Thursday 25 February 2010

Jeff Mayweather says Floyd is looking phenomenal in camp, expects people to be shocked on May 1st

On January 24th of 2009 ‘Sugar’ Shane Mosley rejuvenated his hall of fame career with a brutal thrashing of then WBA Welterweight champion Antonio Margarito. The victory was dominant and destructive and despite taking place over a year ago that performance is what many of Mosley’s supporters are pointing to when backing up their beliefs that the Pomona fighter will emerge victorious against Floyd Mayweather on May 1st.

While Mosley did show that he has a lot left in his tank, one man who isn’t fully taking the bait is Las Vegas based trainer Jeff Mayweather, who still heavily favors his nephew heading into their showdown at the MGM Grand. Mayweather’s beliefs don’t stem as from his opinion of Mosley as a fighter nearly as much as they do from his first hand analysis of Floyd. Just last week Uncle Jeff was able to catch Floyd in training and came away beyond impressed.

“I had a chance to see him recently,” Jeff says looking back to last Saturday. “He looks great already. He looks phenomenal. Believe me it aint going to be nothing like nobody thinks. All of this talk about Shane beating Margarito, who cares? Margarito is a walking punching bag and Mayweather is almost impossible to hit. You are looking at two totally different situations.”

Elaborating further, Jeff points out that Floyd wasn’t working on anything specifically for the May 1st clash as far as technique is concerned and was instead simply going through his daily motions. Jeff notes that while Floyd still has a long road ahead he already appears to be on point.

“Basically he was just being himself and working out but he was looking very, very sharp and his instinct was there. He looked like he was ready to fight now. He still has a whole lot of work ahead of him but just what I watched it’s kind of like one of those situations where even though he is my nephew I am still amazed when I watch him.”

Amazement is the type of reaction that is rarely seen from Jeff, as he has been know to be honest and harsh when assessing all things concerning the sport. Still, when looking at the talent of his nephew Jeff believes he is simply looking at a special kind of athlete.

“I’ve seen all of these things before, even when he was a kid,” Jeff notes. “But now when I sit back and actually take a look and take myself out of the mode of being his relative, I’m sitting back and watching art. Basically it’s kind of like watching a Bruce Lee or tenth degree Black Belt or somebody who really knows their craft. Now I put myself in the mode of a fan instead of him being my nephew and I’ve had a chance to see what other people have seen.”

Finishing up, Jeff points out that Floyd’s Uncle Roger is in camp with him and seems to also be focusing on the task at hand despite the well documented legal issues surrounding him. All Team Mayweather can do is take things at a pace as May 1st creeps closer and closer.

“Roger is training him. They have to be doing well because they are one of the top teams in boxing. I think he is just taking it day by day. The fight will take place even before any court thing anyways. I think he is safe in that aspect but I’m sure it’s in the back of his mind. He has to deal with it.”


Source: Las Vegas Boxing Examiner- Chris Robinson

Friday 19 February 2010

Shane Mosley: "In This Division, I'm The Best"

By Thomas Gerbasi

Can you picture this? Los Angeles Lakers star Kobe Bryant is walking down the street and gets called on to join in a pickup game at the local schoolyard – and he agrees.

Yeah, I can’t see it either. But take a little trip further up the mountain in California to Big Bear, and that’s precisely what Shane Mosley does when he’s not preparing for a fight. No, not pickup basketball (though he does do that too) – he fights.

“I’m always in the gym,” said Mosley. “Amateurs or pros, I get in there with them, and its work. Even when I wasn’t supposed to be in the gym, they’d call me or see me walking down the street. ‘Hey Shane, my guy needs some sparring. Can you work with him for a couple days?’ What time you want to go? ‘Today, about two.’ Let’s go. And I get in there and spar with the guy, no problem. It’s like playing basketball to me, getting in the ring and boxing.”

Yeah, you read right. All it takes for Shane Mosley, three-division world champion and future Hall of Famer, to spar with somebody is a simple request. That must be some shock for a kid in the amateurs or a budding pro to be in the ring with one of the sport’s true superstars.

“Some days, the first day they might be in a little bit of awe, but I work with them and I don’t go all out,” said Mosley. “Then you start to see them getting better and better and that ‘star’ thing wears out. And in turn, it makes me better and makes me sharper. So it works both ways.”

