The veteran top promoter talks about Arreola-Klitschko, the main priorities for Paul Williams, and why before landing the date with Pavlik on December 5, Mosley but not Mayweather was the target…
BoxingInsider: Were you surprised by the outstanding performance of Vitali Klitschko against your man Chris Arreola?
Dan Goossen: “You’re never happy when you don’t get a victory. If there’s a silver lining, Chris went out there and did what you’d expect every fighter to do – and that was give it his all. Unfortunately it didn’t bring home a victory but he did bring home a lot of respect. You build off that.”
BoxingInsider: Is there anything you know Chris can do that he didn’t do against Vitali? His right hand was ineffective.
Dan Goossen: “It’s hard to land right hands. He tried to throw some rights, he tried to throw some lefts. Klitschko – you have to give him credit, from the standpoint of his defensive abilities and his talents.”
BoxingInsider: What about Vitali impressed you?
Dan Goossen: “He did a tremendous job, he was in shape. He was smart.”
BoxingInsider: Deep down, did you really think Chris was going to win the fight?
Dan Goossen: “I did. I didn’t expect the type of performance out of Vitali that he gave. I expected the type of performance that Arreola gave. I knew he’d be hungry. I knew he’d want it, I knew he’d be determined to get it. He just found someone that’s very, very intelligent in that ring. He knew how to stay out of harm’s way. He tied up Chris when he got inside. He pulled off his game plan to perfection.”
BoxingInsider: How is Chris physically after absorbing that punishment?
Dan Goossen: “Well look, I think the immediate reaction and what was displayed on air kind of tells everything. It was good to see an athlete that emotional in the aftermath of defeat, to show that losing isn’t good enough. Fighting hard and trying your best isn’t good enough. It showed that the only thing good enough in his eyes was winning. It caused a tremendous amount of emotion from him when he didn’t achieve that.”
BoxingInsider: Changing topics, are you disappointed to see that Mayweather has no interest to fight Mosley?
Dan Goossen: “No. I was more upset that Mosley wasn’t interested in fighting Paul Williams, okay? Because through all this and the fight postponement of the October date with Pavlik, we reached out to fight Mosley, we would have loved to fight Mosley. He wasn’t interested in fighting Paul.”
BoxingInsider: Who is?
Dan Goossen: “Yeah. What people forget is he’s a 147 pounder, he’s not a 154 pounder. Not 160 or 168. He will fight in those divisions out of necessity. If we could have fought Mosley after the Wright fight, he would have come down comfortably from 160 to 147. Which is where he wanted to be in his next fight. I don’t think Shane has anything to complain about, if anybody doesn’t want to fight him. Because he had an opportunity to make quite a few millions to fight Paul.”
BoxingInsider: How about Paul vs. Mayweather?
Dan Goossen: “Look, I’ve said it before, from 147 to 160, I believe he’s the baddest man out there. He’s a terror to get in the ring with. It’s great that Pavlik has accepted the challenge and not only are these the type of fights that are great for boxing and boxing fans, but it’s great for the fighters. You should want to fight the biggest fights you can and so you could maximize your stature in the sport, on the front pages of the newspapers, and your pocket book.”
BoxingInsider: Why don’t we hear Paul publicly expressing his desire to fight Mayweather? It’s the biggest fight out there for him. (Much bigger than Mosley.)
Dan Goossen: “Well, because it’s like going after the Playboy Playmate of the Month. Some guys don’t because it probably won’t happen. And I think if, in this case, if the size difference alone would probably make everybody sit back and say, Are they kidding me? Okay, they may be the same weight but when it comes to the size difference – that’s one of the reasons we were pushed out of the welterweight division. Because Paul is more set for a middleweight body because of the height and not his weight. He just towers over all the other welterweights, where as weight-wise, he matches up with the other welterweights. And not with the middleweights. So it’s the little oxymoron or whatever the word is. He’s really a welterweight that towers over welterweights. But on the weight end, he’s even with them.”
(Note: Mayweather is just about exactly the same height as Mosley.)
BoxingInsider: It sounds like the top priority for Williams is at welterweight.
Dan Goossen: “Right now the top priority is one thing and one thing only – and that’s a great thing. Super fights – you don’t look past these fights. And everything else falls into place.”
BoxingInsider: If you lose this fight to Pavlik, you can still go back to the more mlucrative 147. Maybe a loss would even help. Maybe these marquee welterweights like Cotto, Mosely, Pacquiao will say, Hey maybe Paul Williams is really not all that much of a monster, maybe he’s vulnerable.
Dan Goossen: “I’m not looking to get help that way, okay? We want to win and with the win and if Paul’s body can handle going back after this period of time, certainly I know it will be something Paul and I and George (Peterson -and hey don’t forget advisor Al Haymon) will consider. The key thing is getting the victory now.”