Tweet This Post

by Geoffrey Ciani

His views on his upcoming fight against Mikkel Kessler:

“I’m feeling pretty good. You know I have been training and stuff over here. I’ve been feeling pretty good. I feel strong. My weight is where I need to be so I’m ready.”

Regarding the fact that he was originally supposed to meet Kessler in Group Stage 3 of the Super Six before Kessler pulled out with vision concerns:

“You know I have no malice towards him or anything like that. I wasn’t hard up to fight him because of that. I’m just happy I’m fighting, I’m happy I’m back in the ring, I’m happy it’s against an opponent like Mikkel Kessler, and I’m looking forward to winning.”

On what he believes a victory against Kessler will do for him at this stage of his career:

“It will do a lot. It will put me either back where I was or above that. It should wash away most of my ignominious performance in the Super Six Tournament. You know I don’t have to lose all the weight to make weight. I don’t have to go in the ring weak. So I can go in and pretty much be myself.”

Regarding the fact he has prior experience fighting at 175 while Kessler does not:

“Let’s clarify that! The fight is taking place at 172 because Kessler didn’t want to do 175! He’s parading around like this fight is at a full-fledged 175, but no it’s not! It’s at 172.”

On his most recent fight which was a close victory against Sebastian Demers:

“It wasn’t a close fight. I won a unanimous decision, but I took that fight on fairly short notice. I wasn’t really prepared for that fight. I didn’t really expect the fight to happen. I didn’t feel good, I didn’t feel strong, but I still came away with a win.”

His views on Kessler’s style as a boxer:

“His style’s not that tough. I mean he’s pretty straight up and down European, no special effects. He has a good 1-2, not a lot of head movement. I’m not saying he’s an easy fighter, but he really doesn’t have a tough style to deal with. I mean I know he’s in shape. He’s an in shape guy and he stays busy. That will probably be the hardest thing to deal with. But basically I just have to work on being myself, working on doing what I can do when I’m physically near my peak, when I’m physically feeling good, when I’m not weight drained or walking into the ring weak at 40%. You know I’m just working on being myself.”

On what he feels will be his biggest advantage against Kessler:

“Speed and power. I mean people can say size, but speed and power definitely. Like I said I was raised more so in the American scene of boxing. So we have a lot of options and we a lot of tricks up our sleeves. He really doesn’t have many, but we have a lot of different avenues we can take as far going on to win this fight.”

On what things he may have learned from Kessler’s two losses to Andre Ward and Joe Calzaghe:

“Of course I’ll take a little bit. I mean even though Joe Calzaghe is from the UK he fights with more of an American style of fighting, just as Andre Ward is from America and fights with more of an American style of fighting. Like I said I’ll just have to be basic but not very basic. I’ll have to give Mikkel Kessler different looks. I mean I’m the better athlete so I’ll have to take advantage of my athleticism and using speed and a lot of feinting. I’ll just do different things to him to offset him, and then on top of that he still has to deal with my power.”

His views on why Kessler decided to move up now to face him when Kessler previously stated he had no intentions of fighting north of 168:

“I think he still can make 168. I think this was just available to him right now. I don’t think there was very many meaningful fights that he wanted right now. Maybe all of the fights are booked up that he wanted at 68 right now. I don’t know. I’m not Mikkel Kessler, but that’s just my own assumption. I’m pretty sure he can still make 168. He’s not a very big guy.”

His views on Chad Dawson’s recent victory against Bernard Hopkins:

“It was pretty much what I expected. You know Bernard was a great champion. He’s a great fighter. His best days are behind him. Hopefully that’s it for him. I expected Chad to win. I expected Bernard to be past it, and it seemed like he was trying to mount an attack but I think he was doing more posturing than actually fighting. So I think Chad is the man at 175 right now.”

His views on Chad Dawson versus Andre Ward and whether he believes fighting at 168 will make a big difference:

“Yes there’s a big difference. I think Dawson is pretty much my size. He shouldn’t be trying to fight at 168. I don’t think that’s a good idea for him to do. If it happened at 175, a weight they’re both comfortable at, it’s a very interesting fight. Ward’s a very smart fighter. It’s hard to say. It’s very hard to say who would win that fight.”

On who he is potentially targeting if he can secure a victory against Kessler:

“If I had my own path to choose, if a guy like Dawson, or Cloud, or Shumenov were available I would take one of them, but if not I’d fight Gabriel Campillo. I’d fight him. I want a meaningful fight. I don’t want to go back to just fighting whoever. I would love a Dawson, or a Cloud, or a Shumenov. If those guys aren’t available then I’ll take Gabriel Campillo.”

On what he believes will most surprise fans when he steps in against Kessler:

“Just everything! My slickness, my athleticism, my defense! They’ll see an Allan Green they haven’t seen probably since, I mean if they watched a lot of my earlier fights at 175 they’ll see a lot of flashes of that and some of my earlier fights at 168. They’ll be surprised by how easily I handle a lot of things that Kessler brings.”

Regarding his reflections on the Super Six now that the tournament is complete:

“For me, for myself from my personal view, it was quite an experience being a part of history. But obviously if you look back with hindsight you say hey when you fought Ward man you couldn’t make the weight. Why did you continue on? I wanted to be a man and honor my contract, and yadda, yadda, yadda. But I think it was good for boxing. I think Andre Ward did an excellent job, I think Carl Froch did an excellent job, and I wish them both the best.”

On whether he believes Ward is better off staying at 168 at present time:

“I think he should stay at 168. I think he still has Bute. He still has a little bit of business that can be taken care of there. I don’t think his decision to go up should be pressured by a challenge. When he says he wants to go up to 175 then he should go up, but I don’t think he should necessarily be pressured by a challenge if that wasn’t his decision in the beginning.”

His official prediction for his fight against Kessler:

“My prediction is that I’ll win. I can’t really expand and get into details. I know what I feel like is going to happen. I mean it will be victory, but my prediction is that I’ll win the fight. I’ll win it handily.”

On what fans can expect from this fight:

“They can expect a very good fight. They can expect me to win the fight in dominating fashion. They can expect me to dominate Mikkel Kessler. They can expect me at my best and they can expect him at his best. Like I said I have a lot of options. I have a lot of tricks up my sleeve. A lot of people want to put me in a box and say well can Allan deal with what Kessler has. Kessler’s never fought anyone like me. The question is can he deal with what I have. I’m fast, and I hit hard, and I’m going to give him a lot of different looks. So the moment he deals with my speed, the moment Mikkel Kessler feels my power, the first time he gets hit by a big strong guy like me, we’ll see how he reacts! I have never known it to be in his character to do a lot of trash talking, but for whatever reason he’s been doing it. I don’t know if he’s fearful or something, or trying to convince himself. I don’t understand what’s going on, but listening to him and talk and the things he’s saying. I’ve been watching Mikkel Kessler for years. He’s not really been one to talk trash but he’s doing it now. I don’t know who he thinks I am. I’m not Mehdi Bouadla the last guy who gave him hell for about six or seven rounds. I’m not him. You’re fighting a live guy. You’re fighting a real fighter. So he’ll have to put up or shut up on May 19.”

***

For those interested in listening to the Allan Green interview in its entirety, it begins approximately twenty-four minutes into the program.

RIGHT CLICK and ‘SAVE AS’ TO DOWNLOAD EPISODE #169

***

This article was also published May 19, 2012 at East Side Boxing

***

by Geoffrey Ciani

Regarding his upcoming fight against Lucian Bute:

“Yeah I’m very excited about fighting in the UK for a change, and for it to be on my home soil so to speak in Nottingham, I’m very excited about it.”

His views on the type of reception Bute will receive from the audience:

“You know he’s the away fighter. He’s not going to be well received. They’re going to be polite and they’re going to be honorable, because he’s a fighter and the fight fans got a lot of respect for both ends. But he’s going to get booed. I’m going to get cheered. I’m the home fighter. He’s the away fighter. He’ll get plenty of respect before and after the fight. I’m sure he will. He comes across very well. You see he’s a gentleman. He’s very polite and he speaks well. So it’s not like when Andre Dirrell came over and he was very mouthy, and a bit cheeky, and leery and a bit arrogant, you know. Lucian Bute is none of them so he’ll be alright.”

His views on the recent announcement that Bute was suffering from a foot problem:

“Yeah I heard about it! I was a bit worried that he was going to pull out, and it seems that the antibiotics he’s been on from the doctors has cleared up the infection and he’s okay! He’s fit and healthy to fight. So it’s good news! I don’t think it would have affected him too much. I think it was a toe or a foot infection that spread up his leg a little bit, but if he’s got antibiotics then that will be straight on top of it and clear it up. I’m sure it’s fine and I’m glad he’s not going to delay the fight. We could do without that to be honest.”

On what he is expecting from Bute on May 26:

“What am I expecting from him? Yeah! I’m expecting Bute to come and fight the fight of his life! That’s what he needs to do to keep his title in my hometown, because it’s going to be very tough for him. I’m coming with all guns blazing, fit and strong. I’m feeling very good so I expect Lucian Bute to show up like a professional, to be fit and strong, and to come and win. In his mind he’s coming here to win the fight but he’s got a very tough task (1) because he’s away from home, he’s in my back yard, and (2)because he’s fighting me. He’s not fought anybody at my level in his whole career. But having said that he’s beaten everybody he’s faced. That’s all you can do, beat who’s in front of you.”

