Ricky Funez “He’s[Mayweather] aged a little bit more. Even in these five years”

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Ricky FunezRicky Funez grew up in Van Nuys, California, home of the Ten Goose Boxing Gym, which was founded by a two-time California Boxing Hall of Fame and World Boxing Hall of Fame inductee, Joe Goossen. The Goossen family name has been known as one of the most recognized and venerated names in the sport of boxing for over three decades.
Funez was on the path to becoming a gangster, but the sport of boxing changed his life.

Now with his life on track, he’s had the opportunity to train former world champions in Shane Mosley and James Toney, including several up-and-coming stars. Many folks in the boxing world still do not know much about Funez, but he must be well-known enough to be asked about his opinion on Mayweather-Pacquiao, a fight that most people didn’t ever see occurring.

“It’s a big event now. A lot of people were doubting it. It’s been five years in the making, but it’s here now,” said Funez.

Some fans, but not all, believe that Manny Pacquiao would have beaten Floyd Mayweather Jr. had the fight been held in 2010 like it was supposed to. When asked who would have won in 2010, Funez still would have picked Mayweather, but implied that the fight would have been close.

“I still have Mayweather because Mayweather was fresher, Pacquiao was fresher. I still believe that Mayweather, at that time, was still slick. I still believe Mayweather is still in his prime. He’s aged a little bit more. Even in these five years, I think it’s a bigger mega fight now than it was five years ago. Big, huge, more money.”

Tha Boxing Voice’s Fernando Pimentel brought up that Manny Pacquiao made a visit on ESPN First Take and claimed that Floyd Mayweather took so long to agree to the fight because he was scared of him and scared of being undefeated. While that could be true, it’s also true that Mayweather made the fight happen at the best possible time. The undefeated pound-for-pound king waited until there was no other viable options, which is an articulate business decision, albeit many fans don’t quite understand the process and are quick to call BS. Funez also doubts that Mayweather dodged Pacquiao out of fear.

“I doubt that. I don’t know what the deal might have been, but I believe it’s here now. It doesn’t matter. It’s happening now. He took the fight. Why would he be scared now?”

One criticism of the fight is that not many tickets are going to be available for the public, 1,000 at the most, with the remainder available for high-rollers and other wealthy individuals. Funez added that the situation is tough because it is such a big fight, and most fans just can’t afford those type of prices, but that is where PPV comes into play.

The record for the highest-grossing PPV boxing match of all-time was set in September 2013 by Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Canelo Alvarez at $150 million. Mayweather, 38, is expected to make $120 million from fighting Manny Pacquiao on 2 May, which is 80% of what Mayweather-Canelo grossed. That is simply breathtaking. Funez said there is no question that previous records stand no chance against Mayweather-Pacquiao.

“It’s going to break them easily in one night. It’s going to break all of them together. Mayweather is going to break his own record.”

It was recently announced that the card would only have three fights, the main event, the co-main, and the first undercard bout. Although Adrien Broner just came off 12-round unanimous decision victory on 7 March against John Molina in the debut of Premier Boxing Champions on NBC at the MGM Grand, Ricky Funez would like to see him fight Amir Khan.

“He (Broner) came out unhurt,” said a smiley Funez. “Boxing is being revived. Now it’s out there more. It’s going to be out there. It’s going to be great for boxing fans and not only boxing fans, but attracting more boxing fans, people that want to support boxing.”