Things went along like this for Mosley throughout 2009, a year which should have been one of the biggest of his then-16 years in the game. It started off well enough, with a nine round drubbing of Antonio Margarito before a huge crowd at LA’s STAPLES Center. But then…

Nothing.

No big fights, no little fights, no keep busy fights. Nothing.

“It was a little frustrating, but I kept myself working, kept myself in the gym, and worked with other fighters getting ready for their fights because I thought that maybe a fight might come in the middle of the year,” he said. “But it didn’t. Nobody really wanted to show up and fight. I shouldn’t say nobody. The fights I wanted were (Manny) Pacquiao or (Floyd) Mayweather, but they didn’t happen.”

By the end of last year, Mosley finally got a fight. It wasn’t the one he wanted with Pacquiao or Mayweather, but it was a well-received matchup with WBC welterweight champ Andre Berto on January 30th of 2010. That ended up falling by the wayside as well when Berto withdrew from the bout due to the earthquake in Haiti which devastated him and his family there.

It wasn’t the way Mosley wanted to start off the year, but as soon as the Berto fight was scrapped, the behind the scenes wheels started turning, and earlier this month he had a new fight for May 1st, one he wanted, a big one, against Floyd Mayweather Jr.

It’s without question the biggest fight of 2010 thus far, and may end up being the biggest of the year if the winner doesn’t meet up with Manny Pacquiao in the fall or winter (assuming Pacquiao gets by Joshua Clottey in March). And despite Pacquiao and Mayweather’s claims otherwise, Mosley says he’s the man to beat in the welterweight division.

“In this division, I’m the best,” he said in an interview conducted before the cancellation of the Berto fight. “I beat the number one guy, and that makes me the number one welterweight.”

It’s simple boxing math, the kind that used to suffice in the glory days of the sweet science. Now you’ve got businessmen masquerading as boxers and the most interesting fights happening outside the ring and not between the ropes. Enter Mosley, who, unlike Mayweather, was never interested in protecting his perfect record. In fact, when he was an unbeaten lightweight champion on his way to the top of the pound-for-pound list, he told me that he knew that one day, someone would have his number. But that wouldn’t deter him or keep him down. When reminded of that chat, he smiled.

“I knew what type of desire and heart I had,” he said. “I’m the type of guy who never gives up, who never quits. Back then, I believed that. Even though I knew I was gonna lose someday, I also knew that I was still gonna be on top of my game. And I’m still gonna be on top. Even four, five years from now, if I’m still fighting, I believe I’m gonna be at the top because I’m gonna do all the things necessary to be the best and to be on top. That’s just the way I am.”

Mosley, even at 38 years old, still talks about being hungry. Despite all the accolades, titles, and big fights, he still wants more, and is still competitive to the point where the May battle with Mayweather may finally see ‘Pretty Boy Floyd’ pushed to the limit. Why? Because Mosley has the speed and attitude to make him fight. That will then do one of two things – it will lift Mayweather to new heights in the ring, or it will make him realized that counting his money on the sidelines is a safer pursuit than walking up those four steps into the boxing ring. In other words, Mosley will be Mayweather’s very own truth machine, and that’s a title he embraces.

“I love to fight,” said Mosley. “It’s a job, but it’s not really a job to me because I’m a warrior in the heart. So when it’s time to fight, I fight. Until I finish my career and do what I’ve got to do, I look at myself as one of the top fighters right now. This era of the fight game can still have great fights, but right now there’s not a lot of guys that have heart like I do. Me and Bernard Hopkins, we’re two older guys who fight with our hearts, which is good.”

Old guys? He laughs.

“They keep calling me old all the time, so I’m gonna agree with them. But I feel like I’m 23 right now.”

Shane Mosley will need all the weapons in his arsenal to beat Floyd Mayweather this spring. He knows that and he’s fine with it. But when facing one of the best of this era, “Sugar Shane” just might have the secret ingredient his opponent appears to have lost – he still loves the game.

“When I’m in the ring and I’m doing my thing, I’m enjoying myself,” he said. “I think that a lot of guys, young guys say, ‘I want the big bucks, to retire undefeated, and just get all the money I can before I leave.’ Boxing, to me, you want to get in there and see who the best is. It’s a competitive sport and I have a competitive sport. I want to be the best, so I want to fight the best. And I said from Day One, ‘bring it on.’”

