BRC: How did your childhood help you get involved in Boxing? I understand you grew up in a real tough part of Kingston Jamaica.

HALL: Well I got into boxing because it was a dream of mine to always do it. Before I got into boxing I was a bad kid, I did a lot of different things but nothing really positive. I lived there until I was 21 but like I said boxing was my out, it was a way of not going back to what I did before...

I got a late start in boxing I was 19 years old, but I knew right away it was something that I could be good at.

BRC: Did you know this because of your build or because of your will not to go back to what you were doing when you were growing up?

HALL: A little bit of both, I knew that I didn't want to be the person I was before but when I went to the gym I could see I was the best guy there but didn't have all the training; but I knew once I got the timing down that there was nobody who could beat me there. After two weeks of training I beat the best guy (Lincoln Carter) in the gym, two weeks after that I was fighting for a national championship and the rest is history. So I'd say a combination of both things has helped me.

BRC: Did Reggae music and Bob Marley have an effect on you coming up?

HALL: Bob Marley was and is the biggest and best thing to come out of Jamaica and you can't have one without the other. I still listen to all of it, I even like Ziggy Marley as well, even though he's a little more main stream than his father but it's still good music.

BRC: I guess realizing where you came from has kept you hungry but has also helped you in dealing with some of the people in the profession. Let's discuss your managerial issues. You're a very talented fighter, I know you have a solid chin, a nice left hook and a big right hand plus a will to win but you can't tell me that you've been as active as someone in your position should be, why not?

HALL: What's happened is at the time when I fought Roy Jones Jr. he tested positive for steroids and the WBA was supposed to strip him, that never came around...

BRC: HOLD UP, did you say Roy Jones tested positive for Steroids and was supposed to be stripped of the belt but wasn't?****

HALL: Yeah, the WBA never did anything about it.

BRC: Richard this is the first I've ever heard of that, with respect to Roy Jones... I don't know how steroids, which make your muscles big and dense would help any fighter, especially one who uses his quickness to beat guys.

HALL: Well he tested positive for it. But anyway my contract with...

BRC: Wait a second, you have to explain this to the readers... You said Roy Jones tested positive for steroids and then what happened from there?

HALL: What happened from there was, my promoter was Don King at the time and Don told me that we was going to get his lawyer involved because Roy Jones tested positive for steroids and that I was going to be the (WBA) champion. Then the commissioner was notified but then nothing went through; I don't know why, maybe my name isn't big enough, Roy Jones has more power than I do.

BRC: Now did they say that you tested positive for steroids too or was it just Roy?

HALL: When we did it they tried to say I tested positive for steroids but I told them I don't take drugs, I went to my doctor and their (the Commission) doctors and nothing came up.

BRC: What I don't understand is how any boxer would take steroids, let alone one who has the quickest hands in the sport, they can't help in a fight, steroids dense you up. They might make you look good but you wouldn't be able to fight a lick. Think of Tye Fields, that guy looks like Tarzan but fights like Jane when he's in there with a guy who has a pulse.

HALL: You know I don't know, I'm not a doctor, all I'm saying is he (Roy Jones Jr.) tested positive for steroids on the night that I fought him and they didn't take any action towards him.

BRC:Roy Jones has publicly stated that he wants to fight Lennox Lewis and Mike Tyson what are your thoughts on his chances against them?

HALL: Roy Jones has no chance against either of those guys, he's letting everyone know this by asking for a hundred million. That alone in my mind is telling me that he doesn't want to fight them.

BRC: OK, so back to your inactivity.

HALL: Well my contract with Don King ran out and basically I went on my own, and I always tell promoters 'hey, I'm not going to fight for free or for next to nothing because it's my life that's on the line,' and basically that's been the problem.

BRC:: So then, are things with your new manager Mark Vaz going well?

HALL: I'm just trying Mark Vaz out for now, he's been a good friend of my for a while now since like 1993 or 1994. Mark is a nice guy, if he says he's going to do something he'll do it, so I'm going to see how it goes with him.

BRC: Let's talk about Julian Letterlough, the guy can flat out punch and has been as big as 190 what are your thoughts.

HALL: I've seen a lot of his fights on ESPN and HBO, he ain't got nothing, he's a bum you understand, he's a misfit. I like to go to war, but I'm going to do that in a controlled manner; I know I can pick him apart by boxing.

BRC: (Laughing) Just don't get into a slugfest with him. If you beat him what will be next for your career?

HALL: After beating Letterlough I want to make sure they put me back where I'm supposed to be. The whole world is going to know that Richard Hall has never left the scene. I know that after the awful stoppages in Germany the American public and the media haven't heard from me but if those two fights had been on TV here then my career would be a lot different up to this point. I'm real happy and excited that I'll be on TV for all of my fans over here to see and to show them that I'm still here and I'm the man at light heavyweight.

BRC: I didn't like the stoppages of either one of those fights with Dariusz. I thought the second one, had that fight been here in the U.S., a ref would have at the very least given him at least two standing eight counts in the early rounds. I know you were upset about the eye in the first one, as was I, because I felt he was very rough and dirty with you.

HALL: The first time was B.S. and the second time I had him hurt and then he kept fouling me by holding and hitting and the ref never did anything to stop it; then when he did stop the fight it was because of fouls... I was so upset at the time it took me back for a little bit.

BRC: I know that those two fights hurt because of the way things went down and what's happened since then.

HALL: Yeah, that hurt me more than anything because right now I'm fighting Letterlough and this fight is like I'm turning pro once again, that's how bad it hurt me... I did consider retiring but I love boxing to much to have gone out like that, so I'm turning pro once again.

BRC: What are your thoughts on the top guys in your division like Eric Harding, Antonio Tarver and so on?

HALL: Once again, I got to tell you that all the top rated guys are bums. I know I'm the greatest fighter right now in the light heavyweight division and I never got the respect that I should have here in America. In Germany the fans love me, they saw me stand toe to toe with Michalczewski and hurt that man a bunch of times then get robbed twice, but they still have a lot of love for me. You know those guys at the top are bums because Eric Harding just got a whopping at the hands of Glen Coffey Johnson and Tarver is just a bum flat out, when I get him in the ring I'm going to destroy him.

BRC: I'd like to see you and Tarver fight, that'd be an exciting fight and I know you'd come to make it a brawl.

HALL: After I beat Letterlough, if Tarver's people want to sign up to make the fight I'll do it Saturday morning.

BRC: Well good luck to you Richard, and if I can ever be of help give me a call.

HALL: Thanks man, I'd like to say one thing to all my fans. I'm here and I ain't going nowhere. I'm going to be champion again and I'm back; please keep on pulling for me and thanks for all the support.

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**** Aladdin Freeman contacted Jones' adviser Brad Jacobs, in an effort to allow the Jones camp to respond to Richard Hall's allegations.

Mr. Jacobs spoke to Bragging Rights Corner's Editor Elisa Harrison and this is his response to the Hall allegations: "Roy was exonerated by the Indiana Boxing Commission. Roy voluntarily took two additional tests which he passed without any problems."

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