Roy Jones Jr Interview: Mayweather-Tyson Fight and World Cup Conditions

Speaking exclusively to BettingLounge, Roy Jones Jr shared his thoughts on the potential Mayweather-Tyson fight, the next steps for Tom Aspinall and how the England football players should handle the heat during the World Cup. Featured image courtesy of Showtime.

Q: What tips would you give Ronaldo for handling that humidity?

"What’s my advice for Cristiano Ronaldo? The best thing you can do when you’re in the area, because I trained in South Florida for my fight against Glen Kelly from Australia, is make sure you drink a lot of coconut water to stay hydrated and eat a lot of watermelon.

"Any kind of melon helps keep you hydrated, and coconut water is also the best. As you get older, rehydrate as much as possible. Don’t spend too many hours in the direct sun, because that direct sun will really get to you. Early morning, late afternoon. That’s when you train."

Q: Is Florida a good place for England to prepare for the World Cup?

"West Palm is a great choice, and the fact that it’s so hot down there means everywhere else unless you go out to the desert, will be comfortable. If you’re not going to the desert, then you’re going to be fine.

"If they go to Kansas next, it should not be nearly as hot and humid in Kansas as it is in Florida. The heat is real here and it will prepare them for what’s to come."

Q: Floyd Mayweather is being linked with Mike Tyson. Does that fight interest you?

"Why would it be a big spectacle? Everybody knows that in their primes, Floyd would have had no chance against Mike. So why would that be a big spectacle now?

"If Mike goes out and doesn’t try to kill him, yeah, maybe he lasts. But if Mike goes out and really gets in shape and goes to blast him, Floyd can’t take a punch on the arm from Mike Tyson. It’s not a spectacle to me.

"Some people like to see two big names in the ring together, so some people might see it as a spectacle and they might watch it. But for me, no, because it was never something I could have visualised happening in reality."

Q: Has Father Time caught up with Oleksandr Usyk after the Rico Verhoeven fight?

"Is Usyk over the hill? No. Not at all. It’s about Rico’s herky-jerky style. That’s all that was. Rico’s performance made Usyk look like that, no question. I’m not going to say it was a bad stoppage.

"I thought he could have let it go a little longer, but the ref probably was trying to look out for the guy. He probably thought the guy was done and he did what he thought was best. It happens."

Q: Can Rico Verhoeven win a world title in boxing?

"Can Rico win a world title? You’ve got to remember, styles make fights. To me, Usyk has never been the most explosive puncher, but he is a brilliant boxer. Tyson Fury has never been the most explosive puncher, but he is a brilliant boxer as well.

"But guys like Dubois, Joshua, Moses, these guys can punch. So they’re going to find out what he can take. I’m not going to just guarantee that he can win a title, because different styles make different fights."

Q: Should Canelo Alvarez continue fighting?

"He has carried boxing for so long and been so good for the sport for so long that how can we tell him he should stop boxing? We didn’t tell him to start, so why would we tell him to stop? Look what he’s done. He has provided us with some of the most exciting fights we’ve had in a long time.

"If it wasn’t for him taking some of the risks that he took, boxing probably would have died because he was really one of the only people for a while who was making a big enough noise to keep it alive. If he wants to fight, I don’t think anybody has the right to tell him he can’t fight. He has earned it already."

Q: Where does Canelo sit among the greats?

"He is going to be remembered as a great fighter because of the attention he commanded. Skill-wise, not so much. But he’s one of my favourite guys to watch because he always comes to the table to fight. You know he’s going to fight.

"Sometimes he figures it out, sometimes he doesn’t, but he’s still wonderful to watch. I always enjoy watching him. I’m a fan of his regardless, because he will fight. He isn’t scared to fight anybody. I have always liked that about Canelo.

Q: What do you make of Tommy Fury fighting a former World’s Strongest Man for big money?

"For Tommy Fury, the legacy is the money. He would never have made this kind of money in regular boxing. So he was smart, he found his niche and he capitalised on it. His brother is the boxing guy. He’s more like the Misfits guy, and he’s making a lot of money doing the smart thing, fighting on the Misfits shows."

Q: Is Roy Jones Jr versus Tommy Fury dead forever?

"Is me vs. Tommy Fury dead? Nothing’s dead forever. Roy Jones is still alive, Tommy Fury is still alive. Nothing’s dead forever. Who knows? For the right money, it would force me into the gym to prepare, yes.

"If they give me $10 million, of course. Ten and upwards, yes. If they don’t give me $10 million and upwards, no. I’m not wasting my time."

Q: Is Shakur Stevenson making a mistake by signing with Dana White and Zuffa?

"I’m not going to say Shakur made a mistake signing with Zuffa. He’s getting more money than he probably would get anywhere else, so that can’t necessarily be a mistake. As long as he has control of what he’s doing and the time [under contract].

" I don’t know what the time is, but the kind of money they’re going to give him per fight, that’s not a mistake. He’s not going to get that anywhere else, so why would he not? If you’re giving me almost $15 million a year, you deserve to hold me for three years. I’m cool with that."

Q: Should Anthony Joshua and Tyson Fury take warm-up fights before facing each other?

"I know what they’re doing, and I understand the warm-up fight for both of them. I just hope they are warm-up fights and not real challenges, because if they are real challenges, somebody is not going to win.

