I had absolutely no doubts I was winning this fight against Jose Ramirez. I loved every minute of it. Being involved in a big fight like this and I’ve done it without any pressure on my shoulders. I just enjoyed the whole experience. I soaked it all up and enjoyed it. These are going to be the best memories of my life. I enjoyed every single minute of it, in Vegas, getting nice cars, going on trips to shoot some guns, having a laugh with the lads but doing it without thinking, ‘I need to win this.’ It was just taking it as it comes and enjoying it. I’ve loved every single second of it.
They were two heavy knockdowns. I think Kenny Bayless robbed me of a knockout victory, especially that second knockdown. That second knockdown was about 20 seconds. It was 20 seconds to him. It was unbelievable. When I went to go for him he [Bayless] was making me go back, making sure he was alright and shoving me back into the corner again. It was scandalous.
I had it all stacked against me for this trip. There was actually two judges I said I wouldn’t want there in this fight, when we get the judges selected it was the same judges that were in the [Viktor] Postol fight that scored it wide for Ramirez. That was another one. But I wasn’t going to complain because there was no point rubbing them up the wrong way and they might try and do me over. Then the next one was Kenny Bayless. I know what he’s like, I like to fight inside and stuff like that. I thought they’re doing everything in their power here, trying to stack everything against me. I had five opponents, three judges, Ramirez and Kenny Bayless, all against me. And I beat them all. They tried to do everything in their power to make me not be successful, that’s what it felt like. But there was no question who the winner was. There was absolutely no question who the winner was. I’m very proud of that. They tried to stack it up against me and I beat them against all the odds.
I’ve got every major world title. I could happily announce today that I’m retiring from boxing. I could say thanks boxing, see you later and be content. But then probably in about a year’s time I’d get itchy knuckles again and want to keep going and see if I could do more. That’s why I’m in the game. To give it my best. Because when the day final does come that I retire, I want to say I gave it my best, I gave it my best shot and I’ve done everything that I could do. That’s what I want to say whenever I retire from boxing, that I’ve done everything to the best of my ability and I gave it my best shot. I still feel that I can do more. I don’t think that’s the best and I still feel I can do more.
Terence Crawford would be an amazing fight. He was the last guy to do it at 140lbs. He seems to be struggling for a dance partner at the minute. I would happily take that fight and it’s one that I would be confident of winning as well. I would take it in a heartbeat.
Jack Catterall was decent enough to let me do this fight first. He’s been mandatory for some time. He agreed to step aside to let this fight happen. You can see his point, there’s method in his madness. If that fight’s next, he’s got the chance to become undisputed champion. He’s made a good choice. We’ll see what comes. We’ll see what happens. This next couple of weeks I’m going to forget about boxing, I’m going to enjoy this victory, I’m going to sit back, chill out with my friends, my family, my fiancée. I gave a whole lot, this training camp has been the best part of eight months away, all in all, training and preparation, getting my mind right and getting everything right. All for this. This next couple of weeks, I’m going to forget about boxing hopefully and just chill out. But then I don’t know what’s going to be coming my way.
One thing’s for sure, I’m going to enjoy this and soak it all up.