By Przemek Garczarczyk
Ring legend Roy Jones Junior (55-8, 40 KOs), a former four-division world champion, will fight WBC #4 ranked light heavyweight Dawid Kostecki (39-1, 25 KOs) in Poland on June 30.
“Roy was always my idol, the only fighter I loved to watch. But it was then, now is my time to beat my hero and take his place,” said Kostecki, who lost his only professional fight 6 years ago. “Roy is coming to my country and I will be a great host but that will change the moment we step into the ring!”
Roy has his own ideas…
Are you ready for your trip to Poland?
RJJ: Absolutely – ready and pumped for Wednesday’s press conference. I am flying into Warsaw Wednesday at 10 in the morning, flying from Chicago, so it will be like flying from one Polish city to another (laughing). No, seriously – I’m really looking forward to seeing Poland now. I am only staying a short time now ‘cause I’m training harder than ever. I’ll have more time when I come back for the fight on June 30. I know how proud a nation Poland is and how hard the Poles are working to make a living.
What do you know about Kostecki?
I checked out a bunch of his fights, and know what he can and cannot do. He’s tough, wants to go punch for punch and I like his attitude in the ring. There is a reason why he is so highly ranked but I’m planning on rewriting those rankings a little on June 30.
In one of his interviews, Kostecki said that you are his idol, that he learned his style watching your fights…
Well I guess we will have to wait to find out on June 30th how good a student he actually is because I’m not ready to give my students anything yet – they have to prove themselves first before they have the right to call me their teacher.
Roy – how good are you right now? Should people doubt you?
(singing) “Ya’ll Musta Forgot, Forgot, Forgot, Forgot.”
Kostecki and his fans need to pay a little closer attention to my lyrics. They think that I’m not the man, the fighter I used to be. Let’s get this straight – I’m coming to Poland to win, and I will beat Kostecki. There is no substitute for winning, this is the only possible outcome. I just finished my training. I’ve been training every day for the last three weeks. That is why I was a little reluctant to change my training schedule and fly to Poland for this press conference, but I knew I had to come, to show the Polish people that this is for real, to show ‘em some love and for them to see that I am 110% committed to winning this fight.
Do you play soccer? We know about basketball…
I know that there’s big European tournament in Poland and the Ukraine and day after my fight there is the final game. I’ll be rooting for Poland all along (raising arms) “Polska gola” — and hopefully Poland will be playing in the finals and I’ll be there and even Kostecki will not be too sad after losing the fight to me. I am getting so psyched for this fight and can’t wait to see all my Polish fans – see ya’ll Wednesday!
