Floyd Sr: Oscar will beat Junior!

Posted on | December 31, 2008 | No Comments

By Lee Bates

After hearing of the possibility of Oscar De La Hoya facing Julio Cesar Chavez Jr., Floyd Mayweather Sr. shared his thoughts on Oscar’s chances of victory against ‘The Son of the Legend.’ “I can tell you with me in his corner Oscar would beat Chavez Jr. without a doubt.” he proclaimed. Ma yweather Sr. also talked about his battle with sarcoidosis, and how Ricky Hatton would do in a super showdown with Manny Pacquiao.

There has been talk of your battle with sarcoidosis (multisystem disorder that often appears in the lungs or the lymph nodes). Can you speak on that?

It’s true that I’ve been battling with sarcoidosis for about 8 years. It’s the same disease that comedian/actor Bernie Mac passed away from recently. It’s not confirmed yet how you get it but they think one cause can be from dust getting in your lungs. I live in Las Vegas so there is a lot of dust here. I was being treated through regular medical doctors but I was not happy at all with the way things were going. It was affecting me while I was training fighters and I was seriously thinking about stepping away from boxing at one time, but I have since switched over to more natural alternative medicines now and it’s made a major difference for me and I’m planning on sticking around for a while now. My health is really good.

What were your thoughts on the Oscar De La Hoya-Manny Pacquiao fight?

Oscar was beat before the opening bell. He was way too light on the day of the fight. Had I been running the training camp that would have never happened. Some people made a big deal of him having Nacho Beristain in his corner to work the fight but my question is if Beristain knew so much why was Angelo Dundee brought in to help? They both do the same thing. In any event, as you saw it didn’t help.

Would you consider training him again if asked you to?

Should his fight and Ricky Hatton’s fight not interfere with each other, absolutely. Oscar is my guy. I have no problems with him whatsoever. My thing is that I’m a proven elite trainer. I made my son Floyd Mayweather Jr. a champion, I made world light heavyweight champion Chad Dawson a champion, and Oscar won championships with me, as well. I’m not going to cater to anybody. It’s my way or the highway. I’m a no-nonsense trainer. I love kids and family like anybody else, but the point of going away to training camp is to get away from everybody. I’m not going to fight over my pay either. All I want is my fair share. If any fighter is making millions of dollars, you can afford to pay me my fair share. I’m not greedy. Fairness is all I ask. A lot of fighters and people can’t handle me being so straight forward but that’s me. You may lose a few fights with me but you will win a lot more. I have an old saying. With me, your wins will be in the majority and your losses will be in the minority.

Speaking of Pacquiao how do you see a fight with him and Ricky Hatton playing out?

Everyone is building up Pacquiao to be20the next great thing but Ricky will handle him. I know Pacquiao is fast but Ricky has extremely fast footwork and he’s strong. Believe me when I tell you we have a solid game plan for that fight.

Is that fight official yet?

They were talking about May but from what I’ve been told it’s not official yet.

How do you see Oscar’s chances of winning should he fight Julio Cesar Chavez Jr.?

I will be honest with you. With me in the corner he wins the fight without a doubt. Honestly, after the Pacquiao fight he needs this fight to redeem himself. No one is going to remember any of his past victories including the ones he had with me in his corner. All they are going to remember is the Pacaquaio fight and that’s too bad because he’s much better than that.