Source: Boxingscene.com

Wednesday 17 February 2010

Mayweather vs. Mosley Press Tour: Public is Invited

Welterweight superstar Floyd "Money" Mayweather and WBA Welterweight Champion Sugar Shane Mosley are hitting the road to announce their May 1 mega-fight showdown with stops in New York City, Washington, DC and Los Angeles. The press tour will reflect the magnitude of this highly competitive and much-anticipated face-off between boxing's biggest stars.

MAYWEATHER VS. MOSLEY: TOUR DATES AND CITIES

TUESDAY, March 2 New York City, NOKIA Theatre Times Square

WEDNESDAY, March 3 Washington, DC, The Lincoln Theatre

THURSDAY, March 4 Los Angeles, NOKIA Plaza L.A. LIVE

Floyd Mayweather: Shane Mosley's 'desperate ... wants that last big payday'

With training camp two weeks away, Floyd Mayweather gradually has turned his focus from verbally cracking on Manny Pacquiao to physically cracking on Shane Mosley.

The difference between himself and Mosley, he says now, is that he took the fight by choice, while Mosley took it by necessity.

So here, the Grand Rapids native tips off his story line about the May 1 bout, as he views it: Mosley, who initially declined the fight way back in 1999, when both were undefeated, has lost five times and gone through a recent divorce since, and finally agreed for the oldest reason in the sport.

“I just think that Shane Mosley, he’s desperate, so he has no choice but to fight me. His career’s coming to an end and, before he goes, he wants that last big payday,” Mayweather said.

Mosley hasn’t always made the wisest monetary decisions. In 2004, he turned down a $12 million third fight with Oscar De La Hoya, whom he defeated twice, to take $3.5 million against Winky Wright. He lost. Then, he lost a rematch.

It took Mosley more than a year to get back into big-time fights. He defeated Fernando Vargas twice in 2006, after which Mayweather-Mosley made perfect sense. Mosley stood in mid-ring after the fight and said he wanted a vacation instead. Regardless how anyone spins that for the next 2 1/2 months, the interview is its own best evidence.

Now, at age 38, Mosley finally wanted the fight at the same time as Mayweather.

That, the failed Mayweather-Pacquiao talks, and the windfall both figure to make, are why the fight is happening.

“I don’t really like to speak on people’s personal business, because his personal life is his personal life, but he just went through a divorce, and sometimes going through a hard divorce can be very, very excruciating,” Mayweather said. “It can cost a lot of money. And turning down a big-money fight with De La Hoya, then going back to ESPN -- things like that add up.”

Or subtract up, as it were.

Mayweather first called for the fight in 1998, of which he quickly reminds people, and Mosley seems hard-pressed to recall at all.

In December of that year, Mayweather defeated Angel Manfredy and called out two undefeated potential opponents: De La Hoya, in a pie-in-the-sky request, and Mosley.

In February 1999, as Mayweather prepared for his third championship fight, and his first in Grand Rapids, against Carlos Rios of Argentina, he again called out Mosley.

Jack Mosley, who trained his son then, was there. So was Shane Mosley, who did analysis for TNT, in the only Mayweather title fight HBO did not televise.

Jack Mosley said the fight could happen, as long as his son made $10 million.

At the time, Mayweather and Mosley weren’t even making seven figures, much less eight.
It was the classic method of using money to say no.

Today, Mayweather claims that’s the only reason Mosley said yes.

“When I wanted to fight Shane Mosley, he was young and undefeated,” Mayweather said. “But there’s always going to be an excuse. When I beat Shane, of course, it’s going to be that he was an old man. I’m too big for (Juan Manuel) Marquez but I’m not too big for Pacquiao, even though Pacquiao and Marquez had life-or-death fights, and they’re both the same size. As far as that goes, I’m always in a no-win situation.”

When Mayweather first called out Mosley, he weighed 130 pounds, to Mosley’s 135. Mosley immediately moved up two divisions, to welterweight, the 147-pound class, where he remains.

It took six years before Mayweather reached that weight, and another two beyond that -- after his 2007 win over De La Hoya -- before Mosley started to answer his call.

“I told Shane Mosley that all roads lead through Floyd Mayweather and that everybody makes their biggest payday with me,” Mayweather said. “I think it just took him 12 years to see that this is true.”

In 73 days, we’ll find out whose mouth wrote the check his fists couldn’t cash.

