Ivan Montiel: First off let me congratulate you guys on [WBC/IBF light heavyweight champion] Artur Beterbiev’s big win over Marcus Browne last weekend. We have lots to talk about. I believe that you were bang on in our pre-fight interview when you discussed Browne’s legs and thin waist line

John Scully [pictured; he is part of Beterbiev's training team and worked Beterbiev's corner during the fight]: Right. I think Browne over did it. His waist for the average person would’ve been impressive. No exaggeration his waist looked like a 27-inch waist line. He had no waist. His abs. Everyone thinks just because someone has abs he can take a body punch, that’s so far from the truth. James Toney is the perfect example, he would fight killers like heavyweight Samuel Peters. Guys that were twice as strong as Toney. Toney got hit with body shots and let’s be real he was fat. He had excess weight since moving up from middleweight. Toney took those body punches well, never showing that he was hurt. Browne obviously trained for this fight, he was in tremendous shape. I think Browne worked too much on his body, overdoing things. Browne was probably trying to cover all the bases but he went a little too far. I think Browne made a mistake.

IM: I believe that Browne came in the best shape of his life. I also think that Browne was thinking of making it to that final bell to win by decision.

JS: Oh yeah. For sure. There are certain guys that you’re not trying to knock out. It would be pointless. I once had a fighter who began to work with a strength coach, this guy wasn’t super strong to begin with. These guys kept talking about increasing power, I told them you guys need to work on a boxing coach. You can’t make a fighter a puncher. I don’t care how much someone can lift, that’s just nonsense. Browne was smart by trying to outbox Beterbiev because if he tried to out punch Artur that fight would’ve ended much quicker.

IM: I was thinking that at times Browne wanted to exchange punches. That was a big mistake especially when doing so against the ropes.

JS: I went into Browne’s dressing room before the fight to see him get his hands wrapped. It’s an intense moment having someone from the opposite team watching you get your hands wrapped. I was a few steps away from him which I am sure is uncomfortable. I always say the moments in the dressing room before a fight can make or break a fighter. You can tell a lot about a fighter’s mental state whether it be fragility or strength. The entire time Browne never acknowledged me. There was no indication shown from him that I was there. I noticed he had on a small bracelet while he got his hands wrapped and for some reason, he wanted to keep it on. I kept thinking this bracelet must be sentimental some type of good luck to him. I immediately thought there’s no way this guy is wearing this bracelet, this is my moment as a trainer to disrupt the boat. Browne was calm the entire time. He never said a word. Browne then took his bracelet off just before getting his hands wrapped yet, but once he was done getting his hands wrapped, he put that bracelet back on. The commissioner didn’t notice it. I then approached the commissioner saying Browne’s supposed to remove that bracelet off. In reality that bracelet doesn’t make a difference only mentally could it make a difference. The commissioner then says he already took it off, and I responded no its back on. The commissioner then goes back to Browne. As I was about to walk out Browne said something negative about me which I won’t repeat. I walked out with a smile knowing that I had got to him. I disrupted his flow over nothing. That moment before a fight is critical for a fighter. Everyone who knows me knows that I always talk about the dressing room. I knew that was my opportunity to inject something. Due to Browne’s reaction, I knew it worked. A fighter has to know how to keep that character the entire time he can never show it to the opposition.

IM: Those mind games do work then?

JS: Of course. Let me tell you I once worked in a fight against Jeff Lacy. I said something about him at the press conference and walked out because I knew that he was going to say something about that. I didn’t want to give him the satisfaction. I simply wanted him to see me leave so that he would be talking to the wind so that he wouldn’t be able to get me back. I spoke with him years later, he said that he was really upset with me. Lacy won that fight but it did disrupt him. There are opportunities. One can say and do a million things which might not come into play but if you catch someone at the right moment it can work. Now I am not sure if that bracelet moment has anything to do with the outcome. Let me back track a week before this fight, Browne blocked me on Instagram. We were talking and I interjected my opinion. Once I went back to check I noticed that Browne had blocked me. I immediately knew that he knew who I was. I knew that he was irritated so I kept going with it. Again, with what took place in that dressing room, I knew that I was there. During the fight, every time Browne came near our corner, I was right behind him I would yell out because I knew that he would hear me. I am the last guy he wants to hear especially since he had Beterbiev to deal with. I was yelling silly stuff just to irritate him. You know boxing is very much a mental game.

IM: It’s funny that you mentioned Jeff Lacy. He was an emotional fighter.

