03.03.06 – Interview by Travis Marks: In late 2000, Oscar De La Hoya made a big change his career. He left his long time trainer, Roberto Alcazar and hired Floyd Mayweather Sr. as his new trainer. Mayweather, once a solid prize fighter who fought the great Sugar Ray Leonard for ten tough rounds was chosen over the more recognizable Emmanuel Steward as the top man in Oscar’s corner.
Mayweather abilities as a trainer came to the forefront as his first pupil; his son, Floyd Mayweather Jr. began dominating the junior lightweight division. The defensive wizardry that “Lil Floyd” demonstrated was taught to him from the time he was a little boy by his father. The classic shoulder roll and movement around the ring became staples in the Lil Floyd’s arsenal.
The dream scenario of father and son lasting a career together came to a halt when in 1999 the younger Mayweather unceremoniously fired his father as trainer and manager. Lil Floyd even went as far as evicting his father from the house that he purchased for him and repossessed the van he gave to him..
This break up enabled Oscar to snatch up a very good trainer at a time where both of their careers were at a crossroads. Oscar was 1-2 in his previous three fights with the losses coming at the hands of Shane Mosely and Felix Trinidad respectively. In their first fight together everything when perfectly. Oscar blew away Arturo Gatti in the matter of five rounds. Oscar and Floyd Mayweather have been together ever since. Mayweather was in his corner for his very satisfying win against hated rival Fernando Vargas and also there for his first knockout loss against Bernard Hopkins in a fight that he was vying to become the undisputed middleweight champ.
Eastsideboxing.com recently caught up with Floyd Mayweather Sr. at a press conference held in Times Square at the ESPN Zone to announce that Oscar De La Hoya will be challenging the very dangerous Ricardo “El Matador” Mayorga on May 6, 2006 for Mayorga’s WBC super welterweight title. The fight will be held in the fabulous MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada. Floyd gave us insights about the upcoming match-up and candidly spoke about his son possibly fighting Oscar De La Hoya.
Eastsideboxing.com: How do you assess Oscar’s chances against Mayorga?
Floyd Mayweather Sr.: Oscar’s chances are great. I look for him to win the fight. I look for him to be in tip top shape. I feel that he has the better skills (the movement, footwork, handwork, and smarter in the brain). Overall he is just a better fighter.
ESB: It’s clear that Mayorga is getting under Oscar’s skin, could that work against him?
Mayweather Sr.: No, no, no. I think you have it twisted. He’s under Mayorga’s skin. You don’t hear Oscar yelling. Oscar is a calm, cool, collective guy. He’s been that way all his life.
ESB: But Oscar said that he hates him. You never hear him talking like that.
Mayweather Sr.: It doesn’t matter if he said hate, he hasn’t changed his demeanor. He sat there; he was calm, cool and collective. He didn’t change; he was still Oscar De La Hoya. This man right there (pointing in the direction of Mayorga) on the other hand, he plays like he’s crazy. He acts like a wild man when in actually he wants to be an Oscar De La Hoya fan.
ESB: Even though Mayorga has a great chin, Oscar has predicted a knockout; do you see the fight ending in that fashion?
Mayweather Sr.: You see a lot of guys with tough chins. The fact remains that anybody can be knocked out at a given time if they get hit right. I’m not going to say Oscar is going to knock him out; I’m going to say that it could happen……
(Pauses then continues his thought)…..This guy is hittable. Trinidad knocked him out and Oscar has a terrific left hook. It doesn’t make a difference to me how he wins. To me a win is a win, whether it is by decision, TKO, or KO……. (Pauses again)……
Even if the fight goes the distance, Mayorga is going to take a terrible beating. At the end he’d be thinking that he should have laid down instead of taking the punishment.
ESB: Do you feel Mayorga’s only chance of winning is to land a lucky punch or to catch Oscar off guard or can he capitalize on Oscar propensity for fading late in fights?
Mayweather Sr.: I’d be telling you a lie if I said Oscar hasn’t faded. If Oscar hadn’t faded he would have been the middleweight champion of the world and not Bernard Hopkins. That isn’t on me (blame) about Oscar fading. But I’ll tell you this right here, I like what this guy is doing, what he is doing to Oscar, humiliating him like that. It’s not about money anymore, he has a lot of that, it’s not about the titles, he already has seven or eight titles. Only thing motivating him now is somebody like Mayorga. That’s what he needs. Vargas at the time was the only person Oscar hated because Vargas pushed him to that point. But I have to say it myself, this guy is worst than Vargas. Ten times worst than Vargas. You “finna to see a wrap”, we are closing the show on this thing.
