.
But that was a mountain far too high for AJ to climb because he got f**king splattered, let’s be honest. Dubois became, in many people’s eyes, a bonafide World Champ because he beat somebody who was a World Champ. Beat AJ, in style. The rematch with Usyk…
He’s coming in with confidence. The problem is, Usyk won’t get hit with a shot. He always sees the shots coming because he’s so good. His reflexes, his hand-eye coordination. So if a shot hits him, after he’s half seen it, he’ll catch it late and he’ll roll it or he’ll slip it. Nothing ever hits him flush on the chin.
He got hit low in that first fight, made a meal of it. The referee said, no knock down, take your time. So he took four and a half, five minutes. Gamesmanship. If you’ve actually been hit low, whether it’s in the stomach or the scrotum or whatever round that area and it is hurting you.
Take the five minutes, have a breather. You know what I mean?
Q: Do you think that would’ve been the same situation with a referee if it was in London first time, do you think they would’ve stopped it four or five minutes?
A: Depends on the referee. Some referees, you dunno what’s going on in their head. What I do know is if the referee would’ve started counting, he’d gone, oh, and carried on. So it wouldn’t have made any f**king difference, wouldn’t it? You know what I mean? So everyone saying, oh, he was down for four and a half minutes, got Frank Warren bitching and moaning about, oh, this fight. He won the fight at the bar. He didn’t win the fight. No, he got stopped. You know what I mean?
He got forced to quit, ‘cause he was under that much pressure. He got hit with a f**king jab. Went down on one knee and stayed down. Until the referee counted to nine. Then he decided to jump up and got stopped. So they’re the facts. And if the referee would’ve started counting when Usyk got hit low, Usyk would’ve grabbed himself off the floor, sucked it up, and gone on with it and still done the job. But the referee said, no knock down, low blow. Which was correct because it was it was on the protector. It is what it is. He went on to stop him and I think he’ll do the same in this fight. I think Usyk will be too much for him. Too much hand speed, too much skill, too much ability and talent, even though he is getting old.
I just think after round five, six, Daniel Dubois chance goes, chance to land something big and stay on him. So his chance is early and he needs to go for it earlier. No matter how fit and strong you are and how much training you’ve done, after about four or five rounds, you get a bit flatfooted and you start to settle into the fight, but your energy levels and that nervous energy at the beginning’s gone and you just settle down into the fight and everything becomes a little bit slower. And then the fighter who is going to excel, usually takes over unless, I mean the Dubois massive. He needs to be lighter to try and beat him because he’ll always punch hard if he loses 12 pounds, he still punches hard and he’ll be able to maneuver himself, take that weight off his legs a little bit and give himself more of a chance to box a little bit.
But I think personally, tactics need to be put on Usyk early. Try to make this a six round fight. Don’t make this a 12 round fight. Because after round six, seven, you’re going to get out boxed by the far superior athlete and skill wise. I mean talent. Look at what six’s done as an amateur. Over 300 fights, lost a handful. Olympic champion. He’s a two time Olympic champion. He won two Olympic gold medals, at least one. And then Cruiserweight. Undisputed. Stepped up to Heavyweight. Only two others have done that. David Haye and Evander Holifield. Holifield smashed it. David Haye did well, won a world title.
But for him to step to Heavyweight from Cruiserweight, he’s not a big Cruiserweight. He’s not massive. These guys, AJ and Fury, they’ve got six inches height, six inches reach about two or three stone f**king weight advantage. So this little guy like Usyk…I’m saying little guy, ’cause he is like 6′ 2, 6’ 3, he’s not much bigger than me. When I stand next to Tyson Fury. I’m looking at him like fuck, you now. And Klitschko a few years ago. I was thinking, what a f**king beast. Man-mountain. Imagine copping a right hand off that. With Usyk, you can size him up and think yeah, I can have a spar with him. Take his time with it. But you don’t want to move around with Klitschko or AJ or Fury, ’cause they’re just too big. So this little guy from the Cruiserweight division steps up to heavyweight and just absolutely dominates. And that’s because he’s so good. So superiorly talented. It’s an unbelievable phenomenon. And I just think against Dubois, I think the same old. Too much skill and talent.
