QUESTION: You’ve gone away for training this time around, how has that been?

TAYLOR: “Great training camp up in the mountains.   Best decision I have ever made. All day boxing, but I’m loving it.  I find things to do in my off time.  I go fishing, and hunting.”

QUESTION: You were confident at the press conference in New York, how confident are you now after training?

TAYLOR: “I’m way more confident after training.  I don’t see him as a great fighter.  He’s a strong fighter but other than that, nothing.  He’s just a normal fighter.  I don’t mean any disrespect, but I don’t see what the hype is about.  I don’t see him on my level.”

QUESTION: What’s the difference between Pat Burns as a trainer and Manny Steward?

TAYLOR: “Manny’s idea as a trainer is go in there and look good.  I can relate to him.”

QUESTION:Some say you don’t always listen to Manny in the corner.

TAYLOR: “I try my best to do what he tells me to do.  It may not look like it but it’s always in my mind to try and do it.”

QUESTION: You two have had an amateur fight in the past.  Could you tell us anything about that? 

TAYLOR: “I don’t remember.  I could say that I did but I don’t know.  I remember that we fought though, and I remember that I won.”

QUESTION: That was in the Olympic trials, have you seen any improvements since?

TAYLOR: “Not really.  He’s bigger and stronger but that’s about it.”

QUESTION: What do you think about Joe Calzaghe and his fight with Mikkel Kessler?

TAYLOR: “I can’t way to see the fight.  I think it’s going to be a great fight and I’m looking forward to see that.  Both have skills and both are coming to fight.”

QUESTION: Is Joe on your radar?

TAYLOR: “Definitly. I would love to fight him.  It’d be a great fight and a great payday.”

QUESTION: Are you surprised that Joe stays in Britain a lot to fight?

TAYLOR: “I’m not surprised that Joe is staying over there to fight.  He’s doing well over there. he should stay over there.  He’s a smart guy.”

QUESTION: It has been said that the last couple of fights weren’t matched right with your style.  How is Pavlik suited for you?

TAYLOR: “He comes straight forward and comes to fight.  He’s not a slick fighter, really.  But he’s a game guy.”

~~~~~~~~

KELLY PAVLIK
 

QUESTION: This is probably the biggest fight of your career, both mentally and physically. 

PAVLIK: “Definitely.  But I mean the Miranda fight was big too.  If it wasn’t for the Miranda fight I wouldn’t have been here.  This is everything you worked for.”

QUESTION: How have you trained for this fight as opposed to other fights?

PAVLIK: “We’ve stuck to the same game plan; we know Jermain brings a lot of speed and agility to the ring so we’re working a bit on that.  But we had a lot of sparring with big guys who had speed.”

QUESTION: Do you intend to go after Jermain the same way you attacked Miranda, or will you have another strategy planned for his jab?

PAVLIK: “No, flatfooted.  In our last fight against Miranda, if you’re on your toes you can get knocked out with a wild punch.  This time we're bringing the heat.  We’re going to have more movement; he’s going to see a lot of speed and jabbing also.  We’ve been bringing in a lot of fast fighters and stuff.  The last few fights we didn’t have to use too much head movement because of the guy’s style.  We have a guy now with a lot of hand speed in Taylor, and we're going to keep up the pressure and jabbing with him and throwing a lot of punches.

QUESTION: Have you been doing a lot of sparring?

PAVLIK: “At first didn’t want to do too much, here and there we’re going 5-6 rounds.  We are doing quite a bit of sparring for this fight.”

QUESTION: Do you envision this fight will end in a KO?

PAVLIK: “I don’t envision things like that.  I’ll take the win no matter how in comes, I go in there and I fight.”

QUESTION: You’ve had more fights than Taylor but this is your first fight for a title.  Do you think experience will be a factor in this fight, for him or you?  I mean you did not have too much exposure which is why many have you overlooked, including many for the Miranda fight.

PAVLIK: "I do.  I’ve had some big fights.  Some fights have gone in the later fight.  Taylor has been there, but he dies down in the stretch.  He’s been in the late rounds but he’s not that great in the later rounds.  He has to stay at my pace.  Can he be throwing or taking the 70, 80 or 90 punches a round?

QUESTION: So your conditioning is better?

“My conditioning is much better.” 

QUESTION: You have gained many fans especially after your annihilation over Miranda.  Who do you think will be under more pressure in this fight, Jermain because of all the critics who have been after him, or your because of the new fan base?

PAVLIK:“Pressure depends on how you build with it.  Every individual deals with it differently.  Jermain has no reason to have pressure on him, he’s the champ and has defended it, and has made a shit load of money.  You can’t let the critics get to you.” 

QUESTION: What has been the toughest fight of your career so far?

PAVLIK: “Jose Luis Zertuche.  He’s fought in rugged fights his whole career.  He’s a dangerous guy.  Miranda was too, don’t get me wrong.  But that guy (Zertuche) could take a hell of a punch and hand a lot of power to.  You didn’t want to take the chance of bouncing around and getting hit with a wild shot.”

QUESTION: What are the thoughts of Taylor saying that you’re nothing, and he doesn’t see what the hype is about?

PAVLIK: “I love it.  It motivates me.  (Bronco) McKart said the same thing, and so did Miranda.  Put it this way, I want him to come with the game plan he has.”

QUESTION: Do you remember the amateur fight?

PAVLIK: “It was a while ago I don’t remember it either really.  I was 17, he was 21.  It’s a different ball game now. I got the experience now too.  You can’t go in thinking about the amateur fight.  It’s day and night now.  He did win the fight but it wasn’t a blowout I’ll tell you that.”

QUESTION: Were you training in Youngstown for this fight?

PAVLIK: “Yes.”

QUESTION: Better to stay in Youngstown?

PAVLIK: “I’m at an advantage.  Everything is close to us here.  We got the YMCA here for a swim.  I have the Iron Man Warehouse which is a few minutes away, I do my cardio and strength endurance there.  We have hills and flatlands.  Everything’s five minutes from me.  I can come back home and have food ready for me.  Sometimes when you go away you don’t have everything there.”