"One thing that makes Manny exciting is he is willing to gamble and take chances. There is a good chance of him getting knocked out by Floyd. If Floyd catches him jumping off his feet, he's going down....Floyd is better at his age than Sugar Ray Leonard was at the age he came back and fought Hagler. I'm not saying Floyd is better or anything like that, but he's had a lot less punishment in his career than Leonard did...Manny showed that he is so one-dimensional. And don't get me wrong, I'm not just going to rag on Manny because any fighter and all fighters are entitled to an off night. And maybe that's what he had was an off night. But even though he had an off night, the consistency of what he does is still the same. I will give him an off-night pass, but what I saw is what I saw and what I saw won't beat Floyd," stated world-class trainer Jeff Mayweatehr as he shared his thoughts on last Saturday's clash between Manny Pacquiao and Shane Mosley, comparing Pacquiao's performance against the three-division world champion to that of Mayweather's performance over a year ago. Check it out!
PC: A lot of fans and media were disappointed in the Pacquiao/Mosley fight. What did you think?
JM: I feel the same way. Here you have two guys that don't put it on the line. It was like a glorified sparring session; both guys hugging, both guys touching gloves and all of that. I mean, you do all of that after the fight. You don't do that every round in a fight.
PC: After Shane was dropped in the 3rd round, it appeared that he either didn't recover fully from the shot or he went into major survival mode.
JM: Oh, after he got caught, he went straight into survival mode. He did kinda like "Bone Crusher" Smith did when he fought Mike Tyson. He waited to about the last 30 seconds of every round and tried to mount a rally as though it was like he was trying to win, but he had given up the idea of winning a long time ago. He was just worrying about keeping his legacy intact of not being knocked out. That's the only thing he did was protect that because the only thing he did was survive. He didn't catch him and he could have caught him. I mean, it was ridiculous because the times that he was willing to throw punches, he would catch Manny with no problem. I never really seriously watched a Manny Pacquiao fight, but this fight, I kind of took the time to watch because of the potential of him fighting Floyd. He is so one-dimensional, it is ridiculous. The only thing he did is, he throws a hook, he throws a couple of jabs to get a feel for you, and then after that, here comes the hook, left hand. I sat there with the person that I went to the fight with and I said, "Watch this! I'm not gonna say nothing and I'm gonna let you watch it for yourself. You can tell me what he's going to do." Because I told him that he does the same thing all of the time; hook and then a left hand. I told him he may be feeling a little more aggressive, so he's going to throw a hook, left hand, left hand, and that's what he did. The few times that Shane...and it's kinda strange because Shane ain't never had a jab, but against Pacquiao, Shane's jab was working. There were so many different things that were strange that were happening during the fight. After Shane got hurt, he made it clear that he wasn't going to catch him with that again and that shows he's still a good fighter in terms of instincts, when he went into survival mode. When he didn't want to get hit by him, he showed that he didn't have to, but the reality of it is this, you couldn't hit Shane, you're not going to hit Floyd at all! That's two totally different levels, you know?
PC: Manny fought kind of reckless against Shane and maybe it's because he knew he could be. I know you feel as though Floyd beats Manny at his best, but do you think he could stop Manny if Manny fought him like that?
JM: One thing that makes Manny exciting is he is willing to gamble and take chances. There is a good chance of him getting knocked out by Floyd. If Floyd catches him jumping off his feet, he's going down. I think that if this fight ever comes off, Manny has a chance; he's got a punchers chance and that's it. From a skill level, it's a no-brainer. There is no comparison to Floyd in no way, shape or form when it comes to skills or intelligence. Floyd is the smartest boxer on the planet right now and that's by far. That's not saying nothing about the other guys or whatever, but it's the truth. What Floyd does is this, you get in the ring with Floyd, you start off doing your own plan, and next thing you know, you're fighting his fight. And before you realize it, it's too late, the fight is over, and you've already lost.
PC: I think it showed a lot of Pacquiao fans how tough it is to knock a guy out that's trying to survive. If Shane had pressed the gas against Lil Floyd, he may have gotten stopped as well, but he went into survival mode like he did against Pacquiao.
JM: Yeah, Floyd walked him down. The one thing that Floyd did was, Floyd got tired of that damn touching gloves trying to be nice shit. He cracked him upside his head because, hey, this is what we're here for. They are paying those guys millions of dollars to fight, not to touch gloves. It looked like a sparring session with guys that were so friendly with one another. They couldn't wait for the fight to be over so they could embrace, but yet, here it is, you got people paying $500 a seat, $1,500 a seat and this is what you give them. This is supposed to be the best fighter in the world.
PC: I thought for sure Manny would do away with the glove touching in the middle rounds and start putting the heat on Shane.
