"I went and watched a little bit of it myself yesterday and it's still looking good. The hand speed is there and it should be a good fight. To be honest, I don't even know if Shane Mosley knows how he's going to perform. It's been a long time since Shane has fought with no help
I think that it's going to be a very good fight and a competitive fight for the first 4 rounds and then, once Floyd figures Shane out and his timing and everything, it's going to be a totally different fight," stated world-class trainer Jeff Mayweather as he shared his thoughts on his nephew's upcoming May 1 clash with Shane Mosley and much more. Check it out!
PC: Do you think it is time for both Roy Jones and Bernard Hopkins to hang up the gloves?
JM: This is one of those situations where Bernard still has some fight left in him. He looked horrible that night. I think it had a lot to do with the fact that he was fighting Roy and he was so conscious about not losing. That could have hampered his performance because the fight was horrible. Roy should never put on another pair of gloves in his life. He is robbing the public completely. And then, how many times are you going to keep bragging after you lose? You sitting up there bragging and it's like, "Dude, you lost. You didn't even try." Not once did he even have a spark; not a fire, but just a spark. Show me something to let me know that you are even trying. And it didn't happen. And then Bernard Hopkins was trying to win an Oscar. That in itself made the fight a farce. They robbed the public. And to be honest, I have never been a big Bernard Hopkins fan anyway. To me, he's only had 3 fights that were worth watching in his whole career and that was Kelly Pavlik, Antonio Tarver and Trinidad. You take those 3 fights off of his career and he never did nothing to me.
PC: The funny thing is people never accuse Hopkins of picking on smaller guys, but they will accuse Lil' Floyd of doing that.
JM: How can they say that about Floyd when Floyd started at 130 pounds and he's won titles all the way up to 154 pounds? He didn't fight no fight at a catchweight. Every fight he's fought was at that person's weight. Any fighter that goes up in weight isn't picking on guys smaller than they are. Bernard was a life-long middleweight calling out Vargas, De La Hoya and Mosley for years. Nobody was talking about Floyd picking on bigger guys when he was going up in weight or any other guy that has won multiple championships going up. What's the difference? That's just like Marquez. He knocked out Diaz and nobody complained about that. All of a sudden, you complain because one guy dominates another guy. It's the same thing if Marquez beats on Diaz. What's the difference?
PC: We can't keep saying, as boxing fans or experts or whatever your title may be, that styles make fights and then try to continuously say size makes fights. I mean, look at Pacquiao's last 5. Out of Cotto, Hatton, De La Hoya, Clottey and Marquez, Marquez gave him the toughest fight and he was the smallest of the 5. That's because, stylistically, he will always give Pacquiao problems. It has nothing to do with his size.
JM: And the other thing
it's like I told you before, could you imagine Michael Carbajal or Ricardo Lopez beating Ray Leonard, Tommy Hearns or Cuevas or Donald Curry or Mark Breland? Can you imagine that? That's what Manny is doing. But this is the same guy that got knocked out at 106 pounds, and then his knockout ratio at 130 pounds was 50%, and he moves up 17 pounds and his knockout ratio is 100% with the exception of Clottey, who didn't come to fight. How does this happen? People can conceive Manny Pacquiao doing it, but they can't conceive Michael Carbajal doing it, or Ricardo Lopez, and they started at the same weight class as he did. So how can you suggest one man can do it and another man can't? They will be quick to say, "Oh, no way he couldn't do that and this." Once, I brought that to someone's attention and they started to think about it a little bit like, "Wait, there is something wrong with that."
PC: Last time we spoke, you said Lil' Floyd was looking good in camp. We got to see a little bit of it on 24/7. How do you see that fight going and are you still hearing good things about your nephew in camp?
JM: I went and watched a little bit of it myself yesterday and it's still looking good. The hand speed is there and it should be a good fight. To be honest, I don't even know if Shane Mosley knows how he's going to perform. It's been a long time since Shane has fought with no help. What cracks me up on 24/7 is when he says, "I did it in 2003 and now I'm just trying to move on." Wait a second! It's like he just threw it out there and nobody is supposed to pick at it. Dude, you cheated! You just came out and said you cheated and nobody is supposed to put up a red flag? Nobody is supposed to question you or do nothing?
PC: Always good to catch up with you my man. Good luck with Celestino in his future bouts and to your nephew in May. Give me some closing thoughts my man.
JM: I think that it's going to be a very good fight and a competitive fight for the first 4 rounds and then, once Floyd figures Shane out and his timing and everything, it's going to be a totally different fight. The last thing is hopefully myself and Caballero get some more opportunities on HBO and build a stronger following. And then, that way, we can give the fans the fights they want to see between the top featherweights; maybe even start a featherweight tournament. You got Vazquez and Marquez and all they do is fight one another; you got Lopez and Gamboa. Add Celestine and that's 5 guys where you could put them in a tournament and create like a Super Six. Just pull another top guy in there and you have a tournament with those guys. That will be something that people want to see. And then the guys that say they are the best will have to prove that they are the best. One thing I know is this, Caballero ain't scared of none of them and ain't never going to duck none of them. To be honest, I think he's the guy everyone has to worry about. He don't have to worry about them. He's faced guys like Gamboa, maybe not as fast or punch as hard, but he has fought top guys that have a way better chin. I already know if he hits him on that chin, even if he gets up, the fight's going to be over. And then Lopez is avoiding him like he stole something from him. You can't make a guy fight you. When he gets more exposure and a stronger fan base behind him, that's how fights happen. The fans dictate what they want to see, so if the fans get behind Gamboa, Lopez, Chris John or whoever is out there, that's how fights happen. I know that the guy I have is going to step up. Alls they gotta do is step up. He will step up to anybody. Hopefully, once we get a chance to fight one of those guys, Lord willing if he's successful right away, I want him to fight Barrera. To be honest, I think he has the potential to go up to 35 before retiring. And I'm talking about without a problem. The guys that are champions there now, I think he will beat them right now. It's just of matter of time. Everything comes with time. Now, when it gets to 140, it's a little tougher; it's a little tougher and those guys are a little stronger, but he could have success there. But I'm talking about getting another belt and adding to his hardware. I think he could be a champion at 135.
[ Follow Percy Crawford on Twitter @MrLouis1ana ]