by Geoffrey Ciani (Exclusive Interview by Jenna J & Geoffrey Ciani) – This week’s 140th edition of On the Ropes Boxing Radio (brought to you by CWH Promotions) featured an exclusive interview with boxing trainer Floyd Mayweather Senior who recently had a heated encounter with his son Floyd Mayweather Junior on HBO’s first episode of 24/7 in promotion of the highly anticipated September 17 bout between Mayweather (41-0, 25 KOs) and WBC welterweight champion Victor Ortiz (29-2-2, 22 KOs). Mayweather Senior gave his take on the altercation and also shared views on a variety of other issues. Here is a complete transcript from that interview:
JENNA J: It is time for our third and final guest of this week’s show. He is making his 13th appearance with On the Ropes Boxing Radio. We are joined by the one and only Floyd “Joy” Mayweather Senior. How’s the day treating you Floyd?
FLOYD MAYWEATHER SENIOR: Everything is going great.
JENNA: Alright Floyd, well people have been talking about the incident that happened between you and your son on the HBO 24/7 series. Can you tell us in your view what happened with that whole situation?
MAYWEATHER: It was nothing but just a father and a son thing. He’s just disrespectful. He’s ungrateful. All I can do is leave it up to the higher power. That’s all I do. I can’t judge my son in no kind of way or anything like that. But like I said, one thing I can do is go on about my business, take care of my business, and whatever happens with it, let him do what he’s got to do for himself. I don’t really want to bother with him as being a son like that.
JENNA: How long ago did that incident happen between you two?
MAYWEATHER: It happened about, right now it’s going on about two weeks now. It’s going on about two weeks since that happened.
JENNA: Now the 24/7 cameras really didn’t capture how it really all started. Was it really just a debate over two female fighters or was it something more?
MAYWEATHER: Well first of all, the one guy Tim Coleman used to train at the gym. My brother used to train Tim Coleman, and my fighter knocked Tim Coleman out! My boy knocked him out. My boy was named Vernon Paris. Vernon Paris knocked out Tim Coleman. If you remember seeing the fight on ESPN when the guy kept hitting him with the body shots, and the guy kept going down, and the referee just called it off. You might not remember. That fight was probably about five weeks ago.
JENNA: Yep, that was a great performance by Paris. You trained him well.
MAYWEATHER: Yeah, uh-huh. Me and Roger wasn’t in the corner, but I was explaining to you who was the coach of each fighter, in which I was the coach that won when it happened like that. The whole thing is that he just starts saying I was jealous of him. I’m not jealous of him. Jealous of him for what? If you’re talking about money, I’m not jealous because of money! That’s your money. You made that money! I taught you how to make that money. You wouldn’t have that if it weren’t for your Daddy. I’m just saying that it is what it is. You got to leave things like that in the Man’s hands is all. You can’t do anything about that. Leave those things in the Higher Power’s hands because in the Ten Commandments it tells you, “Honor thy mother and father or things will be short”. So I don’t have anything to do with that. The only thing I can tell you is I honor my mother and father, and I’m not even going to tell you that both of them were the better parents than a lot of people, but I still honored him because he was my father. In this case right here, this guy is old enough to know everything that’s going on. What he did then with me, that’s against the cardinal rule.
JENNA: Now when this was all going down how close do you think you two maybe were coming to going to blows over this argument?
MAYWEATHER: Very close! As close as he wanted to get! One damn thing is for sure, his Daddy wasn’t going to back down and his Daddy wasn’t going to take no ass-whopping! So that right there tells you. If his Daddy ain’t going to take no ass-whopping it must tell you who was going to get the ass-whopping! It wasn’t going to be me, so that kind of tells you what was going to happen right there. He might think he was going to tee off on his Daddy and do this. I got too much to live for that mess.
JENNA: Now you mentioned before how a son should honor his father.
MAYWEATHER: Yes!
JENNA: What do you think about his attitude towards you in the gym there and the way he was talking to you. Do you think that’s maybe him getting a little bit of an ego with himself?
