WEBVTT - Virgil Hunter On The Day Andre Almost Lost Everything: “You’re Going To Go Downhill” | Part 1 0:00:02.200 --> 0:00:06.440 We gotta wear every single round. You hear me, Drake Man, 0:00:06.600 --> 0:00:07.720 this is what great you see it? 0:00:08.960 --> 0:00:12.440 Robinson got up litterard and got up all lady got up, 0:00:12.560 --> 0:00:13.200 You got up? 0:00:13.480 --> 0:00:13.840 Do it. 0:00:14.880 --> 0:00:17.919 Welcome back to another episode of the Art of War Today. 0:00:18.160 --> 0:00:19.880 I got a man as my guest to it. 0:00:20.120 --> 0:00:24.320 Very special to my heart is my trainer, godfather and 0:00:24.680 --> 0:00:28.720 the twenty eleven Boxing Riders Association Trainer of the Year 0:00:28.880 --> 0:00:31.000 and one of the greatest minds in the sport of boxing. 0:00:31.720 --> 0:00:34.280 And y'all been asking for want a Welcome to the show, 0:00:34.920 --> 0:00:36.920 Virgil Hunter Bean, what's up baby? 0:00:37.040 --> 0:00:37.880 How you b baby? 0:00:38.040 --> 0:00:40.000 Man? I'm good good, I'm give you got your You 0:00:40.000 --> 0:00:42.120 got your Stevie wonder thing going on? Man? With the tent, 0:00:42.200 --> 0:00:42.960 what's you got going on? 0:00:43.200 --> 0:00:46.319 Actually it's a blu rays Okay. Yeah, So they keep 0:00:46.360 --> 0:00:49.040 everything calm, the quarters all down and things like that. 0:00:49.120 --> 0:00:51.159 I found out that it works that sleep real good 0:00:51.200 --> 0:00:51.800 at night. Now. 0:00:52.000 --> 0:00:54.200 See that's the age when you start getting older, you 0:00:54.240 --> 0:00:57.240 start going more for comfort and functionality over over. 0:00:57.560 --> 0:00:59.640 Well, it takes skills to get old. You know what 0:00:59.680 --> 0:01:02.400 I'm saying. You can't. You just can't help harbor on 0:01:02.400 --> 0:01:04.760 one thing. What you did in twenty you can't do 0:01:04.840 --> 0:01:07.120 in fifty and so on and so on. So it's 0:01:07.120 --> 0:01:10.120 all about preservation. You got a roleo trying to be here. 0:01:10.840 --> 0:01:12.920 Oh I wear it every now and then. Yeah, yeah, 0:01:13.040 --> 0:01:14.959 just to keep it click moving. 0:01:16.319 --> 0:01:18.800 Man, I'm back in the gym. Man. This is uh, 0:01:19.000 --> 0:01:19.800 this was home. 0:01:19.680 --> 0:01:21.919 For many many years for the house that you built. 0:01:22.160 --> 0:01:24.560 Yeah, it's it's I remember me and me and me 0:01:24.600 --> 0:01:26.640 and my wife. Man, we were looking for gyms because 0:01:26.959 --> 0:01:28.280 we're training in Oakland. 0:01:27.920 --> 0:01:29.600 And we just had a lot of uh, you know, 0:01:29.640 --> 0:01:30.200 there's a lot of. 0:01:30.120 --> 0:01:32.399 Traffic coming in, especially as we started really growing and 0:01:32.440 --> 0:01:35.200 I became a champion, we needed some private man, and 0:01:35.280 --> 0:01:38.080 looking at all these you know, industrial buildings, and man, 0:01:38.080 --> 0:01:40.920 we we built this from the ground up, from the 0:01:41.680 --> 0:01:44.800 mirrors to you know, put the mats over here, heavy. 0:01:44.640 --> 0:01:46.240 Bass, feed bags, equipment. 0:01:46.520 --> 0:01:48.520 Man, we didn't have some great moments in this gym, man. 0:01:48.600 --> 0:01:51.920 And man, it's good to be back. And I just 0:01:51.920 --> 0:01:53.600 want to take you know, normally I do you know, 0:01:54.280 --> 0:01:56.800 I have my notes and I do my thing, and 0:01:57.480 --> 0:01:59.000 you know, I just I just want this today to 0:01:59.040 --> 0:02:00.880 be just more of a conversation with us, just kind 0:02:00.880 --> 0:02:03.720 of kind of talking and vibeing just about the history 0:02:03.720 --> 0:02:05.200 and how we got to this point. You know, I 0:02:05.240 --> 0:02:06.919 think it's a lot of things we can talk about 0:02:07.040 --> 0:02:08.800 that would bless a lot of people and just get 0:02:08.840 --> 0:02:10.720 people insight to the journey. 0:02:10.720 --> 0:02:12.600 You know, they see the fight night or they see the. 0:02:12.520 --> 0:02:15.000 Interviews, but they don't really understand exact a lot of 0:02:15.000 --> 0:02:15.560 the process. 0:02:15.600 --> 0:02:15.760 Man. 0:02:15.800 --> 0:02:17.120 So I want to I want to go back to 0:02:18.639 --> 0:02:19.720 I think it's ninety five. 0:02:20.480 --> 0:02:21.280 You know when I. 0:02:21.240 --> 0:02:23.799 First met you a US karate in box and it 0:02:23.880 --> 0:02:28.400 was a karate school and a boxing gym in Hayward, California. 0:02:28.600 --> 0:02:31.560 And my dad was in there and you. 0:02:31.520 --> 0:02:33.280 Were in there that day, and I was hitting the 0:02:33.280 --> 0:02:35.639 heavy bag. Man, what's your what's your earliest memory from 0:02:35.639 --> 0:02:36.080 that moment. 0:02:37.000 --> 0:02:39.920 Well, I was in there working out myself, and I 0:02:39.919 --> 0:02:43.320 had finished and completed my workout and I was sitting 0:02:43.360 --> 0:02:45.240 on the side of the ring and I just heard 0:02:45.280 --> 0:02:47.200 a little pop over in the bag. So I happened 0:02:47.200 --> 0:02:49.880 to look over and there you were standing there, a 0:02:49.880 --> 0:02:51.919 little kid hitting the bag, and every now and then 0:02:51.960 --> 0:02:54.360 you turn around and look at me, and I died 0:02:54.400 --> 0:02:58.800 my head and approval like that, and at that time 0:02:59.120 --> 0:03:01.040 didn't think much of it. Was just a kid in there. 0:03:01.080 --> 0:03:04.120 You know, I don't know why my attention was averted 0:03:04.120 --> 0:03:06.320 over to where you were. I don't know why I 0:03:06.440 --> 0:03:09.360 just nodded approve. I don't know why eyes met, but 0:03:09.400 --> 0:03:13.560 they met several times. So that's my earliest recollection. I 0:03:13.560 --> 0:03:15.800 believe it was ninety four because you were ten years old. 0:03:16.320 --> 0:03:18.120 You were born in eighty four, right, yeah, so I 0:03:18.240 --> 0:03:20.320 think it was ninety four. You might have just turned ten. 0:03:21.000 --> 0:03:22.240 Yeah around that. 0:03:22.280 --> 0:03:25.480 Time, man, and this you know that day my dad, 0:03:25.520 --> 0:03:27.480 you know, you had a conversation with my dad and 0:03:27.639 --> 0:03:29.280 I was actually training with another trainer. 0:03:29.080 --> 0:03:29.480 At that time. 0:03:29.520 --> 0:03:31.440 It was that the guy we call it the house 0:03:31.440 --> 0:03:34.440 trainer person, the guy that trains most of the people 0:03:34.440 --> 0:03:37.200 that come through the gym. But the style, my dad 0:03:37.240 --> 0:03:37.560 didn't like. 0:03:37.600 --> 0:03:37.880 The style. 0:03:37.960 --> 0:03:40.520 It was a style of take two punches to give one. 0:03:40.600 --> 0:03:43.480 And my dad was you know, he boxed as an 0:03:43.520 --> 0:03:47.240 amateur in high school in San Bruno, California, and he 0:03:47.400 --> 0:03:49.240 liked to dance, you know, in the ring. 0:03:49.320 --> 0:03:50.480 You know, he was an Ali fan. 0:03:50.560 --> 0:03:54.080 And y'all started talking and he said something to you, said, man, 0:03:54.080 --> 0:03:54.920 I want to teach. 0:03:54.720 --> 0:03:57.000 My son how to hit and not get hit. 0:03:57.680 --> 0:04:01.360 And you you told my dad, you said, that's my specialty. 0:04:02.480 --> 0:04:05.120 Well, we got into a conversation. I think your dad 0:04:05.240 --> 0:04:07.800 was watching me work out. He felt comfortable approaching me, 0:04:08.320 --> 0:04:10.280 and he says, look, I have my two sons here. 0:04:10.400 --> 0:04:12.440 They want a box and everything like that. He said, 0:04:12.480 --> 0:04:15.320 I'm not really happy with who's training him right now. 0:04:15.800 --> 0:04:17.560 So my question to him is, well, what are you 0:04:17.600 --> 0:04:20.279 looking for? What do you want? What do you want 0:04:20.279 --> 0:04:22.680 you to get out of boxing? He said, well, I've 0:04:22.680 --> 0:04:26.080 always been a big Muhammad Ali fan, so I liked 0:04:26.120 --> 0:04:28.479 that idea hitting and not getting hit. And I said, 0:04:28.600 --> 0:04:29.920 well that's my specialty. 0:04:30.920 --> 0:04:33.120 Man. It's crazy. I thought about this recently. 0:04:33.600 --> 0:04:37.520 Just that conversation alone and my dad having that type 0:04:37.520 --> 0:04:40.800 of vision right saved me from. 0:04:40.680 --> 0:04:41.599 So much punishment. 0:04:42.640 --> 0:04:45.800 Like my quality of life today is what it is 0:04:45.839 --> 0:04:47.560 because my dad wasn't one of them dads. 0:04:47.560 --> 0:04:48.840 I was like, nah, man, you gotta. 0:04:48.640 --> 0:04:50.880 Make him tough, you know, just making tough, getting in 0:04:50.880 --> 0:04:51.800 shae and teach him how to fight. 0:04:51.800 --> 0:04:53.719 I want him to fight. If that was the case, 0:04:54.839 --> 0:04:56.279 I don't know where I would have been. 0:04:56.160 --> 0:04:58.960 Mentally, you know, physically, because it just would have been 0:04:59.000 --> 0:05:01.000 a hard role. Because I was kid that had drive, 0:05:01.080 --> 0:05:03.480 I was competitive, so I and I wasn't you know, 0:05:03.560 --> 0:05:06.440 I wasn't scared. Just that one conversation saved me from 0:05:06.440 --> 0:05:09.080 so much punishment in amateur boxing and proboxing. 0:05:10.000 --> 0:05:13.839 Well, it's definitely a spiritual journey that you can deny. Uh, 0:05:13.880 --> 0:05:16.960 The introduction was spiritual because you if you remember, I 0:05:17.000 --> 0:05:19.200 told you later on. During that time, I was going 0:05:19.279 --> 0:05:23.240 through a little mild depression because I thought I had 0:05:23.279 --> 0:05:26.480 a son that I was initially was working with and 0:05:26.520 --> 0:05:29.280 he was taken from me. So I cared about him 0:05:29.320 --> 0:05:31.120 so much. I loved him so much. I was going 0:05:31.160 --> 0:05:34.400 through a depression, a mild depression. I was coming home 0:05:34.440 --> 0:05:37.440 every night pouring a shot of Tanga ray or two, 0:05:38.000 --> 0:05:40.680 smoking a couple of cigarettes. This was a ritual every night, 0:05:40.720 --> 0:05:42.680 even though I wasn't a smoker, even though I wasn't 0:05:42.680 --> 0:05:45.200 a drinker, which was the deal with what I was 0:05:45.240 --> 0:05:49.320 dealing with. It really hurt me so but I just 0:05:49.320 --> 0:05:52.520 snatched away like that. So I went to the gym 0:05:52.680 --> 0:05:54.960 to stay in shape, try to keep my mind intact, 0:05:55.279 --> 0:05:59.400 try to keep my spirits up. And you know, that 0:05:59.480 --> 0:06:02.279 day happened. That day happened, and from that day on, 0:06:03.839 --> 0:06:06.720 I knew it was for a reason. I just knew 0:06:06.720 --> 0:06:09.719 it it's something deep down. It was for a reason, 0:06:09.800 --> 0:06:15.040 long before everything manifested itself, long before the potential showed 0:06:15.120 --> 0:06:16.640 up and everything. I just knew it was for a 0:06:16.640 --> 0:06:20.640 reason because I also was training kids at the probation Department, 0:06:21.320 --> 0:06:23.200 and I would get them real good while they were 0:06:23.240 --> 0:06:24.880 locked up, and then when they would get out, they 0:06:24.880 --> 0:06:27.280 would come to the gym and they trained three or 0:06:27.279 --> 0:06:30.599 four months. But eventually, you know, the home situation, the 0:06:30.680 --> 0:06:33.920 money situation, the peer pressure, they would always go back 0:06:33.920 --> 0:06:36.800 to the street. So I kind of got fed up 0:06:36.800 --> 0:06:39.000 with that, and I made myself a promise. I said, 0:06:39.040 --> 0:06:42.200 if I ever start again, it's gonna be a young kid, 0:06:43.760 --> 0:06:46.760 young enough, but the temptations are not there yet to 0:06:46.800 --> 0:06:49.160 where I can give him a foundation that when the 0:06:49.200 --> 0:06:52.839 temptations come, he'll have something to fall back on. He 0:06:52.920 --> 0:06:55.479 won't go across the line. He might tow the line, 0:06:55.520 --> 0:06:58.200 but he won't go across the line. That always stayed 0:06:58.200 --> 0:07:01.279 in my mind from the beginning, you know, and then 0:07:01.320 --> 0:07:03.520 you had the support that you had, You had your father, 0:07:03.560 --> 0:07:06.680 there's supporting the situation. So I needed that situation too. 0:07:07.200 --> 0:07:08.960 I knew that you were taking care of that, your 0:07:09.000 --> 0:07:11.360 needs were being met, so I didn't have to worry 0:07:11.400 --> 0:07:14.320 about you l leaving the gym and then it got 0:07:14.320 --> 0:07:16.120 to go to the block to make some money so 0:07:16.160 --> 0:07:17.800 you can eat that night, or go to the block 0:07:17.840 --> 0:07:20.720 that morning so you can buy some shoes for school. 0:07:21.000 --> 0:07:23.600 I didn't have that worry, so it allowed me to 0:07:23.640 --> 0:07:26.920 relax and gradually I began to heal from the depression 0:07:26.960 --> 0:07:31.560 because your presence replaced all of that. Man, it's crazy cause, 0:07:31.600 --> 0:07:34.600 like you know, my dad, I had my father there, 0:07:34.760 --> 0:07:36.240 me and my brother. He was raising us as a 0:07:36.240 --> 0:07:39.000 single parent, and then we had different mothers. 0:07:39.000 --> 0:07:41.120 So Jonathan, my brother, h his. 0:07:41.120 --> 0:07:43.560 Mom was doing what she was doing, and then my 0:07:43.600 --> 0:07:47.640 mom was fighting an active drug addiction. So you know, 0:07:47.680 --> 0:07:51.040 we had stability, but we also had some instability too, 0:07:51.680 --> 0:07:53.960 you know, and we didn't understand everything. 0:07:53.720 --> 0:07:54.400 That was going on. 0:07:54.560 --> 0:07:57.880 But you know, it was good because once we started 0:07:57.880 --> 0:08:00.280 locking in, you know what you and Millie, you know, 0:08:00.320 --> 0:08:02.640 your wife for those that don't know, you know, we 0:08:02.640 --> 0:08:05.400 were able to go to your house sometimes get my 0:08:05.480 --> 0:08:07.200 dad a break, and then you know, we was going 0:08:07.240 --> 0:08:10.200 back and forth, so we ultimately ended up losing our 0:08:10.240 --> 0:08:11.680 house because my dad had to go back into a 0:08:11.720 --> 0:08:12.440 drug program. 0:08:12.880 --> 0:08:14.280 You know, it was a good fit for us to 0:08:14.320 --> 0:08:16.680 go and stay with y'all, you know, but. 0:08:16.640 --> 0:08:20.040 It was always in the plan. You know, when you 0:08:20.040 --> 0:08:22.320 see the plan unfold, then you begin to realize why 0:08:22.320 --> 0:08:24.480 I was in this plan, because long before you came 0:08:24.520 --> 0:08:27.200 to stay with me, you were staying over, spending the night, 0:08:27.600 --> 0:08:29.120 and would take you up to the country and we 0:08:29.160 --> 0:08:31.000 would go to Santa Cruz. We would do a lot 0:08:31.040 --> 0:08:33.640 of different things together. And you know, I was giving 0:08:33.679 --> 0:08:35.760 your father a break on the weekend because I know 0:08:35.800 --> 0:08:37.920 he worked hard in his business and things like that, 0:08:38.440 --> 0:08:40.480 and a lot of times you were telling me, you know, man, 0:08:40.480 --> 0:08:42.480 I got to stay home today because Dad's tired this 0:08:42.520 --> 0:08:44.920 and then and there and the other. So merely fell 0:08:44.960 --> 0:08:47.560 in love with your guys right away. My wife the 0:08:47.600 --> 0:08:49.920 only person that I know, only woman I know that 0:08:49.960 --> 0:08:53.840 would take in two young boys like that. So when 0:08:53.840 --> 0:08:57.240 that time came and your dad came to me and 0:08:57.280 --> 0:08:58.960 he said, look, you know I'm gonna have to go 0:08:59.000 --> 0:09:01.360 into this program. I'm gonna have to let the house go. 0:09:03.040 --> 0:09:05.880 The thing is is where I'm gonna have Andre and Jonathan, 0:09:05.920 --> 0:09:08.160 he said, because I talked to my sister and they say, oh, 0:09:08.280 --> 0:09:10.439 maybe a week or so. It's good, and things like that, 0:09:11.200 --> 0:09:14.280 and you know, so I told him, I said, they 0:09:14.280 --> 0:09:16.880 can stay here. They used to be in here anyway, 0:09:17.240 --> 0:09:18.960 They spend the night all the time. They used to 0:09:18.960 --> 0:09:20.640 be in here, so they could stay here and not 0:09:20.880 --> 0:09:23.440 you know, so that's what happened. I think he told 0:09:23.480 --> 0:09:26.440 me that you guys wanted to stay with me, So. 0:09:26.559 --> 0:09:28.280 Yeah, we really didn't to be The truth is, we 0:09:28.280 --> 0:09:29.560 didn't really have no other options. 