18.04.07 – By Quenton Marselles: When De La Hoya fought Trinidad, it was tagged as the “Fight of the Millennium.” Now he’s going up against Floyd Mayweather Jr. and the world is lost for words. There’s so much controversy and highlights surrounding the fight, this fight will be talked about for centuries to come. I caught up with Jeff Mayweather on his way to Memphis to get his take on the fight. He’s fought De La Hoya before and in his ten year boxing career he won the IBO World Title at the age of 34 and holds a record of 35-10-5. Jeff remembers his most memorable and biggest fight being his “mash with the champ” De La Hoya.
QM: I want to get straight to the point. What is your prediction on the fight?
JM: Honestly, from the fans perspective, it’s probably gonna be a boring fight. The two of them are trying to out think one another. I lean towards my nephew. He’s in his prime and that creates a problem for De La Hoya. Look at Forest Whitaker, he’s past his prime and he struggles, but he has defense and speed. That’s the reason he (De La Hoya) lost to Mosley. Whitaker and Mosley is like one person. It’s like facing both in one night. De La Hoya is bigger than Mayweather and he has a punchers chance over him. He will be able to hit him but Floyd’s speed creates a problem for him. I think it’s gonna be an ugly fight, not good. I think Floyd will be in and out and I look for him to step around him. Speed will tell the difference. He probably want to watch Oscar’s left hook.
QM: What is your take on Floyd Sr. not being in De La Hoya’s corner?
JM: This is a situation where it’s not gonna make a major difference on the outcome of the fight. The biggest thing is ticket sales. For the first time you would have had father vs. son. Floyd Sr. is like a bother to De La Hoya, only he’s not kin to him. The media wants controversy. Like the bullshit that was going around that I was homeless. In the media it wont be Floyd vs. De La Hoya it would be Floyd vs. Floyd. De La Hoya didn’t feel confident with Floyd in his corner. Sr. is all about his money He probably feels like if you don’t give me my money, I’m not fucking with you. Oscar wasn’t going for giving him a half-million dollars. You get $30 million (De La Hoya) and you can’t give me a half million? What’s that?
QM: What do you think about Floyd retiring?
JM: The think with that, honestly, it would be great for him to walk away and never come back. He’s undefeated and he’s the best in the world at his time. It’s hard to believe he’s only 29 years old and has had a long career. Only he knows if it’s really his last fight or not.
QM: What do you think about the talk of him wanting to retire because he is undefeated and don’t want to chance a loss on his record?
JM: All fighters want to retire undefeated. That’s definitely not it. He feels like he’s the best fighter in the world. You chase greatness not champion belts. You fight fighters to add to your legacy. Everyone wants to be the center of attention, someone else created these people careers. Someone will say he can beat you to keep you in the sport and you sit. I say always, someone could be better.
Being friends from my childhood, Jeff and I joked around about me coming out of retirement and trying out for the Contender. I’ve been training in Colorado Springs for the past 6 months or so and the altitude works for me, but Jeff warned that after three days , you loose what you have in the altitude when you come out of the mountains. He joked that I might want to stick to the Elks Logde, the old folks home or American Legion. We laughed and talked a little about the music industry. He said “man I aint gonna do nothing with the music industry.” He’s more focused on training. He’s training a fighter by the name of Jesse Rave, who he expects to win the finals. We talked about Kenny Adams not being recognized in the Boxing Hall of Fame, he said it best “Kenny Adams is the greatest trainer in the world.”