Speaking to Best Sports Betting Canada, Jeff Mayweather said:
- Aaron Chalmers a better choice for Floyd than Ricky Hatton or Oscar De La Hoya – they could hurt him
- Joseph Brown, 17, is going to be as good as Floyd
- Floyd beats Manny Pacquiao every single time – even at their peak
- I want my relationship with Floyd back – it’s up to me to rectify
- Floyd was special from a young age – he beat me up in sparring aged 16
- Floyd is the greatest ever P4P followed by Ray Robinson, Muhammad Ali, Larry Holmes, Joe Louis
Joseph Brown is like a young Floyd – he is the future of boxing
“I’m working with a kid from Canada that’s just turned 17. He’s undefeated in MMA and boxing. When he combines the two he’s 68-0. He’s extremely exceptional.
“I’ve seen things in him that I saw in Floyd as a kid. Already at his age he can judge distance, when to load up and when to work, the kid is amazing and I’ve seen him work with guys who already have belts around their waists and when he sparred with them it was 50-50, give and take.
“He’s exceptional, his name is Joseph Brown. Remember that name. He’ll be compared to Floyd, he’s going to be the future of boxing.”
Marcos Maidana gave Floyd his toughest fight
“Floyd’s toughest opponent was Marcus Maidana. It was a good thing he got hurt at the end of the round because if he got hurt like that at the start of the round that could have been Floyd’s first loss.
“But he was in tremendous shape and recovered really fast. I also remember the fight with Shane Moseley, and I was with my mum and my mum was almost crying because she’d never seen Floyd get hurt, but I said don’t worry he’s alright.
“And of course the next round he cleared his head and turned the tables on Moseley.”
Floyd would beat Manny Pacquaio ‘every time’
“Floyd would have beat Manny every time he fought him, in their primes or not in their primes. Floyd is just better than him.
“Floyd was better than him at anypoint in his career.
“Manny was an amazing fighter and he’ll go down in the history of boxing, and their fight was a huge fight, but because Floyd’s skillset was so good he made Manny look ordinary.”
Aaron Chalmers is a more sensible opponent than Ricky Hatton or Oscar de la Hoya
“It would be great for Floyd to do an exhibition with Ricky Hatton but I think Floyd is a lot smarter than wanting to fight someone who he had a real fight with as opposed to these Youtubers where there’s no chance of him getting hurt and he can still make that sort of money.
“That makes more sense than trying to fight Ricky Hatton or Oscar De la Hoya. They want to fight Floyd to avenge their loss but I don’t think Floyd will take a fight like that, he doesn’t have to.
“Well l wouldn’t say he [Chalmers] has no chance, any man with two hands has two chances.
“But l would say it makes more sense fighting YouTube guys and making millions while you’re retired rather than fighting Oscar Dela Hoya or Ricky Hatton.
“That makes no sense at all, he beat them both when it counted and certainly doesn’t owe anyone a rematch, maybe they should fight each other instead of trying to avenge a loss many years ago.
“Floyd’s professional boxing career is over and he’s found a way to still make extremely big paydays because of the work he did while he was a professional.
“People still want to see him and lots of people want to say l was in the ring with him win lose or draw.”
‘I need to rectify situation’ between myself and Floyd to repair relationship
“My favourite memory of Floyd was when he won his very first title. I was managing him. It was surreal because all the things we talked, dreamed and bragged about came to fruition.
“On that night we both hugged and cried because all the stuff his dad said really came true. It was a special moment for both of us. He cried, I cried, we all cried because he was so young and he had fulfilled his dreams by becoming world champion.
“Then at one point I was no longer helping to train him, I was no longer his manager, and a lot of things changed. And when those things changed we went our separate ways.
“I think that when you go your separate ways time passes quickly and you do not realise it. He signed with J Prince and he came in and he took my job, what can I do?
“There’s not much I can do. He made that decision and that’s what happened. Then time got away from us, he’s doing his thing, I’m doing my thing. And between that time and now we haven’t had a whole lot of communication.
“We talk, we see each other, but it’s not really like it used to be. It probably will never be like that again but being older and wiser, I’m the one that needs to rectify the situation.
“I’m not angry but it just happened one night and I could not sleep. I could not sleep for a whole week.
“I was thinking so much about whether there is anyone out there that I may have wronged that may have caused things between me and Floyd to change. All the time in between is now lost, all those years we could have had.
“Now my mission is to at least try to make the situation much better than it is. Life’s too short and I want to make sure whatever it is – I want to get it off my chest, and he hopefully wants to get it off his chest – and we can just be family because that’s what we are.
“We became distant and after that we didn’t know how to come back together. But as I get older and wiser, that’s one relationship in my life that I need to repair.”
Floyd was built to be a champ at six by chopping trees and road running
“Our entire family thought Floyd was special before he was six years old. The skills you see him with now, he could do those things as a kid.
“At five years old he could do the shoulder roll because from the day he was born his dad didn’t give him a chance to choose to do anything but box.
“You’re born and this is what you’re going to do as a career. His dad prepared him. At six years old you had a kid out running three miles with his dad following him in a car and people would think it’s crazy and ask who is this little kid out here running?
“His dad was braggadocious. He’d say ‘my son will be the best fighter to put on a pair of gloves’.
“His dad would have him chopping trees, running, boxing and he started so young it became second nature. He was in the gym everyday after school instead of playing other sports like other kids, he never got that chance to even think about playing basketball.
“Floyd never picked up a basketball until he was a teenager, he could play other sports very well too, but he didn’t know because he did not do anything else but box.
“Boxing was embedded in him from the day he was born. He had no choice in the matter. And his dad would yell it to anybody that would listen, he would say my son is going to be one the greatest fighters ever.
“I think his dad helped build the ego but I also think when you’re a young kid and you’re fighting kids much older than you and you’re much better than them, you get confidence.
“By the time he was 15 he was boxing older guys. He’d be in there with guys who were 25, even 30 and he’d handle them.”
He beat me up in sparring at 16 – I was a world title contender
“I remember one time we boxed – we had boxed from him being a young kid and of course I’d play with him – but after he was in the Olympic trials it was different.
“He came out here to Vegas and Roger was training him and I sparred with him. And it was nothing like before, he had become a man.
“I could not play with him any more. I was a professional fighter and he was 16 years old and he got the better of him.
“That’s how special he is.”
Top five greatest pound-for-pound fighters ever
“Floyd Mayweather Jr, Ray Robinson, Muhammad Ali, Larry Holmes, Joe Louis.”
