The ex-England international also explains how he tried to make the Pope’s guards laugh during a visit to the Vatican, but failed in doing so. 

Question: Did you hear what Gary Lineker had to say about you this week? “Playing with Gazza would drive you mad because he’d never pass you the ball unless he was knackered.” What was it like playing with him? 

A: I just knew I was ahead and I wouldn’t do a one-two with him unless I knew I was gonna get it back. But it was funny, because I remember when we signed Lineker at Spurs. And God, he was fit. He was tanned, not a hair on his body. He was alright and took it well and then a couple of games went by and he didn’t score and I said to the gaffer, “I thought he said he was good!” But I said the wrong thing, the next game he scored four, I think it was against Norwich and he ended up getting the golden boot. Some striker though, his body was like his T-Rex, big legs and little arms. That’s why he never put his hand in his pocket! But he is a great guy. 

On Jamie Vardy’s Future

Q: Jamie Vardy is leaving Leicester at the end of the season after 13 seasons and nearly 200 goals. What a great legacy but what next for him?

A: I’ve seen Jamie Vardy at a few of my shows and I met him and he had a selfie and he sat in the crowd and I said, “Jamie. I’ve gotta see you when you have a day off. You must catch pigeons, you’re that fast!” But his Mrs is fit. So he’s alright. He’s been a brilliant servant to Leicester and when you see him playing, you wouldn’t think he’s that age, but good on him and hopefully he’s thinking about something he wants to get into. Because I remember years when I think I had three years left to play at Newcastle and Kenny Dalglish said, “when you’ve got two or three years left on your contract, you know you’re gonna quit. So think of something that you’re gonna do afterwards.” It’s like Lineker with Match of the Day, he started learning the autocue when he was still playing. But you know, Vardy seems like the type of guy who’s got his head screwed on and I don’t think he has many problems. 

Q: He’s going to carry on playing, just not at Leicester. Do you think he could end up at Rangers? 

A: Possibly. But Rangers is a tough team to play for. They expect you to be winning every game. But I’m sure he’d score some goals up there. Easy, no problem. Especially because he’s still got that pace.

Q: Which career would you want, Vardy’s or Harry Kane’s?

A: I just still can’t understand Harry Kane, but it’s something to do with his Mrs. Why didn’t he go to Real Madrid? That’s a weird move for me. But he might still end up there if he keeps on scoring goals the way he is. There’s plenty of options out there for him. But for Vardy, he should pick somebody that’s been relegated and try and get them a promotion and get a better bonus.

Recalls FA Cup and World Cup Heartbreak and Gary Lineker Story

Q: He says losing to West Germany in that World Cup semi-final is the biggest disappointment of his football career. Would you say losing that match is yours too, or is there something else? 

A: Well for me, I wasn’t bothered with the World Cup. But it was more losing in the FA Cup I cared about. I never got to do the walk up the stairs. Obviously the World Cup, I loved it because I loved training more than playing, because I knew I could do the business on match days. But training, I loved to do it because I used to have so much fun. but Lineker was a funny trainer. I remember doing preseason training with Tottenham and we were all so shocked at how quick Lineker was. 

But we used to run around this pitch in training and Lineker would run one lap then hide behind the tree. So we finished the fifth lap and he joined in the last 100 meters of the fifth. But we’d do shooting practice, most players loved doing shooting practice but Lineker never did it. All he did at the end of training was take three penalties with no goalkeeper whatsoever. And then five-a-side, he’d play as a centre half! But you can’t fault the guy. He’s just a legend, but he’s doing Match of the Day, a bit of golf and then Sports Personality of the Year.

Q: We spoke about who you thought might replace Lineker as Match of the Day presenter. You went for Gareth Southgate didn’t you? 

A: Yeah, I went for Gareth. I thought Gareth, because I haven’t seen that he’s taken any manager’s jobs. I always say now, once you become England manager, you can get a job anywhere. Whether he’s looking or he’s not interested, or he could be sitting in learning that autocue, like Lineker did. He used to do it twice everyday about 10 o’clock at night. 

Advice For Jack Grealish And Famous Rooney Story

Q: Have you heard much from Jack Grealish recently? I saw he might be heading off to Everton next season.. 

A: Oh, Jack’s a good lad. That’s a weird move for him. He should stay at the club he’s at. He got stopped from going to Chelsea. I mean, Everton’s a good club to be fair. It’s a big club, you know? I think it’s just a case of all these players, all these teams now, you’ve got to try and match Man City and Arsenal. You gotta spend money and if you’re not spending money, you got no chance. 

Q: Was Wayne Rooney still around when you were at Everton? 

A: If we had a 3pm kickoff, I’d go down to watch the youth teams at the training ground before. I remember going there and he was a sub, and I think he was 14 or something playing in the U19s. He was only 14. Everton were losing 1-0 and the manager said ‘watch how good he (Rooney) is, I’m gonna put him on.’ God almighty, he scored two unbelievable goals, one from 35 yards out. After the game, I went to the dressing room and these guys were U19s. I said, ‘well, I’ve got 40 quid in my pocket. Anybody going out tonight? You can have it. Rooney said, ‘I am!’ So he still owes me 40 quid plus interest. He’s doing well. Went into management and it just shows us how much he loves his football, some people like to get away from it. It’s a shame I never really got the chance to play with him, but what a credit to the game.  

On British Players In Serie A 

Q: Scott McTominay has broken your record for most goals by a British player in a Serie A season. He’s scored a lot of goals for Napoli. Do you think it was a mistake for United to let him leave? 

A: I think so because look what happened to Paul Pogba. But McTominay might like it up there in Napoli, I’ve been to Napoli when Maradona was there. And that’s a tough town and a tough team to play for because the fans expect to win every game, like Newcastle. But it will be an amazing experience there like it was for me. I mean before I signed for Lazio, I was almost crying watching them train. I said to my dad ‘I’m not f**king doing that!’ He said, ‘well you better get used to it because I’ve already seen a villa I like!’. 

But I loved it and it took me three months to get used to the training and then I broke my ankle and it took us a year to get fit again. But then I started enjoying it and changed they changed their manager. But I did start to like it out there, it was good as well ’cause two weeks before I was leaving, they opened up a Guinness bar. They opened up an Irish bar. And I thought, ‘I might want to stay now!’ 

Q: There’s quite a lot of English players over there in Serie A now? Before it was just you.

A: There was Ian Rush, he just stayed overseas. And then there was Graham Souness who sort of did well. But that was only Incey, myself and Plat, I think I stayed longer. But Plat had some fun becoming the Sampdoria manager. But I know that’s Platty for you.

On Spurs 

Q: Spurs have got Dominic Solanke, haven’t they? He scored a few goals. They’re still in the Europa League..

A: Yeah, he scored a few. Yeah. But they rely a lot on Son. If they win that competition, they get a lot of money. And then spend it, because you make a lot of money from the European Leagues, you know? Spend it wisely on a good couple of players, Because all you gotta do is sign a great unbelievable name.

When I sign for a club, I say, who plays for them? That was funny. I said, “Who’s there before I sign?” And they went, we’ve got Michael Landrup and then I went, yeah, I’m signing. Then when I signed they f**ked off, I thought oh shit, what have I done wrong? I had a chance to play with Brian though. So it was good with Haji and that, ’cause you played with quality players like that. Haji’s son plays for Rangers now. Yeah, he scored not long ago. But my experience over there, I did start enjoying that. Never changed managers. 

On Declan Rice and Marcus Rashford

Q: You said there before Arsenal thriving, they knocked out Real Madrid, and the Champions League. Did you see Rice’s second free kick?

A: That was brilliant. I tell you, it changed my mind, because I watched him. I just said God, he’s a bit like Ray Wilkins. He just did everything sort of exciting. But he’s a tough guy. He never really gives the ball away and he’s got a good engine on him. Yeah, I watched him in the last four games and that, including England. Wow. The guy’s impressed us so much. And those two free kicks. I would’ve been proud of them. I did score a few like that. I think that’s why he scored, the keeper probably thought, ‘oh it’s only Rice’ Just let him hit it. But good on him.

Q: He overshadowed Jude Bellingham in those matches as well, didn’t he?

A: Yeah, he did. I mean, he’s a powerful and strong lad that Rice, really strong. It’s like me, I’ve scored a couple of goals. People say, brilliant, brilliant. It’s not. There’s pressure on him now. You know, because the next game I go to score two or the winner or get man of the match or score a hat trick. That’s it. And if you didn’t, you get like, ‘oh, that must have been a one off’. You put pressure on yourself. And Aston Villa. That’s the best I’ve seen Aston Villa for years and years against PSG. Wow. The performance is brilliant. You see the crowd, obviously they got beaten. The crowd applauds them. Then the next year they got beat, the crowd booing them. It’s like, wow.

Q: You mentioned Aston Villa there, Marcus Rashford has come in and taken Ollie Watkins’ place. I don’t think Ollie Watkins is too happy about that.

A: He’s not. I’ve seen his face on the bench at times. I mean, yeah, the only time I was upset at being a substitute, well, I wasn’t upset at being a substitute, I was at Everton. Because if he was a substitute, he used to get the toffee. I used to grab loads of toffee, put them in my jacket and just eat them. I remember one had 20 odd toffees, the Gaffer was like ‘Gazza, get warmed up’. I’m like, oh f**k. I got on the pitch. I ran five yards, got a stitch. Jesse said, what f**kng happened to you? Wasn’t me. Whose fault was it? The toffee lady. She gave us too many. I think he dropped us probably six games after that.”

On Burnley and Scott Parker

Q: Have you got good memories from your time at Burnley? I see they got promoted.

A: It’s funny ’cause I was signed for Burnley. This was unbelievable. I signed there, first day of training, a couple laps warming up and then Stan Turner said come here, have a cigarette.

He says, you’re not training with them, they’re crap. I went, wow, but I want to train. So obviously he didn’t train us and then come Saturday, he didn’t pick us. I said what’s happening?  He said, you didn’t train all week. I said, you fu**ing told us not to go out and train. And it was another time. He said, look, we’ve got an easy game next week, why don’t we go on holiday for a week, come back and be sound? I went, okay then. Wow. So I went on holiday and I came back. He didn’t pick us on a Saturday, so why you not fucking pick us? Well you’ve been on holiday for a week when he told me to fucking go on holiday for a week. So I thought, yeah, and then left. After training, obviously all the players you’d see all round the country, put the kit down. The players started laughing as I walked down the dressing room, Gazza, where are you going? Wash your kit and dry it and bring it the next morning. I say, you’re fu**ing joking. There was a young kid outside, I gave him like 20 quid to do my kit for us. Bad move. Because he’s obviously a Burnley fan. I never saw that shirt again. I just thought this is enough for me. I decided I was leaving. 

Q: Stan Turner was a Geordie like you though? 

A: He was a tough guy. I knew he was tough, a nice guy as well. But getting beat, he hated it, you know? He showed it in the dressing room. 

Q: Now they’re managed by Scott Parker, you probably played against him when he was with Charlton?

A: He was a tight player, Scott. He’s doing really well. 

Q: Do you think he could be England manager in the future?

A: Yeah, definitely. I mean, you know, just an intelligent guy. Smart guy. Even when he played, he was an intelligent player. He kept everything neat and that. A bit like Rice. He is neat as well, and once again had a good engine on him.

Q: A lot of midfielders are becoming managers now. Jack Wilshire as Norwich now..

A: Oh is he? He’ll just try and emulate other managers. I just laughed at the Man United ones ’cause Fergie’s manager and when you want to become manager, a lot of people go, I’m gonna do what Fergie did and you look at them, line them up. Steve, Bruce, Paul Ince. There’s about eight of them. Gary Neville, eight of them probably would try to be managers and just end up getting sacked. Yeah, I think it’s because it tried to be like what Fergie was and that doesn’t work. You know, Fergie’s Fergie. Mouriniho is Mouriniho. Bobby Robson is Bobby Robson. You don’t emulate. When I was a player I wanted to be the best. I knew I could play and try and be the best player, but as a manager you wanna be the best manager. And I just look at Fergie or Mourinho or Bobby Robson and you just think I’m gonna just copy that so that.

On Future Plans and Vatican Story

Q: How are you doing right now anyway? 

A: Still have plenty of work on and I’ve got a book coming up and a movie deal and documentary. So that would be quite good. Got young people that played me when I was seven. 

Q: If someone made a film about your life, who would play you? 

A: I don’t know. I think there’s a name. Someone was trying. I know. The actor from Sheffield was gonna play us. Tough guy. I can’t remember his name. He was gonna play us. I think Danny Dyer wanted to play us. I mean, it’s okay playing me throughout my career, but who’s gonna play me now? Been to rehab and hospital.

Q. Elton John’s number was in your phone at one point, right?

A. Yeah. We were playing in the youth cup final away in Watford and Elton John said “Well done, son. You played good.” and I couldn’t resist and I started thinking “give us a song then, Elton!”. He ended up leaving me his number. When I wasn’t well a few years ago, he called me and asked me to come and stay with him and his boyfriend in New York. I thought nah I’ll give that a miss. I knew I’d be hitting the drink if I went to New York.

Q. What about when the pope invited you to the Vatican? Did you actually go?

A. Yeah, I went with my dad to get pictures in the house with the Pope. They gave my dad a medal and my dad had his hand out so I asked him what he had his hand out for, and he said “I’m asking them for some money.” My bodyguard was also the Pope’s, and when the Pope was in the hospital on his last legs, I got a call and said to them “you’ll have to wait, I’m training!”. They said you have to take it but I said “I’m not f***ing taking it, who the f**k is it?”. They explained it was the pope and I went “…oh okay!”. I picked up the phone and I said “Oreyt Pope?” So anyway, we got invited to the Vatican and my dad was so excited because he’s Catholic. It was such an experience. We got to go places where many people hadn’t been before. I remember two people were standing there with two big hats on, so obviously from the Vatican. It was all serious, with guns and that. I just stood in front of them making stupid faces, trying to get them to laugh. They would not laugh. 

On Eddie Howe and Newcastle

Q. Eddie Howe was ill with pneumonia recently but he’s out of hospital now which is great news. Should he stay at Newcastle or will they replace him? Is he good enough for them to challenge for the title?

A. When I heard he had that, I thought he’s got a battle on his hands. I think it’ll give him a boost for the end of the season. I think the guy who took over won a few games. He did well for Eddie but I think Eddie was obviously giving some instructions from home. I think Eddie would say Newcastle is a great place to live, you know? And the fans are great too. I remember the time when I lived near Graham Souness. He owned a restaurant at the time. My phone rang and he said “I need a word with you.” so I got ready and made my way down there and he said “how do I win over these fans?”. I just said “f***ing win every game 5-0, see ya later!” and f***ed off!

Miscellaneous  

Q. When fans come up to you today, what kind of memories or moments do they usually bring up—and how does it feel knowing you’ve made such a lasting impact on English football?

A. They always say “Gazza, do you remember that goal against Scotland?” And I’m like… I think so because I f***ing scored the thing. I seem to get pestered more now than I did when I actually played. I think it’s because I used to spend half the day at the training grounds so they couldn’t get near me and Saturday was obviously the games, so they’d only see me afterwards. I was walking around in Bournemouth once. It’s not a really big football town but it’s picking up now. It’s a small place so if Man Utd are playing against them at home and you walk about, you’ve got all the Man Utd fans coming up going “C’mon Gazza, let’s go on the lash” and I’m just like no, no, no. I get pestered a lot. I don’t mind though! It paid my wages, and my holidays… and my divorce!

Q: If you could invite 4 people dead or alive to dinner, who’s it going to be?

A. Well, the dead ones would be easier because they wouldn’t have to eat anything! Ben Fogle would be one, I watch him all the time. He’s a lucky b***ard, going all over the world with the same job. I like Danny Dyer, he’s got such good crack. Robbie Williams. I’ve had a few laughs with him. And then, Liz Hurley. She’s stunning, her. 

Q: You say you hate watching overpaid players that don’t try hard. Who’s the most overpaid player you’ve watched recently?

A. I haven’t seen that many games recently. I generally just don’t like players who don’t put in the effort. I hate seeing midfield players when they have the opportunity to go and attack someone and they just go sideways. I’ve watched England a few times and a couple of top class teams, and they’ve been outside the box and I’m thinking “go on, have a go!” and then the next thing you know, the ball’s back to the goalkeeper. Pickford had more touches than anyone after five minutes. Another thing I don’t like is when they’re running up to take a penalty and they’re stuttering their runs. Just pick your spot, go up and just whack it in! None of this fancy s**t.

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Q: Forest are through to the semi-final of the FA Cup now, are you going to be at Wembley for their match with Man City? 

A: We’re doing well in the top three, third. So yeah, it’s looking good for the forest. Last season we was hanging on to the cliff edge. But now we’re doing alright. And it’s good for the city as well to have a Premier League team who’s bringing money to the city. 

Q: Boxing wise, what’s been going on in the world of boxing?

A: There’s not much been happening. The only things we’re looking forward to really is Eubank Jr and Conor Benn and all the controversy with the egg slap. It was quite funny and entertaining, wasn’t it? And I’m not gonna say it was justified, but you can see why Chris Eubank did it. It was quite a good promotion actually. I had a chat with Conor Benn a couple of weeks ago. How’d that go? Did he get insight into psychology? I did a friendly 12 rounds with him. And it was filmed by DAZN so you can imagine there’s a few parameters. I don’t like parameters. I like to ask the right questions. But I just thought there’s an opportunity to interview Conor Benn, get a different side to him out there, because I think he’s been hard done by after failing a drugs test. He must hate it every time someone brings it up. But he did, and that’s all people are hanging onto. And Chris Eubank Jr has really opened it up and has opened up the wound again. It’s been two years since he’s really been able to fight here and he’s not had a British boxing board control license. He’s had a couple fights stateside, but he has not been able to get going with his career. So hopefully after this Chris Eubank Jr fight, which is happening in a few weeks he can kick on but I’m looking forward to the fight.

There’s not really a great deal happening in the heavyweight scene. Daniel Dubois’ gone very quiet. I went to an awards ceremony in London the other day because I thought I might get interview with Dubois but Eubank Sr was there and I managed to speak to Ricky Hatton and Joe Gallagher, which are too good gets really, but I wanted to get stuck into Dubois. He didn’t even turn up. I was starting to wonder if there was a drug test problem. Maybe he found out, went quiet and then just waiting for some kind of announcement. Why would he go so quite after pulling out of that fight? That was a great fight with Parker and it would’ve been a good win for him if he’d got the win. But where is Daniel Dubois, what’s happening? 

Who will Dubois fight next? I think Parker’s IBF mandatory and I think the big fight’s gonna be Dubois against Usyk. And how is Derek Chisora IBF number one? That would be a dangerous fight against Daniel Dubois, Chisora does not want to be jumping in the ring with him. He would get his head caved in. 

Q: Dillian White pulled out of his fight with a cut finger. He was supposed to be fighting Joe Joyce, wasn’t he?

A: I dunno how serious about boxing Dillian White is anymore. He’s a decent fighter,  had a decent little career. Fought AJ then he got done. Came back, had a couple of close fights. Fought Chisora, had a couple of good wins. He beat Parker. But I just think it’s hard now, getting a bit older, a bit slow, a bit of weight round him. The ambition and desire though, 

I’m not sure about Dillian White. But I like him as a fighter. I think he’s a good addition to the heavyweights. But unless he’s 100% committed and wanting it and got that desire in his head and he really believes in himself. I just think it’s just a plod. But he’s made a few quid and got a bit of money in the bank and sometimes you get a bit of money in the bank, your head goes a little bit. Thinking ‘oh I’ve done it. I’ve done what I need to do.’ You take a backseat, start spending a few quid and then start running out money. Then think you need to fight again. That’s why I feel like he’s not a fully 100% committed boxer. I think the same with Chris Eubank Jr. Fair play to Chris. He knows how to stall things and hang around and do what he’s doing to make maximum money and with his Dad and the name He’ll always be there. And he certainly maximises it with the Conor Benn stuff. 

