Floyd Mayweather v Shane Mosley superfight divides United States into two camps -- Telegraph

By Gareth A Davies, Telegraph.co.uk

On Saturday night, when the two welterweights collide in a fistic war at the MGM Grand Garden Arena, it will mark 50 fights between them that have been shown on Home Box Office, the main television home of major fight nights in the United States.

Both fighters’ careers were launched on HBO in 1997, and they have been involved in a glut of high profile mega-fights. The criticism with this contest is that it should have happened sooner, although Mayweather claims that Mosley was offered the challenge four times previously, but turned those offers down.

Giant fight nights are often precursed by a glut of trash-talking. This one has been different. Good Guy v Bad Guy has been easily moulded with motormouth Mayweather, and the more reserved Mosley. Yet there has ensued – apart from one moment when they snapped at each other with some pushing and shoving at a press conference several weeks ago – great decorum between the two camps in the lead-in to this contest.

Mark Taffett, head of HBO sports, explained the pulling power of the two protagonists: “They have 12 world titles between them in their respective careers. This is a classic All-American showdown. It is destined to be one of the greatest pay-per-view events outside the heavyweight division.

“Floyd Mayweather, in his last six fights, has generated $5.5 million pay-per-view buys. That is £292 million of revenue. In his last fights, he averages 48.6 million dollars in pay-per-view revenue per fight, making him top of the all-time list. This is also the biggest promotion ever for HBO.”

It is consumerism gone beserk, aided and abetted by an outstanding HBO 24/7 documentary series looking inside the lives of the two long-serving American ring legends.

In marketing terms, it has been a huge success, around the banner ‘Who Are you Picking?’ The contest has split America, the West Coast supporting Mosley, the East Coast with Mayweather.

The Hispanic communities are said to be siding with Mosley, who has a business relationship, as a partner with Oscar De La Hoya's Golden Boy Promotions. If that sounds cosy, Mayweather also has a bi-lateral business relationship with Golden Boy, with Mayweather having his own promotions company. Both fighters reside in Las Vegas, and victory will means bragging rights on the street across the neon city, the world's fight capital.

In recent weeks, in spite of the collapse of the much-anticipated match-up of Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao, this change of opponent for Mayweather has reached mega-fight proportions, with 1.5 million per-per-view buys expected from American homes. In the UK, Sky Sports 1 are screening the contest.

A voting poll on who the public are picking as the winner, has received upwards of 750,000 online votes, with a split down the middle. 51 per cent say Mayweather. Forty-nine per cent go with Mosley.

The experts suggest that a points win over the championship distance for Mayweather is on the cards. I would agree with that view, though Mosley will be sharpened for the fight of his life. He has looked powerful and precise in recent outings, but the issue is whether, at 38, it has come too late for him against boxing’s defensive genius in Mayweather - 33, but still remarkably fresh.

Mayweather talks like he fights. Slick. "Be smart, be sharp and fight hard. May the best man win. I am pretty sure that Shane feels deep in his heart and deep in his soul he is going to win.

"I just happen to be an athlete that's God gifted. There are some athletes that are just different, like Kobe, Lebron, Kevin Garnett and then there are athletes who are just talented. I'm pretty sure Shane is in good shape. I don't think he is in better shape than me.

"My father taught me my defense and no one can break through it. I just know if a punch is coming, I can feel it. And I know what my opponent's going to do.”

Mayweather has also launched a personal attack against what he believes is drug-taking in the sport. “I brought USADA in to keep the sport on an even playing field. Everyone knows this is done for the betterment of the sport. After I get blood taken, I'll go in and box 12 or 13 rounds, no problem whatsoever.

"I'm the biggest thing, because numbers don't lie. The proof is in the pudding, I take less punishment, I land the highest percentage and I work the hardest. As far as drawing power and superstardom, me and Shane are not on the same level.

“It doesn't stop May 1. Mayweather Promotions is the past, present, future of sports and entertainment, period. HBO, we will be family forever.”

When HBO talk of him as their cash cow, little wonder he considers himself an adopted son of the cable giants. Mosley, hugely popular in the United States, added: "I hope Mayweather is ready for this. This will be one of the great fights of this decade or maybe even history. It's going to be a great fight.”

The CEO of Golden Boy Promotions, Richard Schaefer could not be happier with the oxygen of publicity the contest has generated.

“The world is talking. The world is asking 'Who R U Picking?' I have never seen the kind of activation that we have seen in the last couple of weeks. We have almost 100 million online impressions, activations on entertainment platforms, urban sites, it really is an unprecedented kind of response. There have been 750,000 votes online. It is shaping up to be as we expected a dead even race. A dead even fight.

“That is what these two great athletes are all about fight after fight, fighting the best and that is what you can see this coming weekend. We are already at an eight-figure gate. It is great to have these two athletes here again. It is a thrill for us all and we appreciate you both.

"We have already sold almost 3,000 closed circuit seats and it shows the interest in this fight. About six, seven, eight months ago I told you, before the Mayweather-Marquez fight that we would break records. I said we would do 1 million buys and you all laughed at me, but we broke 1 million.”

Schaefer believes the fight could break all pay per view records – the record is 2.25 million pay-per-view buys for the fight between Oscar De La Hoya and Mayweather, in June 2007 – and could reach 4 million buys on the night.

That is unlikely, but if the contest continues to gain momentum as it has been doing, upwards of 1.5 million buys is possible. What the public will expect is a contest which lives up to those expectations.

Source: telegraph.co.uk

Polar opposites set to collide in Vegas -- ESPN

By Dan Rafael, ESPN.com

LAS VEGAS -- Opposites attract, right?

That is clearly one of the major reasons for the significant interest in the Shane Mosley-Floyd Mayweather Jr. fight, the biggest bout of the year so far.

Of course, Mayweather and welterweight champ Mosley rank among the best in the sport -- Nos. 2 and 3, respectively, behind Manny Pacquiao on most pound-for-pound lists, including ESPN.com's. Whenever the best fight the best, there will be massive interest, as will be the case when Mosley faces Mayweather on Saturday night (HBO PPV, $54.95, 9 ET) at the MGM Grand Garden Arena.

But the divergent personalities of Mayweather and Mosley -- who are meeting because talks between Pacquiao and Mayweather fell apart earlier this year -- have certainly added to the interest in the bout.

Golden Boy CEO Richard Schaefer, who is promoting the fight, said at Wednesday's final news conference that not only does he believe that the fight has a chance to break the pay-per-view record of 2.46 million buys set by the 2007 showdown at the MGM Grand between Mayweather and Oscar De La Hoya, but he has dreams of 4 million.

To Mayweather, he and Mosley are "totally different" fighters, even though they each rely on considerable speed and skills.

"I think that he's a fighter that always worries about landing one big shot," Mayweather said. "He's worried about who is extremely strong and I worry about being smart and winning. So we approach fighting in two total different ways, always.

"I mean, Shane may be loading up with wide shots and kind of using not really a full jab and I use a fuller jab. You know when I shoot my shots, I look at my opponents and I look where I'm punching. When Shane punches a lot of times, he closes his eyes, if you go back and look at some of Shane's fights. So I think we are two total different fighters."

Are there any similarities?

"Yes," Mayweather said. "We're fighting May 1."

And there will be millions watching. While the fight is an intriguing matchup of well-known American stars, and also looms as Mayweather's stiffest test in years, the stark differences in their personalities is a big part of the attraction.

Mosley is somewhat modest and low-key. He isn't a big trash-talker -- never has been -- and he isn't followed around by a swollen entourage. His security detail consists of just one man. Mosley is also generally regarded as a sincerely nice guy.

Mayweather? Modest and low-key don't go in the same sentence. Not even in the same paragraph. He flaunts his jewelry and wads of cash without being prompted. He's a huge trash-talker -- always has been. His entourage, including a presidential-sized security detail, is large. Although Mayweather can certainly be a nice guy in quieter moments, publicly, at least, he embraces the villain role and portrays it to the hilt.

There was a time, however, when Mayweather, 33, apparently wanted to be like Mosley, 38, who was a few years ahead of Mayweather in his professional career during one meeting Mosley recounted.

Mayweather claimed a bronze medal in the 1996 Olympics before turning pro, not long before Mosley won a lightweight title in 1997, the first of his titles in three divisions. Mayweather would eventually win titles in five divisions, but back then Mosley said Mayweather looked up to him.

"I think he was just out of the Olympics and he was maybe 2-0, 3-0, something like that," Mosley said. "I came to his dressing room and I was telling him that he's a great fighter. I said, 'You're going to be world champion one day. You look real good.' And he's was like, 'Oh, man, thank you.' Basically he was just saying, 'You're doing good, too.' I think I was the champion then or I was getting ready to be the champion. He said, 'Hopefully if I can be just like you, it will be great, if I can win a title and all that stuff.' So we were both giving each other props and stuff about how good we were. That was it.

"He just wanted to have the accomplishments that I had accomplished in my professional career. He said, 'If I can have those accomplishments then I'd be happy too, if I can be like you and have all the accomplishments that I have.' I don't know if [he wanted to be] exactly like me per se, but just the accomplishments and everything I've done in my boxing career at that time, he was impressed with and he let me know that then."

Not so much anymore.

Instead, Mayweather has belittled Mosley's considerable accomplishments and maintained absolute confidence going into the fight, usually pointing to his undefeated record, even though he's been heavily criticized for hand-picking his opponents since moving up to junior welterweight in 2004.

Mosley (46-5, 39 KOs) will be the first elite welterweight Mayweather (40-0, 25 KOs) will have faced, but Mayweather's confidence is supreme.

