By Rick Reeno

According to Floyd Mayweather Sr., he was recently phoned by a member of Oscar De La Hoya's team, asking whether or not he was interested in training De La Hoya for a future fight. Floyd Sr. told BoxingScene.com that he was never informed of De La Hoya's potential opponent, but if it's going to be a rematch with his son, Floyd Mayweather Jr., the elder Mayweather is ready, willing and able to accept the potential training assignment.

Last year, De La Hoya tried to secure Floyd Sr. as his trainer for the May 5th bout with Floyd Jr., but when the trainer asked for a fee of $2 million dollars, De La Hoya rejected what he felt was a high demand and hired Freddie Roach. Prior to the deal with Roach, Floyd Sr. had been De La Hoya's trainer for six-years.

In the last week, negotiations of a possible De La Hoya-Mayweather rematch were confirmed by Richard Schaefer, CEO of Golden Boy Promotions. While the fight is not a done deal, numerous sources are confident the fight will come off due to De La Hoya's dwindling options for a big name opponent.

Floyd Sr. tells BoxingScene De La Hoya will need his knowledge in order to beat his son.
"Oscar, he realized that he made a mistake the first time with Freddie Roach. That guy has no skills. He never did anything as a pro. If you didn't do nothing, you cant show nothing, You can only teach what you know. James Toney (trained by Roach) could always fight and he didn't learn sh*t from Roach. Pacquiao’s been with him for years and he still can’t box,” Floyd Sr. said.

The De La Hoya-Mayweather pay-per-view was the richest fight in boxing history, producing a record-shattering buyrate of 2.4 million and a revenue figure of $165 million.
As far as Floyd Sr.'s monetary demand to train De La Hoya, he made it clear that he won't go any lower than his initial $2 million dollar demand in 07, and was quick to cite the revenue stream of the first fight as justification for the high fee. He feels that he's the only person who can show De La Hoya how to crack the tight defense of Floyd Jr.

“It will have to be discussed. I respect Oscar. I’ll say one thing - it wont be lower. If there’s anybody that can beat little Floyd, it's the person on the other end of this phone. Nobody can show Oscar how to get past that defense or the shoulder roll. I gave that defense to my son. I don’t care who made what, anything can be broken."

Floyd Sr., who watched from ringside, saw a lot of flaws in De La Hoya's gameplan. In the opinion of Floyd Sr., only he can prevent from the rematch from being a mirror image of the original. He knows the rematch will not be as successful as the first fight but feels his presence and the storyline of "father training fighter to beat up son" will draw big numbers.

"There was no technique there. There was nothing. The only chance he got is with me. If he don’t want me, he can go back to the same kind of fight. If there is another fight with Floyd and De La Hoya, I might ask for more because I will the key to the fight. They want draw much as the last time but if I’m there - I’ll be all the difference. Anyone in their right mind wouldn’t accept anything less," Floyd Sr. said.

"I got a lot to give and a lot of knowledge to share. If he does like I tell him to do, he will look great. The fight with little Floyd, there was no strategy in there at all. Little Floyd was right where he wanted be, on the ropes. The whole strategy will be totally different and you will see a much different fight. People wont pay for the same fight again. It won’t do the numbers it did before. If I don’t do it, that's fine because it didn't happen originally anyway, but if I’m going to do it - I’m going to get paid like everybody else."

While Roger Mayweather, uncle and trainer of Floyd Jr., was briefly incarcerated for some legal trouble, it was Floyd Sr. who stepped in to train his son for the big showdown with De La Hoya. The father and son relationship of the Mayweathers has been rocky for a long time, with years of insults being fired through the media by both sides. Floyd Sr. says his son has never taken care of him, not even when he stepped in for brother Roger during the camp for De La Hoya. The strained relationship of the Mayweathers will add the much-talked about storyline that most observers were hoping to see in the first fight.

"You won't even believe it. All I got was $10,000 for training him for De La Hoya when Roger was away. He's talking about how he won't do a damn thing for me, and he never did do a damn thing for me. I did everything for him. Everything that led him to get him to where he is today. As an amateur, as a kid and as a baby is what I did. I gave him the shoulder roll," Floyd Sr. said. "When they fought in Las Vegas, Oscar was the one who gave me tickets to the show, not my son. Oscar took care of me. I’ve been Oscar’s trainer all these years and wont stop being his trainer for anybody, including little Floyd."

"Like I always say, I thought little Floyd everything he knows, but not everything I know. I still a few tricks of up my sleeve, if Oscar signs - he will receive."