Renowned trainer Billy "The Preacher" Graham on Floyd Mayweather Jr.

On Hatton's fight with Mayweather;

“I always knew that the problem wasn’t catching up with Floyd, who couldn’t move backwards faster than Ricky could move forward, and had warned Ricky beforehand that Floyd would hit a lot harder on the outside and inside than he’d been led to believe. Look, you don’t operate at Floyd’s level if you’re a non-puncher so I told Ricky to be prepared for that and that the real problem was what to do when he got close to Floyd..There was huge help from the referee [Joe Cortez]. Floyd did whatever he could get away with, and he got away with murder in there, so I can’t knock him for that. Floyd is very good at nullifying people when he gets inside; he is a nightmare to open up when you get close. He is behind that shoulder but is constantly looking at his opponent; he stares you in the face and never takes his eyes of you, which is how you know there is something about him. Floyd anticipates the shots, catches them, and uses the openings to get to you.”

On Mayweather's personality and in ring focus;

“Floyd is flash but he is a much nicer person than he portrays himself to be, he is a gentleman in person, that flashiness is his MO but if you think there is nothing more to him than that you are making a huge mistake,...Floyd is one tough *******. If he can have an easy night then he’ll make it easy, he isn’t bothered about what the crowd thinks, which could be seen as a sign of his mental strength, and is not bothered if the fight is dreary for the onlooker. For Floyd, it is all about negating your strengths and getting the win...Any time you see anyone push Floyd into a fight then you see the best of him. You have to drag a fight out of Floyd but once you do his heart is equal to the task. Floyd has more to him than just skill. He is a diabolically good puncher, really accurate, and he whips the shots in when you open yourself up. His chin is also solid, though it is hard to tell for sure because no one has ever landed more than a handful of power shots on the ****er - you certainly don’t see him hit with consecutive power punches.”

On Mayweather's conditioning and fight with Marquez;

“The guy is always in shape. Floyd actually looks smaller when not in training. His arms look smaller and he looks slender. Then he gets in the gym, does the hard graft, and looks even more solid on fight night. I think he’s teetotal, a non-smoker and his only vice in that respect is a bit of chocolate - the guy is a phenomenon...If his hands were a little bit frail then the rest did him good. Marquez is a great fighter in his own right but to someone like Floyd he is a sparring partner – I love Marquez but we have to be honest here. Floyd took him apart and could have stopped him had he put his foot on the gas.”

 

Interesting read, thanks for posting.

 

I wonder how good ricky could have been if he never hooked up with grahm as a kid, and got a real trainer :think

 

Yeah, I can't stand the guy myself. Hatton has shown in the past he could have taken on a more patient boxing style, and gone toe-to-toe when/if needed.
Although if he adopted that style, I think he may have had more than just the two losses on his record.

 

Well, Billy Graham made him was he is today.
Maybe Hatton would have been nothing without him.

It proves more to train a kid from scratch and produce a champion than just be one of these "top trainers" who latch on to fighters who have already made it.

Having said that, all trainers are just lucky if they happen to get associated with good fighters. It's all down to luck. If the next Roy Jones Jr. happens to walk in your gym .....

 

Interesting take on Floyd, makes a change to the usual **** we hear about him..

 

Mosley will kill him just wait !!!!

 

This thread won't get a lot of replies because it's not what Floyd haters want to see. Here you have a trainer showing tremendous respect for Floyd's skills as well as referring to him being as being gentleman since he's actually met and been around the guy unlike the poster's in this forum who don't know him personally but swear that he terrible person.

Floyd haters wanna see "floyd is an *******" "floyd is a *****" and all that BS.

 

Thats some true **** right there.

Cheers for the info :good

 

Cant see it but he has the best shot of anyone probably, should be fascinating.

 

Good piece.

 

Maybe ten years ago

 

Excellent read thanks for sharing.

 

I couldn't agree more.

 

Agreed,, True boxing insight is not appreciated on this site ..