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EverlastBoxing.com

The Printing House gym in lower Manhattan isn't the stuffy, stench-filled, romanticized sweatbox of boxing lore that has grown almost cliché. The lights are bright here, the workout areas are well kept and air-conditioned - it's relatively high-class considering the sport involved.

At this moment, however, the Printing House swells with the same intensity and vigor of any goosebump-inducing scene from fight nights around the world. Chalk it up to the presence of Darryl "DMC" McDaniels.

As one-third of legendary hip-hop group Run-DMC, the Queens-bred McDaniels has been commanding stages for more than two decades now, from Europe to Asia to Brooklyn. Along with mic partner Run and producer Jam Master Jay, DMC was at the forefront of hip-hop's "Golden Era" of the late-1980s. But even after Jam Master Jay's death in 2002 and Run's transition into religion and reality TV, McDaniels remains a presence in the music industry. He says he's "95 percent done" with a new solo album which he says will "open a lot of eyes" in hip-hop.

Sitting on the ring apron during his Everlast photo shoot, DMC exudes an energy that is contagious and fills the gym. What was supposed to be a 10-minute break during the shoot where I hoped to slip in a few questions turns into a 45-minute DMC dissertation that covers both boxing and hip-hop. A number of times, DMC bolts from his seat to physically act out a point he's verbally trying to make. He spits. His eyes widen, his mouth twists into a sneer, and his face draws to within inches of mine. And then, one second later, he's calm. Talking softly and laughing like a wise grandfather. Then something else sparks that fire, and he's back in my face and pacing the room.

Seeing such intensity in person, even off-stage, it's no surprise to learn DMC is a big-time boxing fan. Over the past half-year he's put the wheels in motion to promote his own boxing event. And like he's done countless times on stage with a mic in his hand, he knows his show will be what everyone's talking about the next day.

Everlast: What are your earliest boxing memories?

DMC: Growing up I was a big fan of Muhammed Ali on ABC's "Wide World of Sports." I remember every Sunday that he would fight - I don't care what we was doing, it was like, "Yo, we gotta go home and watch the fight." We'd come back outside after the fight and we'd fight. Ali, Frazier, Ken Norton ... that whole era. I remember when Larry Holmes was on "Wide World of Sports" in an interview saying, "They're doing people a disservice by bringing them to beat me, because I'm just hurting people. Ain't nobody gonna beat me."

See, it was always basketball, hip-hop and boxing, know what I'm saying? It's crazy how you say "b-boy." We like breakin', we like beats, we like basketball and boxing, so we're b-boys.

I've always been a big fan of boxing, but until recently I never really went to the matches. What I like about [the matches] is it's a community. You got people from all over the world - the Irish are rooting for the Irish, the Italians root for the Italians, the African-Americans root for the African-Americans, the White boys root for the White boys, the Latinos root for the Latinos - but at the match, everybody's like family. It's a community experience.

Everlast: Is the crowd at a boxing match similar to the crowd at a Run-DMC show?

DMC: Naw ... it's more like a cookout at a boxing match. It's the same people, but it's a whole different side of them. People come up like, "Hey, D, what's up? Can you take a picture with my son?" Or little kids come up like "Oh snap! DMC! Can I get a picture?" It's not showbiz - it's more people being themselves.

Everlast: Do you only check out the big-time fights, or would you watch anyone fight?

DMC: Yeah, I can watch any fight. What I don't like is when I hear the guy that thinks he knows it all, like, "Oh, this fight is corny." But I like every fight because something happens to surprise you in every fight. I love to see the girls fight. Or you get that fight where it's the dude's first fight. It's only gonna go six rounds, but it's their first fight. And they come out and you see they don't got it all together, but then by the third or fourth round, the memory starts to come back and the fight gets good.
 

I just hate the fights where they put the dude out there so the contender can win. Oh, I hate those. I don't mind if the guy's gonna lose and they know it, but what I don't like is when the guy can't fight; he'll be swinging like a girl in the schoolyard. It's very comedic. I don't like those fights, but I'll watch 'em because you never know. I saw one fight where the contender was fighting this other guy who was like 18-39 or something, but he started catching this guy. The contender was like 8-0, but the nobody - the punching bad dude - started catching him.

