Tim Bradley Challenges Jake Paul to TWO FOR ONE Fight, Reveals Crawford Sparring Story

24:35Then once you slap them up a little bit in the locker room, they calmed down. But no, I was a known commodity, man. Yeah. Yeah. I was driven and people knew where I was headed. And I was a serious cat. And I wasn't one of those guys that was out partying and stuff like that, man. There's a lot of, you know, kids that feel like they're missing out, you know, early on. And, you know, I was just staying focused, grinding. You know, I didn't get crazy until I left the home. When I left home, because my dad was so strict. My parents were so strict, man. Pops wasn't budging. Nah, man, no parties, none of that.

25:09Nah, you can't do none of that. You know, it was always boxing 24-7, you know. And, you know, I appreciate it now today, you know. But what comes with that also is that when you don't give a little leeway, then when they get out there on their own, they might try it. they might try a little this, try a little that, man, you know. But, you know, I know you've been through it. I've read your story and, you know, seen your story as well, Dre. But, yeah, I think we've all got our stories, you know, and things that we've gone through. Talk a little bit more about that because I talked to Roy about that too.

25:45Roy Jones talks about, you know, just losing basically his relationship with his father. And his father just, he like, man, I'm okay with you staying on me, but the way you stayed on me. And he said, you wasn't on my sisters like that. You was just on me. And then for Roy turned from just having a hard-nosed father to getting abused. You know, you don't do right in the gym. You're getting hit with sticks and getting hit with belts and stuff. So that's extreme. But talk a little bit more about the losing a childhood type of thing because I'm torn on this, right? Like, I look at some of the stuff I missed out on and I'm like, I probably should have missed out on that.

26:18But then to your point, I probably should have had a little bit more leeway because then I started to rebel at a certain point. I'm like, man, I'm gone. I said I didn't care about boxing. Yeah. I didn't care about the Olympics because this is all I do every day. Yeah. What's the balance? Can you be a great world champion in the Hall of Famer without living like that? Is it a balance with a sport like boxing? Look, man, I think there's balance. There needs to be balance to everything. I definitely feel like, so even, I'll give you an example. Even when I was out there in the street and I was partying and stuff, when I, you know, went off to college and went up to Michigan and stuff like that, But man, like boxing still came first.

26:57So I would prioritize my boxing because that was just what was instilled in me. I had to work. I had to run. And, you know, if I'm out there partying, I still got to sacrifice and I still got to get up, you know, five in the morning and go run with the team and do what I have to do. I got to pay the consequences for that. So, you know, but yeah, I think I think balance is needed, man. And I think each individual is different. So that might work for me, but it might not work for you. You know, you might need a little bit more freedom, you know, or a little bit more trust. Sometimes we, you know, when you're young, it's just like we're thinking like, oh, you don't trust me.

27:35You don't trust me. You don't trust me. And we parents, we kind of like become these helicopter parents where, you know, we don't allow them to do certain things, man. And that's when they start rebelling, you know. But if you can have an open relationship and communicate, I think that anything is possible. That's what it's with my kids now. I'm not, like, super strict on my kids, you know, but I'm to a point and to a degree. It's like, hey, I'm going to give you a little leeway, and they understand the plan. So, like, my daughter's in high school now, and I'm like, hey, look, you get one social media outlet.

28:11Just pick one, you know. Next year you might get two, you know. But we're going to give you a little bit of leeway, you know, a little bit at a time so you understand how to handle it. But the minute I start to see your grades starting to drop, then it's like, hey, you know what I'm saying? It's at you. It all boils down to you and what you're doing. The minute I stop seeing you working hard out there on the soccer field, you know, then we're going to start pulling stuff away. So that's it. But I would say balance is always great, man. You know, if you want to be great, you're going to have to sacrifice a little bit more than an average teenager.

28:51You know, you might be missing, feel like you're missing out, but at the same time, man, you got to think about your future and where you're going to end up and where you want to go. Because trust me, when you get to that level, man, it's well worth it, bro. Yeah. From every aspect. And I was crying and whining when I was a kid and couldn't go certain places, but I ain't crying now. No. I ain't crying now. I got the whole vision. I see what my dad and my coach was doing. I get it. Yeah. And I'm thankful, man. Yeah, me too. But it is a sacrifice, though. You give up a lot, man, to do this. Yeah.

29:21No, absolutely. You give up a lot, but, you know, it gives you a lot of return when you do it right. Get a king's ransom, man, to do something you've been doing since you've been a kid. Yes, absolutely. But it's crazy, Dre, because, like, even some people even find themselves doing everything right and still ain't good enough. It's true, too. You know, maybe they're not talented enough. Maybe it's the wrong timing. Maybe that's not what God wanted for them. You know what I'm saying? So, like, you know, there's not one thing to fix all, right? You know, I think everybody's different. And everybody's path is different, man.

29:59And you just got to find what works for you. How hard my dad was on me, I can't be hard like that on my kids, right? You got to know, you got to know, read the room, right? Know what you're dealing with. So I try to come from a different perspective in how to try to motivate my kids and keep them thinking. You know, one of the things that my dad would do was he would always help me or he taught me how to self-motivate. You know, how to self-motivate myself. So, like, when I'm out training and stuff and I'm by myself, I'm basically, it's me against me. It's you and you. It's me against me. But then when I need a little extra boost, I'm like, I'm thinking about the other person across the big, you know, the big pond doing the same thing I'm doing right now.

30:47You know what I'm saying? Am I going to let that person not work me? You know? No. Let me get a little bit more in. You know? Let me go past him. So that's just it, man. Man, we cross paths a lot in the amateurs, man, because, you know, you Southern California, I'm Northern, and we would have to go through that region to get to the nationals. So any national we wanted to go to, we had to go to SoCal. And, man, you beat my brother, man. I beat you too, Dre. We're going to get to that in a second. We're going to get to that. That's the next question. But you beat my brother, man. I think it was probably like 95 or something like that, 96, something like that.

31:28He tall, too. Bro, I was so mad, bro. I was crying, bro. because y 'all had one of the last fights of the tournament. It was. To determine who goes on to the Nationals. Man, you beat my brother, but I got a chance to fight you a year or two later at the Blue and Gold Tournament in Baldwin Park, California. Man, you, man. Now, just tell the truth, but tell me what happened in that fight. Come on, man. You had, come on, bro. Come on, man. You had, you know you had your auntie as a judge, man. Tell me what happened. Explain what happened. You won. You won two to one. Two to one? But you had your auntie.

32:00Yeah, yeah, yeah. How was the fight, though? Was we rumbling? Oh, it was cool. I wish we had the tape, man. I don't even know. I got a fight. Bro, I'm telling you, like, I've gone back probably, like, I want to say 15 years ago, and I saw the tape, but I don't know where it is. My dad has it. I think he has it, man. Tell Pops to unearth that tape, man. Please. You don't have to, but I'll just tell you this. Dre was one of the most talented fighters, man. And I'm not saying this because you know how high I'm on you, bro. He was one of the most talented fighters that I've ever been in the ring with, honest to God, truth.

32:36Like, what I remember most was how, because I put pressure on you that was endless. Kept coming. I'm talking about pressure. I'm talking about eating shots, still swinging. Yeah. Don't give a damn. Let me give you a quick backstory on why I fought you the way I fought you. I lost my trainer that week. a week prior to that tournament. So, and I watched him take his last breath. So, OJ, rest in peace. And I was angry. And so when I went in there and I fought you, you know, I came in with all that conviction and all that pain. Now it makes sense, because you did fight angry. And, yeah, yeah, angry.

33:23And, you know, by boxing a one-on-one, you're not supposed to fight angry. Football is an emotional sport. You can be angry out there. In boxing, the more angrier you get, the more exposed you are. You know, there was moments where I do remember a punch of yours that you had. Still today, that ding left hook. That check left hook was mean, especially in that fight. But other than that, I felt like I worked you, Dre. I felt like I worked you. You need to get out. Yeah, but, you know, hey, I'll let you have that. I'll let you have that, bro. Hey, bro, I'm going to run with it. I'll let you have that.

33:57But I'm going to tell you this. I'm going to give you some flowers, too, man. That's probably one of the hardest fights I've ever been in in my life. And I've been in it at every level. It's just the relentlessness. Like, you just kept coming forward. And it's like I'm hitting you with shots. It's just the intensity. Like, you can feel a fighter's intensity. No words have to be spoken. But you can feel like, man, this dude ain't slowing down. This dude's not letting up. That was one of the hardest fights I've ever been in. Yeah. I had to really work, man, to get that. and it's one of them fights that, you know, everybody comes around the ring because they know, like, when we coming up, you know, everybody knows who's who.

34:31You got good fighters and you got them ones and we both were one of them ones and everybody was looking forward to that, man. So, you know, it's, uh, I always remember that, bro. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Oh, yeah, me too. Take me back to the, I don't remember your, your, uh, you turned pro in 2004. I don't remember your Olympic trials, Olympic box-offs run. Did you try to go to the Olympics? I tried. I tried. I lost in the Western Trials. The Western Trials? Yeah, I got robbed. Man, I got robbed in Jersey, man. Aw, dude. Robbed in Jersey. I almost hung up the gloves, bro, in Jersey. It was a, I want to say it was the, I don't know, it wasn't the U.S.

35:07Championships, it was the... It was the qualifying tournament? I think it was the PAL. Might have been the PAL Nationals qualifying tournament. And I was getting ready to go into semifinals. Fought one of these guys, I forget his name, I think he was in the Army. He was from the Army.

35:25And getting to the last round, we even. This was when the point system was there. We even going to the last round. So that same relentlessness that I brought to you, I brought to this man. And I bagged him up, had him against the ropes the whole time. The bell rang. Miraculously, the computer stopped working. So they had to go paper. And then they went paper. And then they job me on the paper, right? I believe Rondell Mason ended up winning that tournament. And I beat Rondell Mason. I already had beat him twice. So I would have seen him in the finals. Yeah, and I would have smacked him again. But, yeah.

36:08So after that, you know, I was disappointed. I was upset. My mother wasn't there. I called my mother up and was talking to her. And I was just like, man, I'm done with this. You know, like, every time I get to the top, they want to cheat me. You remember when, I don't know if you were there, but I fought against Juan McPherson up in Vegas at Caesars. Yeah, I wasn't there. I heard about it, though. You weren't there. I smacked, I smacked him. Juan? Oh. Oh, yeah, destroyed him. Dropped him several times during the fight. I beat his ass. Yeah. Period. They gave it to him? And they gave it to him.

