Bob Sheridan: “Floyd Mayweather may just turn it up a notch early in the rematch and try to take Maidana out of there!”

I recently had the chance to speak with Hall of Fame announcer, ‘The Colonel’ Bob Sheridan. Sheridan is one of the most well known and experienced fight announcers in the sport, and has been involved in some of the most historic bouts in boxing. Topics discussed in part 2 of my interview with ‘The Colonel’ include, Mayweather-Maidana II, Mike Tyson’s loss to Buster Douglas, highlights of Bob’s career and a possible Pacquiao-Mayweather mega bout. Here is what Bob Sheridan had to say.

Robert Brown: Bob does Chris Algieri have the ability to cause Pacquiao some issues?

Bob Sheridan:I think Chris Algieri has the ability that he might be able to catch up with Manny, but I just think Manny has too much speed for him and still is a terrific fighter.

The fact that he got knocked out by Juan Manuel Marquez doesn’t faze me one bit because it happens from time to time in fights where a guy will walk into a punch, and that’s what happened in the Marquez fight. Manny got caught and people said, “Oh that’s the end of Manny’s career.” I never believed that for one second, I just think that in any fight, a guy can get caught, and that’s what happened in that fight.

Robert Brown:Floyd Mayweather has a fight on September 13th. A lot of people are expecting Floyd to fight in the center of the ring this time and it will be a wider decision against Maidana. What are your thoughts?

Bob Sheridan: Well that certainly would be the idea because I called the last fight and I think it was in the 5th round and I had given every single round to Maidana, then I said, “Now we’re gonna find out just how good Floyd Mayweather Jr. is, he’s gonna have to win every round just to get back in this fight and to pull it out.” Floyd was able to do that, proving what an extraordinary guy he is.

I think that he had the idea that he could just fight in the manner in which he did and then pull it out in the end, but Maidana never faded and I don’t think Floyd realized just how good this fighter was and because of the split decision, he gave him the rematch. There’s not a lot of fights of interest for Floyd Mayweather right now, except for Manny Pacquiao, and maybe that fight can be made early next year, I don’t know.

I certainly think that there should be — as most people feel — a wider margin in this fight, but Maidana is a very good fighter and he may just turn it up a notch early in the fight and try to take him out of there, something he couldn’t do the last time.

Robert Brown: You brought up Manny Pacquiao maybe fighting Floyd Mayweather. I personally don’t think it’s going to happen, but do you still hold out hope that it might happen in Floyd’s last fight? What do you think would happen if that fight happens?

Bob Sheridan: Well if the fight happens, I think that Floyd is just a little bit too quick for Manny. I think it would be a sensational promotion, I think that it probably is what Floyd Mayweather has in the back of his mind for his final fight. Whether it will happen or not, your guess is as good as mine and anybody that’s involved with this interview, you would have as much insight in this as I would.

I know that it’s been impossible to make to this point because of rival promoters and advisors, but the mega millions that it might be able to generate as a co-promotion in the finishing touch to Floyd Mayweather Jr’s career would certainly make it a mage, mega event — even though it’s maybe seven or eight years beyond when it really would have been something else.

I think Floyd is a very clever guy in and outside the ring and I think this may just be what he has in the back of his mind. If he wants it to happen, it will happen because Manny will fight him.

Robert Brown: I want to talk about one of the famous fights you called, Mike Tyson vs. James ‘Buster’ Douglas. You had a feeling right from the start of the fight that Mike was a bit off beat. Was that just from your observations from the start of the fight or did you have a feeling that it might be a tougher fight than what everyone else thought?

Bob Sheridan: Well, Buster was at the height of the best in his career at that particular night because he was fighting, his mother had passed away recently, emotionally he had everything going for him.

Mike Tyson was at an era where he had lost Cus D’Amato, he had lost Jimmy Jacobs, he didn’t really fancy being in Japan. He was having marital problems, or at least girlfriend problems and I don’t anything psychologically or emotionally was right for Mike Tyson that night.

I noticed very early in the fight that Bust Douglas was able to back him up — something I hadn’t seen very often in a Mike Tyson fight. When he was able to do that, he no longer had fear of Mike Tyson. Mike, in the prime of his career, intimidated so many people but Buster Douglas wasn’t having any of it.

Even in the 8th round of that fight, Douglas got knocked down and almost knocked out and a lot of people thought, “Well, that’s just typical Mike Tyson, he’s gonna finish this guy off now.”

In the 9th round of that fight, Buster Douglas not only recovered, but he came back and started to score punches then he eventually knocked out Mike in the 10th round, which was — in the heavyweight division at least — the upset of the century. It was an extraordinary upset at that particular time and Mike’s whole life seemed to take a tail-spin after that.

Robert Brown: What have been some of your favorite calls in your career?

Bob Sheridan: The days of Hagler, Hearns, Leonard and Duran, the great career of Mike Tyson. Larry Holmes’ fight with Kenny Norton, with all of the big heavyweight fights that I’ve called over forty years of calling professional boxing, I still think the fight between Holmes and Norton was one of the great heavyweight fights of all time, certainly of my time.

To have seen guys that are relatively unknown but yet Hall of Fame fighters like Ricardo ‘Finito’ Lopez out of Mexico who was a tremendous fighter. Being involved in the career of Felix Trinidad, I watched the rise of Trinidad throughout his career.

Of course I had the pleasure of calling Jeff Fenech’s fights and Sam Soliman fights, those were two extraordinary athletes from Australia. Those were all extraordinary fights in an extraordinary career, and I just thank God that I’m still able to be calling these fights.