"I didn't think I was gonna get him out of there quickly, but anybody I catch, they gonna eventually go night-night! But I dropped him several times and he got up and continued to fight and continued to bring some noise, so I commend him. I wasn't surprised at all, man. Look, I prepare for war. Every time I fight, I prepare for a war," stated undefeated heavyweight contender Amir Mansour, who talked about his recent stoppage of Kelvin Price and much more. Check it out!
PC: Congratulations on the win over Kelvin Price. How are you feeling now?
AM: I'm good, man. Everything is cool, bruh!
PC: Before the fight, you told me you were gonna treat this as any other fight. At the end of the day, was it impossible to not treat this as your first nationally televised fight?
AM: I treated it like a regular fight to be honest with you, man. A lot of my fights have been televised; they just haven't been televised on such a large network. Comcast Sports isn't as big as NBC Sports, you know what I'm saying, but my last 4 or 5 fights been on Comcast Sports as well. And this was like my 6th or 7th main event fight, so I was pretty much relaxed, man. I don't let the lights and cameras get to me when it comes to fighting.
PC: Price showed a lot of grit and toughness in there against you. Were you somewhat surprised he was able to take so many of your big shots?
AM: Well, I knew that...believe it or not, I knew he wasn't gonna be no pushover because a lot of people look at his 1st round loss to Deontay Wilder. And I'm not trying to make myself look better or anything, but if you look at that fight, Deontay hit him in the back of the head. And before Deontay finished him off, he was already stepping in potholes and dizzy. Look at the replay of that fight. The ref should have gave him time to get himself together. He didn't and Deontay finished him off. So I believed that this dude was gonna come to fight and unless I hit him in the back of the head, I didn't think I was gonna get him out of there quickly, but anybody I catch, they gonna eventually go night-night! But I dropped him several times and he got up and continued to fight and continued to bring some noise, so I commend him. I wasn't surprised at all, man. Look, I prepare for war. Every time I fight, I prepare for a war.
PC: There were a few occasions where Price grew weary of your left hand, so you switched to orthodox and landed some overhand rights on him.
AM: That's something that I do from time to time. I've been experimenting with a few moves of switching to orthodox and landing that big overhand right. I've been working on a few moves to be able to do that without getting caught or hit. I tried that here and there and landed a few good shots on him. It's just all about boxing. You know, I've been boxing for over 22 years. I started boxing at 16, so I have been boxing for a long time, man. So even though I'm a southpaw fighter, I can fight orthodox as well.
PC: He was doing a lot of grabbing and holding and it seemed to wear you down at times.
AM: I'm gonna be honest man, that really wore me out. It tires your legs and it takes your legs from you because every time he is leaning over me like that, I'm holding up me and him. He came in 11 pounds heavier than me and continuously throughout the fight, I'm holding my weight and his weight. It took a toll on me, but I can't get mad at him because that was his strategy. It's illegal to continue to do it, but the ref kept allowing him to do it and he did it.
PC: He got up and survived the round of your last knockdown, which seemed to be the most significant one sending him through the ropes. Did you think the doctor that stopped the fight should have let him continue?
AM: If that was me, I would be upset. You don't want to get stopped on your stool, man. You want to be able to come out every single round. If you make it through a round, you want the chance to be able to go out and make it through another round. As fighters, we want the opportunity to just keep going. And even before the fight, I told the ref, "Listen man, let me fight till the death. Don't stop no fight for me." So when he made it through a round that I hurt him, I didn't think it was really that fair that they stopped the fight. They should have let him keep going, but then again, you know, I started closing the gap on him and he was tiring out and I started hurting him pretty consistently, and with my power that late in the fight, I already showed people I can knock you out in any round. So with my power, maybe they saved him from getting injured badly. But as fighters, we want the opportunity to keep fighting, so I'm gonna be honest and think that was an early stoppage.
PC: What type of conversation did you have or did he have with you after the fight?
AM: He was talking to me about some personal issues that he had with his promoter and management. He was asking me for some advice as far as management and payments and that type of thing and I told him that we could talk later, to get with me later, and that's it, man. He said good fight and I told him good fight and that he was really tough and that was that; really it was just good sportsmanship, that's all.
PC: After the fight, you said at a certain point of the fight, you knew you had to turn it into a dogfight. Why did you feel that way?
AM: Well, I wasn't gonna sit there and try to outjab him as long as he was. I wasn't gonna sit there and just try to outbox him with the reach advantage that he had and the speed that he had. So I said I'm gonna go ahead and turn this into a dogfight, meaning I'm just gonna go at him, apply pressure, go to his body and rough him up. He was leaning on me like crazy; he kept holding and grabbing and throwing a lot of rabbit punches, so I just started doing those things back to him and just put more pressure on him. I threw some wild shots and some wide shots and I took some risks trying to get him to commit himself to go on the attack so that I could counter and things of that nature. I just really had to take some more risks. He hit me with a shot, and I know it was his best shot, and it didn't stun me or anything and I was like, you know what? I'm just gonna make this a dogfight and wear him down and wear him out because sometimes that's just what you have to do, man.
PC: I'm glad the world finally got to see you on the big stage, I look forward to your next one, and congrats again on a great knockout. People still have time to go vote for you for GFL "Fighter of the Year" and for "Knockout of the Year" still up until December 31st at www.gfl.tv/polls.do. Is there anything you want to add?
AM: I want to thank Andrew Peurifoy for sparring with me and this young kid who is the same height as Kelvin Price and his name is Cassius Chaney from Connecticut. He is a real tall kid who just won a national tournament. He came down and sparred with me for a couple of weeks and he was very helpful. And as always, I appreciate FightHype. You already know I love y'all to death and anytime y'all need me, I'm there. And yes everyone, go vote for me on the Go Fight Live site!
[ Follow Percy Crawford on Twitter @MrLouis1ana ]