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RON FRAZIER: "THE HYPOCRISY IN BOXING...IT'S NOT A SURPRISE AT HOW WELL PACQUIAO DID"

By Percy Crawford | November 19, 2010
RON FRAZIER:

"Styles make fights. You're giving him a guy who comes straight forward, he puts on a lot of pressure, but slow-footed and slow-handed guys are never going to beat Pacquiao. So it's not a surprise at how well Pacquiao did. And the thing is this, I never said Pacquiao wasn't a great fighter. There is not one interview ever with me saying he wasn't a great fighter. I just think Floyd is better. The styles make fights and Pacquiao, with his hand speed and foot speed, and honestly, it was already written because Shane Mosley did this 2 years ago. This is nothing new. Paul Williams did it years ago. There is no major story as to how he did it. I mean Margarito is a tough guy and all of that, but he didn't deserve the fight...This is what people have to understand, bigger doesn't always mean better. In some cases, it does, but if that's the case, you better give Roy Jones more props for going up 40 pounds and beating John Ruiz. You had a journeyman heavyweight fighting an all-time great. A great big man will beat a great little man because we've seen that in boxing. But a great little man will beat a mediocre or average or barely above average big man every time. This is nothing new and people act like it is...there is a guy out there that could beat him now and that's Floyd Mayweather. If he is so great, then why didn't he fight Shane Mosley 2 years ago? Shane was willing to go to 140 to fight him," stated world-class trainer Ron Frazier, who shared his thoughts on Manny Pacquiao's dominant victory over Antonio Margarito this past Saturday. Much like Jeff Mayweather, Frazier seemed less than impressed with the performance. You don't want to miss what else he had to say.

PC: How is everything going my man?

RF: Everything is going real well; real good.

PC: What did you think of the way the big fight between Pacquiao and Margarito played out?

RF: I knew the result before it happened. I actually watched it the next day on the computer. I had 2 young guys making their "King of the Cage" debut and I was way more interested in that than the Margarito/Pacquiao fight. It is what it is. I'm just disappointed in boxing as a whole these days. It's not just with Pacquiao. If you look at the heavyweight division, it's boring. The Klitschkos dominate. They are not going to fight one another, and I don't expect them to, but there are no real challenges there. They are putting together guys like Shannon Briggs and Samuel Peter. When you look at their fights before they get title shots, you start wondering why are they even getting title shots? Why are we even watching them? They haven't developed anyone from the Olympics and the whole state of boxing right now is a turnoff.

The hypocrisy in boxing...you know, you got managers and promoters are not looking for the overall growth of the sport. I got a 6'8", 275-pound heavyweight who could go to boxing or MMA. The guy is athletic and his boxing skills are nice and I'm pushing him towards MMA. That's just how disappointed in the fight game I am because no one is really promoting the sport. What's going to become of this sport 10 years from now? Now I hear Oscar De La Hoya may come out of retirement to fight Ricky Hatton? Why? What is that about? Develop new stars. Shane Mosley is now going to make a great business decision and leave Golden Boy to go to Top Rank, but why do you deserve another big payday after your last two performances? I mean, getting blown out by Floyd Mayweather is one thing, but a draw against Sergio Mora does not mean you deserve another big fight.

PC: You have always said that Mayweather would defeat Manny Pacquiao. After Saturday night, do you still feel that way, and if so, why?

