Naazim Richardson: “Sometimes Bernard Hopkins’s own brilliance does him harm, and that was the case in the Kovalev fight”

Naazim Richardson is one of the most respected boxing trainers in the sport as he works with young and up and coming fighters, as well as the legends of the game like Bernard Hopkins. Naazim has also worked with notable fighters such as Shane Mosley, Sergio Martinez and Steve Cunningham. Most recently Richardson was seen in the corner with heavyweight Travis Kauffman as he stepped into the ring with two time heavyweight title challenger, Chris Arreola.

In part 1 on my “On The Ropes” interview with Naazim Richardson, I get his thoughts on the controversial decision in the Kaufman-Arreola fight and also get his thoughts on a possible rematch. Naazim also talks about the future of Bernard Hopkins and discusses the current state of the heavyweight division. Additionally, Naazim Richardson gives his view of Timothy Bradley vs. Manny Pacquiao III and if he can see Teddy Altas making a difference in the corner. Here is what Naazim Richardson had to say.

Jenna J: Travis Kauffman recently fought Chris Arreola and he came up short on the cards in a controversial decision. What were your thoughts on the fight?

Naazin Richardson: I didn’t take the opinion of most people. I told my athlete, “I don’t think you got robbed, I think it was a bad decision.” He didn’t robbed, but he didn’t deserve to lose the fight I thought. If they gave a draw I wouldn’t have been happy, so it made me unhappy that the other kid got the decision. I think that the knockdown made the difference.

Jenna J: So you think it should have just been a close decision win for Travis?

Naazin Richardson: Yeah I thought we had a close decision win, but we made mistakes such as letting the guy back in the fight but who doesn’t make mistakes in life? It’s how many mistakes we make that determines where our outcome is, and I don’t think we made that many mistakes.

Jenna J: Do you think the way that the fight was and the fact that it was close, do you think it begs for a rematch?

Naazin Richardson: I know Arreola was yelling for a rematch, he asked me several times after the fight. My thing is, the world knew about Arreola, they didn’t know what Travis had to offer, so they got their minds to open up more about Travis. I think Travis should stay with the lifestyle that he’s taken on these last couple months and maybe he can look forward because the public saw that maybe he should move forward, but that’s his choice. I’m not in the managerial position with Travis, I’m just a trainer. Whatever they want to do, if I can agree with them and I think I can help them, I will be there.

Jenna J: You also work with Steve Cunningham who is moving down to cruiserweight. What do you think of the heavyweight division right now and the new champion, Tyson Fury?

Naazin Richardson: We think Steve Cunningham is going down but after that Tyson Fury fight with Klitschko, Andre Ward may decide to jump up to heavyweight. We saw a fight where one heavyweight was scared and the other one was glad he was. It put a black eye on us, this is our sport, I’m an advocate of the sport and it hurt us. It was a horrible performance.

Jenna J: Fury and Klitschko are set to have an immediate rematch. Do you think Klitschko can do anything differently to win?

Naazin Richardson: Klitschko has a great upside to the rematch because he can do something he didn’t do last fight, he can try. If he just tries he will do better than the last fight. He doesn’t have to do much to be better than what he was in the last fight. He can throw five punches more and it will be better than the last fight. You will have to say, “Well it was far more than the last fight.” It was a horrible performance. Two of the worst heavyweight championships that I’ve seen involved Klitschko. Klitschko vs. Povetkin wasn’t much better.

Jenna J: Bernard Hopkins has not fought now in over a year, could you see Hopkins retiring without having that final fight he was looking to have?

Naazin Richardson: Yeah, the guy’s got nothing to prove. There’s nothing he hasn’t done in the sport except for lose disastrously, that’s the only thing he hasn’t done in the sport. Even when it was written that it should happen with the punching sensation Kovalev in front of him.

Sometimes Bernard’s own brilliance does him harm, and that was the case in the Kovalev fight. Bernard is such an intellect in the ring, and Kovalev proved to me his intellect. Bernard said, “How can the teacher teach you how to pass the test and he failed the test?” talking about John David Jackson.

What Bernard didn’t bank on is that Kovalev looked at him a certain way — and I didn’t know what that look meant at the time, but I did come fight time — he was respecting what Bernard said. If you look at the fight, everything that John David Jackson told him in the corner, Kovalev went totally against. John told him to go in there and throw punches and knock him out, and Kovalev said, “I’m not going in there,” because he didn’t trust his teacher that night.

Jenna J: If Bernard Hopkins retires, how does that leave the light heavyweight division?

Naazin Richardson: The division has pound-for-pound maybe the best fighter in the game. I think Roman Gonzalez is probably the pound-for-pound best fighter in the world, but you got one of the top five best in the world, Andre Ward, moving up to light heavyweight. The division is in great shape, you got Ward, Kovalev, Stevenson. Boxing is always going to be in good hands.

Jenna J: I want to get your views on Manny Pacquiao. It appears that they’re going to do a third fight with Timothy Bradley. Do you think Teddy Atlas can make that much difference in Tim to change the result of the first two fights in which Pacquiao was the better man?

Naazin Richardson: In my opinion, I didn’t see what the rest of the world saw in the first Tim Bradley fight, I didn’t even see what Tim saw when he was crying about how he wanted to commit suicide. I think he did some things in there right and Pacquiao didn’t quite get off. Every time Pacquiao shakes his hands, the commentators start screaming that he’s doing a whole lot.

I’m not at liberty to say about Teddy Atlas, I respect him but he’s said negative things about me in the past, so I don’t even want to comment because if I comment it may come off like I’m retaliating or something and I’m not that dude, so I’m not going to comment on anybody doing their job. If he’s doing the best job he can do, I respect what he’s doing.

I’ve known Tim Bradley since he was a kid and everything that he’s doing now, I already knew he could do because I had seen him do it before. Tim could fight since he was ten years old and I knew that, and he’s fought everybody. He fought Berto, Ward, he was fighting everybody. Tim believes in Atlas and that’s a plus going into a Pacquiao rematch. From my perspective I think Atlas understands boxing, so having that belief from Tim on his side will benefit Tim.