J. Mayweather Talks Caba Questions a Pacquiao Blowout

By Chris Robinson

There was a definitive sense of redemption last month for trainer Jeff Mayweather, as he traveled into Buenos Aires, Argentina with his fighter Celestino Caballero, who captured the WBA featherweight championship with a commanding twelve-round victory over Jonathan Victor Barros. Just three months earlier, Caballero has lost a controversial split-decision to Barros, also in his opponent's native Argentina, and the revenge that the pair was able to extract was quite fitting.

Mayweather and Caballero joined forces in late 2009, as Jeff had been approached by Caballero’s friend and former world-title challenger Miguel Callist ringside at the Floyd Mayweather-Juan Manuel Marquez bout at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. Mayweather instantly took a liking to Caballero’s pristine work ethic and found the rangy Panamanian a man with several gifts as a fighter.

But after three bouts together, it was only in the rematch with Barros that Mayweather felt he was able to bring out the best in his fighter.

Next up for Caballero appears to be a December 31st defense of his belt against Satoshi Honoso in Kanagwa, Japan. While not quite speaking dismissively, Mayweather doesn’t seem threatened in the least by the task at hand.“I was very pleased,” Mayweather said reflecting on Caballero’s recent victory. “I was pleased because he finally fought the fight I’ve been working with him to try to fight anyway. It’s been a situation where Celestino, he don’t mind fighting inside, but because of his height and his reach and his assets that are his advantages, I want him to fight like tall man. That way it makes the fight a whole lot easier.”

“He seems like he’s a tough fighter, but Barros, from what I saw, is a much better fighter than this guy,” Mayweather said of Honoso. “At the same time, once again, we’re going to the same situation; we’re going to the guy’s backyard once again. Once again, Celestino has to win impressively in order for us to get the victory and come home with the title.”

If there was ever a fight that Caballero had longed for, it would be a meeting with Puerto Rico’s Juan Manuel Lopez, who is presently rebuilding himself following a shock TKO at the hands of Orlando Salido in April. Caballero had called for the fight endlessly when both men were champions at 122 pounds a few years back and while Mayweather is open to the fight, he isn’t going out of his way for Lopez.

“To be honest, the fight doesn’t have the same significance it once had,” said Mayweather. “They both, unfortunately, suffered losses but it’s still a high-profile fight in that weight class. It’s a fight that is still marketable and it still can happen but now hopefully he will step up to the plate instead of just talking about it.”

Jeff has always held his nephew, the aforementioned Floyd Mayweather Jr., in high regard and gave his take on the recent announcement that he would be returning to the ring on May 5th of next year.

“I think that he needs to keep himself active,” Mayweather stated. “If he’s going to continue to boxing, he can’t keep taking a year off, a year and a half, that’s a long time. He’s not getting younger. He’s the hardest worker probably in the sport but at the same time, as you get older, no matter what, your reflexes become a little slower. All things that can happen as part of being older.”

The hope amongst boxing circles is that Mayweather will be able to meet fellow superstar Manny Pacquiao on that date but parties from both sides of the fighters have twice failed to finalize a deal, largely in part because of Mayweather’s insistence on an Olympic-style drug-testing protocol that would come in hand with the fight. Pacquiao has business of his own to handle this weekend, however, as he meets up with Marquez for a third time on HBO pay-per-view in one of the bigger events of the year.

Pacquiao fought Marquez to a split-draw in May of 2004 and nipped him via split-decision in March of 2008. Both fights were high-octane affairs that many felt could have gone either way, as Marquez troubled the aggressive Pacquiao with his timing and counter-punching prowess.

But following their second encounter, Pacquiao has had tremendous success in rising up in weight and tearing through a high-profile list of opponents. There are even some who hang on to the notion that the only logical explanation for Pacquiao’s recent run would be for something shady to be taking place behind closed doors despite never testing positive for any banned substances during his career.

Mayweather closed out by offering up a prediction for Saturday night's fight while highlighting why some people may be skeptical if Pacquiao were to win in overly-dominant fashion.

“I think it should be a good fight. Of course Pacquiao has soared to a higher level but at the same time, at the end of the day, these two guys fought twenty-four rounds and maybe one round separates the two from who won and who lost both fights. So, realistically, the fight should be just as tough this fight as it was the last fight. If Pacquiao goes out there and blasts him, it’s going to send some signs. It aint going to just be Floyd saying ‘He needs to be tested’, it’s going to be a whole bunch of other people saying the same thing.”

[Reader's note: For a behind-the-scenes look at Manny Pacquiao's camp as he prepared for Marquez, please visit A closer look at Pacquiao's camp for Marquez ]

Chris Robinson is based out of Las Vegas, Nevada. He can be reached at Trimond@aol.com