"It happens every time. Every time they fight a real challenge before they fight each other, somebody gets beat. So I hope they’re taking true warm-up fights and not real fights, because if they take two real fights, somebody is going to lose.I hope it isn’t Andy Ruiz, and I hope it isn’t Big Baby Miller for Fury.

"I think Fury really can beat both of them, but Andy Ruiz spoiled a party one time on Joshua’s side. Please don’t have him spoil the party again. Big Baby Miller isn’t a bum either. Big Baby Miller and Andy Ruiz are both capable of spoiling the party."

Q: Anthony Joshua is taking a warm-up fight against Kristian Prenga. What are we going to learn about AJ?

"Sometimes you’re only as good as your opponent, so we can’t judge him by this fight. It’s a different outlook and a different mindset when you know you’re fighting a top guy than when you’re fighting a guy with a padded record.

"He may look good and knock the guy right out, or the guy may come in and fight above his head and make Joshua have to work for it. But at the end of the day, Joshua should still beat him, and it doesn’t matter how Joshua looks.

"We’ve been waiting for the Joshua-Fury fight for so long that we don’t care how Joshua looks. As long as he wins, let’s just get these two guys in front of each other."

Q: What should fans look for to know if Anthony Joshua is ready for Tyson Fury?

"You’re looking to see how his mental dominance works. If he’s mentally dominant, then you know he’s ready to go into a big fight. If he’s not mentally dominant, then he’s not ready for Tyson Fury.

"Mental dominance is the look you see on his face from round one until whatever round it takes to end it. I started dominating before the weigh-in. My mental dominance set in before the weigh-in, and I tried to dominate all the way up until the last bell rang.

"Against Jake Paul, his dominance showed up at that last weigh-in, at that last press conference. His dominance finally showed up. I said, “Now we’ve got something.” And it lasted throughout the night. So if it happens the same way this time, if his mental dominance shows up right away and it lasts to the end, then we know we’ve got something."

Q: If Joshua and Fury finally fight, is that the retirement party for both?

"It depends, because what if it’s a very good fight, a very competitive fight, and it’s close? We all want to see it again. We’re going to want to see two out of three. But if somebody blasts somebody, or somebody completely dominates somebody, we’re just going to say, “Okay, well, he was better than him.”

"We kind of thought that, but we didn’t know. Now we know, and that’s good. If it’s a great fight, we all want to see it again. If it’s a dominating performance by one guy or the other, we don’t have to see it again."

Q: Conor McGregor is returning after five years. What challenges will he face?

"All Conor has to do is get back in shape and be Conor. Conor is one of those types of guys who never loses it. He’s never mentally out of position, and he’s always mentally strong and ready to go. All he has to do is make sure he dedicates himself to the gym, and he’s going to be fine.

"And he’s not the kind of person who is going to flinch about an old injury. If there are any questions, they should get answered during the training camp. Conor is the kind of guy who has such a strong mind that nothing will slow him down. Nothing should stop him winning."

Q. Paddy Pimblett has 47 days to lose 35 pounds. How big a challenge is that?

"Coming into camp 35 pounds overweight, weight becomes your priority, because if you don’t get that 35 pounds off, you’re not going to get the fight at all. 35 pounds is a whole lot of weight to lose.

"If you look at boxing, that’s like Shakur Stevenson, when he first won the title at 126, moving up to fight Benavidez at 168. That’s almost 35 pounds.

"Paddy Pimblett has to focus on losing weight, but you’ve got to work on your technique while you’re losing weight. You’ve got to learn how to put it two-fold.

"You’ve got to be able to work hard enough on your technique that you’re also losing weight while you’re doing it, but you’ve also got to diet and do everything else you’ve got to do. Weight is a big issue, but it can’t take precedence over skill. Skill has to be done."

Q: Tom Aspinall could make far more money boxing Francis Ngannou than fighting Ciryl Gane in the UFC. Is that why boxing should avoid the UFC model?

"Tom Aspinall can make a lot more money in boxing, This is exactly why we don’t want that Dana White model in boxing. My advice to Tom is to leave that cage alone. Go box. Go make the most money.

"Aspinall vs. Ngannou is a good fight. I think Ngannou beats him in boxing because he has more experience, but if Aspinall can hit him, he can get him out. Of course, I would offer my guidance to Tom and train him for Francis."

Q: Justin Gaethje is a kamikaze fighter facing a master craftsman in Ilia Topuria. What does Gaethje have to do to win?

"You’ve got to avoid those big punches. If he can avoid those big punches and get close, he can make a good fight.If you run in there, running through those big punches, it won’t last long. You’ve got to use your feints, make him show you the big ones, then go. Feint, feint, feint, feint into position.

"Feint until he’s not ready, then go. You can never go when he’s ready, because he’s going to break your jaw if you do. Rico just gave Usyk such a hard time. He’s a kamikaze fighter. Usyk is a master craftsman. Look what happened. He almost beat Usyk.

"Maybe Gaethje needs to do something similar, just do something unconventional. That’s the only chance he’s got."

Q. Alex Pereira is moving up to heavyweight to fight Ciryl Gane. Will his power move up with him?

"Will Alex Pereira carry his power up to heavyweight? It’s all about the technique. If you’ve got technique, then your technique will take you up any way that you want to go. If you don’t have technique, the higher you go, the worse your technique gets.

"If you don’t have good technique, then you can’t take your punching power with you when you go. If you’ve got great technique, then your punching power will go with you.If you don’t have good technique, it’s going to be a problem for him."