Said Ouali Ready For Carson Jones on Mayweather-Ortiz

By Chris Robinson

I remember first meeting Morocco’s Said Ouali in the spring of 2007 in the South Florida area. At the time Ouali was in camp with respected trainer John David Jackson and was giving then-lightweight contender Nate Campbell some spirited work as the Jacksonville fighter prepared for his date with Ricky Quiles.

Campbell and I would remain close over the following years but Ouali seemed to slip through the cracks as I never again spotted the welterweight hopeful in the Florida area. It wasn’t until a random visit to Floyd Mayweather’s personal boxing club in Las Vegas nearly three years later that Ouali and I again crossed paths and much has changed in his life.

Ouali is now trained by Roger Mayweather and is also under the Mayweather Promotions banner. A sturdy southpaw with a little bit of pop, the man nicknamed ‘Prince’ owns a 28-3 record with 20 knockouts with his only defeats coming to the likes of Kermit Cintron in 2001, journeyman Manning Galloway three years later, and most recently to Germany’s Selcuk Aydin in April of 2009, a fight Ouali dropped via split-decision.
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Ouali’s last fight was very bizarre as he faced off with former sparring mate Randall Bailey in Antwerpen, Belgium in an IBF eliminator this past December. Ouali got off to a rocky start, being dropped in rounds one and two, before the fight was eventually called a no-contest halfway through the second after Bailey lifted him in the air and inexplicably hurled him over the ropes.

A confusing scenario all the way around, as Ouali appeared to receive a long count during the first knockdown call while people were left perplexed from Bailey’s actions in lifting him in the air one stanza later. Either way, Ouali insists he knows Bailey well enough to forsee that he was eventually going to turn the tide of the fight.

“For sure, definitely,” said a bemused Ouali as we spoke at the Mayweather Boxing Club recently. “Listen, I’ve known Randall Bailey for a long time. I sparred him a million times, so I knew what I needed to do. I’m very disappointed, very much. You watched, you saw what happened.”

Prior to our conversation, Ouali could be found going several rounds on the mitts with Uncle Roger. The trash-talking Mayweather may rub some the wrong way, but Said insists that they make a good fit.

“I’ve been with Roger for a minute. He knows the game of boxing. He’s been in some of the biggest fights ever and I like his experience,” Ouali said of his trainer, who also trains his nephew Floyd Jr.

Next up for Ouali is another crucial duel as he meets up with hard-punching Carson Jones this Saturday night inside of the nearby MGM Grand on the undercard of Mayweather’s fight with WBC welterweight champion Victor Ortiz. Having fought under the bright lights on Floyd’s undercards before, this is the same old song and dance for Ouali.

“This is the not the first time. I fought on the Shane Mosley undercard. I fought on the undercard when he fought against Marquez. For me, it’s nothing new. It’s just another fight.”