When is comes to the sport of boxing, one of the most recognizable voices in the game is that of Hall of Fame commentator, Al Bernstein. Bernstein has been a boxing analyst for Showtime boxing since 2003, and now stands just two weeks away from calling one of the biggest fights in his boxing career, Mayweather vs. Pacquiao.
In Part 2 of my ?On The Ropes? boxing radio interview with Al Bernstein, I get his detailed breakdown for May 2nd, and his thoughts on both Mayweather and Pacquiao going into their super fight. Al also speaks on the growing trend of big fights now finding their way to free television with Premier Boxing Champions. Additionally, Bernstein speaks on the future of boxing and shares his views on if Mayweather-Pacquiao can live up to the hype. Here is what Al Bernstein had to say.
Jenna J: People say that Mayweather has lost a step and allows his opponents to throw more at him. Do you see that?
Al Bernstein: It?s happened in a couple of fights ? Maidana primarily, but then in the second Maidana fight he was able to learn from it and stay off the ropes and do a much better job. Of course at age 38, he probably isn?t exactly the same Floyd Mayweather he was five years ago or maybe even two years ago.
The question is, what slippage in his case? If he slipped down a little bit from being close to perfect, how much have you really slipped? The question is whether Pacquiao can take advantage of that.
Jenna J: If this fight had happened five years ago, do you think Pacquiao?s chances would have been better then or better now?
Al Bernstein: That?s a good question. There was a certain point at which Pacquiao was fighting with angles and combinations and doing certain kinds of things that made me feel that the volume of punches would be an issue for Mayweather. Then he kind of stopped doing that for a little while and now he?s back to doing it.
It?s hard to tell whether the fact that Pacquiao has had a couple of rough fights since will impact this. I do think that generally when two fighters get together like this and they?re older and they?re not exactly at their prime, it actually normally produces a slightly more exciting fight because each man is able to get more things done. I think that may be the case here.
Jenna J: Do you think Pacquiao?s power will show up in this fight where it could affect Floyd and take him out of his rhythm?
Al Bernstein: I don?t know because Floyd?s only been hurt by Mosley in recent years ? maybe ever, that?s maybe the only time he?s really been hurt in a fight badly ? and Pacquiao can punch with power, but Pacquiao hasn?t scored a lot of knockouts in recent times, he hasn?t been a knockout puncher. I don?t know if power is going to be the main difference in this fight.
Jenna J: If you had to say which fighter would be more likely to come away with their hand raised, who do you think it would be?
Al Bernstein: I think if Pacquiao can throw a lot of punches and get over the 800 punch mark, he?s got a chance to win, but if Mayweather can keep him below that and land all his straight right hands like he normally does, then I think he?s gonna be the winner. Mayweather is the favorite and he probably deserves to be the favorite but Pacquiao is certainly a live dog here.
Jenna J: Mayweather and Pacquiao are not far from retiring. When you look at the boxing landscape, which fighters out there do you see that can carry boxing going forward?
Al Bernstein: There?s a lot of fighters out there and I think it has to be a unifying effort, it has to be a bunch of people carrying the banner, it?s better if it?s a bunch of people. Keith Thurman is exciting, there?s a whole bunch of people.
The thing is, it?s how they make fights between each other, they have to fight each other to create exciting fights. Because those fights are now being seen by more people, what will happen is that the stars will emerge and I think that?s the key. We want to see them all fight great fights against each other and because the sport is getting a little more exposure, they?ll be seen.
Jenna J: HBO and Showtime haven?t had as many cards this year as they had in previous years. A lot of fights are going on other networks with the Premier Boxing Champions series. What do you think of this trend?
Al Bernstein: From the standpoint of the whole boxing landscape, the more eyeballs you get on the sport, the better. In many respects, the idea of boxing being on over the air network is good because we?ve already seen two fights on NBC on prime time which got three million homes viewing it and the Spike show I know had a million viewers.
It?s upped the ante for competition by all networks, including the premium cable networks. I don?t think it?s bad, I think for the sport in general, anything that can get more people to watch boxing at the end of the day is probably a good thing.
Jenna J: My last question is about May 2nd, Mayweather vs. Pacquiao. That fight has had so much hype, do you think by the time that it?s over that it will live up to the expectations?
Al Bernstein: I think it needs to be a good fight. I?m hoping that it is a good fight. If it?s good and it?s exciting and it?s interesting, it will be satiating enough for fans to come away and be happy. If it isn?t, then we?re going to be talking about it as another missed opportunity for boxing, and that?s happened in the past. The problem is, there?s so much attention focused on this event that it would be hard for that fight to live up to that kind of attention, but I hope it will be good. I think it will be an interesting fight.
