“The reality of it is this, great fighters don’t ever use excuses. The ring is their sanctuary and that’s where they perform better than anything else. No matter what’s going on in their life, it makes no difference. On that night, it doesn’t bother them. They channel it and they go in that ring and they do what they have to do. This is what their life is based on. This right here is their comfort zone; no matter what they are going through, that is their place and where they shine, and everything that is supposed to be an issue or a problem doesn’t even exist,” stated world-class trainer Jeff Mayweather, who talked about last weekend’s clash between Orlando Salido and Juan Manuel Lopez, the current situation that Yuriorkis Gamboa is in, his work with UFC heavyweight contender Roy Nelson, and much more. Check it out!
PC: What did you think of the JuanMa and Orlando Salido fight?
JM: To be honest, I didn’t actually see the fight, but I picked Salido to beat him anyway. I think that the way he beat him the first time, JuanMa got dominated over a period of time the first time around. It would be different if he got caught by a big shot, but no, he got dominated by this guy the last time. I mean, to be honest, it wasn’t a surprise at all.
PC: Did you see JuanMa going downhill this fast?
JM: I don’t know if it’s so much that he went downhill so fast; I think it’s basically him trying to be a macho man and trying to avenge that loss. That was a guy he should have left alone and never thought about fighting again, but it’s one of those situations that in boxing, a lot of the times you are forced into a situation where you may think it’s the best thing to do, but it’s not. Salido was going to beat him anyway and it’s a situation where he probably should have tried to avoid that for as long as he possibly could, but he went from being the man in the division to a nobody in the division. That’s how it happens in boxing sometimes, especially when guys fight in back-to-back fights with guys against the same guy that has their number. What can you really do about that? A guy got your number, he got your number.
PC: Did you hear about his post-fight tirade where he sort of blamed the refs gambling problem for the stoppage?
JM: (Laughing) Stuff that has nothing to do with boxing. What it is is this Percy, everybody made excuses for him the first time around and this time around, nobody was willing to make excuses for him, so because nobody made excuses for him, he made them on his own. He started to say, “Wait a second, I can’t take this loss.” It was cool when other people were making excuses like, “Oh, he had problems with his marriage and he had problems making weight.” All of these excuses that after the fight was over with, they gave him 101 excuses. When people put out that many excuses for you, it’s almost like you’re not accountable for yourself because everybody else has put the excuses out there and you grab which one you want. Whichever one sounds best to you and that you agree with is the one you run with. That was the first situation. This time around, he wants to point the finger at the referee. And the thing is this, it would have been different if the referee didn’t stop the fight in the way that it should have been stopped. The thing is he still got beat. If the referee did bet on the fight, it doesn’t matter. You got knocked out. Not only that, you’re in Puerto Rico; that man ain’t trying to get killed down there. He knows that he is a Puerto Rican and he has to live there. He ain’t trying to get killed. He would have been doing everything he can to try and save that fight for you. But he’s reaching because he can’t accept the fact that he got beat twice by this guy. The first time around, it was alright because he didn’t have to say anything. Everybody and their momma had an excuse for him. But this time around, you can’t use those same excuses. And plus, the reality of it is this, great fighters don’t ever use excuses. The ring is their sanctuary and that’s where they perform better than anything else. No matter what’s going on in their life, it makes no difference. On that night, it doesn’t bother them. They channel it and they go in that ring and they do what they have to do. This is what their life is based on. This right here is their comfort zone; no matter what they are going through, that is their place and where they shine, and everything that is supposed to be an issue or a problem doesn’t even exist. That’s what great fighters do. Mike Tyson had more issues than any fighter known to man, but on fight night, he did his thing. Just like Floyd, he has issues. I mean, after this fight, he has to go to jail, but he can’t think about that. What he is going to do is get in there and he’s going to perform because the ring is where he loves to be more than anything in this world. That’s his stage. It’s just like what Michael Jackson said, “I’m only comfortable on the stage.” And that’s how great fighters think?great performers, period; that one element that they’ve mastered in life. When they in that arena, forget about it. Can’t nobody shake them. Mike Tyson had rape charges, people stealing money, and he crashed his car. This dude had more issues than any fighter I’ve known in my life, but on fight night, he delivered.
PC: What do you make of this Yuriorkis Gamboa situation?
