by Geoffrey Ciani – This week’s 108th edition of On the Ropes Boxing Radio featured an exclusive interview with highly regarded boxing trainer Roger Mayweather, who is best known for training his nephew, Floyd Mayweather, Junior. Roger shared his opinions on a variety of topics, including his nephew, Tim Coleman, Hopkins-Pascal, Pacquiao-Mosley, Amir Khan, Paul Spadafora, and more! Here is some of what he had to say in that interview:
On Tim Coleman’s upcoming fight against Vernon Paris on January 29:
“Well I really don’t know so much about the guy as I know about Time Coleman. So I think Time Coleman kind of knows the guy. Right now I don’t have no tapes or nothing. I know I can probably get a tape on him but right now just he tells me he’s a guy that’s a good boxer but not a great puncher.”
On what he finds most impressive about Tim Coleman’s game:
“Well my thing that I always told him, ‘You’re a better puncher than you thinks you are’. I said your record don’t say what a good puncher you are, but then again the guy who messed with him before and doesn’t know how to make it tight so your punches can get off and have the snap that they need to have. That was basically it. It wasn’t like he couldn’t punch. I guess he was winning and winning on his boxing and defense, but he’s a good puncher. He’s a good puncher and he knows what he needs to do. When I tell him, he knows what he needs to do and that’s keep them backing up. He’s a good puncher so we got to take advantage of it.”
His views on the upcoming fight between Timothy Bradley and Devon Alexander:
“Well I like Devon Alexander as a guy. He’s one of the new young stars in boxing. I think that he is, anyway. I truly believe that he will win and obviously whoever wins, I’m sure Tim Coleman won’t be on their list, so he has to prepare for this and he has to make a good outing anyway to show them that he can even compete with that level of competition. I know he can, but I’m just saying he’s got to make that statement. Time Coleman has to.”
His views on the fact most people believe Bernard Hopkins deserved to win his controversial draw against Jean Pascal:
“No, I don’t think he deserved the decision. How did he deserve the decision? The guy’s been dropped twice! If the guy got dropped twice, never mind how many rounds he’s up already. All he has to do is win a round or two and he’s going to be victorious. I mean the fight was a draw, but I mean, what I got to say is they had good judges. They weren’t biased judges, because if they were biased judges the guy would have won. The guy had two knockdowns. Boom! If he wins another round or two rounds, he would have won, period. So they had guys who were capable to judge the fight the right way. Hey, but they’re going to fight again and when they fight again then we’re going to see who is the real champion. I had seen that fight. It was a good fight. I mean if Bernard Hopkins was a little bit younger he would have beat him, but you know age played a role. That’s boxing.”
His views on whether Amir Khan would pose a threat to his nephew Floyd Mayweather Junior:
“Hell no! Hell no, period! Remember, he wouldn’t pose a threat to my nephew period. You see, people think when I say that, if that was the fight that was going to happen it would be a mismatch, period. He can’t do anything with my nephew, period. It ain’t that my nephew is the greatest puncher. Amir Khan may hit harder than my nephew, but he don’t have close as much skill as my nephew! Remember my nephew wins fights on his skills. He don’t win fights on his knockout ratios. That’s why he won titles from 130-154. So Amir Khan wouldn’t even come close. I mean, of course he wants to fight Floyd. Shit, I want to fight him, too! Whatever makes money makes sense, but you got to understand. When Ray Leonard was looking at Roberto Duran at 135 pounds, he thought, ‘Oh, I want to fight him. I’ll beat him’. Duran jumped from 135 to 147. What did he do? He beat them easy. They wound up fighting again a couple of more times, but that was years later though. A fighter deteriorates years later, but when you start talking about the time when Roberto Duran fought Ray Leonard. He was a young man, and he beat him and he beat him easy, period. The same way Amir Khan would be if he fought my nephew. He would be easy too. We have too much skill for him. My nephew understands what boxing is about and he understands how to win. Obviously he don’t understand how to lose. He understands how to win. The last guy he fought, you seen how he beat him didn’t you? Wasn’t that Shane Mosley? Okay!”
