Howโs it all going at Joe Gallagherโs gym?
Itโs going well. Trainingโs hard, harder than Iโve ever done before. Iโve done swimming or track after my first session in the morning. I wasnโt a great swimmer anyway.
Iโve never done it before so all these different types of running, especially with the lads as well. All the lads have done it. Because itโs all timed it gives me a push as well because I donโt want to be last. But itโs hard because Iโve never done it before.
Because itโs a big gym full of big characters some times when youโre training it doesnโt even feel like youโre training because youโre having a laugh as well. But thereโs a limit. Joe won’t let you overstep that mark.
Thereโs always good sparring sessions going off in there, youโre always learning. Thereโs not just Joe giving me advice, thereโs Stephen Smith, thereโs Scott Quigg, thereโs Anthony Crolla, all sitting there watching you because theyโre about to spar next or their waiting to train.
Iโve watch the Stuart Hall fight since Iโve joined Joe and there are things I was doing, just habits, like throwing the right hand and overextending because the shots not quite there but Iโm trying to lean for it and my chinโs coming up in the air and world class opposition will come over the top with a left hook or wait for me to extend. Itโs just about setting traps really so weโve been fine tuning little things like that.
You were on the cancelled Cardiff show, but youโre still boxing on October 22 (against Alexis Ruiz, televised on BoxNation).
Yeah, in Bolton. All the lads had booked hotels trains, I hate stuff like that, letting the lads down. Thereโs quite a few [supporters] that had booked trains hotelsโฆ Thereโs a few missed out not being able to get their money back and I hate all that.
It costs your fans, it costs them money so I wasnโt too pleased about it but at least Iโm out on the same night.
Do you feel a bit like people are forgetting you were a world champion?
You know what I do. Actually coming back for this fight I feel like Iโve been coming back after a loss because Iโve been out for that long. I just want to get back in the ring.
Iโve got itchy knuckles, I want to get back in that ring, itโs doing my head in. Iโve boxed once this year. Once. Iโm a former world champion. It was my fault on the eliminator where I couldnโt make weight.
I was on the Tyson Fury bill in the summer, that got cancelled, so I asked to go on the Cardiff bill [in July], they said it was too packed.
Itโs been frustrating for me.
Whatโs the plan for getting back to a world title?
There was talk of getting straight back in, there was talk of Jamie McDonnell. But he had to go and box Rauโshee Warren, but thatโs not happening now, I donโt know why. I donโt think Warren will leave the States. So theyโve gone with someone else in Monte Carlo. Then there was talk of the WBO champion straight away this year, Marlon Tapalesโฆ I fancied that fight but that just fizzled out and didnโt happen. Thereโs a little bit of talk on Haskins at the moment for next year.
Iโm sure Lee Haskins will be looking for a fight because heโs just boxed his mandatory in Stuart Hall. So heโll be looking for a voluntary at the start of next year.
What do you think of Lee Haskins?
Youโd want to box him in a phonebox wouldnโt you? I thought against Stuey Hall, on the night I had it a draw, I couldnโt really split them. I watched it again and I thought he doesnโt deserve to keep hold of his title. The first four or five rounds he was tricky, [Hall] couldnโt really pin him down. Stuart Hall didnโt really work enough, the story of his losses really. He never gets going till rounds five or six. I thought if Stuey Hall started hitting the body, straight right hands through the middle and when he got close letting left hooks go and driving the right uppercut into the pit, I thought he could have got rid of him. But he headhunted with the straight right hand down the middle. I thought Lee Haskins gassed big time. For a world champion at that level you canโt be gassing. Especially on such a big stage like that, on the Golovkin-Brook card. He must have trained hard for that because you want to perform on cards like that and he just gassed, he gassed after six seven rounds and it was all Stuart Hall then.
So would you be confident you could beat Haskins?
I would. Obviously the first few rounds heโs dangerous and heโs tricky. Because of his style really. I donโt think he knows where heโs throwing his shots from himself really.
Then exactly what Stuart Hall done, just take over the fight, he bullied the fight out of Haskins in the end. I think Haskins was glad to hear the final bell.
Do you think a fight with Jamie McDonnell could happen?
That is the fight Iโd take straightaway. There was talk of it when I beat Stuart Hall and then obviously I went down to super-fly. But if I was to box any of the world champions it would be Jamie McDonnell. Heโs beat some good names. Heโs Britainโs best bantamweight with a world title at the moment. If I was to pick any of them I would pick Jamie McDonnell.