By David Mayo | The Grand Rapids Press

Saturday 13 February 2010

Mayweather-Mosley: Strong Hispanic Undercard is Planned

The welterweight mega-fight between Floyd Mayweather Jr. and WBA champion Shane Mosley is a few months away, but the anticipation continues to build by the day. Mosley defends the title against Mayweather on May 1 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. Golden Boy Promotions CEO Richard Schaefer tells BoxingScene.com that he plans to put together a very strong undercard to accompany the main event on HBO pay-per-view.

Because Mayweather-Mosley takes place on the week when many Mexican fight fans will celebrate their Mexico's independence, Schaefer wants to have a strong Hispanic presence on the show.

"Eric [Gomez], Leonard Ellerbe and Al Haymon, they'll be talking about the [undercard]. They'll be talking about it and I'll be involved in that to see if we could put together a good undercard because it is the big Mexican Independence week, so we want to make sure that we do have a very strong Hispanic undercard," Schaefer told BoxingScene.com.

The big May 1 event will be the perfect opportunity for Golden Boy to introduce undefeated welterweight Saul Alvarez (30-0) of Mexico to a worldwide audience. Already a big star in his country, the 19-year-old is going to have a big presence in the promotion of the pay-per-view. The Mayweather-Mosley press tour is planned for March. Golden Boy is also planning to have a separate press tour, focusing on the Hispanic market, with Alvarez and company president Oscar De La Hoya.

"There will be a separate press, focusing on the Hispanic market, with Oscar De La Hoya and Saul Alvarez," Schaefer said.

Source: Boxingscene.com

Trainer Nazim Richardson On How To Beat Floyd Mayweather Jr.

Mayweather vs Mosley Promo Videos











Wednesday 10 February 2010

Mayweather & Mosley Interviews with FoxSports



Mayweather vs Mosley Promos



Mosley Seeks Respect By Exploiting Mayweather's Flaws

For the last few years, Mosley has been trying to secure a mega-fight. When Floyd Mayweather Jr. retired in 2008, and Pacquiao was still competing in the lower weight classes, Mosley had no mega-fight dance partners in the welterweight division. Things got a lot brighter in 2009. Mayweather announced his return to boxing, and Pacquiao became a major player at 147-pounds. Mosley began a heavy media campaign to fight both of them. Neither fight materialized as Pacquiao and Mayweather were more focused on fighting each other.

To keep himself busy, Mosley signed for a unification bout with unbeaten WBC champion Andre Berto. Soon after, a string of unforeseen events would change Mosley's luck in a way that nobody could have ever predicted. The Mayweather-Pacquiao negotiations fell apart and both fighters went their separate ways. And then Berto, stricken with grief over his relatives that were affected by the earthquake in Haiti, withdrew from the fight with Mosley.

Golden Boy Promotions, who handle Mosley and have a working relationship with Mayweather, immediately focused their efforts on matching the two fighters. Within a few short weeks, Mosley secured his mega-fight. He defends his WBA title against Mayweather on May 1 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.

Mosley told BoxingScene.com that Mayweather has nothing in his arsenal that worries him. Long before the contracts were signed, Mosley studied tapes of Mayweather's style. He reminded me about Oscar De La Hoya's infamous training camp for the Mayweather fight in 2007. Mosley was De La Hoya's sparring partner for the Mayweather fight. He studied tapes to imitate Mayweather's style and body mannerisms for the sparring sessions. Mosley anticipates Mayweather's plan to box his way to a decision. Except Mosley has the same mindset, he plans to outbox Mayweather.

"I'm the veteran in this matchup and he has to watch out for a lot of things that I do. I'm very fast as well. I have good speed now and it showed in the [Antonio] Margarito fight. Speed that people thought I lost. I've had different changes in my life and I'm getting better and better and I'm feeling better and better. I had to imitate him when he was fighting Oscar. I pretty much know his thinking process, what he's going to do. He's a counterpuncher. He's very sharp but a counterpuncher. He only strikes when he knows he's got you beat. I'm not worried about that," Mosley told BoxingScene.com.

"We know his plan, that he wants box. What happens when he gets outboxed? I mean, Zab Judah outboxed him for four rounds, three or four rounds. He's [Mayweather] smaller and has shorter arms. [He has problems dealing with ] speed and southpaws and people going to their right. You put the guys that I fought against the guys that he fought and what happens? I fought guys who were big, coming in at 172. He fought guys who barely reached the 147-pound weight limit and guys who are 5'4 and 5'5, who are a lot shorter. And I'm fighting guys taller and bigger than me in every way and knocking them out."

