Top Rank matchmaker guiding force behind careers of Mayweather, Pacquiao

Floyd and Manny took very different paths to stardom, but one man was instrumental in guiding them to Saturday's super fight.

Top Rank matchmaker Bruce Trampler - a former baseball agent - strategically developed both boxers, gaining them the experience and savvy they needed to succeed.

And even though Floyd's partnership with the promotional firm ended acrimoniously in 2006, "Money" hasn't forgot where he came from.

During a recent commercial shoot in Los Angeles, Mayweather ceased production when he saw Trampler enter the room.

"There's been numerous times where he's went out of his way and singled me out for praise even when he is where he is now and that doesn't go unnoticed, that makes you feel good," Trampler, 65, told BOXINGJunkie during a phone interview Thursday. "But again, look what I was given to work with."

Mayweather (47-0, 26 KOs) was scouted by Top Rank's now-president Todd duBoef and signed with Bob Arum's company right after winning a bronze medal at the 1996 Olympics Games in Atlanta (he suffered a controversial loss to Serafim Todorov.) He turned pro on Oct. 11 with a TKO 2 over Roberto Apodaca and it was crystal clear they "were delivered a sensational prospect."

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"I turned to Todd and said 'this kid really has a chance to be special," the Hall of Fame matchmaker said. "Now, that's by our standards, by Top Rank's standards. You know a lot of guys sign a lot of national Golden Gloves champs or runners up."

Indeed, Trampler had already groomed stars like Oscar De La Hoya, Michael Carbajal and Johnny Tapia. Mayweather, though, was something altogether different. Possessing astounding hand speed, athletic ability and boxing acumen, Floyd was always destined for big things. However, every fighter needs to be guided, developed and built up to gain the necessary seasoning for the big stage. Moved too fast and setbacks are sure to happen, no matter the talent. Luckily, Mayweather had Trampler.

"I'd seen him fight in the amateurs, I saw him get beat by Martin Castillo at MGM Grand before the Olympics, but you could just tell he had something," Trampler said. "At that point the trick is don't screw it up, don't make mistakes. Try to give him the edge but try to give them fights they can also develop in not just build a record but build a resume, build a body of work.

"I think it was his second or third fight … we put him in with a kid who really extended him and gave him a tough fight," Trampler continued. "He passed that test and then he passed other tests. And then when he was getting ready to fight Genaro (Hernandez) he wanted to fight some tall guys, so we gave him some tall guys in preparation for that. And you know it worked out pretty well."

The bout against Hernandez was Mayweather's first championship victory and it came less than two years after his professional debut, a remarkable feat. Floyd was with Top Rank for almost 10 years - his first 36 fights - culminating with a welterweight title win over Zab Judah.

Arum offered Mayweather $8 million to face Antonio Margarito that summer, but Floyd instead bought out his contract for $750,000 and became a free agent, eventually teaming up with De La Hoya's Golden Boy Promotions. There were even accusations from fans and media alike that Mayweather was purposely avoiding the dangerous Margarito. And, of course, Mayweather was taunted for years by fans that claimed he wanted no part of Pacquiao.

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"He never turned Margarito down but his people turned him down. I can't say Floyd did because maybe he did, maybe he didn't, but he didn't to me," Trampler said. "Regardless of his attitude, his out of the ring persona, in the ring he ducked nobody and he was a pleasure to work with because you knew he was very determined and trained very hard, which he still does today. He turned into a pretty magnificent fighter in my opinion."

Pacquiao's road to multi-division championships is in stark contrast to Mayweather's.

He was actually discovered by Top Rank when he fought in the HBO co-feature to Mayweather's bout against Jesus Chavez in November 2011 at San Francisco's Bill Graham Civic Auditorium. Pacquiao (57-5-2, 28 KOs) didn't even win the fight - he was forced to settle for a technical draw with Agapito Sanchez after the Filipino suffered a bad cut over his right eye from several headbutts and the bout was stopped.

"We didn't covet him, we didn't have any dreams of (Pacquiao) coming to Top Rank," Trampler said. "Manny came to us kind of through the back door. … He came to us a very circuitous rout whereas Floyd started with us, Oscar started with us, (Miguel) Cotto started with us.

"I mean Manny, he certainly wasn't a finished product but he had been professional for a number of years and was a guy who came over from the Phillippines and fortunately for us he took a bus down to L.A., and walked up the back steps at Wild Card (Boxing Club) and met Freddie (Roach) and then met (adviser) Michael Koncz and things worked out that had nothing to do with us other than a reputation."

Pacquiao fought eight more bouts before joining forces with Top Rank, including star-making performances on HBO against Marco Antonio Barrera (TKO 11) and Juan Manuel Marquez (split draw).

"When he fought Marquez the first time for us, he dropped Marquez (three) times and Marquez was our guy," Trampler recalled. "I remember Bob's wife Lovee turning around and asking 'is Marquez going to be OK?' 'Yeah, don't worry, he's going to get through the round. … he can fight and will be all right.' We've been on both sides of Manny's fights."

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Three fights later, Pacquiao was able to split from longtime promoter Murad Muhammad following a trial that led to a settlement. He signed with Top Rank in 2005 and they've never had to be on the other side of a Manny fight again.

"He rose to a level where you have to worry about how much the fight's going to cost, how much you're going to pay him, where the money's coming from," Trampler said. "It is pay-per-view? Will an HBO underwriter support this fight? The other guy (Mayweather) was a baby in boxing.

"They came from two different directions. They weren't polar opposites because they could both fight in terms of maturity level and their progress in their respective careers. One was a kid coming up and the other was a young veteran who all Manny really lacked, as it turns out, was a world-class trainer like Freddie. When Freddie and Manny got together, in my opinion, that's what produced a super fighter."

The public will find out once and for all on Saturday who the greatest fighter of this generation is. And don't let the critics fool you: this fight is not five years too late.

"I don't think they're in decline but clearly they're getting on in years, but I think they've matured at the same rate so that the fight we see Saturday is going to be the same fight we would have seen - relatively speaking, proportionately - five years ago," Trampler said. "I don't think either guy has an edge in any category, at least a significant edge."

After all, who knows both Mayweather and Pacquiao better than Trampler?