John Scully: “Floyd Mayweather knows that if he were to beat Golovkin, his worst critics would have to shut their mouths”

Former world title challenger and current trainer ‘Iceman’ John Scully is respected around the boxing circles for his views on the sport, as he has also served as an analyst for ESPN. I recently had a chance to interview John, to get his views on the Canelo Alvarez vs. Amir Khan bout and what he thinks the result will be. Scully also spoke on Floyd Mayweather’s comments saying he could beat Golovkin and talked why he thinks Mayweather is speaking out. Additionally, John gave his thoughts on Manny Pacquiao vs. Timothy Bradley III and if he thinks Teddy Atlas will make a difference in the bout. Here is what John Scully had to say.

(To listen to the full interview, click play)

Robert Brown: What are your thoughts on the recently announced Canelo Alvarez vs. Amir Khan fight at 155lbs?

John Scully: My initial reaction was like most people’s, where I thought it was a mismatch and it’s kind of a foolish fight with the weight and everything. But the more I think about it, the one thing that comes into play is the fact that we live in a different era. It used to be where guys moving up in weight was a big deal. A guy would move up in weight and everyone was waiting to see how he would do, how he would adjust to the weight, but I think now with nutrition and just all of the advances that we have, it’s proven to not be that big of a deal.

Guys move up in weight every couple of fights, every few years. Tons of guys have successfully moved up. The old saying was, “A good big man always beats a good little man,” and that’s simply not true anymore. Guys move up in weight and beat bigger guys all the time, Hopkins did it, Mayweather did it, De La Hoya did it, Roy Jones has done it, they all have done it.

I think style wise, Khan could give him a problem. At the end of it all, if I had to bet, I’m not gonna bet on Khan to win. I assume Khan’s not going to win, but it could very well be a better fight than people probably think it’s going to be, technically wise.

Robert Brown: Why do you think Khan is taking this gamble?

John Scully: I think he was probably waiting to see what Mayweather was going to do. He was trying to win the lottery, basically, and it didn’t happen and this was the next best financial opportunity.

In a big way he’s in a no lose situation because even if he loses, everyone’s gonna know he fought a bigger, stronger guy who is an elite guy, so it’s not like he lost a ten round fight to a guy nobody ever heard of. If he loses, he’s gonna lose to an elite guy at a heavier weight, so I don’t think it would damage him that much. It’s kind of a no lose situation, and plus he’s gonna get paid very well for it.

Robert Brown: Floyd Mayweather recently said that Gennady Golovkin would be easy work for him. Do you think he’s possibly setting up a mega fight against Golovkin?

John Scully: I’ve always thought that he’s not going to let that 50-0 go, I find it extremely hard to believe that he would do that. I think it’s orchestrated and I think he’s gonna come back and go for the 50-0.

He’s trying to set himself up as the best fighter ever and he’s probably talking to people around him and they’re telling him that. I don’t think he’ll be the best fighter ever but if he wanted to make a case for it, he would have to do something like Sugar Ray Leonard did with Marvin Hagler, and Ali did with Foreman.

If he was ever to beat ‘GGG’, even the people who hate Mayweather would have to give him all the credit in the world, they’d have to. I think he’s at the point where he might be thinking in those terms. He knows that if he were to beat Golovkin, even his worst critics would literally have to shut their mouths, there would be absolutely nothing they could say.

Robert Brown: What would be your thoughts on that fight if it did happen, and who would you be picking to win?

John Scully: I think ‘GGG’ in the grand scheme of things is too big and too strong, but Floyd has that intelligence and mobility and evasiveness to negate size. A hammer can’t hurt a flea if it can’t hit it. If it hits it, it would demolish it, but if it can’t hit it, it can’t do anything. There’s always that factor, and again, it’s a situation where there’s no choice but to give the guy the credit.

There’s nothing anyone could say, there’s not one iota of dispute if the guy beats that guy. You can look at Mayweather’s wins over certain people and you can make a complaint, you can say, “The guy was too old, the guy was out of his weight class,” but if he beat Golovkin, there’s nothing anybody could say negatively about Floyd for that.

Robert Brown: Manny Pacquiao vs. Timothy Bradley III is less than two months away. What are your thoughts on this fight and do you think Teddy Atlas will make any difference?

John Scully: To be honest with you, I think realistically that’s the only reason this fight is going to happen and is going to sell, the Teddy factor. Under any other circumstances I don’t think it would be anticipated enough to really put out there on a big scale, but I think now that he’s with Teddy, people are now wondering if Teddy has the antidote to Manny this time.

I think that’s the single biggest factor in why people are interested in the fight and why some would give Timothy a chance, I think if he wasn’t being trained by Teddy, and if he didn’t look so good in his last fight, I don’t think this fight would be happening.

Robert Brown: Would you be favoring Manny Pacquiao in the fight?

John Scully: Yeah I would still be favoring Manny. I think they will have a style and a tactic to cause some trouble, but I still at this point would favor Manny.