36:40Again, something happened to the computer. Now they got to go to paper scoring. And they took the fight from me. So I've had multiple times where, you know, that would happen to me. I just felt like I couldn't carry over, like I couldn't get a break. So I was like, man, I'm done with this, man. You know, I'm in the walking out, and I'm in the lobby waiting on everybody to come down. And a lady at the front desk, she saw me over there. I was pouting and stuff, man, upset. And she was just like, what's wrong with you, old black lady? I was like, man, I lost. And she was just like, okay, all right.

37:21I was like, I'm done with this, man. I ain't going to fight no more. I'm done. And she was just like, what you mean you done? And I was like, I'm done. I don't want to do this anymore. You know, every time I, you know, do my absolute best, they always find a way to take it from me. And she was just like, she was just, baby. She was like, that's life. that's life. And she was like, but you got to understand that if you quit right now, you will never get what God has in store for you. She was like, you going through this for a reason. And you got to understand that he's building you for something greater.

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40:59And I looked at her and I was just like, okay, okay. And I believed her. Because my mom was full of faith. Still, church going. I was raised up in the church too, man. Okay. You know, but it hit me. You know, it hit me a certain way. And so I went to the Western Trials and that's when I met Vanez for the first time. Vanez, yeah. Vanez, the one that actually went to the Olympics, beat everybody out, right? Nobody knew him at that time. He came out of nowhere. He was a J.O. He was a junior. What, 52? Yeah, 52. So he came out of the middle of nowhere. Nobody had no film on him. I had no clue who this kid was.

41:42But I knew he was quick, he was very athletic, and he hit hard. Right? I get in the ring with him, and he had some height on him, and he knew how to use it. And he beat me in the Western Finals, man, and that was it. That was my Olympic run. It was crushed right there, man. I took a few months off and was thinking about, I was thinking about, I was like, should I go pro, should I not? I wasn't sure, you know. And I got my little break because nobody, you know, if you don't make it to the Olympics, man, ain't nobody really looking at you, bro. You know, and it's not really like, it's not like they give you a road map to get a promoter to look at you or a manager.

42:27You know, so I was sitting out there, a talented fighter, and nowhere to go. I had no vision. But one night, I was out partying at a hotel, enjoying myself, and that's where I met Thompson Boxing. As I was walking out, I saw the shirts, and I was like, boxing? Y 'all boxing promoters? He was like, yeah. And I was like, well, I'm a fighter. I was a fighter. Tim, I said, my name's Tim, you ever tell me? He's like, no, I've never heard of you. Anyways, I go, okay. And he goes, you're not a fighter. And I go, yes, I am. And so we had a few words. And he was like, hit my hands. Older gentleman, kind of heavyset, big belly.

43:15He was like, hit my hands. So I was like, you sure? So, you know, I get in my stance and he smacks me in the face. and I'm like, bro, you told me to hit your hands. He was like, see, you're not ready. You're not a fighter. And he smacked me again in the face. And I'm like, so then I bum-rushed him, right? And we basically slapped, slapping the hell out of each other. My cousin grabbed me or whatever, pulled me off of him. We go to the car. As we're walking to the car, there's a guy come down. His name is Mike. Now, he comes running out towards me. And I'm like, you want some too? He's like, nah, here's my card.

43:55My dad, Thompson, he's the promoter. He was like, I love your energy, man. I love that fierceness. Give us a call. And so with that little card, I gave it to my father, man. And then when I decided to turn pro, found a pro coach with Joel Diaz. And then from there, we called Thompson Boxing. That's how Thompson Boxing got out. Was it Thompson Boxing and top rank initially? Was it a co-promotion or just Thompson? It was just Thompson Boxing in the beginning, bro. And then as my contract, I fulfilled my contract after two and a half years, then it went with Gary Shaw, a collab with Gary Shaw. Thompson and Gary?

44:31It was Thompson and Gary Shaw. When did Top Rank come into the picture and why Top Rank? So Top Rank came into the picture when I fulfilled my obligations with Gary Shaw and Thompson Boxing. And I wanted, you know, more money. At that time, I had, I think, the most money that I had made with Gary Shaw, and I was already a unified world champion. I had unified the championship against Kendall Holt. It was$350 ,000. That was it. I mean, I was a unified champion. I had multiple title defenses. I unified the championship my second title defense. And so, and I, you know, I was ranked. You know, I was ranked, and I was getting close to the pound-for-pound list already.

45:22And what ended up happening was I went to a top-ranked show. Mm-hmm. And I was able to speak with them, you know, and a possibility. Did they know you at that time? At that time, no. Okay. They didn't know me at that time. But the only way I was able to get to them was was through Cameron Duncan. So on the way up, Dre, let me give you a little back story. On the way up, I didn't have a manager, Dre. I was believing everything that the promoter was telling me, bro. I was naive. I didn't know the business. And you being a fighter now and what you know, that's exactly what a promoter wants. They want you to not know the business and not know the numbers and not know your value.

46:04So when I didn't have that, and there's no disrespect and no shade to anybody, I'm just saying and speaking the truth, right? I'm like, when I got smart and I got with my wife, you know, she was like, hey, we need a manager. And as soon as we got Cameron Duncan, that's when he opened the doors for Top Rank. And I was writing around the time where me and Amir Khan was supposed to fight. And this is why I didn't duck Amir Khan. I didn't duck Amir Khan. And, hey, Amir Khan, you can get this work too. You can be a part of the two for one, three for one. Put Amir Khan in there. You still want a mirror?

46:39Oh, I still want a mirror. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. I want you a mirror, no doubt. Hey, bro, you on Smoker. Everything walking, man. Bro, these hands still work, Dre. I left the game at 33, bro. I still have fights still on my contract, bro. I left the game because I was like, all right, I'm good. But, you know, that's how I got with Top Rank, man. You know? Tell me about your wife, man, because y 'all got married. Y 'all were friends in high school, right? Nah, not really friends. Did you know each other? Yeah, I just, I used to just see her. Okay. And y 'all got married in 2010? Yeah. But she been right there with all the boxing business and as well as the businesses y 'all got now.

47:18But, you know, she giving the promoters the blues, man. Tell me about her impact on your life, just as being your wife, but then also your business partner. She was exactly what I needed. I'm telling you right now, if I didn't have my wife, I wouldn't be where I'm at today, man. Really? That's facts. That's facts. So when I was younger, 23, I met her when I was 23 years old, I was everywhere, bro. You know, I was...I knew what I wanted to do, but I didn't know how to get there. I was fighting, I was still partying, I still wanted to feel like a normal, like a normal person. So I was out partying and stuff.

47:56But my wife came with stability, bro. She came with stability, and she was a...she wasn't a girl. She was a woman. You know what I'm saying? and it was different. So I was in a long relationship with a girl for like seven years, but she wanted the party life and she wanted to be hanging out and, you know, and I, you know, your company you keep, you tend to do what they do, right? So I'm like, I gotta be out there, wilding out, having a good time, drinking, and doing what, you know, normal people do at my age. So when I met my wife, she wasn't about none of that. You know, she had two kids already, one, Alasia, who was two and a half, Robert when he was six.

48:37He was six years old. That's when I met him. And, you know, she already had her heart broken once. You know, she was married, got a divorce, and I had to make a choice. You know, and during that choice, I called my mom up, and I was just like, man, this is a good woman. You know, but she, you know, she come with the two kids, and, you know, and my mom was like, look, if you love her, you care about her, you got to make that decision, you know? But just know that she come with three hearts, not one. And as long as you love those kids like they're yours, it'll work out. And that's what I did. But as far as my wife being impactful, man, I just think from a discipline standpoint, somebody, you got to have people that balance you, bro.

49:24You see how crazy I am. Just the way I fight, that's my personality, right? I can get a little reckless, a little crazy, you know? speak my mind. But she's more calm and she's structured and she's she has everything, everything on lock, man. You know what I mean? So she take care of the household. She she became my manager. And the only way she was able to become my manager, especially in the game that's full of just men. A men's world was she had to speak the same language and she had to show that I understand business, period. Because most of the time you get a lot of women or even other managers that come in and don't really know their position and they come in and they ask them for too much or ask them for too little and they don't understand the business side.

50:21But my wife understands business is common sense. And she got her eyes. She can see. She can see what's going on. And so she would listen to conversations. She worked around Cameron Duncan at the time. And I told her, I told her during that time when I was with Cameron Duncan, I said, hey, learn everything you can learn from him. Like everything. I want you part of negotiations and everything. I want you consulting with him back and forth so you can learn because you're going to be my manager one day. And that's what she did. I was with Cameron for about, I'm going to say, four, about five years.

50:55And she learned everything she needed to know. She was part of the conversations and stuff. And most of the time, she was telling Cameron what to say to the promoter. Right. So I'm like, okay. Keep that money in-house. Yeah, exactly. That's a 10%. Whatever it is you're paying, that's in-house. So, like, the Marquez fight, my wife plotted that. Pacquiao? Pacquiao fight, my wife plotted that. The rematch, my wife plotted that. Like, I would have never got Marquez if it wasn't for my wife. They wanted to shoot Pacquiao at me. But the way she think and understanding, like, the Latin blood, she said, Marquez's going to retire.

51:36He already, he got, you know, he destroyed Pacquiao. That's what he needed. He finna sell off. You fought him right off of the fight with Pacquiao. Right off the fight with Pacquiao, and I fought him right after the fight with Ruslan Pavanikov. I know. So it was one of those things where it was like it looked good to him because he's saying, oh, he damaged. Yeah. It took you about four years, man, to get to that first world title against Junior Witter, Nottingham, England. What was that like having to go across the pond and deal with that kind of crowd for your first world title fight? That was easy.

52:09Yeah? Yeah, that was easy. What was the money like, though? Not a number, but I'm saying, did they just give you anything? Was your mindset like, let me just take whatever and then the next go around? or were you like, nah, I got to make sure there's money right if I'm going to go to the UK?

52:25Bro, I signed a contract with$45 ,000, bro. I left for$26 ,000. Hold on, bro. Wait, hold on. That's your training expenses? No. Nah, bro, come on. Stop playing. I left for$26 ,000, Dre. The fight was$45 ,000? $45 ,000. To fight Junior Witter for the world championship? Yes. Overseas? I got two promoters double dipping. Wow. Two promoters, bro. Yes. 45? 45, left with 26. It cost 45 to get ready for a championship.

53:03That's a training expense. Yeah. So, man, what? The reason why I say it was easy was because when I was an amateur, I was able, I traveled, and I already had been to England. I did a black tie event there. I've been to Paris. You know, I've been to various parts of the world competing against, you know, different countries. So going and having a black tie affair where they smoking in the arena, they drinking, table full of liquor, they drinking, bro, and being in hostile, being there, bro, like, I knew what it was going to be like. It wasn't new to me. And so that's the reason why it wasn't nothing for me, because I've already experienced that in the amateurs.