JS: Yeah but it didn’t work with him. Jeff Lacy won that fight. He had a Mike Tyson reputation but he’s a really good guy. I am glad that I got to know him after that fight.

IM: Speaking of Lacy, I was a fan of his I just didn’t like how that fight ended against Scott Pemberton [a second-round stoppage win for Lacy in 2005].

JS: I used to spar with Pemberton. I was actually at ringside when he fought Omar Sheika. If Pemberton could have got Lacy out of there, and that was the plan, he would’ve got him out of there. You can’t be upset at anyone for doing their job. I am sure Pemberton is not upset at Lacy, it was an opportunity of a life time. In the Sheika-Pemberton rematch, I was watching that fight close to that ring at eye level. I forgot that I was a fighter. There I was watching it live thinking how do these fighters do it. I could hear the leather on the skin on the bone. I could see the power and the emotion. I could see both guys in distress. Both fighters took crazy shots. I’ve always said Pemberton versus Sheika rivalry Gatti versus Ward for mayhem. That fight right there was with Gatti versus Ward.

IM: Now let’s get back to Beterbiev versus Browne, what happened with the gloves? I thought I heard someone complain about the gloves?

JS: What I remember was team Browne complaining about Beterbiev’s beard. I didn’t hear anything about the gloves. Browne also has a beard therefore I don’t know where they were going with this. A beard is not going to make a difference. It’s not going to help taking a punch due to having a beard. Team Browne was trying to do what I was trying to do and that’s disrupt us. If you ask someone on a scale of 1 to 100 how much will, it matter it would be zero. Beterbiev doesn’t have much of a beard. That right there was trying to do what I did. That’s just part of the game, no big deal.

IM: Trying to get into Beterbiev’s head

JS: A lot of guys don’t see it, there’s plenty of opportunities right up until the bell and even during the fight with you saying the right thing. They might hear the right thing at the right moment then all of a sudden, they are all wacked out. Take every opportunity to see what you can find.

IM: Boxing is more mental than physical. At least that’s what I’ve heard plenty of fighters say.

JS: 100 percent. Every second of every round is a mental game. Fighters are the best actors in the world. Whenever you talk to a fighter in that dressing room, fighters seem calm. Believe me in that fighter’s mind a million thoughts are racing through. Good fighters are able to deal with that. That’s part of being a fighter. A fighter must be able to deal with a million thoughts that come into play.

IM: You sort of touched on it when you said that Browne blocked you on Instagram.

JS: Look for example James Toney, if you were on Instagram with him digging at him every day he would not block you. Toney would get on Instagram saying F#$% I am going to get you if I ever find you. That type of stuff doesn’t work against Toney. You have to find the right opponent. It’s like fishing, you must throw that line out. Once Browne blocked me he made a mistake. That right there gave me the idea that he was open to psychological warfare. Browne should have ignored me, not blocked me. Once I noticed that I knew that he was trying to hide that.  

IM: James Toney would have went looking for you.

JS: Right he would have found out where I lived, hahaha.

IM: Now let’s go into the fight, both guys got cut, but Beterbiev had a much bigger cut. To me, it looked like Browne was head butting on purpose.

JS: I don’t know. I will say Russ Anber  [Beterbiev’s cutman who had to miss the fight due to the coronavirus] and I spoke right after the fight while I was in the dressing room. Russ sent me four pictures including Beterbiev. All four guys fought Browne and suffered similar cuts. Badou Jack’s cut was horrific. It’s kind of too much of a coincidence. Put it this way, I had 49 pro fights and never had a cut and I only received a head butt once if not twice throughout my entire time fighting. Browne has been in fights that have head butts that there’s memes being made. It’s takes a lot of balls for a fighter to do that on purpose. You can knock yourself out by giving a head butt. There’s some guys that have not experienced it but believe me the head is hard as a rock. It’s like getting hit with a boulder. There’s always a risk of cutting yourself by trying to cut your opponent. I am not sure if Browne does it on purpose or if it’s his style of being a southpaw. It’s odd since it never happened to me yet it’s already happened in four of his fights.

IM: Let me put it this way Browne is not the first fighter to head butt, it’s happened four times. Look at Evander Holyfield. Everyone knows he was intentionally head butting.