0:09:29.600 --> 0:09:31.160 Yeah, you know, I know, you know, don't. 0:09:31.240 --> 0:09:33.200 I don't fault nobody for that, because you know, you 0:09:33.240 --> 0:09:34.719 got a ten year old, eleven year old maybe it's 0:09:34.800 --> 0:09:36.400 twelve and thirteen at that time, somewhere around. 0:09:36.440 --> 0:09:38.600 Yeah, that's a lot. It's a lot to just get that. 0:09:39.280 --> 0:09:41.760 Yeah, get two boys like that put in your life 0:09:41.760 --> 0:09:44.599 from monetary standpoint, needing. 0:09:44.360 --> 0:09:46.040 Your food, like buying your clothes. 0:09:46.200 --> 0:09:48.080 But the truth is is you and merely were there 0:09:48.120 --> 0:09:49.520 really the only option that we had. 0:09:50.080 --> 0:09:53.479 But that was the only option meant to be, you know, spiritually, 0:09:53.520 --> 0:09:55.320 that was the only option meant to be. Because I 0:09:55.400 --> 0:09:58.160 understand this to be a spiritual trip, a spiritual journey. 0:09:58.400 --> 0:10:00.600 I'd look at it that way. That's the only way 0:10:00.600 --> 0:10:02.800 I can look at it. I can't deny, I dispute it, 0:10:03.720 --> 0:10:06.960 so everything was just in place, step by step, brick 0:10:07.040 --> 0:10:10.640 by brick, you know, layer by layer, everything was in place. 0:10:10.960 --> 0:10:12.920 The world never got a chance to meet my father, 0:10:13.040 --> 0:10:16.000 But what what was your earliest memories of him? 0:10:16.040 --> 0:10:18.760 I felt your father was a man of principle, and 0:10:18.960 --> 0:10:21.800 in spite of our struggles, we can have principles. In 0:10:21.840 --> 0:10:25.160 spite of our struggles, we can have character. In spite 0:10:25.200 --> 0:10:27.880 of our struggles, we do have genuine love in our heart. 0:10:28.240 --> 0:10:30.840 It's just sometimes our struggle can override that and we 0:10:30.920 --> 0:10:34.920 question it sometimes. But what's There's gonna be there. Sometimes 0:10:34.920 --> 0:10:37.360 you can get diverted by other things and other activities 0:10:37.400 --> 0:10:40.440 that are going on. But in this situation, he gave 0:10:40.480 --> 0:10:45.120 you a foundation, a foundation of respect, a foundation of caring, 0:10:45.679 --> 0:10:50.800 a foundation of intuition, a foundation of comprehension. He gave 0:10:50.840 --> 0:10:52.920 you all those things so when you came, it wasn't 0:10:53.000 --> 0:10:57.319 like you had to be programmed into those uh categories 0:10:57.320 --> 0:11:00.240 every there. It was already existing. So it made things 0:11:00.280 --> 0:11:02.800 a little easier. You're you were able to communicate. 0:11:02.960 --> 0:11:04.720 Man, My dad was big on respect. 0:11:04.760 --> 0:11:07.080 My dad was big on you know, doing things right, 0:11:07.720 --> 0:11:09.640 looking people in the eyes, shaking they hand. 0:11:09.840 --> 0:11:12.880 You know, we start using slang. Hey, man, what would 0:11:12.880 --> 0:11:13.160 you say? 0:11:13.200 --> 0:11:13.640 You know here? 0:11:13.720 --> 0:11:16.040 Correct us, Like, that's just who my dad was, man. 0:11:16.280 --> 0:11:19.160 And you know, I even look at my mom. Ain't 0:11:19.160 --> 0:11:22.000 my dad? You know, as I've gotten older, you know, 0:11:22.040 --> 0:11:24.000 when you're young, you start looking at what your parents 0:11:24.120 --> 0:11:25.600 didn't do or. 0:11:25.559 --> 0:11:26.640 How they could have did it better. 0:11:26.679 --> 0:11:30.319 But when you understand the beast uh the sixties and 0:11:30.360 --> 0:11:32.880 the seventies, you know, like they didn't know what they 0:11:32.920 --> 0:11:35.520 was getting theyself into experimenting with them drugs. 0:11:35.559 --> 0:11:36.880 They were just looking for escape. 0:11:37.080 --> 0:11:38.959 M We're looking for a hide to party, and it's 0:11:39.040 --> 0:11:41.959 like boom, you know, an addiction came in and then 0:11:42.000 --> 0:11:43.760 you carrying that thing into the next. 0:11:43.880 --> 0:11:45.640 Decade to the next decade, you know. 0:11:46.160 --> 0:11:48.440 And I just I've been able to have more more 0:11:48.520 --> 0:11:52.199 understanding about that and more grace and mercy just understanding that, 0:11:52.440 --> 0:11:54.360 you know, like even my mom being in and out 0:11:54.360 --> 0:11:56.040 of my life. Yeah, that that that was a wound. 0:11:56.120 --> 0:11:57.960 That was a mother wound. And sometimes I still gotta 0:11:57.960 --> 0:11:58.600 fight to this day. 0:11:59.440 --> 0:12:02.640 You know. But I know it wasn't intentional. I know 0:12:02.760 --> 0:12:04.240 it wasn't on purpose, you know what I mean. 0:12:04.600 --> 0:12:08.120 No, I don't believe it was on purpose. Again, when 0:12:08.360 --> 0:12:10.800 when you're confronted with a situation like that where you 0:12:10.840 --> 0:12:14.400 have something so powerful and mind altering and at the 0:12:14.440 --> 0:12:18.800 same time it gives you eupharia. You feel your pharia 0:12:18.960 --> 0:12:21.360 when you're able to forget your problems and everything like that. 0:12:21.400 --> 0:12:24.120 You're gonna gravitate to that. Only if a cigarette is 0:12:24.120 --> 0:12:26.040 able to make you forget your problems and you your 0:12:26.120 --> 0:12:29.520 fork and you happy with everybody, you're gonna gravitate towards that. 0:12:30.000 --> 0:12:32.240 And at the time that you're gravitating toward it and 0:12:32.280 --> 0:12:35.360 getting the fulfillment of the eupharia, you're not thinking about 0:12:35.480 --> 0:12:37.959 the long run that euphoria goes away now all of 0:12:38.000 --> 0:12:40.600 a sudden, you need it not to get sick, you 0:12:40.679 --> 0:12:43.880 needed just to function. So it's a double ed sword. 0:12:44.120 --> 0:12:44.320 Yeah. 0:12:44.480 --> 0:12:47.760 So like they didn't know how the long term cost, 0:12:48.679 --> 0:12:50.760 They didn't know the long term consequence of heroin. 0:12:50.920 --> 0:12:53.600 No, you know, but by the time you figure it out, 0:12:53.600 --> 0:12:54.760 it's too late. It's too late. 0:12:54.960 --> 0:12:56.959 Back to the gym in the boxing, man, it took 0:12:57.080 --> 0:12:59.960 so you and my dad, like y'all didn't lit me 0:13:00.120 --> 0:13:02.440 fight right away. You know, I was in that gym 0:13:02.720 --> 0:13:06.320 getting battle tested with and Anito Denier, a great Filipino fighter. 0:13:06.360 --> 0:13:07.360 His brother Glendon him. 0:13:07.559 --> 0:13:09.800 A lot of people don't know him, man, but he 0:13:09.920 --> 0:13:12.880 was a beast and he's older than me, stronger than me. 0:13:13.360 --> 0:13:14.920 But we were the same size, you know, because he 0:13:14.960 --> 0:13:15.599 was a Filipino. 0:13:15.840 --> 0:13:19.480 I had to like get through him and get battle 0:13:19.480 --> 0:13:22.079 testing with my brother for that whole year some change 0:13:22.120 --> 0:13:24.560 before I even had my first national Why was that 0:13:24.600 --> 0:13:27.280 important for y'all to make sure that I was battle 0:13:27.280 --> 0:13:28.640 testing before I had my first fight. 0:13:28.960 --> 0:13:31.200 Well, when I first started putting you in with Glenn, 0:13:31.920 --> 0:13:33.839 of course you're the same size, but he's three or 0:13:33.840 --> 0:13:37.640 four years older. And Saraphene at the time was coaching him. 0:13:37.640 --> 0:13:40.640 So you're not gonna take no mercy on you, right, 0:13:41.280 --> 0:13:43.400 So he Sajapen, was the. 0:13:43.360 --> 0:13:46.360 Coach that was originally training me at the gym before 0:13:46.400 --> 0:13:47.120 I went to Burge. 0:13:47.240 --> 0:13:50.679 He would just pound on you, but you would keep 0:13:50.720 --> 0:13:52.800 your hands up and you just move and run all 0:13:52.800 --> 0:13:56.040 over the ring and stop and then move and run again. 0:13:56.360 --> 0:13:59.200 And I just watched, and I remember your father coming 0:13:59.240 --> 0:14:01.400 up to me and he said, Verge, I don't think 0:14:01.440 --> 0:14:03.680 he got it right. I just don't think the kid 0:14:03.800 --> 0:14:06.280 got it. I said, just be patient. I said, he 0:14:06.320 --> 0:14:08.840 got to learn how to defend himself before he started 0:14:08.840 --> 0:14:11.760 attacking people, right, I said, it's something I'm waiting on 0:14:12.240 --> 0:14:14.760 right now. So every time, I don't know if you remember, 0:14:14.800 --> 0:14:17.520 every time Glenn with Atlanta a real big punch, I'd 0:14:17.559 --> 0:14:21.280 stop it, yep, I'd say stop, that's enough, right, the 0:14:21.400 --> 0:14:24.200 saraphene would get mad. And we went through this four 0:14:24.280 --> 0:14:28.560 or five times. Right, you just move around and ra 0:14:28.560 --> 0:14:32.960 ain't more on. Boom, that's it, stop it, right, And 0:14:33.000 --> 0:14:35.920 then one day it happened and you said, I'm okay, Verge, 0:14:35.960 --> 0:14:38.280 I'm okay. That's what I was waiting on. I was 0:14:38.280 --> 0:14:41.200 waiting for you to say I'm okay because I realized 0:14:41.240 --> 0:14:43.360 that you have to have the trust in me that 0:14:43.440 --> 0:14:45.880 early on. I'm not gonna let you get hurt. I'm 0:14:45.920 --> 0:14:48.200 not gonna let you get beat. I saw the competitiveness 0:14:48.200 --> 0:14:51.960 in you, so winning early on when you did start 0:14:52.000 --> 0:14:54.280 boxing was very important to me because I knew it 0:14:54.360 --> 0:14:57.200 was important to you because I saw the competitiveness. And 0:14:57.240 --> 0:14:59.160 even then you had tears in your eyes, but it 0:14:59.200 --> 0:15:02.040 wasn't tears of it was tears of anger. You know, 0:15:02.080 --> 0:15:04.440 why is he doing this to me? I can't you know? 0:15:05.120 --> 0:15:07.480 And if you remember when you told me that. I said, Okay, 0:15:07.520 --> 0:15:10.480 we're gonna work on just one punch. I said, because 0:15:10.520 --> 0:15:13.600 every time you stop, he's so confident. You're not gonna 0:15:13.640 --> 0:15:16.800 throw nothing. He's not gonna protect himself. He's gonna look 0:15:16.800 --> 0:15:18.400 at what he wants to hit, and when he does 0:15:18.480 --> 0:15:21.000 that cracking and move again. And we started doing that, 0:15:21.440 --> 0:15:24.200 and then pretty soon two pieces started landing, and then 0:15:24.240 --> 0:15:25.960 within two or three months they didn't want to spark 0:15:26.040 --> 0:15:29.480 no more. It developed that quick, it turned around that quick. 0:15:30.320 --> 0:15:31.840 So it took me about I probably had like I 0:15:31.880 --> 0:15:34.320 don't know, ten fights, you know. My first fight was 0:15:34.480 --> 0:15:37.640 San Jose, California, San Jose Pile Samuel Rosco. I still 0:15:37.640 --> 0:15:39.840 talk to him to this day. And I lost my 0:15:39.880 --> 0:15:41.760 first fight. I thought I won that fight, of course 0:15:41.800 --> 0:15:45.360 you won. Yeah, and I visited I think my third fight. 0:15:45.640 --> 0:15:47.760 So I had about ten to eleven fights, and then I 0:15:47.800 --> 0:15:50.520 had my first big national so I won the local 0:15:50.720 --> 0:15:52.920 Silver Gloves and I won state that I won regional. 0:15:53.320 --> 0:15:54.840 So I'm ten fights, eleven fights. 0:15:54.880 --> 0:15:58.640 He in Lenexa, Kansas at the Silver Gloves nationals. Man, 0:15:58.680 --> 0:16:00.760 I was crazy. That's the first time I ever seen snow. 0:16:00.800 --> 0:16:02.680 Being from California, I ain't know what snow looked like. 0:16:03.640 --> 0:16:08.480 And you know, it's an indoor hotel, and I'm green. 0:16:08.240 --> 0:16:08.760 At that level. 0:16:08.760 --> 0:16:10.760 I've never been at that level, so I would be 0:16:10.840 --> 0:16:12.440 you would be like you go, you stay in the room, 0:16:12.440 --> 0:16:14.560 but you would be downstairs at night with the coaches, 0:16:14.640 --> 0:16:18.880 you know, and uh, everybody bragging about that guy you had, 0:16:19.000 --> 0:16:24.000 you know, Uncle Dre from New York, you had Detroit, Philly, 0:16:24.200 --> 0:16:26.600 you know, Concrete Jungle. I mean it was some real hitters, 0:16:27.000 --> 0:16:30.080 you know, from these different seas Ohio. And I ended 0:16:30.160 --> 0:16:34.240 up battling my way through the tournaments, like five day tournament. 0:16:36.360 --> 0:16:39.080 But the dude on the opposite side, Curtis Stevens, were 0:16:39.120 --> 0:16:39.960 on opposite brackets. 0:16:40.000 --> 0:16:41.400 I didn't know him. 0:16:41.640 --> 0:16:44.720 And I said this in my book, how you know 0:16:44.760 --> 0:16:46.720 at them nights when you and the coaches was hanging out, 0:16:47.560 --> 0:16:49.480 Uncle Dre was like, man, that's my nephew. 0:16:49.520 --> 0:16:49.640 Man. 0:16:49.680 --> 0:16:52.720 He grew up on a Mike Tyson's doorstep. Like what 0:16:52.800 --> 0:16:55.200 was some interactions? Like, I mean, you got young kids 0:16:55.200 --> 0:16:57.640 in the room that night, they finna rumble, like, but y'all. 0:16:57.480 --> 0:17:01.240 You know adults, Well, you know, when we first got there, 0:17:01.800 --> 0:17:04.560 I of course watched everybody that was in your bracket fight, 0:17:05.280 --> 0:17:07.560 and Curtis stood out right away because he was knocking 0:17:07.840 --> 0:17:09.720 kids out. I mean, that's first time I seen a 0:17:09.840 --> 0:17:14.280 kid knock another kid out, just out, you know, and 0:17:14.359 --> 0:17:18.280 seriously out. But I saw some other things that I 0:17:18.359 --> 0:17:20.159 knew that that was his only hope. It was the 0:17:20.240 --> 0:17:24.080 land of punch. But at that time I used a 0:17:24.119 --> 0:17:26.600 lot of psychology. I don't know if Drave remembers it 0:17:26.720 --> 0:17:29.119 or not. We've talked about it and laughed about it. 0:17:30.160 --> 0:17:31.080 In the workout room. 0:17:31.160 --> 0:17:33.320 Curtis was in there hitting the heavy bag and I said, man, 0:17:33.440 --> 0:17:35.080 this is your kid. He said yeah. I said, boy, 0:17:35.080 --> 0:17:38.800 he could really hit, you know. And Andre, because he's 0:17:38.800 --> 0:17:42.640 so nice and cordial, you know, and such a genuine person, 0:17:43.240 --> 0:17:45.800 he responded to me to where a genuine person would 0:17:45.960 --> 0:17:49.919 not suspicious. He his coach. He just responded to me 0:17:49.960 --> 0:17:52.960 to where a genuine person would And yeah, coach, he's 0:17:52.960 --> 0:17:55.720 a killer. You know, he's knocking out everybody this and that. 0:17:56.440 --> 0:17:58.400 And so I said, well, man, I said, my kids 0:17:58.400 --> 0:18:00.560 fight seemed tomorrow night. We just glad to be here, 0:18:01.160 --> 0:18:03.600 you know, we you know, we were just lucky we 0:18:03.680 --> 0:18:05.679 got this far, so we glad to be here. So 0:18:05.720 --> 0:18:08.840 I want to congratulate you now, so and left it 0:18:08.880 --> 0:18:12.800 at that, you know, but I already knew and I 0:18:12.840 --> 0:18:14.080 beat him and you beat him. 0:18:14.800 --> 0:18:16.720 But the power was real though. He can crack, yeah, 0:18:16.920 --> 0:18:17.480 no doubt. 