"Me and my nutritionist made some mistakes, but we're good now. I know what I have to do now. We're going to get the mistakes corrected. In fact, we've already corrected the mistakes, but people, you gotta be in the gym with me to see how hard I am working...I didn't even know if this fight was a go, so by the time I went at it hard, the fight was a couple of weeks away. They don't even know what weight I was coming down from, and I know it's my job to stay in respectable shape, but when you see fight after fight fall through, it's tough on your mind, which leads to it being tough on your body...I want to fight again in April or May. I don't want to take too much time off. Hopefully Antonio Tarver will be a man of his word and fight me like he said he would. But we will see. I just want to stay busy," stated future Hall of Famer James "Lights Out" Toney as he talked about the criticism he's received on his recent performance, his future plans and much more. Check it out!
PC: Congratulations on the win over Damon Reed.
JT: Thank you No Mercy. I want to humbly apologize to you for not being in contact before the fight. People see my weight and assume I wasn't training, but you know when you don't hear from me, I'm hard at work.
PC: Yeah, that's why I wasn't calling you because I figured as much. But you're right, when people see 257, they think you're lazy and you're just eating a lot...
JT: (Cutting in) Man, me and my nutritionist made some mistakes, but we're good now. I know what I have to do now. We're going to get the mistakes corrected. In fact, we've already corrected the mistakes, but people, you gotta be in the gym with me to see how hard I am working, so anyone that had anything to say that wasn't in the gym with me, fuck 'em. You know I told you until I see paperwork, I didn't even know if this fight was a go, so by the time I went at it hard, the fight was a couple of weeks away. They don't even know what weight I was coming down from, and I know it's my job to stay in respectable shape, but when you see fight after fight fall through, it's tough on your mind, which leads to it being tough on your body. But for some of these bitch ass websites to be talking shit about me saying I shouldn't even be licensed is ridiculous. If I shouldn't be licensed, then Damon Reed should never pick up another pair of gloves considering I beat him every second of every round.
PC: How frustrating is that to get up the next day and read all of the comments that writers and bloggers have to say about you?
JT: It's not frustrating because they ain't never picked up a glove in their life, let alone had a fight before. They are pen-pushing puppets. In fact, I want you to put this out there. Fuck Eastside Boxing, fuck Bleacher Report, fuck Boxingscene and all of these other websites that talked shit afterwards. If I see them at a fight or something, I'm going to bring the streets to their ass. In fact, I got $10,000 for any one of these bitch ass writers that think they can spar 3 rounds with me. Let's see how many takers you get. I hate shit talkers that don't fight, whether it's a fan behind a keyboard or a bitch ass writer behind a pen. Any website that had something to say about James Toney, I will see you sooner or later and fuck you!
PC: Moving on to the fight itself man, what did you think of your performance?
JT: I thought I did some good things, but it's hard to fight a great fight when you're in their with a motherfucker that don't want to fight. You would have thought he was the one coming off of the 18-month layoff. He ran around the ring and didn't want to fight, so it is what it is. I don't chase fighters. If some of these writers would have watched boxing for longer than 2 or 3 years, they would know that I don't chase fighters. That's not my style. I make you miss and make you pay. Most of the fights where people thought I looked bad is when I was fighting guys like Fres Oquendo, who wanted to run around and make me chase. That's not how I fight, but I beat him every single round. I wanted to get the rounds in anyway because I hadn't fought in so long and I feel good. I was back in the gym as of Saturday.
PC: When do you want to get back in there and against whom would you like to get back in there against?
JT: I want to fight again in April or May. I don't want to take too much time off. Hopefully Antonio Tarver will be a man of his word and fight me like he said he would. But we will see. I just want to stay busy. April or May would be perfect.
PC: You worked with Buddy McGirt for the first time. How was that?
JT: It went good, man. Buddy is a cool ass dude and he knows the game inside out. I had him and Pops in my corner and it went well. If you see me, Buddy McGirt and Eddie Mustafa Muhammad together, you would trip out. If we had a reality show, they would throw us off of it. We clown each other all day. I had a lot of fun with those guys, man.
PC: Thanks for your time. I'm glad you were back in the squared circle and I look forward to seeing the improvements and you getting back to form.
JT: Hey man, I appreciate that. I will be much better next time out and to all of my fans, trust me when I tell you, I will do much better for you guys next time as far as coming in right and putting on a show. Keep it right here with my man No Mercy and FightHype and we going back to work; back to the drawing board!
[ Follow Percy Crawford on Twitter @MrLouis1ana ]