"Regardless of whatever happens, we just gonna always move forward. I'm always gonna be that warrior, I'm always gonna be that tough fighter, and I'm always gonna give it all I have. That's one thing that I always guarantee to the people that support me is that I'm gonna leave everything I got in that ring," stated heavyweight contender Amir Mansour, who talked about his upcoming November 8 clash with Fred Kassi and much more. Check it out!
PC: November 8th is the return against Fred Kassi. How do you feel?
AM: I feel great, man. It's a beautiful opportunity for me and it's also a great opportunity for exposure on NBC. They still got love for me. I broke the ratings record with the last fight that I had on NBC and every time that I fought on NBC, it was always a high rating. But last fight, I actually broke the ratings record, and of course I'm not gonna take that credit alone. They had some other great fighters on the undercard, and me and Steve obviously put on a good show. He has a great following as well. He never did that good in ratings with any other fighter, not even him and Adamek, but I can't take that credit alone. I gotta give credit where credit is due. It's just a beautiful blessing for the network to still be interested in my talent and giving me an opportunity to showcase it around the world.
PC: You felt comfortable after talking to a few people with the network after the Cunningham fight that they would bring you back?
AM: Oh, for sure. Everybody that saw the fight knows that, as far as the decision, it could have went either way, but I'm not crying about that anymore. I'm the type of person, man, that thinks the only thing wrong with falling or losing is that you continue to lose or that you don't get back up and dust yourself off. It was a great learning experience and as you just heard from speaking with Calvin, he was there for me and he offered me very encouraging words. He let me know this ain't the end of the world, it's the beginning. He feels it's my time to show people what I'm really made of. I wasn't worried about the loss because there are some times you lose and you look back in retrospect and you say, "There is nothing I could have done to win." And then there are times that you lose and a lot of people say, "I felt like you won," or you might feel in your heart you won and then it's time where you feel you could have made certain adjustments and really made the fight your own and won it hands down. So that was the outcome that I had wanted. I wasn't being no crybaby or anything like that. I just got up, dusted myself off and went back to the drawing board. And now I'm working on the necessary adjustments and, as you can tell, by listening to Davis. He is very knowledgeable about the sport of boxing in and outside of the ring, so I'm elated that I got him now in my corner in real life action. I have spoken to you about him every time we did an interview; we mentioned him and that was 4 ½ years straight. So now I get a chance to actually be with him in a gym instead of working out inside of a mop closet. Now we got a real ring, we got real material and equipment, and this is going to be a great experience. It's something we spoke about and talked about over a 6-year period in prison and now we are out of prison. I have been out for 4 ½ years and he's home now; it's a life journey that can be made into a reality.
PC: How does it feel to be able to go back and train with the person that started you, because at one point, this didn't look like it was a possibility?
AM: When I started training with him, he let me know right away... he's very realistic. He's not no dreamer because he knows the only reality of a dream is that you end up waking up or dying in your sleep. He was very realistic with me. He was like, "If this is what you really want to do, you can go back out there. You're 9-0, so when you go back out there, you can do it." He knew I still had my athleticism and a good head and good mind and he was willing to do whatever he could do to help me. He never looked back. He never let me down. He pushed me to my limits out there on the ground and he's continuing to push me to my limits now that we are out here.
PC: Not too much footage out there of your opponent, Kassi. Does that not matter to you or would you like to take a glimpse at him before you get in there with him?
AM: It doesn't even matter because in all actuality, I never ever studied in my 21 fights. I haven't studied not one fighter's tape. My trainers studied fighters' tapes, but at the end of the day, I look at it like this, I am who I am and anybody that gets in that ring with me are who they are. I know that I am definitely one of the best, if not the best heavyweight in this country and definitely one of the best heavyweights in the world, so I don't feel threatened by any fighter, whether I seen tapes on him or not. Like Davis said, I know how to make the necessary adjustments before the rounds, throughout the rounds, after the rounds, throughout the fight and during the fight. So that's what we gonna work on and like I said, now that I have him in my corner, I'm more disciplined than ever because he knows trigger points and he knows how to trigger everything in me. He tapped into my talent and he was really one of the only people to tap into my talent and give me the type of inspiration that he does. This is just going to be a phenomenal experience for both of us.
PC: You are coming off of a very exciting fight and you are coming off of your first career defeat. Is there any pressure on you to put on a certain type of performance?
AM: No! One of the first things that Calvin told me when we picked up this journey that we started years ago in prison was, "You hit too hard, you're too fast, and you're too talented to just go out there and play the bull. You can be the matador sometimes as well." There will be times I have to play the bull role and sometimes I won't have to. But he told me I was too talented boxing-wise to just go out there and take everybody's head off because the knockouts gonna come with my speed and power. He feels like nobody is going to stand up to my speed and power. That's something I had to realize after the Cunningham fight. It's an adjustment I had to make. A lot of people said I ran out of gas. You don't run out of gas by throwing 535 punches in a 10-round fight. That's more punches than Maidana just threw against Mayweather in a 12-round fight and he is considered one of the best conditioned fighters in the world and a punching machine. I'm a heavyweight that threw more than 100 more punches than Maidana with 2 less rounds to do it in, so that should tell you a lot about my conditioning. It wasn't my condition that I lost, it was my composure that I lost, and Davis knows how to get me refocused and help me make certain adjustments that I should have made against Steve after about the 6th round. I should have stuck to certain criteria, but I lost my composure and started head hunting. You're not gonna see too much more of that from Amir Mansour.
PC: I look forward to you getting back in the ring. Best of luck to you and Calvin's reunion. Is there anything you want to add before I let you go?
AM: I know that Bernard Hopkins fights on November 8th. I always wish him the best. He is a friend and mentor of Calvin Davis and anybody that he loves, I love as well, and I have always been a great fan of Bernard Hopkins and I wish him the best, but I want everybody out there to tune in to NBC Sports on November 8th. Catch it live because you don't want to hear about this the next day. We are on the move and we just gonna keep moving forward. Regardless of whatever happens, we just gonna always move forward. I'm always gonna be that warrior, I'm always gonna be that tough fighter, and I'm always gonna give it all I have. That's one thing that I always guarantee to the people that support me is that I'm gonna leave everything I got in that ring. I'm not gonna turn around and say shoulda-coulda-woulda. FightHype.com, I love y'all. Y'all are the main website out there and y'all have followed me and supported me, and to be honest with you, man, y'all keep me motivated and relevant. You know I got mad love for you and I just want to say thank you to to the people that you work with at FightHype.com. Y'all are the realest site on this planet because y'all don't worry about who they say is the best, y'all worry about who y'all feel is a great fighter who is giving it all they got and on a mission. To me, y'all are the best site out there because y'all always keep it 100 and that is why FightHype.com always gets my news first.
[ Follow Percy Crawford on Twitter @MrLouis1ana ]