0:18:17.680 --> 0:18:20.280 Some dudes you fight, you feel like they got bricks 0:18:20.280 --> 0:18:22.320 in their hands, like even if they grazed you or 0:18:22.359 --> 0:18:24.160 they partially hit you, like dang, I don't gonna. 0:18:23.960 --> 0:18:27.640 Get hit with that clean. Well he was built the punch, yeah, stocky, blow. 0:18:27.520 --> 0:18:31.359 To the ground, yeah, strong, thighs strong, he was built 0:18:31.359 --> 0:18:32.159 the punch. Yeah. 0:18:32.840 --> 0:18:34.479 So I you know, I won that tournament and went 0:18:34.600 --> 0:18:36.320 you know once you I think that was that was 0:18:36.359 --> 0:18:37.200 at one hundred pounds. 0:18:37.200 --> 0:18:41.200 I think it was that was. 0:18:41.440 --> 0:18:43.840 I'm the best in that weight class in the nation. 0:18:44.760 --> 0:18:44.960 You know. 0:18:45.119 --> 0:18:46.000 So we come home. 0:18:47.080 --> 0:18:50.600 You know, you got newspaper, local television. So my name 0:18:50.680 --> 0:18:54.960 is buzzing now locally man, and I continue to do 0:18:55.040 --> 0:18:57.639 my thing. But like even when I started sparring, right like, 0:18:57.680 --> 0:19:00.320 I'm getting thirteen now a little bit older, fourteen, Now 0:19:00.320 --> 0:19:04.680 I gotta spar pro So I'm sparring vets, local vets 0:19:04.720 --> 0:19:07.000 in the area and guys that come into town. So 0:19:07.240 --> 0:19:11.919 I'm rumbling with older men. They can't keep up with 0:19:11.960 --> 0:19:15.359 my speed. They're getting embarrassed, but they also got the 0:19:15.400 --> 0:19:17.040 strength on me, so they're trying to bully me, to 0:19:17.119 --> 0:19:19.439 hit me on my hip. And you know I used 0:19:19.440 --> 0:19:20.959 to come back to the point of man, man hit 0:19:21.040 --> 0:19:23.679 me on my hip. Man many many you foil me 0:19:23.680 --> 0:19:26.600 and you say, make me stop. Why did you let 0:19:26.640 --> 0:19:29.600 me at thirteen fourteen, fifteen years old spar those type 0:19:29.600 --> 0:19:30.840 of guys. 0:19:30.800 --> 0:19:34.439 Because I knew you had the ability, And you have 0:19:34.480 --> 0:19:36.879 to remember, before I would let you sparre to anybody 0:19:36.920 --> 0:19:40.080 that old, I would observe them sparring. So I knew 0:19:40.760 --> 0:19:42.600 outside of them, he and you were a lucky punch 0:19:42.720 --> 0:19:44.639 on the button that it was gonna be tough for 0:19:44.720 --> 0:19:47.320 I'm I already knew that because styles make fights, and 0:19:47.400 --> 0:19:50.320 at that time your style had matured to the point. 0:19:51.000 --> 0:19:53.560 And you have to remember you did have the physical 0:19:53.600 --> 0:19:57.000 strength because after you won the first tournament at ten, 0:19:57.600 --> 0:20:00.680 you were granted a scholarship to sports Metas. You didn't 0:20:00.680 --> 0:20:02.439 even have to pay, so you had the benefit of 0:20:02.440 --> 0:20:05.679 getting all that work, all that body in the condition 0:20:05.840 --> 0:20:08.120 at early age don chrue. 0:20:08.720 --> 0:20:09.879 So you were strong. 0:20:10.359 --> 0:20:12.080 And that was two or three years of that, and 0:20:12.320 --> 0:20:15.640 actually we never stopped. We went there three days a week. 0:20:15.720 --> 0:20:18.399 We never stopped. So you had the benefit of years 0:20:18.400 --> 0:20:20.399 of strength and condition and the right type of strength 0:20:20.440 --> 0:20:24.600 and condition and not waiting anything. Parliamentrics, follow balls and 0:20:24.640 --> 0:20:28.000 things like that, that speed treadmill and things like that. 0:20:28.119 --> 0:20:31.240 So I knew that the strength was there, you know, 0:20:31.640 --> 0:20:34.960 maybe not man strength, but enough for sparing. So I 0:20:35.040 --> 0:20:37.040 was very confident that and it turned out to be true. 0:20:37.440 --> 0:20:40.160 And my brother, like I think my brother, My brother 0:20:40.400 --> 0:20:41.480 was built like Tommy. 0:20:41.280 --> 0:20:45.360 Hearns exactly with feet. 0:20:45.440 --> 0:20:50.280 Yeah, he had natural good footwork. He had a lot 0:20:50.320 --> 0:20:52.240 of ability. Sometimes I say, I think he had more 0:20:52.320 --> 0:20:55.119 natural ability certain things he could do. What do you 0:20:55.160 --> 0:20:57.600 think the difference was between me and my brother? Even 0:20:57.640 --> 0:20:58.600 even early on. 0:21:00.640 --> 0:21:05.239 Desire he John liked to participate in boxing. He had 0:21:05.280 --> 0:21:08.200 the buility. I mean, people forget John when he quit fighting. 0:21:08.200 --> 0:21:10.439 I think he was fifty six and six something like 0:21:10.480 --> 0:21:15.119 that and international champion. But he didn't love it. He 0:21:15.160 --> 0:21:17.199 didn't love it. And that's what you have to do. 0:21:17.240 --> 0:21:19.879 You have to love it. There's no other way. You 0:21:19.960 --> 0:21:21.760 just can't dibble that. And you can go so far 0:21:21.920 --> 0:21:24.800 liking it, but in order to really put in the time, 0:21:24.880 --> 0:21:26.920 in order to really get the benefits out of it. 0:21:26.640 --> 0:21:28.960 In order to really follow your dreams, you have to 0:21:29.000 --> 0:21:31.720 love it. And that was the difference. As soon as 0:21:31.720 --> 0:21:35.280 he got home, he was down there watching cartoons and 0:21:35.359 --> 0:21:38.000 things like that when you got home. That's another thing 0:21:38.040 --> 0:21:40.800 I noticed about you at ten, liz Or. He watched 0:21:40.800 --> 0:21:43.800 fights all the time, all the time, and it didn't 0:21:43.840 --> 0:21:47.679 matter who was fighting, Ham and Eggers. What was the 0:21:47.760 --> 0:21:54.280 hispanic channel? You have Telemoon though Tuesday Night Fights, USA 0:21:54.400 --> 0:21:57.359 Tuesday Night Fights. You watched every single fight, So that 0:21:57.440 --> 0:21:59.159 let me know early on you were a student of 0:21:59.200 --> 0:22:02.000 the game. So I knew you were getting it up 0:22:02.000 --> 0:22:03.920 here as well as everywhere else physically. 0:22:03.960 --> 0:22:07.359 What did you notice about cause you been in a 0:22:07.400 --> 0:22:10.320 propation apartment, You've been in juvenile hall for years, you'd 0:22:10.320 --> 0:22:11.879 work with you know a lot of fighters, You've been 0:22:11.920 --> 0:22:12.840 around a lot of fighters. 0:22:13.280 --> 0:22:15.560 What did you notice about, Like. 0:22:15.560 --> 0:22:19.960 My drive, my competitiveness, my just my desire to win, 0:22:20.040 --> 0:22:22.040 and even my desire to train hard cause I worked 0:22:22.080 --> 0:22:24.280 hard even as a kid. Like what was you noticing 0:22:24.320 --> 0:22:26.600 early on twelve thirteen fourteen. 0:22:26.600 --> 0:22:29.959 Playing basketball with you that I knew that you were 0:22:29.960 --> 0:22:32.600 an athlete even though you weren't a basketball player. You 0:22:32.600 --> 0:22:36.000 could play basketball. So I if you remember, we used 0:22:36.000 --> 0:22:37.359 to go out there all the time because when I 0:22:37.359 --> 0:22:39.919 could feel your strength, I could feel your desire, your 0:22:39.960 --> 0:22:43.359 tenacity just kept coming. You never gave up. You never 0:22:43.400 --> 0:22:45.560 gave up. And I used my experience to beat you 0:22:45.600 --> 0:22:47.800 all the time, right, but you never gave up. So 0:22:47.840 --> 0:22:50.800 I knew the tenacity was there. I knew the drive 0:22:51.000 --> 0:22:55.119 was there. And I remember one particular session where you 0:22:55.200 --> 0:22:57.080 fighting the pro. I think he was like thirty and 0:22:57.160 --> 0:22:59.320 two or something like that, I can't remember his name, 0:23:00.160 --> 0:23:05.640 and you guys was going at it and his coach said, 0:23:05.720 --> 0:23:08.840 Saraphienie said do you want to stop? And you said, 0:23:08.840 --> 0:23:11.359 I'll stop when he stops, right, So I knew that 0:23:11.440 --> 0:23:14.359 the drive was there, that that was gonna be hard 0:23:14.560 --> 0:23:17.280 to knock over and make you compromise the drive that 0:23:17.359 --> 0:23:17.760 you had. 0:23:18.520 --> 0:23:21.080 So the next so you got the silver gloves. The 0:23:21.160 --> 0:23:24.280 next big tournament is a JO. So I remember my brother, 0:23:24.320 --> 0:23:26.280 he's a year older than me, so I think. 0:23:26.119 --> 0:23:27.440 You took him to the jail. 0:23:28.440 --> 0:23:30.520 He took him to the JA, the Junior Olympics, he 0:23:30.600 --> 0:23:32.400 made no marquette Michigan. 0:23:32.880 --> 0:23:34.520 Me and my dad were back home, so we calling 0:23:34.560 --> 0:23:35.240 every night. What happened. 0:23:35.280 --> 0:23:35.760 What happened? 0:23:36.160 --> 0:23:39.240 So he lost. But I remember you said something on 0:23:39.280 --> 0:23:39.600 the phone. 0:23:39.640 --> 0:23:43.440 You say, man, this this is the most violent tournament 0:23:43.880 --> 0:23:47.800 I have been to. For y'all's age, I never been there. 0:23:47.880 --> 0:23:51.159 I was like, for real, and man, that's put the 0:23:51.160 --> 0:23:51.919 fear of God at me. 0:23:52.000 --> 0:23:54.880 That Then I remember I ran that night. Uh. 0:23:54.920 --> 0:23:58.640 You were staying in Hayward and I ran uh down 0:23:58.640 --> 0:24:01.040 the street round mission like I was just kind of spooked, 0:24:01.119 --> 0:24:03.640 like man like he said, Man, I'm seeing dudes get 0:24:03.720 --> 0:24:06.479 knocked out. I'm seeing dudes get clit. I ended up 0:24:06.520 --> 0:24:09.080 fighting the next year at the j O's and that's 0:24:09.119 --> 0:24:11.520 the first time I ever been buzzed, like really really 0:24:11.600 --> 0:24:13.600 visibly her. I remember I fought the dude I forgot 0:24:13.640 --> 0:24:17.439 his name. He's like like Orange New Jersey. 0:24:18.200 --> 0:24:19.639 He was telling me that, hey man, he got a 0:24:19.680 --> 0:24:20.400 short level hook. 0:24:20.680 --> 0:24:22.800 You know, you gotta stop pulling back, make sure your 0:24:22.840 --> 0:24:25.000 hand up sure enough, man, do hit me with a 0:24:25.040 --> 0:24:28.159 punch so short inside boom, my legs wobble. 0:24:28.640 --> 0:24:30.600 I recovered, But that was like the first. 0:24:30.320 --> 0:24:34.520 Time that I, uh that really got buzzed in a fight, 0:24:35.520 --> 0:24:39.280 you know. And I ended up winning that and then 0:24:39.440 --> 0:24:42.160 I went to Junia Olympic Worlds and I think Pueblo, 0:24:42.280 --> 0:24:43.200 Mexico or something like that. 0:24:43.320 --> 0:24:45.440 I won that and. 0:24:47.040 --> 0:24:49.560 The try I hadn't started getting in trouble yet, you know, 0:24:49.640 --> 0:24:51.640 I think that came a couple of years later. 0:24:51.720 --> 0:24:51.920 Man. 0:24:52.000 --> 0:24:57.280 But when did you first start noticing that some stuff 0:24:57.359 --> 0:24:59.960 was going on with me in terms of like, you know, 0:25:00.119 --> 0:25:02.320 being in the streets or cutting school, smoking weed and 0:25:02.320 --> 0:25:02.960 stuff like that. 0:25:03.640 --> 0:25:06.440 Well, I didn't entertain it too much, you know, while 0:25:06.560 --> 0:25:08.760 while we were together. Of course, you know, you moved, 0:25:09.400 --> 0:25:12.320 and I knew that the environment, yeah, where you was 0:25:12.400 --> 0:25:17.040 moving too, was gonna subject you to some things the environment, 0:25:17.600 --> 0:25:17.840 So I. 0:25:17.880 --> 0:25:20.320 Start tripping a little bit before I before I had moved. 0:25:20.440 --> 0:25:23.320 Well, no, what I did was it was inedible that 0:25:23.359 --> 0:25:25.960 you was gonna move. And I think that you deserved 0:25:26.160 --> 0:25:28.800 to move at that time, because you know, it was 0:25:28.840 --> 0:25:32.200 with your mom, and I remember that. I don't know 0:25:32.240 --> 0:25:34.040 if you remember, were sitting on the steps the night 0:25:34.119 --> 0:25:38.560 before you left, and I told you, I said, you're 0:25:38.560 --> 0:25:41.119 gonna go downhill from here. Yep, I don't remember if 0:25:41.119 --> 0:25:41.680 you t me. 0:25:41.680 --> 0:25:42.720 Saying I was mad too. 0:25:42.800 --> 0:25:45.440 Yeah, I said you're gonna go downhill from here, cause 0:25:45.480 --> 0:25:48.080 at that time you are Honor Rolle's student. Yeah, going 0:25:48.080 --> 0:25:50.159 to school every day and things like that. But me 0:25:50.600 --> 0:25:53.119 having all those years in the probation department, I knew 0:25:53.200 --> 0:25:56.359 the enticements and I knew all the things that didn't 0:25:56.359 --> 0:26:00.000 tell for a kid that's in that particular environment. Yeah, 0:26:00.280 --> 0:26:04.919 so I was hoping that you wouldn't go to the street. 0:26:05.280 --> 0:26:08.440 But I was prepared because I told you, I said, 0:26:08.760 --> 0:26:11.240 no matter what happens, I'm gonna be here for you 0:26:11.680 --> 0:26:14.640 right that. I was prepared for you to go through 0:26:14.640 --> 0:26:17.040 the streets. So everything that I would hear coming from 0:26:17.080 --> 0:26:19.479 the streets and things like that, I wouldn't really react 0:26:19.600 --> 0:26:22.440 right away because I knew what type of kids you were. 0:26:22.720 --> 0:26:24.919 I knew that you would go to the line, but 0:26:24.960 --> 0:26:27.280 I knew you wouldn't cross the line, and that you 0:26:27.400 --> 0:26:30.959 had something that you built that you couldn't deny. There 0:26:31.000 --> 0:26:34.280 wasn't no guesswork game. You knew you had ability at 0:26:34.280 --> 0:26:36.320 that time. Any coach in the world would have took it. 0:26:36.600 --> 0:26:39.320 Any coach in the world where it took you. So 0:26:39.480 --> 0:26:42.640 you had that to fall back on. So that gave 0:26:42.680 --> 0:26:46.920 you a little cushioning to go out and explore and experiment, 0:26:47.720 --> 0:26:50.120 you know. So I knew the temptations was gonna come 0:26:50.160 --> 0:26:53.760 because you hadn't gone through temptations, and at that time 0:26:53.840 --> 0:26:59.960 with the hip hop game and then the draw of Oakland, 0:27:00.840 --> 0:27:03.680 you know, the Oakland mystique, the draw of it that 0:27:03.760 --> 0:27:05.560 you gotta be part of this, and you gotta be 0:27:05.640 --> 0:27:07.880 part of that. And if you whatever hood you right, 0:27:08.000 --> 0:27:10.960 whatever movement, whatever hood you in, you gotta be down 0:27:11.000 --> 0:27:14.120 for that particular hood. If you're gonna walk and talk 0:27:14.160 --> 0:27:16.520 and associate this hood, you gotta be down for it. 0:27:16.960 --> 0:27:21.240 So but I had already had experience in those situations, 0:27:21.359 --> 0:27:24.320 so I knew how to handle those situations. But the 0:27:24.359 --> 0:27:28.800 good thing about it is every tournament you'd come back 0:27:28.880 --> 0:27:31.680 and train, stay with me, and then you go back. 0:27:31.840 --> 0:27:33.840 Yeah, I barely make I barely make that thing. 0:27:33.880 --> 0:27:36.359 I get it just enough good, just enough shape to 0:27:36.480 --> 0:27:39.840 do six eight weeks, which I disappeared and disappear again. 0:27:40.680 --> 0:27:44.880 So at that time, I wasn't concerned about Andrea boxing. 0:27:45.440 --> 0:27:49.480 I was just concerned about Andrea man. But I needed 0:27:49.520 --> 0:27:54.120 an opening to really bring that into focus that hey, 0:27:54.240 --> 0:27:57.240 you gotta go in another direction. I needed an opening. 0:27:57.440 --> 0:27:59.160 That was the time to turn it around. Of course, 0:27:59.200 --> 0:28:01.080 you were going through some things and everything like that, 0:28:01.119 --> 0:28:04.560 and I constantly remind you, look, man, you're gonna be sorry. 