Last month, FightHype's exclusive Mayweather After Dark series sparked a ton of reaction, both good and bad, from fans and media alike. From diehard fans who were eager to hear more from the undefeated pound-for-pound champion to members of the media who had their own series of questions, the email has not stopped pouring in since the first video went up. Although we don't have all the answers, we do have some and I certainly don't mind sharing my opinion, so check out what I had to say to inquiring minds who want to know about Floyd Mayweather, Manny Pacquiao and much more.
Hey Ben this is Phil. Let me start out by saying that your "Mayweather After Dark" videos were off the chain. And it was very entertaining for the Mayweather fans who havent seen him in action whether in the ring or in front of the camera in quite some time. I'm one of the biggest Mayweather fans out here. I believe he is the best boxer to ever put on a pair of gloves, and he will prove it once & for all when he defeats Poochiao. I'm tired of people putting the blame on Money May when it's clearly the other parties fault. But the question i have for you or the Mayweather camp is this: I believe that May would Beat Poochiao even if he was on them Pellets. But Why is it so important to have Olympic style drug testing ALL THE WAY UP UNTIL THE DAY OF THE FIGHT?? (Just curious)...Because if Poochiao & Freddie Roach feel like it takes a couple days for him to recover mentally, then why not make it up to 4,3 or even 2 days before the fight? I can speak on behalf of a lot of people that i come across everyday, both Mayweather & Poochiao fans who want to know the answer to this question. Thanks Ben. Keep up the excellent work
BT: Hi Phil. Thanks for the support. To answer your question, at this point, I think now it's just principle. Something that a lot of fans forget is that Team Mayweather actually offered a 14-day cut-off window to Team Pacquiao when negotiations began to crumble back in December of 2009. Although they originally still wanted testing all the way up until the fight, Team Mayweather was willing to compromise after Bob Arum threw a fit and declared that the fight was off. In fact, originally, Bob Arum wasn't even willing to participate in mediation. "I called up Ross and I said, 'I'm not going to take part in any mediation or anything. I'm not going to deal with Richard Schaefer on instructions from my client," Arum said. "Manny will do a blood test, as required, to get his new boxing license in January per the Nevada commission. Manny will also do another blood test after the fight. End of story," Arum reiterated before issuing his take-it-or-leave-it deadline just a couple of days after Christmas. Then, out of nowhere, a video surfaced showing Pacquiao giving blood during the weeks prior to his fight with Ricky Hatton. All of a sudden, Arum changed his tune and decided that maybe mediation wasn't so bad after all. Of course, that was AFTER he already instructed Pacquiao to file a defamation lawsuit. Nevertheless, they entered into mediation and Team Pacquiao graciously offered another take-it-or-leave-it 24-day cut-off date, which happened to be the same number of days he gave blood prior to the Hatton fight. Furthermore, in their final offer, Team Pacquiao insisted that the testing be done by the Nevada State Athletic Commission and they wanted "a statement of full apology in regard to comments made about Manny and their false allegations." That offer was rejected by Team Mayweather, however, they did in fact counter and asked for a 14-day cut-off date, which Bob Arum promptly turned down and again declared that the fight was off. The minute that Bob Arum walked away from the fight, both Floyd Mayweather and Leonard Ellerbe made it crystal clear that all future opponents would have to agree to Olympic-style drug testing leading all the way up until the fight. Once Mayweather made that statement, and then followed through with it by participating in Olympic-style testing for the Mosley fight, there was really no going back in my opinion. Would he be willing to accept a cut-off date maybe 4, 3 or 2 days before the fight? That I'm not sure of, but judging from the conversations I've had with him, it doesn't sound like. Then again, up until this point, he's never even received an official offer from Team Pacquiao stating that they would be willing to take the tests up until 4, 3 or 2 days before the fight, so until that happens, we'll never know. But at the end of the day, if you were someone that had their suspicions prior to negotiations taking place, all of that back-and-forth posturing about the testing done by Team Pacquiao didn't exactly help the cause.
Hi FightHype.com, First off, thanks for providing quality boxing news. Floyd Mayweather JR, in my opinion, displays the widest array of boxing skill out of our era's competitors. As a result, he suffers much less damage than other boxers. He may go on lay-offs, or momentary retirements, yet, he continues to outbox his opponents with what looks like little effort. Plus, he continues to sustain minimal damage...my gut instinct is Floyd may deserve the title of "Hit the Least" in ALL of boxing history. Given all that, did you get the impression that Floyd wanted to continue his sporadic, yet long career inside the ring? If he did, I'd be willing to bet he could easily break Bernard Hopkin's record, outlast Pacquiao, and continue to thrive amongst the younger generation. This is all wishful thinking, because Floyd is my favorite boxer to watch. But, I wanted to hear your thoughts. Thanks for your time, -Ben
BT: Hi Ben. Good name. LOL. Will Floyd continue his career inside the ring? Honestly, that's hard to say. I think both Floyd and Manny are getting to points in their lives where they have other things that are more important to them outside of the ring. Whether that's spending time with family or making decisions for a country, at the end of the day, both men have been involved in the sport for an extremely long time. I think as long as there are fights that still interest him, then yeah, Floyd will still be around. I think as long as he can make the kind of money that he's currently making, then ABSOLUTELY he'll still be around. Truth be told, I think the longer that Floyd and Manny don't fight each other, the longer they both may stay active, looking to outdo each other with their performances. That being said, with Floyd only fighting once a year, even if he still fights for the next 3-5 years, that only means 3-5 more fights. In my opinion though, I think it will be Manny who walks away from the sport sooner rather than later. I'm glad you enjoy the site. Thanks for your support.
