You’ve seen the 24/7 episodes. Read the extensive interviews here with trainers Naazim Richardson and Roger Mayweather. But just 5 days from now, all the hype and opinions cease, and welterweight champion Shane Mosley will seek to seal his legacy by being the first man to defeat Floyd Mayweather, Jr.
After dismantling Antonio Margarito nearly 16 months ago, Mosley became the avoided man at welterweight, with writers proclaiming him as the man Floyd Mayweather would never face. Now that the fight is signed, the boxing press and many fans have done a 180, stating due to Shane’s age, inactivity and alleged lack of ring acumen, Mayweather will be the man that’s victorious on May 1. None of that matters to Shane, who spent that last several months with his sole focus on the legacy-altering showdown this Saturday.
Whoever you believe or blame for the fight not happening in the late 90s at lightweight, or in 2006 in welterweight, no one can dispute that no time but now would Mayweather-Mosley be as huge as it is now.
Ismael AbduSalaam: I know you can’t reveal everything that’s going down, but talk about what you’ve been focusing on now in camp being that things are now winding down.
Shane Mosley: I’m just working on being comfortable and being the best Sugar Shane Mosley when I get to the ring. I know I have speed and power, and I’m making sure I use those things because that’s what it’s going to be all about [to get the victory].
Ismael: This isn’t you’re first superfight, but with all the hype with 24/7 and the drug testing, would you say this is your biggest professional fight ever?
Mosley: Yeah this is a pretty big event. The fights with Oscar [De la Hoya] got me to this point. And this one will solidify my spot in history and make my legacy.
Ismael: Have your sparring partners been able to replicate Mayweather’s style well?
Mosley: Thanks to Naazim [Richardson] he’s putting 3 or 4 different guys to build Mayweather’s fight style. One focuses on one part of Mayweather’s style, and the next comes in and does another. But the problem is there is no other Mayweather, because if there was he’d be fighting for the championship right now.
Ismael: I brought this up with Naazim, but I wanted to give you the chance to speak on it. The big rumor for the past week is that you have been looking bad in sparring. What are your thoughts on that?
Mosley: That’s not true, but if people want to believe that they’re entitled to. I don’t know where they would get that rumor from since I train at my house behind closed doors [laughs]. But that’s not accurate at all though.
Mosley: Well if you look at my fight history you see that I do different things. Even in the fights that I score knockouts it’s been with my right and left hand. I can also move and box or I can punch. I can do everything! That’s the difference between me and other fighters; I’m not just some one trick pony.
Ismael: Naazim speaks very highly of you and ranks you among the best fighters he’s ever trained. How does he compare to some of the other trainers you’ve had like your father Jack?
Mosley: Naazim is a strategist, and comes up with different ways to beat guys. One way you can tell a great trainer is if they’ve brought up guys from the grass roots, what they can build from the beginning. Not just getting someone when they are up the top of their game and saying “oh I built this champion,” when they already were great. Greatness shows when you get someone that just walks into the gym and you build him from there. Naazim has done that. He’s brought his son up to being an Olympian and then a professional. And then you see what he’s done with Bernard Hopkins and me. So you can see from that that Naazim is a great trainer.
Ismael: You felt confident in a knockout of Margarito before that fight last year. Do you have a hunch on how you expect the Mayweather fight to go?
Mosley: I think it’s going to be a technical fight. But I think my speed will give him problems [the most]. He’s been fighting a lot of guys that are a lot slower and smaller than him. These guys have been either lightweights or junior welterweights [Writers note: the opponents referenced are Mayweather’s last two opponents: Ricky Hatton and Juan Manuel Marquez]. The guys I’ve been fighting are welter and junior middleweights. Shit, Winky Wright right now can fight at super-middleweight! These guys I fight have been big boys, while Mayweather’s guys are kind of small. [That’s a] big difference.
Ismael: Being undefeated has become a big thing in boxing. Do you place more blame on the fighters like Mayweather who harp on that, or the media and television networks?
Mosley: I think it might be more of the media. The great fighters are the ones who lose and come back from adversity. And that’s how you can tell where they are at mentally. You can’t really tell from a person who wins every fight, and frankly I don’t think Mayweather has won all of them. I’ve watched the tapes of a few where he might have lost and it was given to him. So that claim can be kind of questionable.
Ismael: You’re on record as stating the Olympic drug testing has not been a hindrance to training. Instinct-wise from what you’ve seen in this sport and experienced personally with the BALCO scandal, are steroids widespread or just something done by a select few in the sport?
Mosley: I think that in boxing it’s not a big deal. I think people from other sports are infiltrating into the boxing world and trying to figure out ways to make fighters stronger. So the testing is good to block these strengthening trainers from using substances. That’s the problem in the sport.