0:28:04.600 --> 0:28:07.879 One day. You're gonna look up and somebody's gonna be 0:28:07.920 --> 0:28:10.159 in your weight class, on the team that you knew 0:28:10.520 --> 0:28:13.600 couldn't beat you. So I would put these little things 0:28:13.680 --> 0:28:16.680 in your head, that's all. Just put something in your 0:28:16.680 --> 0:28:19.440 head because I knew you respected me. Yeah, I knew 0:28:19.440 --> 0:28:21.879 you loved me, and I knew you respected me, So 0:28:22.240 --> 0:28:24.439 I would put those things in your head. Even on 0:28:24.520 --> 0:28:29.360 the drinking thing. When your grandmother called me and told me, oh, 0:28:29.400 --> 0:28:35.600 he's drinking, right, So I didn't call you and say, man, 0:28:35.600 --> 0:28:37.400 you're drinking and you're drinking, you're doing this? You doing 0:28:37.440 --> 0:28:39.960 I didn't say that at all. I use the psychology 0:28:40.000 --> 0:28:42.840 that I learned over the years, because you'd call me 0:28:42.880 --> 0:28:45.080 once a week, twice said week. You'd always call checking 0:28:45.120 --> 0:28:48.160 what was going on. So I'll wait until you call. Hey, Verge, 0:28:48.200 --> 0:28:50.840 what's going on? I said, Oh, Dre, I'm not doing 0:28:50.880 --> 0:28:53.560 too good man, what's going on? I said? Man, my 0:28:53.600 --> 0:28:58.080 friend is having so many problems with his sons. What's happening? Man? 0:28:58.080 --> 0:29:00.280 He keetch His son is just drinking every day, any 0:29:00.320 --> 0:29:03.480 concerned he can't stop me from drinking. I'm so glad 0:29:03.520 --> 0:29:04.160 you don't drink. 0:29:04.200 --> 0:29:05.280 I don't know what to do. 0:29:06.280 --> 0:29:14.040 So I played to your conscious and I would you 0:29:14.040 --> 0:29:17.080 talking about man, Yeah, because I knew you respected me, 0:29:17.760 --> 0:29:19.880 and I knew you stood that I stood on principal, 0:29:20.480 --> 0:29:23.600 So I didn't That wasn't gonna stop it, but that 0:29:23.800 --> 0:29:25.880 was what was gonna put a guilt trip on your 0:29:25.920 --> 0:29:28.720 mind in order to argue. Man, I'm disappointed. If Verge 0:29:28.760 --> 0:29:31.800 really knew what I was doing, he'd be disappointed. He 0:29:32.280 --> 0:29:35.040 really believes in me, you see what I'm saying. So 0:29:36.680 --> 0:29:42.600 psychology is so important on raising the kid and keeping 0:29:42.640 --> 0:29:45.080 them in the right direction. And I'm just glad I 0:29:45.120 --> 0:29:47.880 had the battle feeling the battleground to be able to 0:29:47.880 --> 0:29:50.840 decipher all the right things to need to be said 0:29:50.880 --> 0:29:54.120 at the right time. You know, man, just take. 0:29:53.960 --> 0:29:56.320 It back a little bit, like so me making that 0:29:56.480 --> 0:29:58.840 move to my mama's house in North Oakland. 0:29:58.880 --> 0:30:02.120 You know she had been in and out. 0:30:02.240 --> 0:30:05.520 You know, my dad was a functional addict for periods 0:30:05.520 --> 0:30:06.200 of time in his life. 0:30:06.240 --> 0:30:07.760 My mother was a full blown addict. 0:30:08.640 --> 0:30:11.880 She started getting herself together, right, I'm living with y'all, 0:30:12.000 --> 0:30:12.720 you and Milly. 0:30:13.720 --> 0:30:16.720 And then I'm like Man, I don't live with my mama. 0:30:17.280 --> 0:30:18.960 You know, I hadn't. I hadn't. Like that was like 0:30:19.000 --> 0:30:22.560 the one thing that I never got to feel. 0:30:23.320 --> 0:30:26.120 Like a lot of my friends had they grandmother or 0:30:26.120 --> 0:30:27.920 they mother and not they father. 0:30:28.240 --> 0:30:30.440 Some of them had both, but a lot of them didn't, 0:30:30.640 --> 0:30:31.680 but they had their mama. 0:30:32.280 --> 0:30:34.120 And I'll be sitting there, like, man, Roy, your mom 0:30:34.200 --> 0:30:37.640 in here cooking food and like, you know, man, and 0:30:38.200 --> 0:30:40.920 I was super grateful man for you and Millie, you know, 0:30:42.040 --> 0:30:44.040 and what y'all did you know, and what y'all was. 0:30:43.960 --> 0:30:45.800 Doing at that time, But like not having that, you 0:30:45.800 --> 0:30:47.520 know what I'm saying, it's always gonna be avoid there. 0:30:47.560 --> 0:30:50.640 So that's why I wanted to go go to the 0:30:50.640 --> 0:30:52.480 flat lands in North Oakland live with her. 0:30:52.520 --> 0:30:53.120 But you told me that. 0:30:53.200 --> 0:30:54.600 You were like, man, you're gonna go downhill, And I'm 0:30:54.760 --> 0:30:57.720 being like, right cause I wanna go live with my mama. 0:30:57.840 --> 0:30:58.520 I didn't see it. 0:30:59.440 --> 0:31:01.720 I couldn't because you were going to be giving freedom. 0:31:02.000 --> 0:31:05.560 My dad. Wasn't gonna have that structure with my dad. 0:31:05.280 --> 0:31:07.080 And with you, yeah, you wasn't gonna have a structure. 0:31:07.120 --> 0:31:10.120 But the truth is I really didn't want that structure. 0:31:10.160 --> 0:31:11.520 No, you didn't. 0:31:11.880 --> 0:31:13.719 My whole lot of my life was going to school, 0:31:14.240 --> 0:31:18.560 getting up, going running, going to school, coming home, chilling 0:31:18.600 --> 0:31:21.440 for an hour or two to the gym, rent and repeat. 0:31:22.640 --> 0:31:25.120 It's interesting, man, I was. I was asking Roy this 0:31:25.240 --> 0:31:26.800 when I interviewed him, you know. 0:31:30.200 --> 0:31:31.600 And I think me and you talked a little bit 0:31:31.600 --> 0:31:32.480 about it at one point. 0:31:32.520 --> 0:31:38.400 But like, can you make a Roy Jones or Andre 0:31:38.560 --> 0:31:43.880 Ward without having without living that type of life? Because 0:31:44.040 --> 0:31:45.640 I had to give up a lot of my childhood, 0:31:45.960 --> 0:31:47.280 and I gave up a lot of trouble that I 0:31:47.320 --> 0:31:50.040 probably would have got into. But I had to sacrifice 0:31:50.040 --> 0:31:52.680 a lot. Now forty two, I'm I'm not complaining. 0:31:53.440 --> 0:31:55.200 You know. I see a lot of my friends. 0:31:55.000 --> 0:31:56.720 That had all the freedom and look like they could 0:31:56.760 --> 0:31:57.320 do whatever. 0:31:57.120 --> 0:31:59.160 They want to when I see what happened. 0:32:00.120 --> 0:32:04.000 But can you produce a great or an all time 0:32:04.040 --> 0:32:08.080 great athlete without having them with that type of structure. 0:32:10.200 --> 0:32:12.400 Well, I'm trying to think who's on top right now 0:32:13.080 --> 0:32:16.360 that didn't have structure, you know, whether it be Shakur, 0:32:16.480 --> 0:32:19.880 whether it be Kishon, whether it be Benevita's, whether it 0:32:19.960 --> 0:32:22.040 be some of the greats. If you look at them, 0:32:22.040 --> 0:32:25.680 they all have structure, and they all had something that 0:32:25.800 --> 0:32:27.880 at an early age they knew they had something to 0:32:27.920 --> 0:32:30.920 fall back on. Now, of course you get a kid 0:32:31.040 --> 0:32:33.600 like Mike Tyson to come up to Catskill at fifteen 0:32:33.720 --> 0:32:38.360 sixteen trouble, what happened? He got structure right, So I 0:32:38.440 --> 0:32:40.720 don't think you can get to the top without structure. 0:32:40.960 --> 0:32:44.120 I don't see any long wolves out of there out there. Now, 0:32:44.120 --> 0:32:46.080 you got some that don't want to follow the script. 0:32:47.160 --> 0:32:49.040 But in order to get world class you have to 0:32:49.080 --> 0:32:52.440 have some sort of structure. But then there's another level 0:32:52.440 --> 0:32:56.560 after structure, there is following this script. Structure is very important. 0:32:56.640 --> 0:32:59.560 It is the foundation to success in any sport. I 0:32:59.640 --> 0:33:03.520 believe structure, discipline and structure. And even though you might 0:33:03.600 --> 0:33:07.920 get off the beaten path, that structure and discipline never 0:33:08.040 --> 0:33:11.240 leaves you because no matter what you were doing at 0:33:11.240 --> 0:33:13.479 that time, when you were going through your phases, no 0:33:13.480 --> 0:33:16.280 matter what you were doing, boxing never left your mind. 0:33:16.600 --> 0:33:20.560 That's structure, that's foundation. It never left your mind. It's familiar. 0:33:21.360 --> 0:33:23.600 There's been many a night that you might have been 0:33:23.640 --> 0:33:25.640 doing something. I guarantee I never asked you this, but 0:33:25.720 --> 0:33:28.480 you could tell me now that you tell yourself, I'm 0:33:28.480 --> 0:33:29.000 blowing it. 0:33:29.080 --> 0:33:29.960 Oh yeah, for sure. 0:33:30.120 --> 0:33:30.960 You see what I'm saying. 0:33:30.960 --> 0:33:33.240 Every time I would smoke some weed or smoking black 0:33:33.240 --> 0:33:36.080 and mind or drink something, I'm like, Broy, you wasn't raised, like, yes, 0:33:36.240 --> 0:33:39.360 you're blowing it. And you're blowing it because I'm tearing 0:33:39.400 --> 0:33:42.600 up my lungs, you know, my wind. Like that's what 0:33:42.680 --> 0:33:45.120 I that's my thing in boxing is man, I can go. 0:33:46.120 --> 0:33:47.680 So I did. I did way to the north. I 0:33:47.720 --> 0:33:48.720 went to North Oakland, man. 0:33:48.720 --> 0:33:51.760 And I did go downhill just like you said, you know, 0:33:52.000 --> 0:33:54.400 And it didn't take long, you know. And it's crazy 0:33:54.440 --> 0:33:58.760 because it's like I felt like I need I needed 0:33:58.760 --> 0:34:00.880 a break from boxing. You know, I've been doing this. 0:34:01.000 --> 0:34:03.080 I've been nine years old, and it was like it 0:34:03.120 --> 0:34:05.840 was a grind, man, And it's like in my young mind, 0:34:05.960 --> 0:34:08.760 I want a freedom. I wanted I wanted to breathe. 0:34:08.800 --> 0:34:10.200 I needed to axal. I don't want to have to 0:34:10.239 --> 0:34:11.680 go to the gym. I don't want to have to 0:34:11.680 --> 0:34:13.880 tell my friends I can't go. Man, I'm trying to 0:34:13.880 --> 0:34:15.440 go to the party for once. I don't never get 0:34:15.440 --> 0:34:17.200 the chance to go to the party. And you just 0:34:17.239 --> 0:34:19.120 don't understand what you're saying. But I took it from 0:34:19.120 --> 0:34:21.520 like just want more freedom to now I'm I'm I'm 0:34:21.520 --> 0:34:24.040 delving in into to street activities. 0:34:24.520 --> 0:34:25.920 You know, my mother. 0:34:27.480 --> 0:34:29.480 Was doing good for a while, but her being in 0:34:29.480 --> 0:34:32.640 that environment, right the dope house, right around the corner, 0:34:33.320 --> 0:34:38.080 it uh inevitably them old demons start coming back on her. 0:34:39.040 --> 0:34:41.440 And I'm grateful for my mama, man, cause she you know, 0:34:41.520 --> 0:34:43.160 I get a lot of my fight from my mother, man, 0:34:43.200 --> 0:34:44.200 cause she she a fighter. 0:34:44.920 --> 0:34:47.560 But at that time she started, she started dibbling and dabbling. 0:34:47.560 --> 0:34:50.279 I can always tell when you know my mom was 0:34:50.320 --> 0:34:52.520 struggling because the house started looking dirty. 0:34:52.680 --> 0:34:55.080 My mom is a neat freak until she not. 0:34:55.920 --> 0:34:56.680 And when you know. 0:34:56.680 --> 0:34:59.560 That the house started getting dirty and staying dirty and 0:34:59.600 --> 0:35:04.880 smelling different, I'm like, man, it's happening again. And so 0:35:04.920 --> 0:35:07.680 I seen that, me and her arguing and fighting a 0:35:07.680 --> 0:35:10.920 lot because I'm mad jamming her up about that, and 0:35:11.200 --> 0:35:12.840 but you always accusing me. 0:35:12.880 --> 0:35:14.560 I ain't doing that. I'm looking at her eyes. I 0:35:14.640 --> 0:35:16.960 know my mother and. 0:35:17.000 --> 0:35:21.080 Her using drugs again means us not being together. I 0:35:21.120 --> 0:35:24.080 feel like it's just a matter of time. So I 0:35:24.120 --> 0:35:28.400 start using drugs and numbing and drinking a lot, and 0:35:28.960 --> 0:35:32.080 then I start selling dope. I dodn't know how to 0:35:32.080 --> 0:35:35.279 cook it up. But I had connections around the corner too. 0:35:35.680 --> 0:35:37.040 You know what I'm saying, I buy a bunch of 0:35:37.080 --> 0:35:39.120 rocks and go do my thing. And it's like I 0:35:39.120 --> 0:35:40.960 said this in a book too, that like it was 0:35:41.000 --> 0:35:44.720 crazy because I'm praying for my mother to get free 0:35:44.760 --> 0:35:49.320 from an active crack addiction on fifty to fifty market 0:35:49.600 --> 0:35:52.280 in the apartments, but I'm two blocks down serving somebody 0:35:52.280 --> 0:35:56.480 else's mother. That's crazy that my mindset had been here, 0:35:56.480 --> 0:36:01.640 and I remember God convicted me and just I just 0:36:01.719 --> 0:36:04.920 I was like, man, you're a hypocrite, Like I'm praying 0:36:04.920 --> 0:36:06.719 for my mama that man, God take this from her, 0:36:07.080 --> 0:36:08.719 don't let it fall back into this. But I got 0:36:08.880 --> 0:36:11.120 I got dope in my mouth and I'm serving somebody 0:36:11.120 --> 0:36:16.560 else's mother. But I will say this though, the people 0:36:16.600 --> 0:36:20.239 that were praying for me, the prayers worked. You know 0:36:20.360 --> 0:36:22.680 the things that you would say and other people would say, 0:36:22.800 --> 0:36:26.040 you know, God would send people and you had an 0:36:26.040 --> 0:36:28.480 interesting style the way you would do it because a 0:36:28.520 --> 0:36:30.400 lot of people were calling you saying, man, I seen hi, 0:36:30.440 --> 0:36:32.239 dry man, he ain't looking good man, he you know 0:36:32.320 --> 0:36:34.480 he hang with this person or I seen him and 0:36:34.520 --> 0:36:37.160 you never you never panicked, but you would always say 0:36:37.160 --> 0:36:37.640 the right. 0:36:37.520 --> 0:36:39.560 Thing at the right time, and it would sit with me. 0:36:40.440 --> 0:36:43.279 And I'll be fighting with you on the phone like, man, hey, brother, listen, 0:36:43.320 --> 0:36:45.640 I'm telling you you ain't gonna get away with nothing. 0:36:45.760 --> 0:36:48.560 And I'll be mad cause I'm thinking you speaking something 0:36:48.560 --> 0:36:50.439 moment that's gonna happen. I'm like, man, I'm just trying 0:36:50.480 --> 0:36:52.239 to you know, live my life. Man, you just man, 0:36:52.280 --> 0:36:54.600 just cause I ain't boxing, you're gonna say that. You said, Man, 0:36:54.640 --> 0:36:56.319 it's deeper than that. God got his hand on you. 0:36:56.719 --> 0:37:00.239 So I never felt comfortable being in the street. I 0:37:00.280 --> 0:37:03.239 never felt comfortable. And you said something to me one 0:37:03.239 --> 0:37:05.160 time that really rocked me. And he say, man, you 0:37:05.280 --> 0:37:08.279 out there playing And I laughed, and I'm like, I 0:37:08.280 --> 0:37:08.960 ain't playing. 