By Troy Ondrizek

When ESPN went looking for a quality fight to headline their last Friday Night Fights of the season, it’s obvious they wanted to go out with a bang.  Come August 28th, Juan Urango and Randall Bailey will literally slug it out for bragging rights in the surprisingly competitive light welterweight division.  Both men have fireworks in their hands and a killer instinct in their soul.  Randall Bailey was gracious enough to take time out to talk with BoxingScene.com and here is what he had to say.

BoxingScene.com: Good afternoon Randall, thanks for talking to us today.

Randall Bailey:  “No problem man.”

BoxingScene.com:  First off, how is training going for your upcoming bout with Juan Urango?

Randall:  “It’s going great, just as I expect it to.”

BoxingScene.com: It’s been nearly 5 years since you last fought for a piece of the 140lb title against Miguel Cotto, what has the long road back taught you?

Randall:  “Man that fight opened my eyes; it changed me as a fighter.  I was young and inexperienced.  At that point I was empty fundamentally.  I had no business being in there with a fighter like Cotto.  I knew I had to change, had to learn to be a lot smarter and had to work on all my fundamentals.” 

BoxingScene.com: Since your loss to Cotto, you’ve come back strong, with the only blip being a disputable loss to Herman Ngoudjo, how far did that loss set you back in terms of your career?

Randall: “I don’t worry about it.  Past is the past man.  I worked hard to come back and it was worth it.  And look at Ngoudjo, he had two chances at the title and he lost them both.  Now it’s my turn.”

BoxingScene.com:   Urango is a strong pressure fighter, what are you doing to prepare for his style?

Randall: “Nothing.  Him and I used to spar a couple years ago and he knows me and I know him.  There won’t be any surprises.  He’s a puncher, I’m a puncher.  If he can stand up to what I’m going to hit him with, then hell he deserves to win.  He’ll have to adjust to my power; you can’t train to deal with my power.”

BoxingScene.com: Urango’s two defeats were against guys who smothered him and were quicker than he was.  While you are a smart fighter who sets up your shots and counters well, you’re not known as being slick and you don’t smother your opponents at all.  Do you think that your power is going to be able to crack that solid chin of his?

Randall:  “Absolutely.  My style works my friend.  I’m going to do what I know to beat him.  Like I said, I’ve sparred him before and I know I’m the stronger guy.”

BoxingScene.com:  You’ve been stopped before; you were down against Ngoudjo and most recently in your last fight against Francisco Figueroa.  How will you handle Urango’s power?

Randall:  “Man Figueroa’s shot was bullshit.  He hit me on the top of the head and I lost my balance.  He followed me around the ring all retarded and couldn’t follow up.  I wasn’t hurt. My equilibrium was off.  And then what happened, (evil chuckle) I knocked him out, and it was nice wasn’t it.  Man if I get hit with Urango’s power shots, I deserve to lose.  It would be my bad man.  If I get hit with one of his wide shots it’s only my fault and he deserves to be champ still.”

BoxingScene.com:  Ok sir; walk us through how you think your fight with Juan will transpire.

Randall:  “I hate to predict anything.  But if I had to, I’d knock him out, simple as that.  I mean I don’t want to say that out of my mouth.  It’s not something I like hearing myself say, but I believe it.  I’m going to catch him and when I do it’ll be that.  No one knows how hard I hit until they’re in the ring with me.”

BoxingScene.com: At 34 years of age, do you see this fight as your last hurrah?

Randall:  “No. I mean I’m here right now and that’s all I focus on.  I mean I’m fighting for the title.  Right now I'm here, what comes after that I’ll worry about it then.”

BoxingScene.com: This weekend’s upcoming bouts between Timothy Bradley and Nate Campbell, and Junior Witter and Devon Alexander; have massive repercussions on your division.  What are your thoughts on these two fights?

Randall:  “Nate puts Bradley down.  Bradley can’t take a shot.  Kendall Holt almost had him out of there and could’ve knocked him out had he kept fighting.  I don’t know what his problem was.  Witter/Alexander, yeah I don’t care.  Don King got this fight for Devon after he fought a bunch of nobodies and old guys.  I want Amir Khan and (Marcos) Maidana to fight.  I would love to be the guy to knockout Khan, but I think Maidana will do it, and then I want to fight the winner.  That will be a good fight.  Even though I don’t think it’ll happen, but if Timothy gets by Nate, he won’t fight me.  He’s scared of me.  He’s pulled out of two fights with me already, and the last time was right before the fight.  That was back in, October of 07’, the 5th I believe.  He’s had his chances to fight me, but he won’t.  I don’t blame him; I’ll knock him out too.” 

BoxingScene.com:  Well I think you summed it all up pretty well, so any last words for the readers and your fans?

Randall:  “Yeah, thanks for taking the time with me today.  For all of those fans who have been with me through the years this will be the 3rd time a champion.  I guarantee you’ll want to keep your eyes open for this one.”

Randall Bailey battles Juan Urango for the 140lb IBF strap August 28th in Hollywood Florida on the season finale of ESPN’s Friday Night Fights.  If by chance you haven’t seen Bailey’s knockout of Francisco Figueroa, check it out on Youtube, it truly is a thing of beauty.