Some salty boxing insiders like to say a fighter’s words or actions before a fight don’t mean a damn thing, and have no bearing at all about what will happen once the bell rings. I beg to differ.
Before certain fights, you may witness a fighter’s self-belief and confidence that is absolutely unbreakable (Lewis before Tyson, Grant; Rahman rematch; Tarver before Jones; Hopkins before Oscar; etc.). And sometimes you can sense the doubt and mental discord of an opponent that is carefully concealed, even behind the clever front of false braggadocio (Jones before Tarver rematch; Roger Mayweather before Lockridge; Mayorga before Trinidad; etc.).
I believe the outcome of Oscar and Floyd is already beginning to take form.
Floyd is sounding almost irrational now. To claim that fighting Oscar is just another fight like Bruseles or Corley is preposterous. To say Oscar’s only fought a bunch of bums (Quartey, Hopkins, Mosley, Vargas, Mayorga, Chavez, Whitaker, Trinidad, etc.) is delusional.
By contrast, digest the logic and cool of Oscar. Here’s some of the insightful comments Oscar made yesterday:
“I can’t wait. I can’t wait to get in the ring and run over to his corner and start fighting.”
“He asked for it and he’s gonna get it.”
“When he talks trash like that, it lights something inside of me. I always train professionally, but it makes me train harder. I want to run more miles, I want to spar more rounds, I want to learn more…I train angry but I’m not gonna fight angry.”
