I recently had a chance to speak with boxing trainer Jeff Mayweather during the 196th edition of "On The Ropes." Jeff has work with many high profiled boxers and has trained several fighters to world championship belts. Jeff has also served as another family voice in the camps of his nephew Floyd Mayweather Jr. In part 1 of this 2 part interview Jeff talks in detail about the upcoming Floyd Mayweather Jr vs. Saul "Canelo" Alvarez bout and who he believes is going to win this highly anticipated bout. "Jazzy" Jeff also talks about the catch weight for the bout, and what impact he thinks that will have on the fight. Here is what Jeff Mayweather had to say.
Jenna J: Keith Thurman has called out Floyd before, he’s made that statement, what do you see of Keith Thurman’s future based off his last fight?
Jeff Mayweather: Thurman’s a good fighter. Technically he’s not that great but he is a power puncher and he got tremendous heart. But him mentioning Floyd’s name is like 95 percent of these guys, realistically they don’t have a chance, but you know, they do want the opportunity. As far as Keith Thurman, that would be a joke, Floyd would play with him.
Jenna: Alright, well what do you see in Keith, you said that he’s not that great stylistically, he doesn’t offer that many great things in the ring but what do you see in terms of his strengths?
Mayweather: No don’t get me wrong, I think that he has a bright future, I mean any guy that can punch has a chance, he has a punchers chance just like anyone else but he’s just not technically sound. That doesn’t necessarily mean that he’s not gonna become champion of the world one day or anything like that because sometimes when you don’t be as technically sound as a lot of the fighters, sometimes that works to your advantage. I think he has a bright future, but him calling out Floyd, I understand that, who’s not gonna call out Floyd? Who don’t want the biggest payday of their life?
Jenna: Yeah that’s what a lot of fighters do these days, they’re all hoping to get in the Floyd sweepstakes and land that big mega fight cause Floyd’s only got about six left in the tank. But speaking of that Jeff, what do you think about the upcoming fight that Floyd has with Canelo? What are you seeing in that one?
Mayweather: Basically I think that it’s a fight in which Canelo has a chance like anyone else, he has a punchers chance. I mean Floyd’s IQ in boxing is phenomenal, being that he’s my nephew or not, his IQ is phenomenal and to be honest, I’ve never seen anyone in boxing that can make adjustments faster than Floyd. I’m talking about in the history of boxing, not just in this era, I’m talking about any era. With that being said, that’s basically what’s gonna happen with Canelo.Floyd’s gonna find out what it is and what it takes to open Canelo up and make him be vulnerable to be hit. Once that happens I think that Floyd’s gonna beat him fairly easy. But he also presents a punchers chance, he’s young and he’s tough and durable so he has a chance, but his chances are very slim.
Jenna: Now what do you make of the catch weight for the fight?
Mayweather: Um, it’s kinda weird because it was Canelo who thought they needed to make it a catch weight to make the fight happen but with that being said, Floyd doesn’t care if it’s a catch weight because at the end of the day, once they get off the scales, what difference does it make? So what you’re cutting two pounds, that’s all you gotta do, is make the weight for the day before the fight and after that you’re gonna be 165 lbs. So to be honest the catch weight is not really a big deal, it’s not a big deal at all because basically Floyd realistically can be fighting at 140 lbs if he chose to.
Floyd walks around at almost 151, so just to lose 4 pounds, it’s nothing. Floyd eats while he trains. At the end of the day it’s not so much about the weight, it’s more about the skills, and that’s why Floyd’s been able to win 154 lbs titles twice and he’s never been 154 lbs. With each fight he’s 147 or 149, he was 149 lbs with Oscar and he was 147 lbs with Miguel Cotto. Floyd’s never gonna see 154 lbs but his skills make up for the weight difference.
Jenna: Jeff let me ask you this, do you think the catch weight is actually a built in excuse for the Canelo camp so they can point out that they had to lose those extra two pounds and try to get a rematch?
Mayweather: I mean that’s very shallow so I hope that’s not the case, if Floyd beats him, Floyd beats him. I don’t think nobody’s gonna care about seeing a rematch just because of that. I just think that at the end of the day, Canelo’s a young fighter and there’s no shame in losing to Floyd. If he loses to Floyd, move on, you wouldn’t be the first person, you wouldn’t be the last.
Like I said, of course Floyd can lose just like anyone else but I just think that because of Floyd’s IQ and how hard he works, and I think the one thing that’s missing that so many people forget is that not only can Floyd dish it out, Floyd can actually take a shot himself. He proved that in a few fights, he don’t get hit that often but when he does get hit he has the resiliency to bounce back as well. I think a lot of people don’t talk about that part of Floyd’s arsenal.
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