"There is a blueprint to beat him because he has lost five times already," Mayweather said. "But there is no blueprint to beat me. I think he feels the pressure. I don't have any pressure. I am just getting ready to fight.

"Mosley has problems with boxers. He lost to Winky Wright [twice] from a one-handed jab in his face all night long. Now he is facing someone sharp as a razor with two hands. He has been dropped [once] and wobbled on numerous occasions. If he tries to bum-rush me, he is going to get clipped. No one has a chance to beat me. All of these fighters do the same interviews, talking about how they are going to beat me. Guess what? Same interviews, same results. It hasn't happened yet."

Unlike most of Mayweather's past opponents, Mosley hasn't been goaded into trash talking. He's remained calm in the wake of vicious verbal attacks by Mayweather and his uncle and trainer, Roger Mayweather, including seemingly daily reminders of Mosley's admitted involvement with Victor Conte and the BALCO scandal.

Mosley admitted under oath at a grand jury that he had used performance-enhancing drugs before his 2003 rematch with De La Hoya, but he also agreed to Mayweather's stipulation for making the fight that they use random urine and blood testing as performed under the strict policy of the United States Anti-Doping Agency.

So far, both fighters have been blood and urine tested multiple times during the lead up to Saturday's fight. Keith Kizer, the executive director of the Nevada Athletic Commission, said Wednesday that USADA officials have forwarded him results from all of the random testing done so far and all the results have been clean. Kizer said Mosley has been tested 11 times and Mayweather 10 times, with about half for each fighter being blood tests and the other half urine tests.

"At this point, I'm not angered by it," Mosley said of Mayweather's PED talk. "I'm just trying to go to the fight and be the best I can be in the fight. Right now at this point, we're getting ready to fight now."

Naazim Richardson, who is training Mosley for the second fight after guiding him to a ninth-round upset knockout of Antonio Margarito to win a welterweight title in January 2009, steadfastly defends Mosley against the Mayweathers' attack.

"When you bring up the boxer, talk about the boxer, but if every time you crack your mouth open you're running your mouth about some nonsense from before, then everybody's going to start asking questions about everything," said Richardson, alluding to Mayweather's past admission that he had his brittle hands injected with a numbing agent before past fights.

"If we kept it on boxing, you all never heard me step out of the line of boxing because I don't care about none of this other nonsense about nothing else but boxing," Richardson said. "That's all that's important to me. I don't consider Floyd to be nothing but a great athlete. I don't consider even the kid they were talking about before, Pacquiao, to be nothing but a great athlete. If I don't have any proof on anybody about anything, I won't say anything.

"Shane has never tested positive for anything. He agreed to the test, but now every time they bring his name up, you've still got to hear about steroids this and steroids that. OK, the man already agreed to your test. What do you want him to do for you now? He's not going to lay down for you. Is that just some mental [thing]?"

Mosley simply isn't taking Mayweather's bait.

"I know me not reacting to his antics or whatever, that's just me blocking all that stuff out and wanting to fight," Mosley said. "I don't really care about the different things that are being said. That doesn't really matter. What matters is the fight and what happens in the fight. So that's my whole interest and I kind of block all that other stuff out.

"I think a lot of people who have fought Floyd have let his talking get to them and they go into the fight angry. They are fighting with their emotions when they are in the ring. I'm not going to do that. I know how I want to fight Floyd and I know what I want to happen, so I am going to do what I have to do to win."

The desire to win -- one thing at least that they do have in common.

Dan Rafael is the boxing writer for ESPN.com.

Source: sports.espn.go.com

Pacquiao legal fight with Chiongbian ends in draw -- GMA News

By KIMBERLY JANE T. TAN, GMANews.TV

The legal match between boxing champion Manny Pacquiao and businessman Roy Chiongbian ended in a draw after the Commission on Elections (Comelec) junked the disqualification cases they filed against each other.

The Comelec, in an en banc resolution, has junked with finality Pacquiao’s petition to disqualify Chiongbian in the 2010 congressional race.

The Comelec’s second division, meanwhile, also junked Chiongbian’s petition to disqualify Pacquiao.

Pacquiao and Chiongbian, the brother of outgoing three-term Rep. Erwin Chiongbian, will square off for the lone congressional district of Sarangani province in the May 10 elections.

It is not yet known whether Pacquiao would bring the case to the Supreme Court, while Chiongbian’s camp is expected to appeal the Comelec’s second division’s ruling.

Pacquiao’s People’s Champ Movement (PCM) sought to disqualify Chiongbian at the Comelec first division due to residency issues, claiming the latter resides in Muntinlupa City and not in Sarangani.

In an 11-page resolution, the Comelec en banc denied the Filipino boxing icon’s motion for reconsideration, saying that the arguments were a "mere rehash" of the issues already "raised, passed, and considered" by the poll body first division in its February 10, 2010 ruling.

Chiongbian claimed that he continues to live in the province, where he is a registered voter and a member of a local political party, even if he goes to Metro Manila to take care of his business interests.

The poll body sided with Pacquiao's political foe, saying that Chiongbian has met the one-year residency requirement needed to run as candidate for Sarangani's congressional representative.

"The pieces of evidence lack the degree of persuasiveness required to convince us that an abandonment of origin in favor of a domicile of choice has indeed occurred," the petition said.

The Comelec, likewise, added that it was "absurd" to say that Chiongbian was not a resident of the province because his family has a long history and clear line of political pedigree in Sarangani.

Aside from Chiongbian's brother Erwin, niece Bridget Chiongbian-Huang and nephew Steve Chiongbian-Solon both served as vice governor, from 2004 to 2007 and 2007 to 2010, respectively.

Chiongbian also cited the residency issue in his petition to disqualify Pacquiao, saying that the reigning pound-for-pound king maintains his residency in General Santos City, not in Kiamba town in Sarangani province.

Article VI, Section 6 of the Constitution states that members of the House of Representatives should be natural-born Filipino citizens and are at least 25 years old on the day of the election.

Candidates for a House seat should also be able to read and write, and except for party-list representatives, should be a registered voter in the district in which they will be elected.

Candidates should also be residents of the area they plan to represent, not less than one year immediately preceding the day of the election, the same constitutional provision said. – JVP/JV, GMANews.TV

Source: gmanews.tv

Catfight In Vegas: Mayweather gaybird, Mosley jailbird? -- Examiner

By Michael Marley, Examiner.com

HONG KONG--I have put some serious air miles between myself and that awful catfight in Las Vegas.

Maybe I should keep going, past Manila where I land in about three hours, and head for Ulan Bator.

That sounds like a good place to watch "Gossip Girl" Floyd Mayweather Jr. and snarky Sugar Shane Mosley try to claw each other's eyes out in a Las Vegas ring.

The prefight banter has been filled with so many low blows the Nevada commission might dump reliable Kenny Bayless and draft Jerry Springer as the referee.

Angered by the catty comments of Money May regarding his divorce, his newly acquired tattoos and a supposed nose job, Mosley came out the other day and asked if Mayweather "is gay or something?"

Not the brightest remark considering it is the year 2010 and homosexuality is not illegal in any civilized nation.

Mosley probably figures that some rumormongers will tie in rapper and Mayweather bosom buddy 50 Cent, long subject of he is gay whispers, to the situation.

I've got news for Mosley regarding anyone including Mayweather being a gay man, bisexual, heterosexual or trysexuyal, meaning including a possible wild donkey show in Tijuana and meaning he will try anything once.

I don't know what Mayweather's sexual preferences are and I don't care. Neither should you.

I REPEAT, I DON'T KNOW AND I DON'T CARE!

The silly comments reminded me that one of our greatest ever, welterweight and middleweight champion Emile Griffith, is a gay man who in less enlightened times had to hide that fact in a dark closet.

Being tough and being gay are not mutually exclusive, you see.

In retaliation, Mayweather predictably came back with remarks about Mosley possibly going to jail like track star Marion Jones diod for lying about using steroids.

If memory serves, that former Victor Conte protege got a six month bid at some Club Fed.

Maybe Mosley did not lie.

Not being the brightest lamp around, maybe he actually did not the drugs he obtained personally from Conte at BALCO were illegal. Perhaps he just thought they were miracle substances offered at popular prices by kindly Uncle Victor, the former Tower Of Power band member.

Some Mosley tosses out the "might be gay" charge while Mayweather responds with the lying under oath to a federal grandy jury allegation.

This prefight verbal exchanges are, you must admit, not very illuminating or very lofty.

Mosley and Mayweather are throwing sewer sludge at each other and it doesn't make either of them look like a boxing superstar.

As I recall, Thomas Hearns and Sugar Ray Leonard never dished the dirt, real or imagined, like that.

Plus the fact they were both better fighters than these two.

Let's go into fast forward.

Let's see some shoulder rolls from Mayweather.

And let's see if Mosley can ever hit the elusive Floyd in the rear end with a bag of rice.

I don't think he can.

Do you?

(mlcmarley@aol.com)

Source: examiner.com

Shane Mosley endures extra long training camp in preparation for Floyd Mayweather -- Grand Rapids Press

By David Mayo, The Grand Rapids Press

LAS VEGAS -- Shane Mosley hasn’t fought in more than 15 months. But when he steps into the ring Saturday night against Floyd Mayweather at MGM Grand Garden Arena, he effectively will do so after the longest training camp of his career.

Mosley was scheduled to fight Andre Berto in January when talks for a Mayweather-Manny Pacquiao fight fell apart.

Shortly thereafter, Berto withdrew from the fight with Mosley, citing personal distractions after the earthquake disaster in his native Haiti.

Mosley, already sharp from almost seven weeks in formal training, said he took off "maybe a week and a half" after Berto's withdrawal, which was his only training respite since early December and could help mitigate his career-long layoff of 15-plus months.

