"Um, there's not going to be close round because I'm coming to destroy. There's no close rounds. I'm not playing! I'm not playing with Berto! I'm not playing with none of those guys! I'm coming to destroy everybody in the division and I'm going to let them know right now that I'm the best. That's just what it's going to be. I'm not leaving no doubts...It's just the mentality I have right now, I'm looking to take care of everybody. My mentality is like it was when I fought Oscar the first time. I'm very hungry right now and I don't know if they should have put him in with a hungry, old veteran like myself," stated WBA welterweight champion "Sugar" Shane Mosley as he shared his thoughts on his upcoming clash with WBC welterweight champion Andre Berto. Check it out!
BT: What's good Sugar?
SM: Hey, how you doing Ben? How's it going man?
BT: I'm doing good man. I'm doing good. How's training camp going?
SM: It's going great! Actually, I was going to get ready to train right now. I have to go do a little working out and stretching and stuff. But yeah, everything is going great.
BT: Yeah, you're a gym rat and you pretty much stay in shape all year long. You know, when I saw you and Berto face off at that first press conference, I thought Berto looked a little chubby next to you. Was that an illusion or did he look a little heavier than normal to you?
SM: Um, you know, Berto usually walks around pretty big. Maybe 180 or 185. So probably 180.
BT: (Laughing) Really? That much?
SM: I mean, he looked to be kind of heavy. I'm not really sure. He was a little big, but the next time I had seen him, I think he dropped like about 10-15 pounds. At the press conference, he was big and then I had just seen him in New York and he seemed like he was 10 pounds lighter. I don't think he's going to have a problem with weight. Neither one of us will have a problem with that. I'm already on weight. I've been on weight before the fight was announced.
BT: Brother Naazim was talking to Percy the other day and he was saying that he's been following Berto's career ever since he was 10 or 12 years old. That sounds like a pretty huge advantage for you going into the fight, having Brother Naazim knowing him that well.
SM: Yeah, I mean, it's definitly an advantage for me when the coach knows the young fighter inside and out. Me watching a lot of tapes, I mean, I see a lot of problems and I see a lot of mistakes he makes; we'll basically see the same things and he's been making those same mistakes for a long time. Usually, mistakes like that that they make are usually when it's done as a kid and it's kind of hard to change in the middle of trying to fight a big fight. I'm sure there's some mistakes I might have made in the past or whatever and me and Brother Naazim will work on that too as well, so it should be pretty interesting.
BT: Brother Naazim was also involved in a similar type of fight when Hopkins was fighting Taylor, where the younger bull was supposed to be coming to knock off the older veteran. Given some of these strange scorecards lately, how concerned are you that the younger guy might be given the benefit of the doubt in any close round?
SM: Um, there's not going to be close rounds because I'm coming to destroy. There's no close rounds. I'm not playing! I'm not playing with Berto! I'm not playing with none of those guys! I'm coming to destroy everybody in the division and I'm going to let them know right now that I'm the best. That's just what it's going to be. I'm not leaving no doubts.
BT: Wow!
SM: No doubts! No doubts!
BT: It sounds like you're not worried about a letdown from the Margarito fight; like you're coming to put on a better performance than that.
SM: Oh, it's going to be better than that. I'm actually a lot strong; I'm better than that right now. Right now, I'm better than that and I'm going to be even better when I fight. I just can't wait to get in the ring. I'm about to destroy somebody because I've been waiting for a year and now I'm pissed and I'm ready to fight!
BT: (Laughing) You're gonna take it out on Berto.
SM: I told Berto, "It's nothing personal. It's all business, but I'm not going to look over you, I'm going to look through you. I gotta do you to get to where I'm going. You standing in my way!"
BT: (Laughing) I think that might be the problem though. I think he's know that and I think he's going to try and run and, I mean, I don't mean to say run, but he's going to be backpeddaling and he's going to be holding on, clinching for dear life like a newborn to a nipple so...
