Media Interview with Floyd Mayweather

Kelly Swanson
Thanks, everybody, for calling in. It’s such a pleasure to be joined today by Floyd Mayweather, the 11-time, five-division world champion, to talk about his upcoming fight “MAYHEM: Mayweather vs. Maidana 2”. Also joining us is Leonard Ellerbe, Chief Executive Officer of Mayweather Promotions.

Before I introduce Leonard I just wanted to make one program note. The fight week schedule will be distributed later this week, so everybody please take a look for that in your e-mail. That will give you a breakdown of everything happening during fight week starting Tuesday with the Grand Arrivals. I am going to now turn it over to Leonard Ellerbe to make the introductions.

Leonard Ellerbe
Thank you, Kelly. We’d like to thank everyone for joining us on the call this afternoon. We’re nine days out we’re really looking forward to September 13th, it’s going to be a barn burner, Mayweather versus Maidana. Floyd will be defending his WBC and WBA Welterweight titles, along with his WBC Super Welterweight World Championship in an unprecedented move.

Our undercard will feature, in the co-main event, Leo Santa Cruz versus Manual Roman in a 12-round WBC Super Bantamweight Championship fight; the PPV will also feature Mickey Bey, who will be fighting Miguel Vazquez for Vazquez’s IBF Lightweight World Championship; and opening the PPV we have Alfredo Angulo versus James De La Rosa in a 10-round middleweight bout. Also in a special on the countdown show we have John Molina Jr., who will be facing Humberto Soto, which will be a truly exciting fight for the fans.

This event will be promoted by Mayweather Promotions, along with Golden Boy Promotions. Our sponsors are Corona, O’Reilly Auto Parts, The Equalizer, and the Mexican Tourism Board.

Also, just to inform everyone, we have a new start time, which is very important, to start the pay-per-view broadcast. The start time will be 5 p.m. PT/8 p.m. ET.

So, without further ado, I’d like to turn it over to none other than 11-time world champion in five different weight classes, Floyd “Money” Mayweather.

Floyd Mayweather
Thank you, Leonard. Well, first I want to say hello to everyone. I want to say thank you for the support. I want to thank everybody that’s been on social networks. I want to thank everybody for the articles and the stories; I want to thank everybody that’s covered this fight. I appreciate it. And we’re not too far away from September 13th, and I’m in top shape, I’m pretty sure Maidana’s in tiptop shape, and we’re ready to give you guys the excitement.

Q
Do you think that 50 Cent crossed the line by suggesting that you have trouble reading in that Instagram video that he posted?

F. Mayweather
My thing is this, I try to focus on Maidana. I don’t really focus on that. I think people can believe whatever they want to believe. Intelligence and education are two different things. I’m happy with my career and I wish 50 Cent nothing but the best; when I’m in training camp I try to focus on my training. You have to realize that the circus is for clowns and my job is just to focus on my job, which is boxing. I know what I can and I can’t do, so I can care less.

Q
Were you surprised that 50 Cent went in that direction and talked about a topic that would be that sensitive?

F. Mayweather
I don’t even worry about that. Like I said before, that’s not my focus. I know what I can and I can’t do. You guys don’t know when you’re dealing with pay-per-view you have to read at least 60 to 70 teleprompters, and I don’t think they could choose a better person for the job than myself. I go out there and I do it with no problem.

I just feel like basically I’m not judged by a person, I’m judged by God. Reading does not define my place in boxing history. Will God not let me in heaven because I didn’t read like a news anchor? Me, myself, I would be perfect at reading if it was how I made my living and fed my family. Once again, intelligence and education are two different things.

Making fun of a person because they can’t read is not funny. It’s tragic. Second, if I really couldn’t read it would make my accomplishments even that much more amazing. I don’t know if 50 Cent is a boxing promoter, I don’t know if he’s making music; I really don’t know. My focus is on Floyd Mayweather, and I wish 50 Cent nothing but the best.

Q
Floyd, do you want to just comment on the footage that the radio station played of you reading the drops?