JS: Right but if you pay attention to this fight, let’s say Browne intentionally did it on purpose which I am not accusing him of it. Beterbiev got better because of this head butt. I mean you can cut Beterbiev worse than that. I am talking a switch blade. That won’t take away from Beterbiev’s goal if anything that situation, that fight proved Artur’s mentality. That head butt did not slow him down, they could’ve gone 100 rounds and if anyone asked do you want to continue, Beterbiev would’ve kept fighting. There was no chance Beterbiev was going to stop fighting. Getting cut and having blood pour into your eyes is what you do. That’s Beterbiev’s mind he’s literally like the Terminator. Beterbiev has a mentality that one cannot manufacture. A fighter either has it or doesn’t have it. Any idea that Beterbiev didn’t have that was proven wrong this past weekend.

IM: I noticed after watching Beterbiev fight and even in the gym things like that intrigue him. Things like that are like fuel to him. There’s some fighter which you don’t want to get mad, you want to play nice with certain fighters. Artur proved in that fight that there’s no stopping him. I have seen fighters with way less injuries and I won’t name them who have quit in their corners. Every fighter has their limit. I think that we have seen that Beterbiev’s limit is pretty high.

JS: Here’s what we thought after the fight. We obviously don’t want Artur to be cut. But it was actually good for everyone to see, to see what type of man we are dealing with here. Artur is the closest to being unhuman that a human can be. It’s funny that everyone got to see that, there’s no quit in him. I always talk about mentality. He’s that fighter. You’re not stopping him. I think that in hindsight after seeing him do that, Beterbiev is must-see TV. After this fight, you’re not going to say I don’t want to see anymore of him. The way he finished the show, his speed and power. The way he was relentless. Beterbiev is must see TV

IM: Speaking of this cut where you worried that Anber wasn’t in your corner?

JS: To be honest once that cut occurred I thought this fight was going to be stopped. At the beginning, I thought to myself how can this fight continue. I’ve seen fights stopped with [similar] cuts. Let’s give credit to the ref [Mike Griffin]. I was told prior to this fight that he was a good ref. A lot of refs would have stopped that fight. That ref knew what he was dealing with. Whenever I see fights get stopped with 10% of what Beterbiev’s cut was I always say c’mon man this is what we do fighting. Fights shouldn’t be stopped because of a cut, we are supposed to get cut. We do, we are going to get cut. All credit goes to that ref. I am extremely glad that ref let the fight continue and proved himself being a very good ref.

IM: After suffering that cut, Beterbiev showed more of his boxing abilities something which you mentioned in our last interview by saying Artur’s not just a puncher.

JS: Right now, you remember his fight against Calum Johnson in Chicago a few years ago. Johnson was strong like him yet he boxed him. Everyone was shocked which is why I said what I said to you. Beterbiev is a well-rounded boxer. If everyone thought that he’s just a boogeyman, I think this past weekend showed otherwise. Marc Ramsay, who’s his head coach, was adamant about Artur setting up his shots. This guy followed his plan to a tee. It was masterful. A lot of guys thought he wouldn’t be able to out box Browne due to his flashy style with that speed and movement. One would think there’s no way Beterbiev can out box Browne. Artur is a professional boxer that’s what he does. He’s not just face first letting his hands go like a lot of guys have a misconception about him.

IM: I think the body shots are what ended that fight

JS: Listen we worked on that. I began working with him in 2015 if not 2016 and that was my whole addition to team Beterbiev. A lot of fighters from Eastern Europe whether it be Russia or Ukraine they weren’t big on body shots. I recall saying to Artur that he could be a tremendous body puncher. That punch that ended this fight is what we worked on so much. Artur was digging into guys in the gym. Marc Ramsay worked on the boxing and I worked on body shots. This fight proves what I told you before this weekend anyone who thinks Beterbiev is just a face first slugger is either very ignorant to boxing or has not paid attention simply not knowing what they are looking at. This fight clearly highlighted that Artur has boxing skills. If one does not see his skills pay more attention.

IM: I think that there’s a few guys out there who need to get their eyes check saying that Beterbiev is a robot.

JS: Those are morons. That’s the problem with the internet. The internet has given everyone a voice. Most everyone is behind a screen therefore everyone is kind of equal. You don’t know if you’re talking to Buddy McGirt or your neighbour down the street who has never ever been in a boxing gym. You don’t know who your talking to yet we all have the same platform. You have to decide who exactly you’re talking to. A lot of us get the same platform. Everyone is on that same message board putting in their input. I had someone on Instagram say that he won’t respect Artur if he were to fight Canelo because it’s just for the money. I was thinking I don’t want to know who this person is. I don’t want to ask who you are and how you came up with that. It’s just too stupid to comment on.

COMING SOON... part two of this interview... Scully talks about what's next for Beterbiev.