SM: (Cutting in) If he does clinching and all that stuff, that's not going to work for him because I know how to get around that; especially the way he clinches. He makes a lot of mistakes on the clinching. He makes a lot of mistakes on different things, so it's not going to work. I'm coming to destroy regardless of whoever it is in front of me. I don't care. I told them. I told HBO, "Who do you guys want me to fight? Let me know who you want me to fight and I'll show up. Let me know 2 months in advance so I can prepare myself. I don't care. As long as it's at 147, let's do it!"
BT: And they chose Berto out of all the people...
SM: (Cutting in) They had Berto, Joshua Clottey and I had tried not to get Berto because I didn't wanna, you know, I don't want to hurt the man's career. I don't want to beat the record up like that, but Berto's tough, he's a worthy opponent, he's fast, he's a young guy coming up and at some point, he's got to be tested to prove he can be on the top level. It's just the mentality I have right now, I'm looking to take care of everybody. My mentality is like it was when I fought Oscar the first time. I'm very hungry right now and I don't know if they should have put him in with a hungry, old veteran like myself.
BT: I gotta admit, I was kind of surprised HBO would be so eager to put him in there with you. I know in the past, you've mentioned some similarities between Berto and yourself earlier in your career. If you had to take a guess, where would you say Andre Berto is at this stage of his career compared to where you were during this point of your career? I mean, 25 fights into your career, you were making the first defense of your lightweight title. Is that where Berto is at this point? Is he better? Is he worse?
SM: The difference between me and Berto was Berto didn't get a chance to spar with the same type of cailber of guys that I sparred with when I was coming up. When I was coming up, I learned from a lot of the world champions; a lot of the best around here and that's why I fight the way I do. A lot of the Mexican champions: Genero Hernandez, Hector Lopez. I mean, a lot of the guys, David Kamau, Azumah Nelson, I mean, I was sparring all these different guys at a young age. I don't think he had that. These legendary fighters, I was sparring with them and working with them religiously every day. Not just one time, but I was working with a lot of guys on and on and on, so at that point in my career, I had more experience with the legend type fighters than Berto has and that's going to be the difference. That's why I was able to fight John John Molina and fight Jesse James Leija and these guys at a young age and beat them at the inside, outside and beat them wherever I wanted to because I had the experience with sparring all of these guys anyway. So the tricks that they were trying in the fight, I was like, "I seen that already. I seen that already. I seen that already," so it was like nothing. But he's not going to see the same tricks because he hasn't been in there with guys like that and he doesn't know better.
BT: As good as the 25-0 Shane Mosley was back then, I don't know if he would have been able to deal with the 46-5 Shane Mosley (laughing).
SM: Yeah, he would have got clipped because I was doing stuff off of extincts, but now I'm doing stuff because I know where I'm going to be at. I know the different moves and...I'm like a book. It's amazing. It's amazing to me right now that I'm feeling this good. I'm going to continue doing what I'm doing. I'm very hungry. I'm ready to make my imprint on the boxing world to let them know that yes, I am the best in this era and yes, I am the best welterweight. Nobody can beat me!
BT: Do you think that gives you an advantage just knowing that you're more motivated about your legacy and about proving your point to people than you are about making your first million dollar payday?
SM: Yeah. I mean, me being motivated like this, I mean...I think the fans or some of the writers who are like, "Oh yeah, Shane's old," that just adds fuel to fire. That's just more fuel. That just gets me up more and more and more, so haters, keep on hating so I can keep on destroying.
BT: Besides his inexperience and some of his deficiences in defense, a big question mark about Berto has been his chin. He's looked a little vulnerable at times in some of his recent performances. Do you see this fight going the distance or do you think you'll be given some opportunities to get him out of there?
SM: I never see a fight going the distance because I'm looking to knock a guy out; that's just what I do. At this point, where I'm looking to destroy guys, I mean, I just don't see this fight going the distance right now. I see myself getting in there and knocking out everyone I step in front of.
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