Hard Luck Mickey Bey Ready to Get Back His Title Against Rances Barthelemy

Mickey Bey isn’t the type of guy to trash-talk his opponents, but he does speak with the reserved confidence of a guy who knows his abilities and believes he can win no matter what opponent is placed in front of him.

He challenges Rances Barthelemy for the IBF Lightweight Championship Friday night at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Hollywood, Florida, in the main event of a Premier Boxing Champions card on Spike TV.

Bey, who won that same belt from Miguel Vazquez on the undercard of Floyd Mayweather’s rematch win over Marcos Maidana, has been off the grid of late and had to drop that title without making a defense due to a hand injury.

That’s the type of thing that would deflate some fighters, but the Cleveland native is anxious for the opportunity to claim back something he feels he never rightfully lost.

His confidence is sky high, and he’ll need to translate a lot of that self-belief into action if he hopes to take back the title from the Cuban champion in front of what will likely be a hostile crowd.

“I’ve gotta get what’s rightfully mine,” Bey told Bleacher Report. “I didn’t lose it in the ring, so I’m coming back to get it.”

“I’m coming to accomplish becoming a two-time world champion. This is the match that I asked for. This is the best match out there for me. I want to fight the best.”

Al Bello/Getty Images

Barthelemy claimed the vacant IBF title with an easy decision win over Denis Shafikov last December in Las Vegas. He showed why many consider him to be the class of a wide-open division.

The 29-year-old Kid Blast is a tall, rangy fighter who likes to use his physical advantages and movement to create stylistic nightmares for his opponents in the ring.

He’s slick and hard to hit, but Bey is confident that he’ll be able to bring some of his own talents to bear in order to win the fight.

“I’ve got the old-school professional style. I think he’s got more of an amateur slickness,” Bey said of Barthelemy. “He’s good at what he does, but against who he fights.”

“This is the first time he’s going to be fighting a guy who is smart and does the things that I do. I’m not one-dimensional. It’s going to be tough for him.”

A good deal of Bey’s old-school style can be attributed to the close personal and professional ties the fighter has forged with both Floyd Mayweather Sr. and his recently retired son, Floyd Mayweather Jr.

Floyd Sr. has trained Bey over the past dozen years and has known him since his days as an amateur, while Floyd Jr. promotes him under the banner of Mayweather Promotions and has helped to advance his career to the big stage.

He says the Mayweathers are the reason why he moved out to Las Vegas and that he’s soaked up all the years of boxing knowledge and information that they’ve thrown his way.

“There’s nobody better to learn from,” Bey said of the Mayweathers. “Everything that he [Floyd Jr.] ever told me stuck with me. I saw him perfect them.”

“It was a lot of mental things. Not only physical moves, but mental things I saw him perfect.”

Boxing is often as much (if not even more) a mental game as a physical one.

Bey’s career has been sidetracked ever since he knocked off Vazquez to win a share of the 135-pound championship. That’s not the way it’s supposed to go, but, in real life the storybook ending is often just the calm before the next storm.

You just need to keep grinding, keep your eyes on the prize and have a belief that things will work out, and you’ll end up exactly where you’re supposed to land.

“It’s frustrating, but I’m the kind of person who always puts things on the right side and stays positive. I always keep my fingers together. I never get fully out of shape. I’m healthy. No bad habits outside of the ring,” Bey said.

“My mental focus is what keeps me together. I feel like whatever you do in the dark comes to light.”

Kevin McRae is a member of the Boxing Writers Association of America. You can follow him on Twitter @McRaeWrites. All quotes were obtained firsthand.