Duke McKenzie on Mayweather vs Ortiz:
WBC Welterweight Title
When: 17th September Live from the MGM Grand Garden Arena, Las Vegas
What: Floyd Mayweather Jr vs Victor Ortiz
Where: All on Primetime: Sky channel 480, Virgin Media ‘On Demand’ and online at www.primetimelive.co.uk
As the Star Power Pay-Per-View draws closer we sat down with former IBF Flyweight and WBO Super Bantamweight Champion Duke McKenzie to discuss the upcoming fights, finally we spoke about the return of Floyd ‘Money’ Mayweather to challenge ‘Vicious’ Victor Ortiz for the WBC Light Welterweight title.
Here’s what Duke had to say;
“It’s been a long time since we’ve been treated to a Mayweather performance. When Mayweather does fight everyone sits up and takes notice. The thing that surprises me about Mayweather is, being a former world champion I know what it takes to prepare your body and mind for a world title fight and he seems to go through long periods of inactivity and come back looking like he’s never been away from the ring. If you look back through the history of the sport at the fighters who do that ,you’ve got the good and the great. You’ve got good world champions like Lennox Lewis for example who was a good world champion and then you’ve got greats like Mayweather.”
“I’m a fan, like everyone else, of Mayweather and he trains like a dog, he trains so so hard. To stay as highly motivated as he is at the level he’s at it phenomenal.”
“Ortiz is a good fighter and he’s proved that by regaining the title. You can put the Maidana fight down to personal problem but the way he came back to beat the living daylights out of Berto shows just what level he’s at.”
“Mayweather has gone on record to say 41 have tried and no one has had the antidote. If you were to ask me as a former world champion what style I’d rather have, the best attacking fighter like say Pacquiao or the best defensive fighter like Mayweather, I would take being the best defensive fighter all day long. If you look at Mayweather he doesn’t look like a boxer, he’s so brilliant at what he does and he shows no signs of slipping.”
“You can’t step into the water without getting wet. When he boxed Shane Moseley and got caught in the 2nd round he totally closed him out. He made one simple adjustment, instead of carrying his left hand down by his waist he carried it up by his chin and he never took a clean punch all fight long and gave Moseley the boxing lesson of his life.”
“I don’t know if Ortiz has the class to deal with Mayweather. He’s got the will, the determination and certainly the skill but I just don’t see him doing it. For me he just doesn’t bring enough to win. He’ll be in the fight for sure, he’ll be busy and he’ll have a point to prove.”
“It’s a credit to Mayweather to take this fight, Ortiz is a south paw the right side of thirty and he can fight. Outside of Manny Pacquiao if there is a fighter made to beat Mayweather it is Ortiz. Ortiz ticks pretty much all the boxes. You can’t pick too many holes in Victor Ortiz and you can’t say Mayweather has taken a soft option.”
“For his first fight back this is the most dangerous opponent, outside of Pacquiao, he could have faced. You could almost say Ortiz is a carbon copy of Pacquiao in terms of punch accumulation, staying busy and power. Ortiz’s confidence is sky high right now but I just don’t think he has the overall class to do it. This is Mayweather testing himself against a young hungry fighter and he will be thinking if he can handle this guy easily, why should the Pacquiao fight be any different?”
“Mayweather’s periods of inactivity have certainly helped his longevity more than have affected him in terms of ring rust. When you have 12 or 18 months’ out of the ring it’s hard to come back, personally when I had periods out of the ring despite the training and sparring I found it hard to maintain the sharpness, Mayweather shows none of that.”
“I’ve been closely following the HBO 24: series and I have some contacts in America that have seen Mayweather working out first hand and the guy puts the effort in, puts the time in. He trains like a challenger all the time and that’s one of the qualities that separates you as a great world champion. He belongs in the same league as Sugar Ray Leonard, Tommy Hearns, Roberto Duran and Don Currie. He’d of held his own with any of them and on his day could well have beaten any of them.
Mayweather’s greatest quality is that he doesn’t take a clean punch, you can’t land a clean shot on him. Normally you can throw a 4 or 5 punch combination and land with one but you can’t catch Mayweather with any. How many times have we seen guys throwing everything but can’t land with a clean shot. They lose confidence, the timing goes and then Mayweather makes them fight his fight. They throw wilder punches and Mayweather just picks them off. You won’t find a better fighter this decade than Mayweather he is just a sensational athlete.
Ortiz genuinely believes he can win this fight which is great to see. Mayweather’s opponents don’t normally talk with his air of confidence. Ortiz is coming to win, he won’t lie down, but will he be able to fathom out Mayweather’s defence which is like Fort Knox? His biggest obstacle will be frustration setting in if he can’t figure Mayweather out. When you’re hitting thin air it’s the hardest thing to deal with.
Once Mayweather opens the fight up, puts a bit of distance between them with his wide stance he’ll shut him out. It wouldn’t surprise me to see Mayweather stop Ortiz in round 10 and I’m hoping for a vintage Mayweather performance.
On a potential Mayweather vs Pacquiao;
It’ll be a cold day in hell if these two don’t square off. This fight will happen as sure as night follows day because everyone wants this fight, Mayweather wants it, Pacquiao wants it, the whole world wants it. It will undoubtedly be the richest prize fight of all time, when you look at both fighters their careers and records speak for themselves. When they do fight, for me, there is only one winner – Floyd Mayweather Jr.
On a potential Mayweather vs Khan;
I don’t think Khan will be ready for Mayweather next year. In his last fight Khan proved he can handle the pressure against Zab Judah. It’s hard to appreciate just how much pressure he was under in that fight. When your 24 years old, headlining the Mandalay Bay, with your name up and down the strip that bring a huge amount of pressure. Khan rose to the occasion and went out there and beat a great fighter. Let’s get this straight, Judah may have been the wrong side of 30 but he was still a reigning World Champion.
Look at Khan’s record now, he’s beaten Kotelnik, Maidana, Judah and he’s starting to build a record of champions and former champions which is what you want to see. He’s fighting the best available fights, which is what you want to see, but to say he’ll be ready for Mayweather next year I think is a bit premature.
Khan still has a few hurdles to climb to get to that level. But at 24, as the reigning world champion, Khan has earned the right to call out whoever he wants. He’s in a very privileged position just now with his best years ahead of him but he still has some big fish to fry in the Light Welterweight division and I just hope he doesn’t try to run before he can walk.
The ‘Star Power’ pay-per-view is a packed night of boxing featuring 3 WBC title fights;
WBC Welterweight Title: Floyd Mayweather vs Victor Ortiz
WBC Light Middleweight Title: Canelo Alvarez vs Alfonso Gomez
WBC Light Welterweight Title: Erik Morales vs Lucas Matthyse
Also included in the pay-per-view broadcast is undefeated Light Welterweight Jessie Vargas vs Josesito Lopez.
British fighter Anthony Crolla will be fighting the Mexican Juan Manuel Montiel in a contest to be shown Free To View on Primetime in the lead in to the pay-per-view broadcast.
You can order the card for only £14.95 by calling 08712004444*, visiting www.primetimelive.co.uk or Virgin Media customers can purchase using the ‘On Demand’ menu. Customers on Sky must register the first time they use Primetime and once registered can purchase using the ‘box office’ menu.
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