“I mean, what he’s done is he’s proven himself and he’s widely known as the best middleweight out there, so you can’t argue with it, and obviously, I’m up there” said Willie Monroe Jr. on a conference calling promoting his fight against number one middleweight in the world Gennady Golovkin. Monroe Jr. who didn’t waste a second to explain he had 142 amateur fights as well as a three time national champion, that he felt he should at least get some credit for his past accolades rather than the 60-1 underdog he is coming into the fight.

Monroe Jr., the constant underdog in his pro career rose to prominence last year by winning the Boxcino middleweight tournament despite being a ranked towards the bottom in terms of betting lines. “‘I’ve been the underdog since I was conceived in my mother’s womb, and I mean that literally; that’s not a figure of speech. I mean that literally.” Monroe Jr. said. Monroe relishes the spot of being the underdog since it is what he has been his whole life.

“Everybody’s different. Some people need to be encouraged and told that they’re the best, to be the best, and some people need to be told that you can’t do it, so they can go out there and prove that they can. And I’m one of those people that’s always looking to prove people wrong.” Monroe furthered.

Monroe furthered that this is the fight that he wanted. “…when all the blogs asked who I wanted to fight I asked for this fight.” Monroe Jr. explained. As Monroe continued to praise Golovkin explaining that since Golovkin has made his U.S. debut in 2012, he has nothing, but knockout as Golovkin is riding a 19 fight KO streak. At the same time, Monroe Jr. added that once the fight happens no one can fight for Golovkin and vice versa no one can fight for himself and he is willing to make the best of this chance.

Willie Monroe Jr. will fight Gennady Golovkin on HBO, live at The LA Fourm on May 16th, tickets still available.