53:51But was F45, like, the first offer? I'm tripping on the floor. Dre, Dre, listen to me. Dre, at the time when I fought for the world, bro, I wish I could tell you the entire story, man, and how there's little things that happened throughout my career. I had two managers at the time. Right. But one was... Cameron? No. Cameron didn't come until later in my career. See, that's why I got to sit down to tell you the entire story of my entire career and how I came up and how I evolved. But before I fought for the world championship, my first world championship, I had a guy named Camaro Mercer. out, he was out at East, East Coast, and had a, basically, a sports writer.

54:47As a manager? As a manager, okay? Okay. Yeah, but I'm gonna tell you why I signed with him. I'm gonna tell you why I signed with him. Are they the ones that negotiated this Junior Winter fight? Yes. Yes. They both still living? Yes. I'd like to have a conversation with him. If we ever cross paths, I just want to ask you, like, how did that happen? Look, man. 45, bruh. It was... Look, look, look, look, look, look. The reason why I got with these managers, bro, was because there was a point in time and a period where I didn't fight for an entire year. And I had got to suffer a broken rib. And I was waiting on my opportunity.

55:35So I had a title eliminator that I was supposed to be fighting against with what's the what's the guy? What's his name? Damn. What is his name? What's the guy he saw with Castillo? Jose Luis Castillo. That's him. So I went to Mexico, Cancun, to fight him. He didn't make weight. Had a full training camp, spent all of my little dough that I had, and didn't get a check at all. Had no money, Dre. Didn't get paid, none of that. So I had to wait a while. Like, I was hoping for that money. I was praying for that money. So it didn't matter what the money was. I was always told that once I get that world championship, that's when my life's going to change.

56:26So if that was the money, I wasn't even thinking like that, bro. That was the money, period, period. And that's why, like, I look at fighters today, and I say to myself, I go, bro, why you can fly? You got to take the opportunity. That's why I think the way I think. take the opportunity. You win that, now you move on. You know, the bigger and better. So... Man, I need my chicken. Listen. I hear you. It's too dangerous, bro. It's too much going on. But you know that now, Dre. But I knew that then, even though it's always stuff you could do better, other tactics and maneuvers you could have did better, but I always knew, like, I need my chicken.

57:10Now, you do learn all the different pots you start learning what a license fee is. Like, oh, you just offered me this, but the actual number was this. You learn all of that. Yes. But my team, man, I had a great team, man. You know, James Prince, and then Josh Dubin came in later. But I was always, like, I needed my chicken, man, because one thing that I knew was even as a young kid, I studied the game, and I would always, one of the tactics is they always promise you about what's next. If you do this, we're going to do this for you. Oh, I heard that a million times. So my thing was I learned to, like, understand the whole pot.

57:47How much money is in here? Don't tell me about what you're giving me. How much money is in here? And I'm trying to make as much as I can make. But 45 is crazy, man, but you did that. Then you went on a cold run after you got that championship. Edna Cherry, Kendall Holt, Nate Campbell, Lamont Peterson, and you unified another belt in a super lightweight division, but getting ready for your 2011 fight with Devin Alexander, you are beating up and dropping sparring partners. You call your manager, Cameron Duncan, and you say, I need some other guys, man, get some guys in here. In steps Terrence Crawford.

58:25Yeah. Tell me about that. Oh, man. Right off the... Hey, look. Terrence lands, Palm Springs. Had you ever heard of him? Brother-in-law, never heard of him. Brother-in-law goes out and picks him up. straight to the gym. No, oh, we got to go to your hotel or wherever you stand at. None of that. Straight to the gym because I'm like, I'm going to test this work. If this work ain't good enough, we got a red eye for him to go back home, right? So straight to the gym. I walk in. I see him off in the corner, plaiting his head, shadowboxing slow, and I'm like, okay. I'm like, who is this dude, right? Didn't ask his name or whatever.

59:15Business. None of that. Just was like, hey, what's up? That was it. So, get in the ring with him. My team is right here. This dude is by himself. Terrence is in the corner by himself. Ain't nobody. Nobody. He came to my corner to get water after we spar, right? After every single round. But anyways, so first round goes, you know, you want to fill out. You want to see what he knows. You know, and I'm like, all right, let me see what he knows. I make a move, boom, I get hit. I'm like, damn, okay. Let me get a little bit serious with this man. A little bit more serious. Turn the heat up on him. Let me turn it up.

59:55Let me see if he lay down. So I turn it up. Bing, bing, bing, bing, bing. He's like, bing, bing, bing, bing, bing, bing, bing, bing, right back. And I'm like, ooh, okay, okay. He got something, right? But then I will raise it another level. And then it's an all-out fight. right? But he right there hanging with me. Every time I, he's right there. He's like, mm-mm, mm-mm, mm-mm. And I'm like, damn, I was supposed to go six rounds that day? I only went four. Ooh. Who stopped it? Shit, the coach. That's enough. You know, look, you know if you, if a fighter, if your fighter, your champion's getting beat up on in sparring, you know that does something to his confidence.

1:00:37So, you want to, you want to have that, but you want to also limit it at the same You got to find that balance. So I sat at the edge of the ring, something like this, something like that, and I'm looking at him. You know, and he's kind of looking at himself in the mirror, and I'm like, man, I'm like, who are you, man? And he's like, what? I said, who are you? He goes, I'm Terrence Crawford. And I go, where you from, bro? He goes, Omaha, Nebraska. And I'm thinking to myself, what the hell is in Omaha? I'm thinking to myself, what's in Omaha, right? You said Omaha. Yeah. And so, and I look at him, I go, bruh.

1:01:15I was like, you ain't no spawn partner. He go, what? I go, you a world champion, man. Straight up. And I was like, why? I was like, why are you not fighting? Why? And he was just like, I don't know why. So when I got in the car, I immediately called Cameron Duncan. I was like, hey, Cameron. I was like, yo, what you doing with Crawford? He was like, don't tell me. You're sending him wrong, too. I was like, uh-uh. I was like, I'm keeping him. And I was like, but. I was like, do you want him? Can I buy him out of this contract? And he goes, what do you mean? I was like, he whooped my ass. And he said, oh, I love Terrence Crawford.

1:01:55I love Crawford. What are you talking about? And that's when our relationship, me and Crawford's relationship started to build because I recognized that he just needed a little direction. Right. And that was it. Did he stay for the full camp? Oh, yeah. He stayed. And so I sparred him on Monday. And so then I'm going over to film and studying him and looking at his mistakes he made on Monday. But then Wednesday come, and he's a completely different fighter. He adjusts again. But nobody was in his corner. So he doing that. By himself. It was like this dude had a photographic memory, bro. And so that's what I was just like, this dude is different, man.

1:02:39That's what I knew. Different. I'm going to skip a fight after the Devin Alexander fight to 2012 with Manny Pacquiao. When did you first start getting rumblings that, oh, Pacquiao's an option for us? As soon as I met with Top Rank through Cameron Duncan. And I avoided that fight with Amir Khan, just basically solely on getting the Manny Pacquiao fight, which was worth... Big opportunity. Yeah,$5 million. Now, come on, dog, do the math. $1.2 million,$5 million, Manny Pacquiao. You know what I mean? It had nothing to do with not, you know, fearing some Amir Khan. It was more so business, right? And this is the number one, number two, wherever you have him, fighter in the world.

1:03:25This is what every fighter dreams of, but fighting the best. So I knew right off the gate, as soon as I got with Cameron Duncan, because I knew his affiliation with Top Rank, that it was a possibility that I was going to have an opportunity to fight Manny Pacquiao. Was the number negotiable, or they said, look, take it or leave? That's what it is. Take it or leave. Manny, that's a help. I mean,$5 million is life-changing money. Especially at that time, too. Yeah. And the crazy part, the cold part, is that when I did meet Manny, and we were off kind of by ourselves a little bit, after, you know, you have all these interviews and stuff like that, and he's sitting there waiting and stuff, and nobody's really around him, One of the things that Manny said that I appreciate Manny for was that he said, was that good enough?

1:04:11And I'll go, what? And he goes, the$5 million. Was that good enough for you and your family? And I was just like, yeah, that's great. I was like, thank you. Thank you for the opportunity. So, but yeah, I knew it right off the gate, bro. Talk me through that fight, man. So I was at the fight. Yep. I probably was, I don't know, four or five rows back, maybe a little bit more. And when I saw the fight that night, it looked like Manny won by a landslide. So I'm coming out the arena. They throw a camera in my face. Man, what you think? And I make a comment. I say, man, Tim, my boy, man, but man, he lost that fight tonight, and Tim need to get that belt back.

1:05:03I go home and I watch the fight again on Sunday. No volume. I turn the volume all the way down. And I watch the whole fight and I'm like, this fight was way closer than I thought. And I had to call you. I called you, I think that Sunday. I said, hey, bro, I apologize. I spoke too soon. I shouldn't have said that. I should have went home and watched that fight. Man, you said, man, it's all good. What do you remember about that fight? Like, the actual fight. Did you think it was close? You were up big? Like, what was your takeaway? I thought the fight was close. I wasn't sure if they was going to give it to me based upon Manny Pacquiao and his status.

1:05:41Usually, when you see a robbery, it's usually in favor of the house fighter. It's not in favor of, you know, the B side of things. So let me just say that right out the gate. But I thought the fight was very close. I was dealing with a lot during that fight. You know, I didn't wear any socks. Yeah, why not? I'm a fan of Mike Tyson, bro. And I had tried it in sparring and stuff like that, and it worked out well. But when I got in the ring and had that spongy ring, you know, different flooring, right? Different rings, you know. It was real spongy, so I didn't really have a whole lot of support. You was moving like the Matrix that night, brother.

1:06:21Yeah, exactly. All this stuff Manny coming with. Yeah. So you had a lot of movement. So I had a lot of movement I had to deal with, and, you know, I didn't have a whole lot of stability in my shoe, you know, so it was a lot of give. So rolled my ankle, tore some ligaments on the bottom of my foot after the second round because Manny, when you're fighting Manny, you got to try to anticipate when he's going to explode in. You got to try to time that. And he breaks it up with his head movement, you know, and that, you know, yeah, that little bounce, and then he's constantly fainting you, constantly fainting you, constantly fainting you, and you're trying to anticipate.

