"Yeah because nothing has really changed. He's going from Andre Berto...and no offense to Berto, but Berto is not Floyd Mayweather Jr. Mayweather Jr. is probably the best of his generation, but what Floyd has...and you even saw glimpses of it against Berto, but when Berto decided to box, Ortiz had trouble. In his fight before that, against Lamont Peterson, when Lamont started to box, Victor had trouble. And now you're going to probably the best boxer in his generation...that means Ortiz is going to have trouble all night," stated world-class boxing and MMA trainer Ron Frazier as he shared his thoughts on the upcoming showdown between Floyd Mayweather and Victor Ortiz. Check out what else he had to say on a number of different fights in both boxing and MMA!
PC: It's long overdue, but it's been a minute since we spoke, so I want to let you say your final words for Shawn Tompkins, who I know you were good friends with.
RF: Shawn helped me out a lot in this business. I'm like the forgotten coach in the IFL. But me and Shawn were coaches together under Bas Rutten. Obviously Shawn came from the Bas Rutten system, but we worked for the L.A. Anacondas, so we spent a lot of time together from 2006 until 2009, just talking about how we wanted to train fighters and how we wanted to live life and things like that. So he's been very instrumental in the development of my career. I can't give him nothing but credit for that. It's a shock and it can't do nothing but help you think of your own mortality when a man that's doing his thing at 37 years old passes away in his sleep. It puts everything in perspective from that point on.
PC: Sticking with MMA before we talk boxing, can you say enough about Anderson Silva?
RF: He's the G.O.A.T. right now; he is the greatest of all time. Until somebody comes along and matches his accomplishments, there is not a question about it. I'm not gonna be like Dana White and crap on Fedor. Fedor accomplished a lot for a long time, but the way Anderson has done it, and I think against better competition...and it's not like it's even been close, really. Other than the Chael Sonnen fight, he hasn't even been challenged in a fight. He's just been dominant and that dude is just at another level right now. Unless father time catches him over night, I don't see anybody messing with him at 185.
PC: I know you've never thought St. Pierre could be competitive against him. Does his performance against Okami solidify that thought for you?
RF: GSP got hit in the eye by Jake Shields and was complaining that he couldn't see. That's all I'm gonna say about that. I don't need to say nothing else. I know Dana has been building that fight, and don't get me wrong, GSP has been a great champion; don't get me wrong. He's a tremendous fighter and tremendous athlete, but Anderson Silva is at another level. You're talking about who is bigger, who is faster, and just as athletic. What are you going to do, take him down? What are you going to do when you get him down? You're not going to submit him. He's probably going to get right back up and then you gotta take him down again, and you may not want to eat a knee on the way to doing that. It just spells a long night. Dan Henderson took him down and he couldn't do anything with him. So you telling me a guy who isn't as physically strong...he's athletic, but he's not as strong as some of the guys who have had Silva on his back. Hell, Chael beat the hell out of him and couldn't finish the fight. I see that as a very one-sided fight.
PC: Forrest Griffin had a tough night in Brazil. He never looked comfortable in that fight to me.
RF: I thought several things leading up to that. His mind was elsewhere. The way he was talking, he just never seemed comfortable down in Brazil. I think for the first time ever, he was the bad guy. He ain't never really been the bad guy before. He has always kind of been the fan favorite wherever he has gone. Even when he fought overseas in Ireland...well, he's part Irish, so he's always had that; everybody loves him. Down there, they were wishing death upon him. I don't think he's ever had to deal with anything like that, and on top of that, his wife is pregnant. He thought he was going to have time and then he finds out any day now, so he thought he may miss the birth of his child. So you know what? I think that weighed on his mind. He never really looked into the fight or looked comfortable.
PC: It was a big deal for the UFC to go to Brazil because they have so many Brazilian born fighters in their organization and the Brazilians didn't disappoint. They dominated the U.S.
RF: Yeah they did. They did kind of put it on them. They were hype. They had the home turf advantage, if you will. A lot of them were in their comfort zone. A lot of fighters had to travel a long way and sometimes, it don't work out the way you want it to when you have a game plan in your head. A lot of guys went over there and came up a little short in Brazil. The Brazilians had a good night. They said they are going to have 4 more shows over there next year. I don't think they are going to sweep all of the shows.
PC: To me, the FOX deal is a double-edge sword because, of course, it's great for getting the sport on the big stage, but at the same time, you could risk watering it down a little bit. How do you assess the FOX deal?
