Before Floyd Mayweather Sr. came aboard, it seemed Oscar De La Hoya was going through an identity crisis. Before one fight he'd proclaim he was a boxer. Then for the next one, he'd say he was sick of boxing and was really a slugger at heart. During that time a cadre of trainers would come through his camp (from Roberto Alcazar to Gil Clancy to Jesus Rivero and Emanuel Steward).

From the disciplined boxing that 'the Professor' (Rivero) preached to the offensive style of Steward, it didn't seem like Oscar knew if he was coming or going. Outside of his sharp jab and left hook, Oscar had no identity as a fighter, grab-bagging as he went along, going with the last voice he would hear. In short, he seemed like a confused fighter.

"You got all that right," said Floyd Mayweather Sr., now the man in charge of training 'the Golden Boy' who takes on Fernando Vargas this Saturday night at the Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas. "I agree with that. He didn't know what his style was. It took a lot of to get him where I got him right now. And I'm still putting input on him right now. I'm still trying to get him to do different things. But, as long as he's working hard on it and I'm working on it with him -- he'll get it."

Mayweather has implemented the fabled 'Mayweather Style' that has Oscar's left hand lower than in the past, inviting counter shots and throwing quick combinations while being elusive all the while. So after more than a year together, is the implementation complete?

"Boxing's a long process and you got to remember I didn't catch the young, fresh Oscar that just got out of the Olympics," explains Mayweather, whose rocky relationship with his son, the current WBC lightweight champion Floyd Mayweather Jr. is well documented. "I caught the Oscar in his later years. Oscar was 28 years old when I started working with him, he's 29 now. So we're going on two years of work right now. He has improved tremendously from that time I first started, I could say that. He's made tremendous strides, he's stepped up. Things are better than they were before."

But Mayweather admits that while he does see his fighter improving, in his eyes he'll never reach his full potential since he got him relatively late in his career.

"Probably not," admits Mayweather, "because boxing's a long process. You just don't learn boxing overnight. You can't catch onto certain things but it's a growing process, you just don't stop right there in boxing. You can learn boxing forever because there's a lot of different things. And I'm not boasting or bragging but I don't think nobody here got more knowledge than me about the game."

More on that later, but it's really premature to state just what type of impact he's really had on De La Hoya's career. After all, De La Hoya was a sizable favorite over both Arturo Gatti and Javier Castillejo and would have won those fights regardless of who was working his corner. There is evidence that Oscar was trying out a few things but it's this upcoming fight with Vargas that is the litmus test.

One thing Mayweather has tried to improve is Oscar's sometimes non-existent right hand. In Mayweather's system, the counter-right hand is a key element.

"It's called the 'pull-counter'," states Mayweather. "That's the right hand on top of the jab. Especially a slow jab, so that's one of my things. As everyone noticed, once I came on aboard a lot of things changed, just in terms of the right hand, too. He's got a good right hand, just like he's got a good left hook. So you will see Oscar throwing both hands. He's a two-handed fighter now."

Mayweather says that De La Hoya is a good student.

"I would say he learns quick in certain things," he said. "It's like this right here, when a fighter gets older, it's different than training a young fighter. A fighter like Oscar can learn different things but they do what they like, they go with what they're comfortable with and that's what they do. Oscar can do a lot more things than what he's doing now.

"I give him the whole package for him to use. I teach defense and offense, I teach it all together. Whatever I teach for offense, I'll teach him you how to throw to defend yourself with defense, with it."

But not everybody is convinced of the work that Mayweather is doing with De La Hoya. One of them is Raul Marquez, a former jr. middleweight titlist who was Oscar's Olympic teammate and close friend during their amateur days.

"I'm sorry, but I think Floyd Mayweather talks too much," said Marquez, who will be calling this bout for HBO Latino. "And by me just talking to the people around boxing, I talk to other trainers, top trainers, they say he's all mouth. That's all he does, he talks. Look, I don't even understand what he says in the corner. I can't understand the way he talks. I'm serious man, maybe Oscar understands."

Marquez feels that Mayweather is trying to fight a square peg into a round hole.

"That's not Oscar De La Hoya," explained Marquez, "What I call the 'black style', the hands down, all that stuff-that's not Oscar. When Oscar gets on his little bounce, like when he fought Felix Trinidad and he lets his combinations go -- that's Oscar. That's Oscar, but he starts doing that other stuff, it's going to favor Fernando. If he starts doing what he did with the Gatti fight, putting his hands down and stay stationary, that's going to benefit Vargas for Oscar to do stuff like that."

Some have speculated that De La Hoya has spoken so highly of his trainer and leaned on him so heavily to psychologically erase the memories of his past failures.

"Well, y'know, Oscar's, Oscar," said Marquez. "Oscar, when he needs you, he uses you. If he doesn't need you, that's it, you're out of there. And yeah, he might be trying to make himself think that he is the best trainer in the world, motivating himself. The way I look at it is, whatever it takes to motivate you and mentally that's going to help you, I respect that."

But regardless of what the critics might say, Mayweather believes in what he's doing and how he does it. He points out his son as an example.

"I'm gonna say this right here, one thing that is a fact, you can see my son declining when he left his father," proclaimed Mayweather. "He went with this uncle (Roger) but it don't make no difference who he went with. He went with the same bloodline, different mold.

"My son has declined in the skills, and like I said before, if you don't use 'em, you lose 'em. And nobody trains like me, I got my own style. I do a whole lot of different things and I'm not just talking to say this and that. I challenge any trainer in any gym and I will come out on top. I guarantee you, because I do things that they ain't even thought off. These guys that's going with this new wave s___t that's happening today, they ain't going way back with the science of boxing. I go way back."

Mayweather has no use for the 'new jacks' that have come on the scene or other long-time respected trainers for that matter. To him, training is a lost art and he is its premiere artist.

"From what I see today, yes," answered Mayweather. "Because now, I see them calling all these guys 'great trainers' and stuff. And they're calling people co-trainers and stuff and I know I'm the best!!! Anybody sees me, they say how great I am. I ain't got to say anything. I know they're going to say it anyway because they ain't ever seen anything like it.

"Sometimes people say bad things about me," he admits. "But I don't care, you know why? Because I know what I can do and I've backed up what I can do. When a fighter comes through with another trainer, look at the success rate. I'M TELLING YOU RIGHT NOW!!! WHO IS THE REAL DEAL, WHO IS THE REAL MCCOY?!?! FLOYD JOY MAYWEATHER SR.!!!!"

But remember, he doesn't have to say anything.