TITO: “I made my decision and I want to fight. I am very well prepared.”
What do you think about Jones making the knockout prediction?
TITO: “I think he is going to be embarrassed. It is a promise that he will not be able to fulfill. He is just one more fighter to say something like that. It does not matter to me at all what he says.”
How do you feel when you are not boxing?
TITO: “It was an easier life. It is a very relaxed life with my family. When I am boxing I have a lot more responsibility on my shoulders. I have to sacrifice for training.”
Does he feel like something is missing in his life to go back?
TITO: “There are a couple of decisions I had to make. First of all, I had to think about my family. The fans have driven me to be back in boxing, they are always telling me to fight. Everywhere I went people were screaming for me to come back, and then you have my promoter, Don King, who has been persuing me to convince me to come back and box, and finally myself. After the reaction of everyone and my promoter, I feel the passion to come back. I’m back. At the end, I made the decision because I wanted to come back.”
Did it hurt your pride to lose such a lopsided decision against Winky Wright?
TITO: “It didn’t hurt my pride. My pride has never been hurt. But I didn’t feel well about the loss. I will prove on January 19 that I still have my pride.”
How did you not feel well?
TITO: In the way that I lost the fight, I didn’t feel well. I like to win every fight and I lost that one. So I did not feel good about it. It is impossible to feel good when you lose.”
How does he want his fans to remember him when he retires?
TITO: “I want to be remembered as a great champion; that I always went into the ring and gave my best as a fighter that fought for all of my fans; as a person, that I did my best in everything that I do.”
What would you like for your birthday tomorrow?
TITO: “For my birthday, I will love a huge victory next Saturday for me and for all of Puerto Rico.”
There has been a lot of talk about knockouts…
TITO: “It all began at a press conference when he told me he was going to knock me out in four rounds. I then told Roy Jones that he would not be able to do that because he will not last two. Since then everyone has been talking about knockouts but I am ready to fight 12-rounds. I can beat him under two, under 4 or the full 12, it really doesn’t matter. And it is going to be a great fight and I don’t think anyone should miss it.”
Have you had trouble getting in shape after being inactive?
TITO: “I have to work hard to prepare for every fight. I run early in the morning. Then I go to the gym in the afternoon and work on my boxing. I have been eating the right foods. It is very hard and I have to work on all of the details. I just want to know if, that when he feels my hands hit him, if he is going to be able to take those punches.”
What will you do if you lose?
TITO: “I don’t think about that right now because I don’t think I am going to lose. I will decide after the fight what I will do next.”
What do you think about what you have achieved?
TITO: “In the world of boxing, I gain titles and I learned to be famous and I have a lot of fans. Right now, I just want to get a victory and celebrate that with all of the fans that will be in New York and then go home to celebrate with all of the fans in Puerto Rico. That is what I have missed during my leave, the feeling of the big victory.”
What do you see in your RJ’s style that you can knock him out?TITO: Every weakness that he has for this fight, I will discover in the ring and I will take advantage of it. One of his weaknesses is that everyone he has boxed that punches well, he was knocked out. And I punch well. So lets see of he can stand in there with me.
What does the future hold for you?
TITO: “First of all, I know that I will win the fight. After that, we will go over the fight and see what happened and then make a decision on what we will do next. But we are definitely not thinking about that right now. All I am thinking about is that I am going to win the fight. Right now, I am just waiting for the victory and the celebration tat will follow with the people that I love. After this fight, we will see what is out there and decide what is the best for me to do next.”
You haven’t proved knockout power since you fought Joppy…
TITO: “It has always been there and I am going to prove to all of the people that my punch is still there on January 19.”
Only one fight or are you going to fight more?
TITO: “I am going to win big against Roy and then I am going to decide what I am going to do.”
Would you take a rematch with Wright or Hopkins?TITO: “Of course I would. Those fights have always been in the back of my mind. But we won’t decide on who it would be until after I win this fight.”
How is Tito’s punching power?TITO: “I feel that I still have my punching power and that I have never lost it.”
Do you still feel you are the most popular Puerto Rican fighter – do you think Cotto is gaining on you?TITO: “That is something that I will always leave for the fans to answer. They have to decide. I don’t know. I still have my power and I want to fight and I am ready to fight. They have always showed to me that I am the biggest Puerto Rican fighter.”
What advantages do you think you have in this fight?TITO: “I can tell you that I am a better fighter and I will show him that on January 19.”
Do you think you are rusty?
TITO: “No. I have trained very hard for 6 months to make sure that the time I have had out of the ring will not affect me. You will see that on January 19. I have trained very hard to eliminate any ring rust.”
You took all of the rust out?
TITO: “Yes I took all of the rust out of me training very hard. I feel like I am very young.”
You don’t like when people talk about your age?
TITO: “I really don’t care what they say about my age. I feel good and I know I’m good and it really doesn’t matter to me.”
Was the loss to Winky one of the reasons for a return?
TITO: “This is true to a point. It is something that I have had on my mind. It is not the same with a loss as with a win. And it is something that I want to do now. One of the reasons I came back to boxing is that I want to win this fight. I don’t like to remember a defeat, that’s why I want to win this fight.”
There are rumors that you are using less aged sparring partners in Puerto Rico…
TITO: “Those are just rumors. We know what we are doing. We have been doing this forever and we are using the guys that we need. We have the right people in place to prepare me for the fight. We will show all of the work that we have done – in the fight – when we win.
TITO: I hope he is ready and comes to the ring to do what he has to do. I am coming to the ring to fight, for 12 rounds. If he goes by KO, it will be great. This is going to be one of Tito’s best fights. I can’t wait to get back in the ring.”
Do you want to keep fighting?
TITO: “I am going to bring this victory to Puerto Rico. I can’t wait to fight. I can’t wait to get back into the ring. Then I will know what is next for Tito.”
Who do you think the best fighter is today?
TITO: “The best fighter right now is Floyd Mayweather, Jr. and nobody should doubt that because he is.”
Do you think it will affect you that you only have few fights in the past few years.
TITO: “It is just a matter of training. I have trained very hard for this fight. It is true I have not fought much recently but I was retired. I train to get back on track and Tito is ready. This time is just a matter of training and I am ready. There will be two titans fighting on January 19, and at the end there will be only one winner and that will be Felix Tito Trinidad.
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