"And I really didn't take off that much," he said. "I have guys that I spar with that, if they have a fight coming up, I'll spar with them, even if I don't have anything. My son, I'm training him, so I'll go work with him. So I'm always doing something.”

Shane Mosley Jr., 19, is an amateur welterweight who is 6-feet-1 and probably soon headed to the middleweight division, his father said.

Having his namesake son on the rise will keep Shane Mosley Sr. attuned to boxing in a different way than he has become accustomed, although he said he never expected to stray far from the game even after his career ends.

"I'm never totally away from the gym,” he said. “Even when I retire, I won't get away from the gym. I'll probably still be around the gym, sparring, or doing something, because I can't get away from it."

E-mail David Mayo: dmayo@grpress.com and follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/David_Mayo

Source: mlive.com

Marco Huck vs. Brian Minto on NESportsTV.com -- Eastside Boxing

Eastside Boxing

NESportsTV.com in association with Mintofight.com is proud to present the WBO cruiserweight title fight between Germany’s defending champion Marco Huck (28-1, 21 KO’s) and Butler, PA’s Brian “The Beast” Minto (34-3, 21 KO’s). The fight will take place live May 1st in Germany and then will be available to view on a web delay May 5th on www.NESportsTV.com as an online PPV for $12. This webcast is the only place for American fight fans to watch this bout. The fight is now available to preorder online..

Brian Minto most recently fought against former heavyweight title challenger Chris Arreola and put up a valiant effort in an all action slugfest before being TKO’d in the 4th round. Outweighed by over 40 pounds in the fight, legendary trainer and HBO commentator Emmanuel Steward said, “Minto’s giving (Arreola) all that he can take and if he was a bigger guy I think that Arreola would be seriously in trouble right now.”

ESPN.com’s Dan Rafael credited Minto with, “helping make this one of the better heavyweight fights in ages.” Following the Arreola bout. He also wrote, “Win or lose, both of these guys are must-see TV.”

Now the undersized heavyweight will take his all action style down a weight division south and may have a size and strength advantage as he takes on career cruiserweight Huck.

Huck won the cruiserweight title last year with a unanimous decision over Victor Emilio Ramirez. He successfully defended his title later that year with a decision win over Ola Afalobi, a frequent training mate and sparring partner of Minto’s at Freddie Roach’s Wild Card Gym in Los Angeles. Most recently Huck defended his belt again with a 3rd round TKO of fan favorite Adam “The Swamp Donkey” Richards.

Huck’s only career loss came against another Pennsylvania native, Steve Cunningham, in his first shot at a world title in 2007. In 2006, Minto scored a massive upset and career best win against German former heavyweight title challenger Axel Schulz.

This fight will mark Huck’s third defense of his title and Minto’s cruiserweight debut after competing as a heavyweight for his entire career thus far.

About NESportsTV.com :www.NESportsTV.com is a sports video on demand website launched in 2009. Since its inception, the site has already showcased some of the best boxing has to offer. This May the site will feature the cruiserweight title fight between Marco Huck and Brian Minto, as well as the return of former world champion Hector “Macho” Camacho and former world title challenger Billy Lyell.

About Mintofight.com: www.Mintofight.com is a branch of www.NESportsTV.com and created to showcase Brian Minto fights via live streaming and archived video online. Previously, the site broadcast Minto vs. Donnell Holmes from Butler, PA in August 2009. This May, the site will offer Minto’s cruiserweight title challenger as an online PPV on a web delay.

Source: eastsideboxing.com

Chavez Jr. is Roach's Latest Wild Card -- SecondsOut

By Steve Kim, SecondsOut.com

It was made official on Tuesday afternoon at the Millennium Biltmore Hotel in Los Angeles that renowned trainer Freddie Roach would take over the training duties for Julio Cesar Chavez Jr., who faces John Duddy in San Antonio, Texas, on June 26th as the headliner on “Latin Fury 15.” Chavez Jr. will report to the Wild Card Boxing Club in Hollywood on Saturday for his first official day under the watchful eye of Roach.

It’s no secret that Junior’s work ethic has never been described as “Spartan,” but he says that this move represents a new chapter in his career.

"I came here very willing to do whatever I need to do, whatever they ask me to do; that’s what I have to do. Work," said Chavez, through Top Rank publicist Ricardo Jimenez. His own promoter, Bob Arum, has labeled him “lazy,” to which Junior responded, "I always believed I needed a real leader to help me out. I haven’t had that in my camp. I know I have that now."

Roach has a star-studded roster, from Manny Pacquiao on down and the Wild Card is the home to a multitude of world-class prizefighters. And it’s a highly competitive atmosphere, where the weak will not survive. Here, Chavez Jr. isn’t the son of boxing royalty; as of now, he’s just another relatively unproven fighter. He’s basically Vanes Martirosyan with a better boxer lineage.

"We think Chavez is enormously talented and we have to get somebody to bring out that talent and discipline. And there’s nobody better than Freddie," stated Arum, who took Chavez to the Wild Card a couple of months ago. He admits to being distressed over Chavez’s rather desultory dedication to the sport. "Sure, of course, all of us [are]."

The crime isn’t that Junior is not the equal of his father (very few ever will be at the level of the great “JC Superstar”); it’s that he’s not even reaching his own ceiling as a fighter, which has seemingly turned off more than a few Mexican fans. But perhaps, he will never have the desire of the original Julio Cesar Chavez. After all, he was a child of privilege, one that was born with a silver mouthpiece. How could he have ever had the hunger and drive of his father growing up?

As former major league pitcher Dean Chance (now, incidentally, president of fringe alphabet organization, the IBA) once famously noted, "He was born on third base, but he thinks he hit a triple." At times, that would apply to Chavez.

Arum admits, "Chavez comes from a wealthy family. Marvin Hagler, one of my great fighters, said rich guys who sleep in silk pajamas don’t like to get up in the morning and do roadwork." And judging by the softness in his body in his most recent fights, he looks like a guy who hasn’t been hitting the pavement in the early hours. Last year, the physical conditioners from Velocity- best known for working with Miguel Cotto- were summoned to Big Bear to work with Junior, only to be jettisoned from the mountain a few weeks later. The reason?

It seemed as though they were working Junior just a bit too hard for his liking.

You just wonder; is Chavez boxing because he wants to or because he’s expected to? At times, he does remind one of that trust-fund baby incapable of holding any real responsibility in the real world, yet, will always be bailed out because of who he is. In other sports, it’s not unusual to see kids who come from wealth follow in the footsteps of their fathers. But in boxing, is it even possible?

As you ask this question to Roach, he takes a long pause before saying," I would say mostly no. But the thing is, in some cases, they have the genes of a fighter. Like the Mayweathers and so forth, Floyd Jr. wasn’t brought up as hard as Roger and Floyd Sr. were. He had a little more comfortable of a life because of the success of his uncle, of course. So it’s not impossible, but it’s unusual."

But there’s a key difference here; Floyd Jr., for all his bombast, has an obvious thirst and drive for the sport, along with incredible, natural, God-given ability. Chavez isn’t a bad fighter; he has a pretty good offensive skill set and a good beard. But that’s offset by shoddy conditioning, which has limited his effectiveness in certain fights.

But what happens the first few days when he is pushed to the brink in the gym, when it’s no longer his call on when to call it quits? And can his body take the ballistic training of Roach’s strength-and-training guru, Alex Ariza, in the early mornings? This will be a bit of culture shock for Chavez.

Roach says simply, "[If] he doesn’t work hard, he’ll probably go home." The trainer says he won’t even have to send him on his way. "I’ll give him an opportunity to show me he’s willing to change and work. And I’m going to push him, push him, push him and if he doesn’t respond, he’ll go home on his own. I hear he’s that type of person. But the thing is, if he does have a work ethic, I’ll sit down and talk with him. I’ll give him a chance. But he’s going to get one chance and that’s it."

Roach’s bottom line is simple, "I don’t have time; I have a lot of good fighters that want to work, so I don’t have time to be baby-sitting anybody."

Chavez should have some inkling of what to expect as he dropped by the Wild Card to see Pacquiao perform his daily duties with Roach, before “Pac-Man” faced Joshua Clottey in March. "When he [Chavez] saw Manny work out, he said we were a little crazy. But he saw how I work my fighters and how I push them and so forth. So I’m hoping he sees that as a challenge to him."

The days of being surrounded by yes-men are over, for now. The young man is no longer the boss of his own training.

"It was my camp," Chavez admitted. "I told them what I wanted to do. It was my family and it’s not the same when it’s your family. You tell them what to do; they’re not going to tell me no."

He says later, "It’s a great opportunity for me. You see what he’s done with fighters; he makes them better than they are. I’m hoping he’ll do that for me. He’ll make me work and I can become the best that I can become."

ENABLING

As is usually the case with Chavez Jr., or any fighter handled by Fernando Beltran, the fighter was once again tardy to the press conference on Tuesday, which had Arum a bit antsy. This after the Monday afternoon presser in San Antonio was scrapped because Chavez had some immigration issues.

"We flew down; we got picked up at the airport. We were told then that he wasn’t coming and that there wouldn’t be a press conference," said a rather annoyed Craig Hamilton, who manages Duddy. "So John and I went over and visited the Alamo."

Again, Chavez gets away with it, because he’s allowed to. Meanwhile, everyone else who was scheduled to be there showed up dutifully.

