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In April of this year I had a few moments with trainer Floyd Mayweather Sr. as the 58-year old spoke from his son’s personal facility on the West side of Las Vegas. Floyd Jr. was then preparing for a May 1st bout with ‘Sugar’ Shane Mosley at the MGM Grand and while the younger Mayweather was fashionably late arriving in his plush white ferrari, Floyd Sr. took to criticizing Mosley. “I’ve heard people say that Shane is as fast as Lil’ Floyd and that’s bullshit,” Floyd Sr. said when analyzing the matchup. “It might look like it but it’s not. He does have power. But his punches are wide and he leaves himself opened up. Whenever he opens up like that you are open. All Shane has to do is what he is asked to do and what he is supposed to do and the fight is on.”
As our conversation rolled on Mayweather Sr. spoke of how Mosley was in a financial bind, a key reason for him taking the fight, and also discussed how much more dangerous he was years back. Mayweather Jr. would end up winning a dominanting twelve-round decision over Mosley and outside of a shaky second round it was pretty much smooth sailing.
Fast forward to the end of 2010 and Mosley is now in line to face off with Manny Pacquiao in the first huge event of 2011 and one of the Pomona fighter’s biggest critics now appears to be warming up to him. It’s no secret that Floyd Sr. has had some disdain towards Pacquaio over the past year and that seems to be reason enough for him to side with Mosley on their upcoming encounter.
Newsflash: Naazim Richardson says Mosley smashes Pacquiao
Speaking to Nick Gonzalez during an interview with BoxingScene.com, Floyd Sr. pointed out that while Mosley struggled mightily vs. his son, a different mesh of styles will allow him to have success against Pacquiao.
“Pacquiao’s defense is shit,” Sr. claimed. “He can be hit all night. I mean, he’s 40, but Mosley is still strong. You saw what happened in the fight with my son? Shane can hit him all night. I don’t know if Shane can do the same thing to Pacquiao and knock him out. These other guys couldn’t knock him out. He walked through Cotto and Margarito like nothing. If he puts in the work, Shane can box Pacquiao’s ass off.”
Pacquiao defends his WBO welterweight belt against Mosley on May 7th at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada. Expect more from Floyd Sr. in the coming weeks.
Vanes Martirosyan on the sidelines for now
In October I spoke with undefeated junior middleweight Vanes Martirosyan about his life and career. The Armenian fighter now living in Glendale, California had been eyeing a December 4th date against Miguel Cotto but the WBA junior middleweight champion from Puerto Rico elected to sit out the remainder of the year after failing to land a marquee opponent.
I remember asking Vanes if he was disappointed at Cotto’s snub but he gave a classy respone.
“I know [Miguel] outside of the ring and he is a great guy,” Martirosyan stated. “Inside of the ring his is a warrior. I was really excited that me and him were going to fight. I understand why he doesn’t want to fight and I wish him the best. I hop[e that one day he is ready and we could fight each other. I think it would be a great fight. If that fight happens I know at the end of the night we would be victorious.”
Cotto is now fully rested, not having fought since his June TKO over Yuri Foreman, and will be returning to the ring on March 12th in Las Vegas. Martirosyan was again being considered as an opponent but former champion Ricardo Mayorga got the nod instead. Giving his take on that particular fight, you can tell that Martirosyan isn’t thrilled.
“The reason why Cotto’s adviser picked Mayorga is because they wanted to fight someone they can beat,” Vanes recently told BoxingScene’s Jake Donovan. “Mayorga is an old guy. I think people would love to see Cotto fight a young, undefeated fighter who is hungry and will give his best rather than someone who got knocked out by a fighter Cotto has beaten already.”
Slideshow: Vanes Martirosyan takes us inside his life
Sounding off on the topic, Martirosyan refrained from any further swipes and instead tried to remain optimistic about what lies ahead for him in 2011.
“Everyone knows that Mayorga isn’t the same fighter anymore but I wish both of them the best of luck. I’m sure Cotto will knock him out. I hope after that he steps up and fights a young fighter. I will fight Cotto for free. That’s how bad I wanted to fight him but whatever Top Rank and my team decide they want to do I’m all for it.”
The 24-year old Martirosyan is scheduled to return to the ring on February 5th at the Agua Caliente Casino in Rancho Mirage, California against an opponent to be determined. If successful he will surely go back to calling out the likes of Cotto and other big names at 154 pounds. More than likely a big fight will come his way before the year is up.
