The fight the world has waited for is now only 15 days away, and everyone from the fighter’s camps to the people announcing the fight are eagerly anticipating the event. Hall of Fame commentator Al Bernstein will have the privilege to add to his list of accomplishments by being able to call Mayweather vs. Pacquiao, as part of the joint PPV between Showtime and HBO. I had a chance to speak with Al Bernstein ahead of this weekends fights to get his thoughts on everything coming up in the next month from the boxing Calender.
In part 1 of my “On The Ropes” boxing radio interview, Al Bernstein breaks down the upcoming Showtime bout between Julio Cesar Chavez Jr and Andrzej Fonfara. Besides speaking on that fight, Berstein gives his thoughts on the same night HBO card that features Matthysse vs. Provodnikov & Crawford vs. Dulorme. Additionally Bernstein gives his thoughts on the super fight between Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao. Here is what Al Bernstein had to say.
Jenna J: You have a busy weekend in front of you; you will be calling the fights on Showtime. Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. will be taking on Andrzej Fonfara, what do you think of the fight?
Al Bernstein: Chavez Jr. is coming in off of a year layoff and taking on Andrzej Fonfara who is a light heavyweight. This is the first time Chavez has fought at light heavyweight — even though he says he wants to be a 168lb’er — and we saw Fonfara give a great account of himself against Adonis Stevenson.
Even though Fonfara lost the fight, he had Stevenson down in the fight and showed himself to be a very good fighter. He’s a fighter from Poland who now fights out of Chicago and this is a very tough match up for Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. after a year layoff.
Jenna J: Why do you think Chavez has taken such a tough challenge on his first fight back?
Al Bernstein: I really don’t know. I think it’s intriguing. Of course you have to fight somebody of note if you’re going to fight on a premium cable network like Showtime but this was a fascinating choice. Fonfara has a big height and reach advantage and Chavez will be working with Joe Goossen for this fight, who’s an excellent trainer, and by all accounts they have had a good camp.
People in the past have questioned Chavez Jr’s work ethic but I’m not sure why they decided to take on a light heavyweight and why Fonfara was the one, but I think it will provide an entertaining match up.
Jenna J: A lot has been made of Chavez Jr. in his career. Right now he’s 28 years old, do you think it’s now or never for him to finally dedicate himself and take boxing seriously?
Al Bernstein: I think part of that has to do with what people perceive him to be — and a lot of that has to do with him because he’s put those vibes out there. There is the perception — and some of that is true — that he hasn’t been a serious as he should have been. Many people believe that the Martinez fight was within his grasp had he trained more diligently. People feel he squandered an opportunity there and hasn’t quite gotten to where he’s supposed to be.
He’s 28 years old, it’s not as if he’s in his 30’s. I think if he dedicates himself to the sport, I think there’s plenty of time for him to produce. One of the things you have to say in Chavez Jr’s defense is that he has produced always wildly exciting fights, whether it was with Bryan Vera or Andy Lee or even Martinez. For the most part as a fighter, he’s in exciting fights and from that standpoint, he’s an interesting fighter to watch.
Jenna J: On HBO there’s a fight between Ruslan Provodnikov and Lucas Matthysse. There’s talk that this could be fight of the year, how do you see that fight going?
Al Bernstein: I think it’s going to be a very good fight. Two fighters that don’t take a backwards step and I think everyone feels it’s going to be decided on who can take the other guys’ best punch, because both will probably get them in and I think it’s going to be a war. I would lean towards Matthysse in the fight but when you stand in front of Provodnikov, he doesn’t have trouble with people standing in front of him and Matthysse will be there, he only has trouble with boxers. It’s a tough fight to pick.
Jenna J: Terence Crawford is moving up to 140lbs to take on Thomas Dulorme for a vacant belt. Do you think Crawford will be successful at 140?
Al Bernstein: That’s a good question, at 135lbs he was very good. You move up in weight and people punch a little harder and your punch sometimes doesn’t quite have what you had before. Dulorme is a good fighter and we may not get our answer about Crawford in this fight, we may get it as he moves.
The good thing is, it’s only a 5lb weight move up. I think moving from lightweight to welterweight like Adrien Broner did was a big mistake. We’ll see how Crawford fares but I think at 140lbs he can still be effective.
Jenna J: I want to get your views on the May 2nd fight between Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather, what are your thoughts on it?
Al Bernstein: It’s going to be interesting. I’m privileged to be able to announce that fight, which will be quite an event. I’m looking forward to it, I think it’s going to be very interesting.
I think the question will be, can Manny Pacquiao be a volume puncher in that fight? Mayweather tends to make volume punchers into non volume punchers — the only exception to that rule recently was Marcos Maidana in their first fight. Can Pacquiao overwhelm him with those number of punches? If he can overwhelm Mayweather, he’ll have a chance to win this fight. If he can’t, then Mayweather will probably turn it into a more typical Mayweather fight and control the tempo and win it.