But, you can’t write Dubois off. He’s a big puncher. He’s 38 years old now Usyk. Might get old overnight. It could happen. I don’t see it happening. I’ve not seen any signs of him failing. He should lean on him. Drop the nut in. Get in low on the blind side of the ref, dirty, whatever. I can’t wait for it. It’s going to be great. I say Usyk by late stoppage or points. He could force to stoppage late on because he’ll take his heart away if he keeps peppering him with the jab and keeps catching him with that backhand then keeps him under pressure. We’ve seen it before with Dubois, he falls apart. Joe Joyce says he quit, but he did have a fractured eye socket. So he probably saved himself there for another day. But the way he took a knee against Usyk in that first one and then stood up when the ref got to nine. If that’s not quitting, I dunno what it is. Again, saved himself for another day and he’s done himself proud since.
Once that’s in there, once you’ve got that mindset of looking for a way out. As a fighter myself, there’s been loads of times I could’ve had a way out. I tore- my bicep in round three. I come off defense. My arm was fucked, my arm was hanging, and I carried on with the fight. I broke my hand in round two against Brian McGee. You know what I mean? I’ve had perforated ear drums and they aren’t a big deal, people make a big deal. Go a broken jaw, broken nose, f**ing eye gone. Round seven, round eight against Miguel Kessler. My ankle was f**ked. My jaw was totally f**ked but you’ve gotta fight, man.
As soon as you stop fighting and start saying, oh, I’m injured, I’m hurt, my hands. And then that’s the fights over. You’ve lost, you know what I mean? The way I look at it is you can be training before a fight like I was when my first world title fight and get a fractured rib in training. In your last spa and you fight in a week. Do you pull out over a fractured rib or do you just suck it up and get in the ring of your broken rib and just say to yourself, you know what? Okay, I’ve got a broken rib.
Q: If Usyk wins, do you think he’s going to retire?
A: Well, he’s told me he’s only one more after that, so I don’t think so. He said two more fights, including this one. It depends what Fury does. Why does Fury have a shot? He’s beat him twice. I don’t think he should. Because everyone wants AJ and Fury can be a right prick sometimes to be honest. Whatever people want him to do, he’ll do the opposite ’cause he’s got this f**king superiority complex. And it just needs everybody f**king waiting for him.
And yeah, everyone cared. People now don’t really give a sh*t, he’s retired five times. They’ve passed that now. You’re going to come back and fight Usyk? You don’t deserve to fight Usyk. Joseph Parker. Parker deserves a shot, the payday. You’ve had your two bites at the cherry and you’ve got beat f**king twice. So, go away basically. F*ck off.
On General Boxing & Future Fights
Q: Katie Taylor beat Amanda Serrano for the third time over the weekend, did you catch it?
A: Yeah, I did catch it and thought it was a good fight. I enjoyed it again, it started off slow but then it picked up and it ended up being a similar fight to the first two. I actually thought Amanda Serrano won the second fight. I thought she won it quite clearly as well. But Katie Taylor got the decision. It would’ve been nice if it was 1-1, and then you’ve got the trilogy, the decider. The third fight winner takes all, but Katie got the decision. Can’t really complain.
Judging is judging these days in boxing, but I thought the right woman won this time. Katie Taylor did the job. I enjoyed the fight. Two minute rounds, I don’t think are long enough. I’d like to see three minutes for the women, but they do two minute rounds for whatever reason.
And Katie Taylor for me is probably one of the most outstanding female athletes, especially in boxing of all time. I mean, you’ve got a couple of other close names, but with Katie Taylor, she’s just phenomenal. Would you say she’s the best of all time? I wouldn’t say she’s the best of all time, but she’s certainly up there. You’ve got Claressa Shields, who is probably joint first. I mean you can’t really pick anybody else to say that they’re an all time female boxer because she’s so outstanding in what she’s achieved. Amateur, professional. And I think now it’s probably time to hang up the gloves, but you never know if there’s big money waiting for another fight, you might see her again. I think she’s done well. She’s made plenty of money and I feel like she’s really dragging the performances out and really having to work hard and you need to enjoy life and settle down and give your body a rest at some stage.
And I think if you’re not going to do that before your 40th birthday, when are you going to do it?
Q: Do you think they should do more all female boxing cards?
