John Scully: “I’m sure that whatever Mayweather & Pacquiao have left, they’re gonna bring every bit of it to May 2nd”

I recently had a chance to catch up with former light heavyweight boxer and now current trainer, ‘Iceman’ John Scully. Having been involved in the sport for several decades, Scully is well respected for his boxing knowledge and insight in boxing. In this interview, I talk to John about the upcoming reality show that he will be partaking in and what fans can expect from the show. ‘Iceman’ also gives his analysis on the potential Mayweather vs. Pacquiao super fight and the buzz the fight will have now as opposed to five years ago. Lastly, Scully gives his prediction for the fight and what he’s expecting from both fighters on fight night. Here is what John Scully had to say.

Robert Brown: I hear you got a spot on a reality show coming up, can you tell us about that?

John Scully: Yeah we actually just finished filming three weeks worth of the show this past week and we’re just basically waiting for the episodes to start airing and then the final show for the season will be live in July.

Robert Brown: Who are the people participating in the show?

John Scully: The show is called ‘Knockout’ and it’s in its second season. The show consists of myself, Floyd Mayweather Sr, Sugar Shane Mosley and Roy Jones. Shane, Floyd and I are the trainer and Roy is kind of like the host of the show. Shane, Floyd and I have a team of boxers and we train them to fight each other, so the show basically follows us in the gym just doing different things, everyday lives and the fights against each other.

Robert Brown: How are your fighters doing?

John Scully: Pretty good, I actually was away for three weeks, so I just got back in the gym a couple of days ago and I’m just getting back into the swing of things. We actually have the Golden Gloves tournament that’s coming up in a few weeks, I have some amateur boxers that are training for that.

I have a professional, undefeated super middleweight names Craig Duncan — he’s 5-0 with 4KO’s — and I’m just trying to get him situated with a manager and a promoter right now, which is looking good, we’ve been talking to a few different people and just trying to get him situated and ready to go.

Robert Brown: All signs point to Mayweather-Pacquiao happening and while some are happy the fight is made, others say that the perfect time would have been after the Cotto or Margarito wins. When do you think the best time was for the fight to happen?

John Scully: I think after the Margarito fight, either one of those beatings was amazing, the way he handled both of those guys. I think the morning after the Cotto or the Margarito fights if you asked people who was gonna win, I think more than ever they would have said Manny would win. I don’t think as many think he would now as they did the morning after those two fights.

That was the time to really make the fight because you have the fight and it’s gonna be anticipated and everything, but I think the betting on the fight isn’t gonna be nearly as exciting as it would have been then. I think the betting would have been huge and it would have been split but now I think that the big boxing people that really know the game, I don’t think they’re gonna risk betting money on Manny anymore.

Robert Brown: Back then, five or six yeas ago, do you think the betting would have rivaled Super Bowl type betting?

John Scully: Yeah I think it was in that realm. I don’t think anything could surpass the Super Bowl just because it’s just such a wide sport, everybody knows about it. Even people who don’t like football, they watch it, they want to be involved — not necessarily in the game, but they want to be involved in the parties and the events leading up to the game.

I think that this fight more than most will branch out to some of those types of people but basically the core fans who know who they are already are the ones that are gonna watch the fight.

Robert Brown: Brandon Rios said in the press recently that even though Manny Pacquiao looked very dominant over Chris Algieri, he seems to believe Manny has lost his killer instinct a bit. What are your thoughts on that?

John Scully: I can see why people would say that. The fact of the matter is, killer instinct comes out when you need it and in recent fights Manny hasn’t needed it. He was very comfortable ahead late in the fight with Brandon Rios and he was obviously way ahead with Algieri, so he didn’t feel that real need to finish the show.

I think if you see Pacquiao getting hit with shots or if he’s behind on the scorecards and they tell him he needs a knockout to win, I think the killer instinct would be very prevalent, it would be very much there.

Robert Brown: Do you think we are going to see the old Manny when and if the fight happens with Floyd Mayweather?

John Scully: I’m sure he’s gonna be meaner than he’s ever been. Both guys know that this fight is all about, they know the ramifications of winning and losing it. Manny, winning by knockout over Floyd Mayweather would be unbelievable for his career and it would basically be one of the greatest victories of all time. I’m sure that whatever each guy has left, I’m sure they’re gonna bring every bit of it to the date.

Robert Brown: Who do you think will win a Manny Pacquiao vs. Floyd Mayweather fight?

John Scully: I believe at this point that Floyd Mayweather will win a decision, I think he’ll box and I think he’ll be a little bit more aggressive at times, he’ll make it a little bit more exciting, I think Pacquiao will bring that out of him.

One thing about Floyd is that he’s very smart and he doesn’t take chances that he doesn’t need to take and I don’t see any reason why that would change for this fight. He’s in with a dangerous guy who can probably match him in terms of hand speed and I think he’ll be careful and a careful Floyd Mayweather is a very effective Floyd Mayweather.

*Click player to listen to the full John Scully interview in which he speaks on Broner-Molina, Thurman-Guerrero, Canelo-Kirkland and more!*