EXCLUSIVE: Floyd’s Camp doesn’t believe he can beat Conor in MMA
BodySlam.net‘s new MMA content provider Frankie NYC, recently took some time to talk with Team Mayweather insider Jody Kohn about the rumors of Floyd possibly heading towards UFC for a fight and all that surrounds that possibility.
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Q: Jody, thank you for taking the time and giving us a perspective from the inside of Mayweather’s team. Can you elaborate on what you do exactly?
A: I have a few things that I am responsible for. With the Mayweather Boxing Channel, I handle everything on the back end such as uploading videos, editing them and promoting them. I also handle almost all of the interviews you see on the channel in which Jeff Mayweather is not in front of the camera.
We also have the Mayweather Boxing Show which is hosted by myself, Jeff, Amer Abdallah, and either Floyd Sr., Frank Stea or Dewey Copper, along with a new guest each week. I handle the on air duties as well as the production of the show, which unfortunately has shown my weakness in that capacity on more than one occasion. It’s certainly a work in progress, but the growth has been tremendous over the past few months.
Q: Speaking of the channel and videos, you recently released a video of Floyd Sr. saying he felt that we would see Floyd Jr. in a UFC Octagon. Can you elaborate at all on Floyd Sr.’s comments?
A: Honestly, I am not sure how much more insight Sr. has than anyone else on the situation. One of his greatest virtues, even though it can get him into trouble at times, is that he is going to tell people exactly what he thinks. He doesn’t do a great job at hiding his feelings or keeping things to himself. So if he tells you he thinks it is going to happen, I have no doubt he 100% believes that. Does that mean Jr. is headed to the UFC? I can’t tell you.
People like to talk about how Jr. is playing games to keep his name relevant, etc. While that may or may not be true, the one thing you can be sure of is that his father is not part of any of that.
Q: Very interesting. Has Floyd Jr. trained MMA? Has he brought any MMA fighters in to learn other disciplines other than boxing? We seen video of him walking into an MMA cage, but no footage of him actually training.
A: Unfortunately, that one is above my pay grade. It is certainly not on me to elaborate on something like that. As you know, Floyd is very careful and very selective on what he lets people see. 9 times out of 10, you only see exactly what he wants you to see. Like the video of him walking into the cage. He released that for a very specific purpose.
What I will say is that Floyd is not going into any situation where he doesn’t believe he has the advantage. There is no way he would ever walk into any fight, be it in the ring or in the cage, where he doesn’t think he has all the necessary tools to win.
Q: Thank you for your honesty. What is the perception of those in his camp then. We have seen actual odds come out where CM Punk is a favorite over Floyd in an MMA fight. When people on Floyd’s side see people doubting Floyd’s potential success in MMA, what is the general perception from inside his team? Do the doubters feed the hunger to prove them wrong?
A: We have done a couple videos asking people in the gym if he could beat Conor or if he should try MMA, and most people have said no. However, most of those same people believe that he has a better chance of success than the average fan does. They typically believe that with some training, and more importantly if he can keep whoever he fights at a
distance, his chances of success rise considerably.
As for CM Punk in particular, most of the guys don’t know who he is. It is incredibly how little TV most of the guys watch. The same goes for MMA, so their opinion doesn’t change much.
Q: Speaking of training MMA. In the video linked above, Floyd Sr. said even though he rather not see his son fight in the UFC, he would train him for it. Does Sr. have any experience in MMA or did he mean he would over-see bringing in others?
A: First, you have to understand the mentality of Floyd Sr. He believes he can beat anyone at anytime at anything. Whether it is boxing, MMA or shuffleboard, he thinks he can beat you. So I am sure he thinks, even in MMA he could help his son out. That said, and this is my own opinion and based on nothing I know, I don’t think it matters what his father wants to do, Floyd Jr. is going to make sure that he has the best people around him to help him win if he were to make that leap.
So, no disrespect to Sr., but I believe he would have little to do with any type of preparation for an MMA fight. I am sure he would be involved in some capacity, but it would not have much to do with the overall game plan.
It would make for an interesting dynamic though. Jeff Mayweather has always said that Floyd Jr. has basically trained himself for many years, in that he already knows exactly what he needs to do. This would certainly not be the case in MMA, so he would be relying heavily on
others.
F-NYC take:
I appreciate Jody for taking the time to talk with me. I found three things particularly interesting. That Floyd Sr. truly believes Floyd Jr. will fight MMA, most of Team Mayweather never heard of CM Punk and that Floyd’s team rather he doesn’t do MMA.
Of course most think the chances of Floyd having an MMA fight are slim/none, but most thought the same for a Conor McGregor boxing match as well!
FRANKIE NYC
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