“I own a business, and my wife was expecting our first child, and boxing out of Nashville is pretty hard anyway. And I just had a lot happening and my family takes priority, ... There weren't any great opportunities happening, and I was just focusing on my business and my family.”
“It's what I do. I own a boxing gym, I teach boxing lessons and I'm still young enough to fight, ... I haven't taken a lot of punishment in my career, so I figure I've still got some good fights left in me. After we relocated the gym, it sort of gave me a little new life and I decided to fight while I still had a few good years left.”
“I had to give give it up. When I took this fight with Evander I wasn't supposed to take any other fights, ... The promoter who had that belt wanted me to defend the title, and I had to pull out of the fight to fight Evander. These titles like that, nobody really recognizes them and nobody really pays attention to them.”
“I hope to beat Evander Holyfield and then maybe get a bigger fight, bigger payday and more recognition. All in all, this legitimizes my career. It's not something that every fighter can say that they fought the only four-time heavyweight champion of the world.”
“If things go well with Evander, I expect a bigger and better fight to come, a more consequential fight, even. We'll just have to wait and see how things go.”