by Geoffrey Ciani (Exclusive Interview by Jenna J & Geoffrey Ciani) – This week’s 134th edition of On the Ropes Boxing Radio (brought to you by CWH Promotions) featured an exclusive interview with boxing trainer Floyd Mayweather Senior. Mayweather spoke about a variety of topics including his son’s upcoming fight against Victor Ortiz, Manny Pacquiao’s scheduled third fight against Juan Manuel Marquez, his views on how to beat the Klitschko brothers, Ricky Hatton, drug testing, and more! Here are some questions and answers from that interview:
JENNA J: How does it feel for you to actively be training fighters again? You had a long period where you weren’t working with fighters since the Ricky Hatton fight. How does it feel just to be back out there?
FLOYD MAYWEATHER SR: Well you know the whole thing was I had to get back into it. I was laid up for awhile. I wasn’t going to the gym and stuff. I had seen the people needed me so I obliged them and showed my face to do my job. This is what I know have to do, this is what I do good, and this is what I do best, better than t he rest. I’m going to be sound with this right now and I’m going to take this to another level. I’ll possibly even have a champion maybe probably by next year, or the end of next year some time.”
JENNA: Well besides those fighters that you’re directly working with, you will also be helping your son prepare for ‘Vicious’ Victor Ortiz. How do you feel about him taking on that fight?
MAYWEATHER: You know it’s always a challenge when you have a young person. Over all I think that Victor Ortiz can put up a good fight. I think he can put up a good fight but I also think that if he puts up a real good fight I think he could get busted up real good too at the same time. I think little Floyd is just too smart for Victor Ortiz all the way around. But I don’t take nothing from Victor Ortiz because I think Victor Ortiz is a younger guy, like a decade younger. So I think he can apply a lot of pressure and put up a good fight. One thing is he does have a good punch. He’s aggressive and he’s got those qualities. If you got those qualities to be aggressive and hit hard and move your head, which he will not do and that’s where the problems will come in for him. He’s not mobile like that. Moving side to side and slipping, he never does that. He’ll be kind of a stationary target.
JENNA: Now Victor Ortiz is a southpaw. Do you think that poses any type of challenge to Floyd?
MAYWEATHER: Well it’s always been more difficult for my son with a southpaw than a right-hander you see. One thing about my son though, if you notice the fighter that he fought and a good fighter even like Zab, he can adjust pretty good and he can be taking the fight at one level and then he can change up and pick the fight up at another tempo. He can change things real quick.
JENNA: Now last time we had you on this show you said that you believe Victor Ortiz was doing things on the up and up even though he worked with Pacquiao at one point. How do you feel that he decided to take the drug test when Manny Pacquiao wouldn’t?
MAYWEATHER: Well that is the thing of it right there. My thing is if Victor Ortiz takes the test I think Pacquiao should take the test. I mean Victor Ortiz shows you right there whatever the case may be, he’s showing you that he’s legit in this fight and he’s willing to do whatever is necessary to get the fight to go. That’s’ what Pacquiao ain’t. He’s not willing to do what Victor Ortiz is doing. Just take the test and Floyd could put his ass to rest.
JENNA: Well speaking of Pacquiao, his next opponent Juan Manuel Marquez recently fought this past weekend. He scored a first round knockout win against Ramos. What do you think of him scoring that type of win?
MAYWEATHER: Marquez is the one that he had a draw with and he beat. Let me tell you this right here. I’m going to tell you this right here. The same Marquez you had seen fight him that people really know beat him before and people seen him have a draw with, let’s see Marquez have a draw with him now right now. Let’s see how much of a difference there is in the fight with him and Marquez. I guarantee you it’s no contest on Marquez’s side. It will be nothing like the other two fights that you seen. It will be totally different this time. Even though he fought two of the fights close, it’s going to be a whole different fight this time. It’s going to be one-sided, let me tell you that.
JENNA: Alright so you don’t think the weight factor is going to play into that Pacquiao is more comfortable at a higher weight than Marquez?