Mayweather claims that he tried to make a fight with Mosley over a decade ago, and Shane blew him off. Back then Mayweather was competing at super featherweight and Mosley was dominating the lightweight division. Mayweather has repeated this story countless times over the last ten years. Mosley told BoxingScene the story is false. He says Mayweather is distorting the facts. Additionally, he says it was Floyd who walked away ten years ago - and Shane claims there is an old videotaped interview that backs his version of the events.

"He does a lot of lying. These are facts. There is a videotape. In fact somebody at FX told me that they have the videotape of me calling him out at lightweight, before I moved up to welterweight because I couldn't make lightweight no more. He knew that and he said in his words 'I'm not going to go up to lightweight, I'm going to stay at 130 and try to break the record for the most title defenses.' It was 26 defenses or something like that. He said that in his own words back then. What he forgets is that it's caught on tape when he tells that lie. I just need to find the tape," Mosley said.

And let's not forget the trash talking over the last ten years. Both fighters have done their fair share. Despite the years of trading verbal jabs, Mosley doesn't view the fight as something personal. He simply wants to take a statement to the media and the fans. Mosley doesn't think he ever received the proper respect from the critics. He believes his status in the sport was always downplayed.

Mosley's voice began to change when he discussed how the other top welterweights, like Mayweather, were beating opponents from lower weight divisions and the critics were glorifying the wins. At the same time, Mosley was fighting much bigger opponents and receiving far less credit and attention for the victories.

"It won't be the fight of my life but I just want to make a point that I'm the best welterweight fighter right now. There is no welterweight out there who can beat me. I'm not just going to talk about, I want to be about it. I'm going to beat him with speed, speed with speed. Everybody on their mind has Manny Pacquiao and Mayweather and I'm coming right through the back door. And I'm going to step right in an I'm going to make sure that they know that I'm here," Mosley said.

"Mayweather had no choice but to come to me if he wants to make any money. This is not going to be personal for me. This is going to be fun for me. I don't know if it's going to be personal for him. This is like when I fought Oscar the first time. People would ask - 'are you afraid? are you scared? - no, this is what I want. I'm not going to be angry or scared. This is what I want. I'm going to have fun beating Mayweather. It does have a ring of redemption because I get to let the people know, let the fans know, that I'm the best fighter when I've been overlooked and viewed as the second best and third best."

"And it's been like that throughout my whole career, even after I beat the top guys. I beat Oscar and I was still second best and I beat Margarito and I'm still like second or third best. I keep upsetting these people and fighting these guys outside of my weight class. Moving up to 154 and wiling to go to 160 to fight guys bigger than me. Losing to some but still beating guys bigger than me. And then you have these so-called tops guys at 147 go and fight people at 140 and 135 and they get glorified for it. But me going to 154 and trying to fight bigger guys, I get condemned for it."

He plans to exploit Mayweather's entire style. Mosley doesn't think Mayweather is capable of dealing with his style of physical dimensions. De La Hoya's bigger frame gave Mayweather a lot of problems. Mayweather won a twelve round decision but the fight was much closer than anyone anticipated. Mosley believes Mayweather has a lot of trouble with bigger fighters who are aggressive and know how to box.

"He's not going to be the same Mayweather, when you see him potshoting these guys. He wont be able to potshot me like that. I'm actually longer than him, taller than him. He won't be able to potshot me like that. I have longer arms. It's not going to work. I don't think he realizes that. He's had so much success fighting these little guys when he's been able to sit back and potshot them that he doesn't realize that I'm just as fast as him, just as slick as him and can outbox him too. I'm not even going by the power because that's just the icing on the cake. I'm going to beat him at his game," Mosley said.

Source: Boxingscene.com

by Rick Reeno

Floyd Mayweather Stops by Radio Row - CBS Sports

http://www.cbssports.com/video/player/play/boxing/wLJdkS6YkOeXROvYe9sEwqKhKLRzMbcj

Interviews with Yahoo Sports



Interviews with ESPN




Sugar Shane Mosley talks about Floyd Mayweather, Manny Pacquiao and more

Roger Mayweather: Mosley lost to Cotto - is Cotto better than Floyd?"