It’s been a little over a week since Chad “Ochocinco” Johnson took an L in the ring against MMA fighter Brian Maxwell.
Now, in a June 14 episode of “I Am Athlete,” Johnson sat down with the other co-hosts to discuss his defeat. In the June 6 four-round exhibition boxing match on the undercard of the Floyd Mayweather-Logan Paul bout, Johnson was taken down in the fourth round with Maxwell’s right-hand punch floored him. Despite getting up quickly to finish the fight, it wasn’t enough for Johnson to win.
In their talk, co-host Channing Crowder asked Johnson, “when them knees hit that ground, what ran through your mind?” “Get your ass up,” the former NFL player quickly responded. He said it was his mother, Paula Johnson’s voice coming in his head saying “N-gga if you don’t get your b-tch ass up.” Johnson shared the heartbreaking news earlier this year in January that his “Hurricane” passed away at the age of 65 without sharing any details about the cause.
The 43-year-old continued recalling the moment he fell in the ring. “I’m telling you I felt my body as I was going down. I was trying to get up but I hadn’t hit the canvas yet. It was a humbling experience getting in the ring, for one.” He also shared that he had no interest in getting in the ring with celebrities but instead wanted a “challenge” and decided that would be best achieved by fighting “somebody that actually does it for a living.”
Johnson claimed that he was “nervous as sh-t” before getting into the ring. “Because I’m out of my element, for one,” he explained, “I knew I put the work in so there’s a certain sense of confidence but no cocky arrogant as I was with football. I was very respectable to my opponent. To the science that we call boxing, I approached it as respectable and humbly as I could.”
He added that he purposely avoided eye contact and tried to not speak to people, including his co-hosts, that were in the dressing room with him because he didn’t want to be distracted.
Fans cheered for Ochocinco in the comments of his post, and some even claimed he was the true champion. One person said, “You did good brother!!! You fell for a second but got back up!!!! You still won in my opinion 🤷🏽♀️❤️.” Someone else wrote, “Ocho won that fight ❤️👏👏👏👏 Paula proud of you !!!! ❤️💪🏼🙏👑”