On what made him to decide to take on a guy like Bute coming off the loss to Andre Ward in the Super Six Final following the tough stretch of opponents he has faced since even before the Super Six even started:

“You know it’s just the kind of man I am. I’m very, very disappointed I lost the WBC title. So with that away then to get straight back into world title contention, so that’s just where I’m at. I didn’t want to fight a Joe Bloggs, or a bum of the month, or a journeyman. I just didn’t want to do it. I got no motivation for that and no desire to just have a warm-up fight and a tick over fight. I’m 34 years old. I feel I’m in my prime. I feel fit and strong, and I feel great. But you know I’m not 24. I’ve not got time to waist. You don’t see Floyd Mayweather fighting Joe Bloggs and names that you don’t know about. I’m not saying I’m Floyd Mayweather by the way, but you get what I’m saying. He’s always involved in big fights. Even if he has a year out or even if he’s inactive for awhile, he doesn’t come back and have a steady fight. Now I know I’ve been fighting the best of the best, but that’s what I’m about! You know I’m a man’s man! I’m very, very serious about the sport and very serious about boxing. I really want to get a world title back around my waist. So the only way to do that was to fight Lucian Bute, because the WBC title wasn’t available, the WBA wasn’t available because Ward had it. So IBF, that’s the next best one as far as I’m concerned. There are only three major governing bodies and that’s the WBC, WBA, and IBF. So Lucian Bute was there and my promoter did a fantastic job and made the fight. So I’m a very happy man.”

His evaluation of Bute’s skill set as a boxer:

“I think he’s a very good boxer/fighter. He can box, he can move, as all southpaws can. You know southpaws are so awkward and they’re quite skillful, but they’re counterpunchers. They move on the back foot and they like to pick you off at range. He’s very good Bute. You got to give him his credit. He’s quite an all arounder. For a southpaw he can fight a bit on his front foot, he can box and move, he uses the ring well. So he’s got a lot of skills. He’s fast. He can bang. If you look at his record is it 28 or 30 wins he stopped about 24. He’s got a high percentage knockout ratio. So he’s got a lot of positive attributes going for him, other than the fact that the level he’s been mixing it at hasn’t been at a super high standard. I mean the two names that stand out on his record are Brian Magee and Glengoffe Johnson, two fighters that I’ve also beat. I knocked out Magee quite bad six years ago, and I broke my hand in round two and I got my knockout later on. I think that fight would have lasted two or three rounds if I didn’t break my hand in round two. We’ve shared another name actually, Sergey Tatevosyan. We shared that opponent. He went twelve rounds and won on points, and I knocked out Tatevosyan, well I stopped him on his feet in the corner in round two or three I think. It might have been round two. So on paper I’ve done a better job than Bute. I’ve beaten a better level of opposition, and I fought at a higher level for longer, and with the opponents we’ve got in common I’ve made easier work of them. Although there is an argument that he did a better job against Johnson than what I did. When Johnson fought me, Glengoffe Johnson, he came to fight. I don’t believe against Bute that Johnson came to fight. I think he just came to get through the fight, and that makes a big difference when someone’s putting you on your back foot and letting shots go. With that aside Bute is a very good fighter who deserves respect. He’s unbeaten and I’m looking forward to taking the title off him, because I really believe I got what it takes to put him under some serious pressure. Especially in my backyard, especially in Nottingham, I’m putting him under a lot of pressure with a high work rate. I’m super fit at the minute. Everything is going well in the gym. I did 13 rounds the other day. I did 7 and then 6 and I just did 12 rounds today. I just weighed out at 167 pounds and 4 ounces, and when I went in the gym I weighed 170, and I’ve weighed about 167.5. So I’m on the way, I’m in great shape, and I’ll stop talking now and let you ask another question.” (laughs)

On how he would rate Lucian Bute amongst the other top opponents he has faced in his career:

“It’s difficult to do that, because I thought about this. Somebody asked me a similar question the other day, and because he’s not fought at that top, top level. The Johnson fight doesn’t really count, and the Brian Magee fight don’t count either because Brian Magee is well past his best. He’s had a couple of good ones of late, but really he’s well past his best. It’s hard to judge. It’s hard to judge a level of opposition based on just what you see, especially when they’re fighting low level opposition. You know Lucian Bute might be a great, he might be an all time great, and he might be up there pound-for-pound, but at the minute there is nothing that indicates or proves that he is. You know I fought Mikkel Kessler who’s been in the ring with the likes of Joe Calzaghe and top level fighters like that; and Andre Ward is now being considered pound-for-pound one of the top five; and Andre Dirrell, you know they’re both Olympic Medalists; Arthur Abraham was a knockout puncher and had beaten everybody, and I just got a flawless victory over him; Jermain Taylor was undisputed middleweight champ. He just beat Jeff Lacy and then he fought me on a high. He felt confident he was going to take my belt, and that was a good fight and one that I finished emphatically and dramatically at the end. So you could look at me and say he’s a good fighter because of this, this, and this. But when you look at Bute you can say he’s a decent fighter, but in all honesty who has he beaten and what has he done? He got knocked out as an amateur quite bad. I know that was a long time ago by Golovkin, but he got knocked out as an amateur! You should not really be getting knocked out by amateurs to be honest. If you got a good chin, with the head guards and the gloves, you don’t really get that badly hurt and he was knocked out cold. And let’s not forget the Librado Andrade fight! Now I know he stopped him to the body in the rematch, but you only got to look at that fight and really and truly Lucian Bute lost that fight by knockout stoppage late. He was saved by the referee in the dying seconds as far as I’m concerned, because he was badly gone. So you could count that fight as a loss. It’s hard to assess him and say he’s this good, but we’re certainly going to find out, aren’t we, how good he is on May 26 because he’s in Nottingham and he’s facing Carl Froch, The Cobra, who’s on the comeback trail so I’m very dangerous and I’m very hungry.”

His views on the upcoming heavyweight showdown between David Haye and Dereck Chisora:

“You know what? I’d rather not comment on that at the minute, because I’m thinking about my fight. My fight is two weeks away, and I don’t even want to take anything away from my fight one bit. It’s so important to me this world title. I’m coming off the back of a loss, and to me, it’s all about me at the minute. So I got nothing to say about that.”

His evaluation of his performance in his decision loss against Andre Ward in the Super Six Final:

“Oh I had a very bad night! It was a poor performance by myself. I was loading up. I was trying to knock him out. I was tensing up, and showing him my punches, and trying to hit him hard instead of boxing and moving and putting 3s and 4s together. It was a below par performance for me, and it was a very good performance from Andre Ward. You got to give him his credit, because with what he does he’s very boring and you know he’ll put a glass eye to sleep, but he’s effective. He gets the win. So give him his credit, but let’s not get excited because he’s not very exciting. But you know he beat me fair and square! I got to be honest. He did enough to win. I didn’t hit him enough.”

On whether he would be interested in pursuing a rematch with Ward for a unification match in the event he beats Bute:

“Absolutely not if I’m totally honest. I think Andre Ward steps up to light heavyweight anyway, so I don’t think a unification fight with Andre Ward is there. Because of the reasons I’ve said about Ward I’ve got no aspirations or desire to fight him. I don’t like that style of fighting! I got no respect for it. It’s obviously very effective with what he does, but let’s be honest. He’s not very exciting, and I’m an exciting type of fighter. I’m in there to entertain, I’m in there to please the television, put bums on seats, and get the crowd going. And a fight with Andre Ward, anybody against Andre Ward, it’s never going to happen. Look at all of his fights. They’re all the same.”

On what fans can expect when he squares off against Bute on May 26:

“What can they expect? Yeah. They can expect fireworks! It’s going to be a great night of boxing between two top athletes. You know Lucian Bute wants to defend his title away from home against me, a top level fighter. I so badly want to win this world title in front of my home fans. I’ve left no stones unturned. So the fight fans, the non-boxing fans, the armchair fans, the TV broadcasters—they’re in for a real, real treat. Let me tell you. This is going to be a great, great fight for the fight fans. It really is. This fight can end in one of two ways. It can either go the distance and be a real humdinger for twelve rounds where he is trying to survive and he’s letting shots go, and I’m putting him under pressure and landing body shots and head shots. There may even be a knockdown involved. He may go down and get back up and then hold on. Or it could be over very quick because when Bute feels the power and the intensity, and the pressure from me that he’s never been put under before, he may just fall apart! It might just be a one-sided performance by me. But either way it’s very exciting and fight fans should be looking forward to this one. They really should. It’s amazing that a major American broadcaster, and I’m not saying that EPIX isn’t a decent TV channel—but it’s disappointing that Showtime has turned their back on this one and that HBO aren’t involved, because I think it warrants a big box office and it warrants a big TV station getting a hold of it. Thankfully we got Sky Sports in Britain onboard, which is great forpeople in Britain. But I think the American fans deserve to see this fight on one of the major networks. But there you go. It’s not my decision. It’s the paymaster’s decision and they’ve decided not to go with it, which is amazing really.”

On whether he has anything to say he would like to pass on to all of his fans:

“All The Cobra fans? Yes of course! I always got time for them! Thanks very much for all of your support. It’s been a wonderful journey. I’m not saying the journey is over. You know I’m a former two-time WBC champion. I’m now fighting for the IBF title and this is the most important fight of my career, because I cannot go out on my career on a loss to Ward in the way in which I lost it. It was just a dull fight! It was a terrible night for me, and a night in which it brings me great sadness and it upsets me when I think about it. It’s just awful! So this fight for me now with Bute means everything, and all of my fans that have been behind me, they supported me from start to finish and traveled all over the world. It’s not cheap following The Cobra. I’ve been away that much and my British fans have to dig deep into their pockets to come and support me. But I got a lot of love as well in America. There are a lot of American boxing fans that support me and are behind me. So I just want to say a big thanks to all of them, and be watching me because the journey is not over yet!”

***

For those interested in listening to the Carl Froch interview in its entirety, it begins approximately one hour and nineteen minutes into the program.

RIGHT CLICK and ‘SAVE AS’ TO DOWNLOAD EPISODE #168

***

This article was also published May 15, 2012 at East Side Boxing

***

by Geoffrey Ciani

1. The Fight Should Take Place at 168
Chad Dawson is the one who called Andre Ward out and said he was willing to do the fight at 168. Ward accepted his challenge. If Dawson wanted the fight at 175 then he should not have publicly stated that he would be willing to venture south.

2. The Fight Should Take Place at 175
Even though Dawson issued the challenge, the light heavyweight division still represents a more prestigious weight class with a far richer history. Ward should move up and face Chad at a weight that he is comfortable with so that he will not be weight drained. After all, Ward was a Gold Medalist at 178 in the Olympics.

