Former world title challenger “Iceman” John Scully is a well know and respected trainer who has taken several fighters to championship belts and he is also a boxing analyst, having worked for ESPN. I recently had a chance to speak to John and talk to him about some of the biggest subjects in boxing, getting his views on Garcia vs. Spence, Fury-Wilder and the rematch between Canelo and Golovkin. Here is what John Scully had to say.
Robert Brown: Mikey Garcia wants to fight Errol Spence at welterweight. Is this just biting off more than he can chew for Mikey?
John Scully: Yeah, I don’t see any reason for it. I commend him for doing something that a lot of guys wouldn’t do, they would never jump up and fight a guy of the caliber of Spence, so I give Mikey all the credit for that and I would applaud him if he actually did it.
They have weight classes for a reason and I think that Mikey is a very good fighter and he’s doing very well in his weight class. I just think it’s an unnecessary jump, I don’t see any need for it. I don’t think anyone would criticize him for not doing it. It’s not like there’s a demand for him to move up and fight Spence, there’ nobody talking about it. I think he should stay where he’s at and conquer that division.
Robert Brown: Do you think if Spence and Garcia fight, that Spence would be too big for Garcia?
John Scully: I would think so. I like Mikey very much, I think he’s a very good fighter, one of the pound-for-pound best today but they have weight classes for a reason. He’s not jumping up one weight class, he’s jumping up two to fight probably the physically strongest welterweight there is out there. I commend him for the idea but I just feel it’s unnecessary. I don’t think people would say he’s scared if he didn’t do it. If he didn’t mention it, nobody would ever bring it up.
Robert Brown: What do you think of Tyson Fury making a move to fight Deontay Wilder?
John Scully: The one thing Fury has going for him, besides his confidence, he has a very awkward and unique style that’s hard to get a gauge on. The problem is that Wilder does as well and Wilder has been active. I think a fight between the two of them could be very unorthodox and very unappealing to boxing purists.
I don’t think it would be a good looking fight, I think Tyson will probably try to box and he would make Wilder miss and look very bad doing so. It’s hard to get Wilder’s timing, especially with a long layoff. I think it could turn out to be a suspenseful fight but not a pleasing fight to watch.
Robert Brown: Would you be favoring Wilder in that contest?
John Scully: I’d have to. Normally at their best I would actually pick Fury to win. I think he would be elusive and I think he would make Wilder wear himself out, but all things considered, at this point in their careers, I think Wilder is on a high and he’s really motivated and sooner or later he’s going to catch Tyson with something.
Robert Brown: What do you think of the rematch between Canelo Alvarez and Gennady Golovkin? Who do you think has more pressure going into the second fight? Do you think Canelo will face pressure from the Clenbuterol test?
John Scully: I think in the build up to the fight people are going to bring it up again, it’s going to be a major topic before all is said and done. It’s a tough fight because Canelo had his moments last time when even though it didn’t appear that he deserved to win, he was making Golovkin miss a lot of punches, and Golovkin looked silly at times.
There were times in the fight when Canelo actually reminded me of Mayweather with his defense. I was very impressed with his defense at times. Canelo couldn’t find that sweet shot, but by the same token, I wonder in my head if Canelo had that one night where he was really clicking and he was elusive. I wonder if he can do that again.
Robert Brown: What do you think Canelo will have to do to come away with the victory against Golovkin?
John Scully: He needs to capitalize on the mistakes. Last time ‘GGG’ was making mistakes and he countered but I think he was a little leery and he didn’t mix it up as much as he may have needed to. I think Canelo needs to be more offensive minded when he’s counter punching and really get some damage done. He can’t allow Golovkin to just power his way forward the whole night.
MAYWEATHER AND CANELO ARE NOT ALL THAT DIFFERENT. BOTH RUN IN FIGHTS AND WHERE PROMOTED BY A MAN IN FISHNETS.