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Paulie Malignaggi talks Floyd, Canelo & the Ghost's chances of an upset

SM_Mayweather_Guerrero_Poster(1)OK, boxing lovers ... here you go: Saturday night in Las Vegas Floyd "Money" Mayweather will defend his title against the latest chump happy to take a cut of the cash - Mr. Robert "Ghost" Guerrero, please make this interesting. God knows his dad his trying.

Click here for more information on the fight.

Guerrero's dad, who is his son's trainer, really impressed the world during the final pre-fight press conference in Vegas on Wednesday.

"We're going to beat up that woman beater! The one that beat up his wife in front of his kids!" Guerrero's dad said. "He must have learned that from his dad! We're going to beat up that woman beater! He's going to get that from a real man!"

This is not going to help The Guerrero's chances of receiving a Christmas card from the Mayweathers.

Perhaps maybe Money falls asleep and Guerrero can hang around. That's all I got. No one can beat this guy. Although Guerrero says he is going to pull a Buster Douglas on Saturday night. By that does he mean he's going to get really fat?

To talk about this fight, and a few other things, is light welterweight champion Paulie Malignaggi, who will call the fight for Showtime. BTW - Malignaggi is scheduled to fight Adrien Broner next month. He was nice enough to talk to me to preview this fight.

The man is not short on opinions.

1568249761-300x300The Big Mac Blog: I've been crticial of Floyd because I don't think he fights anyone; is it a fair knock?
Paulie Malignaggi: At this point, who is the best he could fight? Maybe it's Guerrero. Who else could there be? Floyd and (Canelo) Alvarez can be a bigger chunk of money. Maybe you disagree there is someone better than Guerrero. As far as Canelo, it's almost like you are negotiating a lot more. I don't think Floyd is scared to fight that guy. What I wanted to see was the random drug tests for guys like Manny Pacquiao. The fact that he never agreed to that leaves me very skeptical. And I don't blame for Floyd not taking that fight if Manny didn't agree to those random drug tests.

The Big Mac Blog: You called the Canelo/Austin Trout fight; my thought on that is that Canelo is good but not ready to defeat Floyd. That the timing is off; agree or no?
Paulie Malignaggi: Yeah. He may still be too raw. I don't think he fights enough of a round to beat Mayweather. He fights 60 seconds a round. Now that fight may get made. People may think Floyd is scared and that he doesn't want it. There is more to it than that. It's not because he is scared. Canelo looked far from good in that fight against Trout. He won that fight in San Antonio where there were 40,000 people cheering for him. You think it's going to be like in Las Vegas? You think a decision is going to go against Floyd Mayweather in Las Vegas?

Pac4553The Big Mac Blog: You mentioned it - is Mayweather/Pacquiao dead?
Paulie Malignaggi: Yeah. I don't think we're ever going to see it. I don't know what would have happened had Manny been subjected to the random drug testing. Despite the pleas and the pleas from people, he never did it for a reason. I don't know, but for a guy to come out of nowhere the way he did it leaves me skeptical. It's the same reason Floyd was skeptical. You want guys to be clean and if you do not agree to be randomly drug tested there is no way to know.

I've asked a lot of questions about (PEDs in boxing). If fighters are going to move up in weight class they are going to criticized. Guys were jumping weight like they were crossing the street. It's not just about size, it's about stamina. You do start to wear down and guys can start to physically move you around. PEDs have no place in combat sports. You are already taking shots to the head.

004_Robert_GuerreroThe Big Mac Blog: Back to this fight - how can Guerrero possibly win?
Paulie Malignaggi: He is a southpaw, so automatically that makes him a bit different. Victor Ortiz is gifted physically but mentally he is shambles to fight a big fight. Guerrero has the mental capacity to maintain his composure to get it back his way if things go wrong. A lot of what Floyd does is psychological and you lose control. If the fight starts to slip away, Robert can regain some sort of advantage.

That's what made Floyd's fight against Miquel Cotto close. That was much closer than people thought. Cotto would not break. I don't think Guerrero will break. You are searching and probing for things that because Floyd is unbeaten. I don't mind this fight. I think Guerrero has earned it. I ask people all the time, 'If Floyd's not going to fight Guerrero, then who?'

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This fight will be surprisingly close contrary to what the general public believes. Everybody body said Guerrero had NO chance against Berto because of the major speed advantage that he had over Guerrero. Mayweather and Berto are very similar and comparable in the speed department, not in overall skill, but in speed. That is why Guerrero will not be completely dominated by Mayweather's speed, he will try to stay close to Floyd and try to make this somewhat of an ugly fight, almost to the point of trying to bully Floyd around and make it one of his classic "dirty" Guerrero fights like he did to Berto and will keep him in this fight to some degree and possibly even keeping it surprisingly close, just like Cotto did to Floyd in the second half of that fight. Floyd's overall skill will have him winning more rounds than Guerrero, but he will definitely have to work to earn rounds because they will be very close rounds

Brian Fire

Interesting comment...but NOT what will happen. The Ghost's ONLY chance is to hope Floyd is off and to try to turn it into a all out SCRAP! NOt on Floyd's planet! Not in talent...not in KNOWING what or HOW to use your speed...much less Boxing. The Ghost will be dominated because Floyd will be able to pick him apart. If Robert decides to fight he has proved...can give it to you that way. he will Fight Robert's fight...and beat him at it. If he decides to Box pretty and pick and pot shot Robert...floyd KNOWS the angles to do this...WELL! Robert does NOT being anything into that ring Floyd hasn't seen before. Robert's biggest problem. Bullying and smacking around Berto...and having folks THINK Berto is a good example of what e can do to Floyd is a BAD combo or poor fight to use as a source of what will happen. NOT a great fighter! Period! He made VERy large mistakes against Ortiz...and even bigger ones against Robert. Floyd is on a WHOLE different page when it comes to BOXING! The Cotto fight...MOST folks were so focused on what things Cotto did...they missed how Floyd was able to do darn near ANYTHING to the man he wanted. FLOYD...decided to fight Cotto the way he did. When EVER he decided to drive...he did it. Cotto was the recipient of a world class ass whoopin in that fight. SO much...that He was almost stopped. Floyd could have turned the heat up on him at ANY time. ALL the fun talk ends when the bell rings. If the fight goes the distance...Floyd will NOT lose more than two or three rounds. I see him Stopping Robert between 8 or 10 rounds. Breaking him down!

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