"It’s a ton of disrespect; I mean, look, it’s disrespect to John, yes, but this is particularly disrespectful to Top Rank," Hamilton pointed out. "When you take a fight like this, for example, John has a contract; he’s going to get paid either way. But we want the promoter to succeed. So you go to press conferences, we cross the country. In two days, we traveled to San Antonio, to Los Angeles, back to New York. We’re trying to help the promotion. It’s disrespectful to the press people who plan a day, the Mexican fans- he has a ton of them. It’s disrespectful to them. So yeah, it’s disrespectful and it’s not excusable. You know if you had a visa problem two days ago, you had one a month ago.

"So I don’t listen to that. I manage a fighter; you take care of the business. That’s what your job is. My job is to make sure if he has a visa problem- Duddy’s not a naturalized citizen- there’s any issue, we got it taken care of well ahead of when you have to," continued Hamilton.

As the press conference finally began (about a half-hour late), Arum announced that Chavez would be meeting with immigration attorney Frank Ronzio (who once managed David Kamau) to work out all his issues after he met with the media. He said he advised his fighter to stay out of Arizona for the time being.

I think he was being serious.

TOP BARRERA

Marco Antonio Barrera, who waged a legendary trilogy with Erik Morales (long a Top Rank stalwart) is on “Latin Fury 15’.” Seeing Barrera on a Top Rank show is like seeing Derek Jeter in a Boston Red Sox uniform.

"Barrera’s always been the enemy. He’s always been on the opposite side. I may still root for the other guy," Arum joked.

Barrera, according to the veteran promoter, signed a five-fight deal with Beltran (who once co-promoted “El Terrible” with Top Rank).

OK, don’t want to give Arum any ideas, but is there any possibility of Barrera-Morales IV?

"Morales called me yesterday at the office to say, ’I hear Bob’s been looking for me.’ Which I wasn’t. But he left a number for me to call."

Uh-oh.

LATIN FURY FLURRIES

This show will take place at the Alamodome, which has a rich boxing history. Pernell Whitaker faced Chavez here in September of 1993, in front of over 60,000 fans. Oscar De La Hoya knocked out Kamau several years later and Pacquiao knocked out Barrera here in 2003...Also on this card is a bout between bantamweights Eric Morel and Jorge Arce and featherweight Salvador Sanchez III...Adailton De Jesus is slated to take on Barrera...This pay-per-view is priced at $39.95...Say what you will, but the recently retired John Ruiz had himself a pretty good career. He certainly got the most out of his ability...Is there any question that LeBron James is the best player in the NBA, and might be so for another decade?...Although Kevin Durant will have something to say about that...Any questions or comments can be directed to k9kim@yahoo.com and you can follow me at www.twitter.com. You can now become a Facebook fan of Maxboxing at www.facebook.com/MaxBoxing

Source: secondsout.com

Shane Mosley says he will knock Floyd Mayweather out -- BBC Sport

BBC Sport

Shane Mosley says he is confident of causing an upset and inflicting a first defeat on Floyd Mayweather when they meet in Las Vegas on Saturday.

Mosley, 38, is the underdog for the non-title welterweight encounter, but is still predicting a knockout.

"I'll go for a knockout, but I'll be shocked to see him laying there on his back like that," said Mosley.

"The key is going to be speed and power. I'm in the best shape of my life and I'm not worried about ring rust."

Mosley, who has 46 wins from 52 fights, has not fought since a ninth-round stoppage of Antonio Margarito in January 2009, but far from being worried about his long sabbatical, he is drawing inspiration from that shock win.

"They were picking Margarito to win by a landslide, and people were worried about my health and saying he was going to retire me," added Mosley, whose WBA welterweight title is not up for grabs.

"I'm saying to you guys again, that isn't going to happen. He's not going to beat me.

"When the fight starts, I'm going to go out there, I'm going to throw some traps here and there, touch him here and there, see what's going on. I'll probably be able to tell from the first bell what kind of fight it's going to be."

While Mayweather, 33, has won most of his 40 bouts with relative ease, some observers have pointed to his split decision win over Oscar de la Hoya in May 2007 as providing the blueprint to defeating him.

De la Hoya troubled Mayweather in the first half of the fight with a stiff left jab, a shot that Mosley agreed could be key at the MGM Grand.

"It's been proven," added Mosley, a three-weight world champion. "Not just Oscar, but other fighters. Some of the southpaws fought him pretty good with their left hands. So maybe it's not a jab, maybe it's just a left hand.

"But that's just one strategy. I can't just base my fight on throwing a jab. You have to be ready for a bunch of different things, because you're fighting a special fighter."

Mayweather, who was set to fight Philippine superstar Manny Pacquiao before a row over pre-fight blood-testing derailed negotiations, said his defence would be his key weapon.

"It's that defence, you can't break through that defence," said five-weight world champion Mayweather. "It's not cool to take punches. If I was in a bunch of wars, I probably wouldn't be here giving you guys interviews right now.

"All I did was constantly beat whoever they put in front of me, I'm never going to get my just due. All these fighters they put in front of me, they've all been cake walks for me.

"I'm Floyd Mayweather - all the rest of them are just fighters."

Source: news.bbc.co.uk

Money makes the world go around -- The Sun

By GAVIN GLICKSMAN, TheSun.co.uk

FLOYD MAYWEATHER reckons he is solely responsible for keeping boxing in the spotlight.

Many critics claim the sweet science is in decline with a lack of big bouts and the rapid rise of mixed martial arts turning fans away.

But Money, who faces Shane Mosley in Las Vegas on Saturday night, believes the fact he is still around proves the sport is alive and kicking.

Mayweather said: "People fail to realise that Floyd Mayweather's keeping the sport going. I'm the face of boxing.

"You put in the hard work, dedicate yourself and put together the best team, so you're going to get the biggest and best payday.

"Of course you have to have great results once you get inside the ring. I've always had great results.

"The ultimate goal in boxing right now is to find a fighter that can beat Floyd Mayweather — and it's not going to happen."

Mayweather has often been accused of dodging fighters that could threaten his unbeaten record.

Mosley, 38, is expected to provide him with a stiff test when they go toe-to-toe at the MGM Grand.

But that has not stopped the bookies picking Mayweather as the clear favourite.

And the 33-year-old insists he cannot be blamed for the fact so many people are backing him to win the 41st fight of his career.

Mayweather said: "I can't help that it's so one-sided they say the fight is boring. That's not my fault.

"I'm just that good. Some fighters are God-gifted and I just happen to be one of those athletes that are exactly that."

Source: thesun.co.uk

Mosley sees faults in Floyd -- Sky Sports

Sky Sports

Shane Mosley believes Floyd Mayweather is started to deteriorate, and he intends to take advantage on Saturday night.

Sugar Shane has been calling out Mayweather for years and even crashed an interview in the immediate aftermath of Floyd Jnr's comeback win against Juan Manuel Marquez last year.

And after Mayweather's fight with Manny Pacquaio failed to materialise, Mosley got his wish and one of the most anticipated match-ups in recent years takes place at the MGM Grand this weekend.

Mosley may be the older man by five years but he says it is Mayweather who is the one on the decline.

"He brings a lot of mouth and we'll see what this mouth is about," he said. "He had to fight somebody if he wanted to be considered the best. It's not really what Floyd says or believes; it's about what I believe.

"I see where he has slipped and I see some things where his body is beginning to go. But he doesn't see that.

"He has great defence. He's a great fighter. That's why we are looking at each other May 1. I am happy he accepted this challenge."

Mosley, the bigger puncher of the two, says he'll be looking as ever for a knockout when he climbs into the ring on Saturday night, but believes he has the versatility to handle the sport's slickest boxer.

"I can box too," he said. "I have boxed guys I was supposed to punch out. This is what makes me Sugar Shane. Being able to box, being able to slip and slide, being able to do everything.

"Every time I fight, I'm looking to knock the guy out. I don't think I am going to spend the whole fight trying to outbox him. I am going to do everything Sugar Shane is supposed to do."

Source: skysports.com

Q&A: Tomasz Adamek -- FightNews

By Przemyslaw Garczarczyk, FightNews.com

What happened behind the scenes inside Tomasz Adamek’s training camp? What are his thoughts after the twelve round war against Chris Arreola and what does he think about the “Nightmare?” What are his best options for the future? All is revealed in this exclusive interview with the new Polish heavyweight sensation and his manager/corner man Zyggi Rozalski.

Tomek, did you already watch your fight on TV?

No time, but hopefully I’ll have a chance to do so in the next couple of days. I heard that we delivered a great show with Chris. Maybe I’ll have some fun watching it…

Everybody knows how hard fighters work during the grueling months before every fight. But how do they recuperate lost energy afterwards?

I don’t really know, because, seriously, I’m fine today, with too much energy. This is what everybody else is saying, anyway. Imagine – I went shopping with my wife! More seriously – I’ve been traveling for the last 20 years, so every moment I can spend with my family, wife Dorota and daughters, 13-year-old Roksana and 10-year-old Weronika, it’s a great one.

Don’t tell me that you already scheduled couple of hours with your favorite pastime – playing tennis?

The only reason why is there are blisters on my feet. I want to play some tennis this weekend, not later than that. Those damn blisters – for three days in Ontario, I was chained to my bed, only thing I could do was just surfing the net. Could not, even gingerly, walk for more than 15 minutes. It was bad.

Fans will tell us that we did not report this before fight.

This and a lot more as you very well know. Simple reason: Chris’ people know their job. They could use all the info against us. We didn’t report that for two weeks I had to receive a special treatment for my back problems or that in the last minute of the last sparring session, my sparring partner blocked my right uppercut with his elbow. He hit me exactly one inch behind gloves padding. Couple of hours later, this dark thing was the size of small apple and we all, me and Roger (Bloodworth) and Ronnie (Shields) had the same thought: that’s it, broken bone in the right hand, game over, fight over, all the sweat and tears wasted in the last minute. It got better, it wasn’t a broken bone, but nobody could predict what would happen if Chris hits me in the same spot with his big elbows.