3. Compromise With a Catch-Weight
That only seems fair! Have them meet in the middle this way neither champion has an inherent advantage over the other.

4. Who Cares?
In this case it is not about weight. It is about seeing two technically sound elite fighters engage in a battle of strategies, adjustments, and counter-adjustments. Chad can make 168 just as easily as Andre can make 175. The better skilled fighter will win regardless of where the fight takes place.

***

All of these viewpoints are valid. So what do the fans think of it? To get a sense for this, a recent poll on the East Side Boxing Forum asked the following question:

“What weight would you ideally like to see Ward-Dawson fought at?”

33 fans responded to the poll, and 25 (or 75.8%) of those who participated in the poll said it should be at 175. The general consensus seems to be that unless the fight takes place at 175 Dawson’s performance will be compromised. Some claim it would cause Dawson to lose the fight. Others contend it would discredit an impressive Ward victory.

Only 3 (or just over 9%) of the participants polled said they would prefer to see the fight at 168, and another 3 said they would prefer a catch weight with the remaining 2 stating it makes no difference.

Personally I am with the crowd that does not believe it will make much difference. Both Ward and Dawson are elite level champions in the current landscape. Dawson says he can comfortably make 168. His trainer John Scully agrees with him. I see no good reason not to take these two at their word. Beyond that, Ward has already competed north of 175 en route to winning his Gold Medal. So we know he can compete there.

Interestingly enough some fans are even intrigued by the idea of having them meet in a situation where Ward’s super middleweight title and Dawson’s light heavyweight title would both be on the line. While I am personally opposed to this idea, this is something that can give the contest some added appeal to improve its marketability. There is also an historical precedent here. Sugar Ray Leonard defeated Donny Lalonde in 1988 to win the WBC version of both the super middleweight and light heavyweight titles. So this is another angle that could potentially come into play.

At the end of the day whether this fight happens at 175, 168, or somewhere in between does not matter to me. I would simply like to see the fight. Since most fans, however, appear to believe the contest will be viewed as something more legitimate at 175, then perhaps Ward, Dawson, and the powers that be should all take note. These two champions, after all, are battling for legacy when they square off, and the fans are the ones who decide the ultimate verdict on that front.

***

This article was also published May 14, 2012 at East Side Boxing

***

by Geoffrey Ciani

His views on Floyd Mayweather’s victory against Miguel Cotto:

“I thought it was a very good fight for boxing. I was very impressed with Floyd. I thought he fought a very good fight. He did what was necessary, not just in terms of winning the fight strategy-wise, but also he did what was necessary to kind of reinvent his image as an exciting fighter. The Victor Ortiz fight was starting to become interesting and unfortunately there was the butt and that situation, but this fight here he I think not only established himself as an exciting fighter but was also an entertaining person in the ring. For the most part I’ve always said that Floyd made big, big money mainly from the 24/7. The 24/7 has been phenomenal! That’s what I really think, as he said, he created and he made the 24/7, and that’s what he’s made money from to me more so than electrifying performances. He himself admitted if he would have stepped it up, he probably would have stopped Shane, he probably would have stopped Marquez, and some of those other guys. He’s been a phenomenal attraction mainly from 24/7 more so than from his fights, but this last fight his performance I thought really made him a star that lived up to the star billing that he created with the 24/7.”

His evaluation of Mayweather’s performance and the type of fight that he fought:

“Well I think he wanted to show that he can sit there and fight and perform, and he took risks. I mean he took risks, but he was still real savvy with the way he was rolling with punches and picking them off. I thought it was a masterful performance on his part the way he avoided punches. Sometimes in the past he would just put his head halfway out the ring where you couldn’t hit him, like in the Ricky Hatton situation or even prior to the butt with Ortiz. But in this case he was rolling with punches, slipping punches, and punching back, placing his punches, and once Miguel would slow down then Floyd would take control again. I just thought he fought a good fight and it was exciting because with a lot of the fans who were not so close to ringside, they all thought that Miguel had been more effective than he really was. With a lot of those punches if you were sitting closer, you could see Floyd picking them and rolling. Outside of the bloody nose Floyd really was unmarked, and I thought that sometimes when the crowd would go crazy his head would like snap back, because he fights with his head high anyway. He has so much control that he likes to see and control everything. So that’s just his style. A lot of the effectiveness of Miguel’s punches was exaggerated to same degree, but Miguel came to fight and he forced Floyd to fight outside of his comfort zone, which is what I have been wanting to see for a long time. He came through very well. I actually gave Miguel maybe three or four rounds, but I mean it looked good from the crowd and the audience because a lot of people were comparing this fight to Floyd’s other performances. So he was still having a struggle for a change and we tendency to give the opponent more credit than he really deserved. But I thought Miguel did what he was supposed to do. If he had operated behind a hard authoritative jab I thought he could have been much more effective.”

On whether he believes Mayweather may have performed below par in order to change the image a lot of fans had about a potential matchup with him and Manny Pacquiao following Pacquiao’s controversial win against Juan Manuel Marquez in November:

“I don’t think necessarily. I think Floyd was really just feeling that good about himself in this fight. He was determined to put on a very dynamic show. In a lot of ways I don’t think it’s fair to Manny either, because Manny Pacquiao himself has been the really the most consistent face in carrying the sport of boxing the last five or six years. We can never forget that! He was fighting the best, and then on a consistent basis he was fighting the best, too. As far as picking his spots, and taking his vacations and his holiday, I think Floyd had about five fights in the last four years or five years. So we have to give Manny credit for that too, and when you fight the top fights on a regular basis, which is what Manny Pacquiao did, you’re going to have some bad fights sometimes! It’s like everybody is evaluating who is the pound-for-pound best or who’s going to win between Manny and Floyd based on their last performances. But Juan Manuel Marquez is always going to be a problem for Manny Pacquiao just because he has studied his style, and then Floyd beats Marquez easily but Floyd is a physically bigger person and a different type of fighter. But it’s just styles make fights.”

His views on Cotto’s performance and where Miguel Cotto goes from here:

“Well I thought Miguel was going to fight that type of a fight. Prior to the fight in all of my interviews I said that fight should be 7 to 5. There is no way it should be 7 to 1 because Miguel is still a top first class fighter. It’s unfortunate that when we look at his whole career, which has been an unbelievable fabulous career, we only see the two signature fights that stands out in everyone’s mind—the Margarito loss and the Manny Pacquiao loss. Those are fights where not only was he beaten, but he was beaten in a matter with the illegal hand wraps or whatever, but still the image of him going down to his knees and being beaten into submission in both of those fights has just stayed in the fans minds. So they just couldn’t see beyond that. And never having seen Floyd beaten really, they just decided in their minds he was like a 7 to 1 underdog, but I never could see that. Floyd was smart himself. Really if you look at the loaded gloves that Margarito had, which everyone has pretty much accepted as fact, and then you look at the fact that Miguel really starved himself trying to make that contracted weight for Manny Pacquiao. Floyd expected Miguel to be a tough opponent, and that’s what it turned out to be. I think Miguel acquitted himself very well and he’s still in big demand. He didn’t do anything to damage his reputation, and with a little more of a proper effort I think he could have won the fight possibly even if he worked behind a hard authoritative jab. But nevertheless I think his image is really high, and I think he will be one of the most sought after opponents for all of the other champions in the 154 pound division, and even maybe by Sergio Martinez.”

His views on whether Mayweather could have stopped Cotto when with about a minute left in the final round he seemingly staggered Miguel and had him badly hurt:

“I’m glad you asked me that question, Geoff. I think Miguel was hurt seriously. If Floyd would have stepped it up I have no doubt in my mind he would have knocked out Miguel! I feel very strongly Miguel was hurt! Floyd, he made a decision to just go ahead and win the fight. He had won it comfortably and did not want to take any risks. But I think it was the left uppercut. He finally found his range to come up between the gloves, and he had been doing it all night, but he turned Miguel and had Miguel hurt. I think another time he just moved away, which surprised everyone, and I think another time he was clinched. But he never did go all out to the extent where he tried to get the knockout, but if he had I believe he would have been able to stop Miguel.”

His views ono the effectiveness of Mayweather’s left uppercut in the fight:

“Well everyone that watches Miguel fight, it’s a known fact that has been his biggest weaknesses, is punches up between the center. The way that he fights with his elbows tucked out and his head down low, you know he catches punches on the side very well, but the punches up between the middle—I mean look at Margarito’s fights and even Manny Pacquiao. Most of the punches guys were hitting him with, it’s a known fact in the sport that that’s his biggest weakness. That’s why when I did train him I tried to keep him from fighting to low, and I made him operate with his body in more of a normal position, and operate behind a very hard authoritative jab. I knew that was the main thing that opponents looked for, because when he fights like that, he’s about a 5’7” guy or almost 5’8”, but when he fights that way he’s like 5’2” or 5’1”. To me he doesn’t move as effectively as he could when he’s fighting in a normal balanced out position. So as a result that’s why everyone tries to hit him with punches up between the gloves. Floyd had been trying that all night long, but it seemed like at the end of the fight in those last few rounds that fatigue had set in on Miguel both physically and mentally, and Floyd was able to start connecting.”

His views on Saul Alvarez’s decision victory against Sugar Shane Mosley:

“I thought it was a very good performance. He’s very a explosive and exciting fighter, and he creates a lot of tension because of his explosiveness and his power and his short accurate punches. The only thing he could do any better is maybe be a little more consistent and box a little bit in between, but so far what he’s doing is working good. So he needs to just keep on doing what he’s doing, but I like to see him fight. I like him because he’s thinking fighter, he places his punches, and he punches with full force through his target.”

Regarding how good he believes Saul Alvarez can potentially be and how long before he believes he would be ready for someone like a Floyd Mayweather:

“The fact that I was told Golden Boy doesn’t want to step him up yet means that they feel he needs to develop a little bit more, and I agree with them also. You know Shane is not old Shane, and I think with Gomez when he fought him showed a few weaknesses, and even the fight when he fought Jose, Miguel Cotto’s older but smaller brother, he was stunned in that fight. So as explosive as he looks, evidently there may still be some vulnerable situations in terms of his defense. That’s why I think Golden Boy is being reluctant about stepping him to fight guys like Floyd Mayweather. They’re doing a good job with how they’re bringing him along.”

