Thursday, April 29, 2010

Insider Notebook: Mayweather-Ali, Mosley, Chavez-Roach

Floyd Mayweather Jr. said during one HBO 24/7 episode promoting his fight Saturday with "Sugar" Shane Mosley that he is the best ever. Better than Muhammad Ali. Better than Sugar Ray Robinson. Better than everybody. He said it again during a conference call last week.

On Monday, we spoke with Hall of Fame trainer Angelo Dundee, who trained Ali and, at 88, has been around long enough to have seen Robinson during his prime.

"Everybody is entitled to their opinion," Dundee said via telephone. "We are all allowed to dream."

That said a lot.

"There are so many people that try to be Muhammad Ali," Dundee said. "The funny part about this sport is there are no two people alike. There will never be another Sugar Ray Leonard (another Dundee pupil), there will never be another Muhammad Ali. I know the kid means well. He is a nice kid."

Dundee said he saw Mayweather during his preparation for his May 2007 fight against Oscar De La Hoya. He said Mayweather showed him a lot of respect when he came up and put his arms around him. But ...

"He's a great fighter, no doubt about it," Dundee said. "But in this profession, there is always a guy out there who can beat another guy. And I think Mayweather is meeting the guy who can do it.

"The experience Shane Mosley has is second to none. He fought every tough guy on the way up, at the smaller weights and then he grew into the bigger man he is. He is bigger than Mayweather and the stronger man and he won't be fooled by Mayweather."

Dundee said he won't be shocked if Mosley wins Saturday. Either way, he loves this entire situation.

"I'm so happy that fight was made because we need it because we are going to get a fantastic guy to fight (Manny) Pacquiao," he said. "He is the main man."

Arum Not So Kind

Bob Arum, Mayweather's former promoter, was asked Tuesday what he thought about Mayweather boasting of being the best ever. Never the shy one, Arum laid into Mayweather with both barrels.

"It's Floyd Mayweather," Arum said. "Who can take anything he says serious? So why get upset when he compares himself with Ali or Sugar Ray Robinson. He didn't even mention Sugar Ray Leonard. So who even cares what he says? It's only the guys in the press that get excited about this s**t. The average man doesn't listen, has tuned Mayweather out."

Arum intimated that since Mayweather always makes ridiculous comments, they don't mean much.

"If this was a guy who didn't say stupid things always and just came out with one stupid thing, it would be newsworthy," Arum said. "But he says everything stupid. He's a pretty stupid guy."

The Ali Days

Dundee said there was never a dull moment with Ali.

"With Muhammad, there was always something happening," he said. "Even in the negative fights, there was always something happening."

Mourning Lorraine Chargin

The boxing world recently lost promoter Lorraine Chargin, longtime wife of Don Chargin, who was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 2001. Dundee said the Chargins attended the induction ceremonies in Canastota, N.Y., every June.

"What a lady, what a classy lady," said Dundee, who was inducted in 1994. "We are really going to miss her."

Schaefer Still Has Mosley's back

Most reporters, as well as boxing fans, have probably seen the YouTube video released by Victor Conte regarding the deposition "Sugar" Shane Mosley gave for his defamation suit against Conte, who claims Mosley knew he was cheating when he ingested steroids and EPO prior to his 2003 fight against Oscar De La Hoya. (Mosley, as we all know, has denied all along he knew what the skinny was).

Basically, the video shows Mosley admitting he took EPO, but that he didn't know it was against the rules until Federal investigators told him what it was. Mosley's attorney, Judd Burstein, said Conte edited the video to his advantage. The thing is Mosley looked nervous during the deposition. There is no disputing that. He looked around, he hesitated with some of his answers.

Since Mosley has never been in trouble with the law, it could be he is just the type to be rattled during any kind of interrogation, even if he's not guilty of any wrongdoing. Someone used to being in hot water might very well do much better. This is all very possible. But we brought Mosley's uneasiness to the attention of Richard Schaefer on Monday. Here was Schaefer's response:

"Whether he knew or didn't know or whatever, he took, one thing I said back then and I say again, knowing Shane Mosley, his personality, the way he is, the way he takes boxing seriously, the way he loves the sport of boxing, I really am convinced, in my opinion, that Shane Mosley is not a cheater and will never be a cheater," said Schaefer, CEO of Golden Boy Promotions, which promotes Mosley.

"Unfortunately, when one surrounds himself with people, certain bad things can happen. I'm not saying what happened or didn't happen or who did what; I really don't know. I just know his personality. The way I know Shane Mosley, he is not a cheater. I really feel that."

No Concern About Focus

Schaefer was asked if he was worried about Mosley's head being elsewhere for Saturday, what with the video being released at such in inopportune time.

"When I first saw it, I was," Schaefer said. "But after I saw Shane and talked to Shane and I see how he is, in all those fights we have done, I have never seen Shane as confident as he is. He always has a smile on his face, but his attitude is, 'This is my chance, I've been waiting for it and I'm going to be ready.'

