Rashad: My performance sucked
Fighting doesn’t solve everything. Sometimes a fight doesn’t end a rivalry. Long after both had retired, Joe Frazier was asked…
Fighting doesn’t solve everything. Sometimes a fight doesn’t end a rivalry.
Long after both had retired, Joe Frazier was asked to reflect on Muhammad Ali. “I want to cut him into pieces and send him up to Jesus,” said “Smoke.”
Decades after their third fight, when a tottering Ali lit the Olympic flame at the Atlanta games, Frazier let on that he’d like to push him into the flames.
On FUEL TV’s post-fight show Evans sounded a familiar note.
I still don’t like (Jon Jones), said Evans. He fought a good fight and I got to respect him as a fighter, and I had respect for him as a fighter before, but no, I still don’t, nah…
I’ll tell you what, we’re gonna fight again.
At the post-fight press conference Evans offered a detailed breakdown of the fight.
I got out-slicked. I thought I would get him. I felt his timing was off, and it’s never off, so I felt he was nervous. Then he started playing that hand game. When he touched me, I knew he’d go for an elbow. I wanted to time it and take him down, but he caught me every time.
It was difficult. He was so long and it was just frustrating. Whenever he hit me with something, I couldn’t let him know how bad it hurt. He’s a talented kid, and he has gotten a lot better, like I thought he would. I have to give him respect. He’s a champion.
To try to take him down is pretty hard to do. If I got a shot, I would take it but wouldn’t force anything. I wasn’t creative enough. Once, I threw an inside leg kick, and he checked it with his knee. I couldn’t really bounce after that. I lost the springs in my shoes.
I wanted to put more pressure on him, but didn’t I want to rush (into) those long knees. I tried to attack when he least expected, but I didn’t throw enough combinations. That was the story of the night for me, not getting off first. I didn’t follow up. I have no one to blame but myself.
I started playing a game, and I knew better than to play it. What threw me off was his front kick. I originally planned to go to the body first and work my way up, but I was never able to do that.
It takes a while for it to sink in. I still gotta go home and probably cry a little bit. You never know what can happen in the future. We were friends before, but we’ll probably be competing against each other again, so we’ll have to keep it on that level.
Since I’ve gotten older, I handle setbacks better. Things can always be worse, even when you think you’re at rock bottom. I can take that and say, ‘Even though I lost today, I can come back and try to be champion again.’
“[My performance] sucked. I didn’t get the job done…. I allowed his range to kind of throw me off a little bit. I hurt my foot in the second round, so it kind of messed up my mobility a little bit…. It’s something I’ve got to go back and work on…. I thought I could catch him off [grabbing the hands]. I couldn’t and I should have stopped reaching for his hands. His elbows [laughs]. He kept catching me with those elbows. It’s a lesson learned…. I still don’t like him. He fought a good fight, I have respect for him as a fighter. I had respect for him as a fighter before, but I still … nah. I’ll tell you what: We’re going to fight again.”
In an interview with FUEL TV’s Karyn Bryant Evans offered a more blunt assessment.
“[My performance] sucked. I didn’t get the job done … I should have stopped reaching for his hands. His elbows, he kept catching me with those elbows … I still don’t like him. He fought a good fight, I have respect for him as a fighter. I had respect for him as a fighter before, but I still … nah. I’ll tell you what, we’re going to fight again.”
