Roy Jones Jr & Emanuel Steward were "On The Ropes" - NOW AVAILABLE ON DEMAND! 7/13

From Episode #102 of ON THE ROPES BOXING RADIO.

CLICK HERE TO READ ENTIRE INTERVIEW TRANSCRIPT

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His evaluation of his performance in his recent unanimous decision victory against Arthur Abraham:

“Yes, it’s up there with one of the best performances in my career purely because I stuck to a game plan and I didn’t take any punishment in doing so. On top of that I wasn’t in against a bum. I was in against a top level fighter who has previously given everybody trouble. So when you add all of those factors together it makes it an even bigger accolade, so it’s right up there with like I say my career best.”

On whether he was surprised that Abraham was unable to be more effective and competitive:

“No because I nullified his work. Every time he tried to get something going and set his feet to get his bombs throwing, I just stuck the jab in his face and moved out of range. That’s why it’s called boxing and not fighting. I didn’t stand around and fight so it made him look ordinary, but everybody knows he’s not ordinary. He is previously the middleweight king and champion of the world. He’s caused problems in the super middleweights as well, but he came up against the wrong guy. He had a guy that had the right tactics and employed the correct game plan on the night. It worked perfectly. No, I wasn’t surprised how little he got off because I was so good.”

On whether he was ever tempted to be drawn into the type of fight Arthur Abraham wanted:

“I was tempted to get drawn in. I was tempted to take myself in voluntarily and have a fight. He was trying to draw me in all night by standing back behind the high held guard and I wasn’t going to take the bait, but I was tempted to move in and close the show and put the icing on the cake if you like. My trainer Rob McCracken—he’s the master, I’m the student. I listen to him. He told me to keep doing what I’m doing, keep him at range, keep the jab going, keep the right hands and the hooks going, and the body shots. I did everything out at range and it worked perfectly. However, I do feel a little bit of dissatisfaction because I feel I could have gotten the stoppage later on, but I never went for it. I didn’t try and stop him.”

His views on comments made by trainer Ulli Wegner when he said “you are a coward” to his fighter Arthur Abraham:

“Yeah, that’s just a disgrace because you know Arthur Abraham isn’t a coward. You’ve seen how he fights. The amount of punches he took body and head off me, I don’t know any coward that would have done that. A coward would have pulled out in the corner or jumped on the floor. So his trainer is totally out of order and disrespectful, and I’m not happy with it.”

On where he rates himself in the super middleweight division following his victory:

“Is that a trick question? Because I’m t he best super middleweight in the world.”

His views on Andre Ward’s claim as the best super middleweight and his recent victory against Sakio Bika:

“I don’t see how Andre Ward can be up there with the best in the world because he’s not had a significant win. The only fighter he’s fought and won where you could say it was a good victory on paper is Mikkel Kessler, but anybody who watched the fight realized what happened in that fight. If that fight would have taken place in Herning in Denmark where I fought Mikkel Kessler, it would have been a disqualification victory for Kessler. What he did was totally out of order, head-butting him, creating cuts above the eyes, and holding. You can’t get away with that unless you are at home. So he’s not got a significant win on his record for me to say he’s the best super middleweight in the world. It’s a ludicrous comment. He needs to fight somebody like me, and this is the good thing about the Super Six World Boxing Classic. I feel it’s going to be a Froch-Ward final and then we’ll find out who the best super middleweight in the world is, because it isn’t Lucian Bute I assure you.”

His views on his next opponent Glen Johnson as a fighter:

“Glen Johnson’s a great fighter and an old veteran, but let’s be honest—he’s past his best. He’s holding on to a dream that’s realistically not going to happen. At 41 years old with quite a few losses already on his record he’s not going to beat somebody like me, but he deserves respect. He’s a good fighter. He means business. He comes to win. So I don’t see a problem with that fight to be honest.”