Q: Joe Joyce vs Filip Hrgovic this weekend…

A: Joe Joyce should retire. Hrgovic will probably punch his head in, but Joe Joyce might just beat him if he doesn’t get chinned. It’s quite an interesting fight. Joe Joyce for me has always been a good fighter in terms of he’s just fit and strong and ruthless. He’s got that ring name the juggernaut and the juggernaut just keeps going, prodding along and he can’t stop. He’s big and heavy and he just walks through f**king walls. And that’s what he’s done. But as soon as he got hurt by Zhilie Zhang, it showed signs of fragility around his chin. His biggest asset was the ability to take a punch and his fitness. And when you start getting hit on the chin and lying down and go to sleep, you say to yourself ‘this is the end’. So he’s about 40. And when he talks, I know he is not the most vibrant sort of enthusiastic talker, but there’s moments in there where you’re saying, ‘hang on a minute, you should be speaking now.’ So what’s going on up there? What’s wrong there? Why are you not talking? And I don’t want to say any boxer has got brain damage. But unfortunately that is potential serious injuries from taking repetitive blows to the head.

And he got knocked out a couple times and hurt badly. And he does get punched in the head a lot. That’s his main F**king attribute. His ability to take a punch. And people say that’s the same about me, but I won a couple of a ABA titles. I won a medal in the world championships. I boxed to a flawless victory against a few fighters over 12 rounds without getting hit. Boxing and moving, slipping to the side. But when I had to. When I knew I was outskilled and outbeat by speed by a (Andre) Dirrell or an Andre Ward or even a Mikkel Kessler who could match me for skill. Then you’ve got to switch it and stand in front of this guy now. And I’ve gotta take one, to give one and I’ll have a fight. Roberto Duran style. Roberto Duran would box and move and be slick on it. I’ve never had his ability, I’m not someone in his category, but people think of Roberto Duran and think of him as a war monger coming forward. Big shots just chin in the air. Swing up. He beat Sugar Ray Leonard. He lost the rematch, but in the first fight, Leonard fought Duran’s fight, stood in the pocket, had a fight with him in the rematch. Leonard kicked on his back foot, did his show, and used his speed and his skills. And talking about Joe Joyce. He’s got one way which involves getting hit in the face a lot. When you can’t take the punch anymore, it’s time to f**king hang the gloves up and take up darts. 

Q: KSI pulled out of his fight with Dillon Danis, did you see that? Or did you get asked to step in? 

A: No I didn’t. But, I was asked to fight Darren Till. And then potentially Tommy Fury. Then potentially build up to the Jake Paul fight. I had no interest. But I’d jump straight in with that f**king w*nker Jake Paul. Oh, I’d jump in with him. That’s what I’d do. I’d train for it and have a look. Because he’s in the gym a lot, he’s quite big. Do you think he’s been juicing? Mate, I don’t know why he’s covered in acne at his age, very suspicious. I don’t know how the drugs testing works in Misfits. But apparently he’s a professional boxer, Fake Paul. But I don’t see how he’s a pro boxer when he’s fighting a 58-year-old Mike Tyson. Now he’s calling out Canelo and Anthony Joshua. I mean, Anton Joshua was not quite what it was a few years ago, but if he hit Jake Paul with a right hand. Jake Paul needs to be careful what he wishes for. 

Q: Bob Arum says, Tyson Fury should never step in the boxing ring again. Walk away from the sport entirely. Same advice from you?  

A: When he retired, I wasn’t sure if it was real. And the longer his retirement goes on, the less likely I think it is that he is gonna come out of retirement at all. If he does come out of retirement, the more dangerous it’ll be. Because he does put weight on. He holds a lot of fat around his love handles and his stomach. He’s not naturally athletic, but he is a big lad. He’s got fast hands and he’s undeniably gifted. He’s got talent. He’s got ability. But he’s had a couple of losses, not bad ones, because Usyk is one of the best to ever do it. I’d like to see him come back against AJ. I’d like to see that fight. I think the fans want to see it too. But it becomes a bit of an insignificant fight after a bit. But still one that would fill Wembley. It’s like who wins and who cares who wins. It’s just one that people want to watch. If one of ’em had a title, if it was for at least one more title, it’d be interesting but they’ve both been beat. Daniel Dubois is going to run the show and you’ve also got Jai Opetaia coming through, and he’s dangerous. So what is AJ and Fury in that generation of heavyweights gonna do now?

Q: Floyd Mayweather reckons Terrence Crawford’s the best pound for pound in the world right now. Agree or disagree? 

A: I mean, it’s hard to argue against that, but you’ve got to put Dmitry Bivol up there too. Canelo could be but he’s been beat now, he’s just the money man. That’s the big face, the big name, the big brand of Mexico. He’s the face of boxing really. But Benavidez deserves his shot against Canelo, and I think Canelo’s now doubling down on not fighting him because he’s pissed off of him for some reason. And I think Canelo won’t fight him because he doesn’t like him and he doesn’t want him to get paid. But Canelo has done a four or five fight deal with Turki Al-Sheikh, so you’d expect Turki to try and arrange that fight. Maybe he’s not big enough. 

Q: Well, Turki said the winner of Eubank Jr and Conor Benn will get shot at Canelo. But what do you think about that?

A: I mean Conor Benn is nowhere near big enough to take on Canelo. I think Eubank Jr could dance with him for a few rounds. Keep out his way. Get in a few counter punches. But the minute Canelo gets in front of Eubank Jr, after round five or six gets him in a corner against a rope, starts unloading big shots Eubank Jr will fall apart and get absolutely battered.

Q: But the payday though? 

A: Payday is important to them. But it depends on what your soul means to you. I’ve never been knocked out in my whole career. I’ve never been beat up on the street, or I’ve never been beat up. I’ve never been stopped. I’ve been knocked down on the floor twice. Got up both times to win. So for me, I don’t know, it’s just like soul and looking in the mirror and saying to yourself, you know what, ‘I’m a f**king warrior and I’m proud.’ 

But if Chris Eubank Jr does beat Conor Benn and then faces Canelo, he’s going to get paid. But he’s also going to get beat up. If you wanna go out on the loss and get battered because you’ve got money in your bank, then fair enough. But sometimes there’s money you’re not gonna spend. And you shouldn’t make money your king, you wanna be happy with yourself.

Q: How does it feel for you to have never been knocked out? Does it give you an invincibility feeling?

A: It feels great mate. I had a wicked career. A really good career. I worked for everything. My coach, Rob McCracken did most of my matching and then to only have one person that’s beat me. There’s only one guy I’ve not beaten and that’s Andre Ward and he’s unbeatable. No one’s ever beat him. No one will beat him. He’s retired. I got beat by Mikkel Kessler, but I done him in the rematch. The first fight was close. I’ve never been sparked out. So for me, it’s like I can walk into any room full of anybody, Hall of Famers and get the respect. I was at events last week and Ryan Garcia came running over to me telling me he loves my channel. Devin Haney came over to me. Then Canelo Alvarez jumped out of his chair. And I introduced him to a good friend of mine, Sonny. And they had a chat for about 10 minutes. And I thought, ‘this is respect’. And it is nice to get that respect from my peers that are in the same business. And I’m not showing up or bragging because anyone can get chinned and knocked out. Especially heavyweights. The big boys can get ironed out. Flattened. Lennox Lewis got done twice. But he came back on the way. But to take fights just for the money when you know you’re going to get spanked is not for me. 

Q. George Groves recently admitted that you hit him with one of the hardest punches. Who was the hardest puncher you faced?

A. I’ve taken some big shots in my career. The guy who knocked out Antonio Tarva and Roy Jones Jr was Glengoffe Johnson. When I fought him, he was past his best, but the last thing to go is your punching power. I think he was forty-one years old when I jumped in with him at Broadwalk Empire in America, and it was about round eight or round nine. It was humid, hot, and I was sweating so much. I was training so hard. I was in the division below the day before weigh in so I was eating loads, drinking loads, getting electrolytes–trying to get my weight back up. I felt a bit flat for that. In that fight, he hit me with a right hand in round seven or eight. He f***ing backed me up to the ropes, came with the right hand and crunched me on the chin. If that wasn’t enough, he lined up another one. The commentary went wild, I was f***ing all over the shop but managed to turn in five or six punches and get on the back foot. He cracked a good shot. My jaw was all f***ed up for about three weeks. It didn’t break my jaw but it did something. I couldn’t bite down for those weeks. I got it scanned but it was fine–just bruised or whatever. But, Mikkel Kessler hit me with a couple of big right hands too. He hit me straight. He punched me on the nose with a right hander, broke my nose, and dazed me. He put me into cloud cuckoo land for a good four, five seconds. I survived the round and got him back.

My nose was quite solid for my career. Because I had a split in my nose, it definitely fractured the thing. When I had my nose fixed when I finished boxing,  the surgeon said there’s a scarring and about six or seven breaks. So he had to break it again and said “I’m sorry about that.” I had the old surgery and all because the new way to fix a nose is to peel the nose off your face so they can see all the anatomy of the nose to file and work away with what they can see. I saw a video on it and thought “I’m not having that done, no chance.” So I had the old school method where the surgeon comes into the room with a hammer, a chisel, and a file. Only three tools. He had this blunt chisel, which he shoved up my nose inside the nostril and, and he went inside from the back end of your nose and broke it. He said “I went up that nostril, smacked the hammer and it didn’t break but it blacked my eye and I couldn’t open it. It made a right mess of my face. He tried to go to the other side and that was no better so my other eye closed. There was nothing else he could do so he went to the top of my nose and hit it, it took around three attempts before my nose shattered. It could then be reset and filed down to make it look a little prettier. It should’ve been on the NHS the amount of tax I’ve bloody paid! All five of my operations have been private because I wanted the best surgeon. I had two surgeons – one was an anatomist who sorted out my septum and removed the adenoids. They had a big job. I think I was under the knife for around four hours. But I can breathe now! And, I look beautiful. Look at that side profile!

Q. Tom Aspinall was talking about Dana White’s boxing league. He reckons it’s dangerous because it’s a less weight division so potentially fighters will have to cut more weight. What’s your thoughts on this?

A. He’s right. I was thinking it’s better to have just a lightweight or featherweight, or a lightweight, or a middleweight and a heavyweight, three or four divisions. Take me for example, I was too big for a middleweight, couldn’t do 11st6lbs and if I did, I was dead. I wasn’t big enough for a light heavyweight under 175lbs. Tony Bellew was light heavyweight for a bit. David Haye was a light heavyweight amateur. So if you are like me, the opportunity to become a world champion is very narrow because you drop down to middle weight, so you’re dead on the scale and after 5 or 6 rounds you’re just exhausted. If you go up to light heavy weight and potentially get ironed out. I’d have had to go up to light heavyweight, and put some more muscle on. But I’d have been a different fighter and then can I take the punches from a big light heavyweight? I took shots at the super middle, who knows if I’d have done well at light heavyweight, I used to spar with light heavyweights all the time. It is just potentially dangerous. That’s the problem. It’s going to be a tough one if they change the divisions and cut out some of the super divisions, like super lightweight, super featherweight, super middleweight. If it happens, it’ll be a slow burn and will take time to build. All the top boys like Ryan Garcia will be like “why am I not fighting in the league?” but if you’ve just got into boxing and you’re building up a career, you’re going to get paid a guaranteed wage, and you’re going to fight guaranteed three, four, maybe six times a year. You are gonna say “well, I’ve got six fights here. I’m gonna win a hundred grand or 200, whatever it is.” Then you’re looking at that saying, “yeah, I’ll have a go at that.” It’s difficult because a lot of the OC fighters don’t get paid mega money. Then look at Conor McGregor, he gets millions. Going back to Tom Aspinall, he’s not getting his chance, is he? He’s meant to fight Jon Jones but Jon’s freezing him out. I don’t want to say he’d lose to Jon Jones but I interviewed Michael Bisping on Froch On Fighting and it’s being said, Tom Aspinall is probably one of the best fighters of all time. I thought, well, he’s not really, he’s an interim heavyweight champ. But just from what he’s seen and what he’s done, he’s saying he’s a strike and he’s big. And I think Aspinall is too big to be against Jon Jones. Jon Jones is getting old but he’s hard as nails. I’ve so much respect for him. Wouldn’t it be great to see someone like that, a f***ing all time great against Aspinall. But we won’t see it. If you’re Tom Aspinall, you are going to be sat back p***ed off about it. The UFC is supposed to be structured so the fights happen–the system isn’t working.

Q. Deontay Wilder is back in action. Do you have any thoughts on this?

A. I don’t know what Deontay Wilder is doing to be honest. Ferocious puncher back in the day. He’s quite tall, spindly and skinny. He’s 15 stone. I stood next to him. He’s tall, but my big brother’s six feet tall. I was looking at Deontay Wilder, sizing him up because sometimes you stand next to people. Like being stood next to Wladimir Klitschko thinking “f***ing hell what are you doing here?” Or standing next to Anthony Joshua and his f***ing arms are as big as your legs. You look at Deontay Wilder, he’s gangly and skinny. His legs are skinny. They don’t generate much power, but he’s got natural technique with that punch power. A bit like Julian Jackson, who was a light middleweight, who used to knock everybody out with a f***ing left hook–just natural raw power. Wayne Alexander fought as a former British light middleweight champion who I used to spar with–power, just natural power. Deontay Wilder’s natural power has gone and at heavyweight if you can’t punch when you’re only 15 stone, your punch power is gone and your punch resistance is gone. You’re getting in the ring knowing you’re getting hell’s f***ing barcode. You’re getting ironed out. Why are you still fighting? It makes you question if he needs the money which is a shame because he’s been involved in some big fights.

Q. What’s your prediction for the Ben Whittaker vs Liam Cameron fight?

A. Looking forward to that. I would expect Ben Whittaker to really focus and knuckle down, honing in on his skillset and all the showboating out of the window. Let’s get beyond that jam and get the job done. I don’t know if he underestimated Liam Cameron before. He would’ve put the work in, and some serious training in. Now he goes into the rear end a bit unsure because he went over that top row, damaging his ankle. We’ve got to accept that he damaged his ankle. He went off in a wheelchair. We’ve never seen any receipts for the injury. No scans or anything to say it was genuine. It looked like he made a way out and got a lot of s**t off the fans. Liam Cameron has now got more notice, he’s going to believe in himself, and he’s going to think, okay, two or three rounds I’m in trouble a bit because of the speed and the skill of Whittaker. But after round four or five, every fighter, including Floyd Mayweather slows down a little bit. It starts to get a bit flat footed and you’ve got to stand in front of your opponent and start f***ing having a fight. That’s why pro boxing is different to amateur boxing. In the amateurs, you can get on terms, jab, move and you can win a gold medal. But when you get in that pro ring, 12, three minute rounds. I think this will be a 10 rounder, that’s half an hour. A half an hour fight is hard and you might be alright the first five or six rounds but it doesn’t matter how fit you are, you’ve got one set of lungs. You get swelling muscles, the oxygen swells up and you get tired. If Ben Whittaker starts to lose that balance step, and Cameron’s coming forward with body shots and getting his head on his chest, you have to dig deep. It’s going to be a great fight and I’m really looking forward to it. I’d say Ben Whittaker is still the favourite but if Liam Cameron comes meaning business and with his heels dug in, this could be an upset for Ben Whittaker. It’s going to be great, especially considering it’s a domestic fight. Ben Whittaker has got himself involved in a little domestic dust up here. He probably doesn’t want to f***ing be in. But if you don’t give him the rematch, everyone’s gonna go s**t out. He is never gonna live it down. He’s got to shut people up now. He’s got to fight and he’s got to do the f***ing business!

Q: Well we were talking earlier, the JFK files, obviously, you know, a legend who was taken out in his prime, but was there more than one shooter?

If anybody believed that a bullet went through the back of his neck, bounced off the dashboard rebounded and went through his f**king head, then they have to go to the mental f**king hospital and have a word with somebody and say I actually believe this, but people do believe strange things when it’s on mainstream media television, the brainwashing box, to get told stuff and to believe the narrative.

For years and years, I’ve had arguments with friends, friends that have actually been to the place where it happened, where John F. Kennedy actually got shot and they’ve said to me, I stood in that building where Lee Harvey Oswald, where the shooter was, and I’ve been up there and I’ve seen the hotel.

It definitely happened. And when you actually. Look at the facts now and look at some of the files that have been released by the CIA. I’m not gonna say I’m an expert, but I’m quite well versed on the subject. ’cause I listen to a podcast called the PBD podcast, Patrick Bet David and a few of his homeboys all sit around and debate.

They’ve looked at the files and there’s no conclusive answer of what actually happened. There’s 80,000 pages. Pages and pages of so much information, so much stuff to go through. 2,200 files. But one thing for sure, they now know there were two shooters.

The story of Lee Harvey Oswald and the fourth story building murder. And the bullet that bounced back and got into the head. That’s a lie. So if they’re lying about that, and then Lee Harvey Oswald got shot in by somebody as he was going to court two days later

It just stinks of an inside job and lies and corruption. But the problem is there’s no conclusive end to this. It was shot by this guy. It was organized by this person in the CIA and this happened and that didn’t happen. And the reason we can’t say that ’cause it was 60 years ago.

And everybody that was involved in that assassination, I call it murder ’cause that’s my opinion, the people that were involved in the murder of JFK – they’ve all died. Nobody, not one person is alive because even if they were in their thirties, they’ll be in their nineties now.

So everybody that anybody that could be held to account has passed on. So the only thing you could do now is draw a conclusion and say, yes, it was an inside job. It’s looking likely that it was an inside job, even though there was no conclusive, categorical reason this happened. We know that that didn’t happen.

We know there wasn’t one bullet. We know it wasn’t Harvey Oswald. We know he was the scapegoat, and then he got killed before he went to trial. But we don’t know exactly what did happen and there’s nobody to bring to account for it. There’s nobody you can say, right. You helped and it’s your fault. ’cause they’re all dead.

The thing it does do, it puts distrust in the establishment, in the system. So now the CIA as an establishment should be brought to account and we said ‘right in this year when, when JFK was shot 60 years ago, this was your establishment with the CIA. So we had to look into it and reform it.

So the public lose trust in authorities. But I think with the use of social media, with the opening up of X and free speech, I think now I think a lot of people are starting to wake up. They’re starting to realize and understand actually we live in a parallel universe of smoke, mirrors and lies and corruption and propaganda, and you put on the mainstream media and they’ll tell you A, B and B, C, and you’re going on a minute, well, A, B, and C don’t f**king work in from what I’ve seen is that the X, Y, Z, that’s total bull**it you expected me to believe when actually, in reality, this is the truth. 

Your Tucker Carlsons, Alex Jones. Jordan Peterson, the clinical psychologist from Canada. Even Joe Rogan does a good podcast, and Patrick Davids, they’re sitting in the middle and they expose the left on the right side, they try and be in the middle. And then try and be  journalists and not take a side.

But all these people like Alex Jones and Tucker Carlson, they’re being canceled. And then people like Andrew Tate and Russell Brand. Yeah. It’s like, why are all these people that have got an opinion – Ben Shapiro, I mean, he is a bit of a different example.

He’s an example of somebody that they’re trying to silence. Like why aren’t these people allowed to have an opinion? 

Q: Well you mentioned Elon Musk there and X and the way he’s kind of using it for his own promotional purposes now. Do you agree with that or do you think he’s taken it too far?

The thing is, you’re always gonna have an alternative side to the argent. And I think that what Elon’s done with Twitter is brilliant. It allows people to speak openly and freely. It’s the first amendment.

The first amendment is free speech. He promoted his product and doing whatever he’s doing for himself. But why not? He’s given everybody else the ability to have an opinion. Yeah. In a world that’s now censored, and monitored. And corrupt. 

Corrupt as well, on so many levels, whether you want to talk about the way that tax is spent in America and in England, the way they push narratives, whether it’s B-L-M, L-G-B-T-Q, the woke agenda, we know as an agenda. ’cause it is in the schools, it’s on the television. It’s in the media massively. Whether you agree or disagree with that opinion, you can see that it’s actually happening.

And the silencing of people like Jordan Peterson. There was a clinical psychologist from Canada, a very, very intelligent man who was now blown up, got massive on his own YouTube and podcast since being canceled, for refusing to use f**king pronouns. 

If I see you as a boy, I’m gonna call you a he. Yeah. You can’t do that. You’ve got to call him they them – he said no. You are telling me I haven’t got the right to free speech. You’ve got a right to be offended. I’ve got a right to speak freely.

