By Chris Robinson
Despite seeing his health be a concern in recent years because of an ongoing battle with a lung disease called sarcoidosis, Floyd Mayweather Sr. has been keeping himself relatively busy these days with a select group of fighters.
On Monday afternoon the affable trainer was spotted at Johnny Tocco's Gym on the east side of Las Vegas as he oversaw a spirited sparring session between two of his newest pupils, undefeated welterweight prospect Lydell Rhodes and recently-turned professional Taylor Larson.
Moments before the Rhodes-Larson session went down, Senior took a few minutes to break down the latest challenge in front of his nephew Floyd Mayweather Jr.
On May 5th Mayweather will meet Puerto Rico’s Miguel Cotto inside of the MGM Grand in what will serve as one of the biggest fights of 2012.
Cotto has had a decorated career that has seen him with championships in three weight divisions and currently sits as the reigning WBA junior middleweight king. Cotto's polished boxing style comes in hand with stiffening power in each of his fists and the 31-year old can never truly be overlooked.
A slight curveball of a question was asked as I questioned Floyd Sr. as to what he would do with Cotto for a full eight weeks if he were training him. It was a simple volley in an effort to gauge how the 61-year old truly feels about Miguel’s make up and ability as a fighter but Senior didn’t take the bait.
“I would never tell you the weaknesses and strengths or what I would tell Cotto to do to my son,” Floyd Sr. opened up. “I wouldn’t proclaim [that] on the T.V. or radio, because I don’t want nothing like that.”
Floyd Sr. did point out that Cotto was a solid fighter and was impressed by his December drubbing of Antonio Margarito, a fight won by Miguel via 10th round TKO after he severely busted up the Tijuana fighter’s right eye to the point of no return inside of Madison Square Garden.
“He was smart, he was sharp; he fought with speed and knowledge,” Floyd Sr. continued. “He fought a very, very smart fight for the particular fighter he was fighting. You know Margarito. He doesn’t know what defense is. He’s going to get hit with whatever comes and if it’s coming, and it looks like it’s going to hit him, he’ll take it.”
But a fight with Mayweather Jr. is a completely different enigma, as Floyd Sr. so thoroughly elaborates.
“I think Lil’ Floyd brings quite a bit of stuff to the table that Cotto aint seen before,” Senior claimed. “Cotto aint seen people feint him. Cotto’s never seen this kind of fight. I know Cotto’s seen Lil’ Floyd fight, but Cotto has never seen the style that Floyd fights. The style is deceiving and most guys think it’s easy when they see Floyd. They think it’s easy but most of them get the same thing.”
Expect more from Floyd Sr. in the coming days…