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I'm very pleased to welcome into our
podcast this week. It is the former

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junior lightweight world champion, Mikayla Mayor. Michael, It's a pleasure to have

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you on here. We're gonna talk
about your very significant fight coming up.

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But first of all, how are
you doing and how was camp going?

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As we get closer to your January
twentieth date with Natasha Jonas, I'm doing

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Gray Gray. I know every fighter
says that about this time, I genuinely

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feel this fight because of myself to
sort of fill out and be more comfortable

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weight, and so usually at this
point camp, I'm lying right now,

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I don't feel that great, but
no, I genuinely feel good and strong,

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still going good and sporring, and
I'll be ready, all right,

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So I'll tell the people you're gonna
be going over to Liverpool, England to

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challenge Natasha Jonas for the IBF Women's
Welterweight World Championship that will take place January

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twentieth. Like I mentioned, it's
gonna be on ESPN Plus here in the

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United States, And as I was
looking over your record, I realize you

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know you've been fighting regularly. It
seems like in the UK, and I

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realized, yes, this will be, in fact, your fourth consecutive fight

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in England. I just wondered,
is that is it something that you enjoy

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doing and is it because that's just
where the bigger fights are and the money

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is or is there some other reason
that you continue to continue to go there?

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And how's your British accent these days? It's getting better but still a

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pretty shitty. No, it's more
of a strategic business thing. There's most

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of my fights, most of my
next big bumps and big fights are against

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people out in the UK. So
it's especially this fight, this is where

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I need to be to get myself
back in position. You know, I

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started by not in the UK when
we had that big women's card, Close

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Shields versus Savannah Marshall and Me versus
Bomb Gardener, and that that just so

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happened because we've got to be amazing
to have had a huge female card with

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the two Arena, and it was
we sold it out, it was awesome.

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And then from there I just I
guess the BRIT's like me, so

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I continue to fight out there,
and now if you look at all my

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big future opponents and my big fights
there against girls, from that side of

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the pond. So now it's just
sort of a business move. I'm glad

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I've done it, so now I'm
not so much of underdog. So I

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mentioned this fight will take place in
Natasha's hometown of Liverpool. The other fights

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that you have fought in the UK
were against women that of course you were

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traveling from America to go there.
But you fought in the UK against another

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American in Bomb Gardner. As you
mentioned, you fought another one of your

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opponents was from Italy. Another one
was from Sweden. But this is the

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first time you're fighting a brit in
Britain, not only in Britain, but

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in her hometown. Do you have
any pause about that aspect of this matchup?

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That's true, I didn't realize.
I guess this is my first brit

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For someone who fights over there so
often, this is my first brit and

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it isn't our hometown, so that's
new for me. You know. I've

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always been on the A side,
I think, you know, and now

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I'm kind of going into enemy territory
and I know that they go hard for

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their people over there. You know, Natasha Jonas is very well respected,

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so I don't know I don't know
how the fans are going to react to

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me. I also know that I
have a big fan base there now too,

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because I've foughten there so much in
the last year. But still,

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you know, I think the crowd
is going to favor Natasha, and that's

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okay. I'm okay with it.
I've had all the experience I need in

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the world. You know, when
I by the time I'm walking through that

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ring, I'm so zoned in focus
second mat Beller rings ALVINOI is going to

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go out the window. So if
they boom me, they boom me.

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I mean, I've been watching your
entire career. I was at your pro

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debut, I've been to many of
your fights, I've watched many of your

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interviews. We've interviewed before. I
get to feel you can if you want,

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you can play the heel really well
if you wanted to. Yeah,

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I could, But I don't know. It's hard to build that type of

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I mean, you've seen me do
it before with my opponents, but it's

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hard to build that with someone like
Natasha Jonas, who's just so nice,

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like she's she's like a gem over
there. Everyone loves her, you know,

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she's do anything wrong. She doesn't
really talking to smack about people,

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so you know, it would be
out of character for me, and I

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just wouldn't steam right if I started
going at her heart in a certain way.