If you are offended you are allowed to be offended. But that doesn’t mean that I’m particularly coming for you to offend you. No. ’cause the next person might not be offended. If you’re not being really offensive and shouting and swearing profanities, you can have an opinion on somebody and that opinion should be taken if you see somebody to be respected. If you see somebody’s fat on the bus, and you whisper to your mate. He’s overweight, he’s obese, he eats too much. He takes up three seats. It’s not offensive. You’re not shouting. You fat c*nt, stop eating. That’s out of order. But if you say that geeza over there is fat, he eats too much, watch what you eat, son, ’cause you can end up like that, if you consume more calories than you burn, you’ll get fat. But then the guy behind me hears it. And the guy down there says, ‘But  you can’t say that I’m offended.’

I said, listen, I’m having a proper conversation with my son. Mind your own f**king business. But you can’t say that ’cause he’s offended. So in the left wing snowflake world, you’ve got to keep your mouth shut and not have your opinion in case you offend this prick. Even though you’re not telling the fat c*nt to not eat. I’m being offensive now, I know. But it’s my opinion. Yeah, it happened. It happened very close to me on the bus. I gave my argument and the guy I was defending got away with it. 

But he was with his mate on the bus. I had an opinion, someone behind put a complaint in. Thats why I’m using that as an example. I went in and said, listen, this is what happened.

And this person, he has a right to free speech. That’s his opinion on this fat geezer.  And he is allowed that opinion because he’s got free speech at the minute. You’re still allowed to talk openly and honestly about something. And if you’re not overtly offensive, you’re not shouting profanities.

There’s nothing wrong with that. True. So the person behind you’s got offended. You’re allowed to be offended. The person in front wasn’t offended. Person in front says, yeah, I agree with you, they should go on a diet. On the television, the brainwash box, and the open media. They’ll try and push whatever narrative they wanna push and say, keep your mouth shut. Close it. We don’t wanna wear your opinion because it isn’t aligned with our ideology.

And our ideology is a f**king bad one, especially when they’re telling young men to cut their dick off. I’ve gone too far now, but the only LGBT+ and the gender reassignment surgery on children for me, that pisses me off. It needs to stop.

And the first thing Donald Trump did when he got in, he said, I’m gonna stop that. They are two genders. And anybody who said Donald Trump’s wrong and he’s out of border and he’s not good for America. Needs to give their head a wobble.

Q: What about state SpaceX trying to get to Mars? Do you think that’s possible? Because I know you have your theories about whether we can actually leave the planet. 

Hey, we need a sit down podcast for three hours. We need a spliff. We need Joe Rogan. 

I’m about to answer this about people saying Carl Froch is a Flat Earther. I’m not a Flat Earther. I’ll tell you what I am, I’m very, very skeptical of anything that the government tell us.

And in 1969, they told us that four astronauts stepped foot on the moon in 1969.  But since then, 55 years has gone past or whatever it was. And we’ve still not been back. We’ve still not put man on the moon. And they’ve lost all the data, all the telemetric data that says they went to the moon

It was lost. Everything that they had. It’s conveniently vanished. They’ve lost all the footage. All the pictures. And all the data that tells you the speed that was going, how they broke through the atmosphere, how they got to the moon, how they landed, the shuttle, how they took off. It’s all gone because if they had it, it would be really, really easy to disprove and expose because of the current technology. So if you believe that they went to the moon and came back. And while they were on the moon, they had a conversation on a landline with President Nixon. I can’t get f**king signal in Burton Joyce. In 2025. I get no signal in my phone, and I hang out the top window and face it that way.

Yet he’s having a conversation. What network you on? I’ve changed from EE to O2. It’s a little bit better here. And they put up these big absurd 5G towers everywhere. And there’s no signal. I don’t think the mobile phone signals. They’re for future autonomous vehicles, that’s what they’re for, which will roll out in the next five to 10 years.

That’s what they’re for. They’re not for mobile phones. They’ll tell us now, but they’re not. They’re for other purposes. It’s not even a theory. You can find it on government websites. What a lot of these towers are for autonomous vehicles for the roll out. Autonomous vehicles and future technology for AI. Between five and 10 years, the world would be a totally different place. We’ve got another revolution coming, which is AI.  When I’ve got a problem with any tenants or if I need some legal questions, asking, answering, I just ask Chat GPT and he told me instantly. For free. And I don’t use my lawyer anymore. There’s gonna be so many jobs just going down where you’re not gonna need the people to do this job because you’re just gonna go on your phone.  Open up your eyes

The post Carl Froch Interview: Eubank Jr Isn’t 100% Committed To Boxing appeared first on CasinoBeats.

Full interview below:

Q: How are you feeling, how’s the training going? 

A: I’m feeling good. I haven’t trained boxing though for this fight, just MMA.  I’m in good shape, my weight is really low, so I’m just chilling out, just training, keeping the cardio up, and I’m excited to get out there. 

Q: You look relaxed. When are you flying over to Manchester? You’re still in the States now, right?

A: Yeah, I’m in New York right now. I think Tuesday or Monday, something like that.

I’m not sure. I have to be there by Wednesday, so I think either Monday or Tuesday. The flight kind of sucks, but it’s not too bad. 

Q: Yeah, I saw you said your favorite thing about the UK is the girls. But, what’s your least favorite thing? Because I’m sure you’d rather be having this fight in New York, right?

A: Of course. Somewhere in the States, to be honest. Not that I hate the UK or anything. America is just different, but what do I hate the most? Manchester sucks, but London is cool. 

In Manchester, there was nowhere to go out, there was nothing to do there. But in London we had some fun. It’s kind of like New York a little bit. But Manchester is definitely rough. The food wasn’t too bad, but we went to nice restaurants in London. There’s nothing that I hate too much about the UK, just maybe the scenery isn’t as nice as New York. 

Q: I saw you learning some British slang off Ramzy. How’s that going?

A: That dude’s crazy. I had no idea what the hell he was saying for like 20 minutes. I was just looking at him, but he had a different kind of accent. Usually I can understand everybody, but he was really intense and, like I couldn’t understand anything he was saying, but I was trying to learn some British slang. I say mad c**t and c**t a lot, but I guess that’s more Australian. 

I couldn’t tell if he was f**king with me at one point because he was mumbling. I can usually understand every accent. He was actually a good guy though. It was actually a good interview. But he was asking some stupid questions, but it was alright.

Q: KSI’s forehead seems to get bigger every time I look at it. 

A: I mean yeah, it’s crazy. I’d never seen him in person until the face to face, and I was looking at him and found myself staring at him and how crazy it was. Because it’s not even big it just rounds off at the top. So it’s like a predator. It’s crazy looking. Who’s that old cartoon where the thing has the big brain, Megamind? It’s just so crazy looking. In the face-to-face he was trying to say that he’s bringing big foreheads back in the style and all this s**t, it’s so cheesy. I don’t know when it’s going to drop but it’s so cheesy the way he was talking about it. He was trying to say that he’s gonna bring it back and the people are not gonna go to Turkey anymore for hair transplants. The crazy thing is his head’s so big, but he’s so stupid. His s**t talk was so bad, but it might have been a ruse to not get me too mad where they wouldn’t let us close because he I think he had that pancake thing all day long in his head. So I think he was trying to be really timid all day so that nothing popped off so then they wouldn’t let us get close. But he was really smart with that f**king thing because they checked us before we got on the stage and then when we came off to do the weigh-in and go back in, his bodyguards slipped him the pancake so like they didn’t recheck us and all the f**king stewards went and bought a coffee or something. I didn’t even think about it. But it’s hard because he runs the show and he knows everything that’s happening. So you have to watch out for everything. You can’t trust any of the guys that work there too because they all get paid by him.

Q: You vs Logan generated a staggering 1.3 million PPV buys. Do you think Unfinished Business will beat those numbers?

A: Nah. I think if he would let me promote the way I want to promote and he would promote and do something at least then I think it would. But the way he’s been, I think he doesn’t want to set me off and get into a battle. Like I’ve seen a lot of influencers and even fighters say they don’t ‘want to talk s**t about Dillon because he’s going to go too crazy’ or something like that. So I think he just doesn’t wanna set me off. And then in the contract, there’s so many things that I can’t say, and then it’s so broad that like, I’ll be sued. So it’s just not even worth me getting sued again. So I just have to be super careful and then he’s not going at it, so it’s just stupid. And then Logan is like really on him right now. People don’t believe me and like Andrew Tate even heard about it. He said it in a recent interview, but Logan is super, super mad with him right now. So like something was like him pulling his shares or Logan pulling his, I don’t know, some crazy thing. I don’t really know exactly what’s going on, but he was really pissed off. So like every time DAZN posts me. They end up deleting it. If you go back and look, every time DAZN is posting me and Logan or anything, he says he’s gonna subpoena them, so they delete everything. So it’s f**king bulls**t. It’s because of Logan, and obviously KSI’s in bed with Logan, so they don’t want to piss him off or some stupid s**t.

Q: Are there any boxers that you really took up to and you kind of want to model your boxing technique on, or are you just kind of going your own path?  

A: Definitely, but my goal wasn’t to be a boxer. So this stuff is kind of like, not to copy Conor’s words, but this is like a side job. I grew up watching JiuJitsu and MMA. My favorite boxer is Arturo Gatti. And he’s from the same city, I’m from Jersey City over here, and he was a crazy dude around here. But yeah, I like his style and the way he fought, so I would probably try to fight like him. Or Roberto Duran, someone that, a lot of pressure and forward, you know. 

Q: You said you’re going to stand there and KSI is probably going to, like, jump around doing his little star jump.

A: I hope he stands there and tries to swing on me. I mean, once he gets hit with the first shot, I think it’s going to change a lot of things. He talks a big game, but he’s not confident. I met him before he was even boxing and he was such a nerd and he went to our private school. He acts like he’s so tough. Like he’s gong to see it’s different when you get hit really hard. He hasn’t fought me. In reality he’s only beat Logan like I mean we fought the same guy and I mean he’s fought people who are terrible honestly. Besides Tommy Fury. So like we’re going to see how he is when someone hits him hard. 

Q: Does anybody even know KSI over there in America? 

A: Nah, 100% they don’t know him. Because even when I would go to bars or something like that, no one even knows I’m fighting KSI. They would talk about Tony Ferguson. And when I was fighting Logan, definitely people knew about Logan. But out here, nobody knows KSI and they only knew about him when they found out I was fighting him. So, I told him that in the face off. He said he can’t walk in the streets. I said that nobody even knows who you are. But I guess in UK, he’s kinda big, but mostly only with kids.

Q: Whatever happens in the KSI fight, win or lose, would you be open to an MMA rematch in the octagon?

A: There is a rematch clause. 

Q: Would that be in the octagon? Is there any chance we could have it in there? 

A: Nah. I don’t know if he’ll admit it on camera, but we spoke about it and he said that I’d kill him. There is no point. Which is so crazy to think about, because I could kill him right there if I wanted to. And he was on his best behavior in the face to face because we only had one security each and I could’ve got to him. So he was like apologizing and being really f**king timid. But yeah, it’s so stupid. But yeah they won’t fight MMA. Logan promised me he was gonna fight me in MMA. He never did. It’s just f**ked up that they won’t do it, you know? Like why not? I’m not a boxer, I’m going to box him.

Q: I saw on your Instagram story you were bigging up Conor McGregor and saying he would be the best president of Ireland. Do you think there’s a chance we could see that happen? 

A: 100% I don’t know exactly how the Irish political system works. Is it like the United States? So if he has all the credentials, I think the people will get behind him because he’s standing up for what people are trying to say that the president isn’t saying. I’m not too familiar with Irish politics, obviously, but it seems like he’s saying what all the people are saying and what the president is ignoring. He was the one that was there yesterday and saying all the stuff that everybody else is scared to say. So I would definitely vote for him if I can. I’ve been there a lot of years, so maybe I’ll have citizenship.

Q: Just going back to KSI for a minute, like, you know the rumors that people that are juicing their forehead gets bigger. Do you think there is any truth in that? 

A: 100%, especially the weight that he put on in such a short amount of time. Plus his teammate popping, which I posted. At the press conference, he was like, ‘post it, post it’. And I was like, ‘okay, I’m gonna post it’. Then the guy, and his gym was popped for it. So usually when one of them is doing it, all of them are doing it. And he draws with Logan, who’s no juicer, obviously. It’s been almost a year, and he’s put on some serious size. I mean, not in the legs, but in the upper body and the forehead, the acne on the back. It’s hard to gain, like, kind of like, you know, muscle mass at a certain amount of time. I mean, that s**t can help you though.

Q: We know KSI is an Arsenal fan and we saw you taking the Arsenal shirt and then doing what you did. Did you get any backlash from the Arsenal fans? 

A: They keep telling me to wear a stab vest. I think that’s what they were calling a stab vest. They keep saying they’re going to stab me. I get like at least a thousand messages a day. Like, ‘when you come here, wear a stab vest, we’re going to stab you’.  But over there, no one ever says anything.

No one’s ever too crazy. Even at the press conference. Everybody had my back, even the people in the crowd, that’s his territory. I think he lives in London, I’m not sure. Even after the whole thing happened, everybody was always on my side, all the crowd was on my side. I haven’t run into anybody in London that’s been super hostile. But I guess for Arsenal, you never know. Liverpool’s like the one that beats them all the time. How far is Liverpool from Manchester? It’s pretty close, right?

That’s where Darren Till’s from, right? I’m so mad that he wasn’t at the press conference. I was going to rip him apart. I had some good stuff for him. Apparently, he said he had COVID and he didn’t want to give it to people. I didn’t know COVID was a thing anymore. I think he was just making excuses. And then the guy he’s fighting, I have no idea who the f**k that guy is. He was trying to talk to me or something. He was trying to talk s**t or whatever. I have no idea who that guy was. It looks like Tyron Woodley.

I had no idea who he was though. Apparently he was in the UFC, but I don’t think he was good at all. It’s just Darren Till, just fighting s***ty guys. Like he fought Anthony Taylor and I was fighting him. He offered him an MMA when Tommy Fury pulled out, they offered him the fight in MMA. He said that he has such a bad knee injury from the UFC that he’s scared that I’ll leg lock him and hurt him again. So that’s why he didn’t want to. 

Q: Can you give us any words of advice for someone struggling with an injury and trying to bounce back from that? 

A: To be honest, I didn’t do too well with it because I got into a bad state a couple times. But mine was like back to back because like the first one failed, so I had to get it over again. So the first one was nine months, the second one was nine months, and then it was a mess, mentally. I think you just have to stay strong, and I think that, at the time, when you see nine months ahead of you, you kind of can’t really grab it.

It just seems so f**king far away that you’re like, ‘man, nine months?’ It feels like forever. So you’re sitting and then you’re stuck in one position, you’re sitting in bed, you’re not doing anything, and then once you get up on the crutches, I was going around to f**king bars and clubs and crutches and like knocking people out with my crutches.

It was really bad. And I got into that altercation with that bouncer. I was on crutches. I fought eight guys, and a bad dude f**king jumped on my back on the crutches of my knee,  probably messed up my knee. I was being stupid, but it is what it is. You know, I’ve never been through something like that. So it was hard to deal with, and the drinking and the medication they’re giving you. It just got into a whole mess, but it is what it is. Now my knee is fine and I’m back into it. 

Q: It must feel amazing coming out the other side and feeling all that’s behind you and now just looking forward

A: Yeah, in a sense it feels good because I’m like, ‘oh, I want to fight MMA. I want to go back to what I love’, and then they keep f**king throwing these stupid boxing matches at me. So it is annoying. I hate not using my best attribute that I trained since I was a kid. Put any of these great grapplers in the UFC in a boxing match, they would get destroyed. So I think it is what it is.  

Q: It must be tough to not look ahead too far to the Tony Ferguson match?

A: I’m so excited for it. I can’t wait to roast him too. I can’t wait. I want to get a face-to-face with him or like a phone call. That’s going to be a fun one. Because he actually knows how to talk and promote the fight.  KSI has been terrible at this. Logan was way better. Way better. How much time did they give me pay per view? They didn’t give me pay per view the last time. Now they gave me pay per view and now he’s not f**king doing anything. So, yeah, it f**king sucks. But what you gonna do. 

Q: Your transition to BJJ has been discussed widely. Like how do you integrate grappling into your overall strategy during a fight?

A: MMA? I think it’s the same thing. Marcel told me that when I was about to fight MMA, don’t think about it too much. You can do the same moves in MMA. You just have to believe in them. So I think it’s the same thing. You should have to be careful with the punches, obviously, but you know, all the same techniques work and most of these guys are not even close to my level. I’ve been training with punches since I was young, so I’m used to being able to defend. After Tony, we’re going to keep going and then get to the UFC and get that belt. 

Q: So post Ferguson, the plan is to approach the UFC? Have you got any particular opponents in mind, or are you just going to see what the UFC suggests?

A: So many easy ones. I think give me a warm up fight. I would go in, I mean, they would have to be a big fight because they’re going to make so much money off the pay per view. Right now they’re lacking pay per view sales and stars. Depends if I do 170 or 155, but like an easy fight, like Leon or something like that that would be an easy one. Who else is there? Um, I don’t know, uh, 170  would be a good warm fight. Kevin Holland’s terrible. I don’t know if he’s in 170 anymore. Joaquin Buckley, Colvin Covington, they’re all terrible. Colby would be a good one. Yeah, I don’t think he would fight me, though. He knows I would tap him. We were supposed to do a grappling match a couple of times, he didn’t want to do it, and then we were supposed to grapple for one of Trump’s things, and he didn’t want to do it, so he knows I would submit him. He’s kind of just riding off and just taking easy fights now. 

Q: I spoke to Ian Garry and he was saying how Colby is just kind of off the radar now really?

A: I’d like to fight Ian Garry, that would be a good one, too. I went after him before, so he hates me pretty good too. He’s terrible at talking, he’s terrible at promoting and then like turning off his comments on Instagram. He can’t do that when you’re in this game, if you’re on a talk show, you’re not able to take it back. I held back on him too, because of the Irish thing and his connection to Ireland, and I didn’t go too hard on him. So he’s lucky, but if we ever fought, I would unleash some stuff that I have on him that is pretty bad. 

Q: Maybe that’s why he’s just keeping a low profile?

A: He did have a good fight, though, against Shavkat, I was impressed by him. I actually did not even think he would be able to stay in there with him. But he did a really good job taking the back. His jiu jitsu looked really good. 

Q: Have you got any thoughts about who you’re going to have in your corner for this KSI fight?

Q: Yeah, I’m not sure yet, but there might be some special appearances by some of my friends. So it should be exciting. Okay, so it’ll be one of those ones you have to tune in to find out? I always bring the chaos and the fun stuff. Will it be Elle Brooke? Elle Brooke, Lily Phillips, and Bonnie Blue. That’s the crew you guys, you guys got over there! You know what I’m talking about, right? The triple threat.

Q: As someone with a strong online presence, how do you balance your persona on social-media and your identity as a professional fighter?

A: I just kind of learned to just ride the wave. Whatever people say they’re going to say. So it doesn’t really matter to me. When I was younger, it kind of bothered me, but now if people are talking, it’s good. But I just be myself. I say what I feel and I do what I feel and made a lot of mistakes. It is what it is but no one really knows the real me. The most asked question to my friends is like ‘Is Dillon really an asshole?’ or people say I’m scared to meet him or something like that. 

So people think I’m like that in the gym or I’m like that around my kid or around my family or around people that I love or my friends. If you meet anybody that’s going to help me I’ll buy fans like thousands of shots and do everything and take care of everybody and give people money. So I’m actually a really loving person but when it comes to fighting and combat, when someone’s trying to kill you in a ring or a cage, I think it becomes a different story. 

That’s the thing about me, I will talk about anything, I don’t really give a s**t and I don’t care about the backlash either, so it doesn’t matter to me. I mean, I’m an open book and I say how I feel and people hate it or they love it. Like the thing with Ariel, did really good numbers because it was just me being me, just talking about whatever it is. 

Q: So it must frustrate you when you’re feeling censored? You tweeted on March 14th, do I say f**k it and just let everything out?

A: It is actually frustrating but once you go through a lawsuit, you kind of don’t want to f**king play that game anymore. I don’t know if you’ve ever been sued, but it’s a f**king pain in the f**king ass, man. That sucks. And then I’m like, if I do this, I lose the fight and the people think I’m going to do it on purpose. It’s just annoying, because I want to build this fight up. I want it to be fun. That makes it fun for me, you know, because at the end of the day what am I fighting KSI for? I mean it’s money. I’m not like doing it for my accolades. I’m not going to go on my deathbed and tell my kid hey, I beat KSI in a boxing match. 

