There was nothing but respect at the final stop of the three-city press tour for the Shane Mosley-Floyd Mayweather Jr. welterweight showdown, which wrapped up at the NOKIA Plaza at L.A. LIVE in downtown Los Angeles on Thursday afternoon.
That’s not out of the ordinary for Mosley and his trainer, Naazim Richardson, but it is for the Mayweathers, especially Floyd’s uncle and trainer Roger.
However, the former two-division titleholder, who is known for making disrespectful and often crude comments about any individual that happens to pop into his mind, is obviously aware that his nephew will be fighting a worthy opponent on May 1.
“This is going to be a tremendous fight,” Mayweather said when it was his turn to take the podium during the press conference. “You have two tremendous fighters. This is what makes history. You have to challenge someone people think you can't beat.”
Richardson concurred, stating that Mosley and Mayweather are boxers and competitors of the highest order.
“You have people who are champions, you have people who are elite and you have people who are special,” Richardson said. “On May 1, you have two of the most-special guys in the history of the sport facing off.
“At 147 pounds, Mosley can knock anyone -- anything -- out, but on the other hand, with Mayweather’s defense it’s hard to hit him in the ass with a handful of rice.”
MOSLEY CAN BOX, TOO
Despite Richardson’s podium comments, neither he nor Mosley want fans to believe that the May 1 welterweight clash is a simple puncher-vs.-boxer matchup.
“I punch so well that people don’t realize that I’m a master boxer,” Mosley told a small group of boxing writers after the press conference. “I’d love to win by knockout, so if I catch him with a good shot and he wobbles, we’ll see a knockout, but if that doesn’t happen, I’ll have to do whatever it takes to beat Floyd round by round.”
A writer asked Mosley if his body punching is one of his keys to victory.
“There’s a lot of things I can do,” Mosley answered. “I’m not going to do just one thing. I’m not just going to press him, or look for a knockout. My job is to be prepared for everything that Mayweather does that night.
“This is my chance to show people that I’m a complete boxer with skill, defense and footwork. This my chance to prove that I‘m the best welterweight in the world.”
Helping Mosley make that case on May 1 is one of the game’s best strategists.
“Richardson is already studying tapes on Mayweather,” Mosley said. “He’s up all night watching film. In the morning he’ll say ‘Let’s go watch it.’ And while we’re looking at the fight, he’ll ask me ‘Do you see what I see? Good.’ We’re watching Mayweather’s fights going back to his lightweight days. Naazim has a long history with Mayweather. He remembers watching him back in the amateurs. Floyd’s got the same basic style but it has changed over the years. As a lightweight, he was more on his toes and he was busier. As he’s become heavier he’s become more flat footed and more of a pot shotter.”
So how will Mosley exploit the style of the welterweight version of Mayweather?
Richardson obviously wasn’t going to go into specifics but he does believe that Mayweather can be exploited, although he was quick to add that it isn’t easy to do so.
“He has flaws but they’re not abundant and there isn’t a big window to take advantage of them,” Richardson said. “What I mean by that is you can’t get comfortable in any set position with Floyd. Whatever’s working in one round may not be working in the next round.”
SKILLS KILLS
Roger Mayweather remained respectful of Mosley after the press conference but he couldn’t envision the 38-year-old fighter outboxing his nephew.
“I’m takin’ nothing away from Shane,” he said. “He’s one of the best fighters Floyd has faced because he’s got the biggest amateur background of anyone Floyd has fought. But I trained a boxer who beat Shane in the amateurs. Shane’s good. He’s strong and experienced but skills still win fights and Floyd’s got better skills.”
Mayweather was asked whether it is possible that Mosley can simply outwork Mayweather, or win close rounds with his aggression.
He didn‘t think so, but then he was given recent examples of busy and aggressive fighters getting the benefit of the doubt from the official judges in bouts against slicker and more accurate boxers (Juan Diaz over Paul Malignaggi in their first fight, Paul Williams over Sergio Martinez and Beibut Shumenov over Gabriel Campillo).
“Well, I guess it could happen,” he said, “but Shane’s activity has also dropped as he’s gotten older.”
