"I thought they got it together. They promoted it like they were getting ready to go, but Bob Arum don't want to see Floyd make that money because he know...he tried to get Floyd beat when he was with him. He tried to get him beat...but Floyd escaped...That's the way Arum is and now Floyd got Arum waiting. That's Arum's last fucking fighter. Pacquiao is the last he got. Arum don't want to see Floyd make that money and beat his last fighter at the same fucking time. Pacquiao is the last motherfucker he got. He aint getting nobody else," stated former three-division world champion Iran Barkley, who had a lot to say about the current state of boxing. Check it out!
PC: How you been my man? I wanted to hit you up and check up on you.
IB: I've been hanging in there, man. Thanks for calling me and checking in.
PC: How do you feel physically? You sound good, man.
IB: I feel good too. I feel really good. I got a few things going on that I'm working on, but you know how it is. I just want to get one more fight, get paid, and walk away from this sport.
PC: You ever thought about training fighters, Blade?
IB: Man, these dudes don't want to train hard and do the things we did when I was fighting. They got family problems and they can't leave these girls alone. "I can't go to the gym because my girl is sick." Man, please go somewhere with that shit. I'm 51 and I train like I did in the 80's and 90's. I stayed in shape and do what I gotta do. I know most people may think I'm out of shape or whatever, but most fighters from my era don't even go to the gym anymore.
PC: Yeah man, even these young guys. I'm all for moving up in weight for super fights or guys outgrowing the division, but some of these guys are just lazy fighters and they move up in weight after every fight.
IB: Yeah! They moving up and they moving out and it's ridiculous. I look at Bob Arum and Don King and these guys are promoting guys that are really not there and they paying them all of this fucking money like what I made, and they can't compare them to what I've done in the game. They getting all of this money and it's like, wow, I can't even get a shot. I'm just praying to God that he just gives me a little bit of a glimpse so I can get through that door which he has. I'm in the door; I just gotta be patient, you know? And honestly, I'm tired of being patient. I just want to get me like one more joint, get some cash, and say fuck boxing, man. Even like with these young kids and stuff, where people tell me to take them under my wing and get in the gym with me and train them, man, these motherfuckers don't want to train. All they see is money and they think they supposed to get a title shot the first time they start, you know what I mean?
PC: Yeah man, there is not many left that's willing to earn it, for sure. And then, these kids today don't know the history of the game. You put them in front of you and they don't even know who you are.
IB: Right. That's the whole thing. That's right, they don't even know who the fuck I am. More or less they just know Ali and Joe Frazier. You have some of these guys today, you can't even ask who the heavyweight champion of the world is. They don't even fucking know.
PC: When my man Ron Lyle passed away, I remember people hitting me up asking who he was, and these were young fighters and so-called diehard fans, you know?
IB: Yeah, you know? Ron Lyle been around for years. He came up with Ali and all of them, and you don't even fucking know who Ron Lyle is? Boxing is what it is and it's not what it used to be because motherfuckers don't even know the history; these guys and the commission and everybody. They putting me through these massive fucking tests. They testing all of these guys, but what about the motherfucking opponents? Are y'all testing them? Y'all not putting them to them rigorous fucking testing, but a guy like me who they know and see, they will check on my health and everything. And that's fine and all, but I can't get a physical unless I'm on a fight card. If I want to get a physical, I gotta spend $2,000, $3,000 to $5,000, so because I'm 52 years old, I gotta get a whole physical to say that I'm alright before y'all could even...come on, man, this shit is crazy.
PC: Well, I'll be honest, I would never want to see you get hurt in there, so I don't know if fighting again should be an option, but I would love to see you behind a mic because obviously you know the game and you definitely have all of your wits and everything. That's something boxing should do more of, even if it's a behind the scenes job.
IB: Boxing ain't even looking out for a motherfucker to get a commentating job or nothing. Most of us old school guys know the game, but they don't ask us to work for their promotional companies or their networks when we're done. They want us to retire and all of this shit, and I know some of the guys are over the hill and shit, but they want us to retire, but what the fuck they gonna retire to? Half of them don't have money to fall back on.
PC: Yeah, a lot of these guys got done so wrong when they were on the top of their game and now they have to fight past their primes to try and recoup some of what they weren't given in their primes.
IB: Right. They gotta do this and do that...hold on a minute, man (clicks over). See, that's the shit I'm talking about. Motherfuckers calling me like I'm a fucking charity case or something, you know what I'm saying? Motherfuckers forgot what I did in this game. So they call me up and they go, "Iran, you think you can come and make an appearance for me and we gonna give you $400 and have a car pick you up and everything." I say, "You know something, man, listen to this, I'm gonna do this for you, but y'all motherfuckers wouldn't ask Sugar Ray Leonard to do something like this for $400." And you know why? Because Sugar Ray Leonard not gonna come; he got money. I'm gonna do it because I know I will get a blessing out of it, you know what I'm saying?
