I’M happy. I’m not worried about the weight, I’m not worried about my fitness and doing 12 rounds. I’m exactly the best I could be in this pandemic. We’re going to leave it all in that ring.
Carlos Formento is an unbelievable trainer. He’s very meticulous. You can see him thinking of strategy, he’s writing everything down, he’s watching video of Terence Crawford. He’s sleeping, eating boxing and this fight. He’s got the same passion as me. He wants it like I want it and that’s what I need. He’s new working with me but I’ve been working with him for about 10 weeks now. So I’ve got no excuses. I’ve done everything asked of me and more and I’m very excited now for this fight, going in there with the pound-for-pound best fighter in the world.
I wanted to be away from my girls, in the heat in Fuerteventura and then Las Vegas, I wanted to be where the best facilities were, my nutritionist right there at the time and it was about concentrating on me, being selfish. Waking up, looking around my villa thinking I’m here for a reason. I’m not in Sheffield in my comfort zone. I’m in this to be great. I needed to out there. Dominic Ingle was committed to two other fighters, Liam Williams and Willie Hutchinson and he didn’t want to go over there because if he flew back he’d have to be in the 14 day quarantine and he was worried about going and being locked down in that country. This world we’re living in now, you know how it is.
I’m not worrying about draining myself, ‘Am I going to be able to do the rounds or is it going to catch up with me?’ I haven’t got that stress. I haven’t got the stress of making the weight and making the weight the next day with the [IBF’s] 10lbs rule and then worrying about the fitness side of things.
That’s all positive for me. I’ve had to do this in many of my world title fights so coming into this there’s no pressure on me, the pressure’s on him. I know what I can do and I know what I need to do to win this fight.
I think I’ll be around 17 pounds [heavier in the ring] from the welterweight limit. I’m not sure because it’s not about matching any weights or being the bigger guy, the heavier guy because I don’t want to be sluggish. I need to be zipping, I need to be like a racing snake for 12 rounds.
Boxing can just change. You’re only as good as your last fight, you’re flavour of the month. It’s boxing, I’ve seen it before and when I get this win people are going to stand up and think, ‘Wow, this guy is for real. I can’t believe it.’ But I’m not going to be surprised when I get my hand raised next Saturday.
I’ve seen things what I’m going to expose him on. I’ve never ever watched tapes of my opponents but Carlos has sat me down and showed me. When I’ve been watching him, there are certain shots I need to chuck and I can picture myself catching him with that shot in the fight and hurting him bad and stiffening his legs up. He’s been hurt before and believe you me, I can punch like you can’t believe at this weight.
I’m highly motivated. I’m nuts. I don’t know what’s up with me. I just love competing. I love when people say he’s better than you. I love proving people wrong. I’m doing it for myself for this fight, knowing that I belong at that elite level and when I beat Crawford I can’t wait to read the paper the next day. You’re talking to me now. You’re going to see a massive upset. You’re going to see me upset this guy bad.
I know that I’m born to be a special talent. And I am. I’ve given myself the full opportunity and the time to become that. You’re going to see something that you’ve never seen before in me.
Beating the main man, against everyone who wrote me off, everyone going against me, and just going out there and doing that, it’ll make history.
I’ve had dark times. I’ve had my great nights where I couldn’t sleep because if I fell asleep it could be a dream. So ups and downs, this is boxing. But I’m still here, I’m still loving it more than ever and this is the game and I’m looking forward to another fantastic night.
When I hang them up, I want to know that I’ve tested myself against what people are saying is the best fighter in the world. And I’ve got this now in Terence Crawford. When I do hang them up, win, lose or draw, I know that I’ve given it my all in this game.
Premier Sports will screen Crawford vs Brook in the UK. Premier Sports 1 is available in HD via Sky (412 & 429), Virgin TV (551 & 552) and online via the Premier Player available on app and desktop. New subscribers to Premier Sports can easily sign up via the website – www.premiersports.com.