I want the real deal opponents like Tony Ferguson, a former world champion. One of the best fighters ever a UFC Hall of Famer, that matters to me. So with these fights you kind of have to build them up and make it fun and so it’s f***ing stupid that there’s quite all these stipulations on me and him not promoting so it’s kind of boring in a sense. It’s like why am I doing this?

Q: It’s your first day stepping into the gym – talk us through, what were the feelings and emotions, what was the goal?

A: So how I started training was after I got into a street fight. I was in middle school and I got into a big fight and I beat the kid. And then the kid was popular so all his friends wanted to beat me up. And back then it used to be like a long distance to get to the school bus and all his friends would try to jump me before I got to the bus. So I was like, man, I have to f**king learn how to fight. Then I saw a magazine that had an ad for an MMA gym and I just went in and then I got my ass whooped in jiu jitsu!

But I’m so competitive that it was like, I have to come back and keep coming back. I don’t know if I would remember certain details, but I do remember getting beaten up and being like, oh s**t, I need to learn this. I’m super competitive. So obviously once you go in there and you feel like a f**king fish outta water, you know? It changes you. It fixes your ego up and seeing well how easily, like a little Indian guy can f**king choke you out 5,000 times and you’ll be like, what the f**k is this? I wasn’t the biggest kid, so I wasn’t like a big jock or anything like that. But it opens your mind into like, oh s**t, I could learn how to do this. And then training every day, twice a day, three times a day, missing school. And then it just turned into this, you know? 

At Crowns gym they have cold plunges, red light therapy and saunas. Do you use any of those techniques to recover after your training and fights? 

A: I do like the sauna. I use the sauna almost every day but I hate cold plunge. I can’t do it. I’m a pussy. I don’t know why, I just hate it. I do like the Normatec boots and stuff like that. I don’t do too much recovery. I’m just pretty old school, hard work and just f**king keep pushing, you know, grinding. 

How do you mentally push through days when training feels impossible? Has there been any days where training for this KSI fight has been a drag?

A: Yeah I mean, it’s tough when you go into a f**king boxing gym and you get these boxers and they’re moving around and they’re acting like they’re the s**t and you’re like, man I could just take you down and f**king choke you out in 20 seconds. It is what it is you know, I guess it’s good to humble you or your ego and put that s**t aside and just be like, okay I’m learning. But it is tough though, because a lot of these boxing gyms, they guys walk around with a big ego, and they think they’re the s**t, and I’m like I just want to f**king kick you once or something like that, you know? 

If they start getting too crazy on the hands, I’ll just do a double leg kick and then they’ll be like what the f**k? That’s the only thing that kind of gets a little bit frustrating, is you’re doing so much boxing when I love grappling. I love a real fight. I told KSI that too. I was like dude me and you are going to do a street fight with no gloves on and then we’ll see what’s up.

Q: We’ve seen a lot of social media influencers have a go at boxing, but do you think anyone could go and do MMA? 

A: It depends on the competition they face but a guy like Terrence Crawford, who has a wrestling background. He could probably do it but it’s so hard to learn Jiu Jitsu. There’s a reason they don’t have any influencer MMA and KSI or Logan Paul don’t do MMAs because it’s so hard to learn Jiu Jitsu. It takes so many years of practice and mental, it’s like chess whereas boxing is more like, I would say less than checkers, because you’ve only got four punches. So it’s just easier to learn. A big strong guy could throw punches, but on the ground, it’s a lot different when you have to learn every single way to put your arm and every single technique and it’s just so much more to it. There’s so many elements to it. 

The post Dillon Danis: KSI Is Juicing & Admitted I Would KILL Him In An MMA Fight appeared first on CasinoBeats.

Q: Paul Pogba’s ban has now expired. Do you think United could be tempted to bring him back as someone who could show Kobbie Mainoo how to progress?

A: If you look at Pogba, he’s been a great player. When he was at United, there were a lot of people saying things about him as a player and what he needed to do and what he didn’t do, et cetera – that comes with playing for United a little bit,  if you play for one of the biggest clubs in the world.  I’ve seen clips from when Pogba played at United with that team, and I can tell you, he played some very good football. He’s been amazing on the ball, his quality and what he can do, he could really make a difference as well. So I wouldn’t be surprised if a club like United is tempted to ask him if he would like to join for a while. I mean there’s always the question of if he can deliver or not, if he can still produce or whatever, you know, but he’s got so much experience. He has so much quality, and that’s what we need. Well, that’s what they need in Manchester, of course, in the team as well.

Q: Who do you think has been United’s player of the season so far? Is it hard to look past Bruno Fernandes? 

A: That’s got to be Bruno and maybe Harry Maguire. I think if you look at Bruno, without a doubt if somebody needs to score or can score, then he’s the one who can do it. He can create as well. We’ve seen that yesterday, he’s involved in the most important things during the games. There’s a lot of things that we can say about him in his leadership or whatever, but he is consistent in terms of being important, scoring, creating, he is taking the team by the hand and saying, ‘okay, we need to step up, or we need to do different things’.

If you look at Maguire, he had a very rough, difficult time at United – not being picked by managers, on the bench. But every time he played the majority of games, he’s been very consistent in his performances and very important for the club as well. You can only praise him for staying at the club through this difficult time, and then every time, coming on and being important and even scoring important goals at times that win games. So these two are, for now, probably the main players in that team that need to make that next step.

Q: A word for Noussair Mazraoui as well. He’s been asked to play different roles. 

Yeah, that’s true. We forgot about him. And to be honest, in the beginning when he joined United, we weren’t sure about how it was gonna work out for him in the Premier League, the intensity of the Premier League, the physicality and everything. But he’s been doing an exceptional job. And not only because he played on, for instance, the wingback, but he played at the center back, he played in the midfield at times. He played on the left. He played on the right.  So it’s been amazing how versatile he is and in every position he can be very important. So praise to him. It’s a shame that he didn’t score yesterday. 

Q: How well do you feel Matthijs De Ligt has adapted well to the Premier League or did you expect more from him?

A: Well I think Matthijs has been used to playing in the four. Maybe at Juventus he played with three at the back at times as well. So he has experience in playing with four at the back. He’s also got the experience of playing five at the back as well, which is good for him. That can help Amorim as well when he’s making his team choices. It’s easier if you work with players who are familiar with the system that you’re playing as well. Matthijs is not the youngest anymore. We can’t call him a talent anymore, can we? Because it looks like he’s young, but he’s already  25.

So he needs to be one of the players that carries the team or is helping to carry the team to be very important. And you can see in the beginning that he needed to find his way a little bit at United, but also in the Premier League. But I think he’s getting more and more confident in his role that he needs to play. I think he’s a good defender. I think he’s a good centre back. For every centre back it’s also very important that you have the players around you as well, that help you out in certain situations. And for now it looks like judging United that we are sometimes focusing on one player and then saying he’s good or he’s not good. Well, it’s the team that needs to help each other to be better as a player, as an individual as well. And I think Matthijs is a good player and I think with the right players around him, he can be a very good player and a very important player for United.

Q: United spent big money on Lenny Yoro in the summer. Do you see any similarities in his game to yours? And how can you see his career progressing at Old Trafford? 

A: You can see physically that he is very good. He’s quite tall. He moves well, he’s energetic and he’s quick. I think he’s difficult to beat in a 1v1 situation as well with big spaces that he needs to cover. He’s still a young player, so he needs to develop, he needs to get better. For him from what I’ve seen, if he needs to do the buildup and he gets the ball at his feet and then he needs to carry that ball further up the pitch and he needs to find a solution, he needs to make better choices at times as well. But then again, the midfield players, are they willing to get in certain positions so he can deliver them that ball as well? That makes it easier as well because in the beginning of the game you can see when he has that ball and he’s driving forward that eventually nobody is asking for the ball. And then it is difficult for a centre back to find the right solution as well. And that doesn’t make it easier for a centre back especially for a young guy like he is. But he’s got a lot of potential and with the right manager and with the right people around him including the technical staff. They are all for sure willing to help him out, to make him a better player and the players around him as well, because he’s got a lot of potential I think.

Q: Before the Arsenal game there were big protests from the fans about the club ownership, demanding that the club be sold. There’s been rumours as well about Kobbie Mainoo, that they would be willing to sell him. Do you think, if the club failed to qualify for the Champions League again next year, they’ll be forced to sell some of the younger players like Garnacho and Kobe Mainoo? 

A: Well, to be honest, I cannot understand that. If you have these players in your squad and they come through the academy, because I think the Academy for United, it’s massively important. A lot of good players came from the academy. They made that step from the academy to the first team and then developed and they’re very important for the club. So I cannot understand, as owners, that you want to sell very young players. And I’m not saying that they want to, but it’s been in the papers and I’ve read about it as well – but if you look at Kobe and the potential that he has, he can become a very big player.

So it would be a shame to see him go somewhere else and then develop over there and be very important for a different club in the world somewhere. That’s a thing that United don’t want to have. Same with Garncho, he’s already shown signs of being very important. He can still develop. You don’t want to sell these players and then them going somewhere else and making it difficult for yourself. Then you as a club need to search for players who’ve got more or less the same attributes and qualities that these players have that left the club. You don’t want to do that.

Q: After the game, you and Peter Schmeichel were talking about goalkeepers, predominantly about David Raya. Andre Onana was brought in by Erik ten Hag because his kicking was supposed to be better than David de Gea, but yesterday he kicked four balls straight into touch and the Arsenal fans were getting on his back and pressuring him. Do you think United need to look for a replacement goalkeeper in the summer or do you think they will persist with Andre Onana?

A: I think they’re going to get some competition in for him, and I think that’s what you need as well. You need to have goalkeepers who are very competitive. If I look at Andre yesterday, then he looks a bit insecure in how he plays now. I’ve seen him play very good games as well, and I know, because I’ve worked with him at Ajax when he just came to Holland. And when I did the under 23s, he joined my team a lot of times because he wasn’t ready yet for the first team. I know how he is as a person. He is a very humble person. He’s very open for comments and willing to learn and he’s making that progress. Mentally he’s strong. But sometimes it is difficult in certain situations because it depends on what the manager wants. Ten Hag wants him to play out. Ten Hag wanted him to be confident on the ball to keep that ball, to distribute it, to dribble forward, out of the box at times as well and then give that pass.

Now it seems like he needs to kick it long a lot quicker. He’s not as much involved in the buildup play like he was before, maybe that makes him more insecure as well. As a goalkeeper, it’s very important if you have that ball on your feet, that the defenders are set up in a way, that you can always play that ball into them, and the mid two players as well. For the whole game yesterday, that wasn’t really the issue because they tried it in the beginning of the game. After 15 or 20 minutes, they changed it. They went for these long balls that you said as well, and they meant to play that ball to one part of the pitch and then try to win that header and flick it on maybe, and then a couple of balls went out of the pitch. 

So yeah, that makes him not confident at all at that time. But I still think that Andre is a very good goalkeeper. I still think he’s got great reactions and everything, he still maybe needs to learn or needs to make other decisions at times as well. But that’s the same for every goalkeeper at this level. He’s a bit stubborn which is good. Sometimes you need that. Pete [Schmeichel] was that when he was younger and he still is now. So, you need to be confident of your own thing, what you can do and what you need to do. Of course you need to be open for criticism at times. And I think Andre he’s always done that. You know, he is always open for a discussion and how you need to perform at times.

I think he’s a good goalkeeper, but if you’re playing in a team without confidence, for a goalkeeper, it’s very tough. You know that if you’re a goalkeeper and you’re making a mistake, the ball ends up in the back of the net and then it’s your fault most of the time. So that doesn’t make it easier for a goalkeeper, it’s hard. But it doesn’t make it easier to play games in a team that is underperforming at times. 

Q: Which Man Utd player from your time at the club would most benefit this current team?

I would go for two and they would be Roy Keane and Paul Scholes. You think midfield is where the current team is struggling the most? Yeah. I think so because you need to have players in the system and how they’re playing now, especially in the two holding positions. You need to have players who’ve got quality on the ball, who can be creative, and that’s what you have with Scholes. You need to have players who can run up and down the pitch, they need to press, they need to be able to tackle. Well both of them can do that. Keane is a very good passer of the ball as well. He always wanted to have it in certain positions. And they’ve got leadership. So they can tell the other players around them as well what to do in certain situations and what to do to perform better. And I think that’s what this team needs to get better results. Maybe with Kobbie Mainoo he can be one of them that can learn and grow but all these young players, they also need to have experienced players next to them that can help them forward. That’s what makes it difficult in this team as well. Because there’s quite a few young players and every other more or less experienced player, sometimes he’s struggling and might be thinking about his own position at times too.

Q: There is talk that Man Utd are considering a £40m bid for Jean-Philippe Mateta from Crystal Palace. Do you think he would be a good signing?

Yeah, he fits in in the system because I think at Palace they play with three at the back as well.

So that’s, that’s why he could fit in that system. He also depends on the balls that he gets. It looks like at Palace, they’re a bit more focused on him at times as well in giving him these balls in there as well. So he can be very decisive in his finishing as well. I can see why they might talk about that.  On the other hand I need to say is the player, the number nine that is going to bring United back to the highest level? Yeah, that’s a big question mark for myself. It’s tough to see United fans getting excited by that signing really, isn’t it? Yeah, it is true. You know, with all due respect for him, he is doing very well for Palace scoring important goals. You can say, same about Chris Wood, maybe for Nottingham Forest, he’s been scoring goals and he could fit in that system as well. But see, he also likes deep play but is he the player to take United to the next level? That’s the big question mark for myself. 

Q: How would you assess Ruben Amorim overall after his first 26 games in charge?

It’s been difficult for him, because from what I’ve read and heard, he’s more or less being pushed into taking the job instead of waiting till the end of the season. Stepping in now and then you can understand that as a young manager you want to take the opportunity and do that. But he knows as well that he took charge of a team that played in a totally different way that he wants to play. So he knew that he probably didn’t have the players to do that, or maybe thought, okay, maybe these players can do it but eventually seeing in training sessions and during games that they find it very hard to do so. Then you get the results that they had now that means that they’re not good enough yet to make that progress that he wants to see. Then you get a lot of discussions, of course, as well, about the amount of games that he’s lost as well. You need to give him time to bring in his own players that he needs, and then you can really judge him on how he’s doing.

Q: More immediately, United have the second leg of their Europa League tie against Sociedad on Thursday. How do you think you’ll approach that and do you predict that they will progress?

I think they can beat them. Sociedad has a good team, a nice team as well. But I still think that United has got better players, so I still think they can beat Sociedad. The main focus needs to be on the Europa League as well because if they make it to the final and if they win it, then we all know what’s going to happen then where they are. So that’s why it’s so important for them to focus on this game and to get a result out of it, to get to the next round. I’m sure that they’re, they’re doing everything they can, you know, to get the focus in there. 

Q: Rangers are currently looking for a new manager since Philippe Clement departed and you were recently quoted as saying you would love to manage the club. Have you put your name forward?

No, no, no, no. I haven’t put my name forward. No. Hopefully somewhere there in the UK they still know that I want to go maybe in management. Rangers is a great club and Scotland is a beautiful country. Great league, not a big league, but a great league. Celtic and Rangers are two absolute top teams. So it’s always nice if you can work for one of these clubs. Rangers have a history with a lot of Dutch players and managers as well. Dick Advocaat was my manager at PSV and then he went to Rangers at that time as well. The same season that I went to United and then Advocaat asked me to join Rangers at that time as well. And then I said sorry, I’ve got a different club now where I’m going to go. I think maybe he wasn’t too happy about that, you know, so I had the opportunity as well to go to them.

And then the year before or a couple of years before I had the opportunity to go to Celtic. They were interested. But these are clubs that, because of the history it makes it interesting to work for them because they have something within their DNA that they always wanna make progress. They always want to do well in their league, but also in Europe. And that makes it attractive for a lot of managers. 

Q: Could you see Steven Gerrard getting another go in the Ibrox hot seat?

Sometimes it’s good to bring somebody back in that knows the club. That maybe knows a part of the players or people who are working within the club. I think he’s well respected with probably a lot of people over there and fans as well. So that could be a reason why to bring him back eventually and then, and then maybe see next season how well it’s worked out and, and if they need to keep on going with them. But picking somebody else with totally different ideas again or new ideas makes it hard within the season. So sometimes that’s why it’s better sometimes to take somebody else already known. For instance like David Moyes at Everton. He knows the club, he knows the people, the fans. He knows them very well and he’s been doing very well. So that could be an idea. 

Q: Dai Yongge’s ownership of Reading seems to be finally almost at an end. Has it been painful watching the club’s decline since you left?

To be honest I can say that I loved the club when I worked there and I still follow them very much because I had a great time working over there. I got the opportunity to work over there to work in the championship which is a great competition. Reading was a great club for myself and my family as well. We enjoyed working over there with the players and we had success. We turned things around over there and then unfortunately okay, you don’t make it to the Premier League, which was a shame. Then you go into a second season like you’re saying. And already months before you talk about what you need to do or what people need to bring in again to do the same thing or, or get close to doing the same thing. And then, you know, it’s difficult for the owners as well to bring certain players in to make that next step. But then you can’t make it. 

Towards the end of the season, we talked about it and then we came to the conclusion that it was better for us to part ways. And that’s how the decision was made, we made it together. I feel sorry that it went with the club and that they went all the way down to League One because I think it’s a great club and that they have great fans. The area where the club is it’s great as well and I really think that with this club, you could make something beautiful out of it. But that’s not what happened and then I think that’s a shame because I said, you know, there’s a lot of times when we spoke about it, when we see them play and things were not going well, they said would you like to go back? I said, yeah if the opportunity was ever there, I would love to go back and work for them again if they would have me. But we all know how it works in football. I really enjoyed working for them. 

In terms of your career, if you could narrow it down to the best defender that you ever played alongside, who would you, who would you go for?  

At Manchester United of course, I played with Ronny Johnson and we had a great partnership together. Without talking, we knew what we were going to do and what the other one was going to do and that’s what you need, telepathy. Coaching is important, but you also need to have that feeling with each other. In Italy I played with Nesta and I played with Maldini as a pair, as a center back, and as a fullback as well and Cafu on the right as well. So we had a great team, and a great defense over there as well. But even if you look at United, Gary Neville and Dennis Irwin, they were world class as well so it’s difficult to pick one.

But if I need to pick one, he’s got quality but also because of what he’s done from a young age all the way till the end of his career, that’s Paolo Maldini. He started very young in the first team of AC Milan and then the career that he had. Even through all these years that all the players that he played with and how humble he stayed as a player. It’s good to see that these professionals are also very good human beings and that’s been for me, a privilege to play with as well. What a career.

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Q: Tony, you were out in Belfast. It was a hugely dramatic night. Lewis Crocker was awarded the win after Paddy Donovan was disqualified by the referee Marcus McDonnell. It was intense, lots of so called headbutts, but not really in your view were they? 

Tony Bellew: Listen, I thought they were coming together. I thought both were to blame at times. I thought Paddy a little bit more blame could have been placed on him, but he’s the guy pushing Lewis Crocker back all the time. And Lewis Crocker is a fighter who comes forward non stop. He’s like fighting against a brick wall. And you just can’t get him to go back. So when you’re pushing him, his body stays static and still. And when you’re an immovable object, your body leans in and as he was leaning in with the push, his head was coming together, but Crocker’s also there with the head.

