How do you start to prepare for an opponent like Mike Tyson?
JF: It’s a mental thing. I had to steal myself away from
myself. I had to become very selfish if I were to beat this
–
guy, my life changes forever as far as money is concerned.
Lots of guys come into boxing for money but I never did
to become a millionaire, I come in to be British champion.
After winning that title, if I never fought again, I had
achieved my goal.
We went down to Aldershot [to the army barracks]. I’d
experienced going into camp with Lennox [Lewis, then
the WBC, WBA, IBF and IBO heavyweight champion],
but Lennox was the main man and everything was geared
towards him. Now everything was geared towards making
me the best I could be on the night. I enjoyed it – every
day at the gym I was the one everyone was focused on. My
sparring partners come at me every day like they wanted
to take my head off. I had to be that horrible, selfish, nasty
person every day.
In the pursuit of a goal, you have to be nasty, horrible.
As far as I was concerned, and I know Tyson would
have said this himself: fuck the other guy. He didn’t
give a shit about the other guy and I had to get my
mindset into that mode.
Frank [Maloney, today known as Kellie but then
Francis’ manager], every day would tell these different
stories, what Tyson done to and said to different
fighters at press conferences, weigh-ins and that. Every
day I heard this name, “Tyson done this, Tyson done
that”. I think we were in camp for five or six weeks.
By the time we got to Manchester, if I’d heard Tyson’s
name one more time from Frank Maloney I’d have
strangled him. In my head it was about me. Tyson
would feel the same pinch and punch as every human
being, he was just better at dealing with it.
Julius picked up a calf injury and couldn’t run, so we put
him on the rowing machine for his cardio; the army PTIs
said you couldn’t beat that machine.
The media were saying Julius would be out of there inside
a round but I said, “This is a fight you can win. You can
definitely go the distance”. You get past four or five rounds
and it starts becoming your fight – Mike would easily lose
interest if it wasn’t going his way, we’d seen that, especially at
that stage of his career. The one thing I always thought with
Tyson was he come at you in straight lines.
framed ones, thin mattress, springs, no TV, a radio, a little
wardrobe, plenty of books and plenty of fresh air. I didn’t have
anything out there that said I was living with any luxury whatsoever. It was hard, but I don’t think I’d have wanted it any
other way. If I was still in London, I’d have had press camped
outside my door, the next-door neighbour coming round…
We were locked off, you had to get past the guard to see me, so
I was happy with that. I had to work, I had to work.
I was always a good trainer, I really did enjoy it. We worked on
building my power. I remember doing sets on the rowing machine and literally falling off the machine at the end – thinking
about it makes my legs turn to jelly. I got myself into fantastic
shape.
I was always a good trainer, I really did enjoy it. We worked on
building my power. I remember doing sets on the rowing machine and literally falling off the machine at the end – thinking
about it makes my legs turn to jelly. I got myself into fantastic
shape.
MR: We had to change things round a bit for someone of that
calibre. We called in sparring partners that we thought would
be ideal and could emulate a couple of the things that Mike
done. We set up camp in the army barracks in Aldershot,
which cost a hell of a lot of money. We had great backing from
the army, they were fantastic.
I think one of the biggest mistakes we made was Frank
Maloney saying he wanted to bring in Harold Knight, a
co-trainer with Lennox Lewis and Manny Steward. He said:
“We’ve gotta use some sort of intimidation. Look like you
mean business”. I wish I’d put my foot down. It’s another influence in the camp but we’d always got Julius right on our own
before then.
I think one of the biggest mistakes we made was Frank
Maloney saying he wanted to bring in Harold Knight, a
co-trainer with Lennox Lewis and Manny Steward. He said:
“We’ve gotta use some sort of intimidation. Look like you
mean business”. I wish I’d put my foot down. It’s another influence in the camp but we’d always got Julius right on our own
before then.
The biggest problem I had was a week before the fight, when
Julius was around the 17st 10lbs mark. I honestly think if
Julius had come in around 16st 10lbs, 12lbs, we really could
have won that fight. He really did work hard, but that’s the one
thing that played on me, I wish we’d been that much lighter.
Although he moved his head and everything, that guys
that tended to give him trouble were the ones that weren’t
stationary and moved around. That’s what we worked on,
and in sparring Julius was putting it together well.
Camp was sparse. I had a single bed, one of those metal-
DECEMBER 2014 BRAWL SPORTS 19