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So this fight is more I think
two women. We're both olympians,

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we both have huge accomplishments, huge
amateur pedigree, former world champions, and

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so she is the world champion,
me and former world champion, but you

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know we were pioneers in this sport. So now this is this is a

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strategic fight. This is a you
know who who's gonna I think a lot

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of people are thinking that one of
us is at the end of our career,

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and it's not me. Well,
she's thirty nine years old, and

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she was the one that was in
the Olympics, and I believe twenty twelve,

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you are thirty three years old.
You were in the Olympics in two

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thousand and sixteen. And even though
you do actually have a few more pro

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fights than she does, you're going
this is you have twenty pro fights,

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She's got what sixteen or seventeen pro
fights. So when you say that that

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some people think one of you is
at the end of your career. I

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kind of take the viewpoint that it
seems to me that neither one of you

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are at the ind of your career, even though she may be older.

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You've both been fighting really well.
You know, yeah, why would why

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would you say that? Though?
I guess, I mean, I think

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there's a lot of agism and sexism
in this sport. You know, there

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really is. Like I have thirty
three and that I haven't heard a handful

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of handful of people say that,
Oh, now I'm gonna tay the tail

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end of my career, blah blah
blah, I'm declining yet. You know,

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Canelo is thirty three and he's in
his prime. It's just so you

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have you get two different storylines.
You have one loss by like a one

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point split decision, and you're at
the end of your career. Thank you,

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thank you. I mean, I
don't I feel better than I've ever

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spelt, especially since I'm letting my
body fill out. Now I'm fighting in

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a more natural weight I can put
on that muscle that you can think about

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it. Most people, as a
develop into their career, by the time

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their thirty three, they've moved into
three different weight divisions. I've sayed at

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one thirty fifteen years, so it's
time. It's time for me to fill

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out, and I feel great.
So I was going to ask you about

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that. Did you go you you
were a champion and unified champion at one

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hundred and thirty pounds. In fact, the fight where you unified the titles

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against Hammaduche was one of the great
women's fights I've ever seen, one of

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the I mean, I was ringside
for that fight, so I don't know.

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Maybe I'm biased because of that,
but that was a hell of a

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fight. But here's the thing,
though, you were unified champion at one

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thirty after you lost the belts to
Bomb Garner, your next fight was at

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one thirty five. Then you fought
at one forty not title fights. Now

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you're fighting for a title at one
forty seven. So my question is were

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you moving up through those weight classes
so quickly because of as you mentioned,

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you were just wanting to put the
weight on it. It was making you

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feel better or stronger, or was
it more because you had the opportunity to

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go to welterweight to become a world
champion again. So a little bit of

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both. I immediately knew I was
moving to one thirty five. That next

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fight after bomb Gardner was one thirty
five, and my body's just letting my

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body fill out the tiniest bit it
wanted to keep going. One thirty five

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was still no different than one thirty
to me, that's what it felt like.

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So then I thought, okay,
let's then My goal was to stay

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to fight Katie Taylor, who was
the unified champion at one thirty five,

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and I became mandatory for her in
that fight. But she's busy, She's

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caught up with Serrano and Chontill cameraon
and like had all these fights verus.

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So I'm like, I can't really
stick around at one thirty, but I'm

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not going to get this fight with
Katie Taylor immediately. So I'm like,

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okay, where can I get this
opportunity? Then Top Rank called and said,

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what about jumping to one forty seven. There's an opportunity to fight Tasha

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Jonas. I said, okay,
Like I eventually thought I'd end up at

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one forty seven, so this I
didn't think. I jumped there so quickly,

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but Chontal Camera wasn't available at one, Katie Taylor wasn't available at one

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thirty five. It was just the
most immediate fight for me, and so

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the next fight I took at one
forty two to slowly continue to sort of

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build that you know, build that
strength and build my body out. So

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yeah, one thirty one thirty five, one forty two, all to prepare

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for this fight at one forty seven. So a lot of people would look

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at it and say, as you
mentioned, you fought most of your career

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in the one hundred and thirty pound
weight class with a smat you know,

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a few fights since or really just
two fights since, you know, in

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the heavier weights. But and then
she's a champion at one forty seven.

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She was a unified champion at one
fifty four. But the reality is,

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I was I didn't realize this until
I started to look at her record as

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I was getting ready to talk to
you today, that most of her fights,

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even though she's been a champion of
those heavierweight divisions, really we're at

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one hundred and thirty one hundred and
thirty five. And I also see on

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the on the listing, you're actually
like about an inch taller than she is,

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So you know, who's really the
She's the champion in the heavier weight

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class. But who's who's the bigger
woman, so to speak in the fight.