Regarding his May 6 Boxing Clinic in Las Vegas the day after the Mayweather-Cotto bout:

“It was a good clinic. We had a number of people and we had food set up, but really we had more fun after going through the basics of boxing, talking about stories behind the scenes, and a lot of things related to the fight that had happened the night before, and the future of the heavyweight division. It was very fun and I had a good time. Plus the food was good that they had brought up, too!”

His views on the upcoming heavyweight showdown between Dereck Chisora and David Haye:

“Well first of all it’s going to do big numbers in terms of the money. It may be one of the biggest heavyweight fights in quite awhile, since David Haye and Wladimir Klitschko. I mean me myself, I want to see it! I think it’s going to be an exciting fight and with the emotions that boiled over and both guys being colorful type of guys, there will be a lot of controversy to it. I think it’s going to be an exciting fight!”

On who he would favor to win the upcoming Haye-Chisora fight:

“You know Haye’s got a little speed. Haye’s got speed and thinks well, but Chisora is a bulldog type of guy that’s going to be coming in. Both guys have kind of a tough street mindset. I would say a little slight edge would still have to go to David. Not only does he have speed, but David’s also got explosive hands too. I just don’t know if he can hold up to the consistent pressure of Chisora. Even though Chisora is not as skillful as David and not as fast, he’s a very tenacious type of consistent fighter. David likes to fight in spots, move around, explode, fight in spots, look to explode, move around. If Chisora keeps that consistent pressure on him he might take him off track and Chisora might be able to beat him. Also Chisora is a full heavyweight while David is not much more than still an oversized cruiserweight. I would give a little slight edge still to David, though.”

His views on the upcoming matchup between Carl Froch and Lucian Bute:

“Well you know Forch is a very tough guy. He’s an overachiever because his skills don’t match up with his mindset, but mentally he’s such a strong determined person and with the fight being over there in England, I see that Froch has a chance of winning it. But normally I see Bute’s boxing skills and superior generalship winning the fight I think by decision.”

On whether he believes we might see Mayweather in the ring against Manny Pacquiao, Amir Khan, or Sergio Martinez next time out:

“I think the most logical guy for Floyd will still be to clear up the hurdles and make the fight with Pacquiao. Sergio I feel is physically a little too big. Amir Khan? You know that could be a good fight! That would be an attraction because Amir Khan is really a big guy. Even though he’s fighting at just 140 he’s really a big guy. He’s very charismatic when it comes to talking. He talks and builds up a lot of hype, and he has the British thing and all involved. But I think Pacquiao would be number one, and number two would probably be him.”

***

For those interested in listening to the Emanuel Steward interview in its entirety, it begins approximately twenty-four minutes into the program.

RIGHT CLICK and ‘SAVE AS’ TO DOWNLOAD EPISODE #168

***

This article was also published May 13, 2012 at East Side Boxing

***

by Geoffrey Ciani

His views on the fact that I fight between him and David Haye is now a reality following their high profile brawl at the Klitschko-Chisora post-fight press conference:

“We knew it was going to come together the moment I left Munich. You know this was no staged thing. I don’t like David Haye, and when I saw him there I was very annoyed with him. Then he started things and swung the first punch, and he was so happy about the first punch which is fine. After everything that happened I came back and said, ‘Frank, make it happen!’ And then the board told me I wasn’t fit enough to carry a license. So we went somewhere else.”

Regarding when he first started disliking Haye:

“My first fight which I had with the younger Klitschko. He got involved in that one and that’s why the younger brother decided not to fight me.”

On how he views Haye’s skill set as a fighter:

“I don’t like that guy. You know people in Great Britain don’t love him. You know he says he’s from a part of London called South London, because in London we go South, West, North. I’m from North, he’s from South, and guys in South London don’t like him. Even in East London they don’t like him, because he’s a fraud.”

On how he intends to go about fighting Haye inside the ring:

“Great fight! I know what kind of threats he holds. I know exactly what he lacks on. David Haye, he don’t like running.”

His views on Haye coming out of retirement to fight him and whether he ever believed Haye was really retired in the first place:

“Never listen to anyone when they say they retire. You know it’s just another way for a boxer to say after he lost I’m retiring for him to get more money when he comes back. Tell me a fighter that said he retired and physically went on and retired and never came back. Maybe a few fighters like Lennox Lewis, because they had the money, and they did offer Lennox Lewis so much money to come back and fight, but he said no. You know Floyd Mayweather said the same thing. He’s retired. Then he realized Jesus Christ! It’s glamorous to be boxing, which rich people want. People don’t retire from boxing.”

His evaluation of his losing effort last time out against WBC heavyweight champion Vitali Klitschko:

“Inexperience beat me. I think if I had more experience I would have taken that guy out. Experience beat me.”

Regarding whether he had any regrets about anything than he did in the buildup or aftermath of his match against Vitali:

“Oh yeah. It was a regretful thing to say I want to shoot David Haye because I never wanted to kill anybody. I’ve never killed anybody, I never owned a gun before, and I never will unless maybe we went to f*cking war. Yeah. I definitely would buy one. But in London they don’t really promote guns anyway, so that was actually a bad move when I started saying that because I was very upset with that guy.”

Regarding his previous claim at the press conference that Haye once pulled a knife on him:

“Yeah. He did pull a knife on me, but you know I would never cry over that and say oh he pulled a knife on me. I’m never going to use that card. Until I fight him I’m not going to talk much. I’m just going to answer the right questions and I’m going to knock that guy out.”

On the fact he was sucker punched by Haye with a bare knuckle and a bottle after having a twelve right round championship fight against Vitali Klitschko:

“To be honest I didn’t go down. The only reason why I tripped over is because when he hit me, somebody, one of my people pushed me and was like coming forward as well, so that’s why I went down. I got tripped when I was going down. But he’s saying he knocked me out, which is very, very shocking.”

His recollection of events that took place which lead to the Haye sucker punch:

“I saw the guy. I heard his voice and his breath smelled. I walked over and told him to be quiet. He took a cheap shot and then I was on the floor, he picked up a weapon, a bottle, and stuff like that. But you know what? It’s past now. I don’t really care no more, so I’ll just move on.”

On whether he has ever gone into another fight where he held this type of animosity towards his opponent:

“No.”

On what he believes a victory over Haye will do for his career at this point:

“Nothing. David is a cruiserweight. People will call me a bully.”

If he beats Haye, on whether he would be more interested in having a rematch with Vitali or face Wladimir Klitschko who previously pulled out of two scheduled fights with Chisora:

“Me and Vitali got some unfinished business. Vitali can’t knock nothing out. He can’t fight! He don’t want to fight no more. We have some unfinished business, me and Vitali.”

On what he would do differently in a rematch with Vitali:

“Oh! This time I would be fighting from round one with pressure. I won’t even give him no space. I’ll be all over him!”

His views on his controversial loss against Robert Helenius:

“What Americans need to understand, yeah these European fighters in London, Europe, and all over the world—they don’t know how to fight! They’ll look at a record and say oh my God! This guy has knocked out about ten people. He hasn’t knocked anybody out. It’s all people they picked up from the street. You know they wash them up and say, ‘We’re going to pay you 10,000 Euros. You’re going to come in and you’re going to get knocked out’. That’s how they operate in Europe to build up fighters and say, ‘Oh! My fighter has 25 knockouts. Oh! He’s the best. We’re going to get him on the top rankings’. But all in all these fighters don’t know how to fight. It’s the same thing with David Price in London. You know. It’s the same thing with Tyson Fury. They give them so, so easy opponents that even yourself could knock them out. You know. So when you see these people’s records and you say oh my God! They’re on the world level. No! They’re not on the world level. Those fighters don’t like fighting. I’ll tell you this now, they hate fighting. I know what fighters are out there who don’t even want to be boxers, but they just have to be boxers because it is something which is like, you have to be a boxer. And they’re like oh my goodness! I have to be, but I don’t want to be.”

His views on the upcoming fight on May 26 between Carl ‘The Cobra’ Froch and Lucian Bute:

“First of all if Bute comes in and boxes Carl Froch he’ll win it. If he tries to outgun Carl Froch he’s going to get outgunned, because Carl Froch depends on power. Every shot Carl Froch throws is about power in it. If he starts missing the same way when he got schooled by—what was the last fight he lost? Andre Ward. Yeah. You see the thing with Ward is Ward used Carl Froch’s strengths against himself. Every time Carl Froch walked in Ward would hit him. The best shot Ward had was the left hook. That was just connecting on Carl Froch all night long. I think Bute needs to just box him. That’s it, and well Carl Froch needs to knock him out. It will be a great fight, but it won’t be a fight where everyone is going to like drop what they’re doing to go watch that fight. I don’t think so. People will just flip through and say, ‘Wow. There’s a fight on. Let’s watch it’. I’ll tell you what forward I’m looking forward to watch. Manny Pacquiao. I think Manny Pacquiao might lose that one there.”

On why he feels Manny Pacquiao might lose to Timothy Bradley on June 9:

“Well I think that boy lost his last fight because his head wasn’t right, and this time Bradley’s going to come and he’s definitely hurt Manny Pacquiao. And Manny Pacquiao don’t really like to fight no more. He’s just in it for the sake of being in it. He don’t want it no more.”

His views on whether he has better heavyweight credentials than Haye:

“Listen. Anyone can beat Audley Harrison. A drunk Irishman beat Audley Harrison. (*dogs begin barking in background). Sorry! I have a kennel of dogs here. I have about eight dogs. Sorry. Sorry. They are nuts. And guess what? They are all Chihuahuas. My wife is killing me with bloody Chihuahuas, I’m telling you that now. Anyway, so you know Martin Rogan fought and beat Audley Harrison. What was the other heavyweight he boxed? Valuev? Anyone can beat Valuev! He beat Valuev and he could run away. Who’s the other one? John Ruiz. John Ruiz didn’t have nothing. John Ruiz is nothing! Anyone could fight John Ruiz and knock him out. Even Floyd Mayweather could knock John Ruiz out. And who’s the other fighters? That’s it! You know sometimes I do respect David. You know fair play to him! He started talking, he got some fights, and he got some paydays. That’s it! I’ll give him a shout for that, but you know what? He’s never fought a real heavyweight and when he fought Klitschko he was running away.”

