Randall Bailey
An Exclusive Interview

By Saratogamist



We caught up with the very dapper former WBO champion Randall Bailey minutes after the DeMarcus Corley-Ener Julio match had been called. Liberty City's favorite son, who boasts a 24-1, 24 KOs record, discussed his thoughts on the fight as well as his upcoming bout against Demetrious Ceballos in the Hopkins-Daniels under card from Reading, Pennsylvania, this coming February 2nd.

Ceballos is a FEDELATIN light welterweight champion, a title he won in March 2001 via 4th round TKO against Wilfrido Rocha. The Panamanian will be a tough opponent; he boasts a 24-3, 16 KOs record. His three losses have been to top notch competition: Ivan Robinson, in October 1995, via split decision when they fought for the USBA lightweight title; Shane Mosley, by way of 8th round KO in February 1998 when they battled for the IBF lightweight belt and Stevie Johnston via 6th round TKO in November 1998.

Bailey owes the only blemish on his record to Ener Julio, who took the WBO junior welterweight title from him back in July 22, 2000. Their fight was the co-feature of the Felix Trinidad- Mamadou Thiam card at the American Airlines Arena in Miami, Florida. Although HBO didn't broadcast it, the brutal war landed Bailey in a local hospital for several days and became a candidate for Fight of the Year 2000.

This is what we talked about.


BRC: Your take on the Ener Julio-"Chop Chop" Corley bout we just watched?

RB: Well, "Chop Chop" boxed really good, and Ener couldn't adapt to his movement, you know. I thought the fight was going to go the way it did. I thought Ener probably would have picked it up in the later rounds and eventually caught up with "Chop Chop" and stopped him but overall it was a good fight.


BRC: After watching this fight, what is your take on "Chop Chop" Corley? Is he for real?

RB: Well, he fought a guy that he already fought before, you know. The first fight was close, this one I thought he won by a decent margin but I don't know...I can't really say anything about "Chop Chop" right now, he looked spectacular in this performance and you gotta give him his respect. I think he proved his point by keeping the title.


BRC: Talk to me about your upcoming fight.

RB: My opponent is Demetrious Ceballos. He is a straight, come-forward, aggressive fighter and to beat him you gotta box him. You gotta box smart and keep him out of your jab, and basically just stay away from him.


BRC: Are you disappointed that Ener Julio lost tonight, ruining the chance of a re-match with you?

RB: It really didn't matter to me. The fight really didn't matter to me too much because I've waited a year for the re-match with Ener and I never got it. I pretty much had my mind made up that I wanted to move on to something else.


BRC: What would you like to tell your fans?

RB: Hey, February 2nd, the champ will be back home...


BRC: Thank you, Randall, we wish you the best in the upcoming fight.

RB: No problem, thank you too.


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