Will there be a 24/7 series for the Mayweather-Ortiz fight? -TJ
BT: TJ, at this point, I think it's pretty safe to assume that there will probably be a 24/7 series for Mayweather vs. Ortiz. If not, we'll definitely make sure we bring you some more Mayweather After Dark episodes.
Ben, I'm responding to your points regarding Manny's weight gain from Super Featherweight (130) to Welterweight (147). I think again the Mayweather camp and perhaps you, are not looking at the facts. Take a look at these HBO screenshots of the night of Manny's going back to March 19, 2005 fight versus Erik Morales. As you can see, 6 years ago Manny weighed 139 lbs on fight night. The next Morales fight (even though he weighed in 129 lbs) was 144 lbs on fight night. The Marquez fight you spoke of from March 15, 2008, he weighed in at 129 lbs, but on fight night weighed 145 lbs! As Manny continually moved up in weight in the Diaz, and De La Hoya fights he has maintained a fight night weight of 140 to 148 lbs. My conclusion: Manny is a natural welterweight. For years he fought at a weights much lighter than what he normally carries. To say that he suddenly went from 130 to 147 in a span of 6 months (the time between the Marquez and De La Hoya fights) is grasping at straws. In fact, this article below does a great job of debunking the steroids talk with facts. Let me know what you think. http://theboxingtruth.com/article.php?id=1310 - Joseph
BT: Hi Joseph. Thanks for the breakdown. I was actually fully aware of all of those points and have seen the article written by my buddy John Chavez over at The Boxing Truth. I think, however, you may have missed my point. First and foremost, in my opinion, it has nothing to do with his weight...instead, it's his performances in moving up in weight that people question. Again, I have no problem whatsoever with fighters gaining weight in a short period of time. In fact, I think my man James Toney can put on 40 pounds in two weeks flat. LOL. All joking aside though, I've seen a number of fighters, who were fighting below their natural weight division, put on size in a short period of time. The difference with most, however, is that when they do put on size and move up in weight, you can see it in their body as well as their performances. The history of the sport has given us a number of examples. I'll give you some of the more recent ones. When Juan Manuel Marquez moved up from 135 to 147 (technically 144ish), you could see the extra weight in his body and you can tell it affected his performance. He looked sluggish, much slower than normal, and just unable to do anything effectively. When Ricky Hatton moved up from 140 to 147, he looked far less powerful and effective against Luis Collazo, who had no problems whatsoever pushing the smaller man around. When the late great and naturally bigger Diego Corrales, one of the biggest punchers in the division at the time, could no longer make 135 and was forced to move up to welterweight, he was dropped twice and manhandled by Joshua Clottey (interestingly enough, both guys weighed in at 149). Ever since Arthur Abraham went from 160 to 168, he's struggled to be effective against the naturally bigger men. The same thing can be said about Kelly Pavlik, who looked like a knockout artist at 160, but has struggled to put a dent in anyone legit above that weight. At one time, Paul Williams was "the most feared man at welterweight," but once he moved up in weight, we quickly saw the difference in his performances. Heck, even when Shane Mosley moved up from 135 to 147, he went from having one of the best knockout ratios in the sport to barely being able to knock out anyone. On top of that, when he moved up even further to 154, the bigger Winky Wright literally dropped his hands and gave Mosley a few free shots to the grill, literally laughing at him before proceeding to muscle him around the ring. Like I said, the history of the sport is filled with a number of examples of fighters who have moved up just one or two weight divisions and have been far less effective than they were at the lower weights. Usually, you can see a difference in their body, and more particularly, a difference in their speed and power. From what I have witnessed in the sport, when fighters move up in weight, even the all-time greats, their speed and their power is diminished to some extent and you can see that in their performances. Not with Manny Pacquiao however. Somehow, he's managed to put the right strength & conditioning formula together that has allowed him to maintain his speed and seemingly become even more powerful than he was fighting at the lower weights. I mean, what he's been able to do to the likes of Shane Mosley, Antonio Margarito, Miguel Cotto, Oscar De La Hoya and even Joshua Clottey makes those guys look like far worse fighters than Oscar Larios, Marco Antonio Barrera, Erik Morales and Juan Manuel Marquez. Don't get me wrong, maybe they are worse fighters, but I would think that with all of them being naturally bigger men, Pacquiao's performances wouldn't look even better and more dominant at the higher weight than they did at the lower weights. But again, like I said, it's not so much about the weight gain itself...it's more about his performances and being able to maintain his speed and power despite the weight gain. Not for nothing, but I think your conclusion of Pacquiao being a natural welterweight may be a little flawed. I've never met any natural welterweights that had to eat 7000 calories a day just so they could weigh in 2 pounds under the 147-pound limit. If anything, he's probably a natural jr. welterweight, but even still, I can't think of any other 140-pounders who could possibly move up in weight and have the kind of performances he's had against much bigger men who suck down to make weight.
