"I would like to see Shane fight Pacquiao because I know for a fact the kind of fireworks that is going to come out of that fight is going to rock and shake the world. Them jokers are gonna rumble...The Margarito fight, a lot of people watching that fight saw a one-sided fight, but Pacquiao took some punishment in that fight and that's because he was coming to dish out punishment. When I look at Shane and Pacquiao, and I approach it from this statement, I look at Shane and it's like the front door is open, the flat screen TV is on the wall, but Shane's ass is sitting there on the couch with a shotgun. The door is unlocked, but it ain't as easy to get that television as you think. You gotta bring your ass and you may get that opportunity because you are the best theif in the world, but don't think because the door is unlocked, that it's free like that. People got caught up in that Shane Mosley thing because they seen Mayweather, one of the best technicians in the game, go on to persevere against Shane and I see all of these young bulls talk about what they would do and everything. Listen, fair warning to the young boys, you gotta ask yourself when you watch the Mayweather fight, would you have survived the 2nd round, " stated world-class trainer Naazim Richardson as he shared his thoughts on a potential clash between future Hall of Famers Shane Mosley and Manny Pacquiao. As usual, you don't want to miss what else he had to say.
PC: Of course, I have to ask you about the Mayweather/Pacquiao situation because you made great points when we spoke about it the other day.
NR: In boxing today, I have no proof that anybody is using any supplements or enhancment drugs. I have no proof of that. If I had proof, I would be the first one to say something. I wouldn't back down. But I have no proof of that, so what I tell people is pound-for-pound - I'm talking about this pound-for-pound thing - pound-for-pound Floyd Mayweather is the most talented athlete in boxing right now, but pound-for-pound Pacquiao is the best fighter in boxing today. The best fighter is Pacquiao; the more talented is Mayweather. We had a situation like this a few years ago and I told Bernard, "Roy Jones is the most talented fighter pound-for-pound and Felix Trinidad is the best fighter pound-for-pound." See, when we say fighter, we gotta come to an understanding of what a fighter is. That's why in the amateur program, they don't want you to call them fighters anymore. They want you to call them boxers. They don't like to use the word fighter, and I understand. It is a little nitpicky for me, but I understand. When we talk about fighters today, Pacquiao tucks his chin, puts his ass on the line and rumbles. Pacquiao is a sure enough fighter. You look at when that little Ricky Hatton jumped on him. Pacquiao will stand in the trenches and knock your dome off. Now, Mayweather will side step you and knock your dome off. I don't take nothing away from the young buck. I told Mayweather at the press conference, "You couldn't hit this bull in the ass with a hand full of rice." The kid is that cagey and you can't take nothing away from him. But as far as fighters, and when we start comparing ourselves to those guys that were fighters throughout our day, to the Durans and these dudes who went in there and fought, Pacquiao is cut from that cloth.
I give Freddie Roach and them guys full credit for what they do. I have people from the Philippines approach me. One guy approached me and said, "I've known Pacquiao since he was a kid coming up and watched his first pro fight. I think if Freddie wasn't there, Pacquiao would still be here, but if Pacquiao wasn't here, Freddie wouldn't still be here." He asked my opinion on that. I said, "My opinion is as simple as this, I give Freddie Roach credit for what he does for Pacquiao. It's a marriage and it takes a combination of two in any relationship. Both of them do their jobs and they do their jobs well." For those people who don't think Freddie created Pacquiao or got Pacquiao to where he is, if nothing else, he's had enough sense to keep his mouth shut and just go ahead and let the guy do what he do. That takes a talent; to not interfere takes a talent. I give Pacquiao and Roach full credit for what they do. I'm a fan of boxing and it's exciting to watch them rumble. I ain't never seen a Pacquiao fight to where I wanted to ask for my money back. Yeah, they may have been one-sided, but even the one I didn't see and everybody told me about, when I saw it, I thought it was more entertaining than anything. Everybody beat up on the Clottey fight and to me, Clottey exposed some things on Pacquiao. Margarito tried to go to it early, with the covering down and letting the guy expose himself to a degree.
PC: You told me the other day that as much as you want to see Mayweather and Pacquiao tangle, you didn't feel that fight had to happen. Explain why not?
