"I thought he looked good. I thought he threw a lot of combinations and he got Cotto to press him a little bit and caught him with that little left uppercut/hook that he does and surprised Cotto...He's a welterweight! He's even got the welterweight power. He's hitting guys and knocking them down so you have to be careful...they thought he was a little guy, but now that myth is over with. There's no more little guy; this is a real welterweight so you gotta treat him as such," stated welterweight champion Shane Mosley, who was thoroughly impressed with Manny Pacquiao's performance in his 12th round TKO victory over Miguel Cotto. Even though Mosley is currently scheduled to face Andre Berto on January 30th, he couldn't help but to look past that fight at a potential action-packed showdown with the Filipino icon. Check out what else he had to say about Pacquiao's performance, what he and Floyd Sr. discussed during the fight, his thoughts on a possible clash with Mayweather Jr. and much more.
BT: I know you were ringside at the fight this past Saturday. You just said Pacquiao made a believer out of you, so what did you think of his performance?
SM: I thought he looked good. I thought he threw a lot of combinations and he got Cotto to press him a little bit and caught him with that little left uppercut/hook that he does and surprised Cotto. Cotto was like, "Okay, the guy can punch. The rumors are true." You know (laughing)?
BT: (Laughing) Before the fight, I know you really wanted to get that fight and were even willing to go down to 140, but did you imagine before he fought Cotto that he would be able to bully, dominate and stop Cotto like that?
SM: I really couldn't imagine that. I thought that he would be much too small, but like I said, he made a believer out of me. The cat's out of the bag. You can't say, "Oh, he's a little lightweight" anymore. He's a welterweight! He's even got the welterweight power. He's hitting guys and knocking them down so you have to be careful. I won't be going in there with my chin first. I'll be fighting him like a big man, like I was fighting Winky Wright or somebody; somebody big.
BT: I was going to ask you if you thought he was a legitimate welterweight or if you though he'd be better off staying at 140. He looks pretty solid at 147 to me.
SM: He's solid at 147. He'd probably be even better at 140, but at 47, he's looking for history. Now, the only thing left for him to do is to fight the best welterweight. I mean, Mayweather doesn't even have a title. He doesn't even have a world title or anything. He's just fighting him just for hype. He's fighting him for nothing.
BT: It seems like a lot of guys just underestimate his size. I mean, you know a lot about weightlifting. Is it just me or does Manny look like he has bodybuilder legs? Cotto's legs looked like toothpicks compared to his. Do you think the fact that he carries a lot of his weight in his legs is the reason why guys are thinking he's a smaller man, but are shocked to find out that he punches like a middleweight?
SM: I think so. I mean, that's just genetics. He carries his weight in his legs, which is beneficial to him to be able to generate all that power off that back leg. The way he throws them punches, it's harder than what it seems. It looks like he's just throwing a lot of shots, but he uses his legs very well to push off the ground and get the proper leverage on the shots.
BT: I saw you were sitting next to Big Floyd during the bout. Did you guys speak at all about Pacquiao's performance or his son?
SM: Yeah, I asked him, "What are you thinking?" Floyd Sr. was like, "Man, that guy is on something. There's no way in the world he's going to be walking back a big man like that." I was like, "Well, I mean, he's doing his thing so I don't know what to say about that." I mean, I don't think so, but, you know, genetically, some people are stronger than others. Genetically, he has power in his legs. Genetically, I'm physically stronger than a lot of people. Some people have gifts in different areas and he's using his gift that he has in his legs and I use the gift that I have in my upper body.
BT: Was he impressed at all with Manny?
SM: Well, I wouldn't say that he was impressed. He was kind of, you knowÂ…you know what, he was impressed, but he was like there's no way he could do what he does coming from 106 to 147 and walking down a big man like Cotto that normally walks down those guys. He just couldn't see that. It was too much. He was like that's too much for a little man to just start walking down a bigger guy, especially after fighting Marquez and Marquez was dropping him and now, all of a sudden, he's dropping big guys left and right. There's different theories about that too. I mean, when Cotto was fighting at 140, he was weak. He was getting dropped, but he went to 147, he wasn't hurt as quick. Maybe Pacquiao started filling out more and more and more and he's just fighting better as he gains weight. I don't know.
BT: Do you think Cotto fighting him at 145 was a problem? I thought he looked okay at the weigh-in. He didn't look drained to me at all.
