Boxingtalk: Was Shane Mosley's appearance in your post-fight interview with Floyd Mayweather Jr. two Saturdays ago premeditated?

Max Kellerman:  "No, it was not. I mentioned Shane's name as a potential opponent for Mayweather.  Shane heard me say his name, I guess because he was in the ring, but Floyd motioned Shane over.  If you watch a replay, you’ll see Floyd motioned him over.  The only reason I welcomed Shane into the interview was because Floyd seemed welcoming.  I suppose Floyd just expected to tell Shane a word or two and Shane would say congratulations or whatever.  Shane said something to Floyd and it started getting heated.  When I saw that it was getting hostile I moved Shane away with my left arm and said, 'Please Shane, not now.'  But they kept going back and forth at each other.  Then Bernard Hopkins got Floyd's attention.  Eventually Floyd and Shane shake hands and it seemed to be over when Hopkins got Floyd's attention again. "

"Because I didn’t think the interview should end without talking about Manny Pacquiao, I say ‘Manny Pacquiao’ and Floyd starts talking about him.  I then say 'Pacquiao, that got your attention' and he started talking about Pacquiao.  I should have left the microphone with Floyd, but my question wasn’t simply the name ‘Pacquiao,’ and I also thought Floyd might take offense to the fact that it’s his big moment and I’m just saying the name ‘Pacquiao.’  So I brought the mic back to me because I wanted to ask the question ‘Marquez and Pacquiao had two very close fights, you just handled Marquez with ease what statement did you make tonight about your position in the sport?’ Then I wanted to get into Pacquiao as a potential opponent. The reason I wanted to ask the Marquez-Pacquiao question first was because before the opening bell I had said, ‘21 months ago, Floyd Mayweather was the best fighter in boxing, can he make us believe that again tonight.’  And I think for many he did, he made people believe that again. So I wanted to ask that question about the comparison, because ostensibly that's the reason he fights Marquez and I just wanted to end by asking about Pacquiao as a future opponent.  Before I could get to the question he took the microphone out of my hand and said you talk too much, and he was right about that, my questions were not short and open ended, and because of the way it went down with Mosley and Golden Boy, I was not giving him enough time to talk.  In other words, if I were watching the interview on TV I'd be like 'come on, shut up' you know 'let the fighter talk.'  I see Floyd's point of view, I see why he had the impulse to take the microphone out of my hand, but once he does that I have to throw it back to Jim, especially in that situation because you have to have control the microphone if you're conducting an interview and there was no way for me to get it back given the circumstances at the time.  It was highly combustible and Floyd was agitated.  So at that point I thought the smartest thing to do was throw it back to Jim. 
 
If I could do it again I would have kept the microphone by his Floyd’s mouth while he and Shane were talking so people could hear what they were saying.  That's the only thing I would have done differently starting from the time Shane came over.  Starting from the beginning of the interview I would have asked shorter, more open-ended questions and I would have gone over the fight more thoroughly before moving on.  When I asked about the weight Floyd said I’m not here to talk about the past so I took that as a cue to talk about the future.  What I should have done was first talk about the knockdown, the issues of ring rust and how he felt about that before moving on.  
 
BT:  What are your thoughts on last week's fight (Mayweather's dominating decision over Juan Manuel Marquez) and what affect do you believe it will have on boxing's current landscape?
 
MK: I imagine Floyd helped his negotiating position because not only did it do very good pay-per-view numbers, it seems, but he handled Marquez so easily that he'll go into the Pacquiao fight as a substantial favorite.  
 
BT: Where do you think Marquez goes from here? 
 
MK: Back down in weight.  I mean clearly he shouldn't be fighting over 140 pounds.
 
BT:  What are your thoughts on the Vitali Klitschko vs. Chris Arreola WBC heavyweight championship bout this weekend?
 
MK:  I wish Arreola gave himself the best chance he has to win.  I don't think he does.  He's a charismatic guy.  He had a good amateur career.  He's a good puncher.  He has an aggressive fighting style.  But he comes into fights out of shape.  It just seems to me he doesn't like himself, seems to me that he is punishing himself.  And when you talk to him, he's charismatic, he's straightforward.  He's just a guy you want to like and you wish he gave himself the best chance to win.  My impression of Arreola is he is not giving himself his best shot. [Editor: this interview was taped prior to Klitschko's victory over Arreola].
 
BT:  Looking forward a bit, what do you think of the upcoming Kelly Pavlik-Paul Williams bout?
 
MK:  The question in that fight is can Paul Williams take a real punching middleweight's punch?  Pavlik is a puncher at middleweight and the question is can Williams take a middleweight's punch and if he can he'll win.  But as good a chin as Williams has shown at welterweight, that's welterweight, Pavlik's a real middleweight puncher.
 
BT: If you could play matchmaker, what's a match you would want to see?  What do you think would be exciting or needs to happen?
 
MK:  I'd love to see Mosley and Pacquiao.  I think it would be an all action fight.  It's not easy to predict the winner and given their styles it would be a fight of year level fight and the winner would be such an obvious opponent for Mayweather that it would lead to an even bigger fight than you could make between Mayweather and either one those guys right now. 
 
BT:  Do you think we'll ever see Paul Williams back down at welterweight with all these lucrative fights there?  Do you think any of these guys would ever give him a chance?
 
MK:  No, I don't think they would.  And if he beats Kelly Pavlik, why would he [go back doen in weight]?
 
BT: Closing thoughts?
 
MK: I wish I could do that interview with Floyd again because I see his point.  He deserves to get better treatment than that in the immediate aftermath of that kind of victory.  That's about it.  I wish I had another shot at that but you can't redo it and that's all there is to it.  It's the kind of interview that would tick me off as a fan and I don't want to be “That Guy.”  But at the same time, once Floyd called Mosley over, I don't know what I would have done differently.  

M

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