"Pacquiao can't whoop no Lil' Floyd! Anybody can whoop somebody if they not in shape, but if Lil' Floyd get back in the gym and get himself together, he could get that. You gotta remember, Floyd fought Oscar De La Hoya at 154 pounds; Manny fought him dehydrated. Oscar was dehydrated man and hadn't made that weight for 12 years man and here he is weighing less than the little man," stated world-renowned trainer Floyd Mayweather Sr. as he shared his thoughts on a potential fight between Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather Jr. You don't want to miss what else he had to say as he talked Manny's dominant win over Oscar De La Hoya, the possibility of a clash between Hatton and Pacquiao and much, much more!
PC: What did you think of the fight my man?
FM: Oscar said on TV, "Nacho is my leader, my trainer and my leader," and as you could see, he got what he asked for.
PC: It was weird to me that they basically told Oscar to quit.
FM: They did tell him to quit. They did tell him to quit. They told him, "Look man, the man too fast." You think I would ever tell one of my fighters that a guy is too fast for them? All I'm saying man is they had Oscar's arms spread wide apart and he kept jumping in there sticking his jab in when he should've had his hands closer together, sticking his jab and knocking the jab down and dropping it over the top. He couldn't do none of that kind of stuff because he was too wide open.
PC: So you don't think it was a case where Oscar got old overnight and he needs to retire?
FM: Let me tell you something man, they talking all of this stuff about Pacquiao beating Oscar worse than my son did and all of that, but Pacquiao beat Oscar worse than Lil' Floyd because Oscar was much bigger than he was when he fought Pacquiao. He ate good and everything for the fight with my son; something he didn't do for this fight.
PC: What do you think was up with him only putting on 2 pounds overnight?
FM: I could tell you one thing about this right here, Freddie Roach was right in everything he said about the whole fight. Freddie Roach was right. I think it's a lot of truth to what Freddie said about him starving himself so much that when he tried to eat, he got full way too fast. Everything Freddie Roach said, he was right about.
PC: I didn't understand him not exercising being the bigger man and letting Manny outweigh him.
FM: Manny was getting ready to put Oscar on his ass if he wouldn't have quit. Everybody called me today about the same thing. Why did Oscar get rid of me?
PC: Honestly, I couldn't tell you the last fight that Oscar won without you in his corner.
FM: Shit, I can't remember. Let me tell you something man, the game would've been over for Oscar a long time ago if I wouldn't have been brought in. He shouldn't have lost to Hopkins man. He was winning that fight and outboxing Bernard. Over the years, I began to learn more and more about Oscar and it's hard to deal with him because he had strength trainers overtraining him and stuff like that. I found out what it was to make him fight real good, like I did when he fought Steve. I had him firing the jab, getting his combinations off and relaxing and if you notice, he wasn't doing no movement on his toes at all last night.
PC: Being a trainer, I'm sure you listen for certain things during a fight. Did you like what Nacho was telling De La Hoya between rounds?
FM: Man, let me tell you something man, they can say what they want to say about Nacho, but I don't see none of it. Emanuel Steward was talking that shit about he train his fighters like Nacho train his and that's why his fighters are getting their ass kicked too. He talkin' about he train his fighters like Nacho Beristain. See, he was trying to call himself talking about me. He called himself trying to talk about me talking about Oscar is no good when he throwing those flurry of punches. Let me tell you something man, how do you win fights without throwing flurries of punches. They don't know how to show guys how to throw a flurry of punches and that's why their guys only throw 1 or 2 punches at a time. You win fights off of combinations and flurries of punches. How do you think Ali won all of them fights he won? How do you think Sugar Ray Leonard won all of the fights he won? How did Sugar Ray Robinson win all of the fights he won and all of the other greats? Flurries of punches and combinations. You don't win fights with no 1-2 and 1-2-3. Come on man, these people crazy. He was trying to talk indirectly about me, but you can't talk indirectly about somebody unless they dumb, stupid and crazy and don't understand what he's talking about. You talking about boxing and if you know boxing, you know exactly what the hell he's talking about and who he's talking about too. Emanuel Steward's fighters are probably 1-9 in their last 10 fights.
Oscar's brother, Joel, want to talk about how Nacho was a blessing. It sure was a blessing because he got blessed. He got blessed. Even Oscar, with all of that bullshit "Beristain is now my coach, my leader and my this and my that." He ain't showed him anything, but he's supposed to know everything. I know more than Angelo Dundee and Nacho put together. I done forgot more than both of them know. Hey, look, write it down just like I say it, I done forgot more than both of them ever knew in life and one of them damn near 90 years old.
PC: The fight everyone is talking about now is Pacquiao fighting Lil' Floyd. What do you think about that one?
FM: Pacquiao can't whoop no Lil' Floyd. Anybody can whoop somebody if they not in shape, but if Lil' Floyd get back in the gym and get himself together, he could get that. You gotta remember, Floyd fought Oscar De La Hoya at 154 pounds; Manny fought him dehydrated. Oscar was dehydrated man and hadn't made that weight for 12 years man and here he is weighing less than the little man.
PC: I remember you told me awhile back that all of these older guys think they can get by fighting once a year and that's not going to cut it.
FM: I already told you anyway, if you're an older fighter, you have to fight a little bit more and keep yourself sharp because if not, these younger guys get sharp much quicker anyway because they're young. It don't take much for them, but these older guys have to fight a little bit more. That's why I said Freddie Roach spoke of all of the right things. Oscar is a part-time fighter and that's what Freddie Roach said and I have to agree. It is what it is man and he said that. I ain't find no round to give him man; at all. It's a sad note to get out of the game on. It's a sad note when you are the biggest boxing draw of your time and you get whooped by the smallest guy in the game. I could tell you right now and they can say what they want to say, but Nacho don't know shit. Oscar know now that he don't know shit, but he had to find out the hard way. I don't care what nobody say. Oscar might not knew before, but he know now though.
PC: Would you like to see Lil Floyd come out of retirement and fight Pacquiao?
FM: Pacquiao is a winnable fight for Lil Floyd. Believe me when I tell you this though, Manny is fast on his feet moving around, but believe me when I tell you this, Ricky move around too. And Ricky is more aggressive than Pacquiao is. That's more of a reasonable fight to me. I would like to get 1 or 2 more fights with Hatton before we get into a fight with Pacman just so I could get a better feel for him, but if we had to fight him right now, we will do it and we will win.
[ Follow Percy Crawford on Twitter @MrLouis1ana ]