Ismael: You’re good friends with Manny Pacquiao, and there has been criticism his way for not taking the drug tests. Do you feel his reasons are genuine and he should get the benefit of the doubt, or do you think people have legit reasons to be suspicious?
Mosley: I really don’t know and can’t speak for Pacquiao. [Pauses] I can’t say what he really believes. But I don’t think he’d jeopardize his career and put himself in that position.
Ismael: Before the Berto fight, you told me you had been watching tapes of Roberto Duran’s fights with Edwin Viruet, and gotten some ideas. Have you been watching any past legends and gotten any ideas of how to go at Mayweather?
Mosley: I’ve been watching a lot of Sugar Ray Leonard. I watched the fight of him and Floyd’s father. [Writer’s Note: Leonard TKO’d Floyd Mayweather, Sr. in 1978]. It’s always good watching Roberto Duran against other fighters, the way he goes about it. You can learn from the older fighters. Back then, they fought hard and for pride. Tommy Hearns and guys like that.
Ismael: You brought up Winky Wright earlier. If you would have gotten past him, there was a fight waiting with Felix Trinidad. That would have been a great fight. How would you have approached that bout circa 2004?
Mosley: Probably like Winky did, just outbox him. Trinidad was a very hard puncher with the left hook, but you see how Oscar did, you can outbox him. I might have been able to put him on the floor a few times with the power.
Ismael: There’s the speed advantage, too.
Mosley: Yeah, speed of the hand and foot. And the timing is there with me.
Ismael: You, Pacquiao, and Mayweather are the top guys at welterweight. Even though we don’t have a 4th guy, it reminds me of the Fab Four of Leonard, Hearns, Duran, and Hagler in the 80’s. Can you see that happening where you 3 all end up fighting each other?
Mosley: It could happen that way. You have one willing fighter [in me], maybe two [in Pacquiao]. We just need the other one to get into it as well. That would help boxing and get it on the plane it’s supposed to be on.
Ismael: You’ve said that after you beat Mayweather he’s going to go into retirement. Based on that statement, do you believe Mayweather doesn’t have the mentality to come back from defeat based on how important his undefeated record is to him?
Mosley: That is yet to be seen, even though I’ve said different things about knocking him out. We’ll see what he does after May 1.
Ismael: Thanks for your time champ and good luck on fight night.
For most of Floyd Mayweather Jr’s professional career, the figure who’s manned his corner has been his uncle Roger Mayweather. Since his nephew’s emergence as a PPV and crossover star over the last several years, Roger Mayweather has become a polarizing figure due to his outspoken nature and controversial comments on other fighters. Whether it’s dismissing Shane Mosley’s boxing acumen or taunting Manny Pacquiao, Roger Mayweather is never at a loss for words. Today, the man Floyd Mayweather proclaims as “the best trainer in the world” took a short break from training to discuss Floyd’s strategy and focus going into the biggest fight of the year.
AllHipHop.com: Thanks for taking a break to conduct this interview; I know time is of the essence. We’re about 2 weeks away so training in winding down at this point. What are you focusing on with your nephew Floyd to finish up camp?
Roger Mayweather: Oh no problem we’re just training in the gym. Well, it’s the same things I’ve trained my nephew on from the beginning. So it’s not broken up [in focus] between the first few weeks or the last. It’s all about giving him things that will help him win. That’s the sport of boxing; picking a fighter like Mosley apart, and that’s what a good trainer does.
AllHipHop.com: Shane has told me that he expects the fight to be technical, which leads me to believe he may not rough up Floyd on the inside as expected. If he makes it a boxing chess match, do you think that greatly diminishes Shane’s chances at a victory?
Mayweather: Now you know he ain’t going to box my nephew! He knows he isn’t going to do that. That’s bulls**t. What’s he’s going to try and do is use his physicalness to overcome my nephew’s boxing ability. That’s what his job is. You start talking about [straight] boxing; it would be a one-sided fight. He ain’t going to use his boxing skills.
AllHipHop.com: If that turns out to be true we could get a great fight since Floyd is very good on the inside like he showed in the Hatton fight.
Mayweather: Yeah, true. Mosley’s gonna fight to the best of his ability. Whatever he can do, that’s what he’s gonna do, whether that’s physical or not. But it’s going to boil down to the same thing, who can make the adaption in the ring? It’s going to be no different from any other fight. We’ve seen Shane fight a few times; he’s had some good performances. The Margarito fight was a good performance. But that ain’t Floyd Mayweather so that doesn’t make any difference.
AllHipHop.com: You predicted Mosley would win that fight by “ass-whipping,” and you were right on with that prediction. A criticism Floyd has of Mosley is that he loops his shots too wide and you can see everything coming. Do you see any improvement in that area in the Margarito fight now that he’s under Naazim Richardson?
