I must confess that I became a Randall Bailey fan when I saw him fight a losing battle to Ener Julio at the American Airlines Arena in Miami. Both men showed tremendous grit that night, and it has been my pleasure to follow their careers.

While Julio has had some problems, Bailey has bounced back, stepping up on Saturday, May 11, to meet his hardest challenger yet in Cuban defector Diosbelys "The Oriental Kid" Hurtado.

I remember being asked some time ago who would I root for if Trinidad ever fought pre-Forrest Shane Mosley. My answer was, I hope they never fight each other, I couldn't stand the thought that one of them would have to lose. I share the same sentiment with Bailey vs Hurtado.

As fight fans I think we will be in for a treat this coming Saturday when Liberty City meets Little Havana. If you thought you knew Randall Bailey, read on, you might be surprised at the fuel that keeps his flame alive.

BRC: Kostya Tszyu?

BAILEY: Hopefully after this fight me and Kostya Tszyu will get together and tangle. (Laughing)

BRC: After what we saw of Zab Judah vs Tszyu, how would you fight Kostya Tszyu?

BAILEY: Since I've been a pro, I've been known for not getting hit with too many right hands. I've been fortunate to slip a right from a guy, no matter how short he may be. I got more than a right hand, everybody Tszyu has fought he keeps... the only thing he is hitting them with is the right hand and for the person that's coming next in line after the person he just knocked down with a right hand, how are you gonna get hit with the same RIGHT HAND? (Laughing)

But I can't take nothing away from Kostya Tszyu. He is THE top man at 140 pounds, I give him his credit 'cuz he took his loss and he came back. He got up off the bench and he came back, and he did it again and still doing it, you know...But I think it's time for me to get my shot at him, everybody else got their shot at him, so I think my time is deserving.

BRC: Do you think that the way Judah fought Tszyu in the first round of their meet is a blueprint on how to beat Kostya Tszyu?

BAILEY: Nooo, 'cuz when Zab hit him I didn't see him being as hurt as people thought he was. I didn't think he was hurt. Zab hit him with one punch and he didn't hit him with nothing else, he went wild, he didn't stay composed. He hit Tszyu like he was scared to hit him.
But with me, I throw a very hard right hand, and I know how to come back with an even harder left hook and I know how to throw a hard jab, and I know how to move around the ring without being scared. All these things play when you have a guy that is coming right at you with a powerful right hand that you KNOW it's powerful. That's what got a lot of Kostya's opponents, they were moving, trying to box, but they were scared because they knew that he was coming with that hard right and if he hit them he was going to hurt him...(Bailey bursts out laughing at his own commentary, and so do I).
But, but, (trying to regain his composure), you got to listen to Bernard Hopkins on how he fought Trinidad. Trinidad's left hook is explosive, so what you do, you don't run from it, you let him bring it, you let him bring the power.

BRC: You let him bring the power?

BAILEY: Yes, you let him bring the power. Let me tell you, running scared only gets you tired, more tired 'cuz your heart is pumping 100 miles per hour for nothing, and you ain't even got hit yet.

BRC: How do you feel about a guy like Hector Camacho Jr. who was getting paid well, getting a lot of press, and in reality his skills and heart do not even come close to comparing to yours, but yet you continue to be slept on?

BAILEY: I just look at it like, what God has for me, it's gonna be for me. I can't look at what they are getting and be upset, 'cuz my time is gonna come, whether is late in my career or early in my career. It's gonna come, everybody don't get it in the beginning, sometimes it happens when you are on your way out, you get it. If I don't make it out of boxing with a million dollars or a big house or a big, fancy car, it won't bother me 'cuz I know I have accomplished things in my career that some people will never accomplish in their whole career, so if I have to leave boxing and go to the unemployment office, it wouldn't bother me at all.

BRC: That's a special sentiment. Are we to assume that you are not in boxing for the money? Or is it a combination of love for the sport, loving to fight and the money?

BAILEY: It's a combination, me boxing, really does a lot more for other people than it does for me. Being where I came from, I can go back and kids see me, those who know me, they knew who I was and what I have become and it just gives them a new outlook, too.

Even with my friends, guys that have been doing wrong all their life, one day they'd be like, dang, how he was able to just walk away from it and start doing what he is doing, starting from the ground up? 'Cuz every fight wasn't worth five thousand dollars, every fight wasn't worth fifteen hundred dollars, you know? I started out with two hundred dollar fights, not million dollar fights or thousands of dollars fights. I took my purses then just like I take them now...

BRC: Randall, talk a little bit about where you came from...There are readers from all over the world, some may have no idea with Liberty City is like, can you describe it for them?

BAILEY: It's really hard, because sometimes I can't believe it myself how I got out of it, but my uncles, they were good guys but they really didn't have anything. We stayed in the projects, in Liberty City, and in '79 or '80 my momma's youngest brother got killed by the S.W.A.T. team. He was doing home invasions on the beach, he was 18 years old, and he was bringing money home to us, that's what he felt he had to do to bring money home. After that happened we moved out of Liberty City in '81 to Carol City, my other two uncles had gone to prison and there was no man in the house.