MAYWEATHER: Oh! He’s got an ego! He’s got an ego! He goes way beyond the meaning of everything they call an ego. He’s way above that. So what you call an “ego”, he goes way above that! I don’t know what the word “ego” means. He was way above that. He’s got something multiplied by two, so I don’t know where he is. He’s way beyond the word “ego”. I don’t know what the word is, but whatever it is, like I told him he let a situation get out of hand that shouldn’t have never got out of hand about boxing—girl’s boxing! A bunch of girls boxing? Man, please!
The girl, his fighter, she’s not a bad girl either. But we were talking about them fighting each other and having his girl fight my girl, then all of a sudden he goes, “Well what are you doing in this gym for?”
“What do you mean what in the hell am I doing in the gym? It’s me!”
My thing was really just coming there to support him, that’s all. You know what? He brought trouble to his Daddy. You know what? He’s going to have to deal with that, not me.
JENNA: Floyd, your son has been going through a lot of legal turmoil in the last fifteen months. Now do you think that this situation that happened with you was a culmination of everything that’s been happening to him?
MAYWEATHER: All that shows you about him is that he’s a bad-ass, I ain’t even going to call him a kid. He’s just a bad-ass individual. That’s what it shows you about him. He’s mad and he’s criminal. That’s what he is!
JENNA: Do you think your relationship with your son can ever be repaired from this incident that happened?
MAYWEATHER: Oh God! Well we tried to repair that relationship, all of us. We had been separated for close to ten years. We were separated for nine years before we even spoke to each other or anything. So it’s no problem with me doing the same thing I did before. Ten years or more, ten years or better, it doesn’t make a difference with me because he tried to disrespect me like that in front of that amount of people—in front of anybody, period! There could have been one person there and it still would have been disrespectful. You know you don’t do that to your parents. The best thing for me to do with that is to leave it alone. Leave it to the Man above. That’s what you do.
JENNA: Alright Floyd, as always when I interview you I’m joined by my Co-Host Geoff.
GEOFFREY CIANI: Hi Floyd, it’s great to have you back on the show.
MAYWEATHER: Thank you.
CIANI: Floyd I just wanted to ask you, before you said to Jenna that you and your son were close to going to blows. A lot of fans have been speculating over one particular comment you made when you said, “You’re 41-1!” Some fans think you mean that you think your son lost a previous fight, and others are debating whether that meant you were going to give him his first loss right there?
MAYWEATHER: There! You got it! You got it! I said, “You’re 41-0 and this is going to be your first damn loss! I guarantee you if you run up on me!” And what I said is what I meant. I told him I’m not one of them punks he’s fighting in the gym that you sparring with. This ain’t no sparring match, and that’s what I meant when I said, “You’re 41-0 and this one here you will not win, trust me!”
CIANI: If the cameras weren’t there and if it wasn’t the HBO 24/7 crew and everything around, do you think maybe it wouldn’t have escalated so much?
MAYWEATHER: Personally myself, I don’t believe that HBO had anything to do with it even though the people said that HBO had a lot to do with it. But I didn’t look at it that way. I didn’t look at it like HBO had nothing to do with it. HBO was there and then there was a heated argument—what escalated into a heated argument. It was just talking at first, plain talking, and then it escalated into something else—something else that I didn’t even realize what he was talking about. But what made me mad is I’m his father! Even though we can argue about girls, and this and that, but when you tell me to get out of your gym? That’s when I had a problem! Then he started using incriminating words like, “Mother f*cker! Get out of my gym!” and all the other words he used. And don’t get me wrong, I was bad mannered myself and I used the word MF, but you know that ain’t my style. But hey, he brought it out of me and I meant what I said. When I start talking like that there’s going to be a problem.
CIANI: Earlier on the HBO 24/7, before that incident happened, there was footage of your son where he said, “Yeah, my father taught me how to box and then my Uncle Roger continued it from there”.
