"Every single guy that's ever been hit with that punch by me with my right hand, they went out cold. I don't care who you are. I caught him with some good shots. Not the way that I wanted to catch him, but I caught him with some good shots early in the fight and he looked at me like I was crazy and stood up to 'em. But if I catch you with that right uppercut; it's like a hook uppercut. Rigondeaux throws it a lot as well. If I catch you with that thing, man, you going out cold. Nobody gonna stand up to that. So once I felt that connection, I knew he was gone. I couldn't get out the way fast enough for him to fall...I've proven that I can still crack in the late rounds," stated heavyweight contener Amir Mansour, who talked about his devastating 7th round knockout of Fred Kassi this past Saturday. Check out what else he had to say about his performance, his future plans, and much more.
PC: Congrats on a great knockout win. It appeared to me that your pressure was making him uncomfortable. Did you sense that?
AM: Yeah! You know, this guy had 20 fights; only 1 fight less than what I had and as many wins. He came to rock, but he had to realize that the competition that he fought and the competition that I fought, there was no comparison. I found out after the fight that their plan was actually to tire me out, which is, like Mike Tyson would say, totally ludicrous. And it's totally ludicrous for anybody to think they are going to tire Amir Mansour out.
PC: You said you were nervous leading up to this fight more than any other fight because you simply couldn't find footage on this guy. What was that like to have to try and feel him out and see what he brings to the table for the first few rounds?
AM: When you don't know nothing at all about a fighter, and he's actually good enough to come at you orthodox one minute, southpaw the next minute, and switch back and forth, and you know nothing about him, but you know that he's been studying your tapes, mentally it puts you at a disadvantage. So I just had to keep trying to establish the jab and get into his momentum and see what he was good at and what he wasn't good at. I came back into the corner after about the 4th round and Calvin said, "Listen, when he switches up southpaw, he comes forward, but the minute you attack him, he don't have defense and he hurries up and switches back to orthodox. But when he switches to orthodox, he backs up and lets you chase him. He responds defensively from an orthodox position." I mean, he broke the boy down to me. So when this guy kept switching up and switching up, after the 4th round, every time he would switch up, I knew exactly what to do. When he was southpaw, we would work the jab and right hand, and when he's orthodox, overhand left then right hand to the body or right hook or uppercut. If he threw the right hand, I was throwing the overhand left. I ended up breaking him apart and eventually that combination hurt the bol and stopped him.
PC: You really invested some real estate early to his body. Did you sense that body work paying off as the fight progressed?
AM: Oh, for sure because I knew their plan. I said, this dude is thinking about the Cunningham fight where they swear I ran out of gas. They thought I had some type of reputation that I was gonna run out of gas. I don't know where they get that from. So he thought he was gonna go ahead and sacrifice the early rounds and come on strong in the later rounds. That wasn't gonna happen. I was in tip top shape and perfect shape, and like I say over and over again, I didn't run out of gas against Steve Cunningham; I lost my composure. So for this fight, I said, you know what, let me settle down and keep my composure and just box a lot more and the knockout will eventually come.
PC: The big right hook landed after the overhand left and that was all she wrote. When you felt the punch, did you know the fight was over?
AM: Man, I'll tell you like this, every single guy that's ever been hit with that punch by me with my right hand, they went out cold. I don't care who you are. I caught him with some good shots. Not the way that I wanted to catch him, but I caught him with some good shots early in the fight and he looked at me like I was crazy and stood up to 'em. But if I catch you with that right uppercut; it's like a hook uppercut. Rigondeaux throws it a lot as well. If I catch you with that thing, man, you going out cold. Nobody gonna stand up to that. So once I felt that connection, I knew he was gone. I couldn't get out the way fast enough for him to fall.
PC: You had a little dialogue with him after the fight. What was said?
AM: I told him, "You hit hard. You got some real power in both of your hands and you can box both southpaw and orthodox. Don't give up, man. You just had the wrong game plan with me."They had it in their mind that I had a reputation for running out of gas. So after the 5th, 6th, and 7th round and he still see me in his ass, I think he lost confidence. And then too, maybe they didn't think or know that I could attack the body the way that I did. And in retrospect with the Steve Cunningham fight, I know the mistakes that I made. And I think I said it to you, guys can look at that fight all they want, they not gonna see that fighter again. And the fighter that you seen last night, you not gonna see him again; you just not. If I don't elevate my game every time, I might as well give this shit up.
PC: I think when you were knocking a lot of people out early, you kind of got the stigma that you can't go the distance or fight for a long time. It's kind of a stigma that comes with punchers sometimes.
AM: Yeah! Well my last 4 fights, one went 12 rounds with Maurice Harris, the fight with Calvin Price went 7 rounds and I stopped him, and the Steve Cunningham fight went 10, and with this guy, I stopped him in the 7th. So I've proven that I can still crack in the late rounds. You can think I'm gonna run out of gas if you want; you're out ya mind. Me and Steve went at a crazy pace. We threw over a thousand punches. I threw 535 punches. That's more punches than Maidana threw against Mayweather in a 12-round fight and he's a welterweight. That's not a person running out of gas. The last thing that person did was run out of gas. I say it over and over, I just lost my composure in the Cunningham fight. If a guy comes in and thinks they gonna beat me on conditioning, then it's going to be an easy night for me.
PC: It's one thing to have Calvin Davis in the gym with you as your trainer, but what was it like to have him in the corner during an actual fight after so much time without him?
AM: Man, listen man, this man has been gone for 13 years. I had Fred Jenkins in the corner with me, who has been in world championship fights. He has Bryant Jennings. He was my cut man. My trainer, Howard Moses, who has been in the game 25 to 30 years, and Davis dissected this dude in a matter of a couple of rounds and let me know every single thing I needed to do when this dude switched orthodox and southpaw. I knew everything I needed to know and every punch that I needed to throw when he switched it up. I knew when he was going to back up and I knew when he was going to go forward. And this is what Davis told me. I'm not gonna say that Mo or Fred didn't see it, but they surely didn't tell me. But Fred, I think, stayed in his lane because he was there for the cuts. Calvin really did his thing. When you got a guy dissecting things like that and giving you that type of information, your confidence is on cool street.
PC: Before I let you go, I gotta get your thoughts on Bernard Hopkins losing the most lopsided decision of his career. I know you don't like to tell guys when to give it up, but what do you think happens from here on out for Bernard?
AM: I'll tell you like this man, Bernard Hopkins is smart enough and business savvy enough to know when it's his time. When it's Bernard's time, Bernard is going to be the first one to tell us. He don't need the money and he damn sure don't need the fame. So at the end of the day, the only thing I can say is, this man has always done it his way and he gonna continue to do it his way and he's going to go out the way that he wants to go out, whether it's now or later.
PC: I appreciate your time. Congratulations again on a great performance and knockout. Is there anything else you want to say?
AM: I'm ready to get right back in the ring, man; next man up! I'm trying to fight again as soon as possible. You know I only fought 2 times in 2014, so if I could squeeze another one in some time in late December or early January, I'm with it. I want to get back in that ring as soon as possible. And you already know, if you in that top 10, yeah, I'll fight you.
[ Follow Percy Crawford on Twitter @MrLouis1ana ]