RF: It all depends on how many fights a year they are going to have. If they are trying to do 38 to 40 fights, you may get a product that's watered down. The UFC is less than 20 years old, so it's still in its infancy. It doesn't have all of the fighters that are ready to fight on TV right now. They have to be very careful not to put on some guys who are not ready and the fans start to say, "You know what? I'm not paying for that." They gotta also worry about their aging stars; 5 years from now, where are those stars that's coming behind those guys? Those guys should already be in the UFC. They should already be there and we should be like, "Okay, this guy is ready." Because you know what? Randy is already retired, Chuck's retired, Tito doesn't have much time left in the game, and Rashad has never really quite reached the level his talent suggests he should, and the fans have never taken to him like I thought they should. But 5 years from now, how many of these guys are still going to be fighting? So who are going to be your guys? And the show [The Ultimate Fighter] hasn't really produced those guys, with the exception of the early years of the show.
PC: I agree. You can see the tide turning with some of the older stars and with the exception of Jon Jones, we gotta start seeing some more of these guys turn the corner and show they can be a star in the UFC.
RF: Yeah, he definitely is. And it's going to be a good test for him fighting a guy like Rampage, who is a grizzled veteran, former champion who does hit hard. If he can catch him, then maybe we can see Jon Jones overcome some adversity; that would be seeing Jon Jones come a long way and turning the corner and taking it to another level.
PC: Switching over to boxing, their biggest draw, Floyd Mayweather Jr., is on the horizon just a couple of weeks away. Do you still like him to win big over Victor Ortiz?
RF: Yeah because nothing has really changed. He's going from Andre Berto...and no offense to Berto, but Berto is not Floyd Mayweather Jr. Mayweather Jr. is probably the best of his generation, but what Floyd has...and you even saw glimpses of it against Berto, but when Berto decided to box, Ortiz had trouble. In his fight before that, against Lamont Peterson, when Lamont started to box, Victor had trouble. And now you're going to probably the best boxer in his generation...that means Ortiz is going to have trouble all night.
PC: I don't know much about Darren Barker, but these are the kind of fights that can scare you if you are a Sergio Martinez fan. How do you size up this fight?
RF: Yeah, you're right, the unknowns are the dangerous fights. They are very dangerous because you're not sure what you are walking into and he can be a heck of a fighter, but nobody has ever seen him. So if he comes out and wins, all of the stuff that Sergio Martinez has worked up for goes right out of the window, even though he may have lost to a really legitimate dude. I would like to see him in a big fight too, but who wants to fight this guy. I think the only fight that makes sense is for him to fight Floyd at 154. It's a weight that Floyd has fought at; he was 151 when he fought Oscar when they fought at 54. Obviously that's a weight that Sergio Martinez held a title at, so we know he can make that weight. He's not a super imposing guy or big guy, but he would have a size advantage over Floyd. But Floyd is a strong guy. He is a stronger than a lot of people think he is. So that would be the only one that makes sense. Manny Pacquiao is not going to step up and go in that ring with him. They want no parts of Sergio Martinez. They don't even talk about him. You don't even hear that come out of that camps mouth, so you know that's not going to happen. So what else is out there outside of those two fights; a third fight with Paul Williams? That's not even a big fight anymore. Paul still has somewhat of a name, but it's diminishing quickly.
PC: Oscar De La Hoya recently shed a lot of light on some of his past demons. What did you make of all of his confessions?
RF: I had heard some stuff about him, but it was nothing I had ever seen. But you know what? You hear a lot of stuff out there, but unless I see it, I'm not going to cast dispersions on somebody. There were rumors that things like that were going on and you know what? It's tough to live up to the "Golden Boy" image. He was a guy who was obviously a great story coming out of the Olympics. Here is a guy who was fighting for his mother, who had passed away, and we know he's had an up and down relationship with his father, who was very hard on him, and he had this image that everybody loved. It's hard to live up to being that guy, being that perfect guy. As we found out that over the years, these guys are perfect, you strip off the façade and none of these guys are perfect; they are human. And now he has to go through those things of being human and it's a lot to bare sometimes. It takes you through some avenues that you know you maybe shouldn't take with the drugs, alcohol and infidelity and all of that stuff. It goes to show that he may have been a confident man in the ring, but outside of the ring, he never found out who Oscar De La Hoya was and that's his struggle now. He has to find out who Oscar De La Hoya is and what he stands for and if he finds that he can win his battles, and if he doesn't, it's always going to be a struggle.
PC: Well said as always Ron. I appreciate your time as always. Is there anything you would like to add?
RF: I want to thank my sponsors, Xtreme Couture and Inflict Sports, and everybody stay safe and enjoy the MMA and boxing world. It's going to be a good September!
[ Follow Percy Crawford on Twitter @MrLouis1ana ]