1:06:57So he keeps you idle like this the whole time, trying to, you know, and your feet are gripped to the ground like this in case you got to get out of range, you know what I mean, or get to the side. So, you know, just the quick movements and reactions, man. Like, every time I would fight Manny, I would blow a tire, bro. My legs. Second time I fought Manny, calf. Toil my calf. Yeah. Bro, if I show you my calf, bro... Still disfigured? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Look how little that thing is, bro. You can see it right here. It's little. It's all balled up. So, like, I'm just saying, like, it was always difficult.

1:07:38But the first time around, like, after the first round, I felt like I belonged. Like, he was fast, but I was like, I'm just as quick. He was strong, but I was like, I'm just as strong. Like, it wasn't nothing that I ain't never seen. It felt like it wasn't nothing I ain't never seen before. when he did throw combinations, bro, them joints, they would whiz past my face like bullets on everything I love, bro, like... You know what I'm like? You see Chinese movies, like, you know, karate movies and stuff like that, man, where they throwing punches and they go... That literally hurt, like, bullets, like it was whizzing past my ears, like...

1:08:14So he was fast, he was strong. What'd the punch feel like? Um, like a shock. Like a shock, like a jolt. So, you know, he caught me in the fourth round with a big shot. That buzzed me, and I stepped back, and, you know, I got my wits back or whatever, but, you know, Manny can punch, and he has speed and power, and you know that combination is very hard to come by, you know, and then the tenacity on top of that. But I felt like the second half of the fight is where I started to come on. You know, I just kept moving left, and I was boxing him, I was making him miss, and I was making him pay. But the game plan was basically Dre to match his tempo, match his output.

1:08:58Whenever he does something, I got to do something. So whether you think I won or not, what people don't realize is it was the optics. Right. Because every time he would do something, I would do something. So I would just try to balance that. And the judges, a lot of them, or the ringside, I would say commentary, was thinking, because you can go back and watch the fight, big left hand lands by Manny Pacquiao. No, it didn't. Didn't land. No, it didn't, because you're sitting there trying to watch somebody blazing fast try to land a shot, and it looks like it landed, but it didn't land. It came right here.

1:09:38That's the misconception being in a crowd. Yeah. Because you was legit getting out the way of the major. You shoot, shoot, shoot, shoot. But the crowd was going crazy, so you think six punches, seven punches, get thrown, you think, oh, he probably landed three, four. He might have landed one. Yeah. But you got to go home and watch it with no sound so you're not influenced to really see what it was. But the judges are seeing that. You know, when you have real judges, and now understand that, like, Dwayne Ford was one of the guys that, like, literally trained all the judges. Like, he's a top-notch judge.

1:10:14And he gave me the... And he's the one that gave me the fight, right? One of the ones that gave me the fight. But you also got to understand that if you go back and you watch that fight, you got to see how often did Manny do any work. Because a lot of times he didn't start revving up. He was trying to do the Sugar Ray Leonard effect. When he fought against towards the end, he didn't rev it up until the last 30 seconds. And I'm fighting, you know, the other two and a half minutes, even three minutes of every single round. So you got to put that into an account as well. So, you know, the judges, they saw what they saw.

1:10:49I thought it was a very close fight. I don't understand. You got audio in the corner? Me being on TV? I know. You got audio in the corner. You can hear exactly what the trainers are saying. Why come I never got the audio of Joel Diaz saying, go in there, Jackson, pick him up. We just won this effing fight. Where that audio at? So that way, it lets everybody know that we thought we won the fight. Period. But, you know, that audio ain't going to... It ain't gonna appear. It ain't gonna appear. I think for me, man, what it showed me was that you belong at that level. Because you see a guy that goes and faces and fights at the top level, like another champion, or face a legend like that, and they don't perform.

1:11:36They don't, like, they're half of their normal selves. They're not, they just, the lights are too bright, the moment is too bright, and I saw you still be yourself and actually raise your game, regardless of what people think about the decision. Like, when you're missing, missing, missing, or trying to make a missing and you're trying to get yours too, that lets you know he dialed in. Yeah. He dialed in. Like, he's really trying to win. He's not just here for a check. Yeah. Man, you get wheeled into the post-fight press conference because of what happened to your feet, but then it's crazy backlash after the fight.

1:12:08You know, it's the type of backlash where you said you got death threats. Bro. All kind of crazy stuff happened. What was the post-Manny Pacquiao one experience for you? Death threats, crank calls. When you're out and about, you hear the whispers. You hear the chatter. You see people laughing. You know, so you have to deal with being humiliated. You know, my kids. That's what really hurt me at school. Man, that's what really crushed me. You know, my kids at school getting somewhat bullied in a way. You know, they're talking about your father, right? So they had to deal with that as well. But it got to a point where it felt unbearable, man.

1:12:55It felt like it was me and my family against the entire world, bro. You know, everybody chimed in on it. It wasn't just, you know, one or two people. It was the entire world, bro. And you got to imagine having the entire world looking at you and thinking you the laughingstock of boxing, bro. And all I did was go in there and do my job. You know how depressing that is, man? You know, you thinking that you win a fight, you're going to be glorified and uplifted. Your biggest moment. Biggest moment, man. I did my job, bro. And it gets taken all away. And it's supposed to feel sweet, but it feels bitter as hell.

1:13:35And I felt like, honest to God, man, it was a moment, man, where I felt like, like, I don't even want to be here, man. Like, what's the point of even doing this anymore? I don't even want to be here. I don't even want to live no more, man. Like, what's the point, right? And some people can look at that as being soft. However, I didn't take my life. I stayed strong. I stayed resolute. And I felt like in those moments, man, God will speak to you, but you got to hear him, bro. And at that moment, it happened when I was on vacation. I was in Hawaii, and I was driving. And I cut this car off, and he honked the horn.

1:14:13and I pull back in the lane and I'm driving and I'm rolling down the window finna get ready to lay cause I got a lot of anger pent up in me. He about to feel my wrath. Don't honk your horn at me. So I reach out, go like this, roll down my window and I'm going like this and he comes driving by, cheesing going. And he put up the shocker sign, you know, sign and I'm like, so I'm like, damn. I look at my mirror mirror and then my kids in the back are like, you know, they waiting on me to react and I'm like, and my wife is looking at me like, what the heck? You know what I mean? And I'm just like, okay, all right.

1:14:55I understand what it is. So I felt like the whole world was against me. I felt like there was no good, there was still no good, there was no good people in the world, Dre. But this showed me that there are some still good people in the world, man. Some good, honest people in the world. I was generalizing the entire world And it made me hate the world, you know, and made me hate the world that I lived in. I didn't want to be here no more. But at that point, I was like, I'm good. God spoke to me like, hey, man, it's going to be all right, right, in that moment. Just a little simple thing like that.

1:15:24Still some love out there. Yeah. And so from that day forward, I told my kids and my wife, I just said, look, I'm off of social media, no longer listening to anybody. The only thing that matters now is what's up my call right here. What's in my household, that's the only thing that matters. I don't care about anybody's opinion. I said moving forward, I was like, ain't nobody going to ever affect me ever again. Ever again. It was like I heard so much that I became desensitized to any type of negative thing. Like now I like, I fiend for it. I fiend for negative attention. I fiend for like, you want to say whatever you want to say because I know who I am.

1:16:06I know what I'm about. I know what I bring. You know, I know my worth.

1:16:13So that's, that happened. That was a blessing in disguise. Oh, it was hard, but I feel like it's a blessing because now the position I'm in now where you're going to get the ridicule, you're going to get, you know, people talking about you constantly, you know, especially talking boxing, that I can deal with it. And not only that, I can deal with it in life. And I can instill that into my kids. Because you know these kids, they still get bullied, and racism still exists, and so on and so forth, bro. And they have to deal with that. My daughter just got done dealing with that.

1:16:51So I gather strength, man, from something that was negative, man, negative, and was tearing through my life at one point. So. Yeah, that pressure, man, can make you if you respond the right way like you did to it. And that's what the people online don't understand. I don't even know if I call a lot of these people fans because a real fan of the sport, somebody that really loves the sport, they're not going to get on social media and say nothing crazy to a fighter. It's cool to share your opinion, man. I think this guy did this and be respectful. But you can't say you a fan of the sport. You may be a fan of people fighting, but you're not really a fan of the people in the sport being disrespectful.

1:17:29But what they fail to realize is that we've shown as athletes that we can get in the ring and do something that a small percentage of the world can do. It's not a recreational sport. It's not. And then we also can deal with the other stuff, the chatter. While you're trying to do your job, you got people, oh, you suck, all your this, all your that. They can't deal with that. But they're good at dishing it out, though. So that's why athletes, man, are very, very unique. And the ones that can respond well to it, it just makes you grow up. Even as a grown man, you still got to grow up. Sometimes I realize, okay, everybody's not going to love what I do, and sometimes I'm going to get my best effort and get no love for it.

1:18:09It's funny you say that, grow up, because I feel like at that point, that's when I grew up. That's when I grew up, man. You know, you got to be comfortable in your skin. And there's a lot of people out there that's pretending, man, to be something that they're truly not, right? They're trying to be a pleaser. They're trying to, you know, please this and please this certain groups and stuff like that. And they're not being themselves. But trust me, man, when you can be yourself, man, and be comfortable in your skin, bro, bro, you grow wings, bro. You literally grow wings, and you can rise above anything.

1:18:43It don't matter. You can tell me anything you want to. Bro, you can attack my character, whatever. I don't care. I'm going to look at you, and I'm going to go, okay, that's how you feel? Oh, that's it? Okay. All right. Yeah. Let me find out. Let me find something about you, bro. You ain't going to like what I say. It's safe for people. They're in their home, they're in their cubicle, they're wherever they're at, they're in their car. It's easy to say the most salacious, crazy stuff when you don't have to pay the price for what you said. Exactly. And, um, that's the world we live in, man. But that's why I don't deal with social media.

1:19:14So, like, when people see responses and stuff like that, that's... I have people dealing with that. You know what I mean? They might come to me and ask me, you know, what do you think, or whatever, but I let my family, I let my daughter, my oldest daughter read all of that stuff. She hates it. My wife, she does that stuff. I stay away from it because I learned that everybody got an opinion, Dre. What makes yours more valid than mine? That's it. The wait was worth it. Positive affirmations and all the hard work. The keys to your dream home from the vision board have been secured. I see you. a whole new future awaits your planning from top-notch decor but on a budget to the late night backyard summer cookouts life feels good now comes time to fill it with memories what will you host first maybe a movie night game night stories that make us laugh in space tournaments that make us cry first you need to get movers and new furniture and what about party favors will there be a theme of course it's a theme because you're always doing the most oh yeah the food to cook or to order out.