PC: You never know who you will bump into while doing this appearance, you know?
IB: Yeah, you know, but that's the bullshit that I deal with though, man. The game is the game. And you know, Don King and Bob Arum and some of these fighters, they fucked up the game and they're still fucking it up. I've been out of the ring 10 to 11 years now just resting and just training, keeping my body in shape, doing what I gotta do, and these motherfuckers want me to take all of these motherfucking tests, man, and I'm just like, "These dudes are crazy." They are out of their fucking minds. They gonna make it hard on me because they don't want me to pass them. These motherfuckers are bullshitting because at the end of the day, all I have to do is get one or two knockouts and they will be sucking your dick like crazy.
PC: A lot of people wrote Bernard Hopkins off and their tune changed after a few wins. Speaking of Hopkins, what do you think of him still fighting at a very high level at age 47?
IB: You know, I ain't never really been a big Bernard Hopkins fan, but he's doing what he's doing. I respect what he's doing; I just was never really a fan. God is keeping me on my way and he's watching what I'm doing. Half of these motherfuckers can't even fucking talk now, but they still doing this shit.
PC: Do you still follow boxing closely?
IB: I follow it, but you know, it's like, I've been feeling Bernard Hopkins because he's the only motherfucker that's left that got anything left. All these little motherfuckers, they ain't got shit. They don't even know the motherfucking fight game, you know what I'm saying? I mean, I'm looking at promoters funny. Bernard Hopkins has every right to get big fights because even at his age, he does what he does; gotta go where the shit makes sense. Everybody want to tell you so quick what you can't do. If it wasn't for God blessing George Foreman to come back, none of these motherfuckers would be in this. If it wasn't for God to bless George Foreman to do what he gotta do and make Bob Arum say, "Fuck it, let's get him some fights. Let's get him a couple of bums." And he wasn't getting paid like Ali and dem, so he made it on the back end and now he's doing big things and he said fuck everybody. Foreman doing his thing now and you can't hate at all because the same motherfuckers that fucked him over, he's fucking them right now. God ain't leaving me behind; something will work out for me. I made some mistakes, but now that I know, it's all good. It's gonna be the same person that blessed George Foreman is gonna bless me too; that conniving ass Bob Arum, jive ass fuck. I'm a thorn in his motherfucking back. I stay on that motherfucker, man. Every fucking chance I get, I tell him, "I ain't finished motherfucker." He promised something that he ain't deliver. Don't think I forgot. I just thank God that I survived all of this shit and I can still talk and these motherfuckers...I was smart enough to walk away in 2000 or whatever and say, "Fuck it, I'm gonna rest a little and then go." I just want to get where I can invest in some things in the Bronx and make some things happen. Arum and them niggas done used everybody up in this game, man. I put all of that shit in my book and I showed them how they fucked me. Ray Leonard...Arum told me my next big fight would be Ray Leonard. And yeah, I got two big fights with Tommy [Hearns], but the motherfucker that you promised me didn't want to fight me. He told me to my face, "I ain't fighting you." These fucking suckas, man. That's why I take my hat off to Tommy. He got crushed by me the first time and the second time, I whooped his ass and he still wants to fight me today (laughing).
PC: Tommy Hearns had major balls; you twice, Leonard twice, Hagler and Duran. You name them and he fought them.
IB: Yeah! I gotta give him credit. Look at that shit, Ray fought him twice and Hagler fought him once and said, "Fuck that, I ain't fighting him no more." See, these guys I'm naming, that was the era. These motherfuckers now ain't doing nothing, man. These cats today you give them a fight and they don't even wanna fucking fight.
PC: You stay in touch with any of those old school guys?
IB: I see them when I see them, you know? We talk, but I ain't really looking for cats like that.
PC: You just named a ton of guys that all fought in the same era and fought one another. Do you think Pacquiao and Mayweather will ever fight each other?
IB: I thought they got it together. They promoted it like they were getting ready to go, but Bob Arum don't want to see Floyd make that money because he know fucking well...he tried to get Floyd beat when he was with him. He tried to get him beat like a motherfucker, but Floyd escaped that motherfucker. That's the way Arum is and now Floyd got Arum waiting. That's Arum's last fucking fighter. Pacquiao is the last he got. Arum don't want to see Floyd make that money and beat his last fighter at the same fucking time. Pacquiao is the last motherfucker he got. He aint getting nobody else.
[ Follow Percy Crawford on Twitter @MrLouis1ana ]