His views on Haye as a self promoter:

“That boy can talk himself into being—that boy, if he wanted to be the King, he can talk himself into the House of Parliament and then be King to be honest with you, because he’s got a big mouth. I thought Floyd Mayweather was worse, but he’s worse.”

His views on Floyd Mayweather’s victory against Miguel Cotto:

“See the thing is, Floyd talks and he delivers! David Haye’s all talk and then after he brings his toe out. Floyd didn’t bring no toe out! You know he caught some punches. Yeah, but at least now we know he can take a shot. You know if I heard Floyd and David Haye, I know Floyd would deliver. But David Haye is like, for the press conference we had he was all talking and running his mouth. But it don’t matter though.”

Regarding how he would react in the event he beats Haye and David makes an excuse after the fight:

“ I’ll tell you this now! If he comes out with an excuse when I’m in the ring there’s going to be another fight. I’m just telling you this now! If Haye comes out with an excuse, saying any excuse, I will run over there and I will physically fight him—I will choke him to death this bastard! I don’t like him. You don’t understand.”

His official prediction for his upcoming bout against David Haye:

“I ain’t got a clue! I’m going to take him into the eleventh round, and then I might knock him out in the twelfth round. I’m going to give him some pain.”

***

For those interested in listening to the Dereck Chisora interview in its entirety, it begins approximately fifty-five minutes into the program.

RIGHT CLICK and ‘SAVE AS’ TO DOWNLOAD EPISODE #168

***

This article was also published May 12, 2012 at East Side Boxing

***

by Geoffrey Ciani

Regarding his third round stoppage victory against Chazz Witherspoon:

“I mean there was a scare in the first round. I got caught. I just came out flat. Chazz did a great jab dictating with his jab, and I wasn’t using my upper body movement as much. I got caught and was able to survive and get out of the first round. That was my whole thing. Once I got dazed and got caught with a couple of shots to tie up and not try to be macho. I made sure I got out of the first round and got my head together, and fortunately I was able to go out there and finish strong.”

On whether anything about Witherspoon surprised him:

“Well no, I respected Chazz. I knew that he had a great jab and I knew he would fight you. He was actually stronger than I expected him to be, though. He was definitely stronger than I expected him to be. But with everything else, I knew he could move a little bit, I knew he had a long reach, and I knew he had a great jab and that he would punch you on the inside. When he got hit you know he would stand there and fight you. So I expected everything that he brought to the table, it was just that I didn’t expect him to be as strong.”

On what was going through his mind when he was hurt in the first round:

“Coherently I was there, but my legs weren’t there. You know and I didn’t realize it that much until I saw it on tape. When I got dazed, I said OK! I knew I was there. It wasn’t like I was seeing two or three of him. There was just one of them there. I said OK and I kept my hands up. He’s going to come. I saw him. He noticed that he had dazed me and he came in for the kill, but he didn’t attack the body at all. He just straight went for head shots. I said OK. When he gets in close I’m going to tie him up, just to tie him up and try and survive. Then he hit me again and I was dazed again, and the ref separated us and I had spaghetti legs. I said once I get close do not stand there and try and fight with him, because that’s when you get clipped. Just tie him up and get out of the first round. Like once the bell rang and I was walking back to my corner and then sitting in my stool, you know I felt that I was cool. I felt I had recovered. But even for a little bit when I went out there in the second round, like I said coherently I was there, but my legs still weren’t fully under me until there was about 30 seconds left in the second round.”

Regarding what he was thinking when he first dropped Witherspoon:

“Oh man! I mean I felt good. You know I felt it could possibly be over, but I didn’t want to go out there and rush it. So I didn’t rush him. I tried to still stay behind my jab and then I just caught him with a couple of more body shots and head shots, and then I just was able to finish him off.”

His views on what type of learning experience this was for him:

“Oh man. It was catastrophic in my career. When I cried after the fight it wasn’t because I just won the NABO championship. It was because I’m trying to go certain places in boxing for my career and I know how vital it was for me to win that fight. For a fighter, to take a hit like that right now in my career would have set me back like a year, 4 or 5 fights, and that’s definitely something that I didn’t want to happen. So I was just happy that I could will myself to pull through it. How I did it, after the first round I just dominated. After the first round I dominated the second round and I dominated the third round, and I was almost stopped in the first round. So I was just happy and I was proud that I was able to just finish like I did. It was big! The experience part was big. I’ve never been hurt like that in sparring or in a fight so that was uncharted waters for me and I believe I handled it like a champion!”

Regarding what is next for him:

“My goal still remains the same: to become heavyweight champion of the world. I’m still a work in progress. We were thinking about fighting June 30 but I don’t know. I got to sit down and talk with my team.”

On how much closer he believes his victory over Witherspoon gets him to a title shot:

“I have always said, when people ask me, ‘After this fight do you think you will be ready for the Klitschkos?’ No! Absolutely not! I’ve never been the one to say I wanted to fight Klitschko in the next two fights. I still think a year from now, the first two quarters of 2013, if I get the right fights and continue to improve with no injuries then hopefully I will get my opportunity to fight for a world championship.”

On whether he gets any added pressure from the fact he is viewed by some as the best American heavyweight:

“Right! I mean like I’ve always said, you’ll never hear me say it. I just so happen to be American and I’m fighting. I want to be the best and I’m going to represent very well, but I let other people say it. I don’t say it. I’m not a boastful person. This is what I do to provide for my family, and I try to do it the best way that I can. It feels good that other people think highly of me, but at the same time I will just continue to work hard and I’ll let them say it.”

His views on Chauncy Welliver and Michael Grant being rumored as two possible opponents if he takes the June 30 fight:

“I mean whoever they pick for me to fight I’ll be prepared. I don’t call out fighters or say anything about them until they sign the dotted line and it’s actually official, because I’ve been there where fights are supposed to happen and the opponent is switched. So I’m ready to fight whoever they put in front of me. I’ll be prepared.”

On what he learned from his fight with Chazz Witherspoon:

“I learned not to follow somebody without my jab. I got to keep my upper torso moving and not bend at the waist so much and bend at the knees. But other than that, when I was hurt I didn’t get macho. I tied up. You know I did a lot of smart things when I was hurt, and I definitely learned if you attack that body it will slow your opponent down. Well I mean I’ve always been a good body puncher, but that just right there solidified it.”

***

Follow Seth Michell on Twitter @SethMayhem48

***

For those interested in listening to the Seth Mitchell interview in its entirety, it begins approximately thirty-one minutes into the program.

RIGHT CLICK and ‘SAVE AS’ TO DOWNLOAD EPISODE #167

***

This article was also published May 9, 2012 at East Side Boxing

***

by Geoffrey Ciani

Common Opponent #1: Oscar De La Hoya

Floyd Mayweather Junior
DATE: May 5, 2007
RESULT: WIN SD (116-112, 115-113, 113-115)
WEIGHT: 154 pounds

Manny Pacquiao
DATE: December 6, 2008
RESULT: WIN RTD8 (80-71, 80-71, 79-72)
WEIGHT: 147 pounds

Obviously in this instance Pacquiao clearly put on the better performance. He dominated Oscar from start to finish, and this was an amazing feat considering Pacquiao had just one fight at the 135 pound limit before skipping over 140 to meet Oscar at 147. At the same time, Oscar had to compromise and go down in weight. He had not fought at the welterweight limit for close to eight years. Even if De La Hoya was weight drained and malnourished, however, Pacquiao still made a statement, if for no other reason than overcoming the gargantuan size advantage enjoyed by De La Hoya. In many ways, this represented a passing of the torch from one mega star to the next.

While Pacquiao’s victory overshadows Floyd’s when it comes to De La Hoya, Mayweather deserves his fair share of credit as well. His fight with De La Hoya remains the biggest seller in history and Floyd himself had to come up in weight to face Oscar, venturing north to 154 for the first time in his career. De La Hoya had some success in the first half of the fight using his jab and attempting to apply pressure, but Floyd’s superior conditioning and technique enabled him to easily outpoint Oscar in the latter half of the contest. Some fans inexplicably clamored for a rematch but fortunately it never happened.

The edge here goes to Pacquiao, but I don’t think either of these fights tells us much of anything about a potential Mayweather-Pacquiao fight.

Common Opponent #2: Ricky Hatton

Floyd Mayweather Junior
DATE: December 8, 2007
RESULT: WIN TKO10 (88-82, 89-81, 89-81)
WEIGHT: 147 pounds

Manny Pacquiao
DATE: May 2, 2009
RESULT: WIN KO2 (10-7, 10-7, 10-7)
WEIGHT: 140 pounds

Pacquiao still had his fair share of doubters following the De La Hoya win. After all, the generally held hindsight perspective was that Oscar was weight drained, weak, old, and “shot”. Ricky Hatton represented Pacquiao’s first true test since he moved up from 130. Or did it? Hatton pressured Pacquiao recklessly, was countered with a slew of right hooks, got dropped twice in the first round, and was ultimately finished off in brutal fashion following a lethal looking straight left that landed flush on the button. Hatton was out! It was a surreal and shocking ending that left a lasting impression on boxing fans.

Mayweather’s victory over Hatton was impressive and one-sided, but was a bit more of a measured effort that lacked the explosive dramatics of Pacquiao’s early knockout. So once again, Pacquiao gets the edge but I’m not sure it means much in the grand scheme of things.