NR: My thing is this, we want what we want. That's the kind of society we are. What people have to understand is, no matter what we get, we're going to want something more anyway. If Pacquiao goes in there and knocks Mayweather flat, y'all gonna ask him to go in there and jump on Martinez afterwards. If Mayweather goes in there and beats Pacquiao's brains out, then y'all gonna ask him to jump on Martinez afterwards. You gonna always want something more. That's what fans do. That's what we do as a people as a society period. These guys have given us entertainment, if you like the styles. If you like the technical aspect of boxing, Mayweather has done all he can do for you as a boxer. If you like that mix-it-up, rumble and brig ass to get ass style, then Pacquiao has done everything he can do and more. Pacquiao as exciting as he can be, so what more can you ask for from these guys? Yes, I would like to see them fight each other. We would all like to see them fight each other. Me, myself, I'm biased and the world will say I'm crazy, but I would like to see Shane fight Pacquiao because I know for a fact the kind of fireworks that is going to come out of that fight is going to rock and shake the world. Them jokers are gonna rumble.
PC: You gave Floyd Mayweather a ton of credit on his accomplishments before Shane fought him and you just gave Pacquiao a ton of praise, so how do you approach a fight against Manny Pacquiao if Shane just so happens to be next?
NR: The key statement I said is Pacquiao brings ass to get ass. Pacquiao will put his ass on the line. He came at [Juan] Manuel Marquez and that's why Marquez was able to crack him the way he was. The Margarito fight, a lot of people watching that fight saw a one-sided fight, but Pacquiao took some punishment in that fight and that's because he was coming to dish out punishment. When I look at Shane and Pacquiao, and I approach it from this statement, I look at Shane and it's like the front door is open, the flat screen TV is on the wall, but Shane's ass is sitting there on the couch with a shotgun. The door is unlocked, but it ain't as easy to get that television as you think. You gotta bring your ass and you may get that opportunity because you are the best theif in the world, but don't think because the door is unlocked that it's free like that. People got caught up in that Shane Mosley thing because they seen Mayweather, one of the best technicians in the game, go on to persevere against Shane and I see all of these young bulls talk about what they would do and everything. Listen, fair warning to the young boys, you gotta ask yourself when you watch the Mayweather fight, would you have survived the 2nd round? They would have been out of there in the 2nd round. I done seen some of these young bulls get hit with a lot less than that and be buckled and wiggled and do a dance and fall, and some even got knocked out. When people start thinking on those terms, they gotta ask themselves that because everybody can't stand up to them kind of hammers; these cats out here are really swinging hammers.
PC: Sergio Martinez scored possibly the Knockout of the Year against Paul Williams. He wants Mayweather and Pacquiao, but do you feel he is too big for those guys?
NR: I like Sergio Martinez. I'm a fan of boxing, man, and hard-working dudes like Sergio Martinez. For anyone not to like him, then you can't really like boxing. You got a guy like Sergio and Pacquiao, these exciting kids that are willing to work that hard. For a guy to say that they don't like them in boxing, they must've took their girlfriend, or stole their lawnmower, or did something personal because if you like boxing, you gotta like these dudes man. SergioÂ…I'm a Paul Williams fan. I like Paul Williams. When Paul Williams was a young kid in the amateurs, I always said, "He fights. He's a tall man, he's got the advantage of being a southpaw, but he is a fighter at heart." When you are a fighter at heart, you don't care when someone is telling you what you should do or how you should do it or a way you are capable of doing it. We saw it years ago; Paul Gonzales used to be like that. He was small for the weight class and all of that, but he was a fighter at heart. That's what they are going to do. I used to say about Williams, "Somebody gonna end up clipping that dude because he fights too much." The other thing that comes after that though is after they clip him, if he ever gets scary, they can kiss it goodbye after that. If he ever becomes a less exciting fighter and got a little scary, oh my goodness. Ain't no 147-pounder gonna be able to reach him. But Martinez did an excellent job and he felt like he was done wrong in the first fight and instead of crying about it and whining about it, he put himself in a position by going out and doing what he did against Pavlik and he brought the guy back to him. Here is a guy who didn't have to give him a rematch, but he had done put in so much work, the guy had to come back to him for a rematch. He put himself in that position, and I gave Paul Williams all kinds of cool points when I seen him get up from that shot [in the first fight]. I will go on record and say this though, if Pacquiao was to go up and beat Sergio Martinez, no disrespect to Ray Robinson or any of those guys, but he will be, in my book, the baddest motherfucker to ever put on a pair of gloves (laughing). I wouldn't fuck with Martinez. Pacquiao is a fucking fighter though man, but if he fights Martinez and wins, I give him the game.
[ Follow Percy Crawford on Twitter @MrLouis1ana ]