MAYWEATHER: How is Pacquiao going to fight at a more comfortable weight than Marquez? The whole thing really is that Marquez is bigger than Pacquiao. So how is it that Pacquiao is fighting comfortable at that weight when Marquez has a better chance fighting at that weight than him? He’s still a smaller man than Marquez is. He beat all these big guys. What can you say?
GEOFFREY CIANI: A lot of fans are speculating that since Floyd is fighting a southpaw that he intends to fight Pacquiao after the Ortiz fight and I was wondering what your thoughts were on that?
MAYWEATHER: I don’t care what fight Pacquiao fights and I don’t care what my son says. We’re talking about him, Floyd ‘Joy’ Junior. I don’t care what Floyd says! There won’t be a fight until Pacquiao goes and takes the test. There will not be a fight. Trust me. All this stuff that’s looking like it’s going to lead up to a fight, there is not going to be no fight. I’m going to tell you that right now. There wouldn’t be a fight anyway, because even if my son decided to take the fight I would encourage him not to until he takes the test. So even if he said he would, I would change his mind. Trust me.
CIANI: So you don’t think there is any chance that Pacquiao will take the test and that he will actually want to get this fight on?
MAYWEATHER: When he takes the test and keeps us his ass right here in America, stays his ass right here in America where they can test his ass whenever they want to on random. Hey! When he can do that, stay in the United States of America and take random tests whenever they want to come take them. If they can take them, hey! The fight will be on and I will be more than happy to oblige him to take the fight. Now right now like this right here? No, no, no, no.
CIANI: But what if he agreed to take the test but he wanted to train in the Philippines?
MAYWEATHER: No! Hell no! That’s a no-no! What’s the difference between in the Philippines and training here? He needs to be here! As a matter of fact he needs to be here just to take the random test. He can’t be in the Philippines and take random tests. There ain’t nobody going to go way over to the Philippines, then come back here, then go to the Philippines, then come back here. There ain’t nobody doing that! Ain’t nobody going t o go through them big, big changes just to get the fight. He needs to stay in this shore right here where he’s at and then get his ass whopped like my son is going to do it!
JENNA: Recently Bob Arum came out and said that he would agree to random blood testing, but it wouldn’t be the Olympic style drug testing.
MAYWEATHER: Well there ain’t no fight then! Why wouldn’t he take the Olympic test? Look here! What person turns down this much money just by taking a shot? Just when someone is checking up on you on random, who’s going to give up that kind of money unless they’re a fool or unless they’re doing something wrong? That’s all I got to say. For somebody not to take the test for this type of money, it lets you know it ain’t no go. That’s what it is! I’ll tell you right now. That’s my son. They can say what they want to say. If he ain’t going to take no test there ain’t going to be no fight! That’s all I can tell you, because if I got anything to do with it and with Pacquiao I got a whole lot to do with it, there won’t be no fight! Trust me! I want somebody to explain this to me. He has tattoos on his body. Why can’t you get the test? How in the hell can you be scared of needles when you got tattoos on you? Please explain that to me! I ain’t ever seen nothing like this in my life! A man got tattoos and he’s scared of a neddle. Will a person explain that to me? Then I might have a better understanding as well. But right now I don’t understand a damn thing they talking about because they ain’t talking about sh*t!
JENNA: Now Floyd, do you think you would at all be disappointed if your son never fought Pacquiao?
MAYWEATHER: It don’t matter to me whether my son fights him or not! I don’t care if he fights him! I wouldn’t want him to fight him if Pacquiao doesn’t want to take the test! If he don’t want to take a test like the rest, I could care less! I could care less about how anybody feels because I’m going to feel good about it because if he doesn’t do what he’s supposed to do, he can go to hell. They can say what they want to say and I can believe what I want to believe, and I believe that little Filipino ain’t whopping no damn body! He was getting his ass whopped before all of this stuff got started, and then all of a sudden when this stuff started building up, then he started beating everybody to be honest. Man please! I don’t have anything to say but let him take the test and we’ll put his ass to rest!
CIANI: When you worked with Chad Dawson he was showing some of his best skills he ever showed in his career. Now that he’s working with Emanuel Steward, do you think he has any chance in his upcoming fight against Bernard Hopkins?
