Tweet
WITH headlines swirling abut potential negotiations being underway for the proposed super fight between Floyd Mayweather Jr. 42-0 (26) and Manny Pacquiao 54-3-2 (38), it's no surprise to see Mayweather's other uncle, Jeff Mayweather's name inked out in several recent articles. I caught up with the revered trainer just hours before this past weekend's Miguel Cotto-Antonio Margarito rematch to discuss mostly, his charge, Celestino Caballero's 35-4 (23) upcoming WBA World featherweight title defense in Yokohama, Japan against Satoshi Hosono 21-1 (15). Check out what he had to say about that and much more, including Caballero's future, branching out from boxing, and of course the super fight that has boxing fans across the globe salivating.
On Celestino Caballero's next opponent, Satoshi Hosono...
"I had a chance to watch him. He's tough, he's a tough guy."
The game plan on beating Hosono...
"Our game plan is to box, pretty much the same gameplan we had for (Jason) Barros. You know, the last fight with Barros, Celestino fought exactly like I wanted him to. You know, I wanted him to go out there and box, take advantage of his height and reach. He likes to go out there and mix it up, but I think he showed in his last fight that he can box. From here on out, I think it probably sunk into his head how easy it was to win that fight by boxing. I hope that seed is implanted now and that's what we gonna be doing from now on."
The potential for a Caballero-Yuriorkis Gamboa clash despite the difficulties in putting the fight together before...
"I got to a point where me and Celestino sat down and we talked and I just told him, you know, there's no reason to chase these guys anymore. Because.. I mean the thing is you can't make anybody fight you. I don't care what you say, what you do, that's not gonna make them fight you. And so basically I just told him, you have a great legacy, I mean, you're a 5-time world champion so you don't have to chase nobody. You know, Celestino's done great with his money. He's not one of those guys who's attached to boxing for the rest of his life, or one of those guys fighting in his 40's or just because he needs money. I mean he's in a great, great place in his career and his life."
The plan for Caballero if he gets by Hosono...
"I would hope to get the winner of Juanma (Lopez) and (Orlando) Salido, or either the unification with Billy Dib, umm, or possibly fighting Chris John. You know, every division has more than one champion and these fights right here would determine who's the real champion at that weight class. There's plenty of avenues that we can approach and I hope that at least 1 of those become a reality for our next fight, but we gotta take care of this first, you know. Before we jump the gun on anything else, 'cause we've been in someone else's back yard and been robbed before, so there's no saying that that can't happen again. Of course, God willing, it won't happen, but that's something you always have to think about."
Fighting in the opponent's back yard yet again (despite being champion)...
"I think it shows what kind of fighter Celestino is and his character. Every time he's won (a world title) it's been on foreign soil, so going to someone's back yard is not a big deal to him. With him it's like okay, wherever I gotta go to win a world title, then that's where I'ma go. So, you know, fortunately for him he's been able to become champion on foreign soil time and time again. So I think for him personally, it's not a big deal."
Acclimating to the climate and time difference in Yokohama, Japan...
"Umm, The 21st. We're looking at about 10 days and that should be enough time to get acclimated because the most important thing is the time difference. I think it's like 8 or 9 hours time, almost like half a day, so you know, that's gonna take a little time to get adjusted to, so your body can adjust so we won't be sleeping come fight time (laughing)."
Working with other fighters...
"I'm not really working with any name fighters right now, you know. Celestino, right now, he's the one marquee fighter that I have. I was working with marquee MMA guys. You know, I was working with Vitor Belfort. I was working with King Mo, and there was a possibility of me working with umm... what's the guy's name? George.. St. Pierre? Yeah, that is a possibility. Those are the things I'm looking into to you know, expand in the MMA world. Thanks to Mo, he basically got me and these guys in touch. It's cool, because they are excited about working with a boxing trainer, you know, that has a little accolades under is belt (laughing). "
Working with former Strikeforce light heavyweight champion King Mo...
"With Mo, I mean, it's fun working with this guy. It's like I've known him practically all my life. The way we get along is like we grew up together, you know. I mean this guy is a tremendous, tremendous puncher, and that's the one thing, for him it's not really that hard. He makes the work easy because he loves boxing. I think he loves boxing more than MMA, but he knows he's good at what he do, and that's where his money is. It's not in boxing. But, he really is a student of boxing, he really is. Like I said, he's a pleasure to work with, great guy, great personality. You know, we laugh and joke but we get the work done. Of course he's coming off his biggest win knocking out Roger Gracie, and it's ironic, he knocked him out with a punch that we only worked on for a week. You know, he said look Jeff, this is the guy I gotta fight. I went and I looked him up on YouTube and saw that he was much taller than Mo. So I said Mo, you gotta learn how to throw an overhand right for this guy. You know, and we only had a week to work and I stayed on him about throwing that overhand right, and the rest is history. I mean that's the shot that he landed and that was the end of the night. That let me know that he's not just going through the motions and he actually took heed to what I was trying to convey to him. "
Branching out...
