By Chris Robinson
Recently I had a talk with well-known boxing historian Bert Sugar of HBO Sports. Sugar and I discussed Floyd Mayweather’s recent victory over Victor Ortiz and what the future holds for the undefeated star.
Sugar has seemed a bit turned off by Floyd’s persona in recent years and has went on record in blaming him for a fight with Manny Pacquiao never materializing. Even during our latest discussion, Sugar stated that he was unsure if Floyd would ever fight again and further stated how he believes Mayweather never has truly wanted a fight with Pacquiao.
Bold stuff from Sugar and his words seemed to rub off of the fighter’s Uncle Jeff Mayweather, a respected trainer in his own right.
“Basically it’s just another guy who’s on Pacquiao’s d*** like everyone else,” Mayweather said after reaching out to discuss the Sugar article. “Because Pacquiao’s playing the good guy.”
Jeff added that too many people are busy judging Floyd by his outspoken personality to truly appreciate him from a boxing perspective.
“I just think that Floyd doesn’t fit the conventional way of what they think a fighter is supposed to be or what a fighter is supposed to do. At the end of the day, the only thing you are supposed to do is judge the fighter by is what they do in the ring,” Mayweather stated.
Typically looked at as the more mild-mannered individual in the Mayweather bunch, I thought I sensed some animosity in Jeff’s tone. But he insists that he isn’t discouraged by the hate being directed Floyd’s way and again brought up the one thing he feel is holding back a fight with Pacquiao; the demands from Mayweather for the Filipino to go through Mayweather's requests for an Olympic-style drug testing protocol during the lead up to a fight between them.
“It doesn’t upset me because it’s a joke,” Jeff continued. “Because Floyd hasn’t lost. Pacquiao has already lost, he’s been knocked out. So, why would he be afraid of him? Basically, the only thing Floyd asked of him, is if he even thinks this guy is on something, and he aint the only one who thinks it, there’s a whole bunch of people who think it. So, if you don’t have nothing to hide, step up to the plate and show that you don’t have nothing to hide.”
It’s been said by various sources that Pacquiao has, in fact, agreed to Mayweather’s wishes, but Jeff says he has been hearing other news coming from Pacquiao’s strength and conditioning coach Alex Ariza.
“The last thing I heard was Ariza said ‘We’re not taking no kind of test’,” said Jeff. “That must mean y’all mother******* don’t want to fight. Because that’s the only thing stopping the fight from happening.”
Maybe we will one day see the sport’s two best fighters square off, but for now Pacquiao has business of his own to handle with a November 12th date against Juan Manuel Marquez inside of the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada. It’s the third fight between the two men and Jeff feels too much has changed since their previous encounters for him to really give Marquez a chance.
“Marquez has been in a lot of wars since their first battle. Of course, Pacquiao’s not the same fighter, so I lean towards Pacquiao.”
[Reader's note: Anyone looking for a closer look at the sport's biggest stars during their open media workouts, including Mayweather, Pacquiao, Cotto, Marquez, Donaire, and several others, please visit the Massive Media Workout Gallery ]
Chris Robinson is based out of Las Vegas, Nevada. He can be reached at Trimond@aol.com
