Floyd Mayweather Sr.: he (Roger) doesn't care about Floyd getting knocked out

Interesting article i had bookmarked. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this article hopefully you all will too. Quote in red from Mayweather SR. Quotes in bold black from Roger Source THE MAMBA TAKES NO PRISONERS While Floyd Mayweather Sr has received the plaudits for his son’s success, it is Big Floyd’s former world champ brother Roger who has put most of the work in. FIONA MANNING reports on the Las Vegas trainer Roger Mayweather is an interviewer's dream. The highly regarded trainer and three-time former world champion, known as the Black Mamba in his fighting days, says exactly what is on his mind. Mayweather doesn't tap dance lightly around difficult subjects. He isn't afraid of stepping on toes or trampling tender feelings. He doesn't worry about post-press fallout. Right now, he is firing off about the two subjects that cause him constant concern: his brother and nephew, both named Floyd. His nephew, back in the gym following a long layoff to prepare for his rescheduled 10 November WBC super featherweight title defence against Jesus Chavez, "is looking good but he doesn't take care of himself", according to Uncle Roger. "Floyd lacks discipline. He got the desire but he's young and he thinks all he needs is his power and his speed. He lets himself get out of shape between fights. He still hasn't learned it's real hard on the body when you do that." Roger is also aware his brother Floyd Mayweather, a former welterweight contender in the 80s turned trainer, seems to be deeply threatened by the mere outline of Roger's shadow. As often as possible, Big Floyd disparages Roger's training methods. "He's okay for the mitts, but ain't no trainer," is Floyd's standard criticism of his brother. "Roger couldn't spell defence," is another. "He has a habit of over-training his fighters and he doesn't care about Floyd getting knocked out because he's used to sleeping in front of audiences." Roger actually laughs at this one. "I ain't go no beef with my brother," he says amiably. "My brother's beef is with himself. I don't like him saying I ain't no trainer. I was the one who was world champion. "Who the hell has he fought? I mean which fights of my brother's can you remember?" Er . . . Sugar Ray Leonard. "That's the only fight anyone remembers," says Roger. "He never even fought for a world title. Any day now I expect him to rewrite history and start telling people he was the champ!" As mild-mannered and smooth as Roger can be, he gets a little worked up at Floyd's constant barbs. "Ask Floyd, the defensive genius, this: what did Sugar Ray Leonard need to do to beat Tommy Hearns? Floyd says offence gets you nowhere, but I was the world champion with only 13 fights. "I'm the one in the history books. How many world champions did he beat? Who is he to criticise me? "This is the same guy who lost to Marlon Starling, who got stopped by Sugar Ray Leonard. The same guy who lost to a bunch of bullshit fighters! He shouldn't talk about me at all." It's this sort of honesty that has the elite fighters in the U.S. vying for a spot in Roger's corner of Top Rank's Las Vegas gym. This same honesty has also caused consternation for fighters who aren't always willing to listen. Some months ago, Mayweather spied undefeated world welterweight contender Kofi Jantuah, working out with trainer Miguel Diaz at the gym. Mayweather helped with some exercises and took the opportunity to tell Jantuah he was too stiff, lacked leg and head movement. Mayweather also told him he was making a mistake fighting all his fights at the ropes. Jantuah wasn't thrilled to receive the former champion's unsolicited advice. "They never are when they're undefeated," says Mayweather, shaking his head. "They think they know it all. They think they got the big punch and all they got to do is land it." The unthinkable happened for Jantuah in July when his unbroken hot streak ended in a knockout by ring-worn journeyman Manuel "Rama" Gomez. He turned to Mayweather who was working as a second in Jantuah's corner and said: "All right, you win. I want to work with you. I'm ready to listen." Mayweather insists this single loss on Jantuah's ledger is insignificant. "Y'all gotta lose sometime," he says. After Jantuah recovered from an eye injury incurred in the Gomez fight, Mayweather immediately put the Ghanaian fighter into the ring, working in the centre, well away from the ropes. "You got to be offensive-minded," says Mayweather. "You have to be in control. I kept telling Kofi he has more power in the middle of the ring than he knows. "He always felt he had this ability at the ropes but not everybody is Chris Byrd and if Byrd were my guy, I'd tell him the same thing." Mayweather also advised Jantuah to give up the welterweight division and move up to junior middle. "Kofi got knocked out because he kept trying to land that big punch and because he never been in the ring before with a kid who's fighting every month down in Mexico," says Mayweather. "He was killing himself to make 147. He's doing much better at 154. His strength is there and I am pleased with his progress. I plan to keep him very busy with a tune-up fight at the Orleans Hotel on October 21. Then we're planning to fight on the undercard of Lennox Lewis and Hasim Rahman on November 17." Mayweather has a number of other charges apart from Floyd Jr and Jantuah. "On and off I work with about seven fighters," Mayweather says. On any given day, he can be found at the gym. He does have a special gift for the mitts, a fact you don't like to point out considering his brother's verbal assaults. Still, Mayweather is the darling of the Top Rank gym. He is consulted by one and all and can be counted on to assist in just about any fighter's corner. The Mayweathers are considered Las Vegas's royal sporting family and Roger, its most approachable, fan-friendly envoy. Whatever his opinions of fighters' abilities, he is 100% behind anybody who steps into the ring. Fighters may come and go from his gym, but the fighter Mayweather still laments losing and is, he says, the one fighter in the world he wishes he could work with, is IBF welter champ, Vernon Forrest. "Man, I worked with that kid since he was 15 years old," says Mayweather. "I took that kid to the Olympics in 1992. He is the most underrated fighter out there. As an amateur he beat Shane Mosley - twice, knocked out Oscar De La Hoya and he's beaten Terronn Millett and Adrian Stone. "He is the perfect fighter. I never had to tell Vernon to get to the gym. He just didn't want to work and live in Las Vegas, but I think he is a great kid and a very talented fighter. I would love to work with him again." The 40-year old Mayweather, whose pro career record in three different weight divisions was 57-13, is a tough technician. He doesn't coddle his fighters, doesn't run with them, doesn't live with them or eat the same food. He also expects the same professional behaviour from his nephew that he does from all his fighters. "Nobody ran with me," he recalled. "My trainer didn't cook my food. I don't believe in all that crap. Do your roadwork, show up at the gym on time, be willing to listen and we gonna get on fine. "I remember in one of my last fights, it was with Kostya Tszyu in Australia and I was in this town called Newcastle and man, the food there was nasty! I couldn't get anything that wasn't covered in grease. I had to invade the kitchen of this one restaurant to get them to cook the vegetables the way I wanted them. "They did exactly what I told them and I ended up eating there every day. The point is, it's your responsibility as a fighter to look after your own body and to watch the fuel you put into it. "At the end of the day, after your fight, you got to look to you and say okay, did I do my best? Don't leave it to other people. Don't leave it to chance. Don't look to lay blame elsewhere. It's your fight and it's your career. It's all about you." It's this hard-line attitude that led some boxing insiders to suspect that when Mayweather Jr pulled out of the originally-scheduled 6 October bout with Jesus Chavez, citing wisdom tooth surgery, that in fact Roger didn't like what he was seeing in the gym and yanked the cord on the fast-moving train himself. Roger is the first to agree Floyd lacks the discipline to match his prodigious talent, but denies these particular charges. Still he admits, Floyd is a handful. "You have to step lightly with Floyd," he says. "The one thing I know is he is very strong in his mind. If he doesn't want to do something he won't, whether it's good or bad for him."