MAYWEATHER: You know what? To tell you the truth, his Uncle Roger never taught him sh*t! His Daddy taught him everything. His Uncle Roger ain’t taught him shit, and he knows nothing about defense. He learned everything from his Daddy, and like I said before I trained him when he was a little kid when he won the first national tournament. He was 16 years old. He beat two 24 year olds, he beat a 22 year old, and a 21 year old, and he beat this guy who was a former championed named Morales if you remember him from years ago. I don’t remember where he was, but Morales. Little Floyd beat him in the finals for the Golden Gloves and he dominated the tournament, and his Daddy did that. Then all of the fights he did he dominated, and then I ended up going to prison for three and a half years. I did the same things I ever did. I taught them to my brother when he was young then. I taught them to my brother when he was 16 then. Well he was a little bit older than that then, but anyway we went down there and I advised him to go there and he went down there. He came back and he is not doing anything different as far as fighting that I did with him. He has done nothing different in the game of boxing. He fights exactly the same! The defense that he uses is the defense that I taught him—the shoulder roll! Roger didn’t teach him! Roger didn’t ever fight like that! He never fought that way, so who in the hell taught him that? Like I said it don’t make no difference about who taught him because the whole thing he wants to say at the end of the day that he did it. Roger knows he didn’t do a damn thing! He knows that! He can say it if he wants, and look like it, and act like it, and talk like it, but he didn’t do it.
CIANI: What do you think, though, of the job Roger has done with Floyd, and are you saying that you think Floyd could even be better now if you had been training him this whole time?
MAYWEATHER: That is very true there! That is very true! Let me explain one thing to you. If you’re doing something, whatever it may be—if you were a skater, if you were skating could you tell if you were continuing to get better or if you were declining on the other end. Could you tell if you were declining? Could you tell if you got better? Could you tell the difference?
CIANI: Yeah, you’d be able to tell.
MAYWEATHER: Okay! Well that’s what the thing is here. I can tell you right now, I can tell if he gets better. Floyd stayed the same. He’s the same right now! He ain’t got no better since his Daddy trained him. His Daddy came out of prison and had maybe six or seven fights with him, and he won the world title with his Daddy! He ain’t never lost the title, because Roger ain’t nothing but maintenance! A maintenance is someone that comes behind you and cleans up after you. Because the job is already done! All you have to do is just clean up just a little bit. That’s all. But what I did it was already done.
CIANI: From what you’ve seen at the gym when you were there, how was Floyd looking and was he on track in your opinion?
MAYWEATHER: Well even though me and him were arguing and fighting, and I’m not going to say it’s because of me and him being in an argument. I’m not saying it for that reason. I’m saying it anyway from how I feel, and I told people in there already how I felt about it! Those sparring partners he’s got are nothing! And I admit that. Those sparring partners he’s got are nothing! I don’t know how good Victor Ortiz is, but whether you call him good, or alright, or whatever it is, he does have a world title so I would classify him in a better category. So I’m just saying with Victor Ortiz, I think little Floyd needs some better fighters than he has. He just has some punching bags in there. He had people he can just do what he wants to do with. He can sit there, and talk to them, and go over to the rope and shake somebody’s hand, and come back and continue to put a whopping on the man. You don’t need nobody like that man. You need somebody that’s going to get in your ass and you don’t have time for all of that. You ainn’t have time to reach over the ropes, and talk to somebody, and shake their hands and all that. You ain’t got time for all that. If you got good fighters you would not be able to do all of that.
JENNA: Alright now Floyd, back in 2008 you were actually scheduled to train Oscar De La Hoya for the rematch against your son. If that happened, how do you think it would have played out if you did train De La Hoya for that fight?
MAYWEATHER: To be honest, I already know how to beat my son! I already know how to beat him and De La Hoya would have beat him. But I chose not to do it though. No. I chose not to do it the first time because of the money that they offered me, and I wouldn’t do it for that, to fight my son for half a million dollars. That wasn’t going to get it. You know. So what happened is after I didn’t do that they went ahead and got the other guy. I forgot which guy, whatever guy they got. Anyway, they came to fight my son a second time. I chose to go with De La Hoya and do what I needed to do, because there was no love lost anyway with me son. He was the kind of son he is still today! There was no love lost then and there is no love lost now! So like I’m just telling you at that time, I was going to do my job! I was going to go whop little Floyd’s ass! That was what I was going to have De La Hoya do, and I knew just had to do it, and it would have been easy to do!
