By Julius Streeter

Courtesy of RabbitPunchBoxing.com

Recently I had a chance to talk to the 2-time former champion, and current trainer of the number 1 pound for pound fighter in the world, Roger Mayweather. Roger spoke with me on topics such as Pernell Whitaker, Willie Pep, Julio Cesar Chavez, Floyd Mayweather Jr., Oscar De la Hoya, and why Mike Tyson is more popular than Floyd Mayweather.

Julius: How old were you when you began boxing?

Roger: Eight years old.

Julius: Did big Floyd get you started in boxing?

Roger: Yeah he got me started.

Julius: I heard that when you were an amateur that you thought about trying out for the Olympics. Was that in 1984?

Roger: It was 1980. The boycotted Olympics. At that time, two of the hottest boxers out there were in my weight division. One of them was Jackie Beard and the other was Kenny Baysmore. One of those two guys was going to qualify for the Olympic team. Kenny Baysmore had beat Jackie Beard and my friend Tucker always told me, “Roger you’ll beat all these guys.”

Julius: In your career, you were known more as a puncher than as a boxer. When people today think of Mayweather, it’s as a boxing/puncher not just as a puncher.

Roger: When I started out I was a boxer. I could box but even when I was a kid I knew I could hit but I never focused on hitting. I tried to focus on boxing because boxing is a thinking man’s game. When I was in the gym I would box a middleweight or a 175lber and I did that when I was a kid so I knew I could punch. I used to watch guys on tv and think, “How could a guy hit a guy with one punch and be that devastating?” I could never believe it. I used to go to the gym and practice everyday, everyday, everyday on my right hand. I had boxing skills…I had a jab too but I don’t see how this guy could do this. Once I seen that it really got me enthused and that’s how I wanted to be.

Julius: What was going through your mind as you were getting ready for your first title fight in Puerto Rico which is where your opponent was from?

Roger: I never thought about it. Being a fighter you gotta go wherever you gotta go. I never thought about going into someone’s hometown. I was a better fighter and I didn’t care where we fought at.

Julius: After winning the title at 130 then you moved onto 135 and kinda got a raw deal against Pernell Whitaker in his hometown.

Roger: Yeah he hit me with about 40 low blows. I ain’t never been a scared fighter. You just had to prove you could beat me. I knew I could beat Whitaker and all those other motherfuckers. They may have hit me before I could hit them but I never thought that I couldn’t win. I had the big stick and I knew how to use it.

Julius: Let’s talk about your fight with Chavez. You were one of the few people back then who really laid some leather on Chavez. What do you think won him the fight or made you lose the fight?

Roger: His chin. He said that I was the best puncher that he ever fought. He had a great chin and he was able to withstand what I put on him.

Julius: Who do you think was the best fighter you ever faced as a pro?

Roger: The best pure fighter I ever fought was Pernell Whitaker. Whitaker was one of the best fighters in any era. I was looking at the Ring magazine’s top 80 fighters of all time and they got him at number 10. The first 2 are Ray Robinson and Henry Armstrong. Another guy was Roberto Duran. They got Willie Pep but that’s bullshit. Willie Pep wasn’t shit anyway. He was a white man and they always gotta put that motherfucker on top.

Julius: Since you mentioned Willie Pep, I always here people calling him a defensive wizard. How can you be a defensive wizard and get knocked out 4 or 5 times?

Roger: Willie Pep wasn’t shit. Why he wasn’t shit was because he was nothing but a white boy with a bullshit record. He was nothing compare to Henry Armstrong. Henry Armstrong beat Lew Jenkins to win the Featherweight title. He went up from the Featherweights and won the Lightweight title. Then he won the Welterweight title. He went up from the Welterweight title and fought a draw for the Middleweight title. That’s how great Henry Armstrong was. He is one of the best 3 fighters in the world ever. The Ring got Willie Pep ranked number 6 and they got Rocky Marciano ranked number 12 and he never lost a fight!

Julius: When did you know you wanted to be a trainer?