So it’s a coming together of both. And the crazy part about it is Marcus Macdonald, the referee on the night, says neither of the cuts that Lewis Crocker received were from headbutts. He said they were from punches. So it just lets you know that what are you seeing? What are you doing? And then after that I think if we get into round eight or nine, whichever round it was. Paddy Donovan’s on top. He drops Lewis Crocker and then fair play to Crocker. He comes out fighting. He really let the right hand go. After getting up from that knockdown, he lets his hands go, lands a huge right hand on Paddy Donovan, but then he’s hit again and the bell goes. And as the bell goes, without a shadow of a doubt, Paddy Donovan is in the midst of an exchange and lands a punch after the bell. I’d say it’s a second after the bell and he’s throwing shots before that bell goes. And if anything, it’s poor by the referee. And I’m sorry to say it because I don’t want to be calling out anyone on the job or calling out referees especially but Marcus McDonald was found wanting. He should have been in the midst of it when that exchange was taking place all night. When it came to the end of the rounds, it’s a close fight and it’s a really hard fight. Both these fighters are unbeaten. They’re trying to win the round. Every round means something in these kinds of fights. You’ve got to get it over the line and you want to have the last say. And to land the punch, a smidgen after the bell and to be disqualified and thrown out. Yes. Okay. People are going to say he had two warnings. He was headbutting. He weren’t headbutting. Let’s be clear. He wasn’t directly clearly headbutting. It’s just a coming together. Both fighters are culpable to be honest. I’ll take it on the chin and say Paddy was a little bit more culpable  than Crocker, but ultimately the both of them were coming at it. Marcus MacDonald makes that decision. For me, he’s made it off the cuff. He’s panicked. 

Q: If you’re in Paddy’s shoes though, you’ve had two warnings, you need to keep that in mind.. You’re treading a fine line. 

Tony Bellew: You do, but it’s not the head that comes in. So he’s on one final warning for the head, but getting into an exchange in the final punch of the round, he’s trying to win the round. All fighters want to win the last 10, 15, 20 seconds of the round. It’s a big, big thing. And because he dropped Crocker, he knew he was on the verge again and he was on the verge of stopping him, the right hook lands. And I feel for Paddy and I really feel for Lewis Crocker as well. I’m not gonna lie, I feel for him. ’cause he showed such bravery, people saying he was looking for a way out. I don’t agree with that.

I don’t agree with that. So Lewis Crocker was a warrior. He stood there, he took it. And let me make no mistake. He was losing this fight. He was on the verge of being stopped. And I think Marcus McDonald made the knee jerk reaction to the punch off the bell. Why doesn’t he just stop the boxing, just stop the time? Because you have to look at it, if he gets hit with a low blow there, there’s no way he’s disqualifying him. What he does is he gives you the five minutes to recover and if you give someone five minutes to recover you calm the whole thing down. Because they were having many little riots in the stadium. It was nuts. And this is just passionate fans. The Irish are some of the best fans in the world. It’s just people having a couple of drinks and getting a little bit ahead of themselves. But ultimately Marcus MacDonald lit the paper. And he set it off, mate. And it was a knee jerk reaction. But he just threw him out. He disqualified him. He’s an experienced ref, isn’t he? Like, it’s not out of his depth. No. He’s been in big fights before. And I just think it was a knee jerk reaction decision. And referees can never do that. They have to be able to slow down. It’s a skilled art being a referee. And you’ve got to be able to slow things down in time. And then make the correct decision. And by Marcus Macdonald giving Lewis Crocker five minutes, giving him some time.He goes to his corner. Paddy Donovan goes to a musical, and he can’t go to his corner and gain the advantage. But two of them, everything gets slowed down. Everything gets looked at properly. And then in that five minutes, he might tell him that it was wrong and he’s disqualified. But he’s got to give himself the time. Give himself the time to assess it. Analyse it. Maybe even look at a scope and look at a screen. Maybe listen to it. Ultimately, I just think it was a knee jerk reaction decision and I think he got it wrong and no one seems to be wanting to say it. Well, I will. I don’t care. It’s a shame we didn’t get to see the last few rounds.  I think Lewis Crocker was on the verge of being stopped there, Donovan dropped him in that round as well. So he would have been dropped twice. But as I say, I’m not disputing it was a punch after the bell. I’ve seen far worse to be brutally honest. If it was a couple of seconds after that and the action had stopped, I’d have said disqualify him because that’s disgusting. A bell going and a fighter being unprotected and unarmed, that’s one thing, but a fighter in the midst of an exchange and a combination, and it’s not like he stopped then went bang, he was in the midst of a combination, he was letting his hands go. It’s a tough one. He was going for the stoppage. I think Marcus Mcdonald’s made the mistake. And hopefully he identifies it and accepts it, takes it on the chin, and he learns from it as well.. 

Q: Do you think we’ll see a rematch now then, coming up later in this year? Or will they both go their separate ways? 

Tony Bellew: I think it’s tough because Paddy Donovan’s gonna want to run it back straight away. Is Lewis Crocker gonna want to run it back straight away? Now that he’s mandatory for the title. He’s got a really good path in front of him now. I don’t see either facing Jaron Ennisa, the IBF champion. I think they should run it back. I’m just not sure both parties will want to. 

Q: Elsewhere, Gervonta Davis retained his WBA lightweight title with a controversial majority draw against Lamont Roach. I think Lamont Roach exceeded a lot of people’s expectations in that fight. But the controversial moment came when Tank took the knee. Apparently his hair grease was stinging and burning his eye. Couldn’t see. Took the knee. The ref didn’t judge it as taking the knee. So therefore the judges didn’t score it as such. Two judges gave it as a draw. One to Tank, he maintains his unbeaten record, but at what cost to his reputation?

Tony Bellew: Another one where referees really messed up. And Steve Willis is a brilliant referee, by the way. I love him. He’s one of my favourite referees. He’s animated, he’s in the fights, he’s about it. Any close exchange, he’s always there. I’ve seen the guy jump into punches to stop fighters from getting hit. I’ve seen him do it many times. He made a catastrophic error there. Lamont Roach is going to be absolutely heartbroken. Well, do you know what? I’ve watched a few interviews with him. I’ve seen the fight and I’ve seen the incident. And Gervonta Davis takes a knee there and it’s a count all day. There’s just no dispute, no way, shape or form.

It’s a count and I don’t want to hear that he got grease in the eye. That’s a you problem. That’s not a me problem. So Lamont Roach had every right to be crying out and saying that it was a count. And it is a count because what are we going to be doing next? When a fighter gets tired, he’s going to say he’s got grease in his eyes. It’s exhausting, you can’t do it. I feel for the ref because he obviously knows it’s not a knockdown, and essentially it’s not a knockdown. He’s took a couple of punches, I’ve seen it. He’s just took a couple of shots. But what he’s then got to do is, he’s got to stay on his feet, he’s got to back up to his corner, he’s got to tell the referee he’s got something in his eye. The minute he takes the knee, it is a count because at no point in a fight can you show your opponent distress and expect them not to capitalise. If he takes a step back, shows everyone he’s not in distress, then tells the referee about his eye. The referee can then stop the timer and get his eye cleaned out. 

Q: Tank says Keyshawn Davis and Shakur Stevenson must fight each other so he can fight the winner. But Keyshawn Davis said he won’t fight Stevenson because they’ve got this brotherly pact. So they’re refusing to fight. But where does that leave the division?

Tony Bellew:: I get it. They don’t want to fight each other. And they shouldn’t be forced to. There’s enough people who are frenemies in the game to not want to fight your friend. You very rarely get true, real hostile enemies in boxing. I’ve had them, and I’ve had them where a fighter can’t stand me. And then I’ve had some where I absolutely despise them. I mean, I’ve got fighters who I’ve fought who I don’t even get along with now, like Nathan Cleverley. But ultimately, what happens in the ring, ends in the ring. And it’s job done then. But I just feel with Shakur and the other kid, Keyshawn Davis, I just think the families are close. Why? They don’t need to fight each other. Of course, Gervonta Davis is going to want to throw a grenade into a room. That’s his way of avoiding it, but both of them are world champions, so face both of them. One after the other. You want to be unified. Everyone wants to be unified champion, and I must admit in today’s game, it’s getting easier to become a unified champion, purely down to the fact of these managers, promoters, advisors, they’re all being brought together because of his excellency Turki Al-Sheikh, and he’s making it easier to make unification fights. So we’ve seen more unification fights in the last five years than we’ve had in the last five decades. 

Q: Well, that’s why boxing is in such a good place at the moment, but maybe the lightweight division is one that’s going to be a bit of a sticking point because Gervonta Davis doesn’t fancy going out. It’s him versus Turki, isn’t it? They’ve been going back and forth. 

Tony Bellew: I’ve seen some of the comments he makes, but you have to understand that Turki Al-Sheikh is the best thing that’s happened to boxing. Since Harold Smith, no one has challenged the hierarchy of boxing. The hierarchy of boxing has always been Don King, Bob Arum. Now, in this country, it’s Eddie Hearn,  Frank Warren. And no one’s been able to bring these together. No one’s been able to challenge them. In America right now, you’ve still got Don King, Bob Arum, Oscar de Lahoya.They’re all going at it. But ultimately, the hierarchy of boxing has been brought together. Doesn’t matter where they’re going, where they’re from. The only ones who haven’t got on the ship yet is PBC. But PBC aren’t putting on enough shows for the fighters. PBC have some of the best fighters in the world. I don’t dispute that. And Al Haymon is an amazing businessman who gives fighters amazing opportunities, but let’s be brutally honest here, he’s not giving them enough opportunities.

There’s not enough dates to fight. Must be very frustrating. Gervonta Davis has to be fighting three times a year minimum. He’s just said that he wants to fight again. He’s got a name he wants to call out. He didn’t tell us the name. He’s keeping it under wraps. 

But he then went on to say he won’t get the fight this year. But we were in February when he fought. How are you not getting three more fights in this year? Well at least one or two more. He finishes now, he should be fighting in May or June. May, June, July, any of them months, and then you want a good winter, December fight. There’s no problem. 

Q: If we speak about a very active fighter from your hometown, Nick Ball, back in action March 15th against TJ Doheny. Who I think he fought Naio Inoue last, didn’t he? Is he jumping up from Super Bantamweight for this one? Respect to Nick Ball, he’s one of the most active world champions in the world. And always puts on such a great show, doesn’t he? 

Tony Bellew: Nick Ball gives such value for money. That boy just gets in the ring and he fights and fights non stop. Aggression. I’d go as far as to say I think Nick Ball is the fittest fighter in the country. He’s relentless. He’s literally the Tasmanian devil. He is all over you, he is not letting you off the hook. He fights fire with fire. He’s a fan’s favourite. And as a watch for pure excitement, I’d go as far as saying he’s the most exciting fighter in this country. I can’t see past him. Now what you want is you want to match him with really good boxers. So we’ve seen him with Raymond Ford where he beat him for the world title. 

You’ve seen in them two fights, with the Vargas and the Ford fights, even in a loss with one of them, it’s still an unbelievable fight and a win that can go either way. Against boxers, he’s unbelievably good. And that should be his real weakness. That should be his kryptonite facing boxers. But because he’s so committed and because he’s so good at what he does, he makes them fight. They all end up fighting in his fight, and his fights are just fireworks. 

I love watching him mate and I can’t wait to see him back. You think we’ll ever see the rematch with Rey Vargas? He hasn’t fought since then. It’s one of them where inactivity is gonna do him the world of damage. 

Q: Let’s talk, you mentioned earlier about fighters who genuinely hate each other. Do you think Conor Benn and Chris Eubank Jr. genuinely hate each other? 

Tony Bellew: I don’t think it, I know! I think hatred is too strong of a word. I think the hatred goes one way. And I understand why Conor would hate Chris because of all the things that were done in the background to Conor. But I think with Chris, this is purely business. This is purely business. I don’t think he quite likes him very much. But I’m telling you now, it’s a good thing that Conor’s in Spain. Because imagine them two bumping into each other on the high streets on a Sunday afternoon. No one needs that, no one wants it, but it’s inevitable. So you literally have to navigate your way through these camps and keep these two boys away from each other. Because I’ve been there with this kind of animosity and I’ve been there with this kind of domestic rivalry. It eats away at you. It’s not nice. It literally eats away at you. It’s on your mind daily. It’s an intense build up, like I said, I’ve been there with David Haye fights with Nathan Cleverley fights with Ovill McKenzie rematches. Isaac Chilemba rematches, all them fights I’ve named have gone to heated rivalries. Two of them were domestic ones, well three of them really, Ovill McKenzie was based over here. Nathan Cleverley, that was real nasty because I wanted to hurt him, I didn’t like him, I still don’t like him. With David Haye, for me, it was business, but I got to him that much. David said he really wanted to hurt me and he still says that to everyone who listens. And after that first fight, he got to me really bad. It’s just one of them things. 

Q: Do you think Chris Eubank crossed the line with the egg slap. Do you think that’s all fair in promo? 

Tony Bellew: Do you know what? I’d have said no if he slapped the egg on top of his head. But it’s a slap in the face towards the eye. People have to realize (I’ve got two scratched eyeballs) that the eyeballs are the part of the body that never heals. So the best way to explain it is that it would be like varnishing a door. And the varnish comes off and then you’ve got to re-put the varnish back on. The liquid on the eye comes off and the cornea gets damaged. As I say I’ve got two scratched eyeballs. One was in a fight and the other one was pissing out in a swimming pool many years before. I can’t actually explain the pain. It’s unbelievable. If he’d have got an egg shell in that eye. It could have jeopardised the whole fight and his eyesight because people are going to say, ‘oh lad, it’s an egg’. But it’s the little stupid things like that which could cost you the fight. Smashing an egg on top of his head, it would have been funny.  You know, or throwing an egg at him. I don’t think Conor would have found it funny. No, I know Conor wouldn’t have found it funny, but I’m trying to look at it from a neutral, unbiased perspective. You slap an egg on the top of his head, it’s funny, the egg’s gone everywhere, but on the face and in the eye, wow, it’s just wrong. But, I think this fight’s just gone to another level. This is, quite simply, the biggest fight this country’s ever seen. It’s going to be huge. There’s 135,000 people on the waiting list.It only holds 75-80,000. It’s absolutely insane. It’ll keep growing and growing and growing. And I just hope they can put their minds at ease now. Go back to the training camp and let’s get through this and get to fight week.

Q: Quick one about Ben Shalom. Do you think he knew what Chris Eubank Jr was gonna do? Cause he denied it and he said he didn’t even know what he was going to say, let alone slap him with the egg, but Eddie Hearn’s convinced he knew. 

Tony Bellew: I don’t really know Ben but I would like to think he didn’t know. Well, do you know what,  thinking of Chris, no, I don’t think he did. That kid doesn’t trust a single soul. I know that for a fact. Because he actually does not trust a soul.

And the last person he’s going to tell is a promoter. Who’s very, very likely to open his trap. He doesn’t tell a soul anything to be fair. He’s pretty private.

Q: One man, one man army at this point, isn’t he? Did you see Eddie Hearn trying to force Ben Shalom into a million pound bet on the outcome of the fight?

Tony Bellew: I don’t think Eddie wants to do a million pound bet, I think he agreed a hundred grand and then Derek’s forcing him. Del’s trying to force it on and listen, when it comes to wealth and money, there’s very few that can get anywhere near Matchroom at the end. I think Ben Shalom’s seen his backside a little bit there, but listen. I wouldn’t bet a million quid whether I was a billionaire or not. Not for me. 

Q: You see Conor Benn on the pitch at Wembley, running up to Ben Shalom?

Tony Bellew: Do you know what the funniest part was? Eddie switched as much as Ben Shalom did. I think the two of them switched. They’re both skating on thin ice, as far as Conor Benn’s concerned. Conor’s a lively kid. He’s a lovely, lovely boy. I’ve known him a long time, and he’s a lovely, lovely kid. He’s quite emotional, isn’t he? Yes, he’s emotionally charged, to say the least. When you fight with that emotion, it can be draining. It can also galvanise you and push you at times, but it can also drain you. Like, I went into the Nathan Cleverley rematch and I worked so hard in that camp. Everything went right in camp, everything was good, the sparring brilliant, the camp finished really well. I had no severe injuries, I had a couple of minor niggles, but no severe injury. And when I was walking to the ring, he walked first, I walked second. When the fire went off behind me in the ring,  I felt exhausted. I was emotionally invested in the fight. I fought that fight like an exhausted man who was just trying to win. I won it. I’ve done enough all day.

I won it clearly, I just got on his chest and worked. But I didn’t show it, it was because I was emotionally invested in the fight. The performance was dire for me. It wasn’t great, but like I said, I just made the fight rough. Up close and personal, and just outlanded him.

Conor, if he feels any kind of exhaustion, the last thing you want to do is be in the ring with a bigger man. I think this fight is two fights over 12 rounds. It’s a case of two fights in one. First six, I think Conor is going to be so ferocious, so brutal, so vicious – I think he gets the job done then.

But I will tell you what, if you have not got the job done by round 6, that’s when weight divisions exist for a reason. That’s when weight classes exist for a reason. I actually think, Conor is a far better fighter than Chris Eubank Jr. is a boxer. And that’s the problem that Chris Eubank Jr’s having, he’s got this thing in his mind that he’s a masterful boxer. No, I’m sorry. No you’re not We’ve seen different sides to him over the years, but none of them really have shown that the technical level of superiority that, say Canelo has. Junior is actually a really good fighter. He used the street fight, didn’t he? He gets up close and he has a really good scrap and he gets stuck in.  I can’t  praise him any more highly than that, he fights well up close. I’ve seen him spiral into like a car crash and he gets stuck in really well. But when it comes to mixing with people, you know, I’m boxing with people thinking you’re a master boxer. No.

Q: George Groves schooled him to be fair, didn’t he? 

Tony Bellew: He’s been schooled many times. By Billy Joe Saunders, by George Groves, he’s been absolutely schooled. And they’re master boxers as well. So he’s got to get back to having a scrap. I mean, you’re not Roy Jones Jr. and you’re never going to be Roy Jones Jr. You know, he’s the greatest fighter ever. 

Q: Brilliant fighter, absolutely, absolutely. Turki Al-Sheikh said the winner of Eubank Jr. versus Conor Benn will face Canelo Alvarez. I mean, what a carrot that is to dangle in front of them. Not that they need it really at this point, but  can you see either of them really troubling Canelo?

Tony Bellew: I think it’s insane. Yeah, but now he’s signed a four fight deal. I think for the spectacle, it’s huge, isn’t it? The reality of that is that it would be the easiest night of Canelo’s life. There’s a difference in the weights there. Don’t say that, Kovalev, mate, I can’t. Even though he might be at the end, well, he is at the end of Canelo.

Q: Still got plenty in the tank.  Do you have a quick word about the last crescendo? It just seems like it’s longer than a week ago, but it really was only a week ago. 

Tony Bellew: It was amazing. It was just unbelievable. What these two fighters went through. Yeah. I think I picked Dmitry Bivol with you guys before.I thought he’d win. I just think time is not on Beterbiev’s side anymore. I just think, you know, he’s still amazing and I still think he defeats every other light heavyweight in the world, but Bivol… exceptional. It’s the tactical nous of Dmitry. We’ve all got great boxing IQs at this level, at the world time championship level, we’ve all got really good boxing IQs and most of us can adapt and adjust. But to do the things that Dmitry Bivol was doing.

He was catching right hands with his lead hand and countering with his right hand. He’s planned it, it’s brilliant. It’s fantastic. So, he jabs Beterbiev and he gets Beterbiev to throw like a lazy jab. So it comes out slow. It hits Beterbiev – he’s not hardest to hit obviously – but then on its way back, Betebiev has seen it, and he’s took it, but he’s let his right hand go.

He catches his right hand, with the hand coming back and he’s caught like that and does this to block it, and then goes bang and hits it with the right hand. So it’s bang, catch, bang, bang, catch, bang. Now that doesn’t sound hard, but believe you me. At the speed and at the level he’s at. And this into consideration, you’re catching, probably the biggest punches, pound for pound in boxing right now. You’re catching his right hand on your arm, on your hand. That’s it. You misjudge that and it’s curtains. You misjudge that, you’re asleep. But that’s the kinda level these boys are at. And, and I can’t explain to you enough just how good Dmitry Bivol is, he’s exceptional. And I wasn’t always his biggest fan. I think there’s been times in fights, like with Craig Richards. At fights in Monaco, I’ve seen him a couple of times, where he’s just underperformed and I think he’s got this thing where he fights to the opponent’s level. Because we’ve seen even when he went in with Canelo, he just schooled Canelo. He absolutely schooled him. And then,  he didn’t school Beterbiev, but of the two fights, believe you me. I thought he won the first, but he didn’t get a decision, but I thought it was so close, I didn’t complain. If Beterbiev had got it, I’m like, okay, I can see a reason why he got it.

But the second fight, there was no dispute. It was clear as day, it was crystal clear. And he won the second fight far more clear than Beterbiev had won the first fight. I think a third fight is only going to go the same way.

