John Scully: “I think Miguel Cotto is gonna be in a lot of trouble against Sergio Martinez”

Recently I had the opportunity of speaking with ‘Iceman’ John Scully, a former light heavyweight boxer who is now one of the most respected trainers in the sport. Scully has guided the likes of Mike Oliver and Chad Dawson to world title belts. Some of the topics covered in this interview include; Floyd Mayweather’s recent victory, Timothy Bradley’s performance against Manny Pacquiao, and the upcoming June 7th bout between Sergio Martinez vs. Miguel Cotto. Here is what John Scully had to say in part 2 of his interview.

Robert Brown: Floyd Mayweather recently had probably his most difficult fight since the De La Hoya match in 2007 against Marcos Maidana. Do you think Floyd is showing signs of decline?

John Scully: I think that the initial thought would be that age is starting to catch up, but I do think that we have to give Maidana the credit he deserves for coming in with the gameplan he did and with the mentality he did. I think he had a lot to do with it.

I think Floyd — kind of like he did with Cotto — wanted to prove a little something by going toe to toe at times and staying in the pocket at times. I think maybe he was there a little bit more than he would have liked. I don’t necessarily think it’s age creeping up, but I do think he was forced by his opponent to fight the fight that he fought.

Robert Brown: Manny Pacquiao recently got back into the ring against Timothy Bradley. Do you think the public pressure got to Bradley? He didn’t seem to have the greatest gameplan that night.

John Scully: Well, as a former boxer myself, I can tell you that sometimes — many times for me — you go into a fight with a specific gameplan and for whatever reason, reasons unseen, it just doesn’t gel that way. The cards just don’t fall that way, and I think he found himself a little out of sort early on in the fight.

When he went to the ropes those times and baited Pacquiao to come in — I really don’t think he wanted to do that, I think it was kind of a thing where he was at a loss, he had no answers and I think he was just trying to draw Pacquiao in and hope that he can sucker him into some kind of crazy punches.

I think he might have been a little surprised at the fact that Pacquiao is still pretty sharp after losing that fight by knockout to Marquez last year. I think he might have been a little surprised by Pacquiao’s boxing skill that remains, and his power that remains. I thought Pacquiao fought a really good fight and he didn’t let Bradley get into any kind of groove.

Bradley, I expected him to look better in the fight, but it just seemed like he just woke up one day and he just didn’t seem to have the confidence to execute the gameplan like he did in his previous fight.

Robert Brown: After seeing Hopkins beat Shumenov and seeing Stevenson’s fight with Fonfara, does it change your opinion on who might win the fight between those two?

John Scully: I’ve always thought that Hopkins had the style and the mentality to get it done with Stevenson, but the problem is that no matter what, 49 is 49. Your brain and your head, your skull, it’s 49 years old.

Adonis is a massive puncher regardless, and Bernard would have to fight the perfect fight to get something done with Adonis, because at this age I would assume — from my experience — you can’t take the same punch and certainly not from the hardest punching light heavyweight out there. Either him or Kovalev is the hardest puncher, but from what I understand, I would say Adonis is probably pound for pound the harder puncher.

For me, a fight like that would basically come down to if Bernard could avoid the homerun shot. I think boxing wise and technique wise, I think he could beat Adonis any day of the week, but it’s all gonna come down to if he can take that power shot that is probably gonna land sooner or later. If they fought, it would not surprise me in any way for Bernard to win that fight by a clear decision, it definitely would not.

Robert Brown: Cotto-Martinez is coming up. Do you think Cotto has made a mistake making these intimidatory tactics, calling Martinez the ‘B side’ of the equation, who would you be backing in that fight?

John Scully: I think that these guys at that level, I think the pre fight stuff like that is more for the fans to talk about and draw interest to the fight. I don’t think that they really take it too seriously. I think that it’s almost like being in a court of law, like being in politics, you have to take everything your opponent says with a grain of salt because a lot of it is just said to divert attention and to distract you. It’s a tactical move to say these certain things.

I think a lot of fighters, they just don’t pay attention to these types of things. I don’t think at that level it really alters their gameplan or their mindset too much. With that said, my gut feeling is that — especially at this point in the game — Martinez is too shifty, too slick, just moves too well, he’s too elusive. When he decides to fight in that style, I think it’s probably the perfect antidote to Cotto’s style.

I think Cotto is still very good, I think he still has something left but against Martinez’ best style, I think Cotto is gonna be in a lot of trouble. He may not get hurt, he may not be getting hurt physically, but I think style wise, I just think he’s gonna have a lot of trouble pinning Martinez down.

Martinez is a smart guy, he has smart people in his corner and he knows it’s not beneficial for him to just trade punches and be on the inside with Cotto. I think he’s gonna fight the right fight and he’s probably gonna win a 9-3, 10-2 type of fight.

Robert Brown: Can you give us an update about what you’re up to currently at the moment?

John Scully: My two things right now are, one is that June 6 — I was actually planning on going to the international boxing Hall of Fame in Canastota, it’s gonna be a spectacular year with Tito Trinidad, Oscar De La Hoya and Joe Calzaghe among the inductees, I was really looking forward to that — that night I have four boxers fighting on a show in Orlando, Florida, it’s a big pro show down here that they’re doing. I have four guys on the show so we’re getting ready for that, I’ll be here for that.

The big thing for me is that my book — my autobiography that I’ve been writing for probably 11 years off and on — I’m planning on having it ready for sale in Las Vegas on September 13th at the Boxing Expo, which is a really big event for boxing fans. It’s at the convention center in Las Vegas, the plan at this moment is to have my book finished and to release it that weekend at the Boxing Fan Expo in Las Vegas, Nevada. Hopefully that’s the way that it goes.