0:37:09.280 --> 0:37:10.160 Somebody run up on me. 0:37:10.160 --> 0:37:11.000 A'ma da da da. 0:37:11.040 --> 0:37:13.120 I'm talking that talk you said, brother, Listen, if you ain't, 0:37:13.160 --> 0:37:14.879 if you ain't sell your soul to if you haven't 0:37:14.920 --> 0:37:17.640 sold your soul to the devil, and you ready to 0:37:17.760 --> 0:37:21.839 kill or be killed right now, you playing, then that's 0:37:21.880 --> 0:37:25.000 the type of treachery you're dealing without. There I knew 0:37:25.040 --> 0:37:28.839 deep down I wasn't trying to kill nothing off. The 0:37:28.840 --> 0:37:31.480 show wasn't trying to be killed exactly. And you have 0:37:31.560 --> 0:37:34.719 to remember where I worked. I had my ear to 0:37:34.760 --> 0:37:37.680 the street. Yeah, I had kids in the neighborhood telling 0:37:37.680 --> 0:37:41.880 me everything. And you're in that neighborhood North Pole, coming 0:37:41.920 --> 0:37:45.120 in being incarcerated, and they telling me everything that's going on, 0:37:45.360 --> 0:37:46.720 because at that time you had been. 0:37:46.600 --> 0:37:48.200 In the newspapers and they knew who you were. They 0:37:48.239 --> 0:37:50.960 knew what I did, right, they knew who I was 0:37:51.000 --> 0:37:54.359 before they would come. Man, you you you you missed 0:37:54.360 --> 0:37:56.720 the hunter. Yeah, man, man, I stay down there Andre 0:37:56.880 --> 0:37:58.399 doing this and he doing that, and he doing this. 0:37:58.760 --> 0:38:01.520 But I didn't look at it. Ton. I just thank 0:38:01.600 --> 0:38:04.759 God that he was giving me the info, right, so 0:38:04.840 --> 0:38:08.839 I can plan, so I can maneuver. So I knew 0:38:08.880 --> 0:38:11.160 what to pray for, so I knew what to say, 0:38:11.239 --> 0:38:14.080 knew where to go, and knew and it just told God, 0:38:14.120 --> 0:38:16.800 you know, whatever help you have out there for it, 0:38:16.880 --> 0:38:19.920 because I don't want to do this by myself. I 0:38:19.960 --> 0:38:23.520 know there's a team around you, even your best warriors, David, 0:38:23.560 --> 0:38:26.880 everybody else, they had a team around him. So but 0:38:27.000 --> 0:38:29.120 he gave me the peace, but he gave me the 0:38:29.200 --> 0:38:36.040 info and getting back to your structure. It's your structure 0:38:36.600 --> 0:38:39.319 that kept you from going over the line. The end 0:38:39.320 --> 0:38:41.640 there that like you said, I'm getting ready to blow this, 0:38:41.719 --> 0:38:44.560 I'm gonna blow that. That lets you know what you 0:38:44.600 --> 0:38:47.280 were talking about early on. People coming in and already 0:38:47.320 --> 0:38:50.160 have it. You see what I'm saying, already had that instinct, 0:38:50.200 --> 0:38:54.239 already had that drive, That drive was already there. The 0:38:54.320 --> 0:38:58.040 competitiveness was already there. You just needed to tie him out. 0:38:58.440 --> 0:38:59.799 You just having to be in the wrong place to 0:38:59.800 --> 0:39:03.080 take your timeouts. So you just needed to time out 0:39:03.120 --> 0:39:07.000 what every kid does, even today, when amateur coaches come 0:39:07.080 --> 0:39:09.160 to me and ask me for advice when the kid 0:39:09.239 --> 0:39:11.520 is ten and eleven years old and twelve years old, 0:39:13.480 --> 0:39:15.520 I'm not ashamed to say that some of the mistakes 0:39:15.520 --> 0:39:18.560 I think that I made, and that is when the 0:39:18.600 --> 0:39:21.520 day age. You got to give them a break because 0:39:21.560 --> 0:39:23.640 if you don't, they're gonna get a certain age and 0:39:23.640 --> 0:39:26.000 they're gonna resent it and they're gonna go off on 0:39:26.040 --> 0:39:29.600 their own and everything like that, especially if there's no 0:39:29.680 --> 0:39:32.759 promise there, if they're not getting the accolades or they're 0:39:32.800 --> 0:39:35.279 not you got to give them a break. You just 0:39:35.320 --> 0:39:38.839 can't go three hundred and sixty five days, seven days, 0:39:38.880 --> 0:39:41.080 five six days a week. You know, you got to 0:39:41.080 --> 0:39:43.040 give them other all turners. Let them play other sports. 0:39:43.080 --> 0:39:46.040 They're not gonna lose nothing. They gonna come back fresher, right, 0:39:46.120 --> 0:39:49.480 their mind is refreshed. It's gonna help them. So and 0:39:49.719 --> 0:39:53.640 I learned that from when you played football. Right, when 0:39:53.680 --> 0:39:58.279 you played football, you can't and you came back fresh, 0:39:58.600 --> 0:40:01.319 you see. So I courage all coaches to do that. 0:40:02.320 --> 0:40:04.440 However they want to do it. Don't grind them because 0:40:04.520 --> 0:40:06.640 what you teach them, they're not gonna lose it. They're 0:40:06.640 --> 0:40:09.440 not gonna lose. It's like a basketball player terrors's achilles. 0:40:09.480 --> 0:40:11.879 Once they need is here, his game is right back 0:40:11.920 --> 0:40:15.440 to where it was. It's the same thing in boxing. 0:40:15.520 --> 0:40:20.160 You're not gonna lose it. So those were not tough times. 0:40:20.840 --> 0:40:23.080 They were times that I realized it was all part 0:40:23.120 --> 0:40:26.759 of the journey. You know. I never panicked, I never 0:40:26.800 --> 0:40:31.319 got discouraged. I never lost my stance on how I 0:40:31.360 --> 0:40:34.680 interacted with you. I always came to where I see it, 0:40:34.719 --> 0:40:39.680 what I felt. I never coward. I never went down 0:40:39.719 --> 0:40:41.920 and just and everything and let you set the tone, 0:40:41.960 --> 0:40:44.400 because she wasn't ready to set the tone yet so 0:40:44.480 --> 0:40:46.520 I need to know you needed that in your life. 0:40:46.640 --> 0:40:49.879 They as somebody that, hey, I'm gonna disappoint this man, right, 0:40:50.560 --> 0:40:52.880 somebody that if you hide and stuff from me, you 0:40:52.920 --> 0:40:55.319 respect me. You see what I'm saying, if you hide 0:40:55.360 --> 0:40:57.920 and stuff from me. But it's like I said, in 0:40:57.920 --> 0:41:00.759 this lifetime, it's such a spiritual journey. It's such a 0:41:00.800 --> 0:41:05.280 journey that when I look back, I'm marvel how everything 0:41:05.360 --> 0:41:10.120 turned out. Because your faults now is somebody else's testimony. 0:41:10.239 --> 0:41:13.759 Somebody else's your test Your false became your testimony to 0:41:13.800 --> 0:41:16.759 help somebody else. And that's how it all works. You know, 0:41:16.880 --> 0:41:20.520 what I did bad gives me a testimony to stop 0:41:20.560 --> 0:41:23.239 you from doing it right. Because God put me in 0:41:23.520 --> 0:41:26.719 a position where I am somebody. I've done a whole 0:41:26.760 --> 0:41:28.960 lot of things. I'm known all over the world. I'm 0:41:29.000 --> 0:41:31.239 just not somebody down the street trying to tell you 0:41:31.320 --> 0:41:33.879 what to do. I'm somebody that been where you been, 0:41:34.440 --> 0:41:36.320 and now I'm here and I'm gonna tell you everything. 0:41:36.440 --> 0:41:39.160 This could befall you as you take this journey into 0:41:39.200 --> 0:41:43.879 the going into the crime, the crime world, going into 0:41:43.880 --> 0:41:45.880 the dope world, going into anywhere. I can tell you 0:41:45.960 --> 0:41:46.880 what gonna happen to you. 0:41:47.000 --> 0:41:48.839 And during that period, it was probably like a two 0:41:48.920 --> 0:41:50.719 or three year run, man, where it's like, you know, 0:41:50.760 --> 0:41:53.719 I would go to I would win. I never went 0:41:53.760 --> 0:41:55.560 to the to the golda Glove Nationals. I would always 0:41:55.560 --> 0:41:58.359 win locally and then boom, I disappear. My first US 0:41:58.440 --> 0:42:01.200 Championship before I really win left was two thousand and one. 0:42:01.280 --> 0:42:01.640 I missed. 0:42:01.680 --> 0:42:04.000 Two thousand and two I was catting off, and then 0:42:04.200 --> 0:42:06.040 two thousand and three I was still messing up. 0:42:06.040 --> 0:42:07.719 But you were like, Man, you gotta you know, we're 0:42:07.760 --> 0:42:08.360 getting close. 0:42:09.239 --> 0:42:10.759 Used to count on your hands when I was a kid, 0:42:10.760 --> 0:42:13.600 like man, we got we identified what Olympics I was 0:42:13.600 --> 0:42:14.640 gonna be eligible for. 0:42:15.160 --> 0:42:17.960 Man, we're going nine years. Man, eight years, Man eight 0:42:18.040 --> 0:42:18.680 five years. 0:42:19.800 --> 0:42:23.799 You even had a notebook where you wrote in there, Man, 0:42:23.800 --> 0:42:27.400 I'm gonna be a preacher, commentator. 0:42:27.280 --> 0:42:29.000 A Hall of Famer, world champion. 0:42:29.760 --> 0:42:32.640 You wrote that in a notebook, And it's like during 0:42:32.640 --> 0:42:35.759 the period that I was going through, what I was 0:42:35.800 --> 0:42:38.680 going through, it was the opposite of what you were saying. 0:42:39.840 --> 0:42:43.040 Yeah. Actually it was a diary I had and I'm 0:42:43.080 --> 0:42:47.200 still looking for that diary today. I was just inspired. 0:42:47.239 --> 0:42:50.239 I think you're fifteen sixteen at the time, I was 0:42:50.280 --> 0:42:54.320 just inspired to write this, and I wrote in that diary. 0:42:54.719 --> 0:42:59.640 Kid is special. Don't know it yet, but this is 0:42:59.640 --> 0:43:02.520 what I see in this future. I see Olympic gold 0:43:02.520 --> 0:43:06.080 medalists in two thousand and four. I see a middleweight 0:43:06.640 --> 0:43:09.560 champion that at some point of the champions will be 0:43:09.800 --> 0:43:13.200 afraid to fight. And I see a first ballot Hall 0:43:13.239 --> 0:43:17.640 of Famer. And I also see a top broadcaster because 0:43:17.640 --> 0:43:20.319 of his intuition, because of his insight, because of his 0:43:20.400 --> 0:43:23.760 ability to comprehend. I see all that in his future. 0:43:24.000 --> 0:43:26.600 MM and I just left it out and you picked 0:43:26.640 --> 0:43:28.080 it up one day and read it, and you said, 0:43:28.120 --> 0:43:29.959 you write this verge And I said, yeah, I wrote 0:43:29.960 --> 0:43:32.719 it and put it back. And then I don't know 0:43:32.719 --> 0:43:34.200 where it is. I wish I could find it. I 0:43:34.200 --> 0:43:38.080 think it's in a container somewhere. Yeah, but it was 0:43:38.120 --> 0:43:41.520 in it was uh instilled in me because you know, 0:43:41.560 --> 0:43:46.359 I understand that if you hadn't win to Washington. See, 0:43:46.400 --> 0:43:50.840 God got a plan, right, and sometime the plan is 0:43:50.880 --> 0:43:54.160 not what we expect. As God fearing people, we think 0:43:54.200 --> 0:43:56.160 it's gotta be perfect. We gotta think it's gotta be 0:43:56.239 --> 0:44:01.279 thrown free, weed free, just of a Rosie path to 0:44:01.360 --> 0:44:04.319 wherever our destination is meant to be. But you had 0:44:04.360 --> 0:44:08.759 never met your wife. You see, you never had that 0:44:09.239 --> 0:44:11.920 opportunity to meet your wife and develop a relationship to 0:44:11.960 --> 0:44:14.080 where you know, I love her, this is who I 0:44:14.120 --> 0:44:16.040 want to marry. The boxing might have been another thing, 0:44:16.040 --> 0:44:18.080 but it might have been a whole nother situation for you. 0:44:18.600 --> 0:44:21.080 But you met somebody who was a perfect compliment for you. 0:44:21.440 --> 0:44:23.600 So it was that. Lets me know, it was always 0:44:23.680 --> 0:44:26.880 in the plan, right, it was in the plan. And 0:44:26.960 --> 0:44:30.040 I remember when you came to me and said that 0:44:30.120 --> 0:44:32.080 you guys wanted to get married at an early age, 0:44:32.400 --> 0:44:36.239 and everybody was against it. But I told you, I said, look, 0:44:37.320 --> 0:44:38.520 because you guys lived. 0:44:38.280 --> 0:44:43.320 With me, this girl girl they want to marry Dre. Yeah, 0:44:43.600 --> 0:44:45.920 but they only see it from one side on the lady. 0:44:45.840 --> 0:44:48.200 From one side of the age part, right, But they. 0:44:48.160 --> 0:44:49.680 Looking at the age, and then you know, they looking 0:44:49.680 --> 0:44:51.640 at who. You know, they look at it like, who 0:44:51.680 --> 0:44:53.360 is this girl trying to take our baby? 0:44:53.560 --> 0:44:54.720 Yeah, you know, get married. 0:44:54.760 --> 0:44:55.600 That's how the ladies looking. 0:44:55.600 --> 0:44:57.200 But what they didn't realize is that you got to 0:44:57.239 --> 0:45:00.279 stay with me, right, So I was able to watch 0:45:00.360 --> 0:45:03.399 over the years, you guys interact and I always saw 0:45:03.440 --> 0:45:06.520 you guys were never apart. Wherever you went, you had 0:45:06.520 --> 0:45:09.920 the kids with you. I'll watch y'all. Tiffany was so 0:45:10.840 --> 0:45:13.359 great with the kids early in the morning, feeding them, 0:45:13.360 --> 0:45:16.040 bathe them, making sure all their needs are met. And 0:45:16.080 --> 0:45:19.359 you guys were inseparable. So to me, he was already married, right, 0:45:19.840 --> 0:45:22.040 So I told you, I said, if anybody could do it, 0:45:22.239 --> 0:45:24.080 you could do it. Don't let all these old people 0:45:24.120 --> 0:45:27.000 tell you you've got problems in their relationships to things 0:45:27.160 --> 0:45:29.480 like that. Don't let them kill your vibe. You know, 0:45:29.640 --> 0:45:31.279 go ahead to get married. That's what you want to do. 0:45:31.320 --> 0:45:34.719 And you guys did. And look today it's a blessing man. 0:45:34.760 --> 0:45:36.719 You know you will you be fighting argument, just not 0:45:36.760 --> 0:45:39.760 knowing how to deal with life pressures of life relationship at. 0:45:39.600 --> 0:45:41.200 That level, you know. 0:45:41.640 --> 0:45:44.880 And you would sit us down be like, look, you 0:45:44.920 --> 0:45:47.080 know this is this is cause Tiffany didn't understand the 0:45:47.200 --> 0:45:47.799 magnitude of. 0:45:47.840 --> 0:45:50.719 What I was chasing. Like I told her, I was like, yeah, 0:45:50.760 --> 0:45:53.040 I'm you know, I box. She was like, yeah, I play. 0:45:53.120 --> 0:45:55.360 I played basketball. I'm like, nah, like I box, Like 0:45:55.400 --> 0:45:57.560 I'm the best in my white class. She was like, oh, 0:45:57.560 --> 0:45:57.960 that's cool. 0:45:58.800 --> 0:46:03.040 And it wasn't until she moved to California and really 0:46:03.160 --> 0:46:05.360 was like, start asking you questions, like wait, so she 0:46:05.440 --> 0:46:06.239 went to one of my fives. 0:46:06.280 --> 0:46:06.839 She's like, oh you. 0:46:06.760 --> 0:46:10.440 Want Oh that's cool, and then started really understanding. He 0:46:10.480 --> 0:46:12.680 was like, Nah, he gonna win a gold medal, he 0:46:12.760 --> 0:46:15.000 gonna You ain't have to worry about nothing. 0:46:15.520 --> 0:46:15.600 No. 0:46:15.840 --> 0:46:18.440 One day I told her, I said, t if you 0:46:19.760 --> 0:46:22.719 understand what I'm telling you, and if you really look 0:46:22.800 --> 0:46:28.080 into what you got, you got an ox and if 0:46:28.120 --> 0:46:30.160 you follow the script, you'll never have to work a 0:46:30.200 --> 0:46:34.919 day in your life. Has she had a job today? 0:46:35.480 --> 0:46:38.560 So just right, just just raising the kids and holding 0:46:38.560 --> 0:46:39.520 the house down, man. 0:46:39.400 --> 0:46:41.200 Which is what she wanted to do exactly. 0:46:41.640 --> 0:46:45.560 I mean, so you got the perfect situation, and you 0:46:45.600 --> 0:46:48.680 got the perfect wife out of an imperfect situation. You 0:46:48.760 --> 0:46:49.520 see what I'm saying. 0:46:49.600 --> 0:46:51.480 And I was challenged too, because I always thought you 0:46:51.520 --> 0:46:52.399 would be signing with her. 0:46:52.440 --> 0:46:53.799 I'm like, why you always signing with her? 0:46:53.880 --> 0:46:56.960 We got an argument or something, But I was growing up. 0:46:57.040 --> 0:46:59.160 I'm learning how to treat her the right way. And 0:46:59.280 --> 0:47:01.080 you know, because I didn't, I didn't have a lot 0:47:01.120 --> 0:47:01.800 of great examples. 0:47:01.840 --> 0:47:03.160 I didn't have a lot of that throughout my. 0:47:03.239 --> 0:47:08.120 Family line, strong marriages, you know, like it was just relationships. 0:47:08.120 --> 0:47:10.440 And it's like I seen dysfunction and I seen disorder. 0:47:10.960 --> 0:47:12.600 So that's what I know. I just want to pressure 0:47:12.640 --> 0:47:15.920 hit that's what you're gonna be, dysfunctional. So you and 0:47:15.960 --> 0:47:17.680 Millie May y'all would sit us down. You would sit 0:47:17.760 --> 0:47:19.560 us down, man and really open up the word man. 0:47:19.600 --> 0:47:21.200 And I think that was a difference maker. You know, 0:47:22.239 --> 0:47:25.360 your life wasn't perfect, but you never you never stray 0:47:25.400 --> 0:47:26.000 from that word. 0:47:26.040 --> 0:47:26.200 Though. 