Steward: "Floyd-Khan would be a bigger draw I think than Pacquiao and Bradley"

CIANI: Emanuel, it’s been over fifteen years since you were inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame, and this year another trainer is going to be on the ballot for the first time, and that’s Freddie Roach. As a fellow trainer, I’m just curious (1) do you think Roach deserves to be inducted, and (2) do you think he will be?

STEWARD: Well he’s definitely deserves to be inducted when you think of today’s hottest names in trainers, it’s Freddie Roach! He’s been with high visible fighters for the last five years since Manny Pacquiao officially jumped on the scene. Manny has been the hottest fighter, so naturally Freddie goes right along with it! His name is out there. He’s been on a lot of 24/7’s with Oscar De La Hoya and all of his fighters, and he’s learned his trade. He was an amateur boxer, he was a professional fighter, an assistant to one of the greatest coaches and trainers in Eddie Futch, and then he really got there with one hot fighter—one of the hottest fighters we’ve ever had in our sport. So based on all of that his name is out there and he definitely will be elected.

CIANI: It’s funny Emanuel, because when you think of Freddie Roach everybody does naturally think of Pacquiao, but he also took Amir Khan not long after he suffered a first round knockout defeat. Khan is one of those guys now whose name gets mentioned as being amongst the better pound-for-pound fighters in boxing today. What do you think of the work Roach has done with Khan and how Khan has progressed as a fighter?

STEWARD: Yeah, I think Khan has progressed as a fighter, but in all honesty too he was a brilliant amateur always. The knockout loss was just one of those stunning one punch type knockouts anyone can suffer. It wasn’t like he was thoroughly beaten and dominated. He got caught with one punch and for the most part never recovered from it. Freddie has done a good job of teaching him basic stuff, but I think the biggest asset that he has had, which is what happened in my gym, is just having great boxing! When the best are working with the best, whether it’s basketball or anything, you’re going to improve. His gym is where everybody is going to right now. It’s hot because of the great location in Hollywood, the weather is always great, the cameras are always there with some kind of special or something, all of the big movie stars are there. The best are boxing with the best there, so it’s going to stay that way. You can take a normal athlete and just put him in that kind of situation and you’ll see him improve. In this case you have a guy with a thorough background like Amir Khan from the Olympics and everything. He’s only had that one loss that was basically a one punch knockout. He’s improved and it’s been a great situation, and Freddie did what was necessary to keep him boxing with these kind of fighters and he’s brought out the best in him.

CIANI: Now Emanuel it’s funny. A lot of fans still want to obviously see Mayweather and Pacquiao fight, but another fight that makes sense is a fight between Khan and Bradley. But all of a sudden the talk is, and fans are scared that it might play out this way, is that Bradley might wind up fighting Pacquiao next year and that Mayweather might wind up fighting Khan. If it did play out that way and if Pacquiao fought Bradley and Floyd fought Khan, who do you think has the tougher test between Floyd and Pacquiao in that instance?

STEWARD: Well I think Floyd would, I don’t know. It’s hard to say because he hasn’t really had a chance to have to demonstrate his skill in a long time completely. The Ortiz fight was just starting to get warmed up. It was going exactly as I expected and then boom! Then what happened. Marquez was just too small. Mosley was like he didn’t even want to fight and just mentally wasn’t there. So it would be interesting to see him in a strong test. It would be a tough fight. I think Bradley would be the toughest guy. I think if Pacquiao fought Bradley then Pacquiao would have the hardest fight, because Bradley is a tough, tough guy and a much more difficult guy to fight. Even though he’s a small guy on the same level as Manny, he’s a rough guy. I think that Floyd if he’s what he used to be, would be able to try and pot shot Khan and Khan would try to use his physical size to overpower Floyd, which he may be able to do, and I like the solid amateur background of Khan. That’s what I like more so than even when I saw as a professional. The fact that he’s a determined kid and I think he’s going to be a welterweight. I think 140 I think is history for him. He’s a big kid and he’s going to push Floyd, but I think Timmy might be an even bigger problem for Manny.

JENNA: Speaking of Mayweather and Pacquiao, recently the pay-per-view stats for Floyd Mayweather Junior’s last fight were released. He got 1.25 million pay-per-view buys, and it’s got a lot of fans questioning which fighter, Pacquiao or Mayweather, is the bigger pay-per-view draw. In your opinion, who do you think is?

STEWARD: Oh my God! These are some tough questions. I would probably say it’s weird. As far as exciting fights and whatever, you might say Pacquiao. But Floyd does so great on those 24/7’s. As Floyd said himself, he is the King of the 24/7’s and he knows how to build up a fight from those. I think Amir Khan and Floyd Mayweather may outdo a fight between Bradley and Pacquiao on a pay-per-view, because in Amir Khan and Mayweather you have two good guys in terms of talking and promotion, and the British interest and the Arabic world, and then you got Mayweather who has just picked up a big general following from his 24/7’s. That would be a bigger draw I think than Pacquiao and Bradley.

JENNA: Do you think more people buy the pay-per-views to see Floyd Mayweather Junior lose or to see Floyd Mayweather Junior perform?

STEWARD: I would say about 50-50, because a lot of them want to see him lose with the excitement and intrigue he creates with all of the gimmicks he does with him and the money thing with him and 50 cents. All of those things are very well received by the public. I think even the incident, which is what happens normally anyway, with him and his Daddy. Those types of situations, that’s what everybody was talking about. The rest of the 24/7’s, I don’t hear too much about them. I always hear what do you think about Floyd Mayweather cursing out his Daddy, what do you think about so and so, what do you think about what they did with the money. So regardless, he does a good job of marketing himself, and really he doesn’t act. That’s just Floyd being Floyd!



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I agree on all of what you say except for the fact I have no preference in which I'd want to see, because what I'd like to see is Pac-Floyd and Bradley-Khan as I'm sure most probably would.

If it came down to choosing between the other 2, I have no real preference and would actually be disappointed if 1 (or both) of those came to be before Pac and Floyd finally stopped acting like a couple of assholes.

:smoke