F. Mayweather
Well, I don’t get paid to read radio drops. I’m capable of having a bad day; I’m not perfect. But you know, as well as I know, they edited the tape how they wanted to do it. I’m a perfectionist; if I go read a teleprompter, I read it six or seven or eight times, because I’m a perfectionist. I could have been up twenty-four hours; I could have just landed in New York City. People find different ways to try to break people down and tear people down.

I’m going strong and I’m happy. We talk about that situation, but there’s plenty of videos out there just showing me reading teleprompters and reading other things. When I was at the ESPY’s I had to read a teleprompter. I’m pretty sure you guys thought I did an okay job. Like I said before, I’m not a news anchor, never claimed to be. What I do for a living, I’m a boxer, but I didn’t get to where I got to not being able to write, read and do arithmetic, and I’m going to say this once again, intelligence and education are two totally different things.

Q
How do you go about dealing with camp distractions and is there something that you want to get rid of as you keep going forward, because it seems like in every camp something that has nothing to do with boxing comes up?

F. Mayweather
Well, like I said before, that’s small to me. I’m truly blessed to be where I’m at. I try not to focus on that type of stuff. My job is to focus on my children, make sure my children and my family are in the best position, and stay focused upon my craft, which is boxing. Nothing can steer me the wrong way; I don’t focus on everything, it’s why I don’t focus on clown stuff. Like I said before, that’s for the circus. My job is to stay focused on boxing. I got to where I got to by being smart, making smart moves, and doing what’s best for Floyd Mayweather.

Q
What was it about Maidana that was a little bit different than some of the other boxers that you really picked up really quickly what they were doing and were able to dominate the entire fight, like what you did with Canelo? What was it about Maidana that took you a little bit of time to kind of figure out what he was doing?

F. Mayweather
I didn’t say it was tough or it was hard to make adjustments. I said I took my time. If you look at the interviews, I said he came out kind of wild, and I took my time and kept my composure. I can make adjustments and I can adapt to any style, whether it’s in the first round, the second round. Just because I beat Canelo 11 rounds that doesn’t mean he’s not a better fighter than Maidana. Canelo’s by far stronger, and tried to pull a couple dirty tactics but, like I said before, that comes with the territory.

Q
Obviously, you and Leonard weren’t happy with Tony Weeks and now you have Kenny Bayless. First of all, can you comment on him as a referee?

F. Mayweather
I think Tony Weeks is an extraordinary referee. I think Kenny Bayless is an extraordinary referee. Tony Weeks is only human. He’s capable of having a bad night. So it doesn’t matter who the ref was going to be, we just want to go out there and entertain and give people something, give people an exciting fight. I’m pretty sure Kenny Bayless is going to be watching both sides extremely close.

Q
Do you see that the fact that you’ve had Kenny Bayless against De La Hoya, Mosley and Alvarez and he’s only had Maidana once, and he is a very balanced referee. Do you see that as any kind of advantage, your familiarity with him and him with you?

F. Mayweather
The job of the referee is to be fair and not lean towards my side or not lean towards Maidana’s side, but with the team meetings before the fight hopefully, like I’m pretty sure the last time Leonard and my team didn’t know that Robert Garcia was going to tell his guy to go out there and be extremely dirty.

My health is more important than money or anything else. I have to be healthy to go out there and perform the way that I do, and I truly believe in having a career after the sport of boxing is over. I said this before in some of my past interviews, this is not the Internet, this is boxing. If you guys notice, I got tackled, the guy tried to knee me, I got a head butt, and there were rabbit punches, and there were low blows, and the list goes on and on.

Q
With 45 seconds left in the fight it appeared on video that you complained of him biting your glove. Did that happen?

F. Mayweather
I’m not really sure, but it’s possible. It’s possible. He did a little bit of everything. That night I had to do two jobs; I had to be the boxer and referee, so I had to do two jobs. But Tony Weeks, he’s a future Hall of Fame referee and he does an extraordinary job in the sport of boxing, and so does Kenny Bayless.