Mayweather: He’s been like that since the beginning so he’ll be fighting the same way. A fighter just can’t say “well I’m going to stop looping my shots.” Not at this stage of the game, don’t matter who the trainer is.
AllHipHop.com: Has Floyd had any problems adjusting to the Olympic drug testing he mandated for this fight? He looked fine on HBO 24/7, but I wondering if there were any behind the scenes procedures that weren’t covered.
Mayweather: Y’know, everybody talks about the drug testing, but it wouldn’t be a problem if a motherfucker takes it now would it? If you don’t want to take it than something got to be wrong, right? If a guy don’t want to take that test that shows something is wrong with him, anyway! His job is to take a drug test and a physical. Eye test, he’s supposed to do all that! It ain’t that nobody said he has to do that, he has to do it anyway if he wants to fight. How a guy gonna fight someone and won’t take no test?
AllHipHop.com: I think everyone knows who you are referring to and since there is a defamation suit pending I’ll be careful in my questioning. Do you think Floyd was unfairly criticized by the media and fans when the Pacquiao fight couldn’t be made?
Mayweather: Floyd ain’t got shit to hide and don’t have a problem taking a damn test. Listen, that’s why he’s the one who said take the test! Shit, he ain’t doing nothing! Only person worried about it is the motherfucker who won’t take it, and you know who that is. I ain’t even got to tell you who it is. Otherwise, we wouldn’t be talking about no f**king test. The only person talking about no is doing illegal shit anyway.
So it ain’t about so much the test. If someone is doing illegal shit and winning on it, that’s a foul on boxing. This is supposed to be a clean sport. In track Ben Johnson took steroids, what did they do to Ben Johnson after he had won the gold medal? They took that motherfucker because he didn’t really win it! Alright then, ain’t no different in boxing. If a guy got something is his system, how did he really win?
It’s like a guy fighting you and you beating him, and the guy knocks you out. And then they unwrap the guy’s hand and he has a motherfucking cast on it. And you look up and say “Whoa! The guy hit me with a fucking cast!”
AllHipHop.com: [Laughs]. Ok.
Mayweather: That’s the reason why he knocked your ass out! So you disqualify his ass and that’s all there is to it. It should be no different than any other sport.
AllHipHop.com: So from your example it would seem you feel steroids or performance enhancing drugs are a big problem in boxing.
Mayweather: The big thing about boxing now is steroids! Motherfuckers be illegal wrapping and shit, but steroids is the main thing. I’m not saying all boxers, but most of them do. They use steroids and some other s**t. They may not call it steroids but it’s just like steroids and gives the same results.
AllHipHop.com: How much of the media do you hold responsible for addressing this issue?
Mayweather: Yeah the media is to blame! How you gonna talk about how good a fighter is and that fighter is using steroids? A guy uses illegal substances, and he’s fighting, and they’re pushing him in the sport of boxing, hell yeah that’s a problem. This kind of stuff isn’t supposed to happen, but obviously it is. It wasn’t no big thing when Ben Johnson won the 100 yards, but then he tested positive [for steroids]. It’s ok to win as long as you ain’t got illegal stuff in your system.
If you get caught you should be barred from boxing. If I walk to the ring with brass knuckles on my hand and fight a guy, knock him out, and destroy his career, what is supposed to happen to me?
AllHipHop.com: You should be banned from boxing and face criminal charges.
Mayweather: Ok, you a motherfucker taking steroids or any other substance that shouldn’t be in his system; he should be banned from the sport. That’s all there is to it. If you got to win with drugs you shouldn’t be in boxing anyway. Drugs are for people not in boxing. Drugs are for drug addicts! You know a few drug addicts, don’t you?
AllHipHop.com: I’ve run across a few in my time.
Mayweather: And they asses don’t need to be in the ring!
AllHipHop.com: Let’s switch to your own career, as a lot of younger readers may not be familiar with what you did in the 80’s and early 90’s as the Black Mamba.
Mayweather: Oh yeah, that’s true.
AllHipHop.com: You won titles at junior welterweight (140 pounds). When you look at that division now with guys like Timothy Bradley and Amir Khan, do you think these young fighters could have given you a good scrap on your heyday?
Mayweather: Shit, my nephew was at 140 too! You got some good fighters there; you had [Miguel] Cotto there for awhile. I think De La Hoya fought there, too. Shane Mosley would’ve been a good fighter at ’40. You got some good guys today. But I mean I don’t think they could compete in the era that I was in, because at 140 pounds you had Aaron Pryor, Pernell Whitaker, Raphael Pineda, Howard Davis, Julio Cesar Chavez, Vinny Pazienza, there was a lot of guys. With me it would have been a hell of a contest today with any guy, you can believe that!
