By MARK WHICKER, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
LAS VEGAS – The original Black Mamba sat in an MGM Grand ballroom, wearing a red sweatsuit, answering before you got to the question mark, reaching out and touching your forearm as punctuation.
Today Roger Mayweather is the guy who trains his nephew, Floyd Mayweather Jr., and backs up Floyd's case for a seat among the historically elite.
"You gotta understand," Roger said. "Floyd's undefeated. And all these other guys, they're defeated. So that's why Floyd says he's the best."
But Roger fought, too. He called himself the Black Mamba, long before Kobe Bryant did, and he probably hit harder than Floyd does, but he wasn't as elusive, didn't have the same clairvoyance when it came to dodging punches before they're thrown. Roger won two world championships, though, and he fought Pernell Whitaker and, on a night in The Forum, Julio Cesar Chavez.
"I won a title in my 14th fight," he said. "I used to tell my teachers that I was going to be the world champion. They'd say, 'Fine, but then what are you gonna do after that?' I said, 'I don't know, but I'm gonna be champion.'
"Now, when I go back there (Grand Rapids, Mich.), they say, 'Good, you accomplished your goal.'''
He remembers one particular day in Vegas more than any particular fight. He took Floyd Jr. into promoter Bob Arum's office and said, "I'm gonna give you the next great fighter."
Arum refrained from signing the Pretty Boy because, after all, Floyd was 11. "I might be dead by the time he's ready," Arum said.
"And then when the Olympics came along, Bob Arum was right there and said, 'I want that guy right there,''' Roger said.
Mayweather did fight for Arum, but that ended in 2006, and it's become so personal that some doubt if Manny Pacquiao, promoted by Arum, will ever fight Mayweather.
At the moment, Pacquiao is running for office in the Phillippines, and Mayweather is preparing for Shane Mosley here Saturday night, a fascinating confluence of careers that favors Mayweather but puzzles some analysts.
The Black Mamba suffers no such confusion.
"They all say this will be Floyd's toughest fight," Roger said. "I don't think (Miguel) Cotto would have said that (his victory over Mosley) was his toughest fight. Shane already knows he can't outbox Floyd. If it comes down to boxing it's a mismatch. The only way he can make this fight is to make it a physical fight.
"Sure, he's fast. But his punches are wide. Accuracy is the key. They say Floyd's not a devastating puncher. But he's never gonna be a devastating puncher. He's an accurate puncher. That's the difference between these two fighters. You watch the tape, these guys ain't gonna change. A guy throws two jabs, he's not gonna start throwing 10."
Mayweather Jr. is 40-0. His father Floyd is also a trainer and, in fact, was in the corner for some of Oscar De La Hoya's most impressive moments, but was fired by his son. Roger and Floyd Sr. are not close. "I'm the one that got Floyd to start punching more, because that's the only way you can attack," Roger said. "This is not a matter of us training him. This is me."
Naazim Richardson, Mosley's trainer, says Mayweather got a headstart in his craft because he grew up listening to Roger, Floyd Jr. and another uncle, Jeff. Roger says Floyd knew he would be a fighter when he was 12 months old.
"But he never looked up to anybody," Roger said. "He always thought he was the best. He wanted to fight De La Hoya when Arum first signed him."
But even though Mayweather beats everyone, he never disables anyone. De La Hoya lost to Mayweather in 2007 and said he would have won had he continued to jab.
"If he'd kept jabbing he would have gotten knocked out," Roger said. "Listen, Oscar's best punch was his hook, not his jab. Know why they all think they should have beat Floyd? Because he's right in front of them but their punches aren't landing on the chin. They're on the arms and shoulders. They said the same thing about Muhammad Ali."
The Black Mamba is not always so relaxed. When Floyd Jr. took a rabbit punch from Zab Judah, Roger charged the ring and got into it with both Judah and his father, and Roger was fined $200,000 and suspended for a year. Roger also was arrested for attacking Melissa St. Vil, a woman whom he was training.
Sometimes Floyd tables Roger's advice. Roger laughed Thursday when he recalled the night Floyd was in with a tall Dominican named Victorino Sosa.
"Back him up!" Roger commanded.
"I ain't backing him up," Floyd replied. "He hits too hard."
"All right, let's box him then," Roger said.
What happened? Well, one guy remains undefeated.
mwhicker@ocregister.com
Source: ocregister.com
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