Everlast: Who are your favorite boxers, all-time and current?

DMC: Recently I'd say Roy Jones Jr. for sure, but right now it's "Pretty Boy" Floyd Mayweather, because he reminds me of LL Cool J. He's undefeated, he's got charisma, he's confident ... I think after he wins this next fight, he should retire. Not that he can't fight anymore, but just so he can be the one guy who retired and really did it. Like, go out like the baddest muthafucka on Earth. Out of everybody in the last 20 years, I like him the best. My favorite all-time heavyweight is Ali. "Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee, ain't none of y'all muthafuckas fuckin' with me." He couldn't say that, but ...

Tyson was good, I just wish that he was good like he was at the beginning at the end of his career. That's when he was exciting. He shoulda retired after his first loss. I remember when Jay was alive, we was watching the one where Tyson bit Holyfield, and Jay kept saying, "Tyson's gonna lose this fight." I said, Why?" He said, "It's just the way he's carrying himself." Mike wasn't doing the crack-the-neck thing; he wasn't focused. It looked like he was lollygagging. Jay was like, "He's gonna lose this fight." After Buster Douglas beat him, the whole game plan of being afraid of him was out the door. Part of his whole persona was, "Hey, that's Tyson over there, I lost." Cats would look at him at the press conference like "Aw shit, I lost." When Buster beat him, you get a little confident. You could look him in his eye and you ain't scared because you're like, "I got a chance now."

Everlast: What led you to get into promoting? Why do you want to put on your own event?

DMC: I was looking at the way a lot of the events were run, and it was almost like when I came into hip-hop. All the ingredients was there, but something was missing. How do you make it a complete, exciting experience from beginning to end? How do you keep everybody busy at all moments of the night, but make sure the fight is the biggest event of the night? So I got some plans, some ideas. The key is getting with the right promoters and people who really know the sport of boxing. A lot of people just do it like, "OK, I wanna make some money." If you just wanna make money, go make a porno flick. I'm talking about making [boxing] how Vince McMahon did wrestling. If you look at what wrestling used to be, Vince took it to a whole other level and was selling out venues. Or like they did with NASCAR. You gotta make it hip, you gotta make it relevant, you gotta make it exciting. But the key to it is to make it like a family event. Even though you've got warriors in the ring beating the hell out of each other, everything around it should lead them to a great performance. I'm thinking, like, put more music in there; have special guests of all types of musical genres. Make it an event. Make it exciting so people are sitting there like, "Yo, the fight was good, but remember when the magician came out? Remember when the Chinese acrobats came out?"

Everlast: Did the "bad element" of the boxing business make you hesitant to get involved?

DMC: I was very turned off by that, very turned off by that. But how do you make that better? You just gotta go with the flow. Like Bernard Hopkins told me, "Anything that you do, you gotta have tunnel vision." The bad side is always gonna be there - you just have to learn to maneuver your way through. Just like with the music business, it's unavoidable. It makes me think, "Do I really wanna do this shit? I have enough of this in the music business." But then I gotta think about what's the purpose. It ain't about me making money, it's about making people who pay their money enjoy themselves. That's what you'd get with a DMC promotion. DMC: "Darryl Makes Champions." I just made that up. [Laughs]

Everlast: Boxing workouts are becoming more and more popular with celebrities. Are you jumping on that train anytime soon?

DMC: I did a boxing workout last year. It has nothing to do with cardio and lifting weights. Oh my God, man! Just to hold your hands up and hit a bag for three minutes is the worst thing in the world. And every time I put my hands down, my trainer would "Bop!" Hit me right upside the head. Actually, Roy Jones invited me to train with him, to come down to Florida and train with him. I keep telling him I'm coming, but I'm not ready for that. If I do it, I wanna act like I have a fight eight months from now. Like, really go through all of that. Not just a little bag work and jumping rope. I wanna act like I'm training for a fight - the running, diet, the sit-ups. It's hard, and I can't imagine being in a fight. Twelve rounds? Not only that, you're fighting. I'm in good shape, but I gotta give it to the guys that look out of shape and box, because they're really in shape. Their shape ain't shaped, but they're conditioned  To go out there and fight 12 rounds with Holyfield? Yo, I'll give it to Butterbean.