Bob Sheridan: “I felt that Mayweather would win, but now watching Pacquiao in his last couple of fights, he’s fighting as good as ever!”

I recently spoke to legendary Hall of Fame commentator, ‘The Colonel’ Bob Sheridan. Bob Sheridan has been calling boxing matches for several decades now in a career that has seen him witness the likes of Roberto Duran, Muhammad Ali and Mike Tyson.

In part 2 of this interview I get ‘The Colonel’s’ thoughts on some upcoming fights. Bob speaks about the January 17th heavyweight shootout between knockout artist Deontay Wilder and Bermane Stiverne. Sheridan also shared his views on a possible Cotto-Alvarez match and Floyd Mayweather’s next potential opponent. Here is what Bob Sheridan had to say.

Robert Brown: You’ve said before that you think Mayweather would win a fight against Manny Pacquiao. Do you still think that’s the case?

Bob Sheridan: I don’t know. A few years ago I felt that Mayweather would win, but now watching Pacquiao in his last couple of fights, he’s fighting as good as ever. Remember, both of them have lost a little bit from their very peak performances in their careers, so it all comes down to the night of the fight. The whole situation involving the speed of Pacquiao, he could put pressure on Mayweather.

There was a time when I thought that Mayweather was just totally unbeatable, I don’t know if that’s totally the case right now but that’s why people want to see the fight, in spite of the fact that both of them are getting long in the tooth.

Robert Brown: Do you think Amir Khan proved enough in the fight with Devon Alexander that he could cause some different problems for Floyd Mayweather?

Bob Sheridan: I think that Amir Khan can cause him some problems because he’s good on his feet and he’s quick and he can put some pressure on and he’s a heavier puncher than Floyd Mayweather Jr. The thing is, Mayweather is still one of the great defensive fighters of all times, so that’s a fight that probably should happen and it’s an interesting fight and we’ll see what the outcome is afterwards.

Mayweather has dominated the junior middleweight division and the welterweight division in the past couple of years, so that fight has to take place before you know. I think Amir Khan certainly earned a shot with his last performance to be able to fight Floyd Mayweather.

Robert Brown: We got a heavyweight title fight between Deontay Wilder and Bermane Stiverne coming up. What are your thoughts on that match?

Bob Sheridan: Stiverne is a big banger and we’ll find out how good Deontay Wilder is but Stiverne is a guy who sets traps, he can fight off the ropes, he knows how to protect himself well and he has tremendous power and patience.

If Wilder just tries to pressure him, remember he’s 32-0 with 32 KO’s, so Wilder is very confident that he can stop Stiverne but Stiverne himself has 21 KO’s against much better opponents than what Deontay Wilder has faced. We’ll see how that fight goes, but I think Stiverne has got a better shot than most people believe against Deontay Wilder. I think people think Wilder is gonna cruise right through this guy and I don’t think that’s the case.

Robert Brown: If you had to put your money on Stiverne or Wilder, who would you put it on?

Bob Sheridan: I would bet on Bermane Stiverne. I just think he’s faced tougher competition, I think he’s right where he wants to be and we’ll see. If Wilder knocks him out, then Wilder is the real deal.

Robert Brown: Antonio Tarver recently has a win over Johnathon Banks, what were your thoughts on that and would you be interested in seeing Tarver fight Shannon Briggs?

Bob Sheridan: I don’t think that fight will happen because Shannon Briggs has been taunting Klitschko and I think Klitschko just sort of annoys him. That’s the fight Shannon Briggs wants. Antonio Tarver to me is a fighter that’s past his peak. I think he’s had his best days and the guys that are in the heavyweight division, it’s difficult seeing Antonio Tarver getting a shot at a heavyweight or even a cruiserweight championship right now. I don’t see it happening.

Antonio is past it and like a lot of fighters that stay in it too long and they’re hoping to get one last final pay day and certainly that’s his case. One other guy that continues to fight is Roy Jones Jr, he’s doing a lot of fighting in Russia and he’s able to pick his opponents and he continues to fight. He’s kind of in the Bernard Hopkins area, where he’s fighting guys that are relatively unknown over there in Russia and still performing enough to win fights. It’s kind of interesting to see Roy Jones still involved in the sport.

Robert Brown: There seems to be more talk that the Miguel Cotto vs. Canelo Alvarez fight may happen. What are your thoughts on that fight possibly happening?

Bob Sheridan: I think that fight will happen before the year is out. I think Miguel Cotto last time out proved that he still has a great deal of ability and they’ll probably have that fight in New York sometime around the big Puerto Rican holiday up there in May.

Canelo is certainly a rising star and a big star in the middleweight division and it will be a night to remember I’m sure when Cotto and Alvarez do battle. We look forward to that fight and I think it will happen.

Robert Brown: There’s been talk of a Carl Froch-Julio Cesar Chavez Jr fight being made. Would you be interested in that fight?

Bob Sheridan: Oh yeah I’d love to see it. I think Chavez is an interesting guy, he always has weight problems but he’s a better fighter than he gets credit for. He’s the son of the great Julio Cesar Chavez and nobody can live up to what he did in his career, so a lot of the expectations of the son and the fact that he hasn’t made weight and fights have been called off have hurt him in his career but he’s still a pretty good fighter. Froch is a terrific fighter, so we’ll see what happens if they fight.

Robert Brown: We got a heavyweight, Lucas Browne, causing a bit of excitement in Australia. What do you think of Lucas and his career so far?

Bob Sheridan: It will be interesting to see what Lucas can do. There’s been some talks about the possibility of him fighting Joseph Parker, I don’t know if that’s a good fight for either one of them but we’ll see what happens with that.