SM: No, Cotto looked good to me. Cotto's body looked good and you can tell he was in good shape. He looked like he was ready to go; he looked like he was ready to fight. I think the difference in that fight was Cotto underestimated Pacquiao's power and his ability to hurt him. I think that's how Pacquiao gets a lot of these fighters now. Now that I've seen it, that's how he was getting a lot of fighters. They were underestimating his power. They would walk him down and think, "I'm just going to take his little shots and then knock him out." That wasn't the case. They only had Plan A, but they didn't have Plan B or C. So when they ran out of Plan A, they said, "Oh shit! What do I do now? That's not working." So I think that it was because they thought he was a little guy, but now that myth is over with. There's no more little guy; this is a real welterweight so you gotta treat him as such.
BT: And I think also part of that, when you mention him not having a Plan B, Joe Santiago obviously wasn't as experienced as Freddie Roach. How important do you think it is for you to have Brother Naaz in your corner right now?
SM: I think it's very important because we both share the same philosophies of boxing. I mean, boxing, punching, movementsÂ…when we work, we work in unison, so we're in harmony. Camp is fun and camp is great and I'm able to put my trust in somebody like Brother Naazim for these fights. I know when I go in, I'm going to be ready mentally and I'm going to be ready with all the strategy that I need. He's a strategist and he's going to be looking at everything and I know that, so I have confidence in him when it comes to that.
BT: Okay, so tell me, what's the bigger fight, Mosley vs. Mayweather or Mosley vs. Pacquiao?
SM: Okay, the most exciting fight is going to be me and Pacquiao.
BT: (Laughing) That was going to be my next question, the most exciting fight.
SM: The most exciting fight will be me and Manny. The most technical fight will be me and Mayweather. I'd have to be technical because I have to figure out ways of catching him in traps. I have to figure out ways of putting him in different traps so I can knock him out because I don't like to just go the distance and box back and forth. So I have to figure out how I'm going to put him in a trap. I gotta box him a little bit because Mayweather likes people to chase him so he can sit back and counter. You gotta get him out of his comfort zone. There's different ways of skinning a cat, so I gotta figure out ways of finding out how I'm going to catch him in a trap, how I'm going to make him react and try to come at me and catch him in that trap. Whereas Pacquiao, I gotta catch him in traps too, but I gotta make sure that I'm in the right position to catch him with the right angles of shots because he can throw punches and hard shots off of different angles, so I gotta make sure I understand the different angles he's throwing them from and be able to capitalize on that.
BT: Do you think Pacquiao would be an easierÂ…well, I don't want to say easier because both of those guys are tough fights, but technically speakingÂ…
SM: (Cutting in) Pacquiao wouldn't be the easier fight. Pacquiao would be the more exciting fight because there's going to be punches landed in that fight. There's going to be real shots landed in that fight to see the courage and heart, and everybody knows I got a great chin, so he's going to throw some shots and maybe he catches me with some good shots and maybe he doesn't, but I'm also going to get some big shots in and I'm heavy-handed as well. I got good pop too. My right hand comes at different angles. My shots come at different angles too, so he has to prepare for what I got to dish out. And I'm fast, I got quick, crisp punches where I can catch him off a shot and knock him down a couple times, because he's going to be off balance. It's going to be action. Two guys are going to be fighting. We're going to bring action; we're going to be fighting. Whereas with Mayweather, we gotta sit back and play a little chess game and I gotta figure out what I'm gonna do. Paquiao would have to do the same thing. You can't just run in with Mayweather because he's going to sit back and throw a check-hook or something and, like I said, probably put Pacquiao on the ground, maybe, because Pacquiao's going to be off balance. Mayweather's going to be sitting back in the pocket and it's going to be a 12-round snoozer because Mayweather's not going to commit the way Pacquiao commits. So that's the difference in the fights. I mean, it's going to get blown out of proportion into a mega-fight and blah, blah, blah, but are they really going to get the action that they would get with me and Pacquiao?
BT: Nope!
SM: Are they going to get the same action with me and Mayweather as me and Pacquiao?
BT: Nope!
SM: The best fight right now is me and Pacquiao. The best real fight, me and Pacquiao. The best hyped fight is Mayweather and Pacquiao.
BT: I think you and Pacquiao would be the best fight period because you and Pacquiao would actually fight. Like you said, Mayweather against anybody is a chess match, which can be interesting, but not quite as crowd-pleasing.
SM: It would be Pacquiao trying to fight him, but then it would turn into a chess match because Pacquiao can't run in and then how can he win the fight if he doesn't get damage done early? He's going to get frustrated and start throwing punches crazy and Mayweather would likely win that fight because of Pacquiao getting frustrated.
BT: Which guy do you think is bigger for your legacy?
SM: I think Pacquiao is. I think Pacquiao is my legacy because Pacquiao went up so many weight classes. Pacquiao is real big in the Philippines. Pacquiao is already a legend. It would be two real legends fighting each other. He's already a legend. In the Philippines, I mean, come on, who else came out of the Philippines that you know?
