"People have to understand, Pacquiao got his status because a guy walked away, not because he did anything. No one was raving about Pacquiao until Floyd retired and I think what Floyd showed against Shane is why he is the pound-for-pound best fighter in the world. Pacquiao never did anything to earn it because he got more credit for beating 2 guys that Floyd had already beaten. Floyd beat De La Hoya at 154 pounds and he beat Ricky Hatton when Ricky Hatton was undefeated. He didn't fight any of those guys at a catchweight," stated world-class trainer Jeff Mayweather as he shared his thoughts on his nephew's performance against Shane Mosley and much more. You don't want to miss what else he had to say about Floyd Mayweather, Manny Pacquiao, Shane Mosley, Paul Williams and much more.
PC: It was great to finally meet you in person my man. How are you doing?
JM: Everything is good.
PC: You were with Celestino at the fights. Was he down strictly for the fight or is he back training?
JM: He came out for the fights, but he's going to come back on the 26th to actually start a training camp.
PC: You kind of called the fight the way it went. What did you think of your nephew's fight against Shane?
JM: I thought that Floyd did a masterful performance. I thought he silenced the critics as far as can he take a shot and all of that, and I think he came through with flying colors.
PC: I'm sure you have seen Floyd buzzed more than the average fan or spectator, being that you handled him early in his career. What was your reaction when Shane hurt him?
JM: I've seen Floyd hurt a long time ago early in his career. It was against a kid that was a nobody. I think that Floyd was hurt more in that fight than he's ever been hurt and he came right back and knocked the guy out. No one talks about that fight because that fight wasn't on a high marquee level. To be honest, watching it from where I was sitting, it appeared that he wasn't as hurt as everyone thought he was, but it was different when I saw it on TV. On TV, I saw that he was hurt kind of bad, but his great conditioning and tremendous belief in himself pulled him through.
PC: Why do you think your nephew has this reputation of being this soft fighter that so many people thought once he got tagged, he was going to fold?
JM: Well, I think it's just the case of Floyd just being a pure boxer. By him being a pure boxer, he outsmarts everyone and he barely gets hit, and so of course when a fighter never gets hit, you're going to question his chin. It's just like Roy Jones went forever without getting hit and when he finally got hit, he collapsed. I think that everyone was waiting for the same thing to happen to Floyd, but one thing that people don't realize is that Floyd works extremely hard and Floyd is physically stronger than most guys he fights anyway. He was physically stronger than Shane Mosley inside of the ring. I mean, Shane could probably lift more weights than him, but in terms of actually being able to rough up a fighter in the ring, Floyd can do that too. He just doesn't because that's not his style of fighting.
PC: What would you like to see Floyd do next?
JM: For the most part, I would like to see I think what everyone else wants to see and that's the fight with Pacquiao, but I also would like to see Pacquiao go through with it in the same manner as Shane Mosley did. I mean, Shane Mosley stepped up to the plate and did what was asked of him. I'm not saying that Floyd runs the sport of boxing, because he certainly doesn't, but at the same time, if you have any speculation of someone using PEDs and that person is not guilty of it, they will step up to the plate because they don't have nothing to hide. It's a situation where that fight is not being made strictly for that reason. It doesn't have anything to do with Floyd. Floyd has already stepped up when they said, "We want $10 million for every pound you are over; we want to use these gloves and this size ring." Floyd agreed to all of those things, but when Floyd finally got his turn and asked, "Will you do the testing," all hell broke loose. All hell broke loose and all lines of communication ended and it was like you asked the wrong thing. Yet people want to point the finger at Floyd. No, Floyd didn't do anything wrong. Floyd met the demands that were asked of him and Manny didn't do what was asked of him. So people can go around and say this and that, but hopefully what Floyd is doing is actually making it better for the sport on that level, especially when it gets to that level. I mean, it doesn't matter about the prelim fights because most of those guys can't even afford stuff like that, but when you get to that level...I mean, there are a lot of guys that cheat. If you are in that position of power, you should try to clean up the sport. Why would one guy take all of the tests and another guy won't?
PC: The problem I have with people criticizing the test is that this is the hurt business. It's not like a fighter testing positive means they can hit a ball farther than their opponent. Guys can get hurt and then it's too late.
