BN: Until recently, you were one of the most sought-after free agents in the world. What made you choose Matchroom over Top Rank?
When I meet Top Rated, they’ll throw me in the mix and I’ll be part of their plan. With Matchroom, it’s like, I’m the plan.
With Eddie [Hearn], I’ll be one of the only champions in the US, so I’m preferred. With Top Rated, I don’t think I have that high priority; they’ve got a bunch of fighters that they have to prioritize over me.
I did this over and over again – for about three weeks, a month. I’ll wake up and say, “Dude, I’m ranked top”. Then I would go to bed and be like, “No, I’ll go with Matchroom”. It was like this every day. I talked about it with a group of people. My friends; my wife; my assistant; my coach. Everyone was torn apart. I’ve consulted everyone, but I just have that hunch. I can’t make a bad choice – no matter which path I take, it will be a good choice. But when you have a hunch, you can’t move away from it. One thing I don’t like to do is when I make a decision and wake up the next day thinking, “Damn, I should have gone the other way.” With this decision, I still feel that Matchroom is the best path for me.
The biggest determining factor is the date. I think the first date with Top Rated will be August and the first date with Matchroom is June 17. Obviously I want to fight earlier. If I knew I had to fight in August, I would train all summer. With the fight this June, at least I can fight, and then enjoy time with my kids. My kids are on summer vacation, so I want to enjoy time with them. As a professional boxer, you miss out on a lot of things. I missed my son’s birthday a few times because I got into a fight. You miss out on a lot of things. So if I fight in August, I’ll miss that.
BN: How do you feel when, shortly after signing you, Eddie Hearn described Andy Cruz as the best signing he has ever signed?
I don’t care about it, man. Whatever. I’m not really worried about it. That’s what Eddie said. All I had to do was keep fighting and making progress. I guess he’s excited about the Andy Cruz thing; maybe not excited for me. Whatever. I’ve seen that, but I’m not worried about it, man. That’s what Eddie does; maybe that’s how he feels, but listen, I’m going to go out there and just do what I have to do. So I wish Andy Cruz all the best of luck and the like, but I’m going my own way and I’ll be myself.
BN: Why are you negotiating your own deals and you don’t have a manager, contrary to what usually happens in 2023?
I wouldn’t tell people they don’t need a manager. I just feel that at this stage, I don’t really need a manager. The boxing business is very dirty; it’s so rotten, and it’s really hard to trust people. I can trust myself more than anyone else. Me and the people around me. Sometimes, when you have managers, they treat you as if you worked for them – in fact the opposite. They work for you. I met Eddie in person, instead of letting the manager meet him. I hear everything will go through my manager first, because sometimes the promoter will get off track and tell the manager something completely different or the manager will tell you something completely different. . I figured everything out myself; I made my own decisions. When you have a manager, they can steer you off course. I want the decision to be mine, and mine alone.
BN: How important is it to you to rematch in New Orleans after a five-year absence?
Eddie is a master at what he does. He engulfed me when he told me, “You will fight in New Orleans on June 17 at the Smoothie King Center.” He excited me by telling me that. ESPN told me the same thing but they didn’t tell me everything like Eddie told me. Being able to fight at Smoothie King Center was a big step for me; it’s the basketball arena for our NBA team, the Pelicans. Just fighting in Smoothie King is something special. I won’t really like that until the war is over. As someone who comes from there and actually lives on the streets – you can see me in New Orleans all the time. The last man to fight there, ever since, was Willie Pastrano, our last champion – that was in 1964.
BN: Did Jack Catterall being at Matchroom contribute to your decision?
The last deal we had, we had to fight – it didn’t happen. But yeah, I’m hoping for a Catterall fight. I’m hoping for the big fights. I want big fights; big money fights; that’s what I want. If Jack Catterall is one of them, then yes, of course I will fight Jack too.
BN: How do you feel about him still not having a rematch with Josh Taylor?
It messed up. I definitely think he should get the rematch. He hit him; he dropped him. He did everything the way he should. He was supposed to be the undisputed champion, but you know – that’s boxing for you. But I definitely think he won that fight.
