Photo by Erik Fontanez
TORRANCE, Calif. — If he gets through Chris Weidman in their rematch at UFC 168, Anderson Silva wants to live his lifelong dream and in his following fight box Roy Jones, Jr.
Silva, speaking with reporters at the UFC 168 World Tour in Los Angeles on Monday, explained that he still has goals at 38 years old. One of those goals, he said, has long been to box former multiple-division boxing champ Jones. Now, he said, the timing is right and he wants to make the Jones fight happen after his December UFC fight.
“My focus is my rematch now … I finish this then it’s the fight with Roy Jones, Jr.,” Silva said. “It’s my dream. It’s my personal dream.”
The boxing game is vastly different from anything seen in MMA, Silva explained, so preparing for such a match would take an extended amount of time. In addition to the training for the boxing bout, Silva said he needs to discuss things with his close cohorts. More importantly, the former UFC middleweight champion needs to run his boxing venture through his current boss, the UFC president.
“I need time for training because it’s a different sport,” Silva said, adding that he couldn’t put an exact timeframe on how long he would need to train for the fight. “I don’t know, I need to check [with] my coach and check with Dana [White]. It’s my big goal, but I need to check.”
White has seldomlly been open to allowing his high-profile fighters to compete in other combat sports, apart from an occasional grappling tournament. Silva said dealing with his employer about such a subject has been an arduous task before, but the personal importance of boxing Jones made the fighter realize that talking to White is equally as important.
“I [haven’t] talked to Dana about this because Dana [can be] very difficult,” he said. “But I’ll talk to Dana now because it’s my dream, my personal dream.”
Silva relocated to Los Angeles earlier this year, opening up a gym Torrance and settling down in Southern California. The location serves as easy access to where Silva said he will go to prepare for Jones – Wild Card Boxing under the tutelage of famed boxing trainer Freddie Roach.
With Roach’s help, in conjunction with his regular trainers and team, Silva hopes to fulfill a dream that he said started back when he watched televised fights with his father in Brazil.
“For a long time I watched Roy Jones and [talked] to my dad and said, ‘Dad, look at this guy,'” Silva said. “I’ve talked [with Roy Jones], but not too much. He said, ‘I’m ready, Anderson.'”
