Media invade Mayweather Boxing Club
The 200-strong media contingent was supposed to have something to see starting at 4 p.m. but that didn’t go off as planned. Or near as planned. For some unexplained reason Mayweather, who is 47-0 with 26 KOs, made everyone wait two hours. The event was live-streamed for fans who cared enough but it took awhile before there was anything to watch.
Once things got started, the two-division welterweight champ — he will add a third title May 2 or lose his to Pacquiao — sparred with Uncle Roger, himself a former champ and formerly Mayweather’s trainer, a position he holds whenever Floyd Mayweather Sr. is in jail or has quarreled with his son. They took to the ring twice and somewhere in there Floyd spoke with media.
“I feel good. I’m pretty sure my team is happy because I’m in the gym and working hard every day. I’m giving 100 percent,” Mayweather told reporters. “I don’t worry about any fighter. I’ve been in the ring with guys that are fast. I’ve been in the ring with guys that punch hard. I’ve been in the ring with guys that throw a lot of combinations.
“We’re both future hall of famers, and it’s a good match-up.”
Superfight comes at right time
Mayweather, 38, two years older than Pacquiao, said that for him it isn’t that this bout took a long time to arrange so much as it was a fight that could not come before its time. There were issues between the two fight camps that helped delay it — it took some five years to come together — but for Mayweather it was about patience.
“Everything in life is about timing. I don’t regret anything. The time is now,” he said. “Before, I don’t think this fight was as big as this. With me going out there getting bigger and bigger, not just in boxing, but outside the sport, and him stepping outside boxing and continuing to grow outside the sport, the names are much bigger now than they were before. You can’t rush everything in life.”
He’s right in that the profile of both fighters has continued to grow throughout their careers and that the fight probably got just the right amount of hype and came just at the right time to maximize it’s potential and to draw out the excitement for fans. The superfight is expected to eclipse records for both number of pay per view customers and amount of money brought in, expected to be somewhere north of $300 million.
Pacquiao faces “strong welterweight”
Mayweather, a media-savvy fighter who speaks like he boxes, measured and with plenty of thought behind every statement, said last month that he would win because all he knows is winning, unlike Pacquiao, who is 57-5-2 and lost only four fights ago when KOed by Juan Manuel Márquez.
That loss came on the heels of a loss to Timothy Bradley and those losses, and the other three, give him an edge, Mayweather said. On this day he spoke more of strategy though and was he less was bombastic, though equally as confident.
“We’ll see what he brings to the table,” the fighter said. “Our styles are totally different. I fight with smarts. Every move is calculated. Every move is thought out. I’m always 5-10 steps ahead of my opponent. I don’t know if he can make adjustments. I’m able to make adjustments. He comes at different angles so we’ll have to see. But he’s facing a solid, strong welterweight.”
Pacquiao, incidentally, got wind of Mayweather’s tardiness and used Twitter to poke have some sport with his rival, writing that he would not only arrive on time for his media day, he would arrive early.