JM: I heard that Freddie Roach...I was at the fight, so I don't know what was said on the telecast, but I heard that Freddie Roach told him to stop doing that and if he didn't, that's what he should've did. I don't know if he said it or not. He should have told him, "This is not a sparring session. This is boxing at the highest level." When people are paying that kind of money to see you, you can't get caught up in that. They are paying good money to see you fight. You can't get caught up in touching gloves all of the time, hugging, and every time something happened, it's like, "I'm sorry that happened."
PC: I really thought Shane would punch on the inside but that time was spent hugging and patting Manny's back.
JM: It's funny because the guy I was with, he started seeing it, man. It became a pattern. As soon as the round started, he touched gloves. As soon as the round ended, he touched gloves. The guy I was with said, "I guarantee you they are going to hug to begin the 12th round." Sure enough, that's exactly what they did. It's like they were best friends.
PC: Do you think Shane is done as a pay-per-view attraction now?
JM: I mean, to be honest, Shane was never a pay-per-view attraction. It was always who he was fighting. He showed, more than anything, that when he gets in there with an elite fighter, when he fails to have success, he tries to turn it into a friendship. He tries to turn it into one of them situations of "we're cool" rather than "I'm going to try to kill you and you're going to try to kill me." You can be cool with anybody once the fight is over, but you don't touch gloves before and after every single round. It was ridiculous. Shane didn't knock Manny down; he just pushed him off of him and even though that was the refs fault, Shane was so apologetic after that. I think it's probably time for Shane to pack them in. he may have a little bit left fighting lesser competition, but on the level that he fought his last few fights, nah. He's done. When it comes to Floyd and Manny, who right now have the biggest names in the sport, he has been blessed to fight them both. He's not at that level, but if he was in there with a Berto or Ortiz or a young lion like that, if he would try to be as friendly, or if he would try to actually fight and use his experience, once he sensed the fight wasn't going his way, he went right into survival mode and "Pacquiao is my friend" mode. It was sad that Manny got caught up in it because the fans suffered for that.
PC: I actually think it's a perfect time to make that Mosley/Berto fight that was supposed to happen awhile back.
JM: Yeah, because Berto is coming off of a loss and Shane is coming off of two losses, but at the same time, when you look at the fight with Floyd and you look at the fight with Manny, he may just want to retire. I mean, to me...and not only that, the Sergio Mora fight, oh my God. That fight was horrible, so maybe it's time. Who knows if he can get back up again because 3 fights in a row is not a coincidence. I mean, it is a coincidence in the sense that it happened because of the fighter he has become now. I can at least give him credit for his fight with Floyd because he started off trying to fight, but after the 2nd round, when Floyd started going after him, he started trying to touch gloves every time. And then at some point in time, Floyd did what Manny didn't do and he hit him upside of his head like, "Man this is a fight; we aint friends. We can be friends afterwards. These people paid to see us fight and that's what we gonna do."
PC: Shane crowned Manny the best in the world after the fight and also said Manny hit him harder than any of his previous opponents...
JM: Maybe he did punch him harder than anybody, but that ain't got nothing to do with how he got beat. He got beat by Floyd in every way possible. He was supposed to bring the fight to Floyd and Floyd came to him all night. It's the same thing Manny did, but so what if he is a better puncher. That don't mean nothing. That's one punch. Floyd punished him the whole fight. They interviewed him a little later and he said it was hard to say because of some of Floyd's attributes, Floyd is harder to hit. But if a guy knocks you down, you're going to give him his props. You're going to have to say the guy can punch. The other guy didn't knock you down, but actually dominated him to the point where you almost knocked him down. To be honest, I'm a Shane fan. Shane is a nice guy, but that nice guy recently became a part of his fight game. He's now a nice fighter. That's not how you supposed to be fighting in a fight of this magnitude. He's supposed to go out there and try to knock they guy's head off like he did Floyd.
PC: Would you like to see Floyd sneak a fight in before a potential Pacquiao fight or you're comfortable with him moving right into a Pacquiao fight?
JM: I think it can happen either way. Sugar Ray Leonard did it when Marvin Hagler was supposed to be the best fighter in the world. He came back and whooped him. I can't see...Floyd is better at his age than Sugar Ray Leonard was at the age he came back and fought Hagler. I'm not saying Floyd is better or anything like that, but he's had a lot less punishment in his career than Leonard did. Of course, anybody that would be a part of the camp or wisdom of boxing, you would want your guy to get a tune-up or maybe even fight someone that's like the guy that you're going to be facing to prepare him. But either way I think if Leonard was able to do it, Floyd could do it. Manny showed that he is so one-dimensional. And don't get me wrong, I'm not just going to rag on Manny because any fighter and all fighters are entitled to an off night. And maybe that's what he had was an off night. But even though he had an off night, the consistency of what he does is still the same. I will give him an off night pass, but what I saw is what I saw and what I saw won't beat Floyd.
[ Follow Percy Crawford on Twitter @MrLouis1ana ]