On his win over Brandon Rios
“I thought it was a good fight. It wasn’t my best performance, I felt a little rusty a little bit in the beginning. My legs felt strong, though. Usually my legs don’t feel that strong, but my legs felt real strong, so I was able to use my lateral movement, side-to-side, and then close the show.”
“What it’d end in, the ninth? I think he won about two or three rounds, maybe. He probably won about two good rounds, two or three, I would say.”
“I knew he was gonna come to fight. He’s a good inside fighter, he let his hands go on the inside. I tried to show him I was the bigger, stronger guy by standing in there, but — he was landing on me, but I should’ve never did that. It’s a learning experience, and we won’t do it next time.”
“I didn’t even feel like I threw (the KO punch) that hard. I just felt like I slipped and I just threw it. It was a straight punch and I knew it landed. But I didn’t think that would’ve been the shot. ... The way he fell back like that, I knew it was over. I knew he had a big heart and I knew he was gonna get up. But if he let him (continue), I was, like, damn, I probably would’ve finished him ugly.”
On Shawn Porter’s confrontation
“I’m not gonna let nobody step to me, you feel me? That’s how I am. I don’t back down from nobody. You step to me, I’m stepping back. I never went in his ring after his wins, I respected him. But he disrespected me, I had to come back.”
“I’ll fight anybody. I’ll fight Shawn Porter. If he’s next, he’s next. I’ll fight anybody. This is what I do. I’m a fighter.”
On rematching Keith Thurman
“It’s two different fights. You can’t really go on this fight and the Thurman fight, because he’s a different style. He’s not gonna stand in front of me. But I know what I can do better going into the second fight. I started too late, and I could’ve done a lot of things better. If it ever comes back around, I know what I gotta do.”