0:47:26.320 --> 0:47:28.480 No, sometimes you have a glass of champagne and a 0:47:28.520 --> 0:47:31.000 cigarette your hand. Let you say look man, and you 0:47:31.080 --> 0:47:33.400 take us to the word yeah, and you'd be like, look, 0:47:33.680 --> 0:47:34.800 this is what God says. 0:47:34.840 --> 0:47:37.120 That how a husband's supposed to treat his wife. 0:47:37.560 --> 0:47:40.480 I didn't want you guys to hear what I needed 0:47:40.520 --> 0:47:42.200 to say. I wanted to hear what the word said. 0:47:42.880 --> 0:47:44.480 So to be true, it's not what I said. It 0:47:44.560 --> 0:47:46.640 is what the word say, is right. And the first 0:47:46.640 --> 0:47:48.879 thing I told was but to you, I said, it's 0:47:48.920 --> 0:47:51.040 a scripture to see he who finds a wife finds 0:47:51.040 --> 0:47:53.880 a good thing and obtains favor from the Lord. Right. 0:47:54.280 --> 0:47:58.359 So I used to go from that, but I don't 0:47:58.400 --> 0:48:02.600 know to this day, I just marvel at It wasn't 0:48:02.640 --> 0:48:04.960 even under my own understanding. It was just the understanding 0:48:05.000 --> 0:48:07.560 the guy gave me for that particular moment to open 0:48:07.600 --> 0:48:09.480 my eyes to see what was going on in the 0:48:09.520 --> 0:48:12.440 battlefield that he gave me. So when that war, when 0:48:12.480 --> 0:48:15.680 your war came, I was able to assign you the 0:48:15.719 --> 0:48:20.200 proper weaponry and a proper strategy to deal with it, 0:48:20.719 --> 0:48:23.680 even though I hadn't done all that in my life, 0:48:24.040 --> 0:48:28.240 you know. So it was set aside, you know. And 0:48:28.360 --> 0:48:31.640 today I just marvel. You know, it's every time I 0:48:31.640 --> 0:48:34.520 think about it, it just enlightens me. It just when 0:48:34.560 --> 0:48:36.400 I see you on TV. When I see all the 0:48:36.440 --> 0:48:39.160 things that you accomplished, When I see all the beauty 0:48:39.200 --> 0:48:41.920 that your wife is doing, and the kids raised up 0:48:41.960 --> 0:48:45.280 well and everything like that and happy, it's just a marvel. 0:48:45.840 --> 0:48:48.960 During that time when I was, you know, doing my thing, 0:48:49.040 --> 0:48:49.800 getting in trouble. 0:48:50.600 --> 0:48:54.279 You know, I said this, when I interviewed Jay, you and. 0:48:54.280 --> 0:48:57.080 James Prince start talking, I think I forgot what year 0:48:57.080 --> 0:48:57.360 it was. 0:48:57.480 --> 0:49:02.080 Maybe so I was supposed to be. 0:49:02.239 --> 0:49:06.280 I wandered the local and the state state golden gloves, 0:49:06.880 --> 0:49:09.880 and then I just I dipped on you. I'll be 0:49:09.960 --> 0:49:12.239 back versed and I just left. I was gone, never 0:49:12.320 --> 0:49:15.839 showed up. But Jay and his team kept hearing about 0:49:15.920 --> 0:49:17.120 War Waterer's kid War. 0:49:17.640 --> 0:49:19.200 They went to the I think it was in Vegas. 0:49:19.400 --> 0:49:20.319 They went to the to the. 0:49:20.280 --> 0:49:23.080 Golden Gloves and I wasn't there, and somehow you got 0:49:23.120 --> 0:49:25.359 your number and y'all started talking. 0:49:25.360 --> 0:49:26.520 What was that conversation like? 0:49:26.880 --> 0:49:30.280 Well, actually, Antonio Leonard was the first person who called 0:49:30.280 --> 0:49:33.719 me and inquired about you and said, man, we've been 0:49:33.760 --> 0:49:35.880 hearing great things about this kid and this and that. 0:49:35.960 --> 0:49:38.759 I didn't know who Antonio was, you know, because at 0:49:38.760 --> 0:49:42.000 that time, Shelley Finker was calling me. Camera Duncan was 0:49:42.040 --> 0:49:45.640 calling me. Uh, the guy over in Europe, I can't 0:49:45.680 --> 0:49:50.120 think of his name. He was calling Gary Shall was 0:49:50.200 --> 0:49:52.879 leading you know, people like that. And I never was 0:49:53.120 --> 0:49:56.439 comfortable when they would call. I never could sit down. 0:49:56.960 --> 0:49:59.280 You know, I'm just listening because it was all about 0:49:59.760 --> 0:50:02.919 mone It was all about what they thought they thought 0:50:03.280 --> 0:50:05.880 said was gonna wanted to hear. You know, they bringing 0:50:05.880 --> 0:50:08.840 the money up first, not the person, right. So I 0:50:08.880 --> 0:50:11.520 get a call from Antonio Leonard and he said, is 0:50:11.600 --> 0:50:14.760 it okay if I give your number the j Prince? 0:50:14.840 --> 0:50:16.399 And I said yeah, give it to it. So when 0:50:16.440 --> 0:50:18.680 Jay called about thirty minutes later, did you know who 0:50:19.000 --> 0:50:20.600 was at that time? Yeah, knew who he was from 0:50:20.960 --> 0:50:23.520 Floyd and I never met him at that time, but 0:50:23.520 --> 0:50:26.800 I knew exactly who he was. So when he called 0:50:27.320 --> 0:50:30.359 and Mr Hunter, y know, it's James. 0:50:30.040 --> 0:50:32.360 Prince, right, It's James Prince. 0:50:32.440 --> 0:50:36.040 So after about two or three minutes of us filling 0:50:36.080 --> 0:50:38.359 out each other and everything like that, you know, trying 0:50:38.400 --> 0:50:41.680 to get the motives of one another and this and 0:50:41.719 --> 0:50:44.279 that and the other, I was able to sit down 0:50:44.920 --> 0:50:47.160 and listen to what he said and able to tell him. 0:50:47.400 --> 0:50:49.759 I said, you know what, if you can help me 0:50:49.840 --> 0:50:53.439 with this kid, because everything he was talking about never 0:50:53.480 --> 0:50:56.759 about money, It was about family, it was about help, 0:50:56.800 --> 0:50:59.960 It was about his life. We talked about thirty men 0:51:00.040 --> 0:51:02.960 minutes before I even said this to him, and you know, 0:51:03.600 --> 0:51:05.879 he was telling me everything that he had been through 0:51:05.920 --> 0:51:08.720 and this and that Floyd and this and that Roy 0:51:08.840 --> 0:51:13.879 and all these things. So something just lighten me up, 0:51:14.040 --> 0:51:15.759 you know where I knew that I wasn't going to 0:51:15.840 --> 0:51:18.799 make say the wrong thing or putting myself in a 0:51:18.840 --> 0:51:22.040 position that I would regret later on. So I said, 0:51:22.360 --> 0:51:24.080 you know what, Jay, if you could help me with 0:51:24.160 --> 0:51:27.000 this kid. He'll want us a gold medal, he said, yeah. 0:51:27.120 --> 0:51:28.759 I said, yeah, he want us a gold medal. I 0:51:28.800 --> 0:51:31.840 guarantee you he will and he So that's when I 0:51:31.880 --> 0:51:34.040 gave him your number and I called you and I said, man, 0:51:34.040 --> 0:51:36.759 I talked to j parents. He's interested in you. But 0:51:36.840 --> 0:51:39.320 the beautiful thing is it was a God send again 0:51:39.480 --> 0:51:44.319 because you came home and we went to Houston. Right now, 0:51:44.360 --> 0:51:50.800 you're able to see how people live, right, whips, whips, 0:51:51.400 --> 0:51:54.600 everything like that. Then he put your I onl on 0:51:54.640 --> 0:51:59.759 the phone to you Roy, right, so his connections were 0:51:59.800 --> 0:52:03.000 able to bring another dimension into the whole thing. Then 0:52:03.040 --> 0:52:04.720 we started going to all the big fights. 0:52:04.920 --> 0:52:05.400 Yeah. 0:52:05.440 --> 0:52:08.080 So long before you fall in the Olympics, long before 0:52:08.080 --> 0:52:11.479 you turn pro, you've been exposed to it. You saw 0:52:11.640 --> 0:52:13.680 what it could bring you in the locker room, in 0:52:13.760 --> 0:52:18.600 the locker room at Jay's matching, going to the night 0:52:18.640 --> 0:52:20.680 club of Floyd there and things like that. 0:52:21.000 --> 0:52:22.600 Because I was still you know, I wasn't all the 0:52:22.640 --> 0:52:25.200 way right yet, right, I was still trying to get 0:52:25.280 --> 0:52:27.680 right right. I mean, we was at a I think 0:52:27.680 --> 0:52:30.600 it was Roy Jones, John Ruiz and I had to 0:52:30.719 --> 0:52:35.360 all go suit on and uh, we were staying in 0:52:35.360 --> 0:52:37.879 the same room. But I'm still you know, I'm still 0:52:37.960 --> 0:52:39.520 drinking and stuff, So I don't. 0:52:39.400 --> 0:52:40.200 Know how I got it. 0:52:40.320 --> 0:52:42.480 I got like a like a personal bottle of Hennessy 0:52:42.560 --> 0:52:45.160 or something like that, so I think I'm being slick. 0:52:45.239 --> 0:52:48.320 So I got the personal bottle in my bag, tucked 0:52:48.320 --> 0:52:49.000 in some clothes. 0:52:49.520 --> 0:52:52.160 So I drink a little bit tucket. Leave, go do 0:52:52.239 --> 0:52:56.839 my thing, come back, drink drink some tucket. One night 0:52:56.880 --> 0:52:58.480 I go in there, I look at my bag. I'm like, 0:52:58.600 --> 0:53:03.640 it's gone. I'm like my bottle way and you holding 0:53:03.640 --> 0:53:04.160 the ace car. 0:53:04.280 --> 0:53:04.920 You ain't saying it. 0:53:05.000 --> 0:53:07.320 I'm like, I'm like, man, got my bottle. 0:53:07.320 --> 0:53:09.920 Bro I didn't have to say nothing my bottle. 0:53:10.000 --> 0:53:12.520 Man like either he got it or the cleaners. I said, 0:53:12.520 --> 0:53:15.120 how the cleaners know what's in my bag? So I'm tripping. 0:53:15.760 --> 0:53:18.080 That's worse than somebody finding it getting mad at you 0:53:18.160 --> 0:53:19.120 because you ain't saying nothing. 0:53:19.120 --> 0:53:20.200 I'm like, what's up, very ol, what's up? 0:53:20.360 --> 0:53:23.799 You act like ain't nothing happening, And uh, I think 0:53:23.840 --> 0:53:26.320 then you say something when we got back home or 0:53:26.320 --> 0:53:26.959 something like that. 0:53:26.880 --> 0:53:29.480 Back to the bay. I don't remember, but I knew 0:53:29.480 --> 0:53:32.040 you wasn't gonna question me because you knew nobody you knew, 0:53:32.000 --> 0:53:34.880 you knew I had, so it wasn't nothing to be questioned, 0:53:34.880 --> 0:53:37.640 and you didn't want to hear me come back and say, man, 0:53:37.680 --> 0:53:40.319 why you got this boom boom boom. I just that 0:53:40.520 --> 0:53:43.640 was my time because at that time, I don't think 0:53:43.680 --> 0:53:46.040 you knew that I was aware of what was going on, 0:53:46.040 --> 0:53:47.480 and I didn't want you to know. Then you didn't 0:53:47.520 --> 0:53:49.560 want me to know. But when I got this bottle, 0:53:49.680 --> 0:53:52.560 now you know, I know, right, So if that's all 0:53:52.560 --> 0:53:53.880 I had to leave it at, I didn't have to 0:53:53.920 --> 0:53:56.200 go no further. Now you know I know, So now 0:53:56.280 --> 0:54:01.040 the next move is on you, right, But at that 0:54:01.160 --> 0:54:03.399 time it w It was a great time. Again. It's 0:54:03.480 --> 0:54:06.680 how things are maneuvered and steered into the proper place 0:54:06.680 --> 0:54:09.759 and alignments and how things supposed to go. Ja was 0:54:09.760 --> 0:54:12.680 a blessing. He was a blessing because he cared about 0:54:12.719 --> 0:54:15.480 you genuinely and I respect it and he respected it 0:54:15.640 --> 0:54:18.960 and you and he came to He came and rescue 0:54:19.040 --> 0:54:22.440 for different things that mattered. When you needed a bigger 0:54:22.520 --> 0:54:26.080 vehicle for your kids, you didn't ask him for escalade 0:54:26.120 --> 0:54:27.719 with big rams on it, and he said, I just 0:54:27.760 --> 0:54:30.799 need something from my family. He provided a nice pre 0:54:31.000 --> 0:54:35.960 certified uh forget Toyota s expedition, things like that. So 0:54:36.120 --> 0:54:39.319 he was always there when you needed it. He was 0:54:39.400 --> 0:54:42.880 always there for me. But after if Jay became involved 0:54:42.880 --> 0:54:45.000 and we began to team up, all the other stuff 0:54:45.080 --> 0:54:47.560 just begin to disperse and started going away. And then 0:54:47.600 --> 0:54:50.560 you start locking in. You going to focus because you 0:54:50.640 --> 0:54:52.759 had all examples around. You got to put you in 0:54:52.760 --> 0:54:56.560 that arena where you could see this could beat me. Yeah, right, I. 0:54:56.480 --> 0:54:58.680 Could see it though right when I was around Roy. 0:55:00.000 --> 0:55:02.319 A few times I was around Floyd, like I just 0:55:02.360 --> 0:55:04.080 felt like I could do this, you could do this. 0:55:04.360 --> 0:55:08.399 I see myself here and but brushing shoulders with them, 0:55:08.440 --> 0:55:10.560 and like you know that that did something to me, man, 0:55:10.640 --> 0:55:12.200 especially at that time in my life, cause I lost 0:55:12.239 --> 0:55:14.919 my dad in two thousand and two. Man, my dad 0:55:14.960 --> 0:55:17.800 was here today going tomorrow, and I was already you know, teetering, 0:55:17.880 --> 0:55:20.319 and that just that just took me over the over 0:55:20.360 --> 0:55:22.760 the line man, and sort of gave me an excuse 0:55:22.840 --> 0:55:24.040 to continue to self destruct. 0:55:24.080 --> 0:55:24.279 Man. 0:55:24.320 --> 0:55:26.080 But man, God is good. 0:55:26.280 --> 0:55:28.239 I got I got in trouble one last time, man, 0:55:28.280 --> 0:55:30.680 and I was like that breaking point for me and 0:55:32.080 --> 0:55:34.160 I just surrendered. Man, I just I told God. I 0:55:34.239 --> 0:55:36.160 was like, you know, I was like, man, I'm sorry. 0:55:36.680 --> 0:55:38.160 You know, I know I've been running from you. I 0:55:38.200 --> 0:55:40.200 know I've been, you know, just just doing what I 0:55:40.239 --> 0:55:43.200 want to do, you know. But it's crazy though, because 0:55:43.239 --> 0:55:46.440 you you spent some years getting some bad habits, right, 0:55:46.719 --> 0:55:48.640 don't it don't go over? And I can, But it 0:55:48.680 --> 0:55:51.279 took some time to get, like the desire to want 0:55:51.280 --> 0:55:53.400 to smoke weed out of my system, the desire to 0:55:53.520 --> 0:55:55.759 want to drink out myself. Never went to a program, 0:55:56.040 --> 0:55:58.000 never did none of that. Some people that's that's the route. 0:55:58.000 --> 0:56:00.560 But for me, man, he just took it well. And 0:56:00.960 --> 0:56:04.520 and then with Ja being there and then Tiffany moving 0:56:04.719 --> 0:56:06.960 to the bay, I felt like, what do I need 0:56:07.000 --> 0:56:09.000 to leave for? Like, like, I got a year and 0:56:09.040 --> 0:56:10.719 a half to try to make this happen. 0:56:10.800 --> 0:56:13.080 Well in the major thing was she was taking out 0:56:13.080 --> 0:56:17.759 the environment. Yeah, say if you had stayed in that environment, right, 0:56:18.200 --> 0:56:20.080 but you were taking out the environment right. It was 0:56:20.120 --> 0:56:22.440 down the street, but we were all centered in the 0:56:22.480 --> 0:56:25.680 house together, so you know, even at the car wash, 0:56:25.960 --> 0:56:28.400 I had connections there. I had my ear to the street. 0:56:28.440 --> 0:56:29.880 At the car wash, I had my heirs to the 0:56:29.880 --> 0:56:32.440 street on eighty second and Black Arthur on the corner 0:56:32.600 --> 0:56:34.360 where I had kids that I had that was running 0:56:34.400 --> 0:56:37.160 those blocks and telling him, look, when he come down here, 0:56:37.680 --> 0:56:39.840 don't bubba, don't do nothing, don't give me nothing, and 0:56:39.880 --> 0:56:41.440 don't mess with him when he comes down here to 0:56:41.480 --> 0:56:45.399 this store. So everything was in order. Everything. But it's 0:56:45.440 --> 0:56:49.960 so important and getting back to JP, it's so important 0:56:50.760 --> 0:56:52.560 I think, and I'm just saying this for young fighters 0:56:52.600 --> 0:56:54.680 to have many men in your life. 0:56:54.680 --> 0:56:54.759 Now. 0:56:54.920 --> 0:56:58.680 Notice I said men. I didn't say fellas. I didn't 0:56:58.719 --> 0:57:02.440 say hanger ons. I didn't say get the man that's 0:57:02.480 --> 0:57:06.400 gonna backstab your cult or backstab this or put anything 0:57:06.440 --> 0:57:09.359 that's negative in your parents here about what's going on. 0:57:09.800 --> 0:57:13.160 Not negativity, but real men. Everybody needs more than one 0:57:13.200 --> 0:57:13.959 man in their life. 0:57:14.040 --> 0:57:16.000 I mean it's a blessing because I lost my dad. 0:57:16.840 --> 0:57:19.040 But then you was already playing a dual father role 0:57:19.120 --> 0:57:20.520 and you had to step up completely. 