A: There was an all female card previously which was a couple of years ago and it went down well. But I don’t see anything against that, but they don’t want to say women’s boxing or men’s boxing, they just say boxing. So to say ‘all women’, why separate it? They should just have a really good female bout on a mixed card, I think that makes more sense to me. Rather than saying this is an all female card.
Q: Hamzah Sheeraz bounced back from his draw with Carlos Adames with a big KO win over Edgard Berlanga, what’s next for him?
A: Good fight mate. I mean, Canelo Alvarez couldn’t get Carlos Adames out of there. He dropped him but couldn’t knock him out! Hamza Sheeraz is a tall kid for his weight division. Good looking, speaks well. He’s got the future at his feet. I mean, he can do what he wants now as in he can just excel and become a household name. He’s got the backing of Turki al Sheikh as well. I think he’s an ambassador for Riyadh Season. So he is in a really good spot and that win against Edgard Belanga was a great victory for him and it puts him right there now on the forefront of world level contention. So hopefully he can move forward with that, he’s young enough. I think he’d be a great ambassador for boxing.
Q: Who do you think Hamzah Sheeraz will fight next?
A: I’m not sure who he takes on because you still have to be careful with him, and I feel like he needs to move up to super middleweight eventually. And if he does, there’s no reason why he can’t take on Canelo Alvarez! But for now, I’d rather see him sort of sit back and take his time, he knows where he is, have a couple more steady fights and make a bit of money. Get his name out there a bit more before stepping up with someone like Canelo. I mean, you’ve got David Benavidez, who’s a big name who never got the Canelo fight. Someone like him, Caleb Plant, somebody like that. Interesting fights, but sometimes even when you get there, you don’t know if you’re ready for the world title fight yet. I beat Jean Pascal for my first world title. And then he think to yourself, are you ready for a big fight?
I jumped straight in there with Jermaine Taylor in my first defense. Then I signed the super six tournament and it was Mikkel Kessler, Andre Ward, Andre Dirrell. It was like all the killers in the division. Sometimes if you go in the deep end, it’s sink or swim, but if you’re managing somebody and you know, there’s a lot of money to be earned and you can take your time with somebody you can pick and choose your room.And I think with Sheeraz, just take your time with him a little bit.
Q: There’s talk that Jake Paul could fight Anthony Joshua. Eddie Hearn has confirmed that talks have taken place. Would you give Jake Paul a puncher’s chance?
A: No. Even though AJ should retire from professional boxing, in my opinion, I think he’s had a good career, he’s done so much for the sport of boxing, but he is not elite level. You’ve seen him when he gets wiped out by that little fat kid from Mexico, and he gets out passed twice, you know what I mean? And he gets f***ing wiped out by Daniel Dubois when he’s still learning and developing, Dubois. You’ve got to just say to yourself, right, getting your f***ing head caved in isn’t healthy. You’ve got 150 million quid in the bank. Why do you need another 20 million quid that you’re not going to spend? It’s graveyard money and you can end up in a wheelchair. It’s the harsh reality of boxing. You can get brain damage with one punch. If you’re getting sparked out and you’re landing on your head and trying to get up, doing a break dance, trying to get up, you know you’re in serious f**ing trouble. So why do you want to then get more damage to the brain potentially when you’ve already made your money? We’re prizefighters, we’d fight for money. When I was an amateur, you did it for free because you enjoyed it. You love it. But the bottom line is, what am I getting paid? How much am I earning? Because I want to sort the kids out and I want a nice life. I want to have a future, but you can’t enjoy your future in your nice life if you’re in a hospital bed and that’s the harsh reality of professional boxing. So for me, Anthony Joshua now gets ironed out by most people.
I think Tyson Fury will run rings around him. It will absolutely obliterate him mentally before he gets in the ring. And then he’ll just pepper him. Tyson’s not a massive puncher but he’ll bust him up and probably stop him. I think it’s a mismatch.
He had no confidence when he got done by Ruiz. He scrambled himself back in. He re-matched, just ran and s**t himself in 12 rounds, got the titles back and then he fought no one. No one got in the ring and tried to win between Helenius and Otto and Franklin. And as soon as he jumped in with someone on a pulse like Dubois, it got finished off. Just leave it alone now. But he’s got Eddie Hern and his team around him, thinking of the money. There’s a lot of money on the table but they’re not getting punched in the face, are they? I think AJ should retire. I said it before, I’ll continue to say it because he’s done so much for the sport.