MAYWEATHER: You know my thing is I don’t want to have to say anything about Emanuel Steward or anybody. But I would do it different if it was me. Of course you know I would do it different. Chad Dawson beat Adamek when I trained Chad Dawson, and Adamek has not been beaten since that time that Chad Dawson beat him. He’s fighting heavyweights now and he hasn’t lost yet. All I did right there was show you my skills. What is little Floyd doing right now? He’s showing you my skills. The way I just won these two fights on the road shows you my skills, and the fight that I’m planning on doing here coming up will show you my skills! I am the best! I must confess, to all the rest, there’s no contest! I will shock your mind! I’m one of a kind! I’m the greatest trainer of all time!
CIANI: On that note you brought up Adamek, and he hasn’t lost at heavyweight yet. But his next fight—
MAYWEATHER: You got to remember! I’m just letting you know! When I trained Adamek he was world champion! I trained him and Chad Dawson beat him with no problem!
CIANI: Well he got knocked down though in the tenth round by that one punch. He had a little bit of a problem there towards the end.
MAYWEATHER: When you say problem we want to talk about skills. We’re not talking about one punch. We want to talk about skills! What caused him to win the fight. Did he have skills or did he not have skills? Did the one punch do something? The one punch didn’t do nothing so let’s override that and get to the real deal. Chad Dawson beat Adamek easily. Did Chad Dawson win by split decision or was it unanimous?
CIANI: It was unanimous, but do you think Adamek has a chance in his next fight against the older Klitschko brother?
MAYWEATHER: To be honest with you, no! I’m just going to tell you that the Klitschko brothers aren’t good fighters. They’re just super big and they’re just able to, and that’s one thing I want real bad! So if anybody is listening please holler at me! This right here, I want to stop these guys right here with these Englishmen. But you know me I want to stop everybody, the Englishmen, the Filipinos, and the rest of the crew. I want to stop it! I definitely want somebody, a heavyweight if you hear me, get on the phone!
CIANI: I don’t know if you saw the fight between the other Klitschko, Wladimir, and David Haye.
MAYWEATHER: I saw the fight! The fight was just like they said he was going to do. David Haye just ran. He didn’t do nothing and I’m telling you the truth right now. If you look back to a fighter names Muhammad Ali, a young fast Muhammad Ali, the guy that had blazing speed, blazing foot movement, good timing, and was super quick for a man that size. If you seen him when he fought Ernie Terell, that’s what Ali would do to the Klitschkos. I don’t even need nobody as good as Ali. I just need somebody who knows how to fight.
CIANI: So how would you train somebody to beat a Klitschko?
MAYWEATHER: I would teach somebody the same way I taught Chad Dawson to beat Adamek, even though it was on a different angle. If I were to train a guy to fight a Klitschko it would be good head movement and body shots. Go to the body and it will bring the whole tempo down. So I would teach a guy to slip-slide and bang to the body. You can make them two look like fools man, because they ain’t nothing but two big old tree stumps. One is standing right next to the other one. Really if you can knock one down you can knock them both down.
JENNA: I want to get your views on your son’s inactivity. He will be out of the ring sixteen months by the time he fights Victor Ortiz. Do you think there is any possible scenario that he can lose to Ortiz because of the time he has had out of the ring?
MAYWEATHER: I’m just going to say anything is possible. I’m going to say anything is possible. I think not, but anything is possible. I’m not going to say I’m that guy who knows everything. I know a whole lot of things, but I ain’t going to say I know everything because sometimes every now and then even Floyd Joy falls short of glory. I’m going to tell you that I believe Floyd will win, especially when his Daddy gets there. I’m doing a bunch of things right now, but when his Daddy steps in the house things are going to pick up.
JENNA: What do you expect your son to need to do to be victorious against Victor Ortiz? What do you think is his most important asset in that fight?