RF: Yeah, I still feel that way; styles make fights. You're giving him a guy who comes straight forward, he puts on a lot of pressure, but slow-footed and slow-handed guys are never going to beat Pacquiao. So it's not a surprise at how well Pacquiao did. And the thing is this, I never said Pacquiao wasn't a great fighter. There is not one interview ever with me saying he wasn't a great fighter. I just think Floyd is better. The styles make fights and Pacquiao, with his hand speed and foot speed, and honestly, it was already written because Shane Mosley did this 2 years ago. This is nothing new. Paul Williams did it years ago. There is no major story as to how he did it. I mean Margarito is a tough guy and all of that, but he didn't deserve the fight. Luis Resto had to give up his career and spend 3 years of his life in prison for tampering with his gloves, and this guy gets a year suspension and then he fights 1 fight at 154 and doesn't look that great against a guy who was not even ranked, and then he gets a title shot? I do not understand that. I don't understand how those things happen. Pacquiao, for as great as he is, come on now. Even when Ray Leonard fought Ayub Kalule, when he made the move to 154, he fought the best 154-pounder out there. He fought the champion at 154 pounds, not weighing in at 144 pounds and Kalule weighing 150. How is that? Pacquiao was under the welterweight limit.

This is what people have to understand, bigger doesn't always mean better. In some cases, it does, but if that's the case, you better give Roy Jones more props for going up 40 pounds and beating John Ruiz. You had a journeyman heavyweight fighting an all-time great. A great big man will beat a great little man because we've seen that in boxing. But a great little man will beat a mediocre or average or barely above average big man every time. This is nothing new and people act like it is. Roberto Duran showed you that. Roberto Duran was a shell of himself late in his career fighting at 168 and he was beating people.

PC: Being that you are a trainer, at what point in that fight do you think about perhaps stopping the fight, and what are your thoughts on Margarito's trainer, Robert Garcia, saying he never thought about stopping the fight?

RF: I think he wasn't looking out for the safety and welfare of his fighter. At some point, he had to know that he ain't gonna catch this dude. He's not a one-hitter quitter guy anyway; he tends to wear you down on pressure. So by the 8th round, if you ain't won a round, you have to start looking out for the safety of your fighter. I would have told him in the corner...after that point, it becomes 1 round at a time. He would have had one more round to show me something. Why let him get beat like that? Everyone knows he's a warrior. The hand wrapping issue aside, everyone knows how he fights. He comes straight forward and he takes as much as he gives. We know that about him, but why put him in the hospital with fractures in his face and maybe his career being over? If he can't resurrect his career, at least give him a chance to have a career if that's what you want to do. He doesn't deserve anymore fights anyway...plus he's just not good anymore. He was one of those guys that had lost a couple of fights in his career, but Shane Mosley exposed him and took that code of invincibility away. It was like, here is a guy that no one wants to fight and now, he's turned into a guy that everyone wants to fight because they've found the prescription to beat him. It's like, "Oh, let's give this guy some movement."

Pacquiao fans have blinders on, and I'm not here to try to convince them that he's not great because I never said that he wasn't great. Is he one of the greatest ever because he has 8 titles and 4 of them are made up? No! He's one of the greatest in his era, which puts him in the argument of greatest of all time. If you are the one of the greatest in your era, it puts you in the argument of greatest of all time, but are there guys that I thought throughout history that could beat him? Yeah. And there is a guy out there that could beat him now and that's Floyd Mayweather. If he is so great, then why didn't he fight Shane Mosley 2 years ago? Shane was willing to go to 140 to fight him, and I think it would have been disastrous, but Shane isn't known for making the best career decisions. The whole state of boxing...I'm just like where are the future stars? Who are we going to watch 5 years from now? 

PC: Do you think we see Mayweather/Pacquiao in 2011?

RF: I would have to say no because Floyd is out here doing stupid things and getting himself in legal trouble. So I don't know how that is going to play out. Obviously Roger has his legal troubles. I don't know how they would square that up in time to be able to train properly for a fight of that magnitude. So at this time, I would have to say no, which is unfortunate because it's a fight that should have been made and we should have already seen it and we may never see it. But you know, boxing will go on. Lennox Lewis and Riddick Bowe never fought, Dariusz Michalczewski and Roy Jones Jr. never fought, and Wilfred Benitez and Roberto Duran fought late when they could have fought real early. Aaron Pryor and Roberto Duran never fought, and neither did Pryor and Leonard, so there were some great fights that could have been made out there in the boxing world that never happened, for whatever reason, and this may go along those routes.