JENNA: Floyd, what is it that you think you know that other trainers don’t about how to beat your son?
MAYWEATHER: Well you know it ain’t so much. What do I know how to beat little Floyd that nobody else knows? I know, but my thing is he’s still my son and I still don’t want to even speak about that. That’s his thing and whenever somebody beats his ass they beat his ass, so that will be that because he’s still my son.
JENNA: Do you think right now with the way Floyd’s acting that maybe he’s on that downward spiral where he could end up losing to someone like Victor Ortiz?
MAYWEATHER: Well little Floyd right now in a position like this with the way he is right now, there is a lot of things that can go totally out of control with him. Then again sometimes people have problems and that makes them fight better. I mean it’s true. Sometimes you got problems and you go out there and look great with the person. Sometimes people got problems where they cannot focus and they cannot think and they’re not totally in vision with what’s going on. So right now, I can’t say little Floyd’s that way right now but he appears to be that way.
CIANI: Now Floyd you mentioned how you knew the key to beating your son, and previously on our show, ironically, you stated that one of the fighters you think you could help if you trained him was Manny Pacquiao. I’m wondering, if you were to train Pacquiao do you think you could lead him to a victory against Floyd?
MAYWEATHER: Manny Pacquiao is not the type of fighter that I could get to whop little Floyd. If Manny Pacquiao was straight-up and straightforward, and I’m going to stay away from that right now. But I’ll tell you this right here now that it’s not a guy like Pacquiao who can beat Floyd. I never said that on your station that I could get Pacquiao to whop little Floyd. I never said that.
CIANI: No, no, no, I know you never said that, but you did say Pacquiao was a guy you could improve.
MAYWEATHER: Oh yeah! I can improve him. Yeah! I can improve him, but improving him he’s still not at the status where he can beat little Floyd because he don’t have the agility to do what it takes to beat little Floyd. As a matter of fact he’s shorter than little Floyd and everything. Oscar was taller and over little Floyd, and he had more reach and all that other stuff. Pacquiao is a shorter man. He ain’t got no reach like that and he ain’t no jabber. He just comes in throwing punches like a woman. I just really can’t agree to say nothing like that where Pacquiao could ever whop Floyd on the up and up! I just don’t see it!
CIANI: Now if you ever did train Pacquiao, and I know that’s not likely to happen, but if you ever did what part of his game would you concentrate on the most that you think you could improve?
MAYWEATHER: I would change him totally as a fighter. I would change him totally as a fighter and I would have him jabbing a lot more than he is jabbing, and I would have him moving his head. Just me saying this stuff right here, somebody could grab a hold of it and I’m just telling you there is a lot more stuff I could do. I could tell you about how I would do it, but I would rather not tell you all of that because I don’t know enough about Pacquiao. I’m not training him right now so it don’t make no difference, and I’m not going to train him so it don’t make no difference.
JENNA: Alright well Floyd we just have a couple of more questions before we let you off the line. You mentioned Pacquiao’s not the type of fighter on the up and up that can beat your son, but what type of fighter do you see out there that could?
MAYWEATHER: I just told you! On the average, you need a guy just like De La Hoya was at that time. If the fight would have came, and De La Hoya didn’t pull out of the second fight! Little Floyd pulled out of the second fight! He pulled out of the second fight! Not De La Hoya! So I’m just telling you I know how to beat little Floyd with somebody like De La Hoya that will listen. I’m going to need a fighter like that to do the job.
JENNA: Do you actually think that maybe your son pulled out of that fight with De La Hoya—because he did, he retired, he announced his retirement then—because he was afraid with you in De La Hoya’s corner that he could lose?