Q
Do you see any double standard in the way Robert Garcia reacted after Brandon Ríos’ fight with Diego Chavez complaining of how dirty Chavez was, and yet he appears to be prepared to do similarly as they did in the first fight.

F. Mayweather
Well, I’m glad that someone got the chance to see that side of Robert Garcia. He’s supposed to be “one of the best trainers” in the sport of boxing, but I think it’s totally disrespectful to the sport of boxing for a trainer to be telling the guy to be dirty. I don’t think it’s cool at all. Robert Garcia is worried about the gloves, not Maidana, so why is Robert Garcia worried about the gloves if he’s not fighting or he’s not trying to do anything slick that he shouldn’t be doing. He’s doing all the talking. I haven’t heard it, but when I do my interviews, different writers let me know that Robert Garcia is saying and complaining about me doing certain things.

The only thing that I want to do is give the people an exciting, good fight and give the people an exciting night of boxing. But it’s not cool for him as a trainer, one of the best trainers in the sport of boxing, to be telling the guy be dirty, but then get upset when Brandon Ríos fight and he wants to complain to the referee. That’s not cool at all.

Q
I’m just wondering, from a boxer’s perspective, how do you stay poised in the ring when fighters are committing fouls against you?

F. Mayweather
What I think is this, I try to tell my sons to always conduct themselves like young men, so under any circumstances always conduct yourself like a young man. Even though you guys see ALL ACCESS you must understand that it’s about entertainment also. I have to sell tickets. That’s a part of my job, and I signed up for this.

But when it’s something like that I just tell myself keep your composure, just relax, and the referee’s going to do his job. I guess on that night the referee had a bad night. This didn’t just start, this has been going on since the beginning of my career. If you guys go back and look and at how fighters have been fighting dirty in front of me with different dirty tactics. Even in the Canelo fight you go look and see.

L. Ellerbe
That one is personally for me is that Floyd has always taken the high road in all these situations, and that’s one of the things I really admire about him because he could take a different approach since he is the leader of the sport. He’s not about crying and complaining, but a lot of these situations that come about he just takes the high road to it. He preaches all these kind of things to members of his team, people in camp; it’s all about just being positive and turning a negative situation into a positive. You go back to the Zab Judah situation. He was the one that’s standing there and didn’t retaliate or do anything, and that just goes to show you what type of professional he is.

Q
How much do you want to go out there and make this a shutout? How much do you want to dominate Marcos Maidana compared to the first fight? How much do you want to end in doubt?

F. Mayweather
Well, I think nine rounds to three rounds is a shutout. Whoever is on the phone right now I’m pretty sure you can go to YouTube and watch the fight, and actually I’m going to get with SHOWTIME today so I can put the fight on FloydMayweather.com so you guys can go watch the fight. Just look at the fight. The fight is not close. But he came out, he won the first round, I won the second round, he won the third and the fourth, and from the fifth on he lost every round.
So, like I said before, I’m going to go out there and I guess get a knockout, win twelve rounds, and look impressive, but also be exciting.

Q
When you were just breaking down the first fight between you and Maidana, did you have the fight in your favor eight rounds to four or nine rounds to three?

F. Mayweather
If I could just recall, I won the second round. He won the first one, but I won the second round, and he won probably the third and fourth, because I know one of those I got headbutted and couldn’t see; I was just mainly in survival mode until I got back to my corner to Rafael, the great cutman, Rafael Garcia. So I gave him three rounds.

Q
In your only other rematch, with Castillo, I think that was a fight that you won certainly much easier than whatever went down in the first fight. Would you agree with that?

F. Mayweather
But you know what I’ll say is, you know what you have to do. I’m one that always speaks his mind, and I speak from the heart so a lot of times people don’t like that. A lot of people they say certain things and I just speak on what I feel is the truth.

