"As long as I'm active, I guarantee you I will be one of the top heavyweight fighters in the world. When it's time for me to hang it up, you best believe ain't nobody gonna have to knock me upside the head or beat me down in order for me to realize that. I will know. Your body will tell you when it's time to take it down. And right now, I still have one of the best physiques in this game. I'm definitely one of the hardest hitting guys in the game and I'm definitely one of the top 3 or 4 as far as speed in the heavyweight division," stated undefeated heavyweight contender Amir Mansour, who talked about his future plans and much more. Check it out!
PC: How do you feel when you see a guy like Monte Barrett call you out?
AM: When a guy like Monte Barrett calls me out, I really can't entertain it. First of all, the IBF ain't gonna sanction him to fight me for the USBA title that I have, nor will the WBF sanction me fighting him for the intercontinental title that I have. A brother like Monte Barrett did his thing here and there, but he had his chance. Obviously he is trying to come out of the ashes like the Phoenix by throwing my name out there, but a guy like that knows that it's not even realistic that he would be able to fight me. The only way I can fight Monte Barrett is if I vacated my titles or get the sanctioning bodies to allow me to put my titles to the side and not fight for my titles and just fight him. Why in the hell would I even entertain such a thing?
PC: It doesn't move your career forward at all.
AM: Listen, since 2010, I have continued to try to fight anybody that's ranked higher than me. Since 2010, if you look at the timing of the fight and my ranking at the time, I only fought one guy that was ranked lower than me and that was Dominique Alexander. I have a habit and a reputation of fighting guys ranked higher than me, not guys ranked lower than me.
PC: When guys see fighters with a name calling you out, they feel you should fight them to get that name on your resume, but your belts are important to you because you feel that's the only way you will get these other heavyweight champions to fight you, right?
AM: Listen Percy, let me tell you, man, because you are 100% right. And a lot of people that are in my circle and a lot of people who are fans of mine know a lot of these fighters out here are ducking the opportunity to fight me. They are just ducking me period, so the only way that I can force their hand is by getting these belts. I had the NABO belt and when I had it, nobody in the top 10 would fight me for it. Hell, nobody in the top 15 would fight me for it. And then when I went below the top 15...and you remember when I was talking to you, I told you I was ready to vacate that belt. They wouldn't make anybody fight me that was high in their ranking and at the same time, they didn't want to see me fight somebody that was below a certain rank. It's a catch 22, man, so hopefully the IBF, when I defend this USBA title, they will force somebody's hand to fight me. The rule is, and a promoter explained this to me the other day, if I'm the USBA champ and I go after somebody in those rankings and they turn the fight down and the fight is reasonable and the money is reasonable, they are supposed to bump them down in the rankings, but they are not doing this. So when I had the NABO title, Seth Mitchell wouldn't fight me. I tried to fight him for the title. I wanted to expose his chin though, but now it's too late. And the only one I could get to fight me at the time was Mendoza, and the WBO wouldn't even sanction that fight against Mendoza, who had just knocked out Carlos Negron, the Puerto Rican Olympian. So I fought Mendoza and ended up vacating the WBO title, and as soon as I vacate it, Seth Mitchell fights Chazz Witherspoon for the title. But they wouldn't force this guy to fight me when I had the title. And when you have a title and they don't force these guys to fight you, they should bump them out of the rankings, not raise them in the rankings. So fighting a guy like Monte Barrett makes no sense at all for me in my career. I'm trying to move upward, not downward. Beating him is not gonna do anything for my ranking at all.
PC: Do you think a guy like Barrett sees your age and assumes you guys are on the same platform and skill set?
AM: Yeah, exactly. And also, and it's a good thing, but a lot of people trying to come out of the woodworks now because Maurice Harris went 12 rounds with me. First and foremost, a Maurice Harris that's in tip top shape, probably 85% of the heavyweights right now in the top 10 can't beat him. I went from 235 pounds to 214 pounds for that fight. You understand what I'm saying? I was as sick as a dog. And after I lose a certain amount of weight, I start to lose muscle. But I still pressed forward and knocked out 12 rounds. A lot of people aren't taking that into consideration because I don't make excuses. I really hadn't put that out there, but it's the truth. They can go to Christiana Hospital and search the records and see that Amir was in the dang gone emergency room 6 days before the fight. But long story short, a guy like Monte Barrett is not worth my time. Now let a guy like David Haye call me out. Let a guy that's worth me fighting call me out, but you don't see that too much. I heard Deonte Wilder put my name in his mouth. Deonte Wilder's people would probably retire him before they allowed him to fight me. And he knows that, so he can sit there and sell wolf tickets all day long, but he knows that his people won't allow him to fight me. If people waiting on me to get old in that ring, they can keep waiting, man. I been back training. I'm actually helping Chazz get ready for his fight on the 16th. They can wait all they want. As long as I'm active, I guarantee you I will be one of the top heavyweight fighters in the world. When it's time for me to hang it up, you best believe ain't nobody gonna have to knock me upside the head or beat me down in order for me to realize that. I will know. Your body will tell you when it's time to take it down. And right now, I still have one of the best physiques in this game. I'm definitely one of the hardest hitting guys in the game and I'm definitely one of the top 3 or 4 as far as speed in the heavyweight division. So when those numbers start to decline, then I could start to worry about my age, but until then, my age is a plus because with that age comes wisdom. I use that wisdom when I'm in that ring, and when I'm training, and when I want to go out and party, but instead of going out to party, I go train. I use that wisdom and these 40 years to my advantage. It's not a disadvantage to me.
PC: Thanks for the time my man. I look forward to seeing you back in there and getting on a network soon so that the world can see you. You got anything else you want to say?
AM: Once again, man, I want to thank FightHype. Y'all brothers really keep it 100. Y'all are one of the only websites that I entertain and do interviews with most of the time. Y'all really, really keep it 100, man, and I appreciate and I love y'all for that bruh. I also want to say good luck to my man, and I want everybody to come to Atlantic City on the 26th and watch Bernard Hopkins do his thing, man. Every time this guy fights, it's history in the making, man. I'm going to be in Atlantic City on October 26th supporting Bernard Hopkins and watching him do his thing.
[ Follow Percy Crawford on Twitter @MrLouis1ana ]