"Top Rank has done a masterful job with Pacquiao. They are picking the right guys, older guys, guys who give up leverage in order to fight him. Marquez has busted his balls to get ready for this fight, though I'm not sure if it's legitimate or it's fake, but he's a dedicated athlete. He's also too old and too small and even if his body is looking good, Marquez is not a real challenger to Pacquiao right now," stated world-class trainer Jesse Reid, who shared his thoughts on a number of subjects, including the upcoming Pacquiao-Marquez showdown, last weekend's Hopkins-Dawson clash, the work he's doing with Malik Scott, and much more. Check it out!
DH: Jess, it's been longer than we both would like I think, but how's everything at the new gym?
JR: Fantastic; great people to work for and they give me the run of the gym and they're helping me get it set the right way.
DH: I see that you're training heavyweight Malik Scott right now. He's looking pretty good considering he's recovering from a bicep tear surgery.
JR: Malik is incredible. He's easily the fastest heavyweight out there. He has an oustanding amateur and professional background. He's got more power than people give him credit for and I'm going to work on his punch stats.
DH: Yeah, just watching him in the ring, he looked fantastic. Looks like he may take you far.
JR: Definitely! We are going to bring the title back to the United States and Malik is the best contender out there to do that.
DH: You know that I wasn't going to walk in here and not ask you about that disaster last weekend on HBO. What were your thoughts on the whole Hopkins debacle?
JR: Well, actually, it wasn't even a fight. I thought that it was a clear foul that should've resulted in a disqualification or a no contest; both fighters didn't have a chance to show what they could do and it's a bad thing for boxing. It was already bad enough that it was on pay-per-view. The California Athletic Commission should've been ran out of the building for giving that fight to Dawson.
DH: Hopkins is 46 years old. What do you see left in Hopkins? Does he have anything left to offer boxing?
JR: Well, I think that the right style for Hopkins will bring out the best of him, but Chad Dawson's style brought out the old man in him. You really can't comment though after one or two rounds. It's like a joke! I just think Hopkins has finally gotten old.
DH: Do you believe Bernard's injury is legit? There's a large contingency out there that think he took the easy way out to save face.
JR: The way he landed on his shoulder, unless he's Superman, caused a legitimate injury and I do think it was sad that it ended the way it did because we were left not knowing who was the better fighter, you know? I'm just really disappointed.
DH: Neither guy seems like they want a rematch. Both are trying to go separate ways from Saturday, but does the situation warrant a rematch you think?
JR: I think they should. They need to because we need to know who is the better fighter and if Hopkins is too old. We really didn't get the answer to those questions and how could we in one or two rounds?
DH: Well, we're not in the clear for bad pay-per-views, Manny Pacquiao and Juan Manuel Marquez I think is going to be uneventful and a letdown as well. We talked earlier about how good Marquez is looking in camp, a far cry from his shape against Mayweather. Does Marquez have a better chance to win or is Pacquiao going to bomb him out?
JR: Well, let me say this, Top Rank has done a masterful job with Pacquiao. They are picking the right guys, older guys, guys who give up leverage in order to fight him. Marquez has busted his balls to get ready for this fight, though I'm not sure if it's legitimate or it's fake, but he's a dedicated athlete. He's also too old and too small and even if his body is looking good, Marquez is not a real challenger to Pacquiao right now.
DH: I wanted to run a theory by you I've been playing with and get your thoughts on this. Pacquiao has been a welterweight for the past two years and was very big also at 130 and 135, but at 147, when he fought Cotto, his eardrum was broken. He fights Clottey and the few punches Clottey lands marks him black and blue all over. Margarito put him on his back for three days. When he fights Shane Mosley, who does absolutely nothing in the fight, his punch output drops in half from his previous three fights. Is it possible that Pacquiao has peaked or slightly over the hill now due to the punishment he's taken?
JR: I think he's at a point where he's getting older, but they are still running him like a young fighter. I think he's peaked, but he's also got God-given talent, but I don't think he's the fighter he was from the smaller weight classes. To be fair, there is only one fighter out there that people think that can beat him and that's Mayweather because Mayweather finds a way to win. Both guys have their baggage, but they're just not as exciting as everybody thinks they there anymore.
DH: Tim Bradley is next on the Pacquiao train, as you told us back in July. Do you give the younger, fresher Bradley a shot against Pacquiao should they fight in May?
JR: He definitely has a shot because he's young and durable. That's a fight where we'll really see what Manny Pacquiao is all about. If he wins the way he wants to win, then it's safe to say that Pacquiao is still something else, but I doubt very much he's going to have an easy fight with Bradley.
DH: Pacquiao's finances have been an issue that has been growing into a bigger concern with talks about the gambling and owing his accountants hundreds of thousands of dollars. He says he wants to fight a few more times and focus on politics, but do you think Manny's story is heading for a happy ending?
JR: I think it's going to somewhat be a sad story. The people who have been around him for years are taking his money. Whenever you see those many individuals around a fighter, he's losing money somewhere. I think it's just one of those situations that he'll have to keep fighting maybe longer than he has to and might end up a sad story.
DH: Alright Jess, a pleasure as always. Any last words?
JR: Keep an eye out on Malik Scott; he's a future champion. We will have an American champion. That belt is coming back to America.