I still believe the 2000’s don’t compare to the 80’s. You had too many great fighters in the 80’s. You had Tommy Hearns and Sugar Ray Leonard at 147. Iran Barkley fought in the 80’s. You had so many guys that were good I don’t believe this generation right now could compete. There were too many good fighters.
AllHipHop.com: You mentioned a lot of guys just now that were successful at junior welterweight. Which fight would you consider your best performance?
Mayweather: People always say when you win the title that is your best performance, but I don’t really say that. My better performances is when I came back at 140 and I was fighting bigger guys and not really known there. That is always difficult, but when I won the world championship I won it in somebody else’s backyard. That solidified my place as a fighter. [Writer’s Note: Mayweather won the WBC junior welterweight title with a 6th round TKO over Rene Arredondo on November 12, 1987] It didn’t matter if I was on their home turf or not, I fought them. I always believed I could win.
AllHipHop.com: You fought a few Hall of Famers. Who would you consider the best fighter you fought out of Kostya Tszyu…?
Mayweather: Oh I already know who the best fighters I fought were. I fought 2 of the best ever; 1 was Pernell Whitaker, and number 2 was Julio Cesar Chavez. I fought them all, but when I look back and think about how good they were, it goes down to Julio and Pernell. They’re both Hall of Famers because of the kind of careers they had. I’m glad I had the chance to compete with them.
AllHipHop.com: Thanks for your time today Roger and good luck on May 1.
40 have tried, 40 have failed. Undefeated fighter Floyd Mayweather, Jr has been fond of that quote in recent weeks when assessing his May 1 showdown with Shane Mosley. But Mosley trainer Naazim Richardson has spent the last several years specializing in destroying the mystique of feared and previously undefeated fighters like Kelly Pavlik and Antonio Margarito. In Mayweather, the man known in boxing circles as Brother Naazim recognizes his greatest challenge as a trainer, but also sees a delusional, arrogant man weeks away from a brutal reality check.
In this exclusive and thorough interview, Naazim Richardson lays out his thoughts on everything: from Mayweather-Mosley, to Ray Robinson’s chances in today’s welterweight division, and whether Antonio Margarito should ever be allowed in the ring again.
Ismael AbduSalaam: There been a lot of criticism regarding the Hopkins-Jones rematch, but more so at Hopkins’ antics. How would you rate both their performances?
Naazim Richardson: I wasn’t in favor of the fight from the beginning, because there was nothing Bernard can do to win favor. If you kill Roy they’re going to call you a bully, and if he goes the distance then they’re going to start questioning your mortality in the sport. To me it was a lose-lose situation. But I also thought he has been in the sport long enough where he’s entitled to clean up some personal residue, which is why I supported him in his effort.
I thought he dominated and initiated all the exchanges as I felt he would. Unfortunately he got hit in the back of the head, and in boxing when you’re hit there no one ever feels it’s authentic [the reaction]. They think you’re exaggerating. The trip to the hospital was for observation, and luckily everything was negative and he was released.
Ismael: Based on how he’s been carrying the weight at light-heavyweight, do you think his goal to move up to heavyweight to face David Haye is realistic?
Richardson: I feel if Bernard can hold some weight on his body, then he can outbox David Haye. But I question if he can hold the weight. Bernard’s metabolism is in training he starts cutting and dropping weight immediately. And he’s not even a big light-heavyweight. I force him to keep weight on for camp to be ready for light-heavyweight. But his boxing IQ is tremendous, and he does better with punchers than any other type of style.
But in my personal opinion, and I’ve told him this, that he’s done everything there is to do in the sport of boxing except lose badly. And I’ve told him leave the sport before you’ve done everything in it.
Ismael: There’s been a persistent rumor that Shane hasn’t looked too good in sparring. Can you verify his progress at this point?
Richardson: He’s doing fine in camp. [Pauses] I’ve never been impressed with Shane as a sparring partner. But his [great] ability is following the path we’ve worked on. Now he just has to complete the task on the night of fight.
Ismael: Was there any worry about him overtraining since he already had a full camp for the canceled Andre Berto fight, and now had to do everything over for Mayweather? Is that a real concern due to Mosley’s age?
Richardson: I know he’ll be ok because he’s been going in the sport for so long. It’s been 16 months since he last fought, and if people pay attention he was off for another year prior to the Margarito fight. So it’s been about 3 years and this guy is only having his second fight! He’ll be fine.
Ismael: Let’s run a Mayweather strategy by you. He said recently that he was going to make Mosley “think” in there, implying a criticism of many that Shane cannot adjust in the ring as the fight develops. Is that something you’ve been working on to improve with Shane as Mayweather will no doubt switch up in the fight?
