According to Floyd Mayweather, Sr., he’s the finest trainer in all of boxing. And if you don’t believe him, he’d be more than happy to chew your ear for an hour or so explaining why! But don’t try to convince Pacquiao trainer, Freddie Roach of that. He’s already been inducted into the Boxing Hall of Fame, something Floyd Sr. has yet to accomplish. We often speak about fighters’ legacies, but what about the legacies of trainers?
Next month’s showdown between Ricky Hatton and Manny Pacquiao may very well come down to which trainer is best able to get his charge to implement major tactical and technical adjustments. While Pacquiao has shown a growing inclination to take unnecessary punishment in nearly all of his major fights, Hatton has shown marked improvement in his defense and overall ring generalship. It was certainly on display in Las Vegas the night Ricky dominated the previously once-beaten Paulie Malinaggi. The fruits of his two month training camp under Floyd Sr. paid big dividends in that bout, as Hatton unfurled a newfound weapon, the jab, that kept Malinaggi off-balance and out of sorts all evening. Even in a losing effort against Mayweather, Jr., Hatton didn’t take nearly as much punishment as expected. One has to wonder whether another solid training camp with Floyd Sr. at the helm will yield even greater success on May 2nd.
While Roach has trained such renowned champions as James Toney, Michael Moorer, Virgil Hill and Marlon Starling, Mayweather Sr., has largely built his reputation as head trainer in the corner of his son, former pound-for-pound kingpin, Floyd Mayweather, Jr. Currently the trainer of Chad Dawson, Joan Guzman and Ricky Hatton, Floyd Sr. is quick to point out that most of Floyd Jr.’s formative years as a professional were spent under his tutelage, prior to 2000, when Jr. broke away from Sr. and began training under his uncle, Roger Mayweather.
It’s hard to discern whether there was a drop-off in Mayweather’s performance in the years following his breakup with his father, but one thing is certain and that’s the fact that Floyd Sr. is one damned good trainer, Roach’s objections notwithstanding. It was Floyd Sr. who polished and took former junior-featherweight and junior-lightweight champion, Joan Guzman to another level after the Dominican stylist chose to move up in weight to battle the bigger boys at 130 and 135 lbs. Despite the mismanagement of weight in training for his showdown with World Lightweight Champion, Nate Campbell late in 2008, Guzman is still on track to win a third world title in a third division and Floyd Sr. will be by his side.
And if you need even more evidence that ‘Big Floyd’ is one of the very best trainers in the world, look no further than ‘Bad’ Chad Dawson’s WBC Light-Heavyweight title-winning effort against the tough-as-nails Tomasz Adamek, in early 2007. Adamek would go on to claim the IBF Cruiserweight title nearly two years later, but on the night he faced Dawson, he was in with a smooth, well-oiled 175 lb. fighting machine, honed to razor sharpness under the watchful eye and colorful instruction of Floyd Sr. Was it any coincidence that when Dawson was finally exposed to the bright lights, he shined against the toughest of competition? Most young fighters would wither under the unrelenting assault of an Adamek or Glen Johnson, but Dawson shined like never before, landing over-and-under three and four-punch combinations not seen in this weight class since the salad days of Michael Spinks.
Despite a stint of five plus years in federal prison in the mid-1990s, it’s clear that Floyd Sr. laid the groundwork for Floyd Jr.’s overwhelming success in 130 lb. showdowns with Diego Corrales, Goyo Vargas, Genaro Hernandez and Angel Manfredy. Not to minimize the career contributions of Roger Mayweather and Leonard Ellerbee, but it was Floyd Sr. who molded Floyd Jr. into the multi-faceted and highly-decorated superstar he is today. Yes, it was Roger and Leonard who guided Floyd Jr. to PPV greatness, but the talent that spawned that greatness was honed during countless hours in the gym with his father.
“I’m the reason he’s where he is today”, Floyd Sr. is quick to tell anyone who will listen. And quite frankly, he’s right! Because if Floyd didn’t win his Junior-Lightweight title unification showdown with Corrales in 2001, his career might not have unfolded as smoothly as it did. It was a fight that had the boxing pundits split over the outcome. Even renowned boxing analyst Max Kellerman picked Corrales by decision and the odds on fight night were a razor-thin 8:5 in favor of Floyd Jr. Corrales was coming off early-round demolitions of Derrick ‘Smoke’ Gainer and Angel Manfredy, no mean feats! Yet, in the biggest fight of his young career, Floyd Jr. frustrated, dominated and discombobulated the fearsome ‘Chico’, virtually dribbling the big man off of the canvas en route to a convincing tenth round stoppage. Roger Mayweather may have been the chief second in the corner that night, but everything Floyd Jr. displayed resulted from the hard work spent in the gym working with Floyd Sr., whom he fired as manager shortly before his title defense against Vargas in early 2000. The ensuing years saw Floyd Sr. in the corner of Oscar De La Hoya, guiding the future Hall of Fame boxer to some of his greatest triumphs.
In Ricky Hatton, Mayweather, Sr. has a fighter willing to absorb instruction in the gym, something Floyd Jr. was often loathe to do. To defeat Pacquiao next month, ‘The Hit Man’ will have to become more of the ‘Unhittable Man’ and demonstrate even greater improvement than he did in the Malinaggi fight, especially in the area of defense and working his way inside behind his jab. This matchup will put Floyd Sr.’s considerable skills as a trainer to a severe test. After all, few world-class fighters are able to improve defensively this late in their careers, but if there is one trainer in boxing capable of working this sort of magic, it’s Floyd Sr. With a Hatton victory in May, Floyd the elder will be able to silence his many critics, including his good buddy, Freddie Roach.
Though absent from Floyd Jr.’s corner in recent years, Floyd Sr. is always on everyone’s mind. He provides great soundbites, is quick with a quip and is extremely alliterative, sometimes to the point of being antagonistic. But colorful personalities are usually only tolerated as long as they are accompanied by results. Pacquiao-Hatton provides Floyd Sr. with the perfect opportunity to demonstrate why he can lay claim to being called “the greatest trainer in boxing, if indeed he is. After all, professional sports, especially a sport as brutal and unforgiving as boxing, tend to treat defeat harshly. And on the night of May 2, 2009, either Manny Pacquiao or Ricky Hatton will have made his trainer look better than ever, while the other will be left to help pick up the pieces.
