by Geoffrey Ciani: This week’s edition of On the Ropes Boxing Radio featured an exclusive interview with boxing trainer Roger Mayweather who is currently training his nephew Floyd Junior for his May 1 clash against Sugar Shane Mosley. Here are some excerpts from that interview:
Regarding Floyd’s preparations for his May 1 bout with Mosley:
“Well in camp everything’s going well, everything’s going good so far. He’s just focusing on the fight so basically everything’s been well so far altogether. I mean camp started out good, it’s going good now, so hopefully nothing happens and everything is going to be well.”
On whether he believes Shane will be at his sharpest given the long layoff:
“Well you got to remember my nephew hadn’t fought in nineteen months. He was off. He was off for almost two years so even thought the layoff that Shane Mosley had, Floyd had a layoff himself so it doesn’t really matter about the layoff. Skills are going to play the bills and that’s what boxing is all about anyway.”
His views on claims from Team Mosley that Shane will knock Floyd out:
“Well you know everybody that goes in the ring say they gonna knock somebody out whether they do or whether they don’t. The thing about Floyd, Floyd is the most skilled fighter in the sport to this day. To this day right now he is the most skilled. I’m talking about the most skilled. As far as boxing skills, as far as defense, he’s the most skilled fighter in the sport to this day right now. Everybody says what they’re going to do, going to do this, going to do that. The only way you’re going to know that is when they get in the ring and then he will find out what the truth is.”
Regarding what problems he sees Shane giving Floyd:
“To be honest, I don’t see nothing special about Shane Mosley that Floyd can’t do. I don’t see something that he can do that Floyd can’t do so as far as skill wise, Floyd is the most skilled fighter in the sport, period, defensive-wise and offensive-wise as far as boxing goes. As far as boxing goes, Floyd’s the most skilled fighter in the sport and so when you start talking about what Shane Mosley is going to do, well Shane Mosley has to do what he says he has to do. If he don’t do that, he’ll wind up having an ill or two. He’s got to do exactly what he said he’s going to do because that’s the only way he can ever come close to Floyd. He said, ‘Well, I got to press him, I got to press him, I got to press him.’ Why do you think he’s saying he’s got to keep pressing for it? He’s got to do that anyway, because he can’t outbox Floyd so obviously he’s got to press him. That’s his biggest attribute is that he’s willing to get hit and take them punches and hopefully he can press for it and hopefully something will happen.”
On whether he believes Mosley will be able to make counter-adjustments to Floyd’s adjustments which is something Zab Judah and Oscar De La Hoya were unable to do:
“Well, when I look at Shane Mosley fighting you got to remember one thing—Shane Mosley fought De La Hoya twice and out of the two fights that he fought De La Hoya, he only really won one. He didn’t win two, he won one even though they gave him the fight but I’m talking about what he did with De La Hoya. He lost the second fight as far as I’m concerned. With Zab Judah, well of course Zab Judah, my nephew had to make adjustments with Zab Judah because Zab Judah’s a southpaw. So you’re fighting a guy that’s unorthodox then you have to make an adjustment, that’s the whole part of boxing—making adjustments. So obviously he made adjustments and down the stretch he took over and that’s what it was about. It’s all about the win. It’s about winning, no matter how you have to do it.”
His views on Nazim Richardson as a trainer and whether he expects Richardson to have Mosley be the best Shane Mosley he could possibly be on fight night:
“Shane Mosley’s always been at his best. He’s always been his best before Nazim Richardson ever came along. Remember, the guy already won four championships before Nazim came along so he don’t need Nazim to say how good he’s going to be or what this fight is going to be. He’s already won four world championships. He’s actually won five, so when you start talking about this guy Nazim, ‘Oh he gonna help Shane Mosley, he gonna….’—to be honest, I don’t know what he can do. I don’t know what Nazim can do, but I know whatever he can do he can’t do it better than me. I can God guarantee you that. What I’m saying to you today, I’m going to say it again on fight night—he can’t do it better than me so I don’t even worry about what Nazim knows, or whether Nazim can do this or he can do that. I don’t worry about that. If you understand boxing, I don’t worry about that because Shane Mosley can only do a limited amount of things anyway and he ain’t going to make no big difference about what Shane Mosley’s going to do. He already said what he’s going to do, ‘What we’re going to do is, we’re going to press him, we’re going to press him, we’re going to press him for about four or five rounds and we’re going to make him give up’. To me, all he’s doing is telling Shane Mosley to go forward. That’s all you got to do is go forward. That’s all he’s saying.”
