I’m itching to fight again. It’s what I was born to do, this is my life. As you get closer to fight night, you start counting down the weeks, days and finally hours. I can’t wait for my ring walk and to be under the bright lights once again with people chanting my name.
This is where I belong and I’m ready to show the world what I’ve been working on in camp these past eight weeks. It’s been a new camp with a new trainer but it’s not a new me really. I prefer to say it’s the same old me but with a few more tricks up my sleeve.
I want to prove to the world I’m the best heavyweight, and I believe I will do that. The belts don’t lie and currently those don’t rest with me but Tyson Fury and Oleksandr Usyk.
The past few months is the first time in a long time that I’ve not had any belts. Don’t get me wrong — I desperately want them back — but not having them has made life easier.
The expectation diminishes but also you’ve all seen how hard it is to get a fight on when the championship belts are on the line. We saw that recently with Fury and Usyk. That looked a done deal but fell apart at the end.
We’re in an era of great heavyweights and I put myself in that bracket with those guys and Deontay Wilder, and I know the world wants us to see us all fight. I want that, too.
The Fury fight is what people want and I’m up for it 100 per cent. I never shy away from a fight, I’ll fight anyone that wants to step into the ring with me.
It’s all well and good looking into the future but that’s not my approach. I only mention Fury because there’s been so much talk about him. Right now, the only thing in my sights is Jermaine Franklin at the O2.
I’m just so happy to be fighting again and getting on with the job while Fury and Usyk can’t get anything lined up. We all need to fight, we all need to keep busy in the ring, and we all need to show ourselves to prove who’s the best.
I need, I want those belts back for my credibility, and that’s what I’ve been working towards. In camp, you allow your mind to ponder that thought, it helps with the motivation. But really the mindset for the past weeks and months has simply been about getting better.
I remember Canelo Alvarez saying how when he left the gym, his mind was immediately on what he’d learned that day and the instructions he’d got from his trainer.
I feel that. With Derrick James and this camp — and having guys like Errol Spence training in the same space as you, that’s purely been the focus, no distractions, no other commitments, just trying to work to become the best version of myself.
Am I there yet? No, not at all but I’m on the right path and this is just the first of many stops. Saturday is a big night for me but, at the same time, it’s a break from this Dallas life. I’m looking forward to getting back there and working harder again still.
These next few years are going to be a huge part of my legacy and, as a relative latecomer, there are still things I can improve. That excites me, that motivates me.
Despite those critics — and they know who they are — both my head and heart are fully in this game. This is all I know, all I have and to shut off your whole life for weeks on end, you really and truly have to love what you do.
People ask if I’m planning to go out to entertain on Saturday night. That’s not the intention but boxing’s always entertaining and I like to think I am, too. When I win, I think people will still get their entertainment.
