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zone, you know?” he says. “The thing is, when I fought Floyd, I hadn’t fought for about eight or

nine months, and he was fighting every two months. If I had been doing that, who knows?”

“T don’t regret it at all though. I didn’t have to fight Floyd. But I chose him to fight because he
was smaller than the other guy I was thinking of fighting,” Pep says.

After the fight, Mayweather and his team asked Pep to become Mayweather’s sparring
partner for five weeks in preparation for Mayweather’s next fight. Pep accepted the invitation and
the two worked out and sparred together. After the five weeks was over, Pep achieved one of his
career highlights from Floyd’s Father, Floyd Mayweather Sr., one of boxing’s most renowned
trainers.“After the five weeks was over, we were sitting in this little restaurant and Floyd’s Dad
looked at me and he said, ‘You did good, Pep.’ That meant a lot to me, coming from him, you
| know; he’s this major guy,” Pep remembers fondly.

“T remember this one time, Floyd came up to me while we were training together and he
said, “Tony, people mistake my confidence for being cocky or arrogant, but they just don’t get it.

I really don’t think that anyone in the world can beat me,” Pep says. “Right then I knew that he
was something special. I mean, during the time when we were sparring together, I would stay up at
night and try and think of ways to beat him, but no matter what I did, he’d beat it. I couldn’t figure
him out, and I figure everyone out.” :

Floyd Mayweather however, isn’t the best fighter ever, according to Pep; that honour goes to
Ricardo Lopez.

“Lopez, he was this little flyweight. He never moved up his weight class because he didn’t
have to. He had this incredible record, something like 51-0-1. He was a Mexican guy and man,
check out some of his videos on YouTube. He’s amazing.”

So far, Pep has fought in five weight classes during his career. He is a former Canadian
featherweight champion, a Commonwealth super featherweight champion, [BO lightweight
champion, and has competed for the WBO super featherweight title and the WBU welterweight
title. On the state of boxing today, Pep has strong opinions.

“Boxing will never die. When you go to an MMA fight like UFC, the building is packed.
When the fighters are standing, the fans are really into it. But when one guy goes down, the crowd
turns to talk to each other [and] goes to the bathroom. The average fan doesn’t know what all the
submission holds are. They want to see knockouts. Everyone wants to see knockouts,” he laments.

Pep is just as opinionated about the state of boxing in B.C.

“In B.C., there’s no funding for amateur fighters. All the people on the boards who decide
about funding, they’ve never fought,” he says. “What it needs is guys who have fought before and
really know boxing.”

“You see a lot of guys come in to box, but not a lot have what it takes. It takes something
special. You need to have more than just talent. You need to have confidence, and you have to have
drive. I mean, I know guys who can really fight, but they just sit in the gym all the time.”

Tony Pep is an extremely engaging guy who welcomes just about anyone to his gym. He
works with everyone and knows boxing inside and out. Membership fees are just $75 per month,

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