Common Opponent #3: Miguel Cotto

Floyd Mayweather Junior
DATE: May 5, 2012
RESULT: WIN UD (118-110, 117-111, 117-111)
WEIGHT: 154 pounds

Manny Pacquiao
DATE: November 14, 2009
RESULT: WIN TKO12 (109-99, 108-99, 108-110)
WEIGHT: 145 pounds

Pacquiao’s victory over Cotto might still remain his most impressive to date. This was the fight where fans were finally sold on the fact he could compete with the big boys. He took many a flush shot throughout the contest and dropped Cotto a couple of times with power shots fired from awkward angles. Cotto was in full retreat mode by the midway point just trying to survive, and he was ultimately stopped in the final round. Critics claim that Pacquiao forced Cotto to come down too far in weight, making him compete below his comfort zone (to meet at the contractual limit of 145). Others downplay the significance of the two pound difference stating that Cotto weighed just a single pound more in his previous encounter against Joshua Clottey. Regardless of one’s stance, this was by far perceived as the toughest test Pacquiao had had to date.

Mayweather’s recent victory over Cotto appeared a tad more difficult at times. Mayweather was uncharacteristically bloodied up, and Miguel managed to tag Floyd a bit more often than we’re accustomed to seeing. At the end of the day, the difference in class prevailed, and Mayweather’s superior pedigree enabled him to win a lopsided points victory. It was a fight where many of the rounds were competitive, but Floyd was still clearly doing enough to win them. Some speculate that Mayweather let Cotto into the fight to give the fans their money’s worth in a more crowd-pleasing affair. Others maintain that Cotto simply provided stylistic issues for Floyd. Whatever the case may be, Floyd still won and won comfortably.

Yet again the edge goes to Pacquiao and yet again, does it really mean much when considering a theoretical clash between Pacquiao and Mayweather? I am inclined to say no.

Common Opponent #4: Shane Mosley

Floyd Mayweather Junior
DATE: May 1, 2010
RESULT: WIN UD (119-109, 118-110, 119-109)
WEIGHT: 147 pounds

Manny Pacquiao
DATE: May 7, 2011
RESULT: WIN UD (109-99, 108-99, 108-110)
WEIGHT: 147 pounds

For all intent and purposes this one is essentially a wash. Pacquiao and Mayweather both thoroughly outclassed Mosley without much difficulty. On one hand Floyd had the scare in round two where Mosley had him in some trouble compliments of two big right hands. Additionally you could also point out that Pacquiao managed to drop Mosley, whereas Floyd could not. On the other hand Floyd overcame adversity and persevered showing a new dimension of his game that was never before on display. Mayweather also faced Mosley at a time when Shane was perceived as a far greater threat, this following his one-sided destruction of Antonio Margarito. Of course Shane also had a rather lengthy layoff coming in, but nonetheless he was still regarded as an elite fighter when Mayweather faced him, and not so much when Pacquiao fought him, which followed his draw with Sergio Mora.

I suppose you could give a slight edge here to Mayweather, but looking back now the reality is Mosley appears to have been a fighter in decline, and this showed once again in his brave losing effort when he was thoroughly outmatched by 21 year old Saul Alvarez on Saturday.

Common Opponent #5: Juna Manuel Marquez

Floyd Mayweather Junior
DATE: September 19, 2009
RESULT: WIN UD (120-107, 119-108, 118-109)
WEIGHT: 144* pounds

Manny Pacquiao 1
DATE: May 8, 2004
RESULT: DRAW (115-110, 113-113, 110-115)
WEIGHT: 126 pounds

Manny Pacquiao 2
DATE: March 15, 2008
RESULT: WIN SD (112-115, 115-112, 114-113)
WEIGHT: 130 pounds

Manny Pacquiao 3
DATE: November 12, 2011
RESULT: WIN MD (115-113, 114-114, 116-112)
WEIGHT: 144 pounds

Pacquiao and Marquez fought three times, and three times they produced incredibly close contests that could have gone either way. Officially Pacquiao earned a majority decision most recently, a split decision before that, and of course their first fight ended in a draw after Marquez rebounded from three first round knockdowns. (Incidentally, I scored the first one for Pacquiao 113-112, the second for Marquez 114-113, and the third a draw 114 apiece). This was one of the greatest trilogies in the rich history of boxing, where each and every chapter was super competitive and highly entertaining. This comes in stark contrast to Floyd’s virtual shutout victory in which Marquez was never really even in the fight.

Of all the common opponents Pacquiao and Mayweather have had, Marquez poses the most interesting case in my opinion. When you look at the others—Shane Mosley, Miguel Cotto, Ricky Hatton, and Oscar De La Hoya—none of those four boxers fight anything like Mayweather or Pacquiao. Mayweather and Marquez, however, have some noticeable similarities in style. Both are exceptional counterpunchers with tremendous defensive abilities and exceptionally high ring IQs. Since Pacquiao has effectively battled Marquez to a stalemate after 36 rounds of action, it is interesting to note that the one clear advantage Floyd holds over Pacquiao when it comes to common opponents also happens to be the one opponent whose style most closely resembles Floyd’s.

Does this mean that Mayweather should be favored because another smart defensive fighter who counter-punched and gave Pacquiao so many issues? I do not believe so. The fact of the matter is, Mayweather and Marquez go about the art of defense through vastly different approaches. Even their counter-punching techniques differ a great deal to the point where any attempted comparisons essentially become null and void. Beyond that, because Marquez was able to endure Pacquiao’s power shots, blazing speed, and relentless pressure does not necessarily mean Floyd will automatically be able to do so, too.

We can speculate all we want, but unless Pacquiao and Mayweather actually square off we will never know exactly how these two unique and interesting styles will clash together. Any and all comparisons among common opponents are essentially meaningless, rendering this article virtually worthless (but hopefully somewhat interesting).

Unless these two mega stars get in the ring and fight we will never know the truth, and unfortunately for boxing fans, these two icons are both in a financial situation where neither one much needs the other, and to date neither seems to care much about the fans—who have enabled them to live their luxurious high profile lifestyles—by proactively putting forth the effort to make it happen! If Pacquiao can take care of business on June 9 against Timothy Bradley (which is not a given as far as I am concerned), let us hope these two pugilists can push the egos aside and do the right thing for the loyal fans of this great sport. Wishful thinking on my part? Perhaps so, but time shall tell.

I still think it’s a pick’em fight, and one that I still have an interest in seeing. But then again, perhaps boxing trainer Nazim Richard was on to something when on a recent edition of On the Ropes Boxing Radio he suggested, “If it (Pacquiao-Mayweather)ain’t better than Hagler-Hearns it’s a letdown to me. I got to wait six years to see two dudes fight and I get a chess match? You can keep that!”

***

This article was also published May 8, 2012 at East Side Boxing

***

by Geoffrey Ciani

JENNA J: This is a fight that everyone’s talking about. It’s had the 24/7 series to promote it: Floyd Mayweather Junior versus Miguel Cotto for the WBA junior middleweight championship of the world. You know I have no doubt with who’s going to win this fight. I honestly believe it will be Floyd Mayweather Junior, but I don’t think he’s going to have as easy of a time as a lot of people think he’s going to have. I think that Miguel Cotto is a very capable very strong fighter. He’s a guy that’s accustomed to 154 pounds. I think early on in this fight he can actually give Floyd Mayweather Junior some issues. I think he can even win a couple of the early rounds. I wouldn’t be surprised to see him win three of the first five rounds, but the one thing about Floyd Mayweather Junior is he figures out opponents. He’s a guy that constantly becomes harder to hit as the fight goes on because he learns about the fighter’s movements. He knows how to predict where the guy is going to throw a shot. As the fight goes on he gets stronger, he gets harder to hit, and I believe that’s where he’ll end up outclassing Miguel Cotto. I think over the last six rounds of that fight, I believe Floyd Mayweather Junior will be consistently landing on Miguel Cotto, I think he’ll be consistently beating him up, and I wouldn’t even be surprised if he scored a late stoppage, but I’m going to take Floyd Mayweather Junior by unanimous decision.

CHAUNCY WELLIVER: I see it the same way you do. I see it actually being a win for Mayweather, but a very tough fight. People forget, Miguel Cotto, he doesn’t have problems with boxers. He has problems with guys who bring a lot of pressure, like a Manny Pacquiao or an Antonio Margarito. But if you put a boxer in front of him, even though this is a different level, but a guy such as Alfonso Gomez or even a Shane Mosley, with guys out there boxing Miguel Cotto does extremely well. Now I’m not comparing Alfonso Gomez to Floyd Mayweather or even Shane Mosley, but he had a much easier time with boxers than brawlers. I see this being a competitive fight for a couple of rounds, but as you said I can see Mayweather just taking over in the later rounds. I can see Cotto being busted up, but I wouldn’t be totally shocked if there was a late round stoppage in this fight.

GEOFFREY CIANI: I actually firmly believe that there is going to be a late stoppage in this fight, and I think I see this one as a little more one-sided than you guys do. I just think right now Miguel Cotto’s two biggest weaknesses are (A) he’s easy to hit, and (B) he fades late in fights. This has always been something that’s plagued Cotto. Whether it was fight with Mosley, his fight with Clottey, his fight with Pacquiao, his fights with Margarito, both of them even though he won the rematch—Cotto just has a tendency to fade late, and that’s just not good against a guy like Floyd. The fact that he’s easy to hit, I think Floyd is going to be pot-shotting him at will and I don’t think that Cotto is going to offer much resistance. If Cotto is to win two rounds in this fight, I think it will happen early in the first four rounds or so, but I really don’t see Miguel Cotto having much success. There was an interesting thing Emanuel Steward said to us earlier when he said Floyd with the shoulder roll, he does a good job at nullifying right hands but that makes him a little more vulnerable to left hooks. Emanuel seems to think we might see some more of the vintage left hook to the body from Cotto, but I just don’t think it’s going to happen. I think Cotto’s going to be way too easy to hit, and one thing that I firmly believe also about Floyd is that he’s really coming into his own strength-wise, where the power on his shots in his last couple of fights, I think he could have stopped Shane Mosley if he threw one or two more punches together, and I think Shane Mosley is a lot more durable with a much better chin than Cotto has. Mosley I also believe has much better stamina than Cotto has. I just think that Floyd is not the guy when he first came up to 147 and was fighting guys like Zab Judah. I think that his power is going to be real. Cotto is not a real 154 pound guy anyway in my mind. I think Floyd’s going to put on a dominant effort and really win in lopsided fashion. I believe he will stop Cotto. I think the accumulation of punches or perhaps one of those sneaky punches that Cotto doesn’t see as he begins to tire, I like Floyd Mayweather by tenth round stoppage.”

