Trainers say patience will be key to Floyd Mayweather’s transition

Floyd Mayweather recently made a social media announcement where he said that he’s planning on becoming a boxing trainer, inspired by the passing of his uncle Roger Mayweather. As talented as Floyd has been as a fighter in the ring, making the transition to training isn’t necessarily the easiest thing to do — particularly when it’s unlikely for your fighters to be as naturally gifted as you were.

So among boxing’s current crop of notable trainers, several of them weighed-in with their thoughts on Floyd becoming a trainer and what it’s going to take for him to be successful in that endeavor. Most all of them echo the same sentiment, that Mayweather is going to have to exhibit a lot of patience in this new line of work, with Buddy McGirt putting it all in perspective.

“I’m glad Floyd is doing this. It adds some spice to the game,” he says. “But it took me a while to understand, going from fighter to trainer is a whole new world. The hardest thing to learn is patience, that the guy you’re working with ain’t gonna be able to pick it up as fast as you did.

”[Mayweather is] used to everything being about him,” McGirt continues. “But training a fighter is like raising a kid. He’s looking for a dad, a psychologist, a priest. He’s looking for you to have all the answers. All his faith is in you. The fighter lives off the energy the trainer shows him.”

Hall of Fame trainer Freddie Roach also doubled down on this idea, saying that so long as Floyd is comfortable understanding that most won’t be able to do the things that he can that he’ll be fine, with Joe Goosen adding that he thinks Floyd’s presence and knowledge will give fighters extra confidence.

Ronnie Shields says he expects Floyd to eventually become a great trainer because he has so much experience going up against every style of boxing there is, but he too mentions that the transference of knowledge from Mayweather to fighter might not be as seamless as Mayweather might expect.

So a lot of fans wonder if Mayweather will be able to take enough of a step back from the limelight to allow his fighters to really shine, and that’s a question that remains to be answered, but the general consensus from those in this line of work is that Floyd’s success will hinge mostly on his temperament.