He’s been a great ambassador for boxing. He’s brought boxing back into the public eye. But don’t finish your career now getting f***ing flattened. Maybe that last fight where he got flattened is bugging him. Maybe take Joseph Parker or someone. Fabio Wardley is dangerous. That’s a white collar fighter who turned pro. He’s not really had a chance to fight someone at that level, but because he can punch hard, every one of his wins is a knockout. You can’t really risk AJ with anyone who can punch hard.
So where did you go with AJ if you’re managing him? You’re waiting for Tyson Fury to come out of retirement and the longer he waits, the better it is for AJ. He puts weight on, then to get the weight off it he slows him down.
Q: Are you excited to see Conor Benn vs Chris Eubank Jr rematch or does it not interest you? (Do you think it’ll be 2-0 between Chris Eubank Jr and Conor Benn?)
A: Chris Eubank Jr’s getting old. He is towards the end of his career, being around 36/37. I think he is coming down to 160, which is probably his right weight but just not his happy weight. You’ve got to give Conor Benn a chance in the rematch.
The father’s legacy, the name was on the line, but now I found out that Eubank beat Benn. Do I wanna see it again? Not really. Will I watch it? Yes. I mean, is it as big as the first one? No chance. It’s not going to be built up like that. Getting slapped around the face with an egg and coming out as a villain with a failed drugs test. Now it’s like, you’ve seen the fight. Conor Benn did himself real proud. Eubank Jr won fair and square in a close fight, but he pulled away at the end. We’ve got our result. We’ve got our winner. Again, the promoters agreed that there’s another one here. We’re getting two out of this. If Conor Benn wins second, we’ll get three. It’s the fighters doing the job, so luckily the fighters get paid well. I’ll watch the second one, but I’m not overhyped about it. I’m not excited about it like the first one. The first one was really good.
Q: Conor Benn recently told you that he hasn’t watched the Eubank fight back (despite previously saying he had). What’s going through his head?
A: I’ve watched a couple of my fights back. But when you box, you remember the fight and then there’s certain rounds you don’t remember. If you get clipped on the chin, you have amnesia. Sometimes you have to watch the fight back just to know what you did. Most of the time you can almost remember every punch that hits you and hurts you.
When I fought Robin Reed, I can remember it being around five over on right in a body shot. All the rest are just on the outside of the chess match, you put your pawn out there every now and again, send in your bishop, and see if it lands. Every now and again, if you’ve got them on the ropes, send in the big f***ing checkmate and the big upper on the chin and render them unconscious. It’s like with chess–you remember the significant moments of every round, so when you get clipped with a right hander that you walked into, or you get a body shot and you have to suck the air up and just stay on your feet and pretend you’re not hurt. You just remember the moments. So you don’t have to watch the fight back, but when you get flattened in round three like against Jermaine Taylor, you can’t remember a f***ing thing for the rest of the week. You watch the fight back and go f***king hell, that was a good fight. You actually forget everything that happened.
The last two or three rounds of me and Jermaine Taylor were unbelievable. Great fight. Pulled the wind out of the bag in the 12th round–in the dying seconds of the 12 round. I can’t remember anything. I can’t remember f****ing anything. I don’t think Conor Benn got hurt in that fight, really. If anyone got hurt, it was Eubank. Conor Benn probably didn’t need to watch the fight again.
Q: And Cambell Hatton as well, Ricky’s, Ricky’s son. He just retired, hasn’t he?
A: Yeah, he ain’t quite got it because he’d never boxed as an amateur. He never had that pedigree in full court boxing. If you’ve not got that muscle memory from a kid, then it’s hard to develop when you get older.
Q: Do you think you should have achieved more though being Ricky Hatton’s son?
A: No, because he never boxed as a kid. It doesn’t matter. DNA is not passed down in fighters. I mean the genetics of the mindset and maybe the toughness and the physicality of it passed down, but the skillset has to be downloaded and programmed into your brain, and that can only be done by the 10,000 hours. If you want to learn to play a guitar, do your 10,000 hours, you play the guitar, if you want to learn a language, do the 10,000 hours, you’ll be able to speak Spanish. You know what I mean? That’s how it is. So if you don’t box when you’re a child, it’s very difficult to then learn these skills as an adult.
