If ever there was a trainer in recent times who has studied Floyd Mayweather Jr. from top to bottom it very well could be Philadelphia’s Naazim Richardson. After all it was Richardson who guided Shane Mosley into his May 1st bout with Mayweather and despite the duo coming up short against Floyd in Las Vegas it seems strikingly clear that Naazim has an accurate gauge on the superstar once one hears him speak about the Grand Rapids fighter.
Recently Mayweather took the boxing world by storm in a very unfortunate manner with his Ustream tirade against Manny Pacquiao as he insulted the fighter’s culture as well as his skills as a fighter. The backlash from Mayweather’s remarks has been like wildfire but during a recent conversation with the Examiner, Richardson chose not to jump into the topic and instead seemed to hope for the fighter to wake up from the dream he seems to be living in.
“I can’t comment,” Richardson said, seeming to take the high road. “Mayweather has proven himself time and time again so pretty much all we can do is sit back and hope that he does something soon in the ring. The world wants to see him and Manny Pacquiao from what I hear, time and time again, but I don’t think that will become an issue until they both need it. And Pacquiao doesn’t need it.”At the moment Pacquiao is scheduled for a November 13th clash with Antonio Margarito, a fight that is one of the year’s biggest events despite the initial disappointment in the contest, and the Filipino icon himself has said that he doesn’t need Mayweather. Richardson elaborates that if the two men’s paths never cross that Pacquiao will be fine and at a level higher than Floyd in many regards.
“Pacquiao is in a position where the whole country is behind him and he is sitting at the top of the perch now,” Richardson said with conviction. “He doesn’t have to agree to any testing and he doesn’t have to agree to anything. The kind of money he has made and the kind of performances he puts on right now, if neither one of them fight each other, they are still going to consider Pacquiao the greatest of this era.”
Almost ironic because for years Mayweather has been boasting that he is not only the best fighter of this generation, but also of all time. While Floyd has faced many challenges in his day Richardson claims that he simply hasn’t tested himself quite enough to equal up to the accolades he has bestowed upon himself.
“What it is, when you say in boxing ‘I’m better than Robinson, I’m better than Ali and I’m better than these guys’, well we’ve seen these guys put their ass on the line,” Richardson continued. “Pacquiao puts his ass on the line and that’s what makes him the exciting fighter that he is. Floyd has the great ability where he can fight fights and not have to take tremendous gambles. The biggest one to this day has been against Shane and he came out on top but Pacquiao has a number of fights where he gambled like this. If you measure it up at the end most likely Pacquiao is going to come out on top.”
Richardson went on to explain that he doesn’t feel that he isn’t fully sure Pacquiao would defeat Mayweather because Floyd is the kind of fighter who should already have been down by this point but his record is still unblemished. And while there are some who feel that Mayweather simply has a fear of facing Pacquiao in the ring, Richardson believes that there is more to it than that.
“I wouldn’t’ say it was fear. Like I say, I don’t underestimate any athlete, especially those who have reached this particular plateau in boxing. I wouldn’t call it fear. There is a concern because Pacquiao has done some things that are hard to define or hard to explain. So naturally people will look at him with a certain perspective. Myself, I just think that he is an exceptional athlete. I think the same of Floyd but I don’t think he is necessarily afraid of him. Mayweather’ ability is to the point where he doesn’t have to fear another athlete.”
Source: examiner.com