MAYWEATHER: Well I’m going to tell you I don’t like to give away secrets. That’s one thing for sure, because a lot of people are going to hear what I’m saying and then people will say hey! That’s what Floyd said this is what you are going to need to do to offset Victor Ortiz. With me it destroys my things that I have that undercover and should be for me and my son. I don’t think it’s best for me to exploit because we’re not out here trying to have a draw. We ain’t out here trying to lose! We’re trying to win, and when you’re trying to win you don’t let your ammunition out. I’m going to take the fifth on that in terms of how we’re going to do it.
JENNA: Okay well let me ask you in maybe a different way. Victor Ortiz is a pressure fighter. He has excellent power for the weight class. How do you expect the fight to play out from the opening bell to the finish?
MAYWEATHER: Let me tell you something. When you got a real true fighter and he ain’t never been in front of a real fighter, one thing we do know is that he will quit. Whether he will quit with little Floyd or not, who knows? But like I said, I think how little Floyd do like how he’s going to do with Victor Ortiz, he’s going to do the same thing he’s been doing in the last forty-one fights. He’s going to do the same thing. I’m just going to tell you that with Victor Ortiz, I know what to do to offset him. Trust me! I know what to do to exploit him. We got him! Trust me! Don’t even worry. The first thing I would say about what Victor Ortiz got, he do got a lot of things. But I haven’t even thought about that. With my own fighters and stuff that I have to do, I haven’t even never really thought real hard about it. But I’m going to go up there and step up my baby. That’s what I’m going to do!
JENNA: Ricky Hatton recently announced his retirement just this past week. You were the last man to train him. What do you think his legacy will be?
MAYWEATHER: Well you know I’m just saying that one thing about people, our people and people around the world, we have a tendency to bring out the bad in the individual or the person or whoever it may be. Our world is like that. We have a tendency to bring out the bad! What about the good? You know he did have some good moments, quite a few good moments. He was world champion and he wore the crown and he knows just like everybody else knows about things. But he made an error. He got lazy and he got hung up on a few things like his drug habits, and that’s all the people are going to see now! They ain’t going to see none of the things that he did good. All they’re going to see is that Ricky Hatton was a drug addict or that Manny Pacquiao knocked out Ricky Hatton. It’s nothing good now for him, especially when he could have went on and did what he did with Pacquiao. He could have left that right there and just wait. That’s all he had to do is wait. When you wait you will finally see, and that’s all he had to do was wait. He got knocked out. That was his last fight. He should have left that alone and left everything alone with whatever drugs and stuff he was doing. Leave that alone and just step back and just wait. Wait! Wait. Some waits are a little bit longer than others, but at the end of the day some kind of waiting is going to show his face and that’s what I’m talking about.
JENNA: Alright well Floyd I have one final question. Let’s say that Manny Pacquiao agrees to the test that your son wants.
MAYWEATHER: Let’s say! Let’s say!
JENNA: Wait, wait, wait! Let me finish the question because it’s got two parts. Let’s say he takes the test that your son wants and that fight happens, what would it mean to you to help your son defeat Pacquiao being that in a high profile fight Pacquiao beat one of your men before?
MAYWEATHER: It don’t make no difference to me about Ricky Hatton. People have acknowledged me as the best skilled, whether I get a payback from Pacquiao or anybody! When I walk down the street everybody know who’s walking down the street! It ain’t about Pacquiao! People know who Floyd is. I don’t have to try to beat Pacquiao to get up on stage. I’m on stage anyway! I’m in front of the whole stage, and the whole thing is my son ain’t got to beat him! My son ain’t got to beat him because he beat Ricky! My son knocked him out in the tenth. Pacquiao knocked him out in the first. My son ain’t got to get on the stage to show he’s number one by beating Pacquiao! The whole thing is I’m a great trainer. Nobody is going to take that away from me because I know what I got, and I know what I can do, and I know what all the other people can’t do and what they can’t do is what I do! I’m the best in the business at what I do! I did this for a long, long time and a lot of people did it for a long, long time, but one thing they didn’t do, they didn’t put the science work into it. That’s what I did!
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For those interested in listening to the Floyd Mayweather Senior interview in its entirety, it begins approximately one hour and thirty-six minutes into the program.
RIGHT CLICK and ‘SAVE AS’ TO DOWNLOAD EPISODE #134
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