You had enough on your plate anyway: Arreola charging at you like bull fighting a toreador, flapping the soles of your Everlasts…

It was crazy. I started feeling that something is wrong, something was flapping. I lost contact with the ring surface. Began jumping on one foot, not wanting to lose siight of Chris’ eyes, because I knew so well that the moment I start looking down what’s going on there, Arreola can unload one of his bombs and the fight could be over. I never experienced anything like it fighting or watching boxing on TV. Everlast shoes, never used, bought five days ago. I had to bite my teeth and punch back, waiting for the break to fix it. Everlast should offer me an advertising contract because never before have they had as many HBO close-ups (laugh).

Competition teaches you how to win and how to lose and both are very important – this is one of your favorite sayings. Chris Arreola proved that you can be great in defeat, congratulating you, and partying long hours with your hard core, white and red wearing fans after the fight.

He was great. In this fight nobody really lost. We both delivered a spectacular night of boxing. Chris deserves great applause and he deserves another great fight from a major TV network. I still hope he’ll accept my invitation and have dinner with me in New Jersey. He can bring his Corona, I’ll supply great Polish highlander food (my wife is a great cook) and unlimited supplies of my beer, Zywiec. Let’s have a different battle. He already knows I have a strong head.

You will most likely fight again in early autumn. Your fans will say that you gave them reasons to cheer you every two months…

… and this was crazy, like from Guinness Book of Records. Three fights in the heavyweight division, against very different fighters in seven months? Practically, since Steve Cunningham fight in December of 2008, I’m finishing one fight and starting another training camp, practically without a good, long cool down time. We do have an HBO date, but for us the most important is to be prepared for my number one goal – a world championship fight. This will be a decision made by my training and promotional team and my manager, Ziggy Rozalski.

* * *

Zyggi Rozalski – one of the more colorful people in a very interesting sport…how many managers works as corner men? – knows exactly what the priority is. A self-made man, very successful businessman who treats working with best Polish boxers (he guided Andrew Golota career) more like hobby than a way of making money, always had a plan.

“Tomek is not my business partner – he is my friend” – said Ziggy. “I treat them all, his family, like my own family. Tomek is now the hardest working man in the boxing business, but he needs to slow down. I will discuss his next move with my advisors and then we’ll make an educated decision. It’s unbelievable how much we accomplished in such a short time. In less than five years, the light heavyweight championship, undisputed cruiserweight championships, and now top five in the heavyweight division, status of title contender. Tomek lives in the States for only 18 months and we have a fan base that pays for tickets comparable to such great stars like Floyd Mayweather Jr. or Manny Pacquiao. It was the work of Team Adamek, people who you not always see in the limelight, but without them it wouldn’t be possible.

Source: fightnews.com

Roach takes a chance on Chavez Jr. -- The Ring

By Doug Fischer, The Ring

One would think that Freddie Roach’s recent decision to add Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. to his vast stable of world-class fighters and hot prospects was made because he sees something promising in the young fighter, something the many critics of the coddled “son of the legend” don’t.

But the truth is that the respected trainer has never seen Chavez in a complete fight, live or on TV.

Roach saw the son of the Mexican icon in action for the first time at a recent press conference for Chavez’s pay-per-view showdown with John Duddy, which takes place on June 26 at the Alamodome in San Antonio.

A loop of Chavez (41-0-1, 30 knockouts) pummeling the daylights out of one of the 30 odd Midwestern journeymen he’s feasted on since turning pro seven years ago played on a large video screen at the press conference, which was held Tuesday at the Millennium Biltmore in downtown L.A.

Roach sat down at one of the tables in the ballroom to study his new pupil.

“He looks good,” Roach said. “He throws nice combinations but he doesn’t have much in front of him.”

Duddy (29-1, 18 KOs) is no world-beater but the gutsy Irishman is a hard-punching fringe contender who has defeated former beltholders and title challengers. The 30-year-old New Yorker is a threat to Chavez, who has been labeled “spoiled” and “lazy” by many insiders, and Roach knows it.

So why is he taking a chance on the 24-year-old prospect?

For starters the future hall of famer is confident in his abilities as a trainer and he believes the fiercely competitive culture of his gym, the Wild Card Boxing Club, can help mold a raw, developing talent like Chavez.

But the main reason Roach is rolling the dice with the young man is that he believes Chavez wants to make a change in the way he prepares for fights.

Chavez accompanied Top Rank matchmaker Bruce Trampler to one of Manny Pacquiao’s peak mitt sessions with Roach during the Filipino icon’s camp for Joshua Clottey and saw first hand how an elite fighter and trainer work together.

Chavez admits being shocked by the frenetic pace at which Roach and Pacquiao worked for 15 rounds.

“I have to be honest,” Chavez told RingTV.com on Tuesday, “what I saw scared me, but I knew it was what I needed. You have to take risks sometimes. You can’t go anywhere without doing that.”

“Julio told us we were crazy after watching that session,” Roach said. “But he said he still wanted to train with me, so that tells me something. I think he’s growing up in the way he approaches his training. It began by him choosing me to be his new trainer. He’s always been his own boss in the gym but this is going to be something different.

"He knows I’m going to give him 100 percent, that I’m going to work just as hard as I ask him to, and he’s going to have to do the same.”

Chavez has been trained by two of his uncles, who have been criticized for not putting their foot down with the young fighter in terms of discipline. Chavez, whose celebrity is akin to that of a rock star in Mexico, has been accused of poor training habits, which has resulted in a few lackluster performances, such as his controversial split-decision with Matt Vanda in July of 2008.

“I never felt that I was lazy,” Chavez said. “I always trained for my fights. I felt like I was always prepared. I just needed someone to be a leader in my camp, someone to show me how to do things the correct way.”

He’ll get that with Roach, a four-time winner of the Boxing Writers Association of America’s Trainer of the Year award.

He’ll get the hardest workouts of his life, and he’ll box with the best sparring partners of his career. Roach says he plans to put Chavez in with junior middleweight contender Vanes Martirosyan (27-0, 17 KOs) and undefeated middleweight prospect Peter Quillin (21-0, 15 KOs).

Only time will tell whether Chavez is up to the task and Roach’s gamble pays off.

THE AFFABLE IRISHMAN

Duddy is a bright, friendly and articulate young man from Derry, Ireland. With his affable personality, handsome mug, hard left hook, reliable chin and tendency to bleed in tough fights, he could have been a popular network fighter in the U.S. had he come around 30 years ago.

Duddy, who sells tickets in his adopted hometown of Manhattan, knows this, which is why he’s grateful to finally headline a major card against a famous name.

“This fight means everything to me,” he said. “My name has been thrown about with some big names in the past but those fights didn’t happen. This one is signed and actually happening and it’s an opportunity for me to open the eyes of boxing fans in America.”

Unlike Roach, Duddy is very familiar with Chavez. He likes what he sees in his next opponent but he believes that he’s the best fighter the younger man has faced.

“Chavez is good at using his height and range and he’s got a good jab,” Duddy said. “He’s got a tremendous left hook. He throws it effortlessly and there’s so much power on it. He’s a young pro but he’s had a very busy career, so he’s got experience, but hopefully I’m going to bring something to the table that he’s never experienced before. In my career I’ve experienced some tough fights. I’ve been asked a lot of questions and I think I’ve answered some of them.

“Let’s see if Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. can answer the questions I put forth on June 26.”

MIDDLEWEIGHT AND UP

Bob Arum, promoter of Chavez and Duddy, said the winner of the June 26 clash will be in line to fight Germany’s Sebastian Zbik for an interim 160-pound title. He said if Chavez wins, the young man, who he admits to developing slowly because of his lack of an amateur career, will be more than willing to take on world-class middleweights or junior middleweights.

That remains to be seen, but it’s a good bet that Chavez, who is the No. 1-ranked 154-pound contender in one of the sanctioning organizations, will never fight under the middleweight limit again. In fact, his time may be limited at 160 pounds.

Chavez is at least 6-foot-1 (185cm) and he appeared to weigh in the neighborhood of 180 to 185 pounds without looking flabby at Tuesday’s press conference.

LATIN FURY 15

Chavez-Duddy, which headlines Top Rank’s 15th “Latin Fury” pay-per-view show, will be the third time Arum has hosted one of his shows at the Alamodome in the past 15 years.

He drew more than 14,000 to the cavernous San Antonio dome stadium for the Manny Pacquiao-Jorge Solis headlined Latin Fury in 2007, and around 10,000 for Oscar De La Hoya’s welterweight title defense against David Kamau in 1997.

Chavez's father drew a record 63,000 to the Alamodome when he challenged then-welterweight champ Pernell Whitaker in 1993.

The veteran promoter believes he can do around 15,000 to 20,000, which is what the stadium will be configured to for Latin Fury 15.

Arum is banking on the name recognition of Chavez, Marco Antonio Barrera and Jorge Arce, along with reasonable ticket prices (starting at $25), to get it done.

Arce is in the co-featured bout against 118-pound beltholder Eric Morel. Come-backing Barrera, whose last fight was a bloody technical decision loss to Amir Khan, will face Brazil’s Adilton De Jesus in a 10-round lightweight bout.

Tickets go on sale Friday. The suggested retail price for the Top Rank-produced and distributed pay-per-view broadcast is $39.95.

Source: ringtv.com

Questioning Mosley about PEDs responsible, not 'stupid' -- Las Vegas Review-Journal

By ED GRANEY, Las Vegas Review-Journal

Shane Mosley said it was a stupid question.