No way near PAC.. Maidana…
FLOYD MAYWEATHER- THE BEST EVER
MONEY MAN
Floyd Joy Mayweather, the highest paid athlete of the world according to Forbes Magazine making at least $180 million for his upcoming fight against Manny Pacquiao on May 2, the boxer who self proclaims as TBE The Best Ever, sporting an immaculate record of 47 wins- Zero loss has always used arrogance, putdown and disrespect to his opponents. He declares himself as the greatest of all time above Sugar Ray Robinson, Joe Louis and Muhammad Ali and other boxing greats and prides himself to not lose any single fight as a professional fighter over a span of almost 20 years, October 11, 1996 as his first pro fight.
THE SUPERFIGHT
His upcoming boxing match against world champion Manny Pacquiao is expected to be the highest grossing fight in history as early as 2009 and after over 5 years of disputes and failed negotiations, the fight has now been finalized and is expected to gross a staggering $ 400 million come fight night dwarfing the record of $ 150 million when Floyd fought Alvarez and $ 136 Million when he fought Dela Hoya. This anticipated fight rivals the greatest boxing match not only from an economic but historical sense pitting the 2 greatest boxers of their generation against each other. Rarely you see two athletes dominate their sports like Mayweather and Pacquiao at the same era and fans all over the world are salivating to witness this superfight.
POUND FOR POUND
Pacquiao is the only fighter with the distinction of having won an unprecedented title in 8 different weight class and considered as the modern day Henry Armstrong, one of the pugilistic greats who fights up and down different weight class. In contrast, Manny is a fan favorite not just because of his fighting style but most of all his humility and selflessness towards the people. He is a congressman in his native country and has built hospitals, schools and other infrastructure using his career earnings. He came from extreme poverty but found success through survival and boxing. Manny is considered a national hero and a symbol of hope to his people who themselves are in extreme poverty. Mayweather on the other hand is a felon who served time in jail for multiple domestic violence involving different women even punching his girlfriend in front of their children. Pacquaio is truly generous even his promoter Bob Arum calls him as the Philippines ‘welfare’ doling out money from his own pocket to lines of people at his home or wherever he is. And he does not clamor for the media to witness this act of kindness because to him, it is just a daily ritual. It is not unusual for Pacquiao to have a stack of cash as he hands them out to needy people who needs food and medicine. This is in stark contrast when Money Mayweather posts pictures of him flashing a stack of million dollar cash bragging about his money.
HUMBLE FLOYD
Leading to this epic showdown, there is absolutely no trace of insolence or arrogance seen of Floyd Mayweather. He has displayed an uncharacteristically subdued persona as his battle with Manny Pacquiao draws near. During his press conference, he declares “It’s not just about money- it’s about legacy”. One fight does not define Floyd Mayweather’s career”. This behavior is a stark contrast of his arrogance and braggadocio which is the hallmark of Floyd Mayweather career. It is a total contradiction of his declaration of TBE The Best Ever and GOAT Greatest of All Time.
SCARED MAYWEATHER
Floyd’s subdued persona fans call it as focused determination but his body language tells a different story. For the first time, he is showing signs of weakness and fear, insecurity and uncertainty. He is so obsessed with the ZERO on his record but now he realizes that facing Pacquiao can potentially dent his claim as the best ever even conceding that ‘one fight does not define Floyd’ suggesting that he can actually lose this fight. His alter ego of invincibility is being betrayed by the cowardice of the real Floyd Joy Mayweather. The scared and insecure Mayweather who uses domestic abuse and violence to hide his brittle ego, truth is now surfacing and is being exposed. Miguel Cotto, the light middleweight champion and one of former Pacquiao’s opponent declares ‘he guy who comes with no fear to fail is going to be the winner of the fight”. With the obsession of retiring as an undefeated fighter, it is hovering at Floyd’s head the prospect of losing. And now he is scared, terrified of losing to this man Pacquiao he once taunted on his social media accounts sending racial and insulting feeds.
FIGHT OF THE CENTURY
People only remembers ‘No Mas’ when Leonard fought Duran as Sugar Ray forced ‘the hand of stone’ to quit and say ‘No More’. Fans forget or are not even aware of the first fight when Duran beat Leonard. Before the fight, Duran who was well known for his machismo and an unwavering will to win was fearless and even got to Leonard’s head when he imposed his will during the prefight build up and even says he will F— Sugar Ray’s wife after the fight. Duran got to Leonard’s head and it is interesting to see its psychological effect. Leonard fought out of character and abandoned his slick boxing style and elected to go toe to toe against ‘Manos de Pietas’ to prove his machismo and lost.
OLD DOG LEARNS NEW TRICKS
Mayweather is now 36 years old and as great as he is, he is on the tail end of his career. He even admitted that he does not enjoy boxing anymore. That too is a recognition of one’s own decline and father time catches up on anybody, including the self-proclaimed GOAT. He breathed and lived boxing since he was born growing up from a family of boxers. His dedication, training and preparation to a fight is legendary. In this upcoming fight, he changes his training method hiring Pacquiao’s former strength and conditioning coach Alex Ariza. It is amazing and unthinkable that all of a sudden, Floyd is changing his training method when whatever he has been doing brought him 47 victories and no defeat. Is this focused determination or a sign of fear coming from a man who is the master of psychological warfare against his opponents?
