This fight won't go much past the sixth, |
To come out in Tampa, Fla., my hometown, it's going to be big. It's going down in history as one of the most memorable trilogies of all time. |
Tonight I had to really dig deep because you saw the best of Roy Jones. |
Tonight, I really had to dig deep, ... I let him know my will was stronger than his. |
We got prepared for the second fight. We came in shape. We came in conditioned. We worked very, very hard. We were determined to once again overturn a political decision, ... I became a champion that night because I knew I could go the length to get the job done, and that's why I'm coming into this fight with the same confidence I've always had. |
Whatever Roy Jones brings, it won't be enough. I've trained hard. I'm a better fighter. |
When I show up ready and prepared, I'm undefeated. I've never lost. I'm hard-headed in some ways and have to learn my lesson the hard way, ... It's the best lesson learned, unfortunately, but it costs you. |
Yes I won the last fight and I won it in grand fashion, ... But in the last fight I predicted I would knock him out and I did. He now says he SHOULD win and that does not sound like a man talking with a lot of confidence. If he wants to impress me, make a prediction. WILL YOU WIN OR WILL YOU LOSE? |
You've got to have it because everything's about the rhythm, ... Right now I'm on the Boyz N Da Hood from Atlanta and we're bumpin' Young Jeezy real hard, he's got some nice little beats and stuff. And when I want to mellow out I chill out to some Common and relax like that. You've also got to put the old school in the mix. I'm an old head anyway, I'm 36. |
[Antonio Tarver presented a formidable challenge. He was born in Orlando to a single-parent mother who raised him and three daughters on her own.] She and my father never lived together, ... He was a Vietnam vet. It's hard to say he was my father because he was never there. Biologically, he donated but that's about all. We never saw much of each other, just a phone call here and there, so I never had that male figure in my life. That was a void I had to live with. |
[Tarver and Jones met in the ring for the first time as 13-year-olds at the 1982 Sunshine State Games.] I won the first round, ... Roy won the second. The third round was close and he got the decision. Then, when I was fourteen, my mother moved us to a better section of Orlando that was thirty miles from the Boys Club. There was no way for me to get to the gym, so I gave up boxing and concentrated on other sports. I played quarterback and wide receiver in football and shooting guard on the high school basketball team. In my mind, I was good. But I wasn't as good as I thought. |
[Tarver, 36, said he is taking nothing for granted, including the rumors that Jones is not 100 percent.] People say that Roy is not himself, ... I'm not going to relax or allow this guy to even have a chance. |