JM: Oh yeah. This is not knocking a ball over a fence. You're trying to knock someone's head off and the reality of it is this, if someone dies in that ring, then all of a sudden it becomes an issue and people want to talk about it. But that's after the fact; it's too late. It's like anything else, if there is a way to prevent something from happening, you do it before it takes place.
PC: What do you think Shane has left and do you think he should fight on?
JM: People want to say Shane got old over night, but I think Shane will come back and look spectacular in his next fight. Floyd took Shane's confidence. You can see it in how often he was trying to touch gloves. He was trying to touch gloves every chance he got. He did it so much, Floyd got upset with him. Shane was like a bully. He sold a lot of wolf tickets, "I'm going to do this and I'm going to do that," and then, when that person finally says, "Okay, let's find out what the fuck you're going to do to me," now all of a sudden, it's not like you thought it was going to be. You thought somebody was going to really be scared of you and that wasn't the case at all. He pissed Floyd off and Floyd was ready to deliver him the challenge he asked for. He had something for Shane and once Shane started getting his ass whooped, some humbleness came out of him. The bully shit was gone. It's like the article I wrote, "Be careful what you ask for." He wanted to bully Floyd on the night of the Marquez fight and he had Bernard supporting him like that was his bodyguard. Bernard helped him to make the situation worse than what it really was. Now Bernard ain't there and it was time for you to step up on your own.
PC: Every time Floyd wins a fight, they start looking for the next guy that can beat him. A lot of people thought, and still think, Paul Williams is that guy...
JM: (Cutting in) It's always someone out there that can "beat" Floyd. It sure in the hell ain't Paul Williams. Paul Williams ain't crap. I'm going to be honest, when I was watching that fight, I was looking for Paul Williams to make a statement to try to have it where people will want to see him and Floyd fight, but I think in that fight, he showed nothing. Paul Williams showed how easy he is to get hit by a guy that's not even a boxer. Paul Williams showed how vulnerable he is and how easy he is to beat for Floyd in that fight is what I saw. He showed me nothing; nothing at all. He couldn't even hit Kermit Cintron and he was right in his face. Paul Williams looks great against certain type of fighters, guys that just let him bombard them, but against Floyd, he wouldn't be doing nothing but hitting air. He's not no devastating puncher or nothing like that, so chances are, he's not going to hurt Floyd or anything like that. He has a high volume of punches, but for the most part, as slow as he is, he's not going to hit Floyd. That fight showed...for anyone that's a true fan of boxing, it showed that he doesn't even belong in the ring with Floyd. He doesn't fight tall; he fights like a short guy. He wants to fight inside, which gives a guy a chance to beat him. The only thing good about him is he does throw a high volume of punches and that would make it tough for a guy that don't know how to deal with that and that creates problems for them, but he has no defense at all. Any time Cintron took a chance, he hit him and realistically, the fight with Sergio Martinez exposed him. I mean, Sergio Martinez is a good boxer, but he's nowhere near the boxer that Floyd is. To be honest, I honestly thought that Martinez won the fight.
Every time Floyd beats the person that they chose for him to beat, that he was supposed to be scared of and that he was supposed to lose to, they always create someone else. It started with this Margarito bullshit. Margarito was the most feared guy and nobody wanted to fight him. He turns around and gets beat by Paul Williams. Then all of a sudden they start singing the praises of Paul Williams and he turns around and gets beat by Quintana. Every single time they create the next man that is supposed to be able to beat Floyd, he gets knocked off by somebody a lot lesser than Floyd. It's like, "That was supposed to be the guy? That's him?" Bob Arum created this thing about people being scared of Margarito. He ain't beat nobody. He beat Kermit Cintron and he was a nobody at the time. I mean, can we say Cintron is a somebody even now?
PC: Thanks for the time my man. We gotta hang out more next time I'm out your way. Give me some closing thoughts my man.
JM: Oh yeah, for sure. Next time, we will get a chance to really kick it. People have to understand, Pacquiao got his status because a guy walked away, not because he did anything. No one was raving about Pacquiao until Floyd retired and I think what Floyd showed against Shane is why he is the pound-for-pound best fighter in the world. Pacquiao never did anything to earn it because he got more credit for beating 2 guys that Floyd had already beaten. Floyd beat De La Hoya at 154 pounds and he beat Ricky Hatton when Ricky Hatton was undefeated. He didn't fight any of those guys at a catchweight.
[ Follow Percy Crawford on Twitter @MrLouis1ana ]