Richardson: The whole thing about a fighter like Mayweather is you can’t assume there would be one mode of attack anyway. My assumption that I told Shane is I predict that he hits Floyd with a right hand, and Mayweather grows wings with fangs out his mouth like a dragon. And when he turns into a dragon I’m going to tell Shane to move laterally so that the fireballs don’t hit you, step on his tail, and drive shots to the body. Meaning even if he turns into a dragon we’re not going to surrender the fight. We’ll let the audience run out the dag on theater.
I’m going that deep as far as adaption for this fight in the ring.
Ismael: Another favorite Mayweather quote is that since he’s undefeated, there’s no blueprint to beating him and he has no weaknesses. But watching him for his whole career as a trainer, what do you feel are his weakest points?
Richardson: The thing is this, the only being that is flawless is God Allah, and any man that feels as though they are flawless thinks they are God. And any man who thinks they are God is a pure fool. And that speaks for itself.
When I was a young man, I saw Ray Robinson lose, and I saw Muhammad Ali lose. I was like yo; that was my awakening that anyone can come up short in this game. What people fail to realize is that with Shane Mosley, Mayweather goes on and on about the blueprint, but you can have a blueprint to stop a lion and that doesn’t mean you can stop one! I feel that after Shane beats him, there still won’t be a blueprint to beat Floyd, because unless you’re Shane Mosley you can’t do it.
Mayweather is verbally cute. He talks so much, that people underestimate him, because normally people who talk that much can’t fight that well. I’ve known him since the amateurs, and he’s always talked like that. I videotaped him talking like that before the Olympics, and he went in there and lost.
He’s a tremendous fighter, but he’s still a young man. Becoming educated is how you become an older man. So there’s still a lot for Floyd Mayweather to learn.
Ismael: The Olympic style drug testing is underway. Do you think this will be a major distraction for the fighters?
Richardson: Nah, it won’t be a problem. It’s more hoopla. Floyd needs as much attention as he can before a fight because he tells you he’s an entertainer. That’s why he does 24/7, because he’s more entertaining there than when he fights. You’ll pay to see Floyd hit the pads before you’ll pay to see him fight! Pad work with him and Roger is more exciting than the actual fight.
You never saw Mike Tyson put on fake armor or wearing crocodile trunks. Because in the center of the ring Mike Tyson was entertaining. He put guys on their backs and we got our entertainment out of him. Tyson’s entertainment was cracking you upside the head and laying you out. All the extra is needed for Floyd to give people and reporters something to talk about. More questions for people to ask him and he can bark more.
Ismael: Just based on what you’ve seen, do you think steroids are a big problem in boxing?
Richardson: Like most sports you see a bunch of guys around the athletes, and no one has been able to figure out why. Why you need your lawyer in the ring at fight time? But it happens. Everybody wants to be a part of the big fight.
I got reporters calling and telling me how I should fight Floyd. [chuckles] This guy’s a reporter! He’s telling me he’s studied Floyd for weeks and I should do this and that. You get people stopping me in the casinos about how I should fight Roy Jones. It gets ridiculous, but when you’re around that much energy you’ll get vibes.
After the fight if there’s a knockout there’s always some guy in the winner’s dressing room saying “I knew he would knock him out that round.” And I say well damn, we didn’t need to go to camp if you knew it would be the left hook! So you get fitness trainers that want to get involved and be the ones who made the fighter stronger and faster. They get overzealous, and the next thing you know they’re rubbing something on your ass you don’t need! Everybody is looking for that edge.
You have to recognize who is in your circle. Shane has a private gym, and you [still] got rumors about his sparring. So how does that get out? So either someone is full of shit and just saying things or someone has a cell phone and is running their mouth after camp with their opinions. I wouldn’t believe anyone telling me what’s going on in Floyd’s camp. Fight night we’ll see who has the best game plan.
Ismael: Antonio Margarito will be fighting in Mexico since he can’t get reinstated in the United States. Do you believe as many do that he should be banned permanently from the sport considering what happened with Luis Resto and Billy Collins in the 80s?
Richardson: You can’t ask me because I’m biased. If the joker tried to hit my son with a car, even though he missed, you can’t have me on that jury because I know what I’m going to say. We have to ask what might have happened if he would’ve gotten through with those blocks in his hands. Shane has little kids, and how would it have looked seeing him laid out or with a hole in his head? Miguel Cotto got a hole in his head. That ain’t a cut, it’s a hole! I thought he’d do good in the Pacquiao fight, but I picked Pacquiao because of that hole in Cotto’s head.