His answer was a predictable sidestep.

There still is no avoiding the truth.

Mosley would prefer there be no talk of performance-enhancing drugs leading to his fight with Floyd Mayweather Jr., and yet the subject hangs over this event like bright lights will at the MGM Grand Garden ring Saturday evening.

"I never really did stuff," Mosley said when asked about his use of PEDs and how being off them might now affect a fighter at his level. "That's a stupid question. I've always been a clean fighter. It is ridiculous to me that the media wants to make me the poster boy for steroids.

"I don't choose to talk about it. It was 2003 when that stuff happened. We need to worry about the fight. It is the fight the world wants to see."

No, it's not. Mayweather against Manny Pacquiao is. But this is the fight the world gets because the latter wouldn't agree to Olympic-style drug-testing procedures during negotiations late last year.

That's on Pacquiao, then, now and until he accepts the level of blood testing that the United States Anti-Doping Agency requires.

The kind of testing Mosley agreed to for this fight, the kind he didn't have a choice but to embrace because of his past admissions.

"We don't know how many fights (Mosley) has fought being clean," Mayweather said. "Even with the (Antonio Margarito) fight (last year), we don't know if (Mosley) was on nothing or not. We don't know that."

Debating whether Mosley has used PEDs is like debating whether the Yankees are willing to pay for talent. He hasn't always been a clean fighter, far from it, and there is a deposition tape in a lawsuit against Bay Area Laboratory Co-operative boss Victor Conte and grand jury testimony from Mosley to prove it.

He used. He cheated. He admitted it.

He knew exactly what he was doing.

But if those days are behind him as he claims, if Mosley now enters a ring boosted solely by whatever sweat and toil he has offered during training camp, how does a 38-year-old fighter hold up Saturday against the speed and skill of an undefeated Mayweather?

Mosley, in the same conference call last week when he incredibly claimed not to "know anything about all that stuff" in regards to PEDs, said he has been knocking everyone around since gaining a unanimous decision against Oscar De La Hoya in 2003.

Not everyone. Mosley lost unanimous decisions to Winky Wright in March and November 2004. He lost a unanimous decision to Miguel Cotto in November 2007.

Time wears us all down. Mosley admitted to injecting himself with the doping agent EPO while preparing to fight De La Hoya that September night nearly seven years ago, a night when Mosley was trailing on all three judges' cards entering the eighth round, a night when his doping exploits led to him gaining a second and third and probably 100th extra wind as the fight wore on and De La Hoya tired.

Mosley won 115-113 on all three cards. Afterward, he said he could have gone 12 more rounds.

Of course he could have.

Mosley isn't the same fighter as 10 years ago and definitely is not the same fighter propelled by a blood-doping agent that boosts the number of red blood cells to enhance athletic performance, so if Saturday arrives and the counter-puncher in Mayweather keeps him at a distance and the seconds and minutes and rounds pass, how will Mosley respond?

"I think Mosley at this stage is desperate," Conte said. "For a big payday like this, he would agree to any form of testing. I don't know if he is or isn't still using. The USADA testing is not full proof. They still believe in using propaganda as a deterrent. Do I think it's the best form of testing out there today? Yes. Is it full proof? No.

"Anyone who understands this like I do knows that as fatigue sets in in the later rounds, any fighter using is going to be fresher because the (PED) us going to have a huge affect on the system. If you knock a guy out in the first few rounds, it's not as evident."

Mosley wants seven years ago locked in the closet forever, never to be spoken of again. He doesn't want to discuss how someone who once cheated to win might now, if in fact clean, react if the biggest fight of his career against the best opponent of his career reaches the latter rounds.

Sorry. It wasn't a stupid question.

It was a responsible one.

Las Vegas Review-Journal sports columnist Ed Graney can be reached at egraney@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-4618.

Source: lvrj.com

News: Balweg Bangoyan; WS Boxing -- Eastside Boxing

Eastside Boxing

This Friday night in Tokyo Japan a young Filipino boxer will take his chance at reaching his dream by stepping into the ring with the current WBC World Superbantam Weight Champion, Toshiaki Nishioka. Balweg Bangoyan, the 23 year old Filipino high school sophomore dropout who was jailed for street-fighting when he was 16, decided to make boxing a living after being taken under the wing of his manager Zander Khan and now holds a professional record of 15-0, with 9 of his wins having come from knockout..

What is also special about this World title fight is that Bangoyan will carry the logo of Australias very own Elmore Oil Company on his robe and shorts when he enters the ring. The Elmore Oil Company uses Balweg to endorse its charity for street children in the Philippines and the Filipino fighter is an avid endorser of Elmore Oil, using in his training regime to assist his injury recovery program.

The Davao del Sur based boxer now feels “he’s ripe and ready to take on WBC superbantamweight champion Toshiaki Nishioka” in a 12-round title bout at the Nihon Budokan, Tokyo, this Friday April 30th.

“This is a chance of a lifetime,” said Bangoyan, the oldest of five children. “Although it’s my first fight abroad, I’m not nervous. I’ve been watching some of Nishioka’s fights and I think he’s beatable. He’s just an average fighter, not exceptionally strong or skilful. He’s the type who stands up and waits for his opponent to come in. He’s not that fast. If I use my brains and power, I think I can take him.”

Bangoyan, a two-time WBC International title holder, now ranked No. 11, said he’s dedicating the fight to Jose Abad Santos town Mayor Zander Khan, his manager. Khan took over a stable of some 20 fighters from his uncle Armand Bangoyan, a retired boxer who was killed in an ambush in 1985.

“I owe everything to Mayor Zander,” said Bangoyan. “He takes care of me and my family. Even my father Felix is employed in his security staff.”

Another of Khan’s fighters, Arman Picar, battled Julio Cesar Vasquez for the WBC lightwelterweight crown and lost by a second round knockout in Las Vegas in 1994. Bangoyan’s title shot is only the second for a Khan fighter.

“I like Balweg’s chances,” said Khan. Nishioka is 33 and I think he’s over the hill. Balweg is at his peak and he’s working very hard in the gym.”

Bangoyan was training for a bout against Korea’s Jong Won Jong in Digos City in February when he got a call offering the title shot. “Balweg didn’t want to disappoint the hometown fans and still pushed to fight Jong but the WBC refused to allow it because of the possibility of injury which would cancel the Nishioka bout,” explained Khan.

The Elmore Oil Company stepped in to sponsor the fight program in Digos City in March, providing financial support for the 12 fight promotion, which attracted a local crowd in excess of 10,000 people. The Elmore Oil Company is heavily involved in charity work in the Philippines, with the creation of the Elmore Oil Trust Fund for Street Children in 2009. The trust fund, which is totally financed from proceeds from the sale of Elmore Oil in the Philippines, distributes food for street kids by providing mobile vans which operate throughout regional cities, handing out rice and dried food to the needy, and often orphaned, street kids.

Bangoyan, whose mother Medelyn Miyake is half-Japanese, said he is proud to be an ambassador for Elmore Oil and The Trust Fund for Street Children, as it provides a better future for so many of the disadvantaged children of the Philippines. Balwegs biggest fight purse so far was just 300,000 pesos for beating Raymond Sermona to claim the vacant WBC International belt last September. His purse for the Nishioka fight will be substantially bigger.

“Nishioka has power so I can’t afford to relax,” he said. “But he’s not Superman. He was dropped by Jhonny Gonzalez in their fight last May but got up to score a knockout. If I keep my focus, I know I’ll win.”

Nishioka’s southpaw style won’t be a problem, said Bangoyan. “I knocked down Sandie Otieno, who is a southpaw, and beat him on a technical decision two years ago,” he continued. “Otieno was unbeaten before our fight. I had no difficulty breaking down his left-handed style.”

Experience will be on Nishioka’s side. The Japanese turned pro in 1994, eight years before Bangoyan, and has compiled a 35-4-3 record, with 22 KOs. He hasn’t lost in his last 12 outings. Nishioka engaged Thailand’s Veeraphol Sahaprom in four fights for the WBC bantamweight title from 2000 to 2004, losing twice on points and drawing twice. He won the WBC 122-pound title via a 12th round stoppage of Genaro Garcia in January last year and has since repulsed two challengers Gonzalez and Ivan Hernandez. Nishioka has never been defeated by a Filipino and his list of victims includes Reynante Rojo, Rodel Llanita, Joel Avila, Joel Junio and Donaldo Estrella. Fernando Montilla once held him to a draw.

If Bangoyan can stop Nishioka he may very well start to share the world boxing spotlight with fellow countryman, Manny Pacquiao, who has been hailed as the greatest pound for pound fighter in boxing history.

WORLD SERIES OF BOXING STAGES SUCCESSFUL TEST EVENT

Lausanne, Switzerland, 28th April 2010 – The World Series of Boxing (WSB), the new boxing championship set to launch in November 2010 has hosted a successful first test event in Baku, Azerbaijan.

For the top international boxers competing, it was their first experience of boxing over five rounds of three minutes without head guards. In a realistic test of the future WSB competition format, the AIBA-registered boxers were divided into two teams and trained for 10 days in Italy before travelling to Azerbaijan for the first simulation of the two-hour matches between the 12 city-based WSB franchise teams that will be a regular feature of the boxing calendar from November.

The event featured some of the world’s best boxers from around the world, representing countries such as France, Germany, Hungary, Ukraine, Brazil, Georgia, Moldova and the USA.

Ivan Khodabakhsh, WSB Chief Operating Officer was delighted with the results of the trial event. ‘After all the work that has gone into creating this exciting new competition for world boxing we’re really pleased to see everything coming together in one place. Our mission with WSB was to bring together the world’s best boxers in a competitive, professional and appealing format for both fans and boxers and this is an important step forward in achieving that goal.’

