[As told by Ricardo Williams] I think the funniest story in the amateurs that I can remember is when I was scheduled to fight this Cuban. I was watching the Cuban fight and I didn't think too much of him. So later on that day, the USA coaches had like a little video meeting and they wanted me to sit down and watch the Cuban kid fight, and I got up after like maybe 45 seconds of watching the first round with the same attitude I had when Andre Ward told you I was laid back, like, "I'm too fast for this dude." (Laughing) So I said, "Man, I don't need to see no more. I'm gonna box him and stop him on points." And then I got up and left out of the room, and they were like, "Come here! You need to watch this." I said, "Man, this gonna be an easy fight." It ended up being the highest scoring fight in Olympic history. That was my hardest fight during the whole tournament.
That was just one memory that sticks out to me because I remember in the first round, I threw a right hand and he dipped from it and hit me with a right hand and my whole body felt paralyzed. I got behind by so many points, but I was still trying to box and I looked out at my dad and he said, "Boxing is over. You gotta street fight." So that's definitely a story that sticks out in my mind for me because it turned out to be such a good fight, and for my father, it was a tear jerker for him because he had never seen me in a fight like that. I had to go into a whole 'nother boxing mode and I had to throw that out of the window and stand there and fight with that dude. He was so strong. I think if I would have stood there and stayed in the room that day and watched that tape of him, the fight would have been a lot easier than me watching the first 45 seconds of that first round and getting up. I won the fight, 42-41, but I made it a lot harder on myself. I went in thinking I could win one way and I had to fight a whole 'nother style, so that fight stands out to me for that reason really. I did what I had to do to win, but it wasn't easy (laughing).
That's the biggest thing that stands out to me besides me fighting Demetrius Hopkins in the Olympic Trials. I got so many amateur stories, it's crazy. The Hopkins fight was a real built-up fight during the Olympic Trials and it turned out to be a really good fight in the amateurs. A lot of people ask me if I know my record as an amateur. Man, I don't know it. I had over 350 fights as an amateur. I was like 7 years old and it was actually like family vacations at one point when I turned 10 or 11 because every week, we would rent like a 15-passenger van and every weekend, we would just set up fights and go fight every weekend. I didn't go to my own prom. A lot of little school dances and stuff like that I didn't go to because I was either out of town or training, you know what I mean? But I wouldn't trade any of those experiences.
[ Follow Percy Crawford on Twitter @MrLouis1ana ]