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1:21:51You know, it might not be something that you like, but I'm unk. I'm an unk in the game now, man. You an unk too, believe it or not. You an unk, Dre. Yeah. I'm still kind of, I think I'm still nephew. You an unk, Dre. I still feel like nephew, but go ahead. You an unk, Dre. I still feel like nephew, but go ahead. I'm just saying, man. I know what you're saying. The age category, I checked the unk box. And they be saying that to you, Unk, man, come on, brother. Stop calling me Unk, man. You look young. I still feel like nephew, though. It's about how you feel, right? You could be 50, but you still say so.

1:22:25Of course. I might be Unk in real life, but just know I feel like nephew. But go ahead. But I just think that, like, the young fighters, because I've been in their shoes to where, you know, you're reacting to certain things or certain headlines or certain things that somebody said about you and certain media and this like that. But, like, I was like them. You know, I was just like them. I remember, you know, Dan Raphael saying some stuff about me. But I wasn't... And it said something about everybody. But I'm just saying, I didn't outlash. I didn't, you know, go... I just proved them all wrong.

1:22:58Right. That was a different story. So, like, that social media... I didn't get on social media and go back and forth. Nah, I just proved you wrong. So the young fighters, that's the game you can take. Just proved them wrong. Haney coming up. and Norman coming up. Who doubting you? Prove them wrong. This your opportunity to get your last laugh. Prove them all wrong, and that's it. But if they not talking about you, bruh, period, in any way, you ain't doing nothing right. You ain't doing nothing right, Dre. So when you look at it from a different perspective, when you getting heat from everywhere, man, and you understand what it's all about, that little small talk don't mean nothing, bro.

1:23:40Just like you said, they over in that cubicle. They over in this. And they safe and far away from you, bro. Because I know you won't say that to my face. And it ain't real, because I didn't have people say stuff throughout the years. And I'm like, man, you don't really feel like that. Oh, my God, you responded, bro. I'm just playing. I'm just trying to get a reaction. Yeah. You're not really serious about this. But it's a scripture, man, in the Bible that really helps me. Jesus said that, woe unto you if all men speak well of you. In other words, nobody got nothing negative to say about you. Like, woe unto you.

1:24:09Like, if everybody's saying everything nice about you, it's going to be some compromise there. You might not be standing on truth. You might not be standing for anything if nobody has nothing to say about you. Because a lot of times when you stand for something, you're going to get some backlash, and the key in the growth comes with how you respond to it. Facts. Brother, I'm not taking what you just said personal. You don't even know me, even if I do know you. If I got to have a conversation with you, I have that. But the truth is, it's like, you can say the craziest thing about me, my career.

1:24:37Brother, you're not stopping nothing. I'm still me. I still did what I did. I'm happy. I'm enjoying my life. Y 'all out there watching us, that's why you're critiquing, because you're watching us. And I'm going to enjoy the rest of my day. I hope you do the same. You can get to that place, but them experiences that you went through with the Manny Pacquiao stuff I've been through, that helps you evolve as a man now. Not just a fighter. Where I can sit back and say, man, I understand it. How you getting the Hall of Famer? Brother. moving on with my day. I can't give you that kind of control over me.

1:25:12Somebody way on another part of the world or somebody in another city, you can't decide to do something or say something on social media whether it's a writer, blogger, YouTuber, and think that you're going to make my day bad because you said something. That's far too much control. We learn to not give people that kind of control. Right, right. And that block button code, too. I love that block button. You talking crazy and I ain't got time today. Yeah, well, some days I have time, some days I don't. And I choose my battles wisely, man. Yeah, that's wise, man. And just know that when I do choose my battles, that I'm coming with fire, bro, right?

1:25:51And I mean what I say. Yeah. And that's just what it is. But, I mean, other than that, Dre, you know boxing, man. You know the sport, man. It's a very fecal sport. You got to get in. You got to get your money. You got to get out with all your faculties. Sometimes I think you think of, you know, some fighters, you know what? I'll tell you something that I've kind of learned since I've been getting back in shape. And I want to say something to like Manny Pacquiao and stuff, because I was a little bit, I would say I was hard on him a while back when he was returning. But now I understand it because I'm starting to get back in shape.

1:26:28I'm running every day, training, boxing training. I'm doing my thing. Muscle memory is a real thing. It is. Oh, these hands, they work. They still fast. These legs, they still move. Still working. That head movement is still there. That experience is still in me, right? And you begin to feel good and start feeling like you can do it again, right? You have a lot of experience to go along with that. But it don't matter. I'm starting to feel like it don't matter the age, man. It's the mindset. So if you can physically do something, it don't matter how old you are, bro. Like, I was thinking Manny Pacquiao, 46 years old, looking at the back end of his career and thinking he can get hurt.

1:27:18This is a young man's sport. But I'm starting to think, you know what, man? I can do it, too. I feel it. I know it. it's the mindset. He still has passion for the sport and love for the sport, bro. There's some guys that probably don't have that passion and love for the sport like he does, and they're just doing it because they primarily need to be able to eat, you know, but Manny Pacquiao's a legend, man. He's done it at the highest level for a very long time, and so, you know, even with that age, bro, it just means that he's a special type of fighter, you know, but he wants to do it. And the truth is, you can get hurt, you know?

1:28:04You can get hurt doing the sport, and that's always something we got to deal with, especially as you get older. But, you know, hearing you talk right now, like, are you talking like you making a comeback, or you just want to get in shape just in case somebody... I want to get in shape. I want to get in shape because it's just in case. You know? That's it. Just in case. What's your wife saying? She don't like it. My wife hates it. Every second of it. You know, I was up this morning, 5.30 in the morning, on the road, hitting that road work. Brother, you running at 5.30? 5.30. I ain't playing Dre.

1:28:43Bruh, when you... When you tapping, you turn that switch on, bro, it's hard to turn it off. That situation when J. Leon woke you up? Did it. So that's what did it? That's the origin. That's what did it? Oh, yeah. Oh, absolutely. That's what turned my switch on, bro. And I'm like, I'm going to show you. I'm going to show you. And I'm willing to do whatever it takes to make sure that I show you what I'm talking about. That's it. So, think it's a game I ain't playing? Jayleon, I'm not playing with you, bro. I'm not playing with you. I will smoke you and Jake Paul. Same night, homie. two for one. I'm not playing.

1:29:33Seriously. Hey, I'm here. You told me to get in shape. I'm getting in shape. But I don't think you understand, Jay. I don't think you understand what tree you barking under, man. You barking up on a real one. Hall of Famer, homie. Straight up. Yeah, and I'm gonna show you. First ballot. I'm gonna show you, bro. For real. So say what you want to say. Go and hide in your little dirty corner. Do what you do. But again, tell Jakey Jake Jake, I hope Jake survived this Joshua. Jake, I hope you survive. You know, I know Joshua ain't what he was before, but he should be able to get that done. He should be able to get that done if he ain't signed that NDA.

1:30:15Right. Yeah, you know that NDA, please don't hurt me. Hey, I got to win. Man. Bro, if you get in the ring with a 65-year-old Mike Tyson, bro, you know what they'll say about you, bro. People, bro, people were thinking that Mike Tyson had a chance. That's not Jake's fault, though. Bro, I... That shows you how cold Mike is, though. Yeah? Okay. Mike did a great job, and Mike was in the best shape he could be in at that age. I interviewed him. That man looked like a piece of steel. I gave him a hug. I said, Mike, you stiff man, brother. And then when he walked in, he looked like a little lion when Mike walked in the room.

1:30:59And I don't intimidate easy, and I ain't saying I was intimidated, but I'm just saying I understood why guys get intimidated by Mike Tyson because he still got that. People believed in the idea of Mike and the videos he was posting. And, you know, but your body only going to do so much at that age. That's ridiculous. It's only going to do so much at that age. Yeah, I get it, but that's ridiculous. The dude is a senior citizen, bro. Get in the ring. He ain't no average senior citizen. Come on, bro. All the mileage on his body, bro. I got you. That's what I'm telling you. That's what I'm saying.

1:31:32You dumbing down the sport. People were literally thinking that Mike had a chance. And I'm like, whose fault is that? Well, it takes two to tangle. But the one that was able to frame it up is Jake. How you frame it, though? Mike playing this part, too. Mike talking crazy. Mike looking straight into the... Mike got his money. Mike got his money. If Mike look into that camera and say something to you, you're probably going to believe it. Yeah, I understand. Before that fight happened. Drake, I understand all the money. I understand all of that stuff, man. But, look, you're still dumbing down the sport.

1:32:09That was a joke. That was a surface, bro. In this Tank Davis fight, Gladys got postponed or whatever it is. It's not happening. that was a joke fight too, bro. Because when I'm a, you're a lifer in this sport, bro. You did it from the crib. No, you did it from the crib all the way up and worked your way to the top, bro. It's different. We have a different respect for the game. Yeah. And we all got to follow the same script. Just because you popular, you can follow on a different script, bro. You got to earn your stripes just like everybody else. You didn't earn the fight with Mike Tyson. You didn't earn that.

1:32:50You shouldn't even been in the ring with him, bro. You only been in the game five years. That's the way I think, Dre. I'm torn on it, bro. Like, I don't, I personally don't, like, like, Jake Paul ain't all that old world champion stuff. Like, and it could happen because you know how these sanctioned bodies play. But I don't knock him for his whole movement because if you build something outside of this sport, right, and those people follow you to the sport and they're buying tickets or they're streaming if it's so bad then people shouldn't tune in because if he can get the numbers that he's getting it's hard to say you just gotta understand what it is it's not you face certain guys, it's not real boxing now this situation with Anthony Joshua that's a real fight Yeah.

1:33:48At least on paper. On paper. But I can't knock your hustle when you've built something outside of boxing and you say, hey, yo, I'm coming over here to the sport now and I'm going to pick and choose who I fight. Y 'all come follow me. If they follow him, man, I just understand what it is. I know what I'm looking at. You're not going to fool me over here, save that stuff for them other people because I'm not going to believe that I'm the face of boxing. No, you're not the face of boxing. I'm not giving you that because that's for a lifer. But that's what he believes. That's cool. I can't knock him for that.

1:34:18People believe a lot of things for a lot of different reasons. I'm just saying you can do all the rah-rah stuff. That's your business. But I just know what I'm looking at, right? But on the monetary side and it being an event, the truth is that when he does fight, it does bring attention around the sport. People debate. They argue. People want to see the fight. Is it legit? Is it him and Mike Tyson? No, it's an event. That's what it is. It's an event. It's an event. It's not a fight, Dre. But these type of things tend to be going on for years. Ali did it. Sugar Ray Robinson did it. Listen to those names, Dre.

