By Chris Robinson
During a recent swing through the Mayweather Boxing Club in Las Vegas, I again caught up with outspoken trainer and former two-division world champion Roger Mayweather.
And while the boxing world continues to wait for an official word on who Roger’s nephew and undefeated pound for pound star Floyd Mayweather will face next, the elder Mayweather seems to be taking the process in with a nonchalant attitude.
“There’s still fights out there for Floyd,” Roger would explain when asked of Floyd’s May 4th return to the MGM Grand.
“There’s still a lot of money to be made,” Roger added. “Hopefully the fights he’s going to have is going to be big, big fights. The next three fights should be big.”
And while the general consensus is that Mayweather will end up tangling with WBC interim welterweight titlist Robert Guerrero next, Roger has three other names that he prefers.
“He’s still got the hunger for boxing and there’s a lot of money to be made,” said Roger. “If he fights guys like [Manny] Pacquiao, [Juan Manuel] Marquez, Timothy Bradley; guys like that. Them are three big, big fights.”
One thing that is for certain in Roger’s mind is that Floyd is still at a different level than any given threat near his weight class, even as he inches closer to his 36th birthday.
“Floyd can whip most of these guys just off of what he knows,” Roger stated. “Floyd’s been boxing since he was a little bitty baby. I didn’t say when he was five for six. No, he’s been boxing since he was a little *ss baby. That’s what he loves to do.”
Pacquiao was knocked out in brutal fashion by Marquez on December 8th yet Roger still believes a fight with the Filipino icon is something fans would clamor for.
“The Pacquiao fight has to happen with Floyd,” said Roger. “People want to see it. People don’t care whether he got knocked out. Floyd will knock him out and that’s the fight they want to see.”
And while Mayweather thoroughly dominated Marquez in September of 2009, dropping him in the second round and easily controlling the pace of the bout, Roger feels the Mexico City star is once again an enticing name based off of the Pacquiao victory.
“And people still probably want to see Floyd and Marquez,” Roger pointed out. “Marquez knocked [Pacquiao] out and people still probably want to see that fight.”
*** To watch a video of the full interview with Roger, including his jab towards Robert Guerrero, his thoughts on the Top Rank-Golden Boy feud, and much more, please look below…
Chris Robinson can be reached at Trimond@aol.com