His views on Mosley’s victory against Antonio Margarito:
“Let me tell you, here’s how boxing goes. You got one guy, you got two guys who gave Muhammad Ali the most problems in boxing. Who were the two guys that gave Muhammad Ali the most problems in boxing? But remember, Ali beat George Foreman, Ali beat Sonny Liston, he beat Ernie Shavers, he beat all of them big punchers, but who were the two guys that gave Ali the most problems in boxing? Ken Norton and Joe Frazier gave him the most problems out of all these guys that he fought, but you see how George Foreman beat both of them easily. Styles make fights. That’s the only thing they do. Styles make fights. See one guy can give one guy problems but he won’t give the other guy problems and that’s all part of boxing. So what you got to do is make your fighter adapt. He has to adapt. In terms of boxing, Shane Mosley’s a great fighter and talk about Margarito, you got to understand Shane Mosley knocked out Margarito. Why didn’t he beat Cotto then? Styles make fights. He’s fighting the best fighter in the sport. In this era and time right now, he’s fighting the best fighter in the sport. I’m not saying Shane Mosley ain’t a great fighter, but he’s fighting the best fighter in the sport.”
On whether he believes Shane Mosley is the toughest test for Floyd:
“Shane Mosley wouldn’t have been the toughest for Floyd, anyway. The toughest test for Floyd is already dead. You know who that was, don’t you? That’s the one who whopped Shane Mosley’s ass twice. You know who that was, that was Vernon Forrest. So if you start talking about tests, I know because I trained Vernon Forrest to go to the Olympics, so that would have been Floyd’s most difficult test as far as in the welterweight division. That would have been the most difficult test because the guy is tall and he’s rangy and he’s much in the same field as a Leonard and a Tommy Hearns. Those are the type of fighters he is. Shane Mosley is a good fighter, but he wasn’t the best welterweight.”
Regarding the trainers he respects most, past and present:
“The guy I have the most respect for, his name was (Jack) Blackburn. He trained two of the greatest fighters in the history of the sport. I mean you start talking about guys that I know about boxing, I mean I hear a lot about a whole bunch of guys. People say, ‘Oh man, that guy is great.’ What has he done? He don’t give no guys no advice. I’m sure there are other great trainers, I mean, I don’t know them. I know ones from the past. I don’t know ones from the present. I just know ones from the past. I know guys right now that are great trainers. Right now, and they’re young, and they’re great trainers, but as far as talking about great trainers from the time I started boxing? I don’t know nobody, I can’t really tell you and I know all about boxing and I can’t really tell you. Not from what I’ve seen. I mean, I hear guys, they say Freddie Roach is great. That’s what they say. I don’t understand it, they say Freddie Roach is great. I don’t know how great he is, I’m just saying that’s what they say. I’m just mentioning him because I know him, but on top of my head do I know any great trainers? Do I know? Nope. I don’t know them. They say Nazim Richardson is a great trainer, I don’t know. All I know is what I see.”
On whether this was a fight Floyd really wanted, or whether it was something that opened up that they had to take:
“The fight happened because, basically—here is how the fight was made. The fight was made because he was supposed to fight Berto. He didn’t fight Berto. When Floyd had the fight with Marquez, then Shane Mosley wanted to have his say, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, and I don’t blame him. I mean I can’t blame the guy, because remember one thing—the sport is about money, and the only way you can get that money, you have to fight the best in the world if that’s the case. So Shane Mosley stepped up to the plate and said, ‘Listen, I’ll fight you’, and my nephew didn’t turn the fight down so that’s how the fight was made. If he was worried about the fight he would have never have taken it.”
Regarding the breakdown in negotiations between Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao:
“Well, obviously, you can’t make a fight unless two people want to fight. You got to have two people who want to fight to make a fight. If one guy don’t want to fight, you can’t make him fight. The fight didn’t happen. The only reason the fight with Floyd and Pacquiao didn’t happen is because Pacquiao didn’t want to take that test. He already knew something. I am not going to tell you what was in him, but he already knew that he didn’t want to take the fight and for whatever reasons, he didn’t take it, and obviously from what I know because of drug testing. Other than that, why the fight didn’t happen is because he didn’t want to take the drug test.”
Regarding Shane Mosley’s past involvement with performance enhancers:
“Everybody knows what Shane Mosley was on. Everybody knows he was on steroids. Everybody knows that. It ain’t like it’s nothing new. My nephew knows that, too. At the same time, his job is to take the test the same way anybody else is going to take the test. He’s got to do the same thing anybody else is going to do.”
His final prediction on Mayweather’s fight with Mosley:
“The fight will wind up that Mayweather will win a unanimous decision over Shane Mosley. That’s what I truly believe. I didn’t say that he was going to knock Shane Mosley out. I never said that. I don’t even know if Shane Mosley could be knocked out to be honest. So I can’t say he’s going to knock him out because he’s been in with guys who hit much harder than my nephew, but I truly believe that my nephew will outbox him skill-wise, and I believe skills pay the bills.”
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Be sure to tune in to the Mayweather-Mosley post-fight edition of On the Ropes Boxing Radio which starts Sunday May 2 at 1:30am Eastern Standard Time.
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