My father came around once a year, around Christmas time, bought me a bike once, and that only lasted until I was 11 or 12 years old, then he stopped coming around at all. I basically started to have to become a man on my own, me and my sister, she was really the fighter out of both of us. (Big chuckle) She used to take care of all the rough stuff, (laughing), she's older than me, she would take care of it because I wasn't ready to take care of it myself.
I guess I learned from watching her...She could fight, she was beating up on the boys for a long time.(Still chuckling at the memories).

BRC: At what point did you turn to boxing?

BAILEY: I didn't turn to boxing until I was fifteen. Me and my friend used to ride the bus by the gym everyday. One day I was home alone, I couldn't get a hold of my friend, I called the gym and I was talking to the man who was in charge at the time, Mr. Grady, and he told me to come down, said he wanted to meet me and show me around.

I told my mom, and she said let's go, with no hesitations. We went, they signed me right up, I bought my stuff, I was in! The first day there I learned how to throw a jab and a right hand, and the second day I sparred with a guy who had five fights already and I ate him up with just the jab and the right hand. At that point, I was ok with it, and I really started my making my mind up that I was going to try it for a little while.

But when I got older I ended up having a baby, so I had to work and I was experiencing different things, when you are dealing with women... That kind of life threw me off again, you're dealing with another person, and their attitudes, just regular every day things that happen when you are dealing with people.

That kind of lead me back into doing wrong, so then I had to get myself out of the situation I was in with her, so I could get myself right again. It landed me in jail a couple of times, but the last time I just told myself that I wasn't going back no more and that's how it's been.

BRC: How did you do in school?

BAILEY: School? I didn't really get back grades in school, it's just that I wasn't interested. Whenever I went to school I got good grades, it's just that I wasn't interested and I hardly went.

When I was 14, I really started changing, that's when I started getting into the streets. I didn't want to stay home with my mom, I ran away and stayed away. Only way I went back was when my mom came and got me.

BRC: How did you hook up with Don King?

BAILEY: Well, basically my manager would promote me himself in Miami. We would do shows at the Miami Jai Alai with "Tuto" (promoter Felix "Tuto" Zabala, Sr.), I fought 4 times at the Jai Alai in the beginning, on Tuto's show.
My trainer Al Bonnanni started working back with Don King, and he had already mentioned me to Don, and Freddie Pendleton had already mentioned me to Carl (King) back when I was 10-0; so they already knew of me, they were just waiting for me to come in. I got with Don for my twelfth fight, that was December 13, 1997 and I have been with him every since.

BRC: How does your mom feel about your career and how you have turned your life around?

BAILEY: My mom is very proud of me. She is hard to gauge because she was a boxing fan before I even started boxing. She was a Muhammad Ali freak. It's a sport to her but at the same time she knows she has her baby in there.
It's kind of hard to tell what side she is looking at when she comes to a fight, 'cuz one minute she has her fight fan face on and then, if something happens to me, she gets the momma face, she looks sad.

BRC: Dad?

BAILEY: When I won the title he showed up for the fight, I had heard he was trying to get in, but he wanted a free ticket. After I got out of the ring, he was there. He was telling me how we needed to spend more time together, how I needed to come around more, and I was like, yeah!

I don't have hard feelings towards him, I'm just not used to dealing with him on a regular basis. I wouldn't want him to step to me about not dealing with him, because I'm my own man now. When he was his man, he did what he thought was right, so I gotta do what I think is right. In my heart I know he could have came to see me, I have no hard feelings, it's just that he does his thing and I do my thing.

BRC: Do you ever go back to your neighborhood and talk to the kids about your experiences?

BAILEY: Yeah, in my neighborhood the kids know I don't play. When they see me, first thing they do, they go running, talk to me from around the corner. They know I play with them all day but if they ain't doing the right thing they can't get a thing from me. They come up to me and ask me for money like I was their family, and that's cool, 'cuz all I wanna do is see them do the right thing.

In my neighborhood the older guys are doing their thing, and that's all the kids see; so, I try to keep my face in their presence, as much as they see these other guys. It's easy to see that and want it, it's easy to get thrown off track.

BRC: It's good that you do that, and I bet a lot of people don't know you like that...

BAILEY: I don't think that I should be applauded for doing it and I don't want nobody to go, "oh, you did that, man, that was so good, let me go get the newspaper and bring them in so they can see you doing this." I'm not with all that.

BRC: I see that it is difficult for you even talking about it. You are struggling, aren't you? We have talked before and I have never seen you struggle like this. I'm glad you got it out though, because you are not just a fighter, you are a human being, and as such you have your own special qualities that you bring to the table. I think it's good for the fans to "see" that.

Is there anything you would like to say to Mr. Hurtado and the fans out there?

BAILEY: Hurtado, I just hope he's training, I just hope he's training good 'cuz I now I'm training and I'm well prepared for anything that may happen. I just want him to be the same way.

For the fans, I am bringing a belt to the table, I'm taking it back with me.

BRC: Thank you, Randall.

BAILEY: HBO, May 11th, be there.

Special thanks to Aladdin Freeman and Darren Yates for their collaboration with this interview.

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