Al Bernstein: “In my mind, Mayweather-Maidana was a fight that I can see it getting to a draw”

Recently I had the opportunity to interview Hall of Fame commentator, Al Bernstein. Al is one of the most well known and respected analysts in the game. The topics discussed in this interview include, Bernard Hopkins’ latest win and the potential of facing Adonis Stevenson, as well as a recap of the three main fights in this past Saturday’s Showtime PPV event, ‘The Moment.’ Here is what Al Bernstein had to say in part 1 of his interview.

Robert Brown: I would like to talk about Bernard Hopkins’ recent win over Beibut Shumenov. The remarkable thing about Hopkins is how he’s able to make his opponents freeze. What are your thoughts on that?

Al Bernstein: Yeah as you said, he literally neutralizes them. You wonder, on the one hand you look at it and say, “My goodness why aren’t they trying to punch more?” But they are, and they can’t seem to figure out what to do with him. It is partially amazing because of the age because how does a guy that age even do that? Even though Hopkins did it before when he was younger. It’s a very interesting thing.

Now the question is gonna be — if Adonis Stevenson beats Fonfara, he and Hopkins are set to fight, and even though Stevenson is no spring kid at 35 years, compared to Hopkins he’s very young, will Hopkins be able to do that to him? That’s gonna be a very interesting question.

Robert Brown: For people who don’t know Adonis Stevenson’s next opponent, Andrzej Fonfara, can you tell us a little bit about him?

Al Bernstein: He’s a good light heavyweight, fights out of Chicago now. He’s got a little power, he’s a good technician. The question is — will he be able to stand up to Stevenson’s power, which is obviously considerable? We’ll find out. We’ll see that match on the 24th, we’ll be doing it on Showtime in the United States , and we’ll see how it goes.

Robert Brown: Now moving on to the Mayweather card. Adrien Broner came back and got a win over Carlos Molina. What impressed me was his increased punch output and he didn’t seem to get distracted in this fight. What are your thoughts on his win?

Al Bernstein: Well he did punch more and that was a plan they had. His punches went up — he was averaging around 60 punches a round, which for him is a lot. Part of that though was also due to the fact that he was facing a fighter in Molina who is a good C level fighter, maybe B on his best moments.

The problem is Molina’s not a big puncher at 140lbs, so I think there were some built in advantages for Broner in this fight — of course part of that was by design. Originally they were talking about fighting John Molina — who just had that war with Lucas Matthysse — and I think that would have been a whole different story for Broner, based upon how he brought his power up to 140 against Matthysse, and he’s a big tall fighter too.

Height is a big issue. If you’re taller than Broner — or as tall — he’s got some issues right away. 140 lbs is probably a pretty decent weight for him, although my honest opinion of Adrien Broner is that at anything over 135, his power is not devastating and he is not the monster that he was at 135.

At 135 he could knock people out, and at the end of the day he could have controlled that division for a long time, but he ate himself out of that division. At 140 there are a number of people, we could start with Danny Garcia and go to Lucas Matthysse, Lamont Peterson — I think all of them would be quite a handful for Adrien Broner, and I think in fact, he would go in as the underdog against all three of them.

Robert Brown: Amir Khan came back. The things that Virgil Hunter has been working on with Khan seem to be put into practice now, he had a high guard, he wasn’t staying long in exchanges. Has Khan found his identity now, which is being a clever boxer?

Al Bernstein: Yeah I think that’s what they’re going for and that’s what he did for the most part against Collazo, but Collazo is not a huge puncher — even though he knocked out Victor Ortiz — Collazo himself would tell you that doesn’t mean he’s a big puncher. I think he did have a moment or two against Khan where he may have stunned him, but that happens in boxing.

I think Khan is finding his identity better. He does have great skills and I think for a debut at 147, he fought a very good welterweight and he beat him decisively. It will be interesting to see where he goes from here. Probably in my opinion, Mayweather is likely to fight Maidana again. Khan can’t fight during Ramadan, which means he wouldn’t be ready in September.

They would have probably moved that fight back for him to October, if he made sense as the most lucrative fight around, but now, the most lucrative fight is a rematch with Maidana probably. So that means that Amir Khan is gonna have to fight one more time before he would face Mayweather, if Mayweather beat Maidana again.

So does he fight Shawn Porter, who is a handful for him? Does he fight a Keith Thurman? That’s doubtful. Where does he go as a welterweight now that he’s up at that weight? There’s a lot of interesting questions for Amir Khan. But on the good side, he did perform very well, and he is certainly a marketable name in boxing.

Robert Brown: Now on to the main event. Most people expected that Maidana might give Mayweather some early awkward difficult moments, but that it would be a relatively easy night for Floyd. That was far from the truth. What were your thougtht on the fight?

Al Bernstein: Well there are two things. I thought Maidana was gonna fight a better fight than most people anticipated — where on the continuum he would get to is what I didn’t know. Trust me, I won’t stand here and tell you, “Oh I knew he was gonna make this a wild crazy fight like that.” I didn’t know that.

This is a fight that is in the eye of the beholder very much. Ranging from how the referee performed to how close the fight was, to whether fighters were dirty or not dirty. Here’s the deal — first, for the fight itself. I thought it was a very competitive and very close fight. I think I scored it one point to Mayweather — I don’t even like scoring fights when I announce but they ask me to do it.

In my mind it was a fight that I can see it getting to a draw where Michael Pernick had it. I don’t know if I can make the case for Maidana winning — maybe he could have, could have won it 7-5 maybe, possibly, maybe yes, maybe no. The point is, it was a very close fight.

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Stay tuned to ontheropesboxing.com for part 2 of Al Bernstein’s interview.