Both teams treated the test event as a serious competition and the boxers were keen to contest all the bouts. Thanks to a disciplined performance, the Blue team won four of the evening's five bouts, with victories for the Ukrainian duo Vitaliy Volkov and Sergiy Derevyanchenko, France's Ludovic Groguhe and Hungary's Istvan Bernath. Brazil's Everton Lopes, competing for the Red team, was the only non-European to win a bout at the WSB test event.

In the opening bout, Vitaliy Volkov beat European champion and German number one Denis Makarov in the bantamweight (54kg) category. Despite the defeat, Makarov enjoyed the experience of training with a new team. "I get excited before every bout, but I was the first out tonight so I think nerves did play a part," he said. "It wasn't easy and you need to adapt your strength over the five rounds. I enjoyed the experience and we worked well as a team."

The Red team took their only victory of the evening in the lightweight (61kg) bout when youngster Everton Lopes from Brazil upset Georgia's Kobar Pkhakadze. The surprise victory raises Lopes' value to the teams ahead of the WSB draft at the end of June and builds on a promising early career that has seen him make the quarterfinals at the 2009 AIBA World Championships and the 2009 AIBA President's Cup at only 19 years of age.

In the middleweight (73kg) contest, Ukrainian national champion Sergiy Derevyanchenko beat Brazil's Yamaguchi Falcao. Derevyanchenko took gold at the 2009 AIBA President's Cup but Yamaguchi was thwarted at the same event by Moldova's Victor Cotiujanschii.

In the evening's most anticipated bout, Sijuola Shabazz from the United States faced France's Ludovic Groghue. Shabazz had been talking up his chances in the run-up to the event, but it was Groghue who delivered on the night, easing to victory over the five rounds. After his win he said: "A WSB career would do me good. It's nice to win. I give my all and I train hard and do my best to get some victories. It would be nice to make the Olympic Games and why not even win a medal, but they are just around the corner."

In the heavyweight (+91kg) contest Hungary's Istvan Bernath defeated Javier Torres from the USA on the only split decision of the evening. The Hungarian reflected on the need to adapt to the longer duration of the bouts, a sentiment echoed by many of the other boxers on the evening. "I feel very good. I enjoyed fighting over 5 rounds. I was fine over four rounds but a bit tired in the fifth. I just need to train a little bit more and I will be fine," he said.

Although the test event was closed to the public, it nevertheless drew a crowd of interested spectators from the youth squads already in Baku. This made for an exciting atmosphere that hinted at the potential of this ground-breaking tournament as the first international boxing series featuring world-class boxers.

Rights free images attached

1) Vitaliy Volkov (UKR) in blue celebrates his victory over European champion and German number one Denis Makarov in red in the bantamweight (54kg) category at the World Series of Boxing Test Event in Baku, Azerbaijan on 22nd April 2010.

2) Everton Lopes from Brazil rests between rounds in the lightweight (61kg) bout of the World Series of Boxing Test Event in Baku, Azerbaijan on 22nd April 2010. Lopes beat Georgia's Kobar Pkhakadze.

3) Ukrainian national champion Sergiy Derevyanchenko (blue) leads against Brazil's Yamaguchi Falcao (red) at the World Series of Boxing Test Event in Baku, Azerbaijan on 22nd April 2010. Derevyanchenko took gold at the 2009 AIBA President's Cup and beat Yamaguchi over the five-round test bout.

4) Sijuola Shabazz (red) from the United States faces France's Ludovic Groghue (blue) in the light heavyweight (85kg) bout at the World Series of Boxing Test Event in Baku, Azerbaijan. Groghue won the bout for the blue team

5) Hungary's Istvan Bernath (blue) faces off against Javier Torres (red) from the USA before the heavyweight (+91kg) bout of the World Series of Boxing Test Event in Baku, Azerbaijan on 22nd April 2010. Bernath won on the only split decision of the event.

Source: eastsideboxing.com

Playful Bangoyan stuns Japan fans -- Manila Bulletin

By NICK GIONGCO, Manila Bulletin

TOKYO — Balweg Bangoyan displayed a form of bravado that is rarely seen among Filipinos gunning for a world title shot on Thursday afternoon, something his handlers saw as a very good sign heading into the challenger’s crack at Toshiaki Nishioka’s World Boxing Council (WBC) super-bantamweight crown Friday night at the Nihon Budokan.

Even Bangoyan himself was undaunted by the ambiance that prevailed during the official weighin.

“That’s nothing,” said Bangoyan when asked about the feeling as he and Nishioka –flexing their muscles – came face-to-face for the benefit of the media.

Not content with the traditional pose for the camera, Bangoyan pulled off a stunt by putting his left fist on Nishioka’s chin which stunned the audience and brought a silly grin on the Japanese’s face.

Both fighters came in at the super-bantam limit of 122 lbs and as soon as the rites were over, Bangoyan and Nishioka were led away by their respective teams so they could replenish the lost energy.

Bangoyan also did a similar trick on Nishioka during the press conference a couple of days when he tapped the coveted WBC belt that Nishioka was holding as if telling his foe that his reign as champion is about to come to an end.

“I guess he is scared of me,” said the 23-year-old Bangoyan, a native of Davao del Sur who will be paid $20,000.

Zander Khan, Bangoyan’s chief handler, was amused and encouraged by the sight of his confident fighter.

“Balweg has no fear and that’s a good sign,” said the former jukebox king.

Wakee Salud, who arranged the title shot, was likewise pleased with what he saw.

“I have accompanied a lot of Filipinos abroad and Balweg is just like Manny Pacquiao. He always looks cool and confident,” said Salud.

Source: mb.com.ph

Floyd Mayweather Sr.: “Floyd is going to beat the sh*t out of him” -- Eastside Boxing

By Geoffrey Ciani, Eastside Boxing

This week’s edition of On the Ropes Boxing Radio featured an exclusive interview with boxing trainer Floyd Mayweather Senior whose son (currently being trained by Roger Mayweather) is preparing for a May 1 bout with Sugar Shane Mosley. Here are some excerpts from that interview:

Regarding his son’s preparations for his May 1 fight with Shane Mosley:
“My son’s in a good mental mind state. He’s physically fit, he’s sharp, he’s slick, he’s clever, and he’s smooth. That’s what I would say about the whole picture.”

On whether he still believes Mosley represents the toughest challenge for his son (based on a claim he made in Episode 30 of On the Ropes Boxing Radio:
“I think Sugar Shane would be more of a challenge, I should say, then the other guys. I just think that Sugar Shane would be the ideal fight for my son to fight. We’ve been talking about rough and tough and all this stuff, but at the end of the day I look for my son to be prepared with Shane because Shane don’t have no defense for one thing. That’s one thing that’s going to take the cloth off of Shane. He don’t have no defense, and if you don’t have defense and I don’t care how good you fight, if you don’t have defense you get hit and you get beat up. So my thing with Shane is that I think he’s going to get beat up. That’s what I think is going to happen. Floyd’s faster and he’s smarter, by far. He’s gifted. Shane is definitely stronger, he’s going to come to fight but coming to fight with no defense—you get beat up!.”

His response to members of Team Mosley who claim Shane will knock Floyd out:
“Well, I would say this right here, even though they gave Sugar Shane the last fight when he fought (Oscar) De La Hoya, De La Hoya gave him a thorough whopping. You know I was training De La Hoya at the time. De La Hoya gave him a thorough whopping. I mean the world already knows that, he took a terrible beating right there, and if you didn’t see the fight you do the replay and you will see and then you be the judge for yourself. I’m just telling you about that, but we’re not worried about that. Floyd is smarter than De La Hoya and he’s faster than De La Hoya.”

On Floyd’s last fight with Juan Manuel Marquez:
“If you remember seeing the last fight with Marquez, Floyd used his jab a lot. That’s something he hadn’t done in quite awhile. He’s got his jab working now and when he’s got his jab working everything comes off the jab. The jab’s just like the key. I know Nazim is talking a whole bunch of crazy mess, and all that crazy shit, but that ain’t nothing but stupid ass talk. I’m telling you for real, Shane’s going to get his ass spanked.”

On whether he believes Mosley presents a tougher challenge for Floyd than Manny Pacquiao:
“I don’t even want to talk about no Pacquiao. That’s the last thing on my mind in boxing—period. You already know about him, forget about him. Definitely, the man we are fighting on the 1st will be a much tougher fight if everything is right.”

On whether he believes Mosley is too old to face Floyd given his age and his long layoff:
“Shane Mosley is thirty-eight and he’s coming to fight Floyd too late. You know, he’s coming to fight Floyd too late. If he had a chance, maybe he should have done it a few years ago. Floyd challenged Shane Mosley when Shane Mosley was at his best pound for pound fighter at that time at 135 pounds. Floyd challenged him when little Floyd had just won the championship at 130, the junior lightweight champion. Shane was the lightweight champion but Floyd was the junior lightweight champion and we challenged Shane, and they denied us and they did not take the challenge. They did not take the challenge. Now, he’s fighting because it’s a must—have to fight, got to fight, need to fight. That’s why he’s fighting us now. He has to, he must.”

On what he believes is the most important thing for his son to win the fight:
“Keep the jab in his face. Keep the jab in his face and stay in the center of the ring, circle. Whatever they tell Shane at 38, he’ll forget about that when he gets up to the apron so we’re not worried about that. Floyd is going to beat the shit out of him.”