"He is confident to have Naazim Richardson in his corner. Everything else is blocked out. As they say, he is in the zone. I really don't think any of those things are getting to him. I have never seen him more excited about a fight. It is absolutely amazing."

Mosley became perturbed with reporters during a conference call last week. This steroid issue happened seven years ago, he reminded all of us. If we want to make him the "poster boy for steroids, so be it," he said.

But perhaps Mosley should himself be reminded that had he just let go of this whole thing that happened seven years ago, nobody would even be talking about it now. But he decided to sue Conte, and since that defamation suit is current, that is why it remains in the news. That is not our fault. It's Mosley's.

Arum Hard on Chavez Jr.

Arum, on Tuesday about noon, sat at a table prior to a news conference in L.A. promoting the June 26 fight between Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. and "Ireland's" John Duddy at the Alamodome in San Antonio. As the discussion about Chavez Jr. commenced, it was obvious Arum was not in a gratuitous mood.

When he was asked what the kid's new trainer, Freddie Roach, can do for Chavez Jr., he did not hide his feelings about the son of the Mexican legend.

"If anyone can bring out the talent that Chavez Jr. has, it's Freddie Roach," Arum said. "The kid is talented. He's a lazy f**k, but he's talented. And he's not very responsible, but Freddie can take and inculcate a work ethic like Pacquiao has, like Amir Khan has. He can make Chavez into a real fighter."

Arum said Chavez Jr. doesn't really know what it is to work hard. He said he learned about fighting by watching his dad, and that's not enough. Arum also suggested Chavez may be lacking the overall desire - from the standpoint of working hard - to be all he can be because he didn't struggle as a kid like Pacquiao, who grew up dirt poor.

"It's hunger," Arum said. "It's getting up on an inclement morning and doing road work."

According to Arum, chairman of Top Rank Inc., it was Top Rank matchmaker Bruce Trampler who first suggested Chavez Jr. go watch Pacquiao train at the Wild Card Gym in Hollywood, where Roach trains Pacquiao.

"He came to my gym for Manny Pacquiao's last fight. He watched us work out, said we were crazy and then I hear he wants to come to the gym and try it out," Roach told BoxingScene.

"He knows that I demand my fighters to work hard and Pacquiao's work ethic is unbelievable. He called Bob and Bob called me and I said, 'I'll give him a chance.' "

That's the key word, "chance." Roach said if young Chavez (41-0-1, 30 KOs) doesn't do what he's told, it's adios.

"If he doesn't live up to it, if he doesn't push himself, then he'll have to go home," said Roach, who said he will begin working with Chavez Jr. this weekend; a sparring session will take place immediately.

"I'm way too busy to be fooling around with someone who doesn't want to work hard," Roach said. "I've got too many fighters, I work a lot of rounds. I did 72 rounds of mitts the other day because I have 14 fighters. I have a full plate.

"I don't have time for somebody that just wants to half-ass it. So if he wants to work, we're going to work. If he doesn't, he can go home."

Roach said he thinks Chavez Jr., 24, possesses the tools to be a true world-class fighter.

"Yes, I wouldn't accept him if he didn't have that," Roach said. "He has that blood line, he can fight. You watch tapes and so forth, he can fight. The thing is he can be a so much better fighter and more confident if he gets in shape and doesn't worry about getting tired.

"When you go into a fight half-assing things, you start thinking, 'Maybe I shouldn't go out and try to finish this guy; take my time.' It takes your skills away from you, actually, because you're not confident."

That can change, Roach said, but it's on Chavez Jr.

"If he sticks it out two months in the Wild Card, he'll be in the best shape of his life," Roach said. "I made him hire my conditioning coach for Manny, Alex Ariza, also, so he's got both of us and we'll be kicking his ass every day."

Pacquiao Will Continue On

Roach was quoted two weeks ago in this space as saying Pacquiao probably won't win the Congressional race next month in the Philippines because Filipinos don't want him to retire from boxing, the thinking being Pacquiao wouldn't have time to do both.

But Roach on Tuesday said that win or lose, Pacquiao will not hang up his gloves.

"Congressman Manny Pacquiao or not Congressman Manny Pacquiao, that's not going to make a difference," Roach said. "We will fight again this year and we hope it's Mayweather."

Roach said he knows the Mayweather camp can't completely back off its request for Olympic-style drug-testing because they "pushed so hard" for it. But he believes a compromise can be reached.

"We're at 24 days (for cut-off for blood-testing), they're at 14 days," Roach said. "Is 17 days acceptable? I'm sure negotiations can be made somewhere along the line."

Roach said he spoke with Arum - who promotes Pacquiao - about this and he said Arum told him he is of the mind the whole thing can be worked out. Roach also said he originally told Arum that perhaps Pacquiao's next fight should be against Antonio Margarito.

"I had told Bob, 'Let's fight Margarito in Texas and we'll sell out that (Cowboys) Stadium and Bob says, "No, we'll do that after Mayweather,' " Roach said.

Author: Robert Morales

Source: Boxingscene.com

0 comments:

Related Posts with Thumbnails