“Bradley has a chance to prove that he can handle 47. People talk a lot about Bradley’s power, but he’s not an overwhelming knockout artist. He’s not a one-hitter-quitter either, but he is a pressure fighter. He’s tough and sturdy. He likes to lead with his head, so cuts may come into play in this fight, but he has to deal with Manny’s hand speed. But the question with Manny Pacquiao at this point, because you’re hearing a lot of other things going on, is is his heart still into boxing anymore? Does he really want to do this? Because he is getting to that point and he’s at that age where if he really doesn’t want to do this and he’s not really into this, then he can have a bad night. Obviously coming off of his last performance, he can’t have another bad night and he definitely can’t have a loss or the talk of having a Floyd Mayweather bout is definitely out of the window. He has the pressure of going out and fighting the younger fighter, and if he doesn’t look impressive or it’s a struggle and it looks anything like his last fight, this could be the beginning of the end for him,” stated world-class trainer Ron Frazier, who shared his take on the two biggest fights of the year, Pacquiao vs. Bradley and Mayweather vs. Cotto. Check it out!
PC: How is the move to Tapout Training Center been treating you so far?
RF: I’ve been at the Tapout Training Center for about a week and a half and it’s been real good, man. The energy has been real good and the young guys are working hard and trying to improve their game. We’ve implemented some new things and it’s just been real positive and real fun.
PC: You are a big time basketball fan and of course a boxing guy. What did you think of the comments Floyd Mayweather made about Jeremy Lin?
RF: For him, I thought it was a little bit unnecessary. I know ESPN put it out there, does his ethnicity or his nationality have anything to do with his popularity of him right now. If you look at the story and you take away everything else, it’s a great story. I mean, nobody, unless you count Billy Ray Bates like 30 something years ago doing his thing in Portland coming out of nowhere, you haven’t seen anything like this. And it’s not like he’s taking away from the elite point guards in the NBA. This is a guy who was in the D-Leagues; he was with Golden State last year and got cut. He was maybe about to get cut again and maybe not have an opportunity to make it to an NBA squad, so to be doing what he has been doing in these last 6 or 7 games is a great story. And no matter who it was, what color or what nationality they are, I think it was a great story. I think it was a situation where Floyd didn’t necessarily have to go there. I think he was kind of baited into it by the public, and he’s always on his gamesmanship best and he’s looking to get pay-per-view numbers and he knows the routine. The more people that dislike him, the more people that will tune in and hope he gets knocked out, but I just thought it was unnecessary.
PC: On to the actual fight, how do you see Mayweather/Cotto playing out on May 5th?
RF: I think Cotto has a puncher’s chance (laughing). I never thought that it was a great matchup stylistically for Miguel Cotto. Miguel Cotto is a counter puncher a lot of times in his fights and he’s going to be trying to counter a guy that 1) he’s slower than, and 2) who he’s shorter than. He’s not gonna have a reach advantage, so I think it’s going to be a tough night for him. I know everybody is going, “he’s the bigger guy and they are fighting at 154,” but it’s not like he’s campaigned there his entire career. He spent the bulk of his career at 140. And I know Floyd started off at 130, but both of them have been out of those weight categories for awhile. Floyd knows he can go up to 54. He was actually in that weight division before Miguel Cotto was when he fought Oscar De La Hoya. I like the fact that Miguel’s coming off of a great performance against Antonio Margarito, but really, who has he fought at 154? He has looked good there, but he wasn’t really challenged at this weight because the guys he fought were limited at best, or suspect in many ways, like Margarito. Floyd still looked to be on top of his game against Victor Ortiz, who came into the ring a super middleweight. I mean, this dude came into the ring at 168, so I don’t think the size of Miguel Cotto, as far as his weight, is going to be a concern.
