In early November I asked world renowned referee Richard Steele his thoughts on the hotly anticipated clash between Manny Pacquiao and Miguel Cotto. Speaking bluntly as he only knows how, Steele was quick to give the edge the Filipino superstar based off of his physical and mental strength.
On the night of November 14th Steele’s proclamations would come true as Pacquiao would end up dropping Cotto in rounds three and four before dominating the second half of the fight and eventually stopping the proud Puerto Rican in the 12th. When asked to look back at Pacquiao’s victory, Steele simply grinned as if to say ‘I told you so’.
“Just like I always thought,” Steele pointed out. “He was too busy, too strong, and too determined for Cotto. I’ve always seen weakness in Cotto throughout his career that I have never overlooked or never forgot. I’ve seen Cotto. He looks good one fight and then the next fight he shows something that shows he’s a beatable fighter. I’ve never thought Cotto was a type of fighter who would be a superstar.”
Steele was then posed with the question as to what has stood out with Pacquiao during his recent run of success in beating the likes of Cotto as well as Ricky Hatton and Oscar De La Hoya in higher weight classes.
“It’s his confidence,” Steele says of Pacquiao. “He’s winning and he’s winning big fights that some people thought he would lose. I think they have been placing him in the right fights at the right time with the right opponents.”
One opponent who Steele feels isn’t right for Pacquiao, however, is his rumored March 13th dance partner Floyd Mayweather Jr. Despite seeing greatness in everything Pacquiao does, Steele can’t envision any way in which young Mayweather doesn’t emerge victorious in a March 13th clash.
“Let me tell you, there is no way he is going to beat Floyd Mayweather.” Steele stated almost coldly. “Floyd is bigger much in the same way that Cotto was bigger. But Cotto wasn’t able to keep up with Pacquiao’s speed. Floyd’s speed is better and he is faster. He is bigger, he is faster, and he is going to be punching harder.”
Knowing that Steele himself has seen Mayweather in action up close and personal as a referee over the years, the question was posed as to how many times exactly Steel has officiated a Mayweather fight and what he remembers best about those contests.
“Twice,” Steele recalls. “When he fought Zab Judah and Diego Corrales. Floyd knocked Corrales down like five or six times. He was too fast and too slick. He would always catch Corrales off balance. It’s his speed and his accuracy. He punches for a certain area and he hits wherever he aims. His accuracy is something that a lot of people don’t talk about because he is so fast but it’s just like when he check-hooked Ricky Hatton. That punch was on the button. That’s the way he fights, that’s the way he practices, and that’s what he shoots for. He knows how to find the vulnerable areas of his opponents and he punches for those areas.”
While Floyd did show varying levels of greatness against Corrales, Judah, and Hatton that was years ago. Mayweather’s recent 21 month layoff from December 2007 to September 2009 coupled with the fact that he will be 33 years old when and if the Pacquiao fight takes place has had some questioning whether Floyd is the same fighter. Steele was asked whether he still feels that Floyd is in the prime of his career and his response was definitive.
“Yes,” Steele remarked. “Floyd Mayweather is a hell of a fighter and he still has the speed and still has the hunger. He has that edge to show people he’s the best. No matter what he does they won’t give him the recognition that he feels he deserves. When he beats Pacquiao they still won’t give it to him. They are just going to say that Pacquiao was a smaller guy moving up.”
While Steele’s favoritism towards Mayweather is apparent, the question was asked as to how he feels the fight will unfold. Pitting Pacquiao’s unorthodox and relentless attack against Mayweather’s uncanny skills and superb defense will surely be intriguing but the Los Angeles native feels many will be in for a surprise when everything goes down.
“There isn’t going to be any running on either guy’s part,” Steele noted. “Floyd is going to let him come in and they are going to have to fight. The speed and the power will play a huge part. I don’t expect this fight to go long. I think this fight will last three or four rounds at the most.”
A bold statement from Steele, who is never shy about sharing his opinion. Wanting to tackle the Pacquiao-Mayweather developments further, Steele was prodded for his opinion on the recent Olympic style drug testing fiasco that has surrounded the bout. Mayweather’s team has reportedly been vocal about wanting to enforce such rules and Steele seems to understand their reasons.
“I think that each and everyone that is in the sport should be able to do a drug test,” Steele claimed. “If they can’t pass the drug test than they should do something else. We need clean athletes in our sports. Boxing has enough bad things to talk about. If we can show the public that they are buying tickets to a clean sport I think that can’t do nothing but help boxing.”
It was reported at first that Pacquiao had refused to agree with such testing but there was more to the story than that. When Steele was informed that Pacquiao is indeed willing to comply with such testing, during the initial press kick off, one month prior to the contest, and immediately following the bout, he seemed to side with the Filipino fighter.
“I read that in the paper. If Pacquiao aggress to 30 days before the fight and one right after the fight I think that should be good enough. Maybe do one or two urine tests in between.”
One last question to wrap things up. With so much turmoil recently surrounding the Pacquiao-Mayweather contest, Steele was posed with how hard of a hit it would be for boxing if the fight didn’t happen. Reacting with passion, Steele insists that through hell and high water the fight will indeed happen.
“There’s no way that the fight will not happen. I said it a long time ago when people were talking about having the fight in Texas, Louisiana, and California that there was no way Las Vegas would lose that fight. This is going to be the biggest fight ever in history.”