0:57:21.200 --> 0:57:24.040 Then you know, God brought Jay and brought. 0:57:23.840 --> 0:57:25.920 Other people that you know, he knew that I will 0:57:26.000 --> 0:57:28.720 respect and I would listen to. I ended up getting 0:57:28.720 --> 0:57:31.320 on the team qualifying, and you know, I thought it 0:57:31.480 --> 0:57:33.040 at a higher weight class because I thought I was 0:57:33.080 --> 0:57:35.040 gonna grow. Should have been in one sixty five, but 0:57:35.080 --> 0:57:38.080 I thought at one seventy eight, you know, I'm in Athens, Greece. 0:57:38.200 --> 0:57:40.919 You somehow not only get there, but you get front 0:57:40.960 --> 0:57:44.400 row tickets to the fight. We had just went to 0:57:44.440 --> 0:57:46.880 War two, so security was we had a secret service 0:57:46.880 --> 0:57:48.120 agent where us everywhere we went. 0:57:48.200 --> 0:57:50.040 So what like just freedom to wrong? 0:57:50.240 --> 0:57:53.320 Like it was, it was strict, yeah, And somehow, some way, man, 0:57:53.360 --> 0:57:57.040 you got you got front row tickets to every fight. 0:57:57.840 --> 0:58:01.400 Well, I mean that was that was incredible blessing right 0:58:01.400 --> 0:58:03.520 there in itself, because I didn't think I could make 0:58:03.600 --> 0:58:05.800 us at that time the war. And then when you 0:58:05.840 --> 0:58:10.320 look over they were just staying accommodations they were real high, right, 0:58:10.640 --> 0:58:13.439 just the one bedroom was like a thousand dollars a week, 0:58:14.120 --> 0:58:17.240 two bedroom three thousand dollars a week, and things like that, 0:58:17.880 --> 0:58:19.880 the airlines and this and that, and then you had 0:58:19.880 --> 0:58:22.160 to think about food, and I'm like, man, it's gonna 0:58:22.240 --> 0:58:24.520 kind of be kind of tough, you know, to getting 0:58:24.520 --> 0:58:28.080 over there at these prices. And one day I was 0:58:28.120 --> 0:58:32.400 just sitting in it then and this voice came in 0:58:32.480 --> 0:58:35.840 my ear. It wasn't audible, but I could hear it, 0:58:36.600 --> 0:58:38.720 and it said to me, you don't think I can 0:58:38.760 --> 0:58:43.120 get you to Athens, Greece. And I started crying because 0:58:43.160 --> 0:58:47.600 I knew this voice, right. I started crying like because 0:58:47.640 --> 0:58:50.760 I was so ashamed of the doubt that I had 0:58:50.800 --> 0:58:53.440 that I couldn't get there, saying I couldn't not instead 0:58:53.440 --> 0:58:56.200 of looking at a way where I could. So when 0:58:56.200 --> 0:59:01.680 that happened, I immediately on my credit card look for 0:59:01.720 --> 0:59:05.600 a plane ticket and I got one round trip for 0:59:05.720 --> 0:59:07.800 nine hundred dollars. I had to go through Germany to 0:59:07.840 --> 0:59:09.760 get to Greece and things like that, So I got 0:59:09.840 --> 0:59:12.640 the plane ticket. That was my first step out in faith. 0:59:13.600 --> 0:59:15.440 And then so now I'm sitting there worrying about where 0:59:15.520 --> 0:59:20.360 to stay. And then all of a sudden, Charlotte, she 0:59:20.440 --> 0:59:22.520 used to work at a dental office and her best 0:59:22.560 --> 0:59:25.000 friend was Greek, and her brother, who was the dentist, 0:59:25.120 --> 0:59:28.320 was Greek. And so I called her. I said, do 0:59:28.360 --> 0:59:30.920 you still talk to marykat Sulas? She said, yeah, I do. 0:59:31.080 --> 0:59:32.360 I said, well, can you give me the number? She 0:59:32.360 --> 0:59:34.080 says she still works at the dentist office. So I 0:59:34.160 --> 0:59:37.240 called Mary cat Sulis and she knew I was and 0:59:37.280 --> 0:59:40.680 I said, I'm going to Athenes Greece, and I just 0:59:40.680 --> 0:59:42.520 wanted to talk to your brother about it to see 0:59:42.520 --> 0:59:45.840 if he had any uh recommendations for me. She said, well, 0:59:45.920 --> 0:59:47.760 George is out of town, but he'll be back tomorrow. 0:59:47.760 --> 0:59:50.360 I haven't call you. The next day, George calls me 0:59:51.000 --> 0:59:53.840 and you were actually going to school with his son, right. 0:59:53.880 --> 0:59:56.200 He told me that. He said, look, I'm going to 0:59:56.240 --> 0:59:59.680 Greece a week out from the Olympics because I'm an 0:59:59.720 --> 1:00:03.320 honor pary athlete in the Greek Olympics. The Greek Olympics 1:00:03.360 --> 1:00:05.320 is going to be a week before the regular Olympics. 1:00:05.840 --> 1:00:08.240 So he said, when I get there, I'll look around 1:00:08.280 --> 1:00:11.600 for you. So he gets there and he calls me 1:00:11.640 --> 1:00:15.240 from Greece. He said, how many I wanna come? I 1:00:15.280 --> 1:00:18.120 said five. He said, my friend has a flat and 1:00:18.240 --> 1:00:22.760 Kalamaki Athens Kalamaki, which you're on the beach bleaches one 1:00:22.800 --> 1:00:25.880 block away, all the shops and everything. He says, in 1:00:25.920 --> 1:00:28.320 the summertime, he owns a restaurant out in some island 1:00:28.360 --> 1:00:30.440 and Greece and some creed or somewhere out there in 1:00:30.480 --> 1:00:32.840 the island, and he goes out there and stays out 1:00:32.840 --> 1:00:34.720 there for the summer, and he leases out his place 1:00:35.440 --> 1:00:38.680 he said, so you guys just pay five hundred dollars 1:00:38.760 --> 1:00:41.440 a piece a week, so that's three weeks. That's fifteen 1:00:41.520 --> 1:00:44.680 hundred dollars plus nine hundred dollars, so that came to 1:00:45.000 --> 1:00:47.640 twenty four hundred dollars, right, So that's way in the ballpark. 1:00:48.280 --> 1:00:52.000 So I said, okay, So got on went to Greece. 1:00:52.560 --> 1:00:54.520 He took us all down on the bus lines and 1:00:54.560 --> 1:00:56.880 the transportation lines to see where we could get to 1:00:56.920 --> 1:01:00.160 the arena and things like that, and we went on. 1:01:00.520 --> 1:01:03.120 So when I get to the fight site the first night, 1:01:03.160 --> 1:01:05.360 you say you were gonna fight. I went up to 1:01:05.400 --> 1:01:10.120 the ticket booth and once again, I'm gonna charge these tickets, right, 1:01:10.480 --> 1:01:13.680 but here comes the enemy's voice in my ear. You 1:01:13.800 --> 1:01:16.920 gonna buy tickets for all four nights. What if he lose, 1:01:17.360 --> 1:01:19.160 You ain't gonna wanna come to the fights, So you 1:01:19.280 --> 1:01:23.880 gonna waste money, buy one ticket at a time. And 1:01:24.840 --> 1:01:27.240 I told the lady, I'm on four tickets in this 1:01:27.320 --> 1:01:28.320 arena right here. 1:01:29.760 --> 1:01:30.440 For the event. 1:01:31.120 --> 1:01:33.439 As she was getting ready, As I was getting ready 1:01:33.440 --> 1:01:35.080 to hand her my credit card, I got a tap 1:01:35.120 --> 1:01:37.560 on my shoulder and I turned around and it was Eric, 1:01:37.840 --> 1:01:41.480 the director of USA Boxing He said, what are you doing. 1:01:42.000 --> 1:01:43.840 I said, I'm getting ready to buy tickets for the event. 1:01:43.920 --> 1:01:45.360 He said no, no, no, no, no, no, do that. 1:01:45.440 --> 1:01:47.520 He took me buying the booth, opened up his briefcase. 1:01:47.640 --> 1:01:49.960 How many of you guys wanna come? I said, well, 1:01:49.960 --> 1:01:52.720 it's five of us. He gave me front row tickets 1:01:52.760 --> 1:01:55.560 wall five of us, all four nights, so I didn't 1:01:55.600 --> 1:01:58.040 have to pay for the tickets. And then after he 1:01:58.120 --> 1:02:01.520 wanted the gold medal, George came to me his friend 1:02:01.560 --> 1:02:04.560 who owned the flat. George had met a girl in 1:02:04.640 --> 1:02:06.400 Greece and he took her out to the restaurant. He 1:02:06.440 --> 1:02:08.600 told his friend, I'm bringing a girl to the restaurant. 1:02:08.720 --> 1:02:10.680 You know, give me a table, treat me nice, like 1:02:10.720 --> 1:02:12.560 I'm somebody, this and that. He said. When he gets 1:02:12.560 --> 1:02:15.880 to the restaurant, he has to stand in line. And 1:02:15.920 --> 1:02:18.120 he said he would even give me a complimentary bottle 1:02:18.120 --> 1:02:20.840 of wine. Right, he said, So, look, when he comes 1:02:20.840 --> 1:02:23.880 and collects the money tomorrow, don't give me five hundred. 1:02:23.920 --> 1:02:25.680 Get him two hundred and tell him. 1:02:25.720 --> 1:02:28.640 I said so, right, So when the guy comes, everybody 1:02:28.640 --> 1:02:30.640 gives me two hundred dollars a piece. And he's looking 1:02:30.720 --> 1:02:33.920 like I said, George said so, so he knew right then, 1:02:34.040 --> 1:02:37.600 so he left. So the old trip ends up costing 1:02:37.640 --> 1:02:41.920 me under two thousand dollars just like that. Yeah, and 1:02:41.960 --> 1:02:45.520 then God pays for the trip. I get home. The 1:02:45.680 --> 1:02:49.000 envelope comes from USA Boxing. I opened it up, is 1:02:49.040 --> 1:02:51.520 ten thousand dollars in there for coaching you to a 1:02:51.560 --> 1:02:53.960 gold medal. So the old trip was paid for. And 1:02:54.200 --> 1:02:57.120 so that's how it worked. That's how the journey's being. 1:02:57.200 --> 1:02:59.400 Man, it's crazy because moments like that, man, you call 1:02:59.480 --> 1:03:01.720 him a Moory, you know what I'm saying. Like, it's 1:03:01.800 --> 1:03:04.160 moments that you set up in your life, in your mind. 1:03:04.400 --> 1:03:07.440 So when you face new challenges, new giants, new stuff, 1:03:07.680 --> 1:03:09.320 you go back and say, Man, it's the same guy 1:03:09.360 --> 1:03:10.800 that got me through that. It's the same guy to 1:03:10.800 --> 1:03:14.240 get exactly So that that whole Olympics thing, me being 1:03:14.320 --> 1:03:17.240 in a weight class that I really wasn't supposed to be. 1:03:18.240 --> 1:03:20.200 I had never fought at that level. 1:03:20.480 --> 1:03:24.880 I fought, you know, Ireland and Mexico and Germany and Korea. 1:03:26.080 --> 1:03:28.480 I never fought the Cubas and the Russians before, and 1:03:28.560 --> 1:03:31.280 I think ESPN had me possibly winning a bronze medal 1:03:31.760 --> 1:03:34.120 in that weight class though I hadn't lost since I 1:03:34.160 --> 1:03:35.080 was fourteen years old. 1:03:36.120 --> 1:03:39.080 Twelve twelve, it's a debate. I like, twelve better, No. 1:03:39.120 --> 1:03:40.160 We'll go twe twelve. 1:03:40.160 --> 1:03:42.880 I looked at it, Yeah, we're going twelve. But I 1:03:42.920 --> 1:03:45.280 hadn't lost in a long time, and it was like, 1:03:45.520 --> 1:03:48.280 he probably gonna And I get it because I what 1:03:48.440 --> 1:03:52.240 was your thinking with being the number one ranked American 1:03:52.400 --> 1:03:56.120 for many years but then not allowing me to go 1:03:56.320 --> 1:03:58.920 to certain tournaments or certain like World Championship. 1:03:58.920 --> 1:04:00.840 Never been to World Championship before. 1:04:00.600 --> 1:04:03.640 The Olympics, never went to the PanAm Games before the Olympics. 1:04:03.960 --> 1:04:06.560 That's my route, right though, USA box and don't get 1:04:06.560 --> 1:04:08.440 mad at me. That was my route for some of 1:04:08.440 --> 1:04:10.120 your kids. Y'all got to decide what y'all want to 1:04:10.160 --> 1:04:14.960 do with that. But you didn't want the overexposure. I 1:04:15.000 --> 1:04:17.360 had four years to make it happen, really three years 1:04:17.520 --> 1:04:19.400 to make it happen. Why did you not let me 1:04:19.440 --> 1:04:21.520 go to certain tournaments on the way to the Olympics. 1:04:22.280 --> 1:04:26.400 Well, the year of the Olympics, after you had qualified 1:04:26.440 --> 1:04:28.080 it and they came to me and they wanted to 1:04:28.080 --> 1:04:31.440 go I think Kakistan, different places like that, and I 1:04:31.480 --> 1:04:35.720 told him no, oh, why he could get the experience? 1:04:35.880 --> 1:04:38.320 I said, I never seen nobody getting the experience. Every 1:04:38.360 --> 1:04:40.840 time they go, they lose, you know. But it was 1:04:40.920 --> 1:04:45.960 one thing that I knew. I knew as a light heavyweight, 1:04:46.320 --> 1:04:48.520 even though you wasn't a full fledged light he was 1:04:48.560 --> 1:04:53.080 really one seventy one seventy one without cutting weight and 1:04:53.240 --> 1:04:55.680 just eating and stuff like that. I knew the weight 1:04:55.760 --> 1:04:58.720 classes once, and the weight class has one seventy eight, right, 1:04:59.560 --> 1:05:02.439 But after I'm looking at these guys on TV. It's six', 1:05:02.560 --> 1:05:06.680 five six' six coming to one. Seventy Eight so, I'm saying, 1:05:06.760 --> 1:05:09.920 jesus man this means if he fights On, a monday 1:05:10.440 --> 1:05:14.280 he gotta make that weight, that morning right then he. 1:05:14.360 --> 1:05:16.400 Gonna out he's get two days off IN between i 1:05:16.400 --> 1:05:18.720 think you guys got two days off in. Between bouts he's, 1:05:18.760 --> 1:05:20.880 gonna eat so he go put on another five or. 1:05:20.880 --> 1:05:24.520 Six seven so his whole thing, is fighting putting on, 1:05:24.560 --> 1:05:27.160 the weight taking off, the, weight fighting putting on, the weight. 1:05:27.200 --> 1:05:29.240 Taking off that's, gonna weekend you old period, of, time 1:05:29.320 --> 1:05:32.880 right especially in a. Week's tournament SO but i knew 1:05:33.640 --> 1:05:36.840 that you had something that if they, never saw they 1:05:37.000 --> 1:05:39.760 wasn't gonna beat it in four two many rounds because 1:05:39.760 --> 1:05:41.520 they not gonna have no tape. On you they just 1:05:41.560 --> 1:05:43.680 not gonna figure, you out and four two. MINUTE rounds i, knew, 1:05:43.720 --> 1:05:46.040 That right AND then i knew that if you, could 1:05:46.120 --> 1:05:49.160 eat they didn't have to worry about. Making weight you could. Train, 1:05:49.320 --> 1:05:52.760 Harder right you're gonna, Sleep better you're not gonna be 1:05:52.800 --> 1:05:55.200 stressed With the, OH man i, wanna Eat but i'm 1:05:55.240 --> 1:05:56.840 scared on my game three or, four POUNDS and i 1:05:56.880 --> 1:06:00.280 gotta take. It off this, constant work. Constant STRESS so 1:06:00.320 --> 1:06:02.640 i took that stress level off. OF you i knew 1:06:02.680 --> 1:06:06.000 you were physically strong enough to beat guys ten pounds heavier. 1:06:06.080 --> 1:06:09.680 Than YOU and i, TOLD you, i said they're not 1:06:09.720 --> 1:06:13.520 gonna take you serious because, you're small until you get 1:06:13.560 --> 1:06:16.280 to the, SECOND fight, I said and after that they 1:06:16.400 --> 1:06:18.120 gonna they gotta take. You serious but it's gonna be. 1:06:18.160 --> 1:06:20.479 Too late it's gonna be too late because they're gonna 1:06:20.480 --> 1:06:21.960 have to turn around and figure out how we gonna beat. 1:06:21.960 --> 1:06:23.920 This kid it's. Too late you don't have no tape, 1:06:23.920 --> 1:06:24.160 on me. 1:06:24.720 --> 1:06:27.400 You KNOW once i beat the two time, World, Champion 1:06:27.480 --> 1:06:31.000 Yeah guiney Mac and Nko, from russia they knew, what time. 1:06:30.920 --> 1:06:32.520 They knew what time. IT was i wasn't supposed to Be, 1:06:32.600 --> 1:06:35.200 in Oh Even clementia russo because he came back to 1:06:35.240 --> 1:06:37.560 The next olympics. And, won yeah But if, guinea though 1:06:37.600 --> 1:06:40.320 he was. The one he wore a Two time world 1:06:40.400 --> 1:06:41.560 champions six six or. 1:06:41.560 --> 1:06:42.680 Something, like that he was. 1:06:42.720 --> 1:06:44.320 The one SO when i, beat him, they said who 1:06:44.360 --> 1:06:47.320 is this kid who was out of? State mayor and 1:06:47.760 --> 1:06:50.280 you know the rest. Is, history man we want to go. 1:06:50.440 --> 1:06:53.200 Metal man and it's like that was a crazy faith 1:06:53.200 --> 1:06:55.440 builder for me because we had talked, About it you 1:06:55.520 --> 1:06:57.560 had talked, about it and it was just a lot 1:06:57.600 --> 1:07:01.840 Of stuff god was Doing, In athens greece that just 1:07:01.880 --> 1:07:05.480 confirmations that we were there for. A reason and it's 1:07:05.520 --> 1:07:08.440 crazy That that i'm the last mail to want to 1:07:08.440 --> 1:07:10.000 go gold medals in two thousand. 