The few fighters that that’ve done it, Bernard Hopkins didn’t start fighting until he was 19. He was a multiple world champion, multiple weight world champion, top fighter. There’s not many fighters you can look at and say, when did he start? Did he start after his teenage years and still manage to achieve heights within boxing?
There’s not many fighters that did, and Campbell Hatton never boxing as a kid ’cause his dad didn’t want him to fight. Same way Chris Eubank Junior, his dad, didn’t want him to fight. Same as Conor Benn. That’s why Conor, Benn and Chris Eubank, they’re limited in what they can do. Their fight was good because it was too sort of without giving them stick, It was two mediocre fighters coming together and putting on a great fight ’cause the fight was close. But there’s no world champions looking at them two fighters thinking, oh f***ing hell I don’t wanna fight them, they’re good. Because they’re not good enough.
To dominate a world level in a competitive division. But I’m not saying they can’t go and win the world title, but to be good at any sport, you’ve gotta do it when you’re a kid. So I got my son swinging the golf club at five years old. He is swinging the golf club from five to about 11, 12. And then he couldn’t be arsed with it. So I left him alone and now he is back in it 13, 14, 15. Now he’s playing off pretty much single figures at 15. So if he wants to have a career in golf when he’s older, when he is 16, 17, 18, and he’s hanging around with birds, hanging around with women. If he still wants to play golf, he could potentially do something with golf and make some money out of it.
Q: Does he box as well or not?
A: He’s boxed. Yeah, he is. Had a fight already. He boxed and he still hits the bag. Still trains me. But he won’t compete.
Q: Do you want him to compete?
A: No, you’ve gotta have the right mindset and you’ve gotta have the right upbringing. You’ve gotta come through a bit of an adversary. I mean, my mum and dad split up when I was six years old. I had a big brother beating me up, I was at a rough school and my old man was in and out of prison. And it was just rough and hard. And from a very young age, I learnt to become self-sufficient. Took a few pastings, had a few street fights, and then from 15 years old, I grew up in pubs, so I was playing pool, having fights with blokes outside getting filled in a couple of times. I Had my big brother helping me out and I was just a rough kid. I was out on motorbikes, I was hanging around gypsy sites in Newark and I lived in Newark for a couple of years. Just being a young lad and just rough and scrapping and boxing as well. I boxed from when I was eight right up until I was 15 and I didn’t box for four years. Had a four year gap, totally forgot how to box. Totally wasn’t interested. And then when I got back into it at 19, I could still fight. I could still fight. I was street fighting from 15 to 19 in pubs. But, because I got that muscle memory from a kid, 50 odd amateur fights as a schoolboy.
You get back in there at 19, you can still throw the jab, you can still throw the right hand. Can still slip the shot. It’s like riding a bike. So when I started back at 19, I wasn’t starting fresh. I was picking up where I left off. Won two ABA titles, medal for the World Championships turned Pro and four World Titles from 19.
I didn’t turn Pro till I was 25. So we talk about Campbell Hatton. This was a big question wasn’t it, went on for a while, but Campbell Hatton hasn’t got the pedigree. He’s not boxed as a kid. So I’m not surprised that he’s not been able to excel as a professional and he’s done the right thing retiring because it’s a hurt game, it’s not tennis, three sets to love if you lose. It’s not five nil football, it’s get to f***ing hospital and get your head checked, so he has done the right thing.
Q: Just one more Johnny Fisher and Dave Allen have been training together the last couple of weeks. is it nice to see, or do you think that’s bad for their Rivalry?
A: It’s nice to see it, he’s not fighting him again, he’s not fighting him again, so that’s fine. I think that if they’re going to fight again, it’s weird if they’re fighting each other.
Q: But would Dave Allen be the right person to try and learn off? If you’re Johnny Fisher?
F***ed him up didn’t he, so he obviously knows something he doesn’t. And Dave Allen’s not a bad little fighter, he’s never really reached his full potential ’cause he never took the training seriously and now he’s doing well. It’s a strange match up, I know what you’re saying. I think it’s nice that, people can understand that from getting in there, punching each other in the face, getting out, and still be really good mates. I’d keep in touch with Mikkel Kessler, he’s in Denmark.