His views on the fight between Shane Mosley and Manny Pacquiao:
“Well I hear what Freddie Roach said: ‘Oh, Shane Mosley got to take the test! Shane Mosley got to take a drug test!’ Pacquiao don’t even take a f*cking test. But he tells Shane Mosley has to take a test. Well what does Pacquiao have to take? They’re both fighters, ain’t they? Then they’re both supposed to take the test. I see that’s why him and my nephew never fought. Him and my nephew never fought because of one thing. Because of all that stuff, ‘Can I take the test two days or three days before the fight?’ Who would take the test two or three days before the fight? No, they said this, ‘We’re going to test you a couple of days before the fight and we’re going to test you right after the fight’. And you know what happened? That’s why the fight never happened, because of the fact he didn’t want to take a test. That’s it! He knows what he would have gotten. Pacquiao knows what he would have gotten. He knows, period and it wouldn’t be close. Shane Mosley and my nephew wasn’t close, was it? Okay then! This fight with Pacquiao, Pacquiao’s been knocked out twice at 105 pounds. Now he’s beating guys 150 pounds? Man, please! Everybody knows what time it is. Ain’t nobody no fool. He said he wouldn’t take the test. He said he’d take a test two or three days before the fight, but the doctor said you have to take a test right after the fight. Why do you think they never fought? That’s the reason! That’s the reason right there, because he already knew. I ain’t even got to tell you. I ain’t got to say, ‘Oh, Pacquiao’s on something! Oh, Pacquiao’s doing this! Oh, Pacquiao’s doing! I ain’t got to say that. I ain’t got to say that, just like Shane Mosley was doing something, too. Well they said Shane Mosley has to take a test, but if Shane Mosley has got to take a test what’s Pacquiao have to do? Shane Mosley has to take Olympic-style testing. Well what is Pacquiao supposed to do? He ain’t going to get the test at all? Alright, then! I ain’t got to tell you what time it is.”
On how he expects the fight between Mosley and Pacquiao playing out:
“Well Mosley is getting some good money for the fight, but at the same time I truly believe Mosley would stop Pacquiao, but under the circumstances under what they’re talking about ‘the fight is still going to be close! The fight is still going to be close, and when you see the fight you’re going to determine the same thing I said anyway. The guy’s got to take a test but you’re going to tell me you don’t got to take the test? I mean Shane Mosley’s fighting and he’s going to get good money, but he ain’t going to lay down. He’s going to have to not stop Mosley, but he’s going to have to beat him. All the rest of them dudes he fights, I already know the deal with that, but still. Anyway, I think it’s going to be a better fight with Mosley. That’s what I say.”
On whether he believes Manny Pacquiao can hold up to the type of punch Shane Mosley landed in round two against Floyd Mayweather:
“Nope! No, I don�t know because you know what, anytime I see Pacquiao fight somebody he�s fighting them at a catch weight anyway. He ain�t never fought no dudes who fought at their regular weight class. He fights them dudes at a catch weight. Oh, you can�t weigh this! Oh, you can�t weigh that! Antonio Margarito had been off I don�t know how long. Oh you know you can�t weight more than 150. That�s what they say. He fights all them dudes at catch weights. If he fights my nephew, he�ll fight him at 147 and he�ll take a drug test. After Pacquiao takes that drug test and we find out that he�s clean, he�ll get his ass knocked out, period! He can�t do shit with my nephew, period. So that�s what will happen and that�s why the fight never happened, because he never decided to take the test. Anytime a guy offers you all this kind of money, if you offer me $50-60 million and you don�t want to take a test, then something must be wrong. Wouldn�t you say? He�s a fighter, and he�s getting $50 or $60 million, and he don�t want to take a test? Then okay!”
On when he expects to see his nephew Floyd Mayweather get back in the ring given his recent problems outside the ring:
“I hope he gets back in the ring, and I think most of that is pretty much cleared up. People think what they don�t know, but still. The thing about it is yeah, he has to get back in the ring. That�s how you make money and that�s how you further your legacy. Hopefully, I don�t know, but hopefully him and Pacquiao will fight. If Shane Mosley beats Pacquiao then we ain�t even got to worry about that.”
His views on his nephew having a fight against Paul Spadafora whose previous filmed sparring session with Floyd Mayweather has become a topic of interest for boxing fans:
“Well I can�t say, but Floyd was laid up. I don�t know. I was there when that happened. Now Paul Spadafora, that was sparring. That was when Floyd was laid up too, but no big thing. I mean if that fight was truly key and they got the money for the fight, it wouldn�t even be a problem, period. Paul Spadafora can�t do nothing with my nephew. My nephew is trained, focused on boxing, boom! My nephew was in a contract dispute and all of that junk when he was messing with Paul Spadafora. I was there, so if they fought he knows what time it is. When was the last time Paul Spadafora went to jail, didn�t he? I didn�t know he was back fighting. (JENNAJ � �Yeah, he’s still undefeated. He’s 45-0-1 and had a recent fight.’) Oh yeah? I’m just saying I didn�t even know he was back fighting because I had thought he went to jail, but maybe that will be a big fight down the road. Floyd’s fought southpaws before. He beat all of them, anyway. If him and Spadafora hooked up it would be a big fight. We would just have to wait and see what happened.”
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For those interested in listening to the Roger Mayweather interview in its entirety, it begins approximately one hour and forty-four minutes into the program.
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