IT’S 15 years since your last fight, at Madison Square Garden against Roy Jones Jnr…
It’s scary. Time just goes so quick when you retire. Fifteen years – where the fuck has time gone? I don’t really think about it now – it’s nice people remember certain fights. You see a post and it’s, “Really? That feels five years ago”. People still talking is a great thing. That’s the one thing that mattered to me when I was boxing – legacy. Probably more than fame and money. People still talk about the [Jeff] Lacy fight – that was 2006.
I had a good catch up with Roy in Saudi [Arabia, at Tyson Fury-Francis Ngannou]. We did that fight ourselves. It was easy to make, and there was something romantic about it, after where I started – where I come from, on a council estate, to finish off at the mecca of boxing… It wasn’t just about money, it was about finishing at Madison Square Garden, against one of the greatest fighters of all time. It was a great night; something I’ll always remember.
The first round wasn’t the best, getting dropped. But after two rounds I was enjoying the fight. I respected Roy – the things I was doing wasn’t planned. People go on about dropping your hands – I was having fun. I knew that was going to be my last fight. I spoke to my dad, and after the [Mikkel] Kessler fight [in 2007] and being champion for 10 years and doing what I’d wanted to do, there were two things missing, and that was going to America and to win a second title [at another weight]. After the [Bernard] Hopkins fight [in 2008] I’d done everything I wanted to achieve. I was 36; I was injured all the time, and it was important to have one more fight and, except for the first round, I was really happy with that performance.
It was quite surreal. I remember going to the Garden in the
