WEC bantamweight champion Miguel Torres is looking for a fight, and it's nothing against his current opponent, Brian Bowles, but he believes a boxing champion needs to step up and compete in the true fighting art before he smack talks a sport that is sweeping the world.
Recently, former pound-for-pound boxing king Floyd Mayweather Jr., in an interview with CBS Sports, hounded the sport of MMA saying it was for "beer drinkers" and the reason the sport was created was because "there's no white fighters in boxing that's dominating." Torres, who proudly hails from a Hispanic background, is ready to prove Mayweather wrong and he's ready any time, any place.
"I'm not going to lie, I don't talk a lot of (expletive). I did an interview for ESPN and they told me what (Mayweather) had done. I hadn't heard his comment before that, but I heard that he was talking garbage about mixed martial arts, and he was being pretty racist on certain subjects, and that made me kind of angry because I love boxing. I grew up watching boxing," Torres said in a recent interview with MMAWeekly.com.
"I haven't watched a ton of Mayweather's fights. I know he's a good boxer. I've seen him on 24/7 a couple of times. That's the most I've seen of him, but he's very flamboyant, he's very cocky, he's a bit of a prick, and I think he's broke now because of whatever financial reason he has, but you can't talk about a complete fighter when you're not a complete fighter yourself."
Torres has respect for what Mayweather has accomplished in his own sport, but believes that he would be a pawn in the game of chess that is mixed martial arts.
"I know he has a great camp and he's lightning quick and has knockout power, but I think in a real fight, in a mixed martial arts fight he wouldn't stand a chance against a mid-level MMA fighter, a B-level fighter, or even a wrestler at that because he'd get taken down in a heartbeat," Torres commented.
Still, Mayweather may continue to talk so Torres is ready to throw out the challenge to the boxer turned pro-wrestler turned boxer, who at one time actually did consider a move to MMA after retiring from his own sport.
"I'd be the first one at my weight class to say I'd fight Mayweather, anywhere, any way he wants. If he hears this, whatever he wants to do," stated Torres. "We can even do modified kind of rules, we can box for three rounds, do kickboxing for three rounds, and then fight MMA for three rounds. I would even do something like that so he could have a little more confidence.
"I think it's totally wrong for any boxer to call out a mixed martial artist. Because you have so many different variables that are going to go on in a fight."
The tendency for boxers to lash out at mixed martial arts seems to be a proven formula for athletes in the "sweet science" to get headlines from the sport that has been dominating the pay-per-view market over the last few years. Torres admits that boxing is a dying breed and taking pot shots at MMA may just be that they are trying to hit one last Hail Mary punch on the way down.
"It's fear and it's a lack of knowledge. They're so stuck in their small world they have no idea what they're talking about," said Torres. "Even boxing fans that are huge fans of boxing, they're talking to me about 'well, if you were a real fighter you'd box,' I'm like, are you serious? I tried with guys who just boxed, and if I give them a hard time just boxing, imagine if I could kick, elbow, and take them to the ground, it would be a totally different fight."
With Torres scheduled for his next title bout on Aug. 9, and Mayweather slated to return to boxing in September, nobody should hold their breath that these two will ever see each other in a mixed martial arts fight, but the WEC champion still dreams of a day when he could finally silence "Money Mayweather."
"The times that I've watched him box is to want to watch him lose, because I just didn't like his attitude and the way he acted very much," Torres said. "He's never going to change. I think the only way he will change is if he steps in the cage and gets his mouth shut."