Q: Well that’s all I was going to say. Do you think, I mean now he’ll be 41, but it’ll be over by the time that maybe if Bivol drags it out, maybe he goes and fights Benavidez instead or something.

Tony Bellew: That’s the fight. I thought Callum Smith against Joshua Buatsi was great. People saying Callum Smith’s washed up. I told him the boy doesn’t, doesn’t need to be in a ring that tells you he’s not washed up. Cause when you, when you’re financially secure and you carry on fighting, it tells you an awful lot about the fighter. I know, I’ve been there. Once I’d beaten Haye twice, that’s it, then life’s fine. For the family, life is financially secure for us. We’re all fine. And to get back to training camp and do it, I’d done two training camps after the Haye fight. It takes something different in your mindset this time. You then realize you’re not actually in boxing for the money anymore. You’re in boxing because you love fighting. When you’ve won a world title, you’ve achieved your lifelong goal, a dream, which I done. I’ve been British Commonwealth European world champion. Once I’ve done that, it was about money. Once I’ve achieved the money, I was like, why am I still doing this?

I’m done being in the Holiday Inn Express, me and my iPad, freezing cold. Just thinking – it was about half 12 on like a Thursday night. I was a good few weeks into camp, getting ready for Usyk. And I thought, what am I doing here? What am I still doing this for? It’d be a dream to be the undisputed, unified champion when I fought him for all the belts. But I thought, do I really need this? I’ve won the one belt that I dreamed of as a kid, the green and gold. I’ve had my dream location, my dream scenario.  I just thought the next day, I went to gym, I was sparring, who was it? 

I had a kid over, an American kid, he was really good, and I gave him a good pounding, and when I was driving away on Friday afternoon, I thought to myself, ‘I really just do love fighting’. 

Q: And also testing yourself against the best. And you could sit here and say, you were there in the room, against Oleksandr Usyk.

Tony Bellew: That’s important, ultimately. It’s when, you know, it goes on the pillow at night. Yeah, those moments of introspection. When you’ve got the money, when you’ve got the belts and you’ve won things. When you’ve achieved everything you set out to do, that’s when you go to yourself, ‘why am I still doing this?’ 

Q: Martin Bakole, the king of sparring, was knocked out in two rounds by Joseph Parker. Maybe that was the problem for him. It wasn’t actually a spar. 

Tony Bellew: Yeah the headguards came off and the 20oz gloves came off and he found out that he’s normal just like everyone else! I mean, he said he hadn’t had a spa since August. Jesus Christ. Don’t go in there and then tell us why you’ve lost after. Tell us before. But you know, fair play. He saved the day. I give him all the credit in the world. I take my hat off to Martin Bakole because he didn’t have to do that. He was ready to face Efe Ajagba. What I will say is there’s no excuse to be walking around at 320 pounds. You’re a slob. You’re meant to be a professional athlete. You’re being paid to be a professional athlete. Live the life, mate. I hope he learns a lesson from that, because Martin Bakole is a really good fighter. He’s a problem for the heavyweight division, but what he’s just done is he’s basically just bowed to them for a few quid because no one’s going to want to face him now again, because he’s a problem. He is a real problem. You don’t want to face him, but now no one’s going to want to face him.

And you know what? He’s in the ‘who needs your club’. Whereas after a few wins, the win over Jared Anderson in America, it looked really good for him. But now this happens when fighters don’t stay in shape. Compare him to Josh Padley. Great fight. Similar notice. That’s the difference. He was ready to go, Josh Padley. I’ll be honest, he had to make weight as well. Not because he didn’t have to just let you, just let you know that that’s the difference between a professional athlete. And he’s got a full time job. Well, still going on a plane. 

I give that lad so much credit. And he went in with one of the best pound pound fights in the world. Cause Shaq’s right up there. And I say he went in, albeit Joseph Parker, yes, but just being cheap. Don’t turn up like the marshmallow man. Disrespectful to the sport. It’s just, it’s ridiculous.  

Q: What now for Hamzah Sheeraz? He got away with one against Carlos Adames. Would you like to see a rematch or will Hamza move on?

Tony Bellew: I don’t think he won, but ultimately I just think he’s got to focus on boxing. He’s got to focus on boxing. I think he’s a really good fighter. I don’t want to see him struggling to make weight. Because he has all the ability. Hamza Sheeraz will be a world champion. It’s not a matter of if, it’s a matter of when. I just think a big part of it now for him is managing his team, his camp, because his camp is growing. His team is growing. He’s got a huge camp. From me looking from the outside in, 40 percent of that’s not needed. Trim it down, go back to basics. Know what you’re good at, know what needs to be done. Camp for someone like Hamza Shehnaz, who’s a contender, shouldn’t be a big deal. It shouldn’t be hard. When I was a contender and when I was a champion, my camp was the same size. Keep it small, keep it what it needs to do. Everyone’s got a job, they know what they need to do. But ultimately, make no mistake, it’s about you. You’re the one who gets in the ring. You’re the one who takes the punches. And you’re the one who takes the risks. He’s got to put himself first in camp. 

He’s an international ambassador for Riyadh season. I don’t know if that’s any of a distraction. He’s a good one too. They obviously want him to do well. We saw Turki at ringside telling Sheeraz he’s behind the cards,  

Tony Bellew: You’ve got to understand that Turki is behind all of what’s going on with Riyadh season, he’s fully invested in his fighter. So Turki basically is a promoter and he’s urging for his man to win. There’s nothing wrong with it. It’s like saying when Eddie Hearn is on a Matchroom show when AJ’s fighting, it’s a Matchroom show and he wants AJ to win. He’s jumping around when AJ knocks out his opponent. His Excellency, the Sheik, is entitled to support whoever he wants to support. Do you believe when Canelo has this next fight, he’s not going to be cheering for Canelo to win. He’s paying Canelo hundreds of millions of pounds, and he’s paying hundreds of millions of pounds because he wants to see the biggest fight and the best fight, so he wins. As for Hamza, he’ll be back. I think he’s a really good fighter. I think he needs a leader with him in the team. I think he needs someone to speak to him and a leader amongst the team because at the moment I feel he’s doing too much himself. Right. Are you putting your name forward, Tony? No, no definitely not. I just, I just think,  I just think the kid needs a little bit more experience and guidance around him. I think he’s got a really good team, as in advisors, as in managers. He has one of the best managers in the game in Spencer Brown. But you have to allow Spencer to manage. And that’s the hardest thing. These fighters want to micromanage. Just focus on you, focus on fighting. 

Q: OK last question about this all-female boxing card “Unstoppable”  that will take place on March 7, 2025 at the Royal Albert Hall in London. Lauren Price vs Natasha Jonas is the headline fight, which way do you see it going? 

Tony Bellew: That’s a very hard fight for our Tash. I didn’t like the fight when it was first made, but I’ll always back Tash. From the outside looking in, Ben Shalom is looking out his assets, and he’s looking for the passing of the guard fight. A passing of the baton. That’s what it looks like on paper and that’s what he’s made this fight for. For someone like Natasha Jonas, she’s earned her stripes. She’s a multiple world champion, she’s a unified champion. It’s like a similar situation now to what Canelo found himself in with Benavidez. So the only difference is, there wasn’t an amount of money that could say f**k you money. It’s like Jon Jones and Tom Aspinall. It’s these kinds of situations and scenarios where you go, is it worth it? Jon Jones goes I don’t really like that fight, I don’t really want it. Canelo goes, I don’t like that fight, I don’t really want it. But if you pay me enough, f**k it, I’ll do it. It’s f**k you money. And, I think, I think that’s what Tash has been given. So you just wouldn’t turn it down for the money? You just don’t turn it down. Don’t get me wrong. Canelo goes in the ring better, he knows, he thinks he’s going to win. 

And Jon Jones goes in the ring, he thinks he’s going to beat Tom Aspinall, he agrees it’s a really hard fight. This is his Nemesis of the division but they face them because I’m getting paid mega money. It’s gone on for years and years in boxing. It’s just that it gets these mega fights. It’s like when Floyd Mayweather didn’t fight Antonio Margarito. He thought I don’t need that, I don’t like that fight. So you know what, I’ll just face Shane Mosely instead. Your manager’s got to be looking out for you. Tasha will be getting big, big money. Deservedly so. She’s earned the right she’s earned that by 100%. I hope she can get it done. But it will be a hard night’s work because Lauren Price is the younger fighter, similar to Tasha has that pedigree from the amateurs. It’s a really hard one. It’ll be good to watch on the night, but I’m just hoping Tash can use her experience to get round the ring and kind of use it against her. Take it, take it the distance and get on points. Hopefully that’s what I’m hoping for with Tash. Out of the two of them Tasha’s the puncher. So make no mistake about that. But at the same time all the momentum and all the pace goes with Lauren Price.

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Dwight also discussed Marcus Rashford’s rehabilitation at Aston Villa, why the Premier League title is heading to Anfield and labelled serial runners-up Arsenal ridiculous for not signing a striker this season. 

Premier League observations

Q: Who’s been the best player in the Premier League this season and what makes them so good? 

Dwight Yorke: The game is all about entertaining and I know defenders of good quality are very rare. It’s not often that you’ve got a defender that goes on to be much more exciting than a centre forward.

They don’t come much more attractive than Mo Salah. I think the consistency that he has because of his goals, his assists, his all-round play, he’s been so much better than everybody else, so it’s very hard to look beyond Mo Salah when naming the best player in the league. I mean, he’s probably the hottest player in the world right now. 

I know there’s other players like Bryan Mbuemo at Brentford who is having a great season – you could also make a case for someone like Chris Wood at Nottingham Forest – but Mo Salah is easily the outstanding candidate throughout the season. The most consistent, I must say. He’s been absolutely brilliant.

Q: Who’s been the biggest flop in the Premier League this season? 

Dwight Yorke: Rashford is always the one that gets a lot of negative attention, but I would rather give him a break because he’s had so much heat under him and, in a different environment at Villa, he’s starting to show flashes of the player that we know is in there.

I was expecting a big season from Darwin Nunez. From a striker’s point of view, he’s got all the attributes. I really rate the kid, but for some reason they’re not getting the best out of him at Liverpool. So, he will probably be the one that is a big disappointment to me because I see so much better in him.

It’s frustrating if you’re a coach and certainly at Liverpool, you’re kind of frustrated with where you are because he should be bulldozing his way through that and scoring on a regular basis.

When you’re playing with inverted wingers, it’s not playing to his strengths. If you play with inverted wingers then balls are coming in, you’ve got play one-twos, he’s got to move. It’s not really his game – although he can do that – but if you get balls coming into the box, he’s likely to punish you a little bit more.

Q: Who are the young players based on what you’ve seen this season that are destined to blossom into stars over the next couple of years? 

Dwight Yorke: Jhon Duran was my first pick and then of course he left, so I’m a little bit despondent by that. I think Cole Palmer, he had a really good early stage, but he tailed off in recent weeks.

In terms of young players, I’m just trying to think who else has really hit the scene. I really like the Villa player, Morgan Rogers. Like, wow. I gotta say, when you look beyond the boy Rogers at Villa, who has done really well, there isn’t an outstanding candidate, or certainly not one that has played with anything like the consistency that Rogers has shown.

So’ I’ll go with Morgan Rogers. He’s a great prospect and he’s flourishing at Aston Villa under Unai Emery. 

Q: Who are you putting in your top four?

Dwight Yorke: I had Chelsea in there at one point. They’re really stumbling over the blocks at the minute though. 

With Forest, I have my doubts. It’s new territory for this group of players and can they sustain it? We’re about to enter the business end of the season, and sometimes you need that knowhow to get you over the line. Forest have been so good, performing way above everyone’s expectations, maybe the players can get a little complacent and take their foot of the gas because whatever happens to them between now and May, they’ve surpassed all expectations.  

I don’t know if they have the capacity to keep pushing for that top four spot. 

The first two pick themselves: Liverpool, Arsenal and I think it’s two from five or six. I can’t really see City getting out of their struggle, but they might just stumble over the line because of the experience.

I will put City in the top four equation and then I want to say my old team Villa, but they have the Champions League, which could be a distraction. That could hamper them a little bit as well, but I’ll stick with them.

I think Chelsea look a little bit vulnerable going into this last phase.

I’ll go with Liverpool, Arsenal, City and Villa.

Champions League

Q: Which Premier League club has the best chance of getting their hands on the famous trophy this season? 

Dwight Yorke: Liverpool have got the best chance of winning the Champions League out of all the English clubs.

Arsenal, I don’t understand them. The game is about goals, and they don’t have a player who can score one. It’s just mind-boggling that these guys feel like they could recreate football, where history shows you always need a centre-forward.

I don’t care how good you are, outside this or inverted that, or da-da-da, or the system. The other guys will be able to score, but centre-forward is a specialist position. It is special to people and players – that’s why the forwards always cost the most money. The hardest thing to do in the game is put the ball in the back of the net. 

You can rotate in every other part of the pitch. You can try things, but up front, at number 9, you need a specialist.

It’s the only position in the game that you play with your back to goal. It’s a specialist position. And Arsenal have underestimated that position so much, it’s ridiculous.

What I don’t understand is they think, I’m going to play with inverted wingers. No, you don’t. You get away with it for a bit when things are going well. As soon as you can’t score, you’re looking at it yourself and you think, where am I going to get goals?

Arsenal have absolutely no chance of winning the Champions League without a 9. Not with that attitude that the club seems to have towards strikers.

They should have gone and broken the bank and got Isak. Pay 100 million because your value for winning the Premier League is double that, triple that. Why would you not pay 100 million?

You buy that kid there, and then you’re pushing Liverpool all the way to the end because this guy can play.

Q: Do you think Aston Villa will be vulnerable to complacency against Club Brugge?

Dwight Yorke: Out of everybody else in the Champions League, that’s a really good draw. It’s not easy, because Club Brugge is a tricky opponent, and a pretty good opponent.

Aston Villa will be very happy with that. They could see themselves advancing. If Villa were to play anything near what they’re capable of playing, then they’ll progress.

The knockout stage of the Champions League against Brugge. Nobody can tell you anything different. They’re smiling. They’re smiling at Villa Park and good luck to them.

Title race

Q: Are Arsenal still in the hunt for the title after their defeat and Liverpool’s victory?

Dwight Yorke: It’s very hard to see how Arsenal could come back from where they are. It’s more in the hands of Liverpool to win it rather than lose it really in many respects. They’re obviously in a commanding position. 

I’ve picked Liverpool to win the league from the very beginning, and I still do believe that they are easily the best team in the league right now and have been for some time, hence they’re in the position.

I have no doubt that Liverpool will finish the season as champions. I would normally be a bit more cautious with it because we’ve seen teams lose it from this type of position in the past, but you need to have someone behind that has the bit between their teeth, and Arsenal just don’t have it. I think it’s more Liverpool’s title to win rather than to lose. If they don’t win it from here, they’ve thrown it away, and I just can’t see them doing that. 

Q: Is Liverpool’s win over City the kind of victory that will convince them the title is theirs?

Dwight Yorke: I think it’s crucial. They have known how to win major trophies, and they won’t get ahead of themselves. The camp will be very calm, but it will be a massive boost, and a huge amount of confidence is generated within the whole Liverpool camp at the moment. City away, current champions, easy win. Tick it off. 

There is no reason not to think that Liverpool won’t win it now. Of course, you’re always mindful of complacency. Players get ahead of themselves and start celebrating, doing things that they’re not supposed to do. I’ve done that myself, but I was lucky enough to be part of a team where it didn’t matter. In my third season, we had the league done and dusted and we took our eye off the ball. It didn’t matter in the end though.

Liverpool have so much going on that they can’t afford to take their eye off the ball. If they were just playing for the Premier League alone, I would say there was more chance of a slip-up, they might take their eye off the ball a little bit, but the fact that they’re in every other competition, apart from obviously the FA Cup, they will want to finish the season strong. They will want to win the Champions League and the Carabao Cup.

I think those are the motivating factors to make sure that the players are fully focused on what they’re supposed to do. They’re not the type of players that, 20 years ago, would have been out the next night celebrating and having a few drinks.

I just don’t see that happening. The current generation are not inclined to do those things.

Arsenal

Q: Can you understand why Arsenal didn’t bring in a forward in January and has that mistake killed their season? 

Dwight Yorke: I think it was clear to everybody who was watching that Arsenal needed to really energise their team with a big name signing, a big personality coming in to the club to really give the place a lift because that can be enough to get you over the line.

In January, February, March, it’s when the season is really testing, and you need to be at full pelt to get through those phases. I feel when you look at what happened at Arsenal in the transfer window, that has been so disappointing for them that even the players got deflated. The supporters are now deflated.

I think it stemmed from that, and it shows in their performances.

It’s a strange one. I just think that Arsenal should have really gone out on a limb to try to get someone.

I looked at Benjamin Sesko, and he’s a good player as well. I think him and Isak are the two players that I would have tried to sign to give you some kind of momentum going into the latter stage of the season.

Man City

Q: Can Guardiola turn it around?

Dwight Yorke: I just think that there is a phase in life, a phase in football that everyone goes through.

You’ve got the up and down. I think that they will come back slightly better, but it will never be the same.

They will go through that sort of phase that Liverpool had, that Man United are currently going through. They will still be very competitive, but they’ll be losing a lot of their players and then you’re asking players to come in and fit into that system, to start winning again. It’s a complete rebuild required. 

This group of players have been a unit for five-to-six years. Now they’re starting to disperse one by one, or two by two. I’m sure there will be more moving on at the end of the season and there will be fresh faces joining the club. 

To get them playing to the kind of standard that they can play, that’s going to be challenging. I don’t think that is as easy as some people think it is. It’s much more difficult when you go through a transition as a team.

I don’t think City will be the dominant force in the Premier League for a while now. They have been dominating the Premier League for so long. I think the time has come where they’re going to find that transition very challenging and, in many ways, it starts now. 

He’s seen it coming and has tried to act on it with recruitment, but it hasn’t really changed anything. It won’t be the same at City for a long, long time.

Q: Alex Ferguson created three great United teams; can Guardiola create his second great City side?

Dwight Yorke: Refreshing a team and staying at the top of the mountain isn’t easy. That’s why Sir Alex will always be the greatest manager of all time. He was always refreshing; three years, let’s change it, let’s get better. He never left it for more than three years.

If you look at what he did, he was always bringing in one or two or three new, top, top players, every three years. As a player in a squad that’s competing for everything, you need that lift, you need to reenergise, you need to move people on. He was a master at that.

And if you look throughout his career, that’s what he did. After my first three years, he was bringing in a new group, then Wayne Rooney and others joined afterwards, then Ronaldo came in. 

That’s the key thing that I learned from him. If I were to go into club management, I would look refresh things every three years.

He always had a good eye for players, he always bought the right players into the club.
That’s the one thing I will take away from Sir Alex. 

He’s always got time for his old players. He’s been great passing on bits and pieces to me. 

Liverpool 

Q: Why are they so good this year?

Dwight Yorke: There’s always a doubt when a new manager is coming in as to whether he can take a club higher up. Despite coming in after Jurgen Klopp, I just felt Arne Slot had a real calmness about him.

I was impressed with every interview that I’ve seen. It tells me that one, he was inheriting a good squad, and it said to his players that he didn’t need to change too much. That would have given them confidence. 

There was calmness about the work that he was doing. And ultimately, as a manager, whenever you go in, no matter who you know, you need people to buy into whatever you’re saying to them.

But I think there was a clear understanding from the players once they entered the room. I thought he came across especially well. I think his attention to detail is really good.

You need the players to buy in. We talk about philosophies and systems, but you need players who listen and don’t just do their own thing. Liverpool got a manager who’s coming and hit the ground running. I’ve been totally impressed.

Chelsea

Q: Should Chelsea have bought a striker in January? 

Dwight Yorke: It’s a dying breed isn’t it, the number nine position. It used to be that iconic. It’s a dying breed because the game has slightly changed, where everybody’s coming to the ball and not being a proper number nine.

When you play at number nine, with your back to goal, it’s the most difficult position in the world to play and that’s why it was the most talked about position for a very long time. 

It’s really bizarre how Chelsea are playing. They’re forwards are doing okay but they’re not world class and they’re far from being world class. I think part of the reason why you see them struggling is because they haven’t got someone to compete at the highest level.