1:34:55I got you. Listen to those names. I feel like we back at A &T right now. You can call me an A. Call me a hater or whatever. But I'm just saying, listen to those names that you just ran off, bro. Those are legends in the game. John L. Sullivan, he did it too. Those are legends in the game, bro. For sure. I paid homage. Complete respect. Yeah. Yeah, this is a dude that's been foxing five years. Look what I've done in five years, bro. You ain't done nothing in a sport, bro. Just got to know what it is, though. I just understand it. Like, you know, it's a lot of rah-rah. I'm like, man, come on, man.

1:35:26I'm not trying to hear all that. I'm going to tell you what Nazeem told me. Nazeem Richardson, man. My guy. Man. Got you. Listen, listen. Nazeem say, I hear what you're saying, but I'm too busy watching what you're doing. I don't get caught up in a rah-rah. I just, I know what I'm looking at, brother. It may fool that crowd, but it's not fooling this crowd. So I just, me personally, I ain't saying my view is right. I'm just saying the way I see it, it's kind of, I try to fight for balance. Like, I see what you're doing, but then, but then, but also, bro, I respect the hustle. You got these people to come over here and buy this?

1:35:59Respect. I'm not a person that's like, if you get out of line, start talking about this fighter can't beat me. I'm the face of boxing. Then you're going to hear me say something now because, because we really do this and we have really done this. and it's fighters that's still doing it. And we really took the licks. It wasn't part-time, it was full-time. So then you may hear me speak up, but in terms of your money and what you're doing, if him and Mike can put something together like that and Mike can get a shot in the arm financially like that for that kind of fight, knowing what we got to do for money in boxing, knowing the type of punishment you got to take, even if you win, man, brother, go on and get your money, brother.

1:36:38At that age, man, Mike, go on and get your money. Get your money, Mike. Mike should be embarrassed. Why? He should be embarrassed, bro. Jake Paul got his name on his resume. He should be embarrassed. Period. Keep it real with me, bro. Money, money, bro, listen to me. Keep it real with me. No, keep it real with me. Go ahead. Go ahead. Let's go. Let's go. Let's go. Try to put yourself in Mike Tyson's shoes. They hit you, and I don't know the numbers for sure, but I'ma just throw these numbers out. Hey, man, it's this Jake Paul kid, man, you know. He want to fight you. I ain't fighting that kid. Hey, man, it's probably 40 on the table, probably 50.

1:37:17You got to get in shape, though. You got about six months to get in shape, though. Man, you bring that old Mike Tyson R back, like, you know, they'll probably buy it. You telling me you wouldn't take that fight and get that 40 piece? No. If I know that I can't beat him, no, I wouldn't take it. He believed he could beat him. Stop, man. Stop. The dude was in there biting his glove, bro. Like, Mike was in there biting his glove, bro. What? You mean to tell me that Mike, the same way you was talking greasy a few minutes ago? Nah, bro. About, ah, I'm ready. Mike, you going to feel like that when you're 60, I promise you.

1:37:48You. There's one thing, right? There's one thing to think you can do it, but there's another thing to show the drink. Sometimes you find out they're not in a fight. Nah, hell no. You find that out in sparring. If you being honest with yourself. You being, you find out. You got people, honest people around your ass telling you, hey, you look trash. You can get easy sparring, though, to give you. You look trash. No, you don't get easy sparring for that. You ain't gonna take that 40 piece? No. To lose? Hell no. He didn't think he was gonna lose. Hell no, Jay. Mike believe that. Come on, man. Listen.

1:38:20Either Mike said, listen, either Mike is a good salesman or I sat there with him. I think he was two weeks out or something like that. I said, hey. I said, Mike, how you gonna do this? Listen, brother. Losing is not an option. Listen to me. Listen to me. Listen to me. I believed it. I sure as hell didn't. And I believed... Now, look, now, my other boxing brand was like, yeah, but Mike's 60, though. But the other part of me wanted to believe because it was Mike, but the other part of me was like, I believe he's 60, though. Brother, listen, I think you're going to take that 40 or 50 piece. No. Go out there and dance with Jay.

1:38:55Money don't move me like that, bro. Money don't move me like that, bro. You're going to believe... You're going to be disrespected that he called your name. Who? If you Mike Tyson and he's called... I want to fight Mike. Like, you're going to feel disrespected that he would even put your name in his mouth. Dre, I tell you all the time, man. Talk to me. Look, I might be reckless, but at the same time, I'm calculated, bro. You ain't going to take that 50-piece, 40-piece? I'm calculated. I'm not going to go out there and embarrass my sport, having all these people betting money on me to win a fight and go out there and do what I did.

1:39:29I can't do it. Not for money, bro. Not for money. Money don't mean that much to me, man. And my dignity, what I have internal, bro, that means more to me, bro. Being a man, being a fighter, being a warrior, bro. And if I want to go in there and put that type of performance on and I can't get it done against that guy right there, bro, I'm not putting food. I don't care how much money it is. I'm not going to do that, bro. By the time Mike figured it out, it was too late. The fight had already started. Well, I get it. I understand that. How much did you say you fought your fight with Junior with it?

1:39:56$45 ,000. You fought a championship fight for$45 ,000. That's why I told you. You ain't going to take a 40 piece? if it makes sense and if I don't go out there and embarrass myself and I truly feel that I can win the fight and I'm showing it inside the ring. You can think something already, Dre. You can think. You can always think, but how I'm performing in here, that's real. That's real. You gotta understand that. But I won't sign something unless I know that I'm ready. That I'm ready mentally. See, I'm different. See, most people don't think I'm calculated, bro. I'm calculated to a degree. But I'm calculated, too.

1:40:32So with me, and I'm saying, J. Leon, love, and I've already dreamt this. I've already done, I've visualized this. I'm training for it. I feel it in my bones, bro. But some people would say, Tim tripping, he crazy. I understand it because I'm a fighter. But another person may say, man, you tripping. I want this bum out of sport, bro. J? I want him out. That's just it. Is he going to try to beat him out of the sport? Why not? Why not? Dre, Dre, why not? I didn't know you was really feeling like this. No, for real. Why not? I want the dude out of the sport, bro. For real. Because now he's making things worse for the other ones.

1:41:14Nobody sees it. How so? Because they're going to be watching him. They're not going to want to watch Shakur. Nobody's going to want to watch Shakur or watch a real fight. They want to see Jake Paul. They want to see the show. They want to. He's taking their imagination. he's dumbing down the people, the casuals too, and he's putting on these damn shows and, you know, oh, man, he fighting Mike Tyson. Mike Tyson got a chance and all this stuff. When you have a cold, cold fighter in Shakur Stevenson, dog, that everybody's going to look at and be like, well, he's all right. You know, he's not Jake Paul.

1:41:49He's not doing numbers like Jake Paul. He's not making money like Jake Paul. Like, I have a problem with that, bro. For me, I'm just saying, like, are they people going to support a Shakur or a Keyshawn or, you know, any of these other guys, man, that's on the rise? If they know what they're looking at. Yeah. But if we keep having that, because that keeps saying how great he is and how he's this and how he's that, and he's all lies. He's not. He's all lies. As soon as you hit this dude in his face, bro, as soon as Chavez decided to throw in the last two rounds, it was easy. And I'm talking about Chavez Jr.

1:42:32off the couch. Literally. It was easy. That's why we work good together. We looking at the same picture. We just see it totally different. Because I look at it like I've heard people say that for years about even the celebrity boxing or whatever. All these people doing these exhibitions. It's taking away from the sport. I look at it quite differently. I look at it like it's really just showing the level we're at. You could put that out there. You could put that product out there, but you're going to really see, like, oh, this boxing thing ain't really as easy as they trying to make it seem. Like, that's elite right there.

1:43:14That's a real guy right there. That's how I look at it. Yeah. But we could talk about this stuff, man, all day. Yeah, we can. I want to get back to the career, bro. All right. Man, you pivot from Manny Pacquiao won, all the drama that happened after the fight, and you just, it's just nine short months later, you fight a guy named Ruslan Provodnikov. When you first saw him fight, did you think the fight was going to be the way that it was? I knew it was going to be tough, because he can punch, and he can box a little bit, too. But I knew that I could outbox him. Yeah, I knew, like... But you didn't outbox him.

1:43:48It's not what you did. Look, man, look. Let me tell you a story, man. Guess who I got to speak to before that fight? Did my research. Ray Lewis. Ray Lewis, bro. Ray Lewis. Ray, you responsible for this. Ray Lewis, bro. So the vision was to go in there and box his ears off. That's what y 'all trained for? Oh, that's what we trained for. But when Ray Lewis told me how I can get my fans back, how I can change my career is by showing what I'm made of internally. He gave you that football talk for a boxing match. Bruh. Ah, Ray. Why you doing that, Ray? Thank you, Ray. Hey. What did he say? It's bittersweet, man.

1:44:34This is in the locker room? Yeah, in the locker room. So FaceTime. FaceTime, bro. I hit you with the face. Yeah, it was a FaceTime, man. He was like, you go out here, you know, you get an opportunity. A lot of people don't have these type of opportunities. So you get opportunities to show people what you made of. Show people why you here, you know? Show them your talent. If you do that and you put it all out there, they going to love you. You know, and I was like, and I was desperate. Because at that point, my name was Mud, bro. You know? I look back at that situation, man, and I say, damn, what could I have done, man?

1:45:17but then I say to myself, then I won't be fair to me. So if I get a belt back, I look like a hero, but then I won't be fair to me because I felt I won the fight. I felt it was close, could have went either way, but I felt like I won the fight. So, but going into that Ruslan fight, man, the game plan was the box, box, box. Speaking to Ray Lewis, then walking out there, then seeing him, and then having all those emotions pent up in me, man, from the Manny Pacquiao fight, the controversy, and knowing that, hey, I'm finna go to war with this man. I'm willing to do whatever it takes and do whatever it takes to show everybody what I'm made of, bro.

1:46:00When he hit me with that first right hand... Bro. Hey, I'm not gonna lie, bro. I don't know how I didn't go to sleep. I should have been knocked out with that first right hand. I knew from that point on, I knew it was going to be a tough fight. I'll tell you another thing that many people don't really know. I struggled making weight that fight. You said that nine months in between. Well, I ballooned up. You know, I'm eating all them Twinkies. You're dealing with that. Oh, yeah. You know, so I blew up in weight, and I had a certain amount of time, eight weeks to get ready for a fight and drop off.

1:46:38Yeah. And drop off close to 30 pounds. off this frame. And so I'm about 180 and I've got to tear it down in eight weeks. And I didn't do it properly. Many people don't realize that. And the day of the weigh-ins, I was 10 pounds overweight. And I had to bring in a specialist to come help me make that weight. So I was drained, not going to lie, but I didn't give a damn at all, that fight. I did not care, bro um there was moments where i did feel like quitting there was moments where where i i didn't even know i was in the fight like i was just on autopilot bro you know i'm i'm in the 10th round thinking it's the second round come on bro yeah what round is it man we're going to 10 what it ain't the second round no what why are you there was times where like i didn't come back to like life to reality to 30 seconds.