***

CLICK PLAYER TO LISTEN

For those interested in listening to OTR predictions, the segment begins approximately one hour and fifty-nine minutes into the program.

RIGHT CLICK and ‘SAVE AS’ TO DOWNLOAD EPISODE #167

***

This article was also published May 5, 2012 at East Side Boxing

***

On the Ropes Boxing Radio

His views on the fact that Andy Lee will be getting a title shot against Julio Cesar Chavez Junior:

“Well I’m very, very happy for the fact that I think he deserves it, especially in view of the recent guys that I’ve been seeing fighting for the titles or whatever. He’s been still I think one of the most highly recognizable and active fighters in the middleweight division. To me when I think of the middleweight division as a regular American fan I think of basically Sergio Martinez, Chavez, and Andy Lee. So I feel it’s good that he’s getting his opportunity now. We’re very excited about it, and very excited about his chances of winning the title, also.”

Regarding how he feels about the type of exposure the Chavez-Lee bout will be receiving:

“Well it’s HBO, that’s the main thing. HBO is still I think the biggest and most watched boxing network today. So it will be great exposure. I’m just excited about the fight! There will be a lot of excitement because I think is the first really live challenging fight that Julio Junior has fought in. Most of the fights he’s fought, to me for the most part, have been all about the Julio Cesar Chaves Junior show and opponent, but not necessarily with a real fighter as an opponent. So it will be a challenge for everybody involved. I think Julio has improved a lot as a fighter, and I think his last fights with Manfredo and that fight with Rubiuo really showed his progress. He’s becoming a full professional fighter. There was a lot of criticism earlier in his career when he was a professional fighter that was getting his amateur background, and I think it was very smart the way he was matched by Top Rank and I’m quite sure his Daddy had something to do with the approval of his opponents. He was trying to move him much like he himself, Julio Senior, did. He didn’t have any amateur fights either, so he just compiled a lot of professional fights and got his amateur experience as a professional. I think he did the same thing with his son, but I think that Junior has turned out to be a very good solid fighter right now.”

On what he views as the biggest challenge Andy Lee is going to have to overcome to be successful against Chavez Junior:

“Well I think in this case you got an extremely, extremely pro and hostile crowd that we’re going to be going against, probably one of the worst ever in the history of boxing in this situation here. You know a lot of times fighting in a hometown is one thing, but fighting in these conditions down there where we’re going to be at is going to be extremely hostile, but when the bell rings it will still be just the two fighters left in the ring, and I’ve been in those situations before. I think that Chavez’s assets are going to be the fact that he is a highly spirited fighter who’s developed into a good balanced boxer. This is one of the few times, and I know a lot of people are going to be a little surprised unless they actually saw the photograph, that Julio Cesar Chavez Junior, unlike what everybody thinks, is not going to have that physical advantage that everybody is expecting. In fact most people were shocked when they saw him and Andy together and saw that he was about two and a half to three inches shorter than Andy, and Andy Lee is a physically big middleweight himself. So I think the weight advantage, especially we want to make sure that he makes 160 and it’s going to be not such an advantage. It’s just the advantage that he’s going to have a good pro crowd to push him on and support him, and he’s a good all the way around fighter right now. I think he boxes fairly good, and he punches good to the body, and he has a good high spirited competitive attitude, and that’s what I think is his biggest advantage.”

His views on Chad Dawson’s majority decision victory against Bernard Hopkins:

“Well I thought Bernard fought a good fight when you consider that Chad Dawson is very difficult for anybody to fight, and also that Chad Dawson was also fighting a guy who is very difficult for anybody to fight named Bernard Hopkins. So I can never see those two having an exciting fight, but when I look at Bernard’s age and him dealing with such a real great, talented, coordinated, gifted fighter like Dawson, and still fighting a good competitive fight and not even really getting hit with too many really clean blows. He was mostly just outworked. The youthfulness of Dawson is what really carried him through the fight. But Bernard at this stage, I don’t know what he’s going to do but I really hope he quits. He’s still in a highly respected position. Out of all of the fights that he’s been in, never have we seen anybody just totally dominate him and beat him badly. Even in this fight, I thought he lost the fight by the points. But nevertheless one judge called it a draw, which must have surprised everybody else but I expected that from one of the judges at least. But also if he would go out now, he would have lost a majority decision in his last fight, he never got hit with two consecutive clean blows throughout the entire fight, he was totally unmarked, and his experience is the type where even though Chad Dawson has so much great speed, and balance, and skill, Bernard could feel certain punches. He was moving, rolling, blocking, moving his body in positions to neutralize his strengths just off his natural instincts from so many fights. Then he still has pretty good reflexes! So I thought he fought a good fight considering it all.

He’s got to be considered one of the all time great middleweights regardless, even though he fought in an era for the most part that didn’t have any good middleweights. But that’s not his fault! All he can do is be there and beat everybody that was there, and he did that. His biggest claim to fame primarily was beating guys who were coming up from welterweight or junior middleweight, but that’s not his fault. He did what was asked of him. He kept his title for about 20 defenses or something, and if you look at the middleweight division I think the greatest middleweight to me was still Marvelous Marvin Hagler. Robinson is known for a lot of great fights and he’s the greatest fighter of all time to me, but still, most of his greatest fights were in the welterweight division, which we don’t have too many copies of. But I think the greatest middleweight I would say is Marvelous Marvin Hagler, and after that when you look at the top guys you have to put him up there with the Monzons and the Harry Grebs or whatever after that, but he would definitely be up near the top in middleweight history.

So there is nothing more I think he can accomplish any more. But if he fought another fighter he might do better than he did with Chad, and Chad may fight another fight where he’ll do better than he did with Bernard, because they both have difficult styles. Bernard has never ever been dominated by any fighter in his entire career. I guess the Calzaghe fight he lost, but still some people really believe that he won that fight! The first Roy Jones fight he lost the fight, but it wasn’t really that Roy beat him. He just lost it because of inexperience, but he really wasn’t dominated. In fact all of his losses, the two losses to Jermain Taylor, you know it was never where Jermain really dominated him. So even in this fight here, he ended up losing the fight, but Chad ended up with the bad cuts. One judge called it a draw, even though I thought Bernard lost. Bernard is in a good position to leave the game and he’s going to be revered and respected more and more as time goes on each year. So he’s in a great position right now if he decides to quit.”

On whether he was at all surprised by the way Chad Dawson responded to being cut in the fight:

“No I’m not surprised! Chad his entire career has been obsessed with beating Bernard, and I don’t think anything would have turned him around or slowed down his drive and determination on that particular night. I thought he was driven on by the cuts. He did go all out. He really tried to get in close and put combinations together, which is very difficult to do with Bernard. And I thought his trainer, John Scully, did a good job of trying to motivate him and push him. It’s just styles make fights, and both Bernard and Chad are not known for being in super exciting fights for the most part and the chemistry between the two styles didn’t help the situation.”

On whether he is interested in a fight between Chad Dawson and Andre Ward given the fact Dawson mentioned Ward as someone he would like to fight next:

“No. I mean his name, it’s a good two name recognition, but I think style-wise the way I look at it, no. You know neither one knocks out anybody. They’re both good technical skilled fighters. It would be interesting, but just as a fight fan I’ll be honest. I don’t see it as a really exciting or appealing fight. I mean when you get technical fighters like that, you need someone who is going to be a big banger that’s going to try to punch and make them possibly come out of their boxing comfort zones, and I just don’t see that happening that much in that fight. It would be an interesting fight for the fight crowd, but as a fan I’m not that super excited about it. Who do you have to fight? I mean that’s the biggest question. They’re trying to find somebody to fight. When these guys are at this stage of their careers they want to fight fights where they can make big purses. That normally comes from fighting big high profile name fighters, even though the fights may not turn out to be so good. But that’s what the fighters are doing today, and I understand that.”

His views on Seth Mitchell’s 3rd round stoppage victory against Chazz Witherspoon:

“Well it turned out to be an extremely exciting and entertaining fight. I’m very happy that we had that fight on the show because it was needed to create some excitement, but it was a good fight. I think that Seth is very refreshing for the heavyweight division. I love his mindset and determination, but in all honesty I’m not truly convinced he’s ready for a Klitschko. I don’t know, maybe in a year or so, but even still he was hurt and with the lack of experience he could have been stopped by someone else. But one thing that I gave him a lot of credit for was he clinched, and that’s something that a lot of the fighters don’t know how to do today. He said, ‘I was trying to grab a hold of him and stop him from hitting me’ and that shows he has good common sense. You know I think he would still have problems with a few others of the prospect heavyweights like Deontay Wilder, or even David Price and Tyson Fury. But he seems to be the one that’s in a great position with the connections he has with Golden Boy and Al Haymon. His whole situation, he’s just in a great position right now. With HBO, he is really the one heavyweight that they’re billing. So he’s in a good position, but I do like him as a fighter and as a person. He does what heavyweights should do. He throws punches. He lets his punches go. He punches with full authority and he punches through his targets! So he’s going to create a lot of excitement, and I know as a fan I would be looking forward to seeing his next fight.”

