Mayweather Sr.: "IT'S NOT GOING TO BE A WALK IN THE PARK FOR LIL FLOYD"
"I thought Oscar did very well and it's enough to see that it's not going to be a walk in the park for Lil Floyd�He comes back to me for the Forbes fight and you see how relaxed he was and didn't get tired or nothing and he was throwing a lot of punches. He is going to be throwing a lot of punches against Lil Floyd too and he going to have that jab working," stated world-renowned trainer Floyd Mayweather Sr. as he talked about Oscar De La Hoya's win over Steve Forbes last weekend. Check out what else he had to say about Oscar's performance and what improvements he needs to make for his anticipated rematch with Mayweather Jr. later this year.
PC: Congratulations on your win with Oscar.
FM: Thank you. I appreciate it.
PC: How do you grade his performance Big Floyd?
FM: I thought he did very well. I can't really grade him. I think he did a very good job. I'm not going to grade him right now because Steve Forbes ain't no Lil Floyd. I'm not going to grade him because that particular performance, I thought he did very well on that performance, but it was a few more little things that he could've did. I teach defense man; that's what I do. It's some things you can teach, but you can't make somebody do anything. He needs to work on his defense a little bit more. I'll be working on a lot of that this time to make sure he's much better this second time.
PC: How much time do you think you will give him off before you go right back at it?
FM: Nah, he don't need to go right back there man. He needs to take a good month off at least. From my understanding, he's been training since January; that's 5 months man. That's a lot of training for 1 fight. If a guy's in shape, 6 weeks is more than an appropriate amount of time to do what you gotta do. He did all of that stuff in January without me because at that time, we hadn't gotten back together yet either. He would've been a lot farther ahead had I been training him way back in January, but then again, I'm not going to hold no camp that long either so that would've been broken up too. I thought Oscar did very well and it's enough to see that it's not going to be a walk in the park for Lil Floyd.
PC: Other than the few defensive problems you feel Oscar had, is there anything that you were looking for him to do during the course of the fight that he didn't?
FM: I'll be honest with you man, whenever I work with Oscar, I learn something new about him all of the time. I'm learning more now, even at this late of date, of what he can do and can't do. So now, when I find out things that he can't do, I gotta circle around that and come up with another plan. Basically, that's what this camp right here been. I learned more in this camp than I ever did so we should round this off pretty good. I think Oscar has a damn good chance.
PC: People seem to think that if Oscar got hit that much by Forbes, Floyd will walk through him, but we haven't seen Floyd fight that aggressive in awhile. He didn't push the pedal to the floor against Hatton until he was hurt badly. Steve definitely came to fight.
FM: Lil Floyd lay in the pocket and wait. He might get aggressive like he did with Oscar in the last rounds of their first fight, but I think he was trying to clean it up for the record. They started to throw some punches late, but that never happened throughout the course of the whole fight. The fight was basically him laying in the pocket and counter punching. It's going to be a much different fight.
PC: Do you think it will be strange for you to see Roger in the other corner from you?
FM: I'm going to be honest with you man, I don't think it's going to be a big deal for me man. I'm going to do what I gotta do. I'm not about to waste no more money on my son and the kind of son that he is. I'm not about to lose no more money for him. I'm sitting back and watching him make money and I'm stepping back with him being my son and he ain't respecting me anyway because, first of all, he's the one that's calling my fighter out. I'm a trainer. What am I supposed to do if he's calling my fighter out? I'm not taking the backseat again.
PC: Was it strange training against your little brother Jeff?
FM: I think it was the first time it ever happened with 2 brothers training opposite of each other, but I'm going to be honest, I never even thought about my brother being in the corner. I never even saw him over in the corner. My thing is I get into my thing with my fighter and I'm trying to get into my fighter's head. I don't have time to think about brother, son, father or none of that stuff. I have to take care of my business man because that's what it's all about; that's what they gonna do. I'm not talking nothing about my brother Jeff because me and Jeff been cool all of our life. Me and Jeff ain't never had a mumbled word to each other in all of our life. Every family does, but me and Jeff have never had a mumbled word with each other ever. I'll say this, I think if he upset Oscar, don't you think he would be happy? I would think he would be happy because it's another payday for him and a bigger payday. He would want to be victorious and come out on top.