1:47:41Go watch that fight, bro. I'm sitting there and I'm looking at, looking at Joel and he's looking at me and he's talking to me, hey man, you got a fight? And I'm like, and I'm stuck. And then he's shaking my head and then I'm back. Then I'm like, what you want me to do? Box? Okay, okay. And do you see me react? He's a very vocal coach. He's loud. He talks a lot in the corner. So I know he was probably losing his mind because you didn't give him the memo that you wasn't going to box, right? before the first bell rang? He had a feeling. He had a feeling because he saw the change in my eyes. And he said that to me personally.

1:48:16He had a feeling. But the amount of damage that I took in that fight shortened my career. So, you know, again, bitter and sweet, boosted my career. So, like, every fighter, there's always a memorable fight. Yours was Kovalev. Memorable fight, bro. You know, showing that undeniable will and determination to win. You know, getting up off the canvas, peeling yourself off the canvas, and going to get that win and stepping towards that line, right? Same thing here, man. You know, this was my fight that highlights my career. This is the fight that everybody remembers most. They don't remember the Manny Pacquiao fights or the Marquez, you know, boxing lesson I put on them.

1:49:01By the way, that Marquez fight was easy money. And Marquez, you said that I didn't want to rematch you. lying because we offered you the rematch and you turned it down. So, yeah. But anyways, um, yeah. Shoot. This was my fight, my God 2 % stable, the glorifying moment of my career, man, where I took a lot of damage. It took years off my life, but at the same time it revived my career. What was that week after that fight, two weeks after, three weeks after? Because you said, you admitted, you just did just now that you left something in that ring. What was them weeks after the fight like? Slurred speech, balance issues, you know, equilibrium was off all the time.

1:49:44Appropriate obsession was off. So, like, I can walk forward. There's a corner right here, and I would think I cleared and bump into it. Put my head down. I lose my balance. Dizziness. I was angry. I pissed blood for about a few days. Yeah, look. it took a lot out of me, man. But having my wife, she helped change that, man. You know, my wife was, my wife is always the one looking for answers. There has to be something we can do. There has to be. You know, we have to figure out a way to get that back, what you lost, some of it. So she seeked out. I went down and seen, I went down to Pittsburgh and I went to, like, this concussion hospital.

1:50:37You know, that's what they do. Ran all these tests on me and things. Got a color in my eye, my brain, and that was at that point when they let me know that, hey, you should retire. They said that? Yeah. Based on a scan? Yeah. Wow. Bro, this whole left side was gone. So, like, you can see the branches and the connections and stuff like that in the brain, bro. This whole left side, bro, was gone. When you seen that, what did you say? I said, what happened to the left side? I said, what happened to the left side? They was just like, man, that's, I'm like, they was like, man, that's from, again, you get a protein that build up around that.

1:51:19And it's like, it forms a patch over the top of it. So, you know, it's really hard to really have any connections, you know, around that. You know, it's become like a permanent scar on your brain. They give you any road map to revitalize that? Yeah, so what I went was I went to Long Beach and I found a neurologist out there that helped me be able to, you know, get a lot of my balance back. They said the speech would slowly start to come back with the exercises and stuff. And he had me do some weird exercises, bro. Like, I would have to, like, move my neck, you know, move my head four or five times, climb my hands up the wall.

1:52:02Like, it's just weird, you know, just to re-cordate and kind of, like, re-channel and program my brain. Even exercises where, you know, I'm lifting this arm and I'm lifting this leg, you know. Just things like that, man, to try to just get that coordination back. And then they just said, man, it was rest, hyperbaric chamber. I was going to ask you about that. you know, cryotherapy, ice baths, a lot of massage on my neck. You know, a lot of people don't realize that when you have a concussion, a massage helps, especially in the neck. The training is sacral work, too, to get the neck and the skull.

1:52:36That's what it's about. But, yeah, I started doing all these various things. I think going in that training camp with Marquez, there was more work outside the ring than actually in the ring. So the preparation was focused and geared getting the stuff that I left in the ring, Vince Ruzal Bhavano-Golf, getting some of that back as opposed to just the hard training. So I spent more time outside the ring doing therapy than the work inside the ring, and it helped. I ain't gonna lie. But I was only seven months later. That's seven months later. You're going there against Juan Manuel Marquez after he ices Manny Pacquiao.

1:53:18I remember thinking like, bro, that's the next one. Like maybe get one and then make sure you're good and then go. We had to get him. We had to get him. But you put on a boxing lesson, man. Just Michelangelo. And I'm like, why you didn't do this the whole time, bro?

1:53:39What switched on for that fight where you were disciplined the whole fight? I know it's not easy per se, but you made it look easy. against that guy. What shifted in your mind? The fact that I gave the fans what they wanted. I gave them what they wanted. And now it's time to get back and do what I know I know how to do and get this Hall of Fame victory. Because the whole camp, we just screamed. My dad was screaming out, this gonna put you in the Hall of Fame right here. That fight? Yeah. My dad was screaming that out. This fight right here gonna put you in the Hall of Fame. This ain't gonna be no controversial decision.

1:54:21This ain't gonna be none of that. This gonna get you in the Hall of Fame. That's what he's screaming out. Because he knows that Marquez is the Hall of Famer. You know, so... And he know I needed that win, that victory. You could do it all over again when you fight the exact same fight. Ruzan, I'm fighting the call? Damn, that's a good question, bro. Same situation, though? Everything the same. But you get to box, or you would fight that way again? I would fight that way again. That's crazy. I would fight that way again, yeah. I think that's what defines me now, man. I think, like, I had a hard time when I'm up in my career.

1:55:03You know, how do you define Tim Bradley? You know, I was average in every single department. It wasn't, like, one thing that really stuck out. Like, it wasn't. But that determination, that will to win, you can't deny me that. You know what I mean? Like, that was me. Tim is a warrior, period. You know, that's what defines me. He's a warrior, warrior spirit. He gonna give you everything he got. And I'm cool with that. Desert Storm, I'm cool with that. So whatever you lost, whatever comes with that, you willing to stand on that to make sure you get that respect? A lot of people don't understand that we fighters, We understand what we do.

1:55:45We understand the consequences that go along with it. And the repercussions that go along with it, man. You know that's not normal, right? I know. We... You know that's not normal. We wired differently. That wire is a little bit different, right? Yeah, we wired differently, for sure. Yeah, absolutely. We program and wired differently, man. That's our normal, but that ain't normal. No, it's not normal. But, you know, for me, there's not much in my life, man, that I regret, man. Not much. There's a few things, Dre, but boxing-wise, I'll take the same course. Going through Thompson, same thing, man.

1:56:19You know, of course we, look, I wish the money was a little bit better coming up, bro. But it is what it is. What, not getting the money or having that money and getting paid all that money, it just kept me hungry. You know, a lot of guys now in boxing, they don't earn all of them big paychecks, man. Not anymore. With Turkey and all these, you can do any of these coming in, paying all this type of money now, bro? Yeah. Imagine a Devon Knowledge Xander fight in this generation. It's similar to what we're getting this weekend. That's big money. You know what I'm saying? That's big, big money. You had to earn that back in the days when we was fighting.

1:57:00Now they just getting it. Here you go. Oh, I want to see that fight? Oh, yeah, here you go. Here's five, 10 million. Here's 15 million. So it's a little different nowadays. Yeah. I'm happy them guys getting money, man. I ain't mad at them. If I had to choose, though, yeah, if I had to choose somebody getting more money or less money, because, you know, historically, man, dudes have always gotten less, way less. They got hard fights, low money. So I get excited, man, when I see some of the figures right now. You know, I'm like, man, hey, that's what's up. So, but what happens? What happens when that money stops?

1:57:35They got to figure it out. Oh, they getting paid. But is the next generation going to take the drop? It's going to be interesting. The drop off? Right. That's the way I think, Dre. What about the next generation? He going to take a pay cut? Oh, you making that for that guy? What do you think the next generation going to want? They going to want more. It's just like football, all these other sports, man. They going more and more and more. Now, if you don't have someone that's going to carry that and actually pay these fighters that, then we got a problem, Houston. So hopefully all these new entities stay in the game a long time.

1:58:15Man, you fought Manny Pacquiao again in 2014, lost the unanimous decision. You fought again in 2016, and then you retired. You danced with Manny Pacquiao for 36 rounds. Not a lot of men can say that. Why did you retire after that fight at that time? Because it was the first time that I... It was the first time ever in my career that I checked out. During the fight or in preparation for the fight? During the fight. Wait, what round did that have been? Probably around the ninth when I got dropped a second time. It was the ninth or tenth I got dropped by Manny for the second time. That was the first time that I ever stopped really trying to win.

1:59:05Usually, I would fight all the way to the end, no matter what's going on. But I knew then I was, like, saying to myself, like, if I can, if it's that easy right now for me to quit, then I know moving forward, you know, I kind of lost that psychological edge and always pushing and, you know, no matter what, I was like, I'm going to end up getting hurt. So, and towards the back end of my career, I was finding myself more and more spending time at the hospital after my fights. Yeah. So I had Diego Chavez. I had the big old hematoma on my eye. Had a broken eye socket. Fought with a broken eye socket.

1:59:53Yeah. Fought with a broken rib. broken hand like bro this is a gladiator gladiator sport that's what it is we have to fight through that type of stuff ain't no going back to no damn no locker room and then coming out oh he's all right we gave him a little shot nah yeah boxing is a different sport but i want to say that i just Look, I just felt like I started feeling less and less of myself. And I felt like if I couldn't compete at the highest level, that there's no need for me to continue. You know, I'm not finna just be dutching and dodging or this guy or that guy or, oh, I think I can beat, nah.

2:00:38Mm-mm. So that's the reason why I was just like, you know what, I've done enough. I put enough away. My wife made sure of that. And, you know, before I retired, I asked her for three things. That was it, three things. And I said, if you can honor these three things, then I said, I'm good. And it's simple. I said, four or five-star hotels, first-class plane tickets.

2:01:11Excellent food. If I want to go to a steakhouse, when I want to go, don't matter, spend a grand there, whatever it is. I got to have those three things. I feel that I've earned it. I've put in enough work to be able to earn that. That right to have those three things of comfort. And that's it. And my wife said, done. I don't need the fast cars. I don't need all the watch. I don't need all the juries. I don't need none of that material. those three things right there, I can live with it. I'm good. Yeah. Man, you had a successful transition post-career to broadcasting, you all own multiple businesses, real estate, all the stuff, man.

