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WILLIE MONROE JR.: "I LEARNED THAT FROM THE TRIPLE G FIGHT AND I WON'T LET IT HAPPEN AGAIN"

By Percy Crawford | July 26, 2016
WILLIE MONROE JR.:

"I think so fast and I'm so cerebral that it takes people time to catch up to it. They see what's on the surface. I just dropped a jewel on fighters and gave the boxing world something to think about...That's why it took me a year to get back in the ring after that fight because I know what it's like to go in the ring under that immense pressure. Not to mention fighting the biggest fight of my life on someone else's backyard and you're fighting someone who is considered a pound-for-pound great. When you got all of that mental stuff messing with you, it takes you out of your game," stated middleweight contender Willie Monroe Jr., who talked about his recent win over John Thompson and much more. Check it out!

PC: Congratulations on the win over John Thompson. How did you feel since you had been out awhile?

WMJ: I felt a little rusty. It was kind of hard to find my timing and my distance because Thompson is 6'2". I hadn't fought in awhile and it was hard to find my distance. I'm a counterpuncher and he's a counterpuncher, so I had to be real cerebral in that fight to where I get off in the fight. During the fight, you hear they mention Austin Trout and Erislandy Lara and when they fought, and they said it was very similar to that fight. When I was in camp with Austin Trout helping him getting ready for Lara, he was like, "I'm going to bring the fight to him." I was trying to show Austin how to bring the fight to him, but still remain a counterpuncher. So what you do when you got two counterpunchers is lead just a little bit. So I would lead with the jab and use head feints, shoulder feints, and feet feints. When he got ready to counter, I would step back and counter his counter, and that would make him feel like he gotta get it back and then he's playing into my hands because I could counter him again because he stepped out of his element and he wants to come to me because he feels he gotta get it back. You almost have to think in reverse to win fights like that; two counterpunchers, two guys with fast hands and both cerebral and defensive-minded. You have to know how to put the other guy on ice or bring him out of his comfort zone so I could do what I need to do. I think I displayed that when I fought John Thompson. He's not an easy fighter to fight. He's very rangy. I was happy to be back.

PC: Even after the knockdowns, you were very cautious and the commentators criticized you a little for that.

WMJ: I'm going to tell you a little secret and you can put it out there for other fighters to think about doing. When I knocked him down the first time, it was more like a flash knockdown. They were trying to say that he tripped over his feet, but his feet were nowhere near mine. I baited him with the jab and I stayed in range because I knew he was going to try and counter with his jab. Well, he countered with his jab. I did what we call a rock. I turned my shoulder a little bit and came back with a looping left hand. It landed kind of high on the head; it didn't land on the chin where I wanted it to, but it put him down. And the second knockdown, I feinted the jab to the body and hit him on the chin. A lot of people were like, "Ah, you dropped him twice; you should have finished him." And after the fight, the commentators were like, "Note to Willie Monroe, when you drop a guy twice, maybe you should get him out of there." I'm going to drop a jewel on you real quick, and this is something cats can do. When I dropped him with the jab and immediately I go to the neutral corner, I'm looking at him and when he got up, I smiled and winked at him and he smiled and winked back. That let me know that he wasn't too hurt and I still had to be measured and work my way in. I knew there would be opportunities because he was going to want to get that back. I was smart enough in that moment of 3 or 4 seconds to think, let me make sure he's hurt. Anybody that's coherent enough to smile and wink back is not that hurt. I think so fast and I'm so cerebral that it takes people time to catch up to it. They see what's on the surface. I just dropped a jewel on fighters and gave the boxing world something to think about.

PC: You've been through a lot of, I guess you can say, miscommunication with Banner Promotions and now you recently just re-signed with them. Are you more comfortable with the terms this time around?

WMJ: I'm comfortable with the situation now because of the people I'm working with in-house. Artie Pelullo and Banner Promotions have been very flexible with the things that we asked for. We didn't ask for a lot, but we made sure that Willie Monroe was comfortable going into fights. Casual fans and a lot of people that watch boxing don't understand that the politics will kick your ass more than the fight will. If you're working a job and you make $10 an hour and you felt like politics were keeping you from getting a raise, what would make you think that politics wouldn't be involved when there is 6 and 7 figures involved? You gotta be a special kind of stupid to believe that politics only exist on a minimum wage job, but not when it involves millions of dollars.

PC: You feel like times have changed and the fighters have to change with it.

WMJ: Exactly! When it comes down to the business side, I'm intelligent and I have a very intelligent team, but I'm not very talkative when it comes to the business side and a lot of people take that as I'm dumb. I was taught that communication also involves listening and not just talking. Me and my team keyed in on things, and you guys know about the incident that happened. I'm free from that and I now have a management team and a strategic partner, Adrian Clark, who has done a phenomenal job with being that mouthpiece in between to make sure both parties are happy. And along with him is my brother and my manager, TJ. They just really sat down and let them know that we had to restructure the way that my career is going. The business side was really starting to get the best of me. People were like, "You've been out a year. You could have fought 3 times." People think boxing is a gig. You go somewhere and book a fight and voila, you're in the ring. It's not as easy as people think. I went through a situation that was almost identical of what Andre Ward went through. I had greedy people trying to take money and I had to handle that business. One of my biggest mistakes was that really started to spin out of control when I was headed into the Triple G fight. I tried to stay focused and work, but that weighed on me mentally. I learned that from the Triple G fight and I won't let it happen again. That's why it took me a year to get back in the ring after that fight because I know what it's like to go in the ring under that immense pressure. Not to mention fighting the biggest fight of my life on someone else's backyard and you're fighting someone who is considered a pound-for-pound great. When you got all of that mental stuff messing with you, it takes you out of your game. So I told myself I would make sure that never happened again. Legalities take a while. These things take time and cost money.

PC: I always appreciate your time. Give me something in closing my man.

WMJ: I just want to say God bless to the fans, and even to the haters, thank you because hate is confused admiration, so I love them to. Thank you Percy for always giving me the best interviews and the realist interviews.



[ Follow Percy Crawford on Twitter @MrLouis1ana ]

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