Miguel has to go in there and he has to do what everybody else has tried to do, make Floyd fight at a faster pace than he wants to and not let him potshot, and I just don’t see that happening because he’s the slower guy. He is not the better boxer. I mean, what’s he gonna do, knock Floyd out? Miguel’s thing has been a war of attrition. He’s not a one-hitter-quitter type of guy. He wears you down and puts you away. And over the last 3 or 4 years, he hasn’t been going to the body like he did early in his career. Maybe that would be a better opportunity for him, but Floyd likes to throw those short uppercuts, so that might not be a great idea either. So I just don’t see anywhere where he can beat Floyd if Floyd is on top of his game. But Floyd is getting to that point as far as age-wise; he is 35 years old now, and is this the fight where he gets old in one fight? We’ve seen it happen before with Sugar Ray Leonard and some other greats, where they get old in one fight, and that’s the hope I think for a lot of people is that Floyd gets old in one fight. But whatever people say about Floyd Mayweather, this is the one thing, he takes care of his body. I’ve never known him…I mean, I know he goes to clubs and he throws money around and all those things and antics, but I’ve never known him to drink or do any drugs, and I know he is a workout fiend, so the fact that there isn’t a lot of wear and tear, because over the last few years, he’s taken some time off; I just don’t think we’re going to see him get old right now.
PC: The fight everyone wants is Pacquiao/Mayweather, but instead we get Mayweather/Cotto and Pacquiao’s next opponent is Timothy Bradley in June. What are you expecting from that fight?
RF: Bradley has a chance to prove that he can handle 47. People talk a lot about Bradley’s power, but he’s not an overwhelming knockout artist. He’s not a one-hitter-quitter either, but he is a pressure fighter. He’s tough and sturdy. He likes to lead with his head, so cuts may come into play in this fight, but he has to deal with Manny’s hand speed. But the question with Manny Pacquiao at this point, because you’re hearing a lot of other things going on, is is his heart still into boxing anymore? Does he really want to do this? Because he is getting to that point and he’s at that age where if he really doesn’t want to do this and he’s not really into this, then he can have a bad night. Obviously coming off of his last performance, he can’t have another bad night and he definitely can’t have a loss or the talk of having a Floyd Mayweather bout is definitely out of the window. He has the pressure of going out and fighting the younger fighter, and if he doesn’t look impressive or it’s a struggle and it looks anything like his last fight, this could be the beginning of the end for him.
PC: Manny is great and a proven guy, but I never like to hear the retirement talks before a fight. That always bothers me because it seems that your mind is already there, you know?
RF: Yeah, you know, you can’t do anything with one foot out of the door and one foot in the arena. I don’t care what sport it is. If you have your eye on retirement and you’re trying to focus on fighting, it just doesn’t work. You can’t do those two things simultaneously. If he truly believe this is going to be his last fight, I would rather hear it at the post-fight press conference or in the ring after the fight, “Hey, you know what? Either way, I’m done.” I just don’t like when people starts to say two or three months before the fight and a fighter saying this might be it. I may be packing it in, because I’m thinking somewhere in the back of your mind, if you are thinking about retirement, maybe you are cutting corners in training. If Manny doesn’t train as hard as he has been training…obviously this guy has trained his butt off to do what he has done, especially over the last 5 or 6 years. I don’t like to hear that talk. I would rather them have him go to training camp, prepare him, and let him do what he does, and then after the fight, he can announce it in the ring.
PC: I always appreciate your time; again, best of luck to you over there at Tapout. Is there anything you want to say in closing, because I know just from my Facebook, people have gained a respect for you and your knowledge in the sport?
RF: I want to thank everyone for all of the fan support and all of the people that supported my move from Xtreme Couture to Tapout. It’s been really good to hear all of the good feelings, even all of the fighters that I left behind that I don’t train anymore; a lot of them have stepped up and said they are happy for me and they are proud to have worked with me, and they want to see me do well and do big things in the future. It’s been really great to get all of the support that I’ve been getting and I’m just going to keep it rolling at the Tapout Training Center. I expect big things out of myself, so I expect big things out of them as well.
