FightHype.com recently caught up with world-renowned trainer Floyd Mayweather Sr., who had quite a lot to say about Roy Jones Jr., Arturo Gatti, Miguel Cotto, Oscar De La Hoya and of course his son, Floyd Mayweather Jr. In part one of this exclusive interview, Mayweather Sr. shares his thoughts on Anthony Hanshaw's performance against Roy Jones Jr. as well as how he thinks his other pupil, WBC light heavyweight champion Chad Dawson, would fare if given the same opportunity to face Jones. Plus, you don't want to miss what he had to say about Floyd Mayweather Jr.'s clash with Ricky Hatton and how he thinks Oscar De La Hoya was trying to sabotage the fight.
PC: How are you doing my man?
FM: I'm doing great!
PC: What did you think of Anthony Hanshaw's performance against Roy Jones Jr.?
FM: I thought that he put up a courageous performance. I thought that Hanshaw pulled the cover off of Roy and showed what's really left of him, which is not too much. I just had Hanshaw for about a month man. Maybe 5 weeks at the most. When you together for a short time like that, you're really just getting the feel of a guy, you know? I thought he done very well. He pulled the cover off of Roy and showed his ass to the world and that's the way it is.
PC: Will you still continue to train Hanshaw?
FM: I told him if you lose to Roy, you could go get yourself another trainer. That's what I told him. I told him not to come back this way looking, but in all honesty man, a lot of people thought that Hanshaw won. A lot of people thought that Roy laid on the ropes too much and didn't really throw no punches.
PC: The crowd reacted to pretty much everything Roy did too.
FM: That's what was happening. If Hanshaw was in his backyard, he would've been getting his hand raised. That's what I think because, really man, Roy was just trying to throw one right hand. He was grazing Hanshaw with them and the crowd goes crazy. Roy, what can I say man, he's a dead duck in the pond now. Roy is not the Roy of old and it definitely ain't no new one coming out. That tells you right there it's over.
PC: Will Hanshaw stay at 175 or will he go back to 168?
FM: No, no, he will be at 68. I had him at 71 and he hadn't even worked real hard. It's not a problem with him making weight. He will definitely go back to 68 because he stands to get a chance to fight Jermain Taylor or Kelly Pavlik. I'm just basing that off of his performance. It puts him in the light. We are looking forward to stuff like that. I said I wasn't going to train him, but he put up a courageous fight man, to where a lot of people thought he won. A lot of people have told me, "Roy didn't win that fight." The closest it could've gone, and I speculate, that was the 14-13 card. Roy did not throw enough punches really man. You have to throw punches to win fights and you have to be effective. He threw some effective shots, but he didn't throw enough. Overall, I think he did a good job and I said I wouldn't work with him no more if he lost, but we'll still be working together. He has something left.
PC: You train another light heavyweight that I'm sure you think poses more of a threat to Roy Jones. Would you like to see Chad Dawson fight Roy?
FM: (laughing) Now that's a real joke. That's a real joke there. I know for a fact, there aint no question, there aint no doubt, and it aint no diggity. I'll tell you what its all about. Lookie here, if Chad hit his ass, it's over. Chad can punch. He can fight. He's strong and tall. Hey man, lookie here, it's too many things against him. Chad got heart. I'll tell you what Roy didn't have and that's heart. The heart is definitely gone. He's in there man, but he's a shadow of himself man. I looked at Roy in the first round when Anthony came out on him man and he was so damn confused. He didn't even know what the hell to do. He was looking like, damn man, where in the hell is this fight going to go. I'll tell you one thing, he's blessed. He wasn't in Florida, but he's blessed that he was right there in Mississippi and that's part of his backyard. He was blessed he was there or he would have six losses under his belt. I'll be honest man, if I had a little more time, I still think he pulled it off and a lot of people think he pulled it off, but if I really had time with him, like another month, it would've been scary. A lot of the things I was telling him to do in there, he couldn't relate to it because we just hadn't been together. We have to be bonded man. We didn't have our terminology down. A lot of times, he did what he could do and sometimes that wasn't working. When you're doing something like that, you always have to have some other resort to go back to. By us not being together that long, he couldn't go back to what I was telling him. I was telling him to throw the right hand and that would open Roy up. I told him to throw the right hand a couple of times and he'll close up and then hit him with the left hook because his hands going to be in front of his face. After the left hook, drop the right hand right back down there and he would be open from blocking the hook. Anywhere you hit Roy now, that's where his hands go. When you throw straight down the middle, he closes both hands up in front of him and then you hit him with the hook. He'll open up because he got hit with a hook and you drop that right hand down the middle. The feints work man; you have to use a lot of feints. He still has a long way to go, but he could get there in a short time.
PC: Did you think Floyd Jr. would fight again?
FM: Yeah man, all that was a bunch of talk. I never believed it when I heard it. All fighters do that man. The only fighter I know who did that and didn't show his face was Marvin Hagler. Hagler kissed it goodbye and he was doing the right thing because he was up there in that age too. Honestly, I thought he got whooped by Sugar Ray Leonard. Everybody don't feel that way about that fight, but to me, Ray Leonard and Hagler was a more evident fight than the one between Jones and Tony.
PC: How do you see the fight between your son and Hatton playing out?
FM: People wanted him to fight Hatton or Mosley and I said you should take the easiest fight for the most money.
PC: So you think he should be fighting Hatton?
FM: Exactly! As a matter of fact, here's what I think happened. I don't know for sure, but this is what I think. I think De La Hoya was trying to cut Lil Floyd off. Lil Floyd can make 47. Lil Floyd could make 40. De La Hoya was trying to go back to 47 to get the fight with Hatton to cut Lil Floyd off. De La Hoya would come back to fight Hatton, but not Lil Floyd because De La Hoya thinks Lil Floyd is going to run? Floyd is supposed to fight his own fight man. He would be a damn fool to stand in front of a man that can put your lights out. You do what it takes to win. Oscar wouldn't be doing it because he needs the money. Right now, it ain't about money with him. This is my piece I have on De La Hoya, "money is the root of all evil, greed overrides common sense and you don't have a clue that money don't make you." These guys are trying to get everything that they see in front of them. This man got so much money. We're talking over 300 million dollars. He doesn't have to put on a glove or nothing again, but he doing it his own way. I'm striving to do my thing, but to tell you the truth, I wouldn't want to be that rich any damn way. I think Oscar was trying to be nasty in that situation because my son beat him and he didn't like the way my son disrespected him on 24/7 and I think he was trying to retaliate in his own way. I think Lil Floyd was very disrespectful on the show. I thought he was disrespectful to his grandmother, daddy, mother, kids and everybody, but there's no reason for a man with 300 million dollars to go and try to get this chump change.