*Me and a good friend of mine partnered up on the website (www.pro*************.com) , and of course I'm trying to expand my horizons outside of boxing as a trainer. You know, reaching out to a bunch of fighters, and I think that's the fun part, we have a lot of fighters that you can actually got to the site and ask them questions and you get answers from that fighter and it's really them, as opposed to like on Facebook, there's so many fake people it's ridiculous. You kinda get a chance to get a feel for what that person is really like. I think that's the strongest part of our site and that's the part I like the most, being able to interact with the fans."
The effect Pacquiao-Marquez 3 has on making Floyd vs Manny a possibility...
"Well I think if the fight is really gonna happen it has to happen now because if Manny as another bad performance, in which if he fights (Juan Manuel) Marquez again he's gonna have the exact same performance or something very close to it. You know, he's not fittin' to devastate Marquez, he's not fittin' to knock Marquez out and make people jump back on the bandwagon, he's not gonna do that. So fighting Marquez is stupid, you know, business wise it makes sense if you think he's gonna do something spectacular, but he's not. So it makes no sense to make that fight before you make the Floyd fight, when you have followers behind Manny that don't care what he do, they think he's the greatest thing since ice cream. So the fight has a little value, but if you turn around and you fight Tim Bradley, who really brings nothing to the table, so fighting Tim Bradley means nothing. Chances are you're probably not gonna knock him out. You might beat him but you're gonna look bad with Tim Bradley 'cause that's what Tim Bradley does, he makes everybody look bad. He makes everybody look bad,then you count the numbers, what does he bring to the table? It's a pay-per-view fight, Tim Bradley brings nothing. So that's just another tough fight and actually it's gonna devalue you even more. Once that happens what's the sense in making the fight? Because if you get exposed by Tim Bradley or Marquez again, the luster of the fight is gone. It's no more Floyd and Manny, it's Floyd and then Manny way down here because Manny's been exposed too many times back to back. So it's a fight that has to happen now because if it don't, it's not gonna make sense."
Negotiations between nephew, Floyd, and Manny Pacquiao...
"To be honest I can't 100% say that I know what's really going on. I know there have been some potential negotiations going on you could say. But I'm not really in a position to say you know, what's happening or what's taking place. For me that's something like, when it happens it happens. Because me going out and saying something and then it don't happen, that looks bad. You know, or me saying it's not gonna happen and then it turn around and it does happen. So, (laughing) I keep what I know to myself and if it happens, everybody'll know at the same time, just like me. I'm kinda keeping myself in the dark, even though I kinda know what's going on, I'm just kinda keeping myself in the dark because to me negotiations mean nothing until something happens."
Last words for the fans...
"Well you kinda mentioned it, just that I have the website now. Anybody who wants to participate in Pro Boxing Insider, like I said I'm trying to make it a fan-friendly website you know, where you can interact with fighters, myself, and so on. So that's basically the one thing I wanna get out there more than anything right now. Anyone that's a fan of the fighters on there, or of mine, or of one of my fighters go ahead and participate."
On Celestino Caballero's next opponent, Satoshi Hosono...
"I had a chance to watch him. He's tough, he's a tough guy."
The game plan on beating Hosono...
"Our game plan is to box, pretty much the same gameplan we had for (Jason) Barros. You know, the last fight with Barros, Celestino fought exactly like I wanted him to. You know, I wanted him to go out there and box, take advantage of his height and reach. He likes to go out there and mix it up, but I think he showed in his last fight that he can box. From here on out, I think it probably sunk into his head how easy it was to win that fight by boxing. I hope that seed is implanted now and that's what we gonna be doing from now on."
The potential for a Caballero-Yuriorkis Gamboa clash despite the difficulties in putting the fight together before...
"I got to a point where me and Celestino sat down and we talked and I just told him, you know, there's no reason to chase these guys anymore. Because.. I mean the thing is you can't make anybody fight you. I don't care what you say, what you do, that's not gonna make them fight you. And so basically I just told him, you have a great legacy, I mean, you're a 5-time world champion so you don't have to chase nobody. You know, Celestino's done great with his money. He's not one of those guys who's attached to boxing for the rest of his life, or one of those guys fighting in his 40's or just because he needs money. I mean he's in a great, great place in his career and his life."
The plan for Caballero if he gets by Hosono...
"I would hope to get the winner of Juanma (Lopez) and (Orlando) Salido, or either the unification with Billy Dib, umm, or possibly fighting Chris John. You know, every division has more than one champion and these fights right here would determine who's the real champion at that weight class. There's plenty of avenues that we can approach and I hope that at least 1 of those become a reality for our next fight, but we gotta take care of this first, you know. Before we jump the gun on anything else, 'cause we've been in someone else's back yard and been robbed before, so there's no saying that that can't happen again. Of course, God willing, it won't happen, but that's something you always have to think about."
Fighting in the opponent's back yard yet again (despite being champion)...
"I think it shows what kind of fighter Celestino is and his character. Every time he's won (a world title) it's been on foreign soil, so going to someone's back yard is not a big deal to him. With him it's like okay, wherever I gotta go to win a world title, then that's where I'ma go. So, you know, fortunately for him he's been able to become champion on foreign soil time and time again. So I think for him personally, it's not a big deal."
