In the latest episode of his Carcast podcast (via Fightful), Goldberg spoke about preparing for his final match and compared himself to Mike Tyson prior to his fight with Jake Paul. Tyson is 58, which Goldberg will be when he wrestles his last match next year. Here are highlights:
On Mike Tyson vs. Jake Paul: “First and foremost, in my professional opinion, it wasn’t scripted. I just think, at 58 years old, and this is me talking because I’m preparing for my final hurrah. The first thing that goes is your body, the last thing that goes is your mind. Tyson may have wanted to do better and wanted to perform better and knock Jake Paul out and give a better impression of himself to the world, but there is only so much you can do. I don’t think his legs were under him by any stretch. Roy Jones Jr made notice of it, Andre Ward mentioned it. He didn’t look good, he didn’t look stable leg wise. He looked like he was drained. It’s a lot of pressure. I’m in a fictitious business and there is going to be a lot of pressure on me just to show up in the condition people remember me in. That, in and of itself, is a heavy weight to bear. I’m going to be perfectly honest with you, and it pains me to say this, I got respect for Jake Paul after. Not because of his ability to box, but because of his ability to be a human being. I don’t care what he said afterward. Actions speak louder than words. If he would have shoveled up that uppercut and that overhand right, he probably would have hurt Tyson pretty bad. You can take away all the goofy shit Jake Paul brings to the table, the fact that he’s playing a character like Conor McGregor so people hate him and he can draw more money, he showed he has a heart and respect for his elders. He couldn’t do it. I don’t think he could bring himself to do it. The piece of shit that he portrays to many people couldn’t pull the trigger and I commend him for that.”
On the pressure of his last match: “I just have to be me again. This is something I’ve tried to teach my son because at 18 years old, he’s going up against 25-year-old kids. Graduate assistants and grad students that have played for six years. It’s a difference in reality. Mine is a difference in reality also. I’m at least twice the age of whoever I’m going to wrestle. At least. Your mind is a very powerful thing. Your mind can make you do things that your body completely tells you no, but it can only go a certain distance. It puts things in perspective, but I’m a different person than Tyson is and I’m being asked to do something different than Tyson did. The amount of pressure I feel after watching Tyson and Paul does not weigh heavier on me by any stretch of the imagination compared to the pressure I’m going to put on myself.”
On preparing for the match: “I’ll have a long time to recover after this one, so I’m putting it all out there on the line. The fact is, I have a number of months to get ready for something that will take 15 minutes in the ring. The preparation is always much harder than the actual performance. At the end of the day, you try to do whatever you know and whatever is at your fingertips to prepare for whatever you’re about to embark on. I don’t give a flying fart if I’m 57 or 58 years old. This time, I’m actually getting some prep time and the ability to get ready. Comparatively, even though I’m at the age that I’m at, I will have five times as much time to prepare than I have for any other match. If I can’t get ready in that period of time, with what I have to offer, then it’s not going to be enough. I do believe that I’ve set my standards quite high and at the end of the day, I think people will be pleasantly surprised by the outcome and my performance. My shoulder is probably the worst part of my anatomy at the moment other than my neck and my knee. It’s been widely documented, and I’ve been the one to admit it, that I blew my shoulder apart. As I worked out last night around midnight, I’m able to do things right now with that torn up shoulder that I haven’t been able to do in ten years. This is prior to a number of matches that I’ve wrestled. My shoulder is in a better position months before I have to perform than it was days before leading up to matches in the past. That is a huge change. If I think about that as a positive attribute to my training, I’m way ahead of the curve. I can’t wait. I couldn’t lift my arm the last time I got in the ring. I don’t think about my shoulder anymore, and that’s unbelievable. Even though I’m behind the eight ball with a lot of things leading up to it, I will be much better prepared than I have been in the past. There are few things in the world that you get the opportunity to plan out yourself as far as an end game. I get to help plan it. That’s pretty awesome. That puts me in a position where I’m forever grateful.”