Ismael: You’re also training cruiserweight Steve Cunningham. His scheduled fight last month was canceled due to Don King not being able to come to terms with ESPN. How has he been holding up with this layoff?
Richardson: They put it on Don [King]. He played a part in it. Main Events picked up the fight and it was going to Chicago. But then Matt Godfrey said he missed two days of training and said he wasn’t ready for the fight. I had the pleasure of working with Matt Godfrey before. So it didn’t come down to Don, it was saved by Main Events.
But Steve is a professional. He’s never been discouraged by any stops in his career. He doesn’t fall apart. Unfortunately when he was under Don he fought very little. None of these things are going to distract him. When the fight fell out we were still in the gym training and preparing for the next day. I told him to take some time off and he got a little mad at me because I didn’t want him even running. He’s driving his wife crazy now, but he’s coming back soon to help out some other guys.
Ismael: There have been Muslim boxers throughout the history of the sport. You had some who were outspoken about it like Muhammad Ali, Naseem Hamed, and Dwight Muhammad Qawi. And you have others who are more subdued about it like Amir Khan. How has Islam helped your approach to the sport of boxing?
Richardson: Islam allows me to understand my identity of who and what I am, and not let the nonsense restructure my thoughts and ideas. When they cut the cameras on I won’t turn into a buffoon. It’s hard not to, but I won’t let boxing turn me into something I’m not. On 24/7, I saw nothing but Floyd Mayweather Sr. and Freddie Roach going back and forth. I thought they were going to pick up gloves on an episode! I told 24/7 you can keep that with me. I don’t want the camera in my face every time I’m talking to my athletes.
Ismael: Why do you think they’re trying to make celebrities out of the trainers? For the last few years this has gone on from Buddy McGirt to now Freddie Roach.
Richardson: The trainers stick around longer in the game than the boxers. If they can make them celebrities, they can run it out longer. A lot us fought before, so those who didn’t get the limelight as boxers now see their chance to get it. These guys want it! Some of them want to step out and push the fighter to the side. I don’t knock them, that’s what they do, but I’m not interested. The athlete is the prime principal, and has to carry out the game plan. It goes back even further than Buddy McGirt. They did it with Cus D’Amato.
We’re the only sport where we disrespect each other as trainers and fighters. I just read an article with James Toney attacking Bernard’s performance in the Jones rematch. He’s talking about Bernard’s mother and all kinds of stuff. I understand that Toney is trying to get back on television, I get it. But then we wonder why we can’t get respect.
You don’t hear George Karl telling Phil Jackson “you’re only winning because you got Kobe [Bryant].” You don’t hear that type of nonsense. It just embarrasses us and says you are not getting enough attention on your own and need to stand on somebody else to be seen. I don’t want that, I want to just do the work and what God has planned for me. These guys, it’s just foolishness.
When Margarito has illegal hand wraps it is a black eye on all of us. It’s not just an embarrassment to Margarito; it’s embarrassment to all of us.
You’ve been writing on boxing for awhile. I was so tired a few years back when people would say “you train boxers? I hope you’re not training them to bite ears off!” I was like oh lord, I wish I could change what happened with Tyson myself I was so sick of hearing about it. It made us all look bad. That was the position we were put in.
We don’t realize we’re all under the same umbrella. You see, Muhammad Ali did something we call now trash talking. But he had flair and was charismatic in the way he went about that. Now everybody think they can do it to sell some extra tickets. Mayweather likes to run his mouth but it’s only his opinion.
He likes to run off about PPV numbers like people pay to watch him shadowbox! Those numbers are because Oscar De La Hoya and other guys were across the ring from you! He makes it sound likes it’s just his numbers. Akh if you had clout like that you never would have gotten voted off Dancing with the Stars. You would’ve won the show with just your boxing fans and blew everyone off the show. But you got voted off quite quickly. But that’s neither here nor there.
Floyd knows his audience; he got the barbershop and Hip-Hop audience, the young boys on the corner. A lot of them don’t check things on details. If you say something they buy it as true. You’re dealing with that young media audience that doesn’t do a lot of investigating. You keep saying something loud enough people take it as true. So the IRS can be on your ass, but you get on TV and say “my stuff is paid for, how about yours,” and no one is going to look up income taxes. They’ll go to YouTube.
But this is boxing, the sport we signed up for; the good, the bad, everything rolled into one. And I’d be lying if I said I didn’t love the sport.
Ismael: Floyd is fighting the Sugar of his generation, and awhile back I asked him how he would do with the previous Sugars in Ray Robinson and Ray Leonard. He was very respectful of Robinson but laid into Leonard, claiming he lost to his lightweight challenge in Roberto Duran. At the same time, Floyd said he dominated his lightweight moving up. As a trainer who’s seen both, how do you think they’d match up with Floyd or other guys today at welterweight?