THE RIGHT TIME
Floyd Mayweather claims that he pursued a fight with Mosley in 1998 and 1999, when he was a 130-pound beltholder and Mosley held a 135-pound title, to no avail.
Roger was asked whether he thought the fight should have happened at that time.
“Hell no!” he said. “It’s a much bigger fight now. You got two seasoned multiple world champs who have beat (Oscar) De La Hoya. Now the fight defines who’s the best. The fight is much better now.”
BETTER MAYWEATHER THAN BERTO
Richardson says that he’s “more comfortable” with Mosley fighting Mayweather than he was when his fighter was scheduled to face undefeated titleholder Andre Berto on Jan. 30 (before the young Haitian-American boxer pulled out of the fight because of the devastating earthquake in Haiti, the homeland of his parents).
“I was worried about that fight,” he said. “No matter what a fighter says at a press conference it’s hard for him to be motivated to fight a guy who hasn’t accomplished as much as he has. Like I said during the press conference, Shane and Floyd are special fighters. Mayweather is on Shane’s level and he’ll bring out the best in him.
“It’s hard for a special fighter to get up for a champion, even a promising one like Berto. Shane’s on a higher level than (Ricardo) Mayorga and yet that was a difficult fight for him. You gotta keep these guys where they belong. You don’t ask (Mikhail) Baryshnikov to come to the dance club down the street and then be mad that he didn’t win the contest. That’s not his thing.”
BUSY BROTHER NAAZIM
Richardson has a packed schedule this spring. Before Mosley steps between the ropes to face Mayweather, he’ll work the corners of former cruiserweight titleholder Steve Cunningham and Bernard Hopkins in pivotal bouts for the Philadelphia natives.
On March 26, Cunningham takes on Matt Godfrey in an ESPN2-televised bout for a vacant cruiserweight belt. On April 3, Hopkins fights Roy Jones Jr. in their bizarre rematch. And then less than a month later he’ll work Mosley’s corner in the biggest fight of the year.
If Richardson’s fighters win all three bouts, he’ll give Freddie Roach a run for his money for this year’s Trainer of the Year award.
LEONARD ELLERBE
While I was engaged with Richardson, I missed the opportunity to join my fellow fight scribes in interviewing Floyd Mayweather after the press conference (poor me), but CEO of Mayweather Promotions Leonard Ellerbe was sure to get my attention as I was on my out of the event area.
Ellerbe told me to get ready to cut my ponytail off. (Evidently, he reads my mailbags. A reader recently asked me if I’d be willing to bet my ponytail that Mayweather can’t KO Mosley. I told him if that happened, I’d cut it off at the press conference and present it to Ellerbe on the silver platter.)
“I want you to give him credit for what he does,” Ellerbe told me. “I know you’re a man of you word.”
I told him if Mayweather beat Mosley, even if it’s by a razor-thin decision, I’ll give him full credit. (Heck, I’ll give him credit if he loses in competitive fashion.)
Then I added: “If Mayweather stops Shane, tell Floyd he can cut the ponytail off himself.”
MAYWEATHER PROMOTIONS
Mayweather’s fledging promotional company isn’t licensed to promote shows yet, but it does sign fighters and Ellerbe told me that three of their boxers will be in action on the non-televised portion of the May 1 pay-per-view show.
The guy I’m most excited about is 20-year-old welterweight Jessie Vargas (9-0, 4 knockouts), a smart pressure-fighting Mexican-American from Las Vegas who has trained with Roger Mayweather since he was a kid.
Along with junior lightweight Eloy Perez and light heavyweight Ismayl Sillakh, I believe that Vargas is one of the best non-televised prospects in the sport. He is definitely worth keeping an eye on.
Fringe contenders Cornelius Lock and Said Ouali will likely be in with tough Golden Boy-promoted opposition, Ellerbe said.
Ellerbe’s trying to make a featherweight bout with Lock and former 122-pound titleholder Daniel Ponce-DeLeon, and a welterweight showdown between Ouali and highly touted Mexican prospect Saul Alvarez.
Those are darn-good fights if they can be made.
Source: ringtv.com
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