I hope I'm wrong. I hope the situation with Floyd gets cleared up and they can make this bout and I would love to see it. If Pacquiao can prove me wrong and be the better man, I would be the first to admit it. I don't think so, but I wonder if anybody would admit that to me if Floyd beats him? That's where I'm at with boxing right now. It's just disappointment man. I just want to see some good fights; some quality fights. Hell, give Andre Berto a shot. I think Pacquiao beats him because I think he's just too good at this point in his career, but hell, he's young, he's strong, and he's fast, and if he wins, you have a star. If it's a close fight, we have a star. Just give us somebody that we can get behind. Pacquiao ain't going to fight forever, Floyd ain't going to fight forever, and Shane Mosley is trying to fight forever (laughing), which we don't need him too. At some point though, you have to develop the young stars in this game and I just don't know where that's going to come from. I don't know what promotional company is going to do it. Obviously Top Rank doesn't care. It seems like Golden Boy doesn't care and Main Events is non-existent, so who is going to step up and create those new stars? We had the Super Six, which has become the Dreadful Six. At least Lucian Bute signing with Showtime gives us the hope of possibly seeing him fight against Andre Ward, and a star will be born at 168, but you have so many guys that are over 35 years old and they are still dominating the game and people are still talking about them. Where does that leave the sport? And that's the sad part because I've been a boxing fan since I was 5 years old and to see the state of the game right now is just sad.

PC: Switching gears to Zab Judah, did you have him winning his fight a few weeks back against Lucas Matthysse?

RF: I thought Zab lost a close decision. If it went his way, it wasn't too much to scream about because he probably won the first 6 rounds. But if it would have come up with Zab losing, which I thought would have been appropriate, then that would have been cool too.

PC: Quick prediction, Martinez or Williams on Saturday night and why?

RF: I like Sergio Martinez in this one. I picked Paul Williams the first time and he eked out a decision, but Paul hasn't advanced to me. He hasn't progressed. I remember a few years ago, someone asked me was Paul ready to fight Floyd and I said not at that time because Floyd had so much more experience. I figured 2 or 3 years from then, when Paul started to tighten up his game, it would be real dangerous for a 6'1" guy with an 82-inch reach that fights at welterweight to fight any of those guys, but he has not improved to me. He gets hit too much and he fades late in fights. I just don't think you can continue to do that and be on the winning side. I like Sergio Martinez in this fight because I have liked the way he's looked in his fights. I think he gained a lot of confidence. He cracked Paul harder than Paul cracked him in that fight.

PC: Give me some closing thoughts Ron.

RF: I just hope the boxing game comes around and starts developing its young stars. Hopefully the Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather fight will happen. It's time for all of the talk to stop. I'm tired of all of the commentators on ESPN calling people cowards. If you don't cover the fight game or you're not a fighter, quit calling people a coward. Step in the ring somewhere. Just put your money where your mouth is and then see who the coward is. People call Floyd Mayweather a coward and the dude has been in boxing his whole life. He was sparring with world champions when he was 15 years old. You might not like his style, but a coward he is not, and neither is Manny Pacquiao. Pacquiao has done some great things, and I'm not gonna blame him for his promoter doing what he's done to get these titles. He just goes out and beats the guys in front of him and he's beat them all, and he's beat them all handily since Juan Manuel Marquez. So hats off to him and I give him props for that, but let's get down to business, take the blood test, and do whatever it takes to get in there with Floyd and see where you guys are at. Other than that, I'm going to stick with MMA. I want to thank my sponsor, Inflict Sports, and I will continue to develop my young guys in MMA.

PC: I take it your ESPN commentator calling people cowards was directed at Michael Wilbon, and I couldn't agree more. Any time a reporter calls any fighter a coward and then follows that by saying, "I haven't watched boxing in years," kind of bothers me.

RF: Yeah, I mean, just keep playing golf in Phoenix and kissing Lebron's ass.



[ Follow Percy Crawford on Twitter @MrLouis1ana ]

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