Richardson: Ray Robinson you can’t even do because that’s another generation. This is the microwave era. Ray Robinson and them came from an era that was first and second generation poor. These guys were fighting because they were hungry; these weren’t spoiled kids with $400 video games and $100 sneakers. They didn’t come from that era. Those cats would’ve blown most of these guys [today] out of the water with their desire and hunger alone.
Ray Leonard is a talent that would be a problem in any era. He could punch good, great hand speed and boxing IQ.
Floyd knows what he’s doing. Muhammad Ali called himself great before he even knew he was. How many people have we called great who didn’t call themselves that first? So Floyd is just following what history has shown. If he can protect his undefeated record, he can say “Ray Robinson was great but I am greater. How many fights did he lose?” This is his goal.
It’s not a bad plan; so far it worked out for him. I think it was genius when he retired. If he would’ve beat Cotto they would’ve said fight Margarito. If he beats Margarito they say fight Kermit Cintron. If he beats Cintron they say fight Shane Mosley. He beats Mosley they say fight Paul Williams. And that was just a little too much for him to run down. So if I retire and let these killers fight each other, I can pick up the leftovers. Because you couldn’t pull Margarito on top of this dude!
Bob Arum used to disrespect him with Margarito. He used to be like “Hey bitch you ain’t #1, I got Margarito!” And Floyd would turn his head and start talking about basketball. Like he never heard of him, because he knew Margarito had the kind of chin where he would just walk through whatever he was doing. If he sat on the ropes Margarito would just walk through that shit. If you can’t hurt Margarito you can’t beat Margarito! And Floyd knew he couldn’t beat or hurt him.
Nobody really wanted to fight Margarito. And after Shane blew him out, nobody really wanted to fight Shane. But Mayweather’s perspective makes sense in saying “I’ll take a chance with a man that can hurt me, and I can keep myself from getting hurt, opposed to a man I cannot hurt at all.” People said Margarito was one-dimensional. We can sit on a train track and know the train is coming the same way, but stand your ass on the track and what still happens? That’s what Margarito was.
Ismael: This has been a great interview, Naazim. Any closing thoughts?
Richardson: I will say this. You have good fighters, then you have champions, then you have elite champions, and finally fighters who are special. This is the rare time we will see two fighters who are special. They got past the elites in the Margaritos and Ricky Hattons. Both have special fighters on their resume in Oscar De La Hoya. Floyd is an undefeated special fighter, which Shane has faced before.
I have a great deal of respect for both. All special guys are what I call misleading fighters. Hopkins talks so much shit you forget he’s more technical than gorilla. All that prison, gangsta talk misleads you. Pacquiao they call him small like he’s four feet tall. But when you get in the ring you realize he ain’t that small! Mayweather, all that shit talking, you think you can hit him right in the mouth. But he isn’t that easy to hit. Mosley, he looks like he should be selling you car insurance with all that smiling, but he’s a gorilla.
Pioneers don’t need blueprints, Floyd. Muhammad Ali and Wilt Chamberlain didn’t need them. There was none on Margarito. That’s how the world works. We’re up for the task. It won’t be easy. But if it was, anyone could do it.
Three months ago, Andre Berto had the biggest fight of his career in front of him. On January 30, Berto was set to face Shane Mosley in an opportunity to become one of the premier stars of the welterweight division.
Then tragedy struck.
A devastating 7.0 earthquake ravaged Berto’s native Haiti, resulting in the death of 8 relatives a little over 2 weeks before fight night. Distraught and unable to focus on combat, Berto decided to withdraw from the fight, paving the way for Mosley to face Floyd Mayweather on May 1.
Today, Andre Berto’s mind is clear and back on boxing. This weekend, the WBC titlist seeks to put the division back on notice in a risky comeback bout against southpaw spoiler Carlos Quintana, who holds upset victories over previously undefeated standouts Paul Williams and Joel Julio. If he succeeds in spectacular fashion, are superstars like Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao next in line?
Ismael AbduSalaam: You lost 8 family members in the January Haiti earthquake. With such a devastating emotional loss just a few months ago, what made you know this weekend was the time to make your in-ring return?
Andre Berto: Yeah, I went back to Haiti to give aid. And I had to take some time to get my mind right. I took about 6 weeks to reflect on things in Haiti. It was an intense trip and needed my mind together. Now I’m focused and it’s time to get back in there.
Ismael: When you went down to Haiti after the quake, what did you witness?
Berto: It was crazy, just completely different from my last experiences. It was like a war zone. A lot of planes were coming in trying to bring cargo and supplies. Walking through the streets you saw building after building just crushed and pancaked down to the floor. In the hospitals and streets I helped, and saw a lot of death and broken bones, man. A lot of pain. At the same time, I saw the strength of a lot of people who survived. They adapted and did the best they could under the circumstances.