Hey Ben, you're doing it with this 'insider' Mayweather stuff. Money has cleared up all of the notorious stuff as far as I'm concerned, but talking to other writers/reporters I was already aware of most of the facts surrounding theP4P king. Many will question Mayweather's desire to fight Pacquiao using his OSDT request as a means to not fight him. But, those same folk will not look at the flipside and question why a fighter who proclaims himself clean wouldn't submit to that testing for a cool $25M guarantee and the possibility to outdo Mayweather by coming up clean. If I was him I would've put a monetary value on clean tests, since it was Mayweather requesting the tests say $1M/clean test and no money at all for one dirty test, as well as putting the fight in jeopardy. Here's a very good article to read. http://forums.doghouseboxing.com/index.php?showtopic=165031 - Robert
BT: Hi Robert. Actually, putting a monetary value on the tests isn't a bad idea at all. First and foremost, if I'm Pacquiao, I'd call his bluff and take the tests in a heartbeat. If anything, I would already feel like I have the psychological advantage. I mean, if I heard a guy was concerned that I may be "on something", I'd take the tests in order to REALLY get in his head once he realized that I'm not on something. Then maybe I'd pull a Tarver and say something like, "Yeah, now you're going to have to my tests punk" right before the fight started. LOL. Seriously though, as fast as Team Pacquiao was to demand Mayweather to pay $10 million per pound if he came in over the weight limit, I'm surprised they didn't just ask for something as ridiculous as $10 million per week for a cut-off date. If they originally agreed to a 24-day cut-off, but Floyd wanted a 14-day cut-off, just ask him to pay $10 million per week the closer he wants the tests to the fight date. That way you hit him where he doesn't want to be hit, his bank account, and you can see just how much those tests are really worth to him. That's actually not a bad idea at all. You have to wonder if the thought ever came up during negotiations. Then again, as fast as Bob Arum was to call the fight off, you have to wonder if he was really interested in "negotiating" in the first place.
Wassup B, we may be distant cousins, but i speak to Percy all the Time...U can check with him so u dont think Im b'sing, but anyway, Im cool with Floyd never fighting Manny even tho we all know it comes down to Olympic Testing. He said it after speaking with Larry Merchant after he scorched Shane "that testing is all the way upto the fight or there is no fight"...That right there is the speculation ender for me...But that brings me to a point which I feel u should send to Floyd...I want him to fight Amir Khan in England, I know he has a home there already so it wont be an issue to train there or what not. Amir will be moving to Welterweight if he Beats Zab and thats a Big Big If. So lets say he does, nonetheless, same Promoter (GBP) should be able to make this one easy!!! But the underlying thing for me is since Floyd and Amir are both former Olympians they both would have no problems with the testing!!! The catch is that Amir and Manny have the same team. So if Amir will take the test w/ no cutoff, that puts Manny in a hella bind he cant explain!!!! And if Amir says no to the testing....HOUSTON WE HAVE A PROBLEM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! feel me!!!!!!!!! - Deric Thompson
BT: Whaddup cuz? LOL. Actually, to add to your point, Floyd said that even before he fought Mosley. In fact, Leonard Ellerbe said it in January of 2010 and Floyd said it again in February of 2010. Soon I'll be posting a rather lengthy Mayweather-Pacquiao Negotiations Timeline on the site where you'll be able to go back and see exactly where the negotiations broke down and draw your own conclusions as to who was responsible for what. As for Amir Khan, assuming he does beat Zab Judah, which, like you said, is a big if, then I think he'll definitely be an option for Floyd in the future. It's a fight that Amir has asked for in the past and he could very well get it in 2012. As you noted, Mayweather does indeed have a strong following in the UK...maybe even stronger than Amir has. LOL. I highly doubt he'll have any problems taking the tests because, after all, it will mean a phenomenal career high payday for him. I also don't think that will put Manny Pacquiao in any kind of bind simply because they don't share the same promoter. It was never really Freddie Roach who was against the testing in the first place. It was mainly Bob Arum. But again, you'll get the full recap when I drop the timeline on the site so keep an eye for it.
[WRITER'S NOTE: That's it for today. I still have a lot more email to get through. Unfortunately, everyone may not make it into the mailbag, however, I'm definitely going to try, so if you don't see a response from me now, be sure to check back later in a future mailbag. If you do have a question or comment, feel free to shoot me an email at bthompson@fighthype.com and I'll be sure to get back with you in one way, shape or form.]
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