On whether he feels Seth Mitchell can develop into a real force in the heavyweight division if he takes the appropriate steps in his development given his lack of amateur experience:

“Yes I think he can! He’s a very realistic person and his basics are fairly good. It’s not so much how good you are and how bad you are. It’s what is the other competition and fortunately for him he is right now at a good time to be a heavyweight in history. I mean it’s not an era like when you had Larry Holmes and all of those guys, and Kenny Norton, or even with Ali, and Joe Frazier, and Foreman. You just don’t have that, and unfortunately that was it with Larry Holmes, who I think is definitely one of the most underrated and underappreciated heavyweights in history! Larry was just unfortunately where he never had a great challenge. But people forget his unbelievable great fight when he won the title in his fight with Kenny Norton, and after that there was nothing too much. Gerry Cooney was more of just a big hype buildup for that. They played a lot on the race and whatnot, and Don King and those guys made a lot of money building that up. Then he fought a faded Ali. He just had nobody to fight, but Larry Holmes I think in any generation would have been a great heavyweight and a big challenge to anyone. Right now Seth Mitchell is in a good spot in history in the heavyweight division. I don’t see that much out there, and his style of fighting, his humbling and honest personality, and his ability to punch through his targets instead of most of these guys that are punching at the targets, makes him an exciting heavyweight! In fact, it’s strange to say, he’s not the heavyweight champion of the world but there are a lot of people who will be just as excited to see his next fight or maybe more so than to see the true heavyweight champions of the world, Vitali or Wladimir, because they like the excitement that he’s generating.”

On whether he expects Wladimir Klitschko to have a better performance in his rematch with Tony Thompson, given the fact he improved on his firsts effort in the three other rematches where Wlad and Steward were teamed up for return bouts against Lamon Brewster, Samuel Peter, and Chris Byrd:

“I think so. I think that Tony Thompson of all the guys that we have fought in title fights as champion, believe it or not he was most difficult. We had to lay out four different strategies until we found out the one. We couldn’t even lay out a strategy. That only happened with Thompson and with Eddie Chambers. Thompson was by far the most difficult because of his size, he’s left-handed, he’s extremely relaxed, it’s very difficult to hurt him, we couldn’t really penetrate him with jabs, the only fighter that Wladimir couldn’t hit with jabs. When you hit him with right hands he rolls his body back where you don’t really get the full impact. He takes the steam out of the punch and then he walks you down, and he’s a little awkward the way he punches, just awkward enough to get you out of your rhythm. So right now I’m quite sure with the momentum that’s going on in his little DC area with Seth Mitchell and Peterson, so he’s probably on a good emotional high right now trying to keep up with the winning spirit that going on there. So I think he’s going to be a very difficult opponent, but I think Wladimir has improved a lot and been more active. We realize some of the mistakes we made early in the fight, so we’re going to start off in a different manner this time and not start off so fast. I think Wladimir will win again, but Thompson is the one fighter who worries me even though everyone is saying it’s a rematch and we beat the guy before. But I never even wanted the first fight with Thompson, so definitely we don’t want the second fight. Wladimir has the same type of respect and is a little apprehensive going into this fight also.”

On whether he would have imagined that almost 4 years later to the day that Wladimir and Thompson would be fighting again:

“Yes and no. I realized that Thompson, outside of Wladimir, could beat almost all of the other heavyweights, and as it turned out that’s what has happened. So we’re once again looking at him. I would say four years ago I was hoping that I would never have to see him again. I can see that! But here he is and we’re just going to have to deal with it.”

Regarding his upcoming May 6 Boxing Clinic in Las Vegas:

“Well this will be probably the fifth clinic that we are doing, and it will be interesting. Anita Ruiz who conducts these clinics and sets them up, she said we need to do one at a big super fight where we got big fight fans from all over the world instead of just going to individual cities and countries. It will be very interesting because we have a chance to not only teach basic fundamentals, but we will probably have a Q&A about the fight the previous night between Mayweather and Cotto. We’ll talk about a lot of old experiences and stories that went on behind the scenes with Hearns, Hagler, and Leonard, and all of those things, which is a big part of our clinic that the fans really enjoy after we finish up with all of the technical stuff. We just sit down on the ring apron and casually talk where all of us laugh and joke.

It’s about trying to still spread the basic fundamentals of boxing and trying to develop some kind of consistency in the boxing techniques, hand wraps, and little simple basic fundamentals that nobody seems to know. Everybody wants to be a trainer by getting some pads on and making a lot of noise, pop-pop-pop-pop-pop, and they consider themselves trainers but they don’t understand basic things and that’s why they can’t teach those things. It’s impossible to teach something you don’t even know yourself. Anybody can walk into the gym and say I’m a trainer! There are no requirements, no tests, and no experience necessary. That’s what you have, and a lot of people have boxing skills but they don’t know how to teach. So we hopefully will develop some good trainers out of this. But it’s not just for boxing trainers and boxers. A lot of my clinics have been attended by some of the top officials and commissioners, and they also share their insights. I think it starts at 11:00am. It will be the day after the fight at the Palms Hotel. So it should be a good turnout and I think we have food setup and a lot of autographs and other things will be circulated. So a lot of people who are visiting from out of town will be able to throw a clinic in, in addition to what will hopefully be a good fight.”

On whether he believes the bout between Floyd Mayweather Junior and Miguel Cotto will actually turn out to be a good fight:

“Well I shouldn’t have said ‘hopefully’. I should have said ‘what I expect to be a good fight’! You know Floyd is so talented and so good that sometimes if he wants to shutdown and control the tempo of a fight he can do just that, as he has done often with a lot of his opponents. But I don’t think in Miguel’s case that’s going to happen. Floyd’s going to have to be consistent all the way through and he’s going to be challenged. I think he’s capable of holding up to the challenge, but I think this will be Floyd’s toughest fight since his first fight with Castillo. He’s going to have to be right on point for this fight. Even though he’s got the skills, the ego, which I think is a very important part, and his ability to think under all kinds of conditions, especially late in a fight, those are big, big advantages that he may have.

In Miguel he’s fighting a class fighter who’s been in a lot of big fights. He had a very good amateur background, also. At this stage right now he seems to be coming back mentally I think and physically after his last three fights. I know the pride in addition to the condition of both fighters is going to be enormous for both fighters. Miguel Cotto is not just a fighter from Puetro Rico. He is probably the biggest star in their country. I didn’t realize until I was training him that boxing is not just one of their main sports. In Puerto Rico boxing is the mainsport and the biggest sport, and at this time I think he is the biggest and the only really true Puetro Rican star. So based on that he’s got a lot of support, and I think the numbers in the pay-per-view are going to be phenomenal. They’re going to be much bigger than people think, and not just all because of Floyd. I think Miguel is very well liked and loved by everybody as a person and a fighter. Even though he’s lost some fights, those fights were dramatic fights. Then there was the Torres fight that he had, and even he won the fight with Clottey with his mouth cut up real bad and his eye closed. He came back strong, and the two losses that he did he lose big time, he went down to one knee. He was just beaten down. So he’s always been a true warrior, and people like Miguel Cotto! It’s that simple! He’s a very likeable person from a family viewpoint and all of that.

So based on that popularity and his exciting style of fighting and consistency, he’s going to have a big fan base and Floyd is the favorite, but I’ll tell you what! Floyd’s got to be very careful and never, ever underestimate Miguel, because Miguel is going to put pressure on him and I think he’s going to be ripping that left hook in there like he hasn’t done in a long time. Styles make fights and Floyd’s style of rolling the shoulder back and being in the rolled position where he can neutralize punches—he doesn’t do a whole lot of just bobbing, and slipping, and punching the way of Pernell Whitaker, who really was a classic defensive fighter that slipped punches and punched while he slipped. Floyd just shuts you down by rolling his shoulder and locking himself in a certain position. In that position he can’t get hit with right hands so much for the most part, but he’s vulnerable to left hooks. So Miguel is going to have to put a lot of pressure on Floyd and fight at a pretty good intense pace to take Floyd out of his comfort zone, and I don’t know if he’s going to be able to do that because Floyd is such an intelligent fighter and he has the ability to change the pace. He can make you fight at the pace he wants you to fight at. It’s going to be a very interesting fight, and even though Floyd is the favorite I could possibly see it going the other way, also.”

On whether he feels people are underestimating Shane Mosley going into his fight with Saul Alvarez given the fact Mosley is a 7 to 1 underdog:

“Nope! I mean firstly I just can’t see Shane doing too much in that fight. I just don’t see it. I’m surprised that the fight was made. I’ll be very honest with you. It’s just that one guy is heading north at such a fast pace and the other guy is heading south at a pretty decent pace. I think Saul Alvarez is just a very fabulous fighter, and I think whoever he fights would have a tough challenge with him, and I just don’t know if Shane has that physical strength and that high intensity and spirit that he once had earlier in his career. Just to say he’s going to hold him off with experience, I don’t think that’s going to be enough to me. But it’s going to be interesting to see what happens in the fight. I’m just very surprised that the fight was even made.”

Regarding which fight he is most excited about with some of the big fights coming up in May and June:

“Well I’ll tell you what. I’m excited about all of the fights, and I’m serious! Peterson and Khan! Oh my God! All of those fights, I’m like I don’t know what, and I know this may surprise you but Manny Pacquiao and Bradley! That’s one of them to me that’s almost a tossup! I just think with Manny, as good as he is, hasn’t been in with a guy that’s strong mentally and real, real determined, and as physically coordinated as Bradley. This is a fight that I was surprised they took also. The same with Mayweather and Cotto, I just think we have some really good fights coming up and I believe they’re all going to live up to their potential. I didn’t expect much and most of the fans didn’t expect much in the last fight with Bernard and Chad. From that point on, the rest of the fights I see, I think all of those fights are like tossup fights. I’m going to the ring as a spectator more so than a broadcaster, but as a fan just trying to sit there and see what’s going to happen. And my fighter Andy Lee is going against Chavez. I think that’s a very good fight. I think it’s a little different step up for both fighters. Both guys get hit a little bit. Both guys have shown they can come back pretty good in fights where they’ve had a few problems. In the case of both of them, I think they’ve had about 70 fights between them and only one loss that was avenged by Andy Lee. So that’s a pretty good record and both guys have pretty decent knockout records. That’s going to be an interesting fight! So I think we have some good fights coming up and all of this should help boxing, and that’s what we need—good competitive fights!”

***

For those interested in listening to the Iceman Emanuel Steward interview in its entirety, it begins approximately one hour and nineteen minutes into the program.

RIGHT CLICK and ‘SAVE AS’ TO DOWNLOAD EPISODE #167

***

This article was also published May 4, 2012 at East Side Boxing

***