2:01:55How did that happen? Like, what's the blueprint to make that happen? Because a lot of us don't do that. We end our careers, and the money is gone just as fast as the careers. Well, a lot of fighters, we don't... We don't... Look. A lot of fighters, man, we come from humble beginnings, bro. And as you know, financial literacy is something that you got to learn and pick up. It's not like they're teaching in school either. They don't teach it in school. I don't understand why they don't teach it in school. I don't get it. School system needs to... Other countries do, though. They need to change it, bro.

2:02:32Bro, they still reading The Killing Mockingbird, bro. Like, I read that years ago. They still reading that. I know we got better books and other books that they can read. But anyways, so early in my career, I made a mistake. I got, I want to say, about$150 ,000, paid up all off my debt, so on and so forth. But I wasn't incorporated. Anybody that know anything about being incorporated? You know, you have certain write-offs you can write off. You know, you get the loan form, you write off some things. So I wasn't incorporated. So at the end of the year, I owed a lot in taxes. So I had to pay about$60 ,000 in taxes or so.

2:03:20So I, you know. And I felt like I was getting close to that, to not having money, man. You know? So from there, I started making more and more money, and I had another tax person that I had to affiliate myself with, and I made, I basically made more money than what they can handle. So then I had to seek out and find another CPA that knew what to do with big money. Right. I found this guy from a friend of my wife's. New Yorker. Jewish guy, I gotta say that. Knows how to keep that money. But the only way I was gonna work with him is he had to teach me where to put my money and how. Make it grow.

2:04:15To make it grow. That was the only way. You hear too many stories of just trusting people and giving them money and letting them do what they're supposed to do, and they end up getting robbed. Too many athletes, right? So once he said, yeah, and he started showing me how to invest my money, where to put my money, and that's how I was able to pick up that financial literacy that a lot of fighters don't have because I had a guy actually teach me. Teach you the game. So, you know, from life insurance policies, you know, to IRAs, you know, SEP and Roth, you name it, man. You know, some people like the 401K, you know.

2:04:53Um, real estate was a big one, too. Stock market's another big one. You know, he taught me how to, you know, trade stocks as well. You know, so, but that's how I was able to pick it up. But it was all about first getting incorporated, and then little by little, man, just growing, you know, my literacy and financial. Why you never fought Floyd Mayweather? Was that ever an option? It was, somewhat. I don't want to say, you know what, let me take that back, because people be, they take your words. If you don't really, if you leave an open ending, then they'll think what they want. So it was a verbal, verbal...

2:05:39Agreement. Agreement or a verbal option. I got that phone call. Tim, you want to fight Floyd? $8 million. Don't sign to fight Manny Pacquiao. 8 mil, fight Floyd. I'm like, oh, okay. Well, wire me $4 million. Pay me$4 million when I get in the ring with Mayweather. By this time, I'm a veteran in the game. People, hey, they make promises, false promises all the time. Right. I'm not on food. So as soon as they didn't give me the money or wire me the money, I knew it was... wasn't real. But I've always wanted to fight Floyd. Always wanted to fight Floyd. I'm glad your boy Berto got it, though. But I would have loved to fight Floyd Mayweather.

2:06:33Yeah, I always wondered about that. Yeah. Man, a couple more, man. We had a six, seven-year run at ESPN, man, from, like, 2017. I think he went to 2024. My contract ended in 2023. We didn't renew. I moved on. Y 'all stayed another year and some change. Man, we had a lot of good times, bro. We had a cold run at ESPN, man. We had a great team. Yeah. You know, our lead, Mike McQuaid. Yup. Bernardo Asuna. Yup. Mark Kriegel. Mark Kriegel. Joe Tessitore. You know, Lynn. Just everybody behind the scenes and everybody that was on camera. From time to time, we had Christina Pontra come over. But we had a good run.

2:07:15Yeah. Aladdin, Mike. All that. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, man, it was tough. You know, like, bro, I'm not going to lie, bro. I shed some tears. I ain't going to lie. Oh, yeah, bro. You know, because I felt like it was the perfect combination, you know, yin and yang. And all of a sudden it was gone. But now it's like, now I'm faced with a task. Now I got to hold it down by myself. Usually, you know, you got teammates, you can, you know, some days you do a lot of heavy lifting, some days I do a lot of heavy lifting, but I didn't have that. I was thinking to myself, like, man, this is going to be difficult, you know?

2:07:58Like, you come from a different... The way you call fights and the way you view things and the way you elaborate things come from a different perspective than the way I see things. So that was going to be gone. The dynamic is gone. And so it was a lot of worry, but, you know, with that pressure, you either sink or you swim, bro. And, you know, I started little by little, man, growing in that position. You know, one of the things that I remember you saying is that, hey, this is an opportunity for you to grow your craft, bro. And, like, become solid, like, legit. And I remember you telling me that.

2:08:39And I was just like, yeah. He was like, hold it down. And so that pushed me to,

2:08:48you know, hey, I got to do what I got to do. I got to do what I got to do, man. Yeah, y 'all held it down, man, for, like I said, a year and some change, man. Crazy story, though, bro. You know, we go back and forth to New York. For some reason, you like driving in New York. I love it. I would never get a rental car in New York. I love New York. I love you. You get a rental car. Yeah. You know where I'm going to. You know where I'm going to. You park in the garage, bro, for two, three days, however long we did. You know, the fight is on Saturday. We get up early morning. We out of there first thing, smoking on Sunday morning.

2:09:30Brother, you get in the wrong car. Somehow, someway, the hotel valet gives you the wrong keys. A car that looked like your car, though. Right. You get in the car, you say, man, it smells like weed. I said, that wasn't a sign you was like, nah, I just meant I had to go. I had to catch a flight. Did you say it was weed in the trunk or was it, it just smelled like weed? It smelled like weed. But you pull up to the airport, you don't take the car back to the rental place. Because you late, you drop the car and leave the car right there in front of the airport, bro. They finally get the car. They're like, Mr.

2:10:08Bradley, this is not even our car. What happened, bruh? That's the kind of stuff that happens all the time. But tell me about that. I ain't never forgot that. Bruh. Bruh, I'm the one that gave you this gym information, bro. And I, the gym information here, and I went to the wrong boxing club, bro. Me and Directions, bro, we don't get along, bro. I don't want to. Listen, listen. I was late. I didn't want to be late to the airport and miss my flight. It's about 3 in the morning, 4 in the morning, something like that. Yeah, I got up late, but I lost my ticket. Your ballet? Yeah, I lost it. And so I'm trying to...

2:10:48If you know anything about New York, man, you know, it's multiverse, right? It's a lot. So I had a guy that didn't really speak English. So I'm a Puerto Rican, probably guy. I'm saying to him, like, hey, man, I know what it looked like. I know what it looked like. So I'm going through there looking and trying to help him find my car. And I'm like, that's it. Right there. That's it. I got to go. Let's go. That's it. So he pulls it down. And I take it, bro. And I get in the car. And I'm thinking to myself, I'm like, it smells like weed in here. Maybe this ain't my car. But at the same time, I'm thinking maybe somebody here that work here took it for a joy ride and smoked some weed or something in it.

2:11:30So I'm thinking that, too. I'm hoping that, right? But as I'm driving, Dre, as I'm driving, Dre, I'm like. So don't feel right. No, as I'm driving, I'm thinking to myself, this ain't my car. This ain't my car. But you ain't stopped, though. This ain't my car. Dre, I didn't, I couldn't be late. I gotta get to this flight. Dre, I couldn't be late. So I do, but Dre, but there's one thing I gotta correct you on. I did get to the rental car spot. Okay. I did. But this was it. You know, usually they wait for you, and then they come over there, and they beep the car. Bruh. I drove up quick, whoop, jumped out, boom, grabbed my luggage, boom, and I just, I took off.

2:12:13You left the key in there. Hey, bro, left the key in there. I didn't look back. I just started walking. The lady, I heard the beep. Beep.

2:12:26I boomed out, bruh. Left that car there, man. They had called me and was like, no, you know what? I take that back. They didn't call me. This is where I sent my wife. I had my wife call in the morning, right? When she waited, God said, babe, that's what I need you to do. I need you to call. Call the company. I dropped it off here. I don't think it's my car. However, you need to handle this for me. And she was like, don't worry, because, you know, I'm on a plane. So I had to, you know, let her know. But anyways, they end up getting the car towed to where it needed to be. Yeah, the right place. But, yeah.

2:13:12Bro, from rental cars, hitting rental cars. Oh, bro. Yeah, being down. We was with National, right? And then Enterprise. So we were with National with ESPN. And I had so many run-ins with cars. They stopped messing with you? They wouldn't rent you? No, what they would do is they put me on Enterprise, and they picked a car for me. Oh, that's true. So you go to National, you know what I'm saying. You get out of that bad boy, you can, hey, you pick what you want. Bro, they gave me them little buckets for a few. That's what you're getting. Yeah, this is what you're getting, bro. You're damaging all our cars.

2:13:52You're sending our cars to different rental car places. I don't even want to know what your car is trying to look like, bro. Is it high? It's the cheapest... It's the cheapest car insurance in the world. You got that basic comprehension, huh? Nah, nah, bro. Come on, man. But you start getting in wrecks and stuff. They said California... You gotta be... Man, look, man. I'm telling you, bro. So when you, like us, and if you can afford it, you gotta have car insurance and an umbrella policy on top of that. You gotta. Because when they know it's you, if something happens, an incident happens, they know it's you, they coming for you.

2:14:35Everything, right? And somebody get hurt. So, oh, I'm maxed out. But, again, I've tried to lower my insurance. There's no other place, man. I mean, yeah, I got mine. The limits are maxed out, bro, on that joint. So, but, yeah. Anyways, you know. Brother, I appreciate you, man. It was good to see you, man. Hey. I always love coming to San Diego, bro. Hey, bro. Hey, I appreciate you, man. I told you it was going to be raining out here, but I appreciate you. I appreciate you for coming out here, man, and thinking about me, bro. For real. Yes, sir. And interviewing me, man. For real. People been asking for this, man, so I'm glad we was able to link back up, man.

2:15:12That's crazy. Yeah. Yeah, that's cool, man. But I like what you're doing, big dog. I like what you're doing. It's love, brother. I ain't going to lie. I do. I love what you're doing, bro. I'm always watching. You know that. Yes, sir. I appreciate you, bro. Yeah. episode of the Art Award. Thank you for tapping in. Yes, sir. Thank you guys, man. Appreciate you. Appreciate you.

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