Sparring partner knows both corners

Floyd Mayweather Jr.'s every move Tuesday at a workout largely designed to hype pay-per-view sales for his May 5 super welterweight title fight with Oscar De La Hoya at the MGM Grand Garden was filmed, recorded and cheered.

A few feet away, Kofi Jantuah sat by himself, bemusedly watching the hysteria that surrounded Mayweather, one of the star attractions in one of the biggest fights of this generation.

Jantuah, a super welterweight contender who has served as Mayweather's primary sparring partner, has been through the scene before.

He was De La Hoya's primary sparring partner when De La Hoya faced longtime nemesis Fernando Vargas in 2002.

Although De La Hoya is the larger man -- he weighed 165 pounds at a WBC-mandated weigh-in May 5 to 152 for Mayweather -- Jantuah said it's irrelevant.

And, Jantuah said, he's not certain De La Hoya is the stronger of the two.

"Size will not be an issue in the fight," Jantuah said. "I guess you could say it's size against skill and speed. Oscar is a big guy now, but Floyd has exceptional speed and skills. Everybody knows that speed kills in boxing.

"And weight doesn't really mean anything. Floyd is a very strong man and he's in such great condition. He can go as hard in the last minute of the last round as he can in the first minute of the first round."

Mayweather adviser Leonard Ellerbe urged Jantuah to speak of his experience working with De La Hoya in 2002. Specifically, Ellerbe wanted Jantuah to tell a reporter what De La Hoya's training staff asked of him as they were sparring.

But Jantuah clearly didn't want to say anything disparaging about De La Hoya and raised his hands and smiled.

"I'll tell you, then, because Kofi's told us," Ellerbe said, as Jantuah sat listening. "They asked him to back off a little, because he was going too hard on Oscar."

Mayweather's father, Floyd Sr., was training De La Hoya at the time and confirmed the account. Ironically, though, it was the elder Mayweather who cautioned his son to be wary of De La Hoya's power.

Mayweather Sr. is not training his son, though he is in the camp as an adviser. He said his son is the more skilled of the two and that he thought it would be a mistake to try to engage De La Hoya in a shootout, as Mayweather Jr. on Tuesday vowed to do.

"That would be a big mistake," Mayweather Sr. said. "A big mistake. He's the bigger man and he's got a punch. Anyone who disrespects De La Hoya's punching power is going to be in for a long night. Floyd's the better fighter, the smarter fighter and the more skillful fighter.

"All he has to do is make sure he neutralizes Oscar's left hook. But he can't be foolish and try to prove something and get caught, because there could be problems."

But Jantuah, who agreed that De La Hoya hits hard, said he has been amazed by Mayweather Jr.'s chin. Jantuah, 31-3 with 20 knockouts, is a hard puncher whose most notable knockout victory came in 1999 over Daniel Santos. Santos went on to win a super welterweight title.

"He can take it," Jantuah said when asked if Mayweather could withstand De La Hoya's best left hook. "I'm one of the hardest punchers in the division, or even at middleweight. I hit him with some good shots, shots I know would hurt most guys. But he can take it. He's a tough kid. Oscar shouldn't underestimate that. He's a tough, tough kid."