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I think I definitely am gonna be. She's had more time at that

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weight, so maybe she's a little
bit more comfortable there. You know,

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it takes time to reverse all what
I've done, what I've done to my

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body, you know, holding it
down the web thirty for so many years.

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It takes time to reverse that.
You can't just build that muscle overnight.

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So she has, you know,
the experience there. But you're right,

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most of advice at one thirty one
thirty five. She only went to

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one forty fifty four because that is
where the opportunity was. You know,

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the higher you go in the weights, a little bit less of competition is

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maybe a little easier. It is
a snag of belt. So you know,

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that's what she did. It's a
strategic move, and she did that.

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And now she's come down to one
forty seven and if you look at

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all the women, that's where they're
going. One seven is the next big

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division for us. Yeah, I
think you're right about that. I mean,

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especially you mentioned like some of the
other women you were talking about,

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Katie Taylor is vacated now. Some
of the belts at one thirty five.

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She's keeping the belts at one forty. Got to figure before it's all said

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and done, she moves up.
You're obviously going to go up at some

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point, you know, for this
fight and perhaps beyond, you know,

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stay there for a little bit.
I just want to touch on one of

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the other fights you had. We
were talking about, you know, you

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having a bunch of fights in the
UK. The first bout that you had

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in that run of fights over there
was the fight with Bombgarner, which was,

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you know, a unification fight,
was on that big card you mentioned

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with Claressa was a pretty big deal. She barely barely beats you by,

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like I said, one point on
two of the scorecards. You were well

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ahead on the third score card since
that fight and you, I mean,

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we all know the back and that
you women had going into that fight,

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a lot of you know, bad
blood so to speak, between you two

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guys and gals. She tested positive
in a subsequent fight for a banned substance,

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which you know, anytime that happens, it's gonna make some people think

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that if you tested positive for that
fight, that you maybe weren't clean for

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previous fights. In other words,
you know, when you get caught once,

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it's not necessarily the first time you
ever did it. I wonder what

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your thoughts were when you saw that
she had tested positive for a banned substance.

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Yeah, I thought, I think
her whole legacy is a question now,

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not in although her body was so
ripped. She claims to be a

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very hardcore Christian, So I literally
never thought that she would do something like

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that. But I believe it's true
because if you look at the levels that

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she tested for, they weren't just
minimal traces like something you accidentally got mixed

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it to your protein powder. I
mean, those are really really high levels

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of testosterone and other black market drugs
that you really can't even get in America.

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So you know, she's guilty,
and I'm disappointed because you know,

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there's no going back in reversing like
how that's affected the division, the one

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hundred and thirty pound division over the
last two years since she came out of

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nowhere, which is another little hint
probably that she wasn't natural. But you

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know, you can't. That's that's
just you know, you can't go back.

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You can't. You never know a
whole legacy is in question. At

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this point, and now it's up
to the commissions and the governing bodies to

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strip her, make an example of
her, and give lay some type of

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punishment down which they have. That's
the pointing part. If she is eligible

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at some point, would you want
to have a rematch with her? You're

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not person asked me that, and
I honestly have to consider whether I want

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would want to give her another opportunity. Right now, she's going around calling

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out someone like Cloris' Shields because she
knows that she's you know, needs to

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stay relevant somehow, she should be
stripped right now. I don't think she

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deserves any of us champion or top
you know, pound and pound, all

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these top girls right now in this
generation. She doesn't deserve any of our

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attention or any of our respect until
she clears her name, which I don't

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think she's wanted to be able to
do. She should have already been stripped,

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So I don't know, you know, we'll see when it comes down

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to that. Right now, I'm
at one forty seven, she's still at

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one thirty. She talks about coming
up. But I got Tasha Jonas right

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now in front of me and all
the other girls that are already at one

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forty seven that I'm thinking about.
Well, we mentioned a bunch of the

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top uh, you know women fighters, yourself and Bomb Garner at that time,

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Shields obviously, Natasha Jonas, Soroano, Katie Taylor, Cameron. You

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mentioned all of these people I have
mentioned. You're all fighting each other in

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the biggest fights that you can make
in your various weight classes. And when