MAYWEATHER: Believe me, he don’t want to be on the other side of his Daddy. Trust me he’s got that much sense! He may be acting stupid now but he ain’t crazy! That right there is correct. He wasn’t going to go up against me because he already knows I know. He knows I’m a winning fighter, he knows I’m a winning coach, and he knew right there his chances weren’t greater! His chances weren’t greater. It’s just what it is. Right at that point when Oscar came back, he was willing to pay me the money that I wanted. So when he was willing to pay me the money that I wanted, I was willing to do my job, totally, sound, to perfection!
JENNA: Now do you think a fighter maybe like Sergio Martinez who’s bigger, who’s a southpaw, who has a little bit of speed, could be someone who could pose a threat to your son and possibly beat him?
MAYWEATHER: Sergio Martinez is not like a De La Hoya. He’s not a real, real fast fighter. I’m not saying that he can’t get the job done because he’s a much bigger guy. I’m not saying that he can’t do what it is, because anyone can land a shot on you in the game. I don’t care who you are! It could change everything around, but I’ll say that Floyd is a very, very crafty fighter and to beat him you got to—you know like I said sometimes, a guy like Victor Ortiz might be able to fight him. Victor Ortiz is a young hungry lion. I’m just saying that he’s somebody young, strong, and hungry, and ready to take care of business and keep pressure on him. I don’t know how good Victor Ortiz moves his head, though. If he don’t move his head he can’t be fatal, and I don’t really know if he moves his head that much. Then again versus Victor Ortiz, if he keeps the pressure on and continues to swing, and not let little Floyd just lay around, then he might do alright. But overall the way I see it, I’m not even going to really call it a fight right now because the things that you do sometimes you can never take it back. It could take you all the way out of the game. It could take you to the point where things just happen, and sometimes it could be you who caused it to yourself. Right now I’m just going to say that the fight is up for grabs. That’s what I’m going to say. Overall I think little Floyd still has enough knowledge and stuff and is still crafty enough to overcome everything. Then again sometimes it’s a little bit of a different story. Sometimes a higher power come in, and sometimes people don’t want to talk about a higher power but I’m one that talks about it and like I said, it might cause problems for my son.
JENNA: Alright well Floyd I have one final question. If you could stand across from your son right now face-to-face and talk some sense into him, what would you tell him?
MAYWEATHER: What would I tell him? There are a lot of things I can tell my son. It all depends on what situation you’re talking about because he’s got so many situations. You know the only thing I can tell him with the overall package, I would like to tell him, “Man you need to straighten up and quit doing all these crazy things that you’re doing. Follow the right role-man and change your life around man, because you’re not going nowhere with what you’re doing and you’re never going nowhere with what you’re doing. Right now today, it’s a technology day right now today. You got TVs, you got radios, you got tape recorders, you got speakers! You can’t do nothing so you might as well give it up and turn it loose, because it don’t belong to you no more. You need to go on the straight and narrow. Go up the right road and find yourself! Think about it!”
He needs to think about it. He needs to do a whole lot of thinking because he’s got so many problems and sometimes like I said, the problems can linger on and the problems can linger on in the ring. The problems can cause things to happen. Maybe like I said, if you’re mad sometimes it might do him good. Sometimes when you’re mad, most times when you’re mad and stuff like that and you’re angry and stuff like that, most times it’s fatal to tell you the truth. I’m just saying that some people do thrive off anger, but I don’t know what his case might be. I think he’s going to have to perform to the utmost on this particular fight because everybody is looking at him right now! Everybody’s looking at him right now, and they ain’t looking at him as being “Pretty Boy” Floyd or the “Money” Mayweather—they’re looking at him as being the “A*shole of the Year”! He better do a whole lot of striking and fighting. That’s what he better do, and right now it don’t look good for him.
JENNA: Alright well Floyd it’s been an absolute pleasure as always having you on the show. It was great to get your take on everything that happened on this past week’s 24/7 and we wish you the best of luck with all the fighters that you work with.
MAYWEATHER: Thank you very much.
CIANI: Thank you Floyd. It’s always a pleasure to have you on the show.
MAYWEATHER: Alright thank you. I appreciate it.
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For those interested in listening to the Floyd Mayweather Senior interview in its entirety, it begins approximately one hour and five minutes into the program.
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