PERFECTION
Floyd Money Mayweather is a scared man. He is terrified of the prospect of losing his perfect record of invincibility, his obsession to maintain zero record of losses in his career, the drive to surpass Rocky Marciano’s 49 and 0. Above all, he is scared of The Pacific Storm known as Manuel Dapidran Pacquiao. Perfection no more. Welcome to Forty Seven and One Floyd!
good article in comment section..you should be paid for it.
After May 2nd Mayweather Jr. will be known as TBS (The Bo-tak Egoy!)
Shoulder roll won’t work, the only thing that’s gonna roll is Floyd’s head. It’s not a question of if, but how early will pac overwhelm him with those power punch combos. I bet Floyd’s shell defense will crack right off the bat.
Shoulder roll won’t work, the only thing that’s gonna roll is Floyd’s head. It’s not a question of if, but how early will pac overwhelm him with those power punch combos. I bet Floyd’s shell defense will crack right off the bat. Floyd will be forced to engage, he won’t have the time to adjust… If Floyd is to win then he will have to win it pacquiao’s way.
Regarding Fraud Jr. negating Volume Punchers = “the only exception to that rule recently was Marcos Maidana in their first fight.”
Yes, and in the 2nd fight, ScumWeather CLINCHED, GRABBED & HELD, AND TIED-UP MAIDANA REPEATEDLY.and Floyd’s girlfriend ref. Kenny BrainLess allowed & encouraged his homie to do so
Maidana got tired, he can’t sustain his attack plus he doesn’t Have hand speed and footwork plus the angles. Just like what Bradley said, you wouldn’t know what speed is till you get in that ring with pacman.
REAL DANGERS FOR PACQUIAO
1. its gonna be rough sailing for pacquiao since his team to this very day hasn’t made an issue out of the REFEREES CHEATING FOR FLOYD (namely: BAYLESS, WEEKS & CORTEZ) by allowing him to HUG & GRAB his opponents everytime he gets in trouble. none of team pacquiao has brought up the topic of floyd’s EXCESSIVE HUGGING or its other permutations grab, hold, snag, clinch. you have to realize by now it’s how floyd plans to win. RUN UP POINTS, en den HUG PACQUIAO when he’s about to do him damage rendering him NEUTRALIZED.
REFEREE MUST BE COMPELLED TO ENFORCE QUEENSBERRY RULE #2 – NO WRESTLING OR HUGGING ALLOWED!!
1st/2nd Offense – Warning
3rd/4th Offense – Point Deduction
5th/6th Offense – Double Point Deduction
7th/8th Offense – D I S Q U A L I F I C A T I O N
they need to PRE-EMPT and keep repeating this point to mass media till their ears split and explodes.
2. expect floyd to go for a K O especially if its true as many suspect is the reason floyd hired chemical memo to his team, otherwise he still runs up points for a UD. FLOYD WILL THROW PERFECTLY TIMED, FULL POWER RIGHT HAND LEADS ALL NIGHT then jump back, but if he sees paq in trouble will bravely follow-up. it’s a page out of marquez’ KO win v paq. the power may have been PEDed but the technique was studied and practiced well and long. it was a technique that was as beautiful as it was simple, beat him to the punch.
3. which is why floyd’s not gonna be using his JAB TO THE BODY lest he goes down the same way hatton did the 1st time with a “right hook, go under” which is also a beat opponent to the punch.
4. floyd’s got a great right uppercut and can extend himself backwards against the rope to avoid a head shot kya pde obrkiliwa dto.
5. all talk dismissing floyd’s power were just that to get him to sign the fight contract. now all bets are off that paq is going to walk through floyd’s punches as floyd is expected to try and establish respect early much like jmm does that he may maintain distance and engage only as he sees fit.
6. dpat ke pk pra ciang kngkarot pra mkdkt lagi sa blndsde ni puge. piste. lol. dun cia dpt prti sa likod(bulagsidenipuge) lundaginniayungbulag nipogi.
7. hluan nimo ng obrkliwakamay 3-4x bwt ikot. pmpalito, kse unang ngddip yung ulo mo kya d hlata. pansinin nyo kpg nagmmitts sla wlang ilag para dun kaya kpg bnato lagi sapul. prang ung nolook ke jmm or yng konipaulwilliams pro bkit ayaw gmtin.
okay ga? snbukn ko s googletrans, fail. pro pag trinanslate ng pnoy wala rin. bka ke pak pa gmitin. lol.
Putang inang text messages mo, bro! Mauubusan ka na ba ng load? Libre naman itong forum na ito ah!
Hirap basahin ng message mo dude.
PAC WILL DEMOLISH THE GAY ON THE 2ND OF MAY…