LAS VEGAS ? In the glorious aftermath of victory, and having escaped being the side known for losing the richest fight of all time, there seemed to be at least some mild discord between the two Floyd Mayweathers.
It was not overt. But it was clear Floyd Mayweather Sr. was not pleased by the style of his son’s victory Saturday over Manny Pacquiao.
“I will tell you like this, most of the time, Floyd’ll do like I tell him to do,” Mayweather Sr. said. “I’ve got some soul-searching I’ve got to do right now, with this whole thing, there’s some soul-searching I’ve got to do.
“It’s nothing big like that. It’s something I’ve got to do, that I need to do, that I think should be done, that will make things even better.”
He declined to disclose what he meant, saying only that it involved his son, who won a unanimous decision over Pacquiao in a welterweight unification at MGM Grand Garden Arena.
Television microphones in the corner picked up Mayweather Sr. regularly exhorting his son to pick up the pace between rounds.
“I’ve got a few things I’ve got to do man, I’ve got to straighten out,” he said. “I’ve got to change a few things.”
The younger Mayweather cranked down the pace and cranked up the style points with his tactical win over Pacquiao.
But as the rounds progressed in a fight Mayweather won 10-2, 8-4 and 8-4 on the scorecards, his father pressed him to increase a lackluster output by both fighters, but particularly Pacquiao.
“My dad was on my ass,” Mayweather said. “He was like, ‘Listen, your ass has to pick it up, I’m not liking how you’re performing. You’re doing enough, but you’re not doing what I want you to do. Pick it up.’ But I knew, deep in my heart and my mind, I was winning.” Floyd Mayweather Sr. shakes hands with Manny Pacquiao. Cory Olsen | MLive.com
He added that his father was “constantly saying” that the pro-Pacquiao crowd might sway the judges because the fans were responding to anything the Filipino star threw.
“So mentally, my dad was thinking the fight was close. My dad was saying, ‘Pick up the pace.’ I thought I was beating him easy,” Mayweather said. “Me having experience at this level, the judges aren’t going by the crowd screaming. The judges are going by shots landed.”
Mayweather Sr. confirmed that he was worried because “you don’t never know what the hell they’re going to do with these people up in the balcony screaming.”
“I was trying to get him to throw more punches, I was trying to get him to come forward more, because I know these judges ain’t nothing but a bunch of damn crooks,” Mayweather Sr. said.
Mayweather Sr. dismissed Pacquiao’s reputation for combination punching as overblown, though largely because the pound-for-pound king negated it. Pacquiao landed 81 punches according to CompuBox.
“Floyd fought well enough to beat the guy,” Mayweather Sr. said. “He could’ve fought better. That’s why I was telling him things to encourage him, to make him move.
“When it gets to that point where you’ve got to start using things to tell people, I think that’s when it’s time to start closing down.”
By that, he meant retire.
His son has said the September fight he has committed to CBS/Showtime, the last fight in their deal together, will be his career finale.
Floyd Mayweather: I was smarter, sharper than Manny Pacquiao Mayweather dissects his unanimous decision victory Saturday at MGM Grand. “When he fights this next fight — it’s on him what he wants to do — but after he fights this next fight, I want him to (retire). There ain’t nothing else to prove, man. What are you still doing this for?” Mayweather Sr. said.
Amir Khan always seems to play the Mayweather bridesmaid, in part because his reluctance to train for a fight during Ramadan can limit his September availability.
Khan might be the strongest September candidate for the fight, if not for his religious conflict.
“A lot of people are talking about Amir Khan,” Mayweather Sr. said. “Amir Khan might be a good one. But I tell you the honest truth, if it was me, my last fight, I would find me somebody I could sure enough beat up real bad, somebody who wouldn’t cause me any hassle whatsoever.
“I hope that he takes that fight and then, there ain’t nothing else to fight for. What are you fighting for? This right here should’ve done it for him, but I can’t call what he does, because it’s his money, and it’s his mind, and whatever he chooses to do with his own things, those things are his, not mine.”
Mayweather Sr. said he doesn’t see any remaining challenges at his son’s weight.
But he was coy about whatever disappointed or disillusioned him Saturday.
“Whatever my problem is,” he said, “I’ll get it straight.”