Roger: I was training fighters when I was a kid. I used to put on boxing shows when I was about 14 years old in my hometown. When I was about 12 or 13 years old, even though I was fighting, I trained kids. I been around boxing pretty much all my life. Training fighters wasn’t no shit to me. People would say to me, “Who got you into training fighters?” I knew how to train fighters because I was raised in boxing.

Julius: How old was Floyd when he started boxing?

Roger: Floyd started boxing when he was 2 years old.

Julius: So Floyd was trained mostly by you and Floyd Sr. when he was growing up?

Roger: Yeah me and his dad trained him. His dad would train him sometimes and I would train him sometimes. Me and his dad don’t get along though and Floyd was only 1 or 2 so he was around his dad most of the time. How I wound up getting Floyd was when his father got sent away. When his father got sent away, I took back over because that was what his father wanted me to do. I trained him for his first 14 fights. Floyd took back over right before he fought for the title. He took over on his 15th fight and Floyd won the title on his 18th fight.

Julius: Where would rate Floyd all time right now?

Roger: I would put Floyd very close to Pernell Whitaker? Floyd fought the best competition of his era. Jose Luis Castillo, Corrales, Manfredy, whatever…Floyd beat them when they were in their prime. He didn’t beat them when they were washed up or shot. The only thing that Floyd didn’t have was all the competitors that Pernell Whitaker had. Whitaker fought ever known guy out there. He beat Buddy McGirt, Jose Luis Ramirez, Julio Cesar Chavez, Julio Cesar Vasquez, Rafael Pineda. He beat them all. Whitaker beat them all at a time when there were more quality fighters than Floyd.

Julius: I feel that Floyd will beat anybody they put him in with like Kostya Tszyu or Sharmba Mitchell but no one wants to fight him. Whitaker had a chance to fight the top competition because no one was turning down fights with him like they do with Floyd.

Roger: It’s a different era. When I fought you had real fighters who could fight. I’m not talking about 1 or 2 guys in a division. I’m talking about 20 fighters in the division. The title changed hands so quick because there were more competitive fights. My era had more quality fighter. If you look at the Lightweights today, who you got? Nobody. It’s the era that tells you how good the fighter is.

Julius: About the shoulder roll that Floyd and James Toney uses, who originated that style of fighting?

Roger: That comes from the Midwest because those fighters had old trainers. Old trainers taught the shoulder roll. Motherfuckers today can’t teach you how to roll over. They can teach you how to roll over and count to 10 but that’s it. That comes from old trainers from around the Michigan area.

Julius: What did you think about De la Hoya in the Hopkins fight?

Roger: The best fight I ever saw De la Hoya fight is the Hopkins fight - technical wise, style wise, boxing skill. If he was a natural Middleweight he would box his ears off him because De la Hoya boxed the shit out of him. He just didn’t have the power to really keep him off him.

Julius: What are Floyd’s thoughts about fighting Branco next and Gatti fighting Leija in January?

Roger: Floyd is just locking in his position. He is the #1 challenger anyway but he gotta lock in his position as the WBC interim champion in order to get more money out of the Gatti fight.

Julius: Floyd has a somewhat bad reputation in the media and is not a big draw at the box office. What do you think he can do to change that?

Roger: You gotta be able to fight to be rich. If you can’t fight you won’t do shit. Sometimes the things you do outside the ring helps you and sometimes it hurts you. It all depends on who it is. The characteristics that Mike Tyson has it helped him because he grew up pretty much on his own and has always been bad. People can forgive him for things he does because they say well he grew up in a poverty stricken area. Floyd went to the Olympic Games and grew up in a great boxing family people couldn’t see this with him. We are all allowed to make mistakes and we all gotta ask God to forgive us. We all are going to make mistakes. He is more prone to make mistakes than you or me.

Julius: Is there anything else you would like to say in closing?

Roger: The Mayweather name goes a long way back but it didn’t start to flourish until the early 1980’s and the world saw what a boxing family could do. Even though we all train different and think different, I still think that we are all the best at what we do. Boxing is a very knowledgeable game and since we all grew up in boxing and since the craft has been handed down from my older brother. Even though we don’t see eye to eye on most things, that’s ok.

I want to thank Roger Mayweather for taking the time to speak with me.