I know Mo Salah is a little bit different in terms of his numbers and that’s exceptional.
But in most leagues around the world, to win, you need a striker scoring 20 a season.
Without that, you might finish third or fourth.

Q: Is there a danger that Cole Palmer could look to move on in the summer if Chelsea don’t secure Champions League football? 

Dwight Yorke: He doesn’t strike me as that kind individual. I don’t think he would demand to leave Chelsea if he’s playing a season out of the Champions League. 

He’s still very young, and he’s gone there and turned his career around and became the top man there. Why would you walk away from being in a club and being the top man at the same time?

Where is he going to go and become a top player and the top man? Liverpool?
Okay, maybe Man United, he said he’s a Man United fan, but he won’t go there because he’s a City man. Outside of that is Arsenal, he won’t go there because Saka is there.

Liverpool might be an option if Mo Salah were to leave, so that might be something that they might look to do. So, watch this space with that if Mo Salah leaves.

There’s no reason why it would not happen if Mo Salah is to leave.

Otherwise, why would he want to leave Chelsea? He’s the top man at the club. He plays week in, week out. Yes, the Champions League is important. If we keep missing out on Champions League, only then does it become a problem for Cole Palmer.

Next year, if Chelsea come back, work hard, and make sure they can qualify for the Champions League and compete for the Premier League, then everything is happy for Palmer. 

I genuinely believe that the only club that could tempt him would be Liverpool, and even then, they would have to let Salah go first. 

Aston Villa

Q: Villa are canny operators in the transfer market. Did they have the best window in the Premier League? 

Dwight Yorke: Villa are canny operators, and yes, I think they did have the best transfer window out of all of the teams in the premier League. I think you’d be hard-pressed to find a club in world football that had a better window than Villa did in January. 

Rashford is a big coup. 

The right-back Garcia is a decent player. You’re always a little bit tested when you come in from a different league, and playing in the Premier League in the middle of the season is always going to be challenging, but the key element is that Villa are confident, they’re playing really good football. 

It’s easier to fit into a formation or a system when you’re winning football matches.
I like the look of Villa again. They will be a really tough threat going forward.

I do rate the manager and he was my call for United to go and get.

Q: Marcus Rashford already looks like he’s back to his best at Aston Villa – why do you think that is?

Dwight Yorke: He is finding his confidence again. You can see the difference in his spirit. It’s so obvious – his body language just tells you a million things, when you’re playing the way, he’s playing.

The boy’s always had talent, and I defended that from the very beginning. I always said I can’t help what’s going through his head and why he’s not performing to the level. But at 27, he should be one of the best players in the Premier League. I think Villa have got a hell of a player on their hands, and with nurture and bringing him back slowly, he can only get better.

He’s not going get worse. I think it’s quite incredible that someone can leave a bigger club, go to a lesser club and then they’re producing the goods.

I know there’s still 11 games, but you watch. The reason why Villa will be so sustainable and consistent for the remainder of the season is because of the addition of Rashford. He is electrifying. I’ve been in football for a long time, and I consider myself as a baller. This guy is also a baller.

Rashford can fly. You get his mindset right; he will lift up the place if he’s in the right mood. And he looks like he’s getting his juice back.

I think the manager that he’s playing for is an exceptional manager and we’ll get the best out of him. 

The Man United camp will not be very happy with what they’re about to see in the coming weeks and months.

Watch him go to work. He’s just going to send a message and say, right, there you go. Just watch the space.

Q: What do you think of Duran’s choice to go to Saudi Arabia at his age?

Dwight Yorke: I have two takes on it and I get it. Ideally, I would say stay in Europe, play against the best, as he’s 21. Then he could go to Saudi. Why would you not do that?

But then, I’m rethinking that, and I do understand the move. Football is such a short career. Yes, you want to challenge yourself. If I was him, and now that I know more about football and what I understood, I would go to Saudi, pay me the ridiculous wages. 

I’d then keep that drive to just keep scoring goals and beat up the league as badly as possible, break all records there, smash the league.

At 25, 26, he will still be in demand. I always believe it doesn’t matter what league you’re playing in. If you’re good enough and you are scoring goals, the big boys come for you eventually and he’s only 21.

After four years he’ll still be 25. He’ll have earned enough. Then I would say, I want to challenge myself now against the big boys. I want to come back over. But the only way to do that is to just smash the league. It wouldn’t surprise me at all if he did that.

If I was in his prime now and I’m prime Dwight Yorke at 21, I would go to Saudi, do three, four years there, and smash it. Get to 25 years old, and smash the league. Three years after I go, right, I need a three-year deal with one of the big boys.

Come in for me, take on three years there, smash that league and say, you know what? I’m getting ready to retire. Give me another three years. I’ll still be only 28. 

Q: Is Ollie Watkins good enough to replace Harry Kane if he retires from international duty?

Dwight Yorke: I don’t know. I can’t see Tuchel dropping Kane. For Watkins to become England’s number one, there’s two things that need to happen.

Tuchel has to take away the captaincy and he can’t really call him up. If he calls him into the squad without the armband, there’s chaos. That’s a huge call from the manager.

I’m not sure he’s going to do that. Kane is probably still the best striker that Tuchel can pick. He’ll be under pressure to pick him and, we all know the England job is not easy – you’re swimming in shark-infested waters. Tuchel won’t want to upset people in his first weeks in charge because, make no mistake, the press would eat him if he dropped Kane.

Kane’s still the top man. He’s scoring goals. When England are not playing well, if they lose a few games, Kane will be the man to blame. 

Watkins will be next in line because, outside of him, who else is there as a nine? There’s no one else who I think can compete.

I don’t think Watkins has that sort of aura about him, where people will say, he’s the best we’ve got, he’s going to win us a World Cup. That’s why he’s always been second best for England. 

Even when he plays at Villa, Duran was obviously a threat to him, but when you watch him, he’s not giving me the sense that says, ‘I’m the top man here.’

You look at Kane and it’s different.

I’d like to see a little bit more out of Ollie Watkins before he replaces Kane. He seems just happy to accept being the second best in England rather than saying, ‘I’m banging in the goals. I feel my time is now.’ He wouldn’t be dissing Harry Kane by doing that, there’s mutual respect there, but it would show me a man that is hungry to be the best. 

Man Utd

Q: What does Amorim need to do this summer?

Dwight Yorke: I do believe that despite the challenges of where United are, as a manager, you’ve got to stabilize the club. You’ve still got to win football matches. And no one will say go beat Liverpool, City, Arsenal.

When Brentford, Crystal Palace, Brighton beat you, you’ve got to ask yourself some questions.

How could David Moyes go to a team that was struggling more than United and suddenly turn that around?

I’m not saying that Amorim’s not a good manager. We’re not asking you to beat Liverpool, we’re not asking you to beat Arsenal. All we’re saying is, just win some football matches against teams that you should be beating.

And if you’re not going to win against the big boys, and you’re not going to start winning against the small boys, when are you going to start? 

Moyes has done well at Everton but certainly we’ve got better players at United. Somehow, he’s managed to turn it around while we continue to struggle.

I’m not saying beat the big teams. I’m just saying beat the lower teams and win the winnable games. We’re in 15th place. People still think that we are safe. I am not so sure. There’s still a long way. And the more games you are losing to, the harder it gets. 

Amorim is in a difficult place right now. He needs to find a way out.

Q: Do Hojlund and Zirkzee have futures at Old Trafford, or is simply a case of them not being good enough for a club like United?

Dwight Yorke: Even if you’re a prospect, you’ve got to show why you’re a prospect. Hojlund, I’m yet to see anything that suggests he’s the future number nine for Manchester United. He’s not even close. You defend people as best you can. You give people a chance, but he’s been there for nearly two seasons. It’s not going to get any better than that. You’re buying prospects for 72 million? That’s insane.

In the summer, that’s probably an area that they’ll be looking at. They must be looking at it, as will a lot of clubs.

Q: Which striker would you like to see United sign this summer?

Dwight Yorke: I would be brave, and take a look at Nunez, if Liverpool make him available. He’s got a little roughness around the edges. United need somebody up there who can be the top man – they’re missing a player who’s got that believe and confidence. Who’s got that swagger to be the main man at Man Utd. I would take a punt on that guy. He’s still 25.

He’s got a physical presence not too many people have. Duran, who I told them to go get, never happened. He’s gone to Saudi.

You’re not going to get Isak. He would look at Man United and might think about it if they come in, but he will want to go to Liverpool or maybe Arsenal, but if Liverpool want you with what’s happening there, it’s an easy choice to make. 

The transfer market is a game of chess. Moves open up opportunities. Nunez could be on the market if Liverpool look to bring in a forward this summer. If they sign, one someone’s got to be offloaded to balance the books.

If they’re going to offload Nunez, I will say to United take a serious look at him. I also like the kid from Germany, Benjamin Sesko.

Q: As a manager yourself, what would you suggest to Amorim to change for the rest of the season?

Dwight Yorke: We all lose in sport. You lose to learn, to develop, to get better. But it’s the manner of defeat, the way we get beat. You get beat by a team being absolutely superb, superior to you. Not beat by teams close to you.

And the stats show other clubs are running further, they’re taking more shots, they’re tackling more, they’re winning the battles. It’s the whole picture that just is not right.

You can’t compete at the highest level if you’re losing those battles or if you’re being outperformed in those categories. How can you compete? You can’t.

You have to give yourself the best possible chance and United are losing on all fronts. You can’t even defend it. I’m the most loyal fan and you can’t defend it. You’re lying to people if you defend those things. 

Q: How can United start games better?

Dwight Yorke: Get better players, dominate teams a lot more. There’s lots of factors there. It’s not just one. United has got a bundle of problems.

They’re not a very good team collectively. They’re really struggling from back to front. They look very confused. There’s no enjoyment in their football and in their play. There’s no one smiling. Old Trafford doesn’t seem like a happy place.

You want to come into a happy environment, a place that you want to work, you look forward to working there. Everything that United used to be is not what United is now. Your back is up against the wall even before you cross the white lines.

You feel like the odds are against you, and it’s hard to play in those circumstances.

Q: Would you give Pogba a go in March?

Dwight Yorke: It’s an interesting take. I would give Paul Pogba a third chance, definitely, because of what United currently have and because of what we know he is capable of producing.

Obviously, with two months left, I would say, let’s have a look. Give him a contract. You’ve got time here to prove yourself.

You can come and play and help us out with the situation I’m sure Pogba would be very keen. Maybe he might want a long-term deal because of the security. 

I can see why his name has been mentioned because United have struggled, and Pogba is a damn good player.

Even though he’s 31, I think he’s far better than what we have now. And if you’re going to get a player for free, who’s far better than all our players in midfield, then you do it. 

Sunderland 

Q: Can Sunderland go up?

Dwight Yorke: Sunderland had a really positive start and then they trailed off. They have to hang in there, and while I don’t think they can get automatic promotion, I think they will have to do it the hard way through the playoffs.

You’ve got to worry about the in-form teams. So, they’re hanging in and I think they’ve got to somehow find a way to make sure that they stay in the playoffs.

When you get to the playoffs, anything can happen. I would say I fancied them earlier on for an automatic spot, but now I think it’s the playoffs for them.

There’s so many good teams in the Championship as well. There’s so many great teams down there and during this part of the season, it’s about getting a good run of form together.

Ronaldo

Q: What advice would you give Ronaldo to make sure he reaches 1000 goals in his forties

Dwight Yorke: I just think Ronaldo’s a freak of nature and it’s not often you see these types of players come along. I think the modern-day sports science in the game, he’s taken it all on board. He’s gone to a length that no other players will ever put their body through.

The discipline that he has to go through and do it. To make sure that he’s prepared himself at the age of 40. I think he just wants to continue to break as many records as he can until he’s done.  He’s the only one who will find out when that day finally comes, because he’s got the World Cup lined up.

And he will be the only one who will decide on his retirement. No one is deciding anything except him. And I think until the World Cup has come and gone, I think that’s when he’ll probably reflect on that and where he is. But he’s looking to break all records, and it wouldn’t surprise me to see him keep going past it. 

He doesn’t need any advice from me on scoring goals. You just know that he will keep on producing for as long as he’s lacing his boots. I salute the man. 

The post Dwight Fright! United legend Yorke refuses to rule out relegation for Reds in scathing assessment of former club appeared first on CasinoBeats.

Q: Callum Smith and Joshua Buatsi kicking off the card at 4:30pm. Obviously, you’ve been in the ring with Callum Smith. Maybe he’s a bit past his peak, would you say now? Whereas Joshua Buatsi is coming maybe into the peak of his career…

GG: It’s a fascinating one because in many ways both guys could be past their peak. Buatasi is a product of the 2016 Olympics and even back then, I remember he was in the gym with me, sparring, and as an amateur, just turning professional, I was really impressed with him with how much of an all round fighter that he was. He was big and strong and powerful, but really clever and would be great work for me and nothing to take away from Buatsi at that point but he was a fresh amateur in there with an experienced pro world champion at the time. He would be in there and he’d give me six, eight rounds of solid work where I had to be switched on. 

So I thought he would be a world champion by now and he would have been a world champion for a few years. COVID has come and maybe a few other issues he’s had. And obviously the two best guys at light heavyweight are so dominant at the moment. It hasn’t happened for him, but Callum Smith who I had my last fight against in 2018. That’s over six years ago now. So, that’s how long he’s been operating at the top level. He had the loss against Canelo (Alvarez). But I don’t think that was a fair reflection of his ability. At times throughout his career, Callum Smith has blown hot, blown cold. And when he’s up for it, he’s very dangerous. And when he’s not, he’s not. I think he probably weight trained at super middleweight, up at light heavyweight,  done really well, got destroyed against (Artur) Beterbiev. But other than that, he’s done well. This is a really good fight. This could be who’s got the right guy at the right time.

Because, both guys have got to come in and be on form, because I think if they’re not, and the other guy is firing on all cylinders, they’ll definitely get the win. Joshua Buatsi is the favourite with the bookies. Do you go along with that? Or do you think Callum Smith has the experience at this level to win?  Buatsi’s had a couple of domestic fights. They’re not domestic fights as in the standard of opposition, because he’s beat Craig Richards, who’s operated at world level, he’s beat Dan Azeez, who’s a former European champion. And they were tough fights he had to get through and were close. But he’s got the win, so that would give him that experience. But when you factor it in against what Callum Smith has been in the ring with…He’s fought world champions. He’s been a world champion. I don’t think there’ll be any fear going into this. It’s just whether the legs are a bit more tired and he’s just not quite as fresh, but we’ll see. I think it’s a great fight. It’s a fight that both guys need to have. And at the moment where all the belts are occupied, you can’t really afford a slip up because when that opportunity comes, you want to be at the front of the queue.

Q: Hamzah Sheeraz vs Carlos Adames. He’s gone straight in for the hardest belt to win in that division. You gotta respect that. But this is Adames’ third defense. You can make an argument for both of them, it’s a real 50/50 fight. 

GG: I haven’t seen a lot of Adames, but Sheeraz of late, I feel has been one of the most improved fighters in British boxing. He’s rose to the occasion time and time again, he carries himself like a champion now, and a regular and a key figure of the sort of Riyadh Season shows, which comes with a lot of pressure, I’d imagine. You’ve got fortunate enough to be part of these big shows, you’ll probably get paid well for it, but from experience, if you mess up, you’re out. People are talking about him potentially unifying the division further down the road if he wins here. That’s even more pressure on his shoulders.He seems to thrive on it, he doesn’t seem to feel it. I think so. He’s huge for the weight, really big. Tall guy. Punches hard and a few years ago you might not have backed Sheeraz to have made the improvements that he’d done. But now I think he’s definitely a future world champion. I wouldn’t be surprised if he goes and does a really good job. Stoppage win, you reckon? I think it can happen. Because, I wouldn’t back against his power. And he goes for the finish. When he puts his shots together and he gets the guys hurt, he’s good at closing the show. So, I’d back him for a stoppage win.

Q: Daniel Dubois. Obviously, we’ve seen his power against Anthony Joshua, but it’s a different kind of prospect for him now, isn’t it? Joseph Parker, someone who just has that stamina and doesn’t seem to get hurt easily at all. Could you see him causing an upset here? Because Dubois has got to be favourite. 

GG: I think you go Dubois is your favorite, but this is a tough fight because Joseph Parker is in form and he looks like much more of an athlete now. I think he was always a good boxer and he always had that boxing ability about him that he had to use to have success in the heavyweight division because as much as he’s a big dude, he wasn’t the biggest of heavyweights, but former world champion and used his boxing ability at times to get wins, a few losses on the record. So you’d say has he found his level, but of late, I feel like it’s not just that he beat (Deontay) Wilder and he got off the floor to beat (Zhilei) Zhang because sometimes those wins can backfire against you. They can be flattering but, they are good wins and I feel like just looking at Joseph Parker and how his body’s made up. He looks stronger. He looks fitter. He looks more in tune mentally and he’s a real force. I’m sure he knows now at this stage of his career where now’s his chance to really capitalize, really make something for himself and he can’t afford a loss like no one really can. You don’t want to become just another name, another body, so he’s got another shot against Daniel Dubois, who is in great form.

Q: Will Dubois be going in with the same kind of mindset and tactics that he did with AJ? It’s not really the same kind of style of fighter, is it? So, he’s gonna have to adapt, and it’ll be interesting to see if he can, because people have kind of said he’s a bit of a one trick pony with the power punching..

GG: It’s a great trick (Dubois’ power punching). He must have frightening power. I think I’ll still make Daniel Dubois a favourite, but that is a really close fight, tough to pick the winner. Daniel Dubois when he’s on form, and when he brings that pressure, because he does shape up really well, I think his style of fighting, like the way he holds his hands and the way he moves his head, and it’s almost like an improvement fight after fight. It definitely was when I first saw it, the improvement was against Usyk and he didn’t really blow up because obviously he loses that fight against Usyk, but I thought he’s shaping up better. He looks like he’s evolving. And the Joshua fight. That Joshua win may always be his biggest moment. He might end up having better performances or beating bigger names, but there’ll be nothing in his life that will be what that was. Where he’s the champion ring walking first. He’s fighting in Wembley Stadium. He’s up against Anthony Joshua, the poster boy of British boxing for a long, long time. Whether any setbacks or whatnot. And to put in the performance and the dominant display that he did. In some ways, it will be cynical to say it’s all downhill from there for a while, but he’s got to keep winning. 

What about the main event Bivol vs Beterbiev? Bivol seems kind of angry with himself after the first performance. 

GG: It’s only four months since the first match, isn’t it? So it’s a quick turnaround. I wonder what he’s feeling. Does he feel like he’s been left in the cold? Because that’s what happens in boxing, the winners get celebrated. The losers get another fight. I went to the big award ceremony and, , Beterbiev was on the main table and Bivol was sat off to the side. A lot of times he was there on his own, like really sort of looked a little bit lost. Bivol’s got a recognisable face, but I wonder if his nose is out of joint. He’s like, hold on, I was on a pound for pound list not that long ago, and I’ve had one loss that was razor tight, and now I’m out in the cold. I think it wouldn’t surprise me if, if it is close again to a certain degree, and Bivol gets it and then we see, we see a trilogy. I think both guys were cautious of each other’s ability and each other’s punch power in the first fight. It wasn’t like safety first, but there were loads of moments where it was, it was safety first and boxing off the back foot that Bivol likes to do a lot of the time, might cost him a couple of rounds. Maybe the judges just thought, well, that was razor close, but Bivol was getting driven back, Beterbiev was driving him back so I’m giving that round to Beterbiev. So he might think, right, I’m not going to take a backward step. I’ll not take as many and I’m going to launch that second wave of attacks. So it might be something to draw something to shoot again and then cuts out a lovely angle really well. We could see a little bit more of that. They might have to roll the dice. It might be close at the halfway stage and Bivol goes, I’m going to put something on him, I’m going to have to drop him, I’m going to have to make a dent in him, and then we see a bit more drama, great, that would be great. 

So what’s the official George Groves prediction?

GG: I think Bivol wins. I think it might be close again, but I think Bivol wins and then we see the third one. 

Zhilei Zhang vs Agit Kabael, the German fighter with a Kurdish background, is another heavyweight clash on the cards. We’ve seen a lot of Zhang on these Riyadh cards but what do you make of Kabayel?