Q: I was just going to ask, because would you go into a few sessions with George Grove after you fought him?
I would do yeah, If he asked me for his help, I’d probably gone because I was working for Sky. But he was too proud, the pride from within him. And that’s probably what we would have done, I wouldn’t have asked Andre Ward for some help, after he out pointed me. Because I would just think ‘pr*ck’ that’s the mindset.
But if Dave Allen and Johnny Fisher are getting on and fisher respects him because he’s got El Sparkoed by him, then why not. Go get some tips off him. He might learn something.
Q: Do you think he can ever bounce back within the next year or so, Johnny Fisher, or do you think he’s going to take some time to get over that?
A: He never boxed as a kid. He’s got no amateur pedigree. So he’s going to always be very limited. I think if Johnny Fisher wins a British title, he would’ve overachieved. He’d have done really well. If you win the British title, I say get that Lord Lonsdale belt. Defend it three times. Win it outright and make that your realistic goal. And timing’s always a factor with heavyweight boxing, so it depends who’s around at the time. Moses Itauma, I mean he could fight for a British title, you would never put Johnny Fisher with someone like him.
Q: There were talks of that weren’t there.
Yeah they got carried away. Johnny Fisher he is what he is and he is a novice professional who’s just been banjoed. And when you get banjoed, every time you fight, you leave a bit, you are in the ring, you lose something. You slow down a little bit. Something mentally goes, but you grow as well because you get wiser and then you get a bit more wisdom as you get older and that more experience helps you. But when you get beat up and you lose a fight, it takes you down mentally, it takes you down and you realize you can be beat, you realize you’re not invincible.
I was good till I lost my first fight against Kessler. I was WBC world champ. I bounced back in my very next fight and won the title. Kessler retired after the fight, and it was a very close fight. I’ve only ever lost on points. Lost to Kessler on points and a close fight that could have gone either way. And I avenged the loss by beating him in a rematch quite clearly. The only other guy I have not beaten is Andre Ward and he beat me on points in a 12 round split decision. It was like a close fight. A lot of people say it was an outclassed job and maybe it was maybe the, maybe the scorecard was wrong, but the bottom line is I lost the fight on points I climbed out the ring and went ‘what a load of shit that was’. I feel like I’ve been pickpocketed. I don’t even feel like I’ve been in a fight. The guy was too quick. He was holding, he was ducking low. So I go back to the changing rooms and get changed. Get sorted out. Go have something to eat and bitch the man about the fight for the next two weeks.
But you don’t go to the hospital, have a brain scan. You’ve not been rendered unconscious. You’ve not been f***ing battered. I’ve never been beat up in my life, never been beat up in my life. Especially not in the f***ing boxing ring. I may have had five or six people filling me in for moments, but I’ve never gone f**king down and stayed down on the street or in a boxing ring.
So, I dunno what it’s like to get beat up. So to get beat up, like AJ and like Johnny Fisher got flattened and I know the heavyweights and it’s a bit different of course ’cause they get hit with big heavy shots that can fucking switch off the lights. But I don’t know how it feels. Dunno what it does to you. But you see what just a fight is when they come back in the next fight and they’re tentative, they don’t wanna throw a jab ’cause they’re walking to a right hand. When they’re getting close to shutting their eyes, the guards are up, looking at the floor, they’re pulling away, they’ve got no confidence. Look at AJ early on in his career. When he got clipped by Dillian Whyte, then he fights back with tenacity and he’s not bothered, his chins in the air. He’s just letting the shots go. That kind of is dangerous, but it shows that you’ve got that heart and soul still, you’ve still got love for the sport, and you’ve still got that desire to be a winner. Once you get f***ing wiped out, you see them come back with a tail between their legs. Like a whoop dog, and their cautious. And when you’re fighting like that, it’s dangerous because you’re on your back foot, you’ve got no momentum, no forward momentum, and you end up walking into shots, so you end up giving a guy too much respect and you get beat up. So I just think with boxing and when you get flattened, you need to think about where you’re at. I’m talking about Johnny Fisher. I think the British title is a good level for him. If he can achieve the Lonsdale belt, it’ll be a massive achievement.
Last Updated On: Jul 17, 2025 11:52 am CEST