[Beating Catterall is] a way to [secure a rematch with Taylor], but at the same time, I don’t even need to do that. Like, I’m the champion – I’m the only two-time champion in the current league. That would ensure a rematch was right there. It was a big war. He’s still a champion; I’m still a champion. It’s a horrible story – to do it again.
BN: Even so, is Taylor number one at 140 lbs?
I definitely think he’s a good fighter. As far as the best I’ve fought, I don’t know. When I fight him [in 2019] I am a different fighter than I am now. I definitely don’t feel like a warrior at all. Even if I fought him, I definitely fought wrong. I still have the skills and the like, but mentally, I really feel like I should beat him. I can’t say it’s easy, but I definitely feel like I should beat him. When I looked at him, I thought, “There’s no way I’d lose to this guy”. I still really feel like I should have won, but it wasn’t a robbery. He won the war – I would say. But now I’m a completely different monster. I still feel like the best in the department – my confidence has never changed.
When you change coaches [like Taylor has been, from Shane McGuigan, to Ben Davison, to Joe McNally], it shows that you are a weak person. You’re looking for something, you know? However, that’s what belongs to you – not your coach. I don’t agree with that, but hey, it’s all on him.
BN: Who is the best fighter in the division below you?
At 135lbs Shakur [Stevenson’s] the best. It was between Shakur and Gervonta Davis. Shakur hasn’t been pushed out of his comfort zone either. Can Gervonta Davis do it? I do not know. In terms of skill, I think it’s Shakur, but Tank is right there too. They are neck and neck. If those two fight, I want to see what happens when Shakur gets hit, because the “Tank” hits really hard. The tank isn’t just a big puncher; he can really be boxy and smart.
BN: What about Ryan Garcia, who is back at 140 lbs?
Ryan is limited. He can fight to a certain extent, but he is very limited. He’s nimble; he is a boomer. But someone like him starts winning the war and then suddenly the fight starts going the other way – can he go back and adjust? I do not know. I do not think so. He could be a B-rank warrior.
BN: When was the last time the ultralightweight was as good as it is now?
Maybe when it was Floyd [Mayweather], [Ricky] Hatton and Miguel Cotto [in the mid-noughties]. That was probably the last time the part got this hot.
There are many good warriors with a lot of history. It’s definitely really exciting right now. You have a lot of fighters around each other for good fighting.
BN: How many potential political concerns are preventing these wars from being waged?
That’s just the business side of things – that’s just the way it is. But there were too many warriors so they had to fight each other. That’s too many of them. Sometimes you can have two hot names in a division, and it revolves around those two fighters for a long time, but in this division – five or six. Eventually everyone will have to start fighting. That’s what advertisers look at – they just want fights that will make money.
To go back to our first question, about why I signed with Matchroom – Matchroom is allowing me to do my own advertising. So at the same time, I can put some fighters on the card. So when you’re doing that, you’re just looking for the best fights. The wars will make money. Right now, that’s what promoters are looking at. All these guys can make a lot of money, so that’s why they should fight each other.
BN: Subriel Matias, whose previous opponent Maxim Dadashev died a few days after their match in 2019, said he wanted to take you to the hospital…
I want to fight him – that’s all. I want him to keep talking; I want to fight him. I will fight him, and I will take him down. He was already injured – he was stopped by someone less than me. There are people behind him saying so – they want him to say all this. He’s not famous, so they just want a big money fight. That is all. He’s not a big name – he really is nobody. But I will fight him and I will take him down. I will stop him.
Listen, you guys go ahead – say what you want. In the end, we will fight, and I will knock him down. He’s not from Puerto Rico trying to make a name for himself. He was just someone talking – the way they phrased it was stupid. Why would you say something like that, if you really did that to someone you fought with before? That’s definitely a stupid, stupid thing to say. Whoever is behind him is stupid. Hopefully we can fight, and then I can stop him. He was hit with everything.
BN: How tough was this weekend’s fight with Danielito Zorrilla?
I know nothing about my opponent – to be honest. I train equally for everyone. I’m fighting in my own town, so he’ll probably make a lot of money. He will come and he will want to win. But I train hard for every game, so I never take anyone lightly – there’s nothing like it. I will train hard for each match. I’m really not worried about what my opponent is doing, I’m just worried about me.