Ismael: Not that Haiti isn’t front page news anymore, do you still see a lot of people as you tour the States still devoting energy to the essential rebuilding period?
Berto: I always figured that would happen news-wise. But I still see a lot of people showing the effort. There are still a lot of nurses and doctors going there to help. So the support is still there where it counts.
Ismael: Let’s move on to the fight this Saturday (April 10) against Carlos Quintana. Was he the first pick for you and your team?
Berto: They brought me a few names. But I think Quintana is a fighter with good credibility. There’s bigger name guys that I wanted to fight, but those guys in my division are already tied up with matches so I had to fall back on that. So that made Quintana the best available competitor regarding quality at this time.
Ismael: Now how are you approaching this fight? Quintana has 2 losses, and the one that stands out to me in particular is the Cotto loss where Miguel walked him down. Is that something you’re looking at being that you’re likely to be stronger than him?
Berto: That’s true, [but] there’s a lot of different ways of going about it. Cotto walked him down with power. Paul Williams caught him with a long shot. I’ll have to have different strategies. Sometimes he likes to stand there and bang it out. Everybody knows that’s my forte. And the same time, he also likes to move around and box. So I’ll be ready for anything he tries to bring to the table. I know how to box, bang, have power, so I have all the tools needed to come out with the victory.
Ismael: This will be your third consecutive fight with a southpaw, and your second fight since your 2009 Fight of the Year candidate with Luis Collazo. What have you learned since that encounter about how to handle southpaws?
Berto: The Collazo fight I didn’t take it as serious and that was almost my downfall. That’s normally what older fighters count on, and that was the first time I ever did that. I kind of got on my high horse and on fight night he came and brought it. I know how to fight southpaws, and have been doing so for years and training with guys like Winky Wright. I had to get back on the grind.
And then when I had the fight with Juan Urango I made it look easy. So I just had to get focused and with the gameplan.
Ismael: Before the fight with Shane Mosley was canceled, you had built some animosity towards him after Mosley proclaimed he’d end your career. Is there still beef there or do you know just look at it as words said just to hype the fight?
Berto: It kind of ruffled my feathers because I know how Mosley is. Before he showed good faith towards me, always at my fights and praised me. He always tried to be close to me and said I reminded him of himself when he was young. So he had some real off the wall things to say about me, and I knew that wasn’t him.
But recently he’s still doing things out of his character due to the guys around him. They’ve been pumping him up. But he has a big fight coming up with Floyd, but if he ever gets in the ring with me I’ll handle him.
Ismael: What direction is your camp looking to head in after the Quintana fight? The scene is a lot different from when you last fought: Margarito is gone, [Zab] Judah is out of the welterweight picture…
Berto: Yeah, but there’s still a lot of opportunities out there still. But right now my focus is on Quintana. We’ll have to get past this and it is a tough fight. But after that I expect a lot of big fights. The welterweight division is the hottest in boxing and the one to watch.
Ismael: Let’s get your prediction on the upcoming superfight with Floyd Mayweather and Shane Mosley.
Berto: It’s going to be a good fight, man. It’s tough to call. Mosley has the speed and the power. Floyd has everything else. Floyd is very technical, and if Shane lets him get in his groove and comfortable, it’s going to be a long night for Mosley. But if Mosley imposes his speed, size, and strength, it might be a tough fight for Floyd. But I’m leaning towards Floyd in this one.
Berto: Yeah, we pretty much did that as a relief fund right after the earthquake hit. All proceeds go to that. Tons of people purchased it and showed their support. It’s on Everlast and we’ve been doing our part on my site to continue that awareness.
Ismael: I remember you issued Cincinnati Bengals wide receiver Chad Ochocino to a charity boxing match last year. Did he ever answer you?
Berto: [Laughs] I saw him out in LA recently. It’s still up to him. He’s always up to a lot of different challenges. Maybe this summer we can get something together for charity. But yeah, I still haven’t forgot!
Ismael: Has HBO or anyone else approached you about locking up with Paul Williams. You guys are both young and even though he jumps around in weight, his claims he can still make the welterweight limit if need be.
Berto: I’ve heard about it, but me and Paul have the same team when it comes to the management end [Author’s Note: Both are managed by Al Haymon, who also works with Floyd Mayweather]. So they’re trying to keep us away from each other unless there is a lot of money in the pot to grab. Right now we are in separate lanes doing our things.
Ismael: Closing thoughts for the Beats, Boxing and Mayhem readers?
Berto: Everybody make sure they tune in on April 10. It’s going to be an event! It’s a special card so don’t miss it.
