GL: Can you give us your thoughts on the Williamson fight? "I'm disappointed that it wasn't a better fight. People know I don't fight like Mike Tyson, I'm not there to stalk someone to knock them out, and I know people are upset over the performance and they should be, but (DaVarryl) just didn't want to engage. I got the W and I'm ready to move on."

GL: Had you not been coming off an eleven month lay-off would you have looked to press the action more once you saw he was unwilling to engage?

Chris Byrd: "I think so. Past the tenth round I was tired and that was new to me because I don't get tired in the ring, especially towards the ened, but I was tired last night. I knew the lay-off killed me. My timing was off and I was way off balance. I would end up in the right handed position I was so off balance. My timing wasn't right and the lay-off didn't help, but DaVarryl wasn't fighting also. When you get an opponent that doesn't want to engage, what could you do? And I'll tell you this, if there was ever any time for me to lose the title, it was last night for sure."

GL: And obviously that's not just because of the lay-off but the issues with your promoter Don King, correct?

Chris Byrd: "You know they were trying to cancel my fight and get me stipped the morning of the fight? All they were doing was working against me before the fight."

GL: How?

Chris Byrd: "I guess there was papers that someone from DKP signed and they're trying to say that my lawyer forced them to sign them. My lawyer wouldn't do anything like that and that's crazy. Don was trying to have the fight cancelled at the last minute. If my lawyer was able to force them to sign anything, I would have fought according to the terms of my contract last night."

GL: Some people felt Williamson didn't deserve the title shot to begin with, couple that with how you're openly admitting that if there was time for you to lose it was last night, and is it clear that DaVarryl blew his chance to not only win the fight, but establish himself as a top heavyweight?

Chris Byrd: "I really have no idea. I'm 213 pounds with my clothes on and he's a puncher. I know he's been knocked out in the past, but so have I and you have to move on from that. I just expected him to fight a lot more than he did. I expected him to at least try to knock me out. We've had some good sparring sessions and I don't know what he was doing. But I'm telling you if there was anytime to beat me it was last night."

GL: If you had it your way, who's next?

Chris Byrd: "On the real, it doesn't really matter to me. I've got nine months to fight my mandatory. I'd like to fight James Toney first and once I get him out of the way, then I'll make the mandatory against Wladimir. If I had my way it would be James first, but like I said it don't matter. I'm looking forward to fighting both of those guys and those fights would pump me up. I think Wladimir deserves credit for his win over Peter, even though he was holding alot he won the fight and earned his shot."

GL: As the champion you're entitled to 75% of any purse-bid for the Wladimir Klitschko fight. Would you travel to Germany if your 75% was more than you turned down to make the fight the first time? And do you think Wladimir would move forfeit his mandatory position if it came down to a purse-bid?

Chris Byrd: "If he would forfeit his position that would make the eliminator useless. It wasn't me that turned the fight down the first time it was Don King. I was ready to go to Germany the first time. Don King is the one who cancelled it. It wasn't me. We had a deal struck, just like we had a deal for this fight. But then at the last minute he turned it down."

GL: Which deal did you accept that Don King turned down?

Chris Byrd: "$3.5M and that was fine for me. I was pumped for the fight and then one morning we get a call from Don telling us he was pulling the deal off the table. I talked to my wife and my attorney and we thought the deal made sense. Those close to me didn't really want me to go back after what happened the last time, but to me the deal was right. But it wasn't right to Don so the fight never happened."

GL: At first King let the press know that you were turning the fight...

Chris Byrd: (cutting in) "At first Don offered $2.5M for me to fight him in Germany, but I thought the fight was worth more than that. Then when it looked like we had a deal, Don pulled it off the table. I felt I should be paid more to defend my title in a country I didn't feel comfortable fighting in. You have to pay 30% German taxes before you leave, so the fight just wasn't worth it."

GL: Based on your belief that for that particular fight King was trying to trade up for Wladimir Klitschko...

Chris Byrd: (cutting in again) "I'm not stupid. I knew that's what he wanted to do from day one. I know how Don is and he'll deny that till he dies but he was trying to use me to help him get Wladimir Klitschko and trying to use Wladimir Klitschko to help him get rid of my contract. Everybody knows that he wanted the Klitschko boy."

GL: With that being said, had King come with more money you still would have given him the chance to do what you just explained?

Chris Byrd: "Yeah, pretty much. I got a chip on my shoulder when it comes to stuff like that and I was looking forward to proving everyone wrong. That challenge to prove everyone wrong motivates me a lot and I was really pumped to fight him again. But Don will learn you can't mess with God's property it will come back on you. Nobody can fool the Lord and when you do dirt it's going to come back on you, especially when you're trying it with someone who has faith in the Lord."

GL: Before the fight I asked you if you were going to be filing suit against King, you answered probably. Has that probably turned into a definitely following the stuff that happened behind the scenes for the Williamson fight?

Chris Byrd: "I have to do it because I have to protect my rights. I want the fans to know that they were trying to have me stripped the day of the fight and that sort of thing doesn't help you get the job done. It was hard and I want the fans to know this has more to do than getting in the ring to box. I love training but this whole camp was a drag for me. I didn't lift no weights, I didn't watch tape, I was just basically going through the motions badly. And that's why I got dead tired towards the end. I feel like that passion has left the building.

I also want to thank Jay Larkin and Commissioner Ratner for standing up to defend me against what they were trying to do. And I also think it's wrong how they're trying to make Eric Bottjer the fall guy. He didn't want to be corrupt like them and now they're acting like he did something wrong. PLEASE."

Byrd will be in the house for a TNT Chat session tomorrow night, stay tuned to our front page for all the details.