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FOXSports.com will be speaking to Shane Mosley's trainer Naazim Richardson each week before the May 1 fight with Floyd Mayweather Jr. (HBO Pay-Per-View). This is the first of a three-part series.
FOXSports.com: How's training going?
Richardson: Training is going pretty good. I think we're hitting all cylinders. Once we get the media things out of the way, we'll the work we need to finish up.
FOXSports.com: How's your relationship with Shane going?
Richardson: I appreciate the dedication and commitment he makes to the camp and to the particular project we're working on. A trainer always appreciates when an athlete gives 100 percent.
FOXSports.com: How are you trying to adjust Shane's style as he's getting older?
Richardson: It's not so much adjusting his style. It's just eliminating wasteful moves and implementing what's important and emphazing on the necessary.
FOXSports.com: Can we have an example?
Richardson: If you can make a move in two steps, why do four? Why shake and bake? Get directly to the project. It's just adding those things.
FOXSports.com: Shane hasn't fought since January 2009. Are you afraid of ring rust?
Richardson: Ring rust is something we'll have to deal with. It's there and there's nothing we can do about it. The guy stays at the gym and he has boxing as a lifestyle. It shouldn't be too much of a problem. He should be able to adjust fairly quickly.
FOXSports.com: Are you guys afraid of overtraining, considering the Andre Berto fight was scrapped late and you took the Mayweather fight pretty quickly?
Richardson: We took a break. We went on vacation, and he was sparring while he was on vacation. That's just who he is. It's like I said, it's a lifestyle for him.
FOXSports.com: How difficult is it to go from Berto to Mayweather?
Richardson: There are some difficulties in it, but they can be surmounted. There's nothing that can't be surmounted. We were going to fight a young, fast athlete. Now we're going to fight a man who's pretty quick, pretty agile. When you're a veteran you've got to expect those kinds of things. You've got to make adjustments. Boxing is a sport of adjustments.
FOXSports.com: The issue with Floyd and Shane seems to be personal. Is that a good or bad thing for training?
Richardson: It seems personal but the only personal attacks I heard of come from the Mayweather camp. Mayweather is all over the place. He's talking about Shane's hair, he's talking about his suits. ... The insults are trying to get Shane on an emotional level. But Shane is too professional to feed into that.
FOXSports.com: How do you guys handle the pressure? Big money is on the line here.
Richardson: Shane's no stranger big money and he's no stranger to big fights. The media is categorizing that he's out of his element. He wins this fight and it puts him back in a place he's been before.
FOXSports.com: How's training going?
Richardson: Training is going pretty good. I think we're hitting all cylinders. Once we get the media things out of the way, we'll the work we need to finish up.
FOXSports.com: How's your relationship with Shane going?
Richardson: I appreciate the dedication and commitment he makes to the camp and to the particular project we're working on. A trainer always appreciates when an athlete gives 100 percent.
FOXSports.com: How are you trying to adjust Shane's style as he's getting older?
Richardson: It's not so much adjusting his style. It's just eliminating wasteful moves and implementing what's important and emphazing on the necessary.
FOXSports.com: Can we have an example?
Richardson: If you can make a move in two steps, why do four? Why shake and bake? Get directly to the project. It's just adding those things.
FOXSports.com: Shane hasn't fought since January 2009. Are you afraid of ring rust?
Richardson: Ring rust is something we'll have to deal with. It's there and there's nothing we can do about it. The guy stays at the gym and he has boxing as a lifestyle. It shouldn't be too much of a problem. He should be able to adjust fairly quickly.
FOXSports.com: Are you guys afraid of overtraining, considering the Andre Berto fight was scrapped late and you took the Mayweather fight pretty quickly?
Richardson: We took a break. We went on vacation, and he was sparring while he was on vacation. That's just who he is. It's like I said, it's a lifestyle for him.
FOXSports.com: How difficult is it to go from Berto to Mayweather?
Richardson: There are some difficulties in it, but they can be surmounted. There's nothing that can't be surmounted. We were going to fight a young, fast athlete. Now we're going to fight a man who's pretty quick, pretty agile. When you're a veteran you've got to expect those kinds of things. You've got to make adjustments. Boxing is a sport of adjustments.
FOXSports.com: The issue with Floyd and Shane seems to be personal. Is that a good or bad thing for training?
Richardson: It seems personal but the only personal attacks I heard of come from the Mayweather camp. Mayweather is all over the place. He's talking about Shane's hair, he's talking about his suits. ... The insults are trying to get Shane on an emotional level. But Shane is too professional to feed into that.
FOXSports.com: How do you guys handle the pressure? Big money is on the line here.
Richardson: Shane's no stranger big money and he's no stranger to big fights. The media is categorizing that he's out of his element. He wins this fight and it puts him back in a place he's been before.
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