Acclimating to the climate and time difference in Yokohama, Japan...
"Umm, The 21st. We're looking at about 10 days and that should be enough time to get acclimated because the most important thing is the time difference. I think it's like 8 or 9 hours time, almost like half a day, so you know, that's gonna take a little time to get adjusted to, so your body can adjust so we won't be sleeping come fight time (laughing)."
Working with other fighters...
"I'm not really working with any name fighters right now, you know. Celestino, right now, he's the one marquee fighter that I have. I was working with marquee MMA guys. You know, I was working with Vitor Belfort. I was working with King Mo, and there was a possibility of me working with umm... what's the guy's name? George.. St. Pierre? Yeah, that is a possibility. Those are the things I'm looking into to you know, expand in the MMA world. Thanks to Mo, he basically got me and these guys in touch. It's cool, because they are excited about working with a boxing trainer, you know, that has a little accolades under is belt (laughing). "
Working with former Strikeforce light heavyweight champion King Mo...
"With Mo, I mean, it's fun working with this guy. It's like I've known him practically all my life. The way we get along is like we grew up together, you know. I mean this guy is a tremendous, tremendous puncher, and that's the one thing, for him it's not really that hard. He makes the work easy because he loves boxing. I think he loves boxing more than MMA, but he knows he's good at what he do, and that's where his money is. It's not in boxing. But, he really is a student of boxing, he really is. Like I said, he's a pleasure to work with, great guy, great personality. You know, we laugh and joke but we get the work done. Of course he's coming off his biggest win knocking out Roger Gracie, and it's ironic, he knocked him out with a punch that we only worked on for a week. You know, he said look Jeff, this is the guy I gotta fight. I went and I looked him up on YouTube and saw that he was much taller than Mo. So I said Mo, you gotta learn how to throw an overhand right for this guy. You know, and we only had a week to work and I stayed on him about throwing that overhand right, and the rest is history. I mean that's the shot that he landed and that was the end of the night. That let me know that he's not just going through the motions and he actually took heed to what I was trying to convey to him. "
Branching out...
*Me and a good friend of mine partnered up on the website (www.pro*************.com) , and of course I'm trying to expand my horizons outside of boxing as a trainer. You know, reaching out to a bunch of fighters, and I think that's the fun part, we have a lot of fighters that you can actually got to the site and ask them questions and you get answers from that fighter and it's really them, as opposed to like on Facebook, there's so many fake people it's ridiculous. You kinda get a chance to get a feel for what that person is really like. I think that's the strongest part of our site and that's the part I like the most, being able to interact with the fans."
The effect Pacquiao-Marquez 3 has on making Floyd vs Manny a possibility...
"Well I think if the fight is really gonna happen it has to happen now because if Manny as another bad performance, in which if he fights (Juan Manuel) Marquez again he's gonna have the exact same performance or something very close to it. You know, he's not fittin' to devastate Marquez, he's not fittin' to knock Marquez out and make people jump back on the bandwagon, he's not gonna do that. So fighting Marquez is stupid, you know, business wise it makes sense if you think he's gonna do something spectacular, but he's not. So it makes no sense to make that fight before you make the Floyd fight, when you have followers behind Manny that don't care what he do, they think he's the greatest thing since ice cream. So the fight has a little value, but if you turn around and you fight Tim Bradley, who really brings nothing to the table, so fighting Tim Bradley means nothing. Chances are you're probably not gonna knock him out. You might beat him but you're gonna look bad with Tim Bradley 'cause that's what Tim Bradley does, he makes everybody look bad. He makes everybody look bad,then you count the numbers, what does he bring to the table? It's a pay-per-view fight, Tim Bradley brings nothing. So that's just another tough fight and actually it's gonna devalue you even more. Once that happens what's the sense in making the fight? Because if you get exposed by Tim Bradley or Marquez again, the luster of the fight is gone. It's no more Floyd and Manny, it's Floyd and then Manny way down here because Manny's been exposed too many times back to back. So it's a fight that has to happen now because if it don't, it's not gonna make sense."
Negotiations between nephew, Floyd, and Manny Pacquiao...
"To be honest I can't 100% say that I know what's really going on. I know there have been some potential negotiations going on you could say. But I'm not really in a position to say you know, what's happening or what's taking place. For me that's something like, when it happens it happens. Because me going out and saying something and then it don't happen, that looks bad. You know, or me saying it's not gonna happen and then it turn around and it does happen. So, (laughing) I keep what I know to myself and if it happens, everybody'll know at the same time, just like me. I'm kinda keeping myself in the dark, even though I kinda know what's going on, I'm just kinda keeping myself in the dark because to me negotiations mean nothing until something happens."
Last words for the fans...
"Well you kinda mentioned it, just that I have the website now. Anybody who wants to participate in Pro Boxing Insider, like I said I'm trying to make it a fan-friendly website you know, where you can interact with fighters, myself, and so on. So that's basically the one thing I wanna get out there more than anything right now. Anyone that's a fan of the fighters on there, or of mine, or of one of my fighters go ahead and participate."
Comment