PC: So its business for you? You think the media blows up the whole brother and son thing?
FM: It's strictly business for me. It's strictly business for me.
PC: Overall, you were pleased with the product that you guys put out there on May 3rd?
FM: Yeah, I think Oscar did a good job and I saw some good things that he did and some things that he didn't do. We gotta get our preparation together man because he could do a lot better in this fight.
PC: Oscar did fight a lot taller and was a lot more relaxed in the Forbes fight. You could see he's a lot more comfortable coming back to the corner with you being there.
FM: One thing you have to understand man, I've been working with Oscar from day one if you remember and I don't know if you remember, but he used to didn't even have a right hand. Oscar used to just fight left handed. I got him throwing the right hand too now. I still think he gotta pull the trigger faster with his right hand. His left hand was working good with his jab and all and even the hook, but he didn't unleash his right hand fast enough. He didn't pull the trigger fast enough. It's a good thing he did throw it though. He did throw it. He just got to pick it up a little bit speed-wise and not have any delays throwing it.
PC: You want him to just shoot it out there.
FM: That's right, just let it come off the top.
PC: Well, a big pat on the back for you Big Floyd. We saw the best Anthony Hanshaw we had ever seen in his previous fight where you had him against Roy Jones, but he didn't look that spectacular against Dirrell.
FM: Where did they fight at?
PC: They fought in California, but they televised it on Showtime. He didn't look so great.
FM: Did he stop Hanshaw?
PC: Yeah, he stopped him in 5. He had Ronnie Shields training him.
FM: Man, Ronnie Shields need to sit down man. He needs to sit down. Them guys get beat every month. Every time you look up, one of their fighters are getting beat. How much did he weigh?
PC: They fought at '68, but I think he came in at 169.
FM: That's what I tell people man; win, lose or draw, you can see the difference in the fighters I have. Wait a minute man, I only had him a month for the Jones fight. If I had a couple months with him man, Roy Jones would've been in bigger trouble than he was. Dirrell let his hands go on him.
PC: Once Dirrell started walking him backwards, it was pretty much over with.
FM: Once you make a fighter that comes forward start going backwards, they got a problem. Hanshaw's not a real fast fighter though. I remember Dirrell fought that kid on HBO and would jab and run; real short, strong kid.
PC: Congratulations on your win with Oscar.
FM: Thank you. I appreciate it.
PC: How do you grade his performance Big Floyd?
FM: I thought he did very well. I can't really grade him. I think he did a very good job. I'm not going to grade him right now because Steve Forbes ain't no Lil Floyd. I'm not going to grade him because that particular performance, I thought he did very well on that performance, but it was a few more little things that he could've did. I teach defense man; that's what I do. It's some things you can teach, but you can't make somebody do anything. He needs to work on his defense a little bit more. I'll be working on a lot of that this time to make sure he's much better this second time.
PC: How much time do you think you will give him off before you go right back at it?
FM: Nah, he don't need to go right back there man. He needs to take a good month off at least. From my understanding, he's been training since January; that's 5 months man. That's a lot of training for 1 fight. If a guy's in shape, 6 weeks is more than an appropriate amount of time to do what you gotta do. He did all of that stuff in January without me because at that time, we hadn't gotten back together yet either. He would've been a lot farther ahead had I been training him way back in January, but then again, I'm not going to hold no camp that long either so that would've been broken up too. I thought Oscar did very well and it's enough to see that it's not going to be a walk in the park for Lil Floyd.
PC: Other than the few defensive problems you feel Oscar had, is there anything that you were looking for him to do during the course of the fight that he didn't?
FM: I'll be honest with you man, whenever I work with Oscar, I learn something new about him all of the time. I'm learning more now, even at this late of date, of what he can do and can't do. So now, when I find out things that he can't do, I gotta circle around that and come up with another plan. Basically, that's what this camp right here been. I learned more in this camp than I ever did so we should round this off pretty good. I think Oscar has a damn good chance.