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the fights are made, they usually
are done so with not a lot of

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drama as far as you know,
the fight comes up, it might take

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a couple of weeks, a couple
of months to hammer it out, and

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no must, no fuss, and
you get in the ring and take care

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of your business and it's on to
the next And it seems like a regular

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occurrent at least in the female side
of boxing. I wonder, why do

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you think it seems to me anyway
that it's so much easier for that to

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happen with the female boxers, And
it is when it comes to making the

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biggest fights with any of the men's
boxers, because us women have more to

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prove. You know, we haven't
had the opportunity, we haven't had a

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platform, we haven't had like all
the supports and the networks were just a

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handful of us are now getting that. And if we want to continue to

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grow that and show that we belong
and I prove the good decision, we

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have to make the big fights happen
we want that. Does it excites us?

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I don't know. I think the
men maybe have been a little bit

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spoiled in the sense where they can
kind of co through take one big fight,

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pocket millions of dollars and kind of
you know, take a few two

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nut fights in here and there.
I just don't think the women have had

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the privilege like we're here trying to
prove that we belong in the sport and

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in orders we have to put on
the most exciting fights possible, whether I've

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stated well or not well enough or
not email Hopefully the next generation will,

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but we're going to be doing a
lot of things that we're not really going

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to reap the benefits of. So, you know, I was wondering about

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this. You know, I've always
just adored Al Mitchell, your trainer.

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I've known him for many, many
years, one of the best guys I

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know in the whole sport. I
wonder how excited does he get to see

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you go on these types of big
fights and have opportunities to fight in for

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titles and heavier weight classes and move
along. I mean, you know,

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he's got to. He was,
you know, he's you know, he's

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trained a lot of uh, a
lot of great boxers, a lot of

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guys, a lot of mostly gouts, a lot of really bad, faster

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boxers who were really accomplished and skilled. And here I come one day and

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my walking into this gym, my
little pink, juicy suit. And he

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never thought that I'd be the one, because if you look at the group

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of people he's had in the gym, even the group he had in the

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gym when I walked in, he
would never expect the one to make it

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this far. And I'm the last
one standing, you know, so he

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tells me all the time, and
I always believed I'd be in this position.

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And maybe don't exactly how because we've
been, you know, pliling away

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in a path, but I always
believed I d here. And he says,

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never, that's it. He just
never expected and he just wanted me,

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you know, made me make a
little money and then never wanted me

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to turn pro. You know,
just makes some ninety sponsors and blah blah

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blah. So he's definitely happy that
I'm here, and he just wants He's

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tells me all the time, just
you know, a few more years.

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You take these big fights, you
win them, you take money, so

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your set for life and just go
on and commentate you have to fight anymore.

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So yeah, exactly, you know
he's stobbing me, but he doesn't

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want me doing it forever. Well, I remember distinctly being at your professional

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debut in Los Angeles. I believe
it was the Lomachenko under card when he

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fought Mariaga, and where we re
seated in the media section was right near

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your corner. And your fight lasted
probably what ninety seconds in your debut,

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and the entire ninety seconds Al was
screaming at the top of his lungs,

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use your jeb, use your jeb. And now you're twenty fights into your

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prokra I wonder how many times do
you figure he's yelled at you to use

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your jeb. You guys, it's
so funny because to chau just now is

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sort of letting me lose, I
mean and letting me lose like for you

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know, going into my last not
this past year. But my last few

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fights at one thirty and stuff,
and you collecting those belts, I'd be

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in the gym sporns Warren's barn.
I mean, for that first half of

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camp, I wasn't even allowed to
throw my right hand. I mean,

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just really really hard, disciplined,
really hard on me, you know,

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not letting me throw silly punches.
Everything had to be behind my job.

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Everything had to finish with the hook
and so. But those have aba be

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so technically sound now, you know. So I'm grateful for it, but

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still telling me this, I mean, I can't I hear it in my

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sleep. I'll here for the rest
of my life. Well, I suspect

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that from your fight against join us
on January twentieth in Liverpool, England live

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on ESPN Plus. You'll hear al
yell and use your jab quite a bit.

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Michela, thank you very much for
the interview time and I wish you

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good luck in the fight. Thanks
so much, good talking to you you

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too. Take care