Boxing News: Austin Trout Says Floyd Mayweather Jr. Forced Manny Pacquiao To ‘Look Like An Amateur’

American boxer Austin Trout is defending his compatriot, Floyd Mayweather Jr., from critics who discredited the latter’s performance against Filipino Manny Pacquiao on May 2. The former super welterweight champion went on the offensive too, saying that Mayweather made Pacquiao “look like an amateur” in the 12-round Las Vegas bout.

In an extensive interview with Jenna J of ontheropesboxing.com, Trout opined that it was Pacquiao's fault that the “Fight of the Century” did not live up to the hype. “For me, it was more on Pacquiao. I thought Pacquiao was [going to] be able to bring it more. He was semi-successful, he just didn’t do it enough,” Trout said. “He [Mayweathwer] made the guy who people thought was the No. 2 pound-for-pound great look like an amateur.”

Trout went on to say that Marcos Maidana offered a tougher challenge against Mayweather compared to Pacquiao, who Trout says “either [got] tired or gave up around the middle rounds.” Mayweather defeated Maidana twice in 2014 and both wins came by way of decision after 12 rounds. Trout was referring to the first Mayweather-Maidana bout when the American won via majority decision with judges’ scores of 116-112, 117-111 and 114-114.

To compare, Mayweather beat Pacquiao with scores of 118-110, 116-112 and 116-112. The fight drew record revenue and sales numbers for both pay-per-view and live gate attendance.

Trout (29-2-0, 16 knockouts), who hails from New Mexico, won the super World Boxing Association super welterweight title against Rigoberto Alvarez of Mexico in 2011. After four successful title defenses, Trout failed to defend the championship against another Mexican in Saul Alvarez in 2013. He suffered another loss that same year against Erislandy Lara but has since racked up three straight victories.