PC: People seem to think that if Oscar got hit that much by Forbes, Floyd will walk through him, but we haven't seen Floyd fight that aggressive in awhile. He didn't push the pedal to the floor against Hatton until he was hurt badly. Steve definitely came to fight.
FM: Lil Floyd lay in the pocket and wait. He might get aggressive like he did with Oscar in the last rounds of their first fight, but I think he was trying to clean it up for the record. They started to throw some punches late, but that never happened throughout the course of the whole fight. The fight was basically him laying in the pocket and counter punching. It's going to be a much different fight.
PC: Do you think it will be strange for you to see Roger in the other corner from you?
FM: I'm going to be honest with you man, I don't think it's going to be a big deal for me man. I'm going to do what I gotta do. I'm not about to waste no more money on my son and the kind of son that he is. I'm not about to lose no more money for him. I'm sitting back and watching him make money and I'm stepping back with him being my son and he ain't respecting me anyway because, first of all, he's the one that's calling my fighter out. I'm a trainer. What am I supposed to do if he's calling my fighter out? I'm not taking the backseat again.
PC: Was it strange training against your little brother Jeff?
FM: I think it was the first time it ever happened with 2 brothers training opposite of each other, but I'm going to be honest, I never even thought about my brother being in the corner. I never even saw him over in the corner. My thing is I get into my thing with my fighter and I'm trying to get into my fighter's head. I don't have time to think about brother, son, father or none of that stuff. I have to take care of my business man because that's what it's all about; that's what they gonna do. I'm not talking nothing about my brother Jeff because me and Jeff been cool all of our life. Me and Jeff ain't never had a mumbled word to each other in all of our life. Every family does, but me and Jeff have never had a mumbled word with each other ever. I'll say this, I think if he upset Oscar, don't you think he would be happy? I would think he would be happy because it's another payday for him and a bigger payday. He would want to be victorious and come out on top.
PC: So its business for you? You think the media blows up the whole brother and son thing?
FM: It's strictly business for me. It's strictly business for me.
PC: Overall, you were pleased with the product that you guys put out there on May 3rd?
FM: Yeah, I think Oscar did a good job and I saw some good things that he did and some things that he didn't do. We gotta get our preparation together man because he could do a lot better in this fight.
PC: Oscar did fight a lot taller and was a lot more relaxed in the Forbes fight. You could see he's a lot more comfortable coming back to the corner with you being there.
FM: One thing you have to understand man, I've been working with Oscar from day one if you remember and I don't know if you remember, but he used to didn't even have a right hand. Oscar used to just fight left handed. I got him throwing the right hand too now. I still think he gotta pull the trigger faster with his right hand. His left hand was working good with his jab and all and even the hook, but he didn't unleash his right hand fast enough. He didn't pull the trigger fast enough. It's a good thing he did throw it though. He did throw it. He just got to pick it up a little bit speed-wise and not have any delays throwing it.
PC: You want him to just shoot it out there.
FM: That's right, just let it come off the top.
PC: Well, a big pat on the back for you Big Floyd. We saw the best Anthony Hanshaw we had ever seen in his previous fight where you had him against Roy Jones, but he didn't look that spectacular against Dirrell.
FM: Where did they fight at?
PC: They fought in California, but they televised it on Showtime. He didn't look so great.
FM: Did he stop Hanshaw?
PC: Yeah, he stopped him in 5. He had Ronnie Shields training him.
FM: Man, Ronnie Shields need to sit down man. He needs to sit down. Them guys get beat every month. Every time you look up, one of their fighters are getting beat. How much did he weigh?
PC: They fought at '68, but I think he came in at 169.
FM: That's what I tell people man; win, lose or draw, you can see the difference in the fighters I have. Wait a minute man, I only had him a month for the Jones fight. If I had a couple months with him man, Roy Jones would've been in bigger trouble than he was. Dirrell let his hands go on him.
PC: Once Dirrell started walking him backwards, it was pretty much over with.
FM: Once you make a fighter that comes forward start going backwards, they got a problem. Hanshaw's not a real fast fighter though. I remember Dirrell fought that kid on HBO and would jab and run; real short, strong kid.
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