GG: It feels like he’s been, he’s been around for a while.

He’s been in the shadows, kind of in the background, hasn’t he? He’s got a win over Derek Chisora and a few others. That was a while back, wasn’t it? 2017, I think. Is that what it was? So, he’s not a huge, huge heavyweight, but he’s effective, he’s good. Because he’s in slightly better form, I’d pick him to beat Zhelei Zhang. But Zhang is such a monster, huge, hard hitting southpaw, it must be hard to find sparring to prepare for someone like that anything goes. It’s just the tank on Zhang isn’t it? I think if you can get him down the back straight, he just kind of runs out of steam, which is what Joseph Parker did to him, to be fair, so maybe he’ll be following a similar kind of tactic.

What’s next for Gervonta Davis? I think he’s got a fight against Lamont Roach coming up, hasn’t he? 

GG: The latest I heard from Tank was that he was talking about retirement. But with the lightweight division so stacked, I can’t see him passing up the opportunity to fight some of these other names. Keyshawn Davis would be a great fight. He’s won the WBO lightweight title recently and we really need some kind of unification fights in that division. Tank might just be playing it cool and maybe he revels in being difficult. He’s from the same kind of ilk as Flloyd Mayweather, a bit anti establishment. 

Can anyone dethrone Canelo at Super Middleweight? I think he’s fighting William Scull in May, and then obviously Terence Crawford in September. What chance do you give Bud there? 

GG: You go against Canelo at your peril because he’s been so dominant at Super Middleweight over the years. I can’t see Crawford putting a dent in him. Obviously he’s got to get past Scull first but I don’t think he’ll struggle to win that fight. So we have to get that out of the way before we can really get into the Crawford fight. But at Super Middleweight I haven’t seen anyone of late who I think is going to give him a run for his money. He still seems like he’s in great physical condition. He does have quite a few miles on the clock now, but he doesn’t show it. It was only in the Bivol fight that he took quite a bit of punishment. I can’t see anyone dethroning him for a while yet.

Is women’s boxing getting the recognition it deserves?  

GG: I keep getting the advert for Claressa Shields’ new movie, The Fire Inside out, so no doubt that will be huge. Boxxer have got this all female card at the Royal Albert Hall in March. That’s going to be historic with the huge all-British world title unification bout between Natasha Jonas and Lauren Price. Caroline Dubois is defending her WBC World Lightweight title too. I think it was always going to take time [for women’s boxing to get more recognition] because there will be a couple of standout stars, but with boxing you always need a dance partner. And until you’ve got a dance partner, then it’s hard. That’s Claressa Shield’s problem really. There’s no one that’s on her level. 

I think women’s boxing is still in a really good place, healthy place and I think it must be quite alluring for young female fighters because you can climb the rankings really quickly. It’s still, in my opinion, a very different sport from the men’s because it is 10 two minute rounds. So because it’s over two minutes, they fight entirely differently than, than, than the men do over three minutes. So let’s take the pressure off of women’s boxing, and not compare it to men’s boxing.

Let’s not talk about it like it’s exactly the same, because it’s not, it’s two minute rounds. So the boxing or the style of boxing that you have to employ over two minutes is totally different. They throw a lot. It feels like when you watch it, I don’t know if they count the punches, but they throw a lot of punches. You don’t see as many knockouts. You don’t see as many shots being set up. Some of them, like Ellie Scottney, are very good, technical boxers. They shape up really well and they have great movement, great feet, great punch selection, but she’s a unified champion and I don’t think she’s ever had a stoppage win. But I think it’s in a really good place. You see it time and time again, loads of females coming through, females doing well.

The post George Groves Interview: Predicts The Winners Of Dubois v Parker & Beterbiev v Bivol On ‘The Last Crescendo’ Card appeared first on CasinoBeats.

We are up in Manchester at ‘For the Love of Wrestling’ convention with WWE Hall of Famer, the Hardcore Legend himself Mick Foley! It’s a pleasure to talk to you Mick. I’ve seen a constant stream of fans at your table today! How has the UK been treating you?

Mick Foley: Yeah I keep it really busy. It’s really nice to know people still care, especially care enough to spend money. It’s one thing to say hello, it’s another thing to come to the table. I spend time and I’m lucky I appreciate people saying hello too. But I appreciate the people coming to the table a little bit more.

Your legacy is huge and you’ve got this 40 years of Mick Foley tour coming up. How did that come about and how are you feeling about it? 

MF: I feel really good. I mean, I started talking. I guess the fact that I’d written some books by myself and that a few of them had done really well, made me a credible college speaker. So over the course of about seven years, I probably spoke to maybe 50 colleges, including colleges like Notre Dame, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, some really great institutes of higher learning. And then when that dried up, I had an opportunity to pursue stand up comedy and , through trial and error, I realized that it was my stories as a wrestler that made me stand out. , that there were lots of people doing observational comedy and I would have had to have worked for them. A decade to become as good as them, but as far as telling stories, I had something I could do and it’s like anything else, the more you work at it, the better you get. I love doing them. I also love taking a break in between tours and thinking of concepts and stories. And so I’m going to be raking out some stories I’ve never told before, relying on a few golden oldies. And then every show is different because there’s a 45 minute Q&A. Sometimes the questions themselves lead to stories I otherwise would not have even thought of telling.

Wrestling has evolved since you were at your peak in WWE. How do you feel about the evolution of wrestling and the way it has toned down, becoming a bit more PG?

MF: Well, I mean, wrestling is always evolving and we have to for survival. If WWE didn’t make the moves they had in the 80s, things that really annoyed the wrestling purists, then we would have been trampled underneath by UFC. And instead, there’s a huge crossover and people seem to appreciate both of them but when you say toned down, I think the matches are better on a whole than they’ve ever been. And I see danger in a different way. I see things like the fast moves coming off the ropes are things that can hurt ligaments and things like that. So these really quick moves that require lightning speed and strength, they’re dangerous for your joints and your ligaments. But also I know how frustrated we were in the Attitude era that our ratings were through the roof and we couldn’t get sponsors like nobody would touch us. So I definitely understand why WWE moved in the direction they did. They made it more accessible to people, not only in the United States, but around the world and so worldwide, wrestling and WWE has never been more popular.

Do you feel you were somewhat undervalued during your time in WWE? 

MF: Well, I’m never going to begrudge anybody who gets what they deserve but yeah, maybe if I’d come along at a different time, but if I come along at a different time, maybe I wouldn’t have been utilized as well. I was kind of an outside the box type of wrestler and I was lucky that when I got to WWE, the powers that be saw something in me and used me really well. But I’m lucky that I can come to Manchester and have people waiting in line to see me. I mean, I haven’t wrestled full time in 25 years. I seriously thought I had a 18 month shelf life before everyone forgot about me. If you would have told me that I’d be making more money for a signing in Manchester than I did by ‘main eventing’ at Madison Square Garden, I would have thought you were crazy.

I suppose your legacy is so larger than life because of the characters you created. People love them all but of Cactus Jack, Mankind, Dude Love, Mick Foley which did you enjoy wrestling as the most? 

MF: Oh man, I hate to say it but I am going to be fence sitting big time. I came to realize that the latter day Mankind really connected with people, especially people who didn’t feel like they fit in. And over the years, at first I started getting comments from people like Hey what you did, the stuff I did with Dwayne Johnson as the Rock and Sock Connection really made people laugh, took their minds off their problems. When it came to the big matches, I’m a Cactus Jack guy. Dude love was always the distant third until I started doing cameo videos and I just kind of reinvented him. Like I went downstairs and I saw this guy literally wearing a jacket made out of action figures so I said hey, come over to my table, I have an idea. And I did need to look at the lyrics of Coat of Many Colors, but I did my version by Coat of Action Figures, which my mama made for me. Dude Love can, he can do silly stuff and goofy stuff and sing songs and do Christmas carols and things like that. So I love all the characters.

The video of you and The Undertaker watching your Hell in Cell match back is great because it’s interesting to see your insight on it. Was your idea to get thrown off the top of the cage and choked slammed through the roof or did it just happen organically? 

MF: Oh, that’s on a need to know basis. Do I strike you as someone who would be stupid enough or brave enough to be thrown willingly off the top of something? Maybe we’ll just leave that to the imagination of our viewers. Viewers, do I look that stupid? Yes I am. Getting chokeslammed through the ring? The chokeslam was an ad lib on the cages part because there was no way to protect myself. So I’m really lucky I didn’t get hurt much worse than I did. Funny thing is for people at home like, Isn’t that a terrible look? [Shows his missing teeth] I’m missing my bottom teeth and the top teeth but the bottom teeth were the ones that were knocked out that night. And so they serve as a reminder. So I don’t need a house full of memorabilia because I’ve got a smile that tells me what I did for a living. 

The WWE kind of commemorated your hardcore attitude by presenting you with the Hardcore Championship belt not long after that? 

MF: I think in the storyline, it was supposed to look like a piece of junk. But the way that I embraced it and the way that the other superstars in WWE and Al Snow like we really made a big deal out of it. And so I would say by far, like 5 to 1, I’ve signed more hardcore titles, replica titles, than I have any other title. People love that title, and they miss it. It’s sad it’s been retired. Do you think they should bring it back? I don’t know, because we can’t get away with the things that we used to do. And then you normalize that kind of wild stuff, and that takes away from the special stipulation matches that make pay per views special. 

I believe you bumped into Logan Paul backstage at the Royal Rumble in January. How did that conversation go and how do you feel about his contribution to WWE so far?

MF: All I want from someone who comes from another world is for them to respect it. They don’t have to love it, but they have to respect it. And he was like, he said he grew up a big fan and he wanted to do stuff like I did. And I said, I knew when I was doing what I did. That other people would come along and add the natural athleticism that I never had. And so guys like Jeff Hardy did it and Darby Allen and AEW and Logan’s doing a great job. So I don’t have any problem with people coming in. Bad Bunny obviously took it very seriously. I think you have to. There’s some real wisdom to what Mr. Miyagi said to Daniel LaRusso. He said, if you stand on one side of the road, you’re fine. Stand on the other, you’re fine. Stand in the middle, you get squashed like a grape. And so that was what I kept in mind when I did the wild stuff in Japan. You either don’t do it, or you go for it. But if you stand in the middle you risk getting hurt worse or you risk not making an impression on anybody. And so we’re all about making impressions. 

Do you reckon the WWE will ever induct specific matches into the Hall of Fame like the UFC do and if they did what matches would get in?

MF: I have to tell you I’ve never heard of that before. The NBA Hall of Fame does that or. Your Hell in a Cell would definitely be the first one in. I’m pretty sure everyone would be in agreement on that. I don’t know if it would be the first one in, but I think it would be a, be part of the first intake, I would like to think so at least. I think that Cell match is the only match in wrestling history that people celebrate the anniversary of. Like they remember where they were and they like to relive it. It’s got its legacy of its own, which not many matches can say to be fair.

You never wrestled Hulk Hogan which might surprise a few people. Why was that?

MF: No, I did a couple of in-ring promos with Hulk, and it is a big deal. I think there’s two types of people in the wrestling world; those who will admit that it’s a big deal to be in the ring with him, and those who lie about it. And it makes me wish that I had stayed in Impact Wrestling just a few months longer, because I think if Hulk and I had had a match, we could have had a pretty good match. I mean, it would’ve been a little on the methodical side, but I believe we could have told his story and gotten a great reaction out of it.

It was nice that he finally apologised to you about the Terry Funk comparison comments.

MF: He did. What I said to him was, I appreciate that it was not necessary, but it was very much appreciated. 

Uso vs. GUNTHER is currently the only official match for WrestleMania 41. What other matches would you like to see on the bill?

MF: I would like to see Dirty Dom get his comeuppance from Rhea Ripley. I would love to see an Intergender match. I mean, I know some people would think she’s beyond a stipulation match of that type but I would personally like to see that. I’d like to see the return of Becky Lynch. Either at Mania or before Mania. She’s doing good as a mom. She has a new contract and I think they’re just waiting for the right time to bring her back. 

It’s John Cena’s final year in WWE. What do you hope he achieves before he walks away? 

MF: I sang a birthday song of my own writing to John Cena, and he had tears. It was John Cena Senior. It was John’s dad, but he was still John Cena. And it was the day after his 81st birthday, and I sang my version of My Way, which I changed to Birthday. If you want a little bit of it? Singing >> The years go by so fast, at every stop, you cheered me on, son. That night at Worcester Mass, I won the belt, I beat Dwayne Johnson. To think you saw all that. You saw Mankind in its best and worst ways. And now, mankind sees you on your birthday! << It was just time for a new version and happy birthday to you has run its course, it’s been sung billions of times, it was time for a new classic, so I wrote one.

I read that you said you think Shane McMahon is fearless. Do you think he was born fearless or do you think he just kind of trained his mind to not feel fear? 

MF: I don’t know. I hear from the Mean Street Posse that he was always kind of fearless. One of them, Pete Gas, said they used to go out and he’d be car surfing at 60 miles per hour. You wouldn’t get me on the top of a car at all. Of course, I couldn’t balance up there. So I don’t know if it’s always been in him, but since his teen years, I think he’s been pretty fearless. Maybe if something was to earn his dad’s approval maybe a rebellion, but I think he was always a thrill seeker.

The Undertaker and yourself kind of have opposing views politically, which has been documented. You’re certainly no fan of Donald Trump but what have you made of the start of second term as President of the USA? 

MF: Well I’m not happy about it but I can’t go around holding a grudge against 70 percent of the men I run into. I saw what I saw on January 6th and I think a lot of people forget what they saw and instead saw what they hoped they saw after the fact. I mean if you would have taken a poll of the nation at that time, it would have been a ridiculously small number that said, yeah I’m voting for that guy who tried to overthrow a duly elected president. Short memories. I mean, it’s a shame because it’s not just in the United States, but the world in general, like you can’t go backwards on global warming, but we are. Why that ranked 22nd among American voters in importance, over the price of eggs which they think was more important than global warming. So it’s a shame, but I remember in 2016 when he won I just said, man we’re going to need more happiness in the world and I’m going to try to spread it. So I don’t ask someone when they say hello to me who they voted for before I take a photo with them or anything like that. So I’m just trying to see if we can all get along. Big, big mistake in my opinion, but the people of America voted and made their voice heard and we’ll see what happens in the future. To wipe out USAid because five guys with no government experience said there was fraud? Well let’s see that and how much fraud is there and is it worth having thousands of people and famine affected countries die. I just don’t understand and I think it’s very short sighted. And I don’t know how no one picked up on the fact that Trump mispronounced Kamala Harris’ name when there was a 400 pound black wrestler who was supposed to be a Ugandan savage named Kamala. I think he knows that and that’s why he did it. Because even if people don’t realise it, he’s planting that seed of association. Kamala Harris, who’s a beautiful woman, is not Ugandan.

Will Ospreay is a British wrestler with huge potential. Where do you see his future?

MF: I’m laughing because my daughter was on the Jericho cruise and she said Will is quite the character, which I didn’t know. But he’s phenomenal. I was so impressed since I saw him and Ricochet just doing some amazing stuff. So yeah, I mean, his future is pretty much limitless at this point.

Now that Tyson Fury is retired from boxing, do you think another WWE run could be on the cards? 

MF: Oh he is? I didn’t know that. Tyson Fury’s made for our world. He really enjoys it. Another guy who respects it. I met him and he was a big wrestling fan and he didn’t just bring a lot of fun to it, but he brought a lot of talent. I mean a guy that size just the way he was moving away and dodging punches, kind of like Muhammad Ali with the quickness and the head movements were unbelievable. Amazing stuff. 

What about Conor McGregor? Can you see him getting a shot? 

MF: I mean, I’d have to see how big Conor is when he’s not cutting weight. I mean, you have to really love it and I don’t know what the incentive would be unless he wants the spotlight. I’m sure he would find a way to be really good at it. But let’s face it, what he did was take WWE and bring it to UFC. Like he even has the Vince McMahon walk. I mean even Muhammad Ali admits that he got his schtick, in fairness it wasn’t schtick, it was much more than that, from watching Gorgeous George. So a lot of people have borrowed from what we do and used it in their realm of sports or even politics. Conor would do very well if he put his heart into it. 

If Tony Khan came calling with the offer of maybe like a managerial role in AEW, would you be interested? 

MF: Well, what’s funny is I met with Tony Khan for lunch years and years ago and I would occasionally, back when I was on Twitter, I’d occasionally DM him like ‘Hey, see if you can get the music to Thunderstruck for Thunder Rosa, just little things like that for. Honestly, I wouldn’t want to travel every week to do a show. I really like what I’m doing now. I like being able to pick or choose and I do keep busy. But I like the idea that if I don’t want to be on the road, I just don’t take bookings for a week or two, and then I have myself two or three weeks off. When I was the general manager, on paper it doesn’t sound like a lot of work, but it’s not one day of work. It’s three, it’s one day traveling there, one day at work, one day back, and you can never ask for a day off. And so I’m a guy that likes to go to amusement parks and go and see things and you couldn’t do that.

Vince McMahon has had such a huge impact on the wrestling world. Can you remember your initial reaction the first time you met him and how that went down?

MF: Yeah, I remember he was calling me Mike! Yeah, we want to know what’s best for Mike. I feel like saying what’s best for Mike is to be called Mick. I didn’t know until after I’d recorded my initial vignettes that he really wasn’t that familiar with what I did. So everyone liked the initial Mankind vignettes except the guy who needed to like them. And so I had to kind of dig myself out of a hole and find my way, with that character to his liking. And luckily for me, when I did, he strapped the rocket to my back, as we say in the business.

Was there any kind of storylines or angles that he was suggesting that you weren’t keen on, or you tried to actually push back against, or did you kind of just go with the flow? 

MF: Yeah, I wasn’t hesitant. There was one time in particular where Vince and the company wanted me to do a heel turn but it was shortly after the Mankind babyface turn. This is in 1998  and I sensed that this was real. I’d been in wrestling at that point for 13 years. And I sensed that it was working on a level that very few performers are able to connect on. So I pleaded with him, just keep me a babyface, please, please, like this is working. And so Vince would call me a yucky babyface. But I was really glad that I really spoke up about that because I’m not sure if people would be here like they are now at these events if I hadn’t had that longer run.

Was this the era where all the Mr. Socko signs were in the crowd?

MF: Yeah. It would have worked in the short term. I could have had one or two big pay per views as heel Mankind but I think it would have flattened out pretty quickly after that.

Who’s the most charismatic wrestler you’ve ever wrestled?

MF: I mean Ric Flair had endless charisma, but there’s a reason why The Rock’s the biggest star in the world. He was just able to segue what he had done in wrestling into Hollywood. I would say seemingly effortlessly but anytime something seems effortless, it’s because somebody’s put a lot of hard work into making it look that way. So he’s always been the hardest worker in the room and deserves all the success he can get. And he’s the first person to respond to me when I send out my Santa videos. He is a big fan of the Foley Santa videos.

What about the most underrated wrestler that you’ve wrestled with?  

MF: Man we always say Brad Armstrong from the famous Armstrong family was a really underrated wrestler. Bobby Eaton, probably historically underrated. If you gave me a list of people, I could probably say who I felt was overlooked. Al Snow! Al Snow was underrated. But those are a couple off the top of my mind.

The favorite match you ever competed in? 

MF: My favorite match I ever competed in was Backlash against Randy Orton.

What about your WWE Mount Rushmore? 

MF: I was just asked about my Mount Rushmore earlier but it was not a WWE Mount Rushmore. Okay, what is the general Mount Rushmore? My general Mount Rushmore would be  Terry Funk, Shawn Michaels, Bruiser Brody and Tommy Billington, the Dynamite Kid. Those are unusual choices, but no one says ‘nah they don’t deserve to be there’. If it was a WWE Mount Rushmore, I’d go with Ric Flair, Shawn Michaels, The Rock and Stone Cold Steve Austin. 

Your daughter was training to become a wrestler but she unfortunately suffered a concussion on a roller coaster. That must have been a tough time for her. 

MF: It’s been really tough because I was talking with Shane Douglas about it saying, look how many times we had our brains jogged. She had one serious concussion and it changed her whole life. She’s still undergoing treatment for it, but she’s coming around and she’s doing better. She was on the Jericho cruise, which she never could have done a year or two ago and just fingers crossed prayers being said that she’ll continue to heal. 

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