JM: Only thing that I read is that Gamboa said?he’s been getting a lot of bad press because he didn’t show up to the press conference, but he said he didn’t have a contract, and he feels like, “If I don’t have a contract, what am I showing up for?” And that’s understandable. At first, I was like, “Man, Rios gonna kill this dude.” And I’m not saying that Brandon Rios still won’t beat him, but the thing is this, I think that at 135 pounds, Gamboa has a chance against Brandon Rios because Brandon Rios is a guy that’s killing himself to make 135 pounds. He don’t even belong in that weight class anymore and because he don’t, they put enough money on the table for him and he’s going to go for it. That might be something he regrets. Realistically, he is a guy who has potential to be a star himself. He is a hot prospect and a very entertaining fighter and he don’t really have to fight at 35. He can do like Pacquiao and fight at a catchweight and fight at 138 or something like that. I will say in the negotiations, Gamboa did a job on him. Here is a guy that is struggling, can’t really make that weight at all, but now all of a sudden, it’s a huge fight and the thing is this, Gamboa is a good boxer and if Gamboa can stay away from him long enough, I mean, he has a realistic chance to win. His chin is a little suspect, but even with that being said, he’s always been able to get back off the floor and still win. He’s got some dog in him too. Like I just said, the later the rounds get, I think any round past round 6, Brandon Rios gonna start feeling the effects of losing that weight, something that he’s not used to no more.
PC: You will be training “Big Country” Roy Nelson, which adds to your stable of MMA fighters you now train. When will you guys begin training together?
JM: We actually started yesterday. He is a very fun guy. He’s a lot like Mo, but he’s also combative. He is a very nice guy and one thing I can honestly say that I didn’t understand is that this guy has great defense. You know my famous “Doom” session, right?
PC: Of course.
JM: Well, when I tell people I’m training this guy “Big Country”, everybody that I say that to or knows him says, “Yeah, he’s got a great chin. He takes a lot of punches and keeps coming.” So I’m expecting in my “Doom” session to beat the crap out of this dude (laughing). I’m thinking at the end of the day, his face is going to be black and blue, and I don’t know if that was a warning because I said it to him, but this guy, his defense was way better than Mo’s when I first started working with him. I was like, “Something is wrong here. You ain’t the same person that everybody talking about.” And then he finally told me and I see it for myself, “All it is, I get tired and when I get tired, I start taking punches.” he said that himself, so I told him, “Seems like to me you need to get in condition.” That’s his problem. He needs a damn conditioning coach because once he started getting tired, I was able to do him like I wanted to. That’s how I thought I was going to be doing him from the beginning. But he’s a very fun guy and he’s entertaining. He loves to have fun, even when he’s working out and stuff; he’s a lot like Mo in that aspect. He is a fun guy to work with. My whole thing is that I’m trying to tighten his defense up, maybe increase his hand speed and increase his punch output a little bit. In the first day, I can say I was surprised by his defense. I was doing long rounds with him and by the 3rd round, he was an easy target for me.
PC: Do you think you will start to corner some of these guys or will you just train them in boxing and then release them off to their MMA situation?
JM: My thing is this, to be honest, right now, the only person that I really connected with that I feel that it’s not just business, I mean, I feel that me and him will be friends forever, is Mo. And this situation is a situation that I’m walking into that’s just like the Vitor Belfort situation that really ended up being nothing. This type of situation, I think that this guy [Nelson], we’ll maybe be friends and have some type of relationship beyond business with as well. His wife is very nice and me and his wife talk a lot and she doesn’t like her husband taking punches and that he doesn’t mind. He said, “I gotta get started and let people hit me,” but you can’t let everybody hit you because some people hit you and that’s gonna be the only punch you take; one punch and it’s over with. He is a very fun guy to work with, very talkative, combative, and a lot like Mo when it comes to me doing my “Doom” session. But it’s one of those situations where hopefully I can add to him and he will take my advice in the right way and he can pull off this victory. I heard this is a very important fight for him and his UFC career is basically on the line. I honestly want to get this guy a strength and conditioning coach because you don’t want everyone saying how great your chin is whenever I mention you because that means you are taking too many punches. And of course my thing is defense, but realistically, I come to find out I don’t have to teach this guy defense as much as I thought. It’s his conditioning more than anything.