BT: No clue.
SM: He's getting ready to become the President. After he finishes fighting, he'll be the President of the Philippines. I can hang out with him in the Philippines after we finish fighting (laughing).
BT: (Laughing) Maybe he can can get you a position in his Cabinet.
SM: (Laughing) Yeah. That's great. Just sit back and hang out in the Philippines (laughing). But Pacquiao definitely! Pacquaio has the most history behind him. He's more interesting. Mayweather, he just talks a lot of mess, runs, beats people at the right time, he just talks a lot of mess. He's just built up to me; he's just a lot of hype, you know?
BT: (Laughing) I hear ya, I hear ya. Let me ask you, I know Mayweather and Ellerbe always like to boast about Mayweather Promotions doing big things and all that, and maybe you know, maybe you don't know, but whatÂ…
SM: (Cutting in) Why does he have a tax problem that other people have to pay for? Why do other people have to pay his taxes? What's up with that?
BT: That's a great question. I'm trying to figure out why he would need Richard Schaefer and Golden Boy Promotions to help negotiate a Pacquiao fight.
SM: Exactly! Exactly! Because he needs our services.
BT: That's what I'm getting at. I guess I'm not buying this whole Mayweather Promotions as a legitimate promotional company.
SM: It's not! It should be Golden Boy Promotions and Mayweather hasn't put his little thing under there. Just like me, I have Pound4Pound Promotions under Golden Boy. I could say, "Oh yeah, I got Pound4Pound Promotions." It's a promotional company. I can put that on the labels like that, but the main point is Golden Boy is promoting my promotion. Golden Boy is promoting Mayweather's company. I'm a partner with Golden Boy, so Mayweather, you're paying me too. You're paying me. I'm tipping you out! I'm tipping you out right now. Understand that! Understand that! (Laughing) He's fighting for my company.
BT: (Laughing) Damn! You know, with Floyd, there's a lot of smoke and mirrors when it comes to a lot of the stuff he puts out there and I think that's why a lot of fans are so frustrated with him and that's why a lot of fans are dying to see you, or I should say him step into the ring with you because there's a ton of fans that just want to see somebody shut him up (laughing).
SM: You know, to me, it doesn't matter. Step in the ring with Pacquiao, step in the ring with me, step in the ring with a real welterweight. Step in the ring with somebody. Pacquiao now is a real welterweight. Step in the ring with a real welterweight please. Don't step in the ring with a lightweight or step in the ring with guys that are 140. Next he'll be talking about fighting Timothy Bradley; I think he was talking about fighting, he was in England or something like that talking about fighting Hatton again? Hatton's not even a 47-pounder. He a 40-pounder. Fight a real 47-pounder. Not only that, but fight one of the top 47-pounders. Hell, I mean, Berto's a real 47-pounder; he's a champion. Collazo's a 47-pounder. Joshua Clottey is a real 47-pounder. Margarito is a real 47-pounder. Paul Williams is a little bigger, but you know. No, Paul Williams is a 60-pounder, he just fights guys that are 47-pounders (laughing).
BT: Well you know he ain't going to fight Paul or Berto because of Al Haymon, so you know those fights ain't happening.
SM: Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's what I'm trying to say. Just fight a real welterweight and then he can start claiming to be pound-for-pound or all this. You can't claim that no more. You retiredÂ…I mean, Pacquiao took your position. Now we just have to find out who's the best welterweight and I can take that pound-for-pound belt from him, but he gotta give me that fight though so we can see who's really the best. But, hey, Pacquiao won that position. He earned it. He earned pound-for-pound.
BT: I know negotiations are going to be ugly, but how likely do you think that fight comes off between Floyd and Manny? Do you think that either side might try to wait until after your fight with Berto to try to use a potential fight with you as leverage at the negotiating table?
SM: Well, I don't want to be used as leverage at any negotiating table because that's just not happening. Pacquiao, if you want to fight me, I'll fight you in April. I'll fight Berto and then after that, I'll fight you in April. April or May. May 5th. Cinco de Mayo, we can get it on. You can go ahead and get a little vacation, I'll go ahead and do a little work here in a couple of months and then we can do our thing May 5th.
BT: At Texas Stadium!
SM: That works for me.
BT: No doubt Shane. Well alright Champ. It's always a pleasure. We'll definitely catch up with you again before the fight.
SM: Yeah, definitely. Just call me and we'll get it done.
CLICK HERE FOR PART 1 OF THIS INTERVIEW WITH WELTERWEIGHT CHAMPION SHANE MOSLEY
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