1:07:10.040 --> 1:07:11.000 And four and, it's bittersweet. 1:07:11.000 --> 1:07:13.400 You know, one hand it's like, it's cool but like 1:07:13.480 --> 1:07:15.760 it's that's supposed to be broken in, you know like 1:07:15.800 --> 1:07:17.480 giving the talent and stuff that we have here And 1:07:17.520 --> 1:07:19.960 obviously chloresta shields and done. Her Thing but, i'm saying 1:07:19.960 --> 1:07:23.480 as a mail we gotta. Break, that yeah but that's 1:07:23.560 --> 1:07:25.439 that's a. Long time that's what twenty. 1:07:25.440 --> 1:07:28.200 Two, YEARS well i think one way to break it 1:07:28.320 --> 1:07:32.280 IS is ussa Boxing the, european countries they they twenty 1:07:32.280 --> 1:07:33.360 five and twenty six. 1:07:33.240 --> 1:07:34.040 Years old fighting. 1:07:34.080 --> 1:07:37.240 Amateur yep but they get compensated, for that so they 1:07:37.240 --> 1:07:39.480 don't have any incentive to turn pro too early because 1:07:39.480 --> 1:07:41.360 they're getting a steady check from. The state they might 1:07:41.400 --> 1:07:43.360 get a flat from, the state a car from. The 1:07:43.440 --> 1:07:46.520 state they get everything so their needs, are met so 1:07:46.560 --> 1:07:49.640 they don't have no that's. Guaranteed money that's NOT like i, 1:07:49.640 --> 1:07:51.200 got well when you're gonna give me a, fight date 1:07:51.480 --> 1:07:54.000 OR when i get a, fight date that's. Guaranteed money, 1:07:54.040 --> 1:07:56.960 every month, that's medical That's every all your needs, are 1:07:56.960 --> 1:07:59.600 met so they have incentive to. Stay longer that's why 1:07:59.640 --> 1:08:01.640 you only see maybe the cream of the crop every 1:08:01.640 --> 1:08:03.720 one or two come out of those regions and be 1:08:03.760 --> 1:08:05.800 coming and get into. The program you don't see many 1:08:05.800 --> 1:08:08.200 of them going to the progame because they get well 1:08:08.240 --> 1:08:12.320 compensated in the. Amateur game IF The usa boxing realizes 1:08:12.400 --> 1:08:18.400 that they need a nil they need a, nil, program 1:08:18.520 --> 1:08:20.880 right they, get paid they, get paid but they need 1:08:20.880 --> 1:08:21.240 to up. 1:08:21.280 --> 1:08:23.200 TO pay i think they need to up. To PAY 1:08:23.240 --> 1:08:24.760 and i Think and i've been saying this for a long. 1:08:24.800 --> 1:08:27.040 Ast time for whatever it IS in usa boxing just 1:08:27.800 --> 1:08:31.680 keeps plugging. Their EARS like usa boxing needs to have 1:08:31.760 --> 1:08:36.240 an open door. With alumnis we talk to these kids 1:08:36.320 --> 1:08:38.400 on social we do video calls with them off to, 1:08:38.439 --> 1:08:41.720 the side but it's like we beg to get into, 1:08:41.720 --> 1:08:44.599 the program to influence, these kids to encourage, these kids 1:08:44.600 --> 1:08:46.040 to let. Them NIGHT man i, did it you can. 1:08:46.080 --> 1:08:49.200 Do it nobody's trying to take away from the. Head 1:08:49.200 --> 1:08:52.280 coach the message is still. The same whatever your, Cad 1:08:52.280 --> 1:08:55.439 coach we're gonna implement the. Same message but there's nothing 1:08:55.560 --> 1:08:59.000 like brushing shoulders or somebody who's already walked the path 1:08:59.040 --> 1:09:01.800 that you want and they can reach out and touch you, and, say, 1:09:01.800 --> 1:09:02.800 MAN man i appreciate you. 1:09:02.840 --> 1:09:03.840 Coming through you. 1:09:03.760 --> 1:09:07.400 Can't quantify what that does for a young athlete that's 1:09:07.439 --> 1:09:09.760 trying to get what. You got but it's like they 1:09:09.760 --> 1:09:12.000 just want to keep them to theyself and just you 1:09:12.040 --> 1:09:13.439 gotta like you gotta beg to get. 1:09:13.439 --> 1:09:14.920 In there that's one of the. 1:09:14.920 --> 1:09:17.800 Biggest mistakes cubans don't do What the russians. Don't do 1:09:18.000 --> 1:09:21.559 all the previous champions they're around, the program so they 1:09:21.560 --> 1:09:25.200 get to see or That's That's felix avone or that's you, know, 1:09:25.280 --> 1:09:28.000 Whoever right they get to see, that man that's so 1:09:28.160 --> 1:09:30.080 and so many he won two gold medals and a, 1:09:30.120 --> 1:09:33.200 world championship and they get to they get to brush shoulders, 1:09:33.240 --> 1:09:34.760 with them and they get to get advice from them 1:09:34.800 --> 1:09:38.120 and be. Around them you can't quantify what that's gonna 1:09:38.160 --> 1:09:40.640 do for. THOSE athletes i think that's one of the 1:09:40.640 --> 1:09:42.600 biggest mistakes that they make is not allow on the 1:09:42.680 --> 1:09:45.000 alumni to. Come back we only had one guy, come 1:09:45.040 --> 1:09:46.200 BACK and I Was, andrew MAYNE and i. 1:09:46.120 --> 1:09:48.040 Appreciated them coming because he was in my. Way class 1:09:48.040 --> 1:09:48.719 you want to go medal? 1:09:48.760 --> 1:09:49.240 Eighty eight. 1:09:50.680 --> 1:09:52.639 Uh Damn david reid because he was with our metro 1:09:52.760 --> 1:09:55.280 so but we loved being. Around, them, dudes, like man tell. Me, Something, 1:09:55.280 --> 1:09:57.000 Man man i'm getting ready to go To. These olympics 1:09:57.080 --> 1:09:59.479 you don't know what it's like till you. Get, there well. 1:09:59.479 --> 1:10:02.040 You KNOW and i never aspired to BE a usa 1:10:02.120 --> 1:10:05.480 boxing COACHES because i saw early on it. Was clickish 1:10:05.479 --> 1:10:07.360 and that's not to put. Nobody down i'm not gonna 1:10:07.360 --> 1:10:09.240 say no Names any that doesn't mean that they're a, 1:10:09.280 --> 1:10:15.120 bad person but the threat of somebody coming in may 1:10:15.160 --> 1:10:18.640 be doing it better then you. Did it that's, the, 1:10:18.720 --> 1:10:21.800 threat right instead of realizing it's not about me as, 1:10:21.840 --> 1:10:25.479 an individual it's about. A, team okay six sets of 1:10:25.479 --> 1:10:28.120 eyes is better than, one, Set right but that six 1:10:28.160 --> 1:10:29.920 sets of eyes has got to be on. The up 1:10:29.960 --> 1:10:32.800 you can't come in with, a agenda. Negative agenda you 1:10:32.880 --> 1:10:35.720 can't come, in criticize and you gotta come in with 1:10:35.760 --> 1:10:37.880 your eyes and be. A TEAM where, i asked HOW can? 1:10:37.920 --> 1:10:40.559 I help WHAT can i? Do this? Hey coach you 1:10:40.600 --> 1:10:42.680 know what if he just did this right here to 1:10:42.800 --> 1:10:45.280 his right hand and, Land better and if the coach 1:10:45.280 --> 1:10:47.000 can look at, this, guy, say man he's knocked out 1:10:47.040 --> 1:10:48.559 a lot of guys with his, right hand so he 1:10:48.640 --> 1:10:51.640 know what he's. Talking, about okay, guy comes it's been 1:10:51.680 --> 1:10:54.080 in the pros knocking you out. Left hooks if, he, say, 1:10:54.080 --> 1:10:55.920 hey coach if he throws hook this way or, you 1:10:55.960 --> 1:10:58.400 know or maybe this way or get it off this 1:10:58.439 --> 1:11:00.519 way to, be better you gonna listen. 1:11:00.560 --> 1:11:00.600 To. 1:11:00.680 --> 1:11:03.720 Him right but once you get this salary and this 1:11:03.760 --> 1:11:05.840 team has been given, to you and you got a 1:11:05.840 --> 1:11:07.640 couple of coaches up, under you you don't want to 1:11:07.640 --> 1:11:09.240 get off. That interest you don't want to get off 1:11:09.280 --> 1:11:11.800 that pedestal without realizing it takes a team to keep 1:11:11.840 --> 1:11:14.719 you on. The pedestal no great man is great without. 1:11:14.720 --> 1:11:16.200 A team it takes a village to take. 1:11:16.240 --> 1:11:18.960 A raise i'll give you, an example so that they 1:11:19.080 --> 1:11:22.720 just Had the youth Under Nineteen world championships for the 1:11:22.800 --> 1:11:27.120 girls and, the guys and SOMETHING that i KNOW because 1:11:27.120 --> 1:11:30.360 i was trained this WAY and i. Did it the. 1:11:30.400 --> 1:11:33.920 Body language for a lot of. Those athletes some of 1:11:33.960 --> 1:11:36.439 them lost because of. Body language you saw fatigue, set 1:11:36.479 --> 1:11:40.360 in they falling over, their feet they holding the referee 1:11:40.360 --> 1:11:40.600 has to. 1:11:40.640 --> 1:11:42.080 Warn them that's given. 1:11:42.120 --> 1:11:45.120 The opponent that's given the opponent some energy and some 1:11:45.280 --> 1:11:46.920 and some, you know, Hey man i'm, tired TOO but, 1:11:46.920 --> 1:11:48.960 i said you won't tired. To me and it's also 1:11:49.000 --> 1:11:50.760 for a judge who's trying to figure out who's winning. 1:11:50.800 --> 1:11:52.320 This round they're gonna go with the person that looks 1:11:52.320 --> 1:11:54.400 to for making this. Job EASY but i learned. 1:11:54.200 --> 1:11:57.360 That being at the highest level as, an Amage the 1:11:57.439 --> 1:12:00.519 cubans never, break form rush never. 1:12:00.600 --> 1:12:03.519 Break form they even when, they tired they look like 1:12:03.560 --> 1:12:06.280 they're not even when they're not, in control they still got. 1:12:06.320 --> 1:12:09.320 Their stands they still look like they always look like they're. 1:12:09.320 --> 1:12:13.400 In control that's something that like somebody who's done that 1:12:13.439 --> 1:12:14.160 can implement to. 1:12:14.160 --> 1:12:16.400 Them kids, and, say hey get your body. Language together 1:12:16.800 --> 1:12:18.920 don't lean over the ropes in between. The Rounds the 1:12:18.960 --> 1:12:20.240 cubians don't even sit down in. 1:12:20.280 --> 1:12:22.840 Between rounds how is that for? 1:12:22.880 --> 1:12:25.479 Body language but it's stuff like that that if you 1:12:25.520 --> 1:12:28.519 don't have guys who, did it those are key things 1:12:28.600 --> 1:12:31.040 that like that, seem small that can be the difference 1:12:31.040 --> 1:12:31.720 between a winning and. 1:12:31.800 --> 1:12:36.120 Loss exactly stuff like that. Body language like you're falling over, 1:12:36.160 --> 1:12:36.680 your feet you. 1:12:36.680 --> 1:12:38.960 Look fatigue don't. Look fatigue but it starts in the. 1:12:38.960 --> 1:12:41.439 Gym though hey don't don't put your hands on. 1:12:41.439 --> 1:12:43.280 Your knees hey don't lean on the ropes in. Between 1:12:43.400 --> 1:12:44.280 rounds don't. 1:12:44.280 --> 1:12:46.400 Do that that's a standard the. 1:12:46.439 --> 1:12:49.800 Other countries. That's winning they, do it and the other 1:12:49.840 --> 1:12:53.920 countries are so involved in. Technical stuff technical ability really 1:12:53.960 --> 1:12:57.200 wins amateur matches at, that level and that's short duration. 1:12:57.240 --> 1:13:00.280 Of fighting so a fe more technically sound and you more. 1:13:00.280 --> 1:13:03.400 Technical competitive you could be the mortalented kid who's not, 1:13:03.479 --> 1:13:06.200 the sounder not so sure, of himself and that's why 1:13:06.240 --> 1:13:08.840 he'll fatigue and have. Body language because the mystique Of, 1:13:08.840 --> 1:13:11.960 the russians the mystiq Of, the ukraine the mystique Of, 1:13:11.960 --> 1:13:15.880 the cubans the reputation, they fighting, the names, they fighting the. 1:13:15.960 --> 1:13:19.679 Country's name you Fight, a cuban you Find, a russian 1:13:19.760 --> 1:13:21.840 this and that and. The other so you're already self 1:13:21.880 --> 1:13:24.479 defeated before you even. Get THERE but i think what 1:13:24.520 --> 1:13:27.120 the kids has got. To understand it's in. This game 1:13:27.800 --> 1:13:29.479 all of them need to understand that when your mother 1:13:29.520 --> 1:13:32.720 and father got together in an act, of intimacy that 1:13:32.880 --> 1:13:35.160 lets you know you was chosen before the foundations of 1:13:35.280 --> 1:13:38.120 time for such a time. As this so never. Get 1:13:38.160 --> 1:13:41.160 discouraged and we could build a great ammate tour, a 1:13:41.240 --> 1:13:44.920 team but you have to have the, Financial support you 1:13:44.920 --> 1:13:47.599 have to have the. Coaches support you have to look 1:13:47.640 --> 1:13:50.000 at it from a. Team perspective but you also have 1:13:50.120 --> 1:13:54.240 to respect every coach who has brought a national champion to, 1:13:54.280 --> 1:13:56.840 that level every coach that has developed a kid that 1:13:56.960 --> 1:13:59.880 is qualified for. That team that coach should, be there, 1:14:00.800 --> 1:14:03.360 you see because he knows his kid more than. ANYTHING 1:14:03.360 --> 1:14:06.080 else i don't know WHY The usa boxing does not 1:14:06.200 --> 1:14:09.080 put a financial package together for every. Weight class your 1:14:09.080 --> 1:14:11.080 coach is coming to work the corner. With me i'm the, 1:14:11.080 --> 1:14:13.439 head COACH but i need your coach, here too because 1:14:13.479 --> 1:14:16.240 he's gonna see things that he's seen for YEARS that 1:14:16.320 --> 1:14:17.000 i only see in. 1:14:17.080 --> 1:14:20.880 One camp but that's what my head, coach did really. 1:14:20.920 --> 1:14:23.120 Good man but sure a doula put his ego to 1:14:23.160 --> 1:14:25.960 the side and he stayed in contact with you for 1:14:26.040 --> 1:14:27.800 the year or whatever that he had me before we 1:14:27.800 --> 1:14:29.400 went To, the olympics and, He, SAID man i need 1:14:29.439 --> 1:14:31.559 to know. This kid, yeah man, you, said hey you're. 1:14:31.600 --> 1:14:34.479 Gonna overtrain you gotta pull. Him back, hey man he 1:14:34.560 --> 1:14:35.000 gonna want to. 1:14:35.000 --> 1:14:35.599 Do more don't. 1:14:35.640 --> 1:14:37.599 Let him, hey man watch, his way because it's way 1:14:37.640 --> 1:14:39.800 to drop that type of stuff. Right there you can't 1:14:39.840 --> 1:14:42.400 you can't put a price exactly that type of information about. 1:14:42.439 --> 1:14:44.400 THESE athletes, i said he's gonna be number one in 1:14:44.439 --> 1:14:46.880 every single run the team, do yep we're gonna be. 1:14:46.960 --> 1:14:48.439 Number one he ain't gonna settle for. 1:14:48.560 --> 1:14:53.800 Number two but butsher was a blessing because he did communicate. 1:14:53.880 --> 1:14:56.240 With me and the most IMPORTANT thing i told, h was, 1:14:56.280 --> 1:14:58.639 don't coach you just let you be who you're. Gonna 1:14:58.640 --> 1:15:00.200 be but if you're on a tight, of course orse 1:15:00.240 --> 1:15:03.120 you could say something BUT just, i said because he's, 1:15:03.120 --> 1:15:06.040 gonna improvise he's gonna do whatever, it is whatever it takes. 1:15:06.040 --> 1:15:06.880 To win that's what he's. 1:15:06.880 --> 1:15:09.679 GONNA do i didn't say nothing to you. 1:15:10.560 --> 1:15:13.559 About retirement he was the LAST person i, called MAN 1:15:13.680 --> 1:15:14.400 cause i just it. 1:15:14.439 --> 1:15:16.960 Was tough it's days even TODAY where i. FEEL bad 1:15:18.120 --> 1:15:21.800 i feel bad because we had, a. 1:15:21.760 --> 1:15:26.400 System we had, a program and just that one decision shook. 1:15:26.439 --> 1:15:27.080 Everything up