ESB: You said in a recent interview that if Oscar listens to you it should be an easy fight. When hasn’t Oscar listened to you, was it against Hopkins?
Mayweather Sr.: He was beating Bernard easy. Every time Oscar comes to the corner I don’t say “Oscar are you tired?” I don’t do that. I did ask him about his wind one time because he was breathing a little heavy. I said man; we have this fight beat, what’s going on. A couple rounds later Bernard hit him and the fight was over but Oscar was leading at the time of the stoppage. But don’t worry about that. If we get a gap on this guy, we aren’t going to let it go, when your mind is set to do something and you trained you don’t have to worry about getting tired.
ESB: How realistic is the chance of a fight with your son (Floyd Mayweather Jr.) and Oscar actually coming to fruition?
Mayweather Sr.: It’s real realistic….
ESB: Can you sit in the corner and train someone to fight your son?
Mayweather Sr.: I don’t think it’s ever happened before
ESB Can you sit in the corner and train someone to fight your own son?
Mayweather Sr.: Yes I can. You want to know why I can do that. It’s because I have a disrespectful son. My son knows that I am training Oscar De La Hoya, why would you disrespect your daddy and come on your daddy’s playground and try to provoke a fight with Oscar? How am I wrong if he comes on to my territory?
ESB: Because he is your son.
Mayweather Sr.: And I am his father!!! this isn’t his brother, his cousin, or his friend. This is his daddy!! How is he going to come over here and interrupt what his daddy is doing? How is he going to be so disrespectful to his daddy and want to fight someone his daddy is training? I’m the daddy that made him the world champion that he is and now he wants to take what his daddy gave him and come over here and mess with his father? Then whatever happens to him happens. I am not going to say that I’ll be happy that my son gets knocked out or I won’t be happy about De La Hoya losing, either way I won’t be happy. I’m stuck in the middle playing the fiddle. But I am not going to let my son sit up here at the end of the day and have his daddy back down by letting somebody else train Oscar. That other trainer would get all the money I’m supposed to get and my son probably won’t give his daddy a damn thing. I would look like a fool if I stepped to the side.
ESB: Analyze that potential fight.
Mayweather Sr.: They both have skills. Lil Floyd of course is faster and younger. Oscar is the heavier puncher. My son has a lot of good tools. Oscar since he has been with me uses his right hand now to go with a terrific left hand. It would just be a very interesting fight. I couldn’t even tell you what the outcome of the fight would be.
ESB: Let’s say Floyd is not your son and Oscar was fighting someone with the same skills, experience, and size, how would you see the fight?
Mayweather Sr.: I’ll be right where I’m at now. I can’t make a prediction in a fight like that.
ESB: So you won’t be shocked with any result?
Mayweather Sr.: I won’t be shocked if Lil Floyd got knocked out but I’d be shocked if Oscar got stopped. That would shock me. It wouldn’t shock me if he knocked Lil Floyd out and it wouldn’t shock me if Lil Floyd won the fight.
ESB: Has Floyd ever been knocked down in the amateurs or has he ever been hurt other than against Chop Chop (former WBO Light Welterweight champion Demarcus “Chop Chop” Corley)?
Mayweather Sr.: Floyd has never been down amateurs or pros. But what I’m trying to tell you is that Chop Chop hurt him twice in the fight. Chop Chop doesn’t hit as hard as Oscar De La Hoya, Chop Chop isn’t as fast as Oscar De La Hoya, Chop Chop isn’t as skilled as Oscar De La Hoya. I’m just telling you right here, if Chop Chop could hurt him at 140 lbs, Oscar is 154 lbs solid and he punches very hard with that left hook. Floyd would even feel it from the right hand because Oscar is the bigger man. I won’t give you a prediction like I said before; I see it being a good fight.
ESB: With that said, how would you see Floyd against Winky Wright?
Mayweather Sr.: Floyd would beat Winky Wright, let me tell you why. I’m being honest about all of this. See styles make fights. Winky Wright covers up [making two fists and covering his eyebrows and the surrounding forehead with inside of the fists (area on the side of the index finger and thumb)] and then come out of his shell. Floyd would hit all over his body and up inside. When he comes out of shell Floyd would be gone. Winky can’t out jab Floyd or anything. He’s not even a big puncher. Oscar can punch he can’t punch. So I think if they fought Floyd would beat him.
ESB: Anything you like to say in closing?
Mayweather Sr.: We are closing the show!!!
Eastsideboxing.com would like to thank Floyd Mayweather Sr. for granting us an interview. We would also like to wish him the best of luck on May 6th as he trains Oscar De La Hoya to capture the WBC super welterweight title from Ricardo Mayorga.
Contact Writer at travioso76@yahoo.com