His official prediction on his son’s fight against Sugar Shane Mosley:
“What’s my prediction? Let me put it to you like this. You know they’re doing this thing on HBO so I’m going to tell you like this: I want everyone to know, right here on HBO, this fight will not go past eleven, and you heard this first from Floyd Mayweather Senior on 24/7. Sugar Shane is going to get busted up.”

Source: eastsideboxing.com

Mosley says he's totally focused on bout with Mayweather -- Philadelphia Daily News

By BERNARD FERNANDEZ, Philadelphia Daily News

Some fighters go into bouts toting a certain amount of baggage. For Saturday night's pay-per-view welterweight extravaganza with Floyd Mayweather Jr., "Sugar" Shane Mosley appears to be traveling heavier than Elizabeth Taylor on an around-the-world cruise.

Where to begin rummaging around in that humongous steamer trunk of out-of-the-ring intrigue? Would it be Mosley's prior acknowledgment of the use of performance-enhancing drugs, a matter that just won't go away? Although Mosley has acquiesced to Mayweather's demand that both fighters submit to more rigid testing by the United States Anti-Doping Agency, the fact that he is suing Victor Conte, former head of the Bay Area Laboratory Co-operative, who he claims "tricked" him into unwittingly using PEDs, has sparked dueling lawsuits in which the fighter and the convicted felon have accused each other of making defamatory statements about the other.

If that elephant-sized issue weren't enough, there's Mosley's lavish praise of his relatively new trainer, North Philadelphia's Brother Naazim Richardson, seemingly at the expense of his father and longtime former trainer, Jack Mosley. Oh, and let's not forget his bitter impending divorce from his wife, Jin, the mother of the couple's three children, whom Mosley has depicted as a gold-digging opportunist who sought to bail when she thought her millionaire husband's boxing career had taken a downward turn.

Sprinkle in the ingredients of advanced boxing age (Mosley is 38, 5 years older than Mayweather), ring rust (this will be his first fight in 15-plus months) and the curious decision to suddenly have his previously uninked body adorned by a shoulder-to-wrist tattoo on his left arm, and it almost appears as if his long-awaited showdown with Mayweather is merely an undercard affair to other tumultuous affairs going on in the Pomona, Calif., native's life.

Yet Mosley (46-5, 39 KOs), a 9-2 underdog, professes to be more serene and at peace with himself than ever as the days wind down to his date with destiny against Mayweather (40-0, 25 KOs) at Las Vegas' MGM Grand, one of the most consequential welterweight matchups in recent memory, even if Mosley's WBA championship belt is not officially on the line.

"I'm more relaxed and focused than I've been in I don't know how long," Mosley said recently at his training camp in the mountains of Big Bear, Calif., an assertion that Richardson, best known for his work with Bernard "The Executioner" Hopkins, vouches for.

"Shane has put everything else out of his mind and is locked in on Floyd," Richardson insisted. "I don't see where he's distracted at all."

But while Mosley and his support crew are steadfast in their pronouncements that the actual fight is not just their main concern, but their only one, the future Hall of Famer has been obliged to address other matters as frequently as he's had to discuss Mayweather.

Take his December 2003 grand-jury testimony that he did, in fact, use two now-infamous PEDs, the "clear" and the "cream," as well as the blood-boosting drug Erythropoietin, before his winning rematch with Oscar De La Hoya on Sept. 13 of that year. In an effort to bolster his claim that Mosley was not the innocent dupe he has depicted himself as, Conte released an edited YouTube video of a deposition Mosley gave in the $12 million defamation suit Mosley filed against Conte in 2008.

"Prior to going to the grand jury, you knew you were taking EPO? Yes or no?" asked Tom Harvey, Conte's lawyer.

"Yes," Mosley replied.

Judd Burstein, Mosley's high-profile lawyer who has never been known for his tact, responded as if he relished getting Conte before a judge and jury as much as his client wanted to take his shots at Mayweather in the ring.

"Half of me is disappointed that I can't just put all this behind for Shane," Burstein said. "But on the other hand, destroying Mr. Conte in a courtroom is something I would almost pay to do."

What about Mosley's strained relationship with his father, who was named Trainer of the Year for 1998 by the Boxing Writers Association of America primarily for his work with his son?

"Naazim has prepared me all different ways to fight," said Mosley, who upset Antonio Margarito on a ninth-round stoppage on Jan. 24, 2009, his only previous bout with Richardson as his chief second. "He's 100 percent in the game. I'm fighting and he's fighting, as well. He's not fighting with his fists and hands, but he's fighting with his mind."

If that sound like a veiled shot at the father who has been banished from Mosley's corner, it sounds that way to Jack Mosley, too.

"Shane's already been trained," Jack Mosley said of Richardson's influence. "Shane already knows how to fight. I trained him from age 8 up until now, and that's 30 years. If Shane doesn't know how to fight now, he never will. I don't think anybody could train him how to fight any different."

Of his wife, who could get half of his earnings during their 7 1/2 years together because of California's community property divorce laws, Mosley told the Los Angeles Times: "Anything Mayweather says is nothing compared to the things she said to me. Look at the time line. [The 2008 separation came] when I was losing. When I was ready to retire. When people said I was washed up."

fernanb@phillynews.com

Source: philly.com

Floyd Mayweather Jr. ... the greatest of them all? -- Los Angeles Daily News

By Robert Morales, LA Daily News

There are those in the boxing industry who believe Floyd Mayweather Jr. is just blowing smoke when he says he is the greatest fighter of all time - Muhammad Ali and Sugar Ray Robinson notwithstanding.

After all, Mayweather is one of the sport's greatest blabbermouths.

But when Mayweather made that declaration on an episode of HBO's "24/7" promoting his fight Saturday against "Sugar" Shane Mosley at MGM Grand in Las Vegas, he seemed sincere. He also sounded straightforward during a recent conference call when asked why he believes this.

"Why not?" said Mayweather, 33. "I take my hat off to them. I got respect for Sugar Ray Robinson. I've got respect for Muhammad Ali. But I'm a man just like they're men. I put on my pants just like they put on their pants.

"What makes them any better than I am? Because they fought a thousand fights? In my era, it's totally different. It's pay-per-view now, so things change. It's out with the old and in with the new. Things change. Like I said, Muhammad Ali is one hell of a fighter. But Floyd Mayweather is the best.

"Sugar Ray Robinson is one hell of a fighter, but Floyd Mayweather is the best."

Bob Arum, Mayweather's former promoter, insinuated even Mayweather doesn't believe that.

"It's Floyd Mayweater," Arum said. "Who can take anything he says serious? So why get upset when he compares himself with Ali or Sugar Ray Robinson. He didn't even mention Sugar Ray Leonard. So who even cares what he says?"  

Certainly not Arum, who said he thinks only reporters and not the average boxing fan care about Mayweather's rhetoric.

"If this was a guy who didn't say stupid things always and just came out with one stupid thing, it would be newsworthy," Arum said. "But he says everything stupid. He's a pretty stupid guy."

There is no love lost between Arum and Mayweather. But Angelo Dundee - Ali's trainer - has nothing against Mayweather. The 88-year-old Dundee, in the game during Robinson's prime, even likes Mayweather.

But when told of Mayweather boasting he is better than Ali and Robinson, Dundee chuckled slightly.

"Everybody is entitled to their opinion," Dundee said via telephone Monday. "We are all allowed to dream. There are so many people that try to be Muhammad Ali. The funny part about this sport is there are no two people alike.

"There will never be another Sugar Ray Leonard (another Dundee fighter), there will never be another Muhammad Ali. I know the kid means well. He is a nice kid."

Dundee did not want to take away from the accomplishments of Mayweather, who is 40-0 with 25 knockouts and has won major titles in five weight classes.

"He's a great fighter, no doubt about it," Dundee said. "But in this profession, there is always a guy out there who can beat another guy. And I think Mayweather is meeting the guy who can do it.

"The experience Shane Mosley has is second to none. He fought every tough guy on the way up, at the smaller weights and then he grew into the bigger man he is. He is bigger than Mayweather and the stronger man and he won't be fooled by Mayweather."

But, Dundee said, "Mayweather deserves everything he gets. He is such a hard worker."

Freddie Roach, the three-time Trainer of the Year who turned Manny Pacquiao into a superstar, had an interesting take. He gave Mayweather some praise, then took some back.

Roach said he liked what Mayweather did at lightweight and super lightweight, but isn't all that impressed with what he's done since moving up to welterweight and super welterweight - although the latter division was just a one-shot deal with Oscar De La Hoya.

"You look at his fights at 147 and 154, I don't see the greatness," Roach said. "He struggled with Oscar De La Hoya; he almost lost that fight. Manny Pacquiao demolished (De La Hoya). It wasn't like he (De La Hoya) was a shot fighter in one fight. Mayweather didn't hit him enough; he didn't take a beating in that fight or anything like that. He barely got hit.

"And then against an ordinary guy like Ricky Hatton, who was competitive with him for six rounds, that fight was about even after six, right? He (Hatton) gets demolished by Pacquiao."

Mayweather stopped Hatton in the 10th round, Pacquiao knocked out Hatton in the second round a year and five months later.

"I see a good fighter, yes, but great? Never," Roach said. "Sugar Ray Robinson? He couldn't carry his bag."

Not yet, perhaps. But until someone beats Mayweather, he can say what he wants. Interestingly, even Roger Mayweather seems to know his nephew hasn't reached the lofty status of best-ever.

"You remember this," said Roger Mayweather, who trains Floyd. "You've got a whole bunch of good fighters, but there are very few that are great, and the greatest fighter who put those gloves on to this day is Sugar Ray Robinson."

Roger Mayweather did say his nephew is "on his way to greatness. Come May 1, I guess you'll see for yourself."

Source: dailynews.com