So if you guys really just go back and look at the Castillo first fight, and you can just put your TV on mute, the first six rounds he’s not even landing a shot. So if I win six rounds and we got six rounds left, and people don’t think out of six rounds that I’m capable of just winning just two rounds that still would be eight to four. So like I said before, I’m good with math and I’m still sharp.

But this training camp has been tremendous. I mean I’m talking about I’m in good shape. I just boxed yesterday, well the day before yesterday, fifteen rounds, and out of fifteen rounds only took one break. So I feel good.

Q
Is there anything you can take from the situation of having an immediate rematch with Castillo into this immediate rematch, only the second time in your career you’ve had a rematch, going into the Maidana fight?

F. Mayweather
I just have to go out there and just be me and be first. I can’t really say how the fight is going to play out, but I’m pretty sure he’s going to be once again extremely dirty and wild, and my job is to keep everything under control the best way that I can.

Q
What do you remember then about after the first Castillo fight of preparing yourself for a rematch with the same guy you had just fought a few months earlier?

F. Mayweather
I don’t know, with Castillo I already knew what he had done the first fight. But, with me the commentators persuade people to think a certain way. Put it on mute, put your TV on mute and watch the fight, you’ll look at the fight in a total different way. I can look at a fight and hear the commentators start saying certain things, and I’d be like sometimes the commentators will say certain things, I’ll be like what is he talking about, what is he watching.

Q
So are you saying, Floyd, in your mind you didn’t really need to make an adjustment because you felt like you won the first fight so easy you’re going to just do the same thing a second time. Was that your mentality?

F. Mayweather
Absolutely. You couldn’t say it any better.

Q
Okay. I have to ask you another question. Can you explain what is the role, if any, of Alex Ariza in your training camp?

F. Mayweather
Alex Ariza, I think he’s out in Las Vegas, I don’t know, taking care of some personal stuff. So our gym is open to everyone. In the past I’ve spoke about Alex Ariza, but I never knew him. He’d come by the gym, he’d watch me train, and he showed me some stretches before I ran and that’s it. However he handles business with his other fighters is how he handles business.

Q
So is Alex Ariza not working for you in any official capacity? Just a friendly hello at the gym?

F. Mayweather
I’m not enemies with Alex Ariza. We may just talk about boxing, we just talk about normal things. What Alex Ariza has said is “I’ve never seen a fighter in my life train as hard as you and work as hard as you. Now I see why you where you’re at. He said I just wanted to come see for myself. He basically said that I thought that ALL ACCESS was just camera tricks. I didn’t really know you worked that hard.” When he came and said I’ve never seen a fighter work as hard as you. Now I see why you are where you at in the sport of boxing.

He showed me stretches. Actually, yesterday after my run he showed me some other stretches that I can do that could help me.

Q
So he’s not part of The Money Team? Is that true, or is he going to be part of the team on fight week, either way?

F. Mayweather
I can’t say who’s going to be around me fight week. I really don’t know. I can’t really say. Leonard used to be around me a lot fight week, but I mean he’s doing different things now so he’s not around me fight week. So we don’t know who’s going to be around, but fight week I’m not around nobody. I’m at home resting. That’s where I should be.

Alex came to the gym more than just on one occasion, but just because a guy comes to the boxing gym and watches me train or a guy goes to eat with us that doesn’t mean he’s my strength and conditioning coach. He happened to be a strength and conditioning coach and showed me some stretches so far.

The only thing I can say is that he’s a strength and conditioning coach that showed me some stretches. Has he ever received a check from me? Absolutely not.

Q
There’s a love/hate relationship between Hispanics and Latinos because you have beat a lot of Latino boxers, yet they admire you because of your history. But in some way you have pushed some buttons wearing sombreros in the ring. What is that all about?

F. Mayweather
My thing is, I’m the face of boxing. I don’t have nothing against anyone in the sport of boxing. I love the Mexican, the Latino, the Spanish fans, I love them, and I appreciate them supporting the sport of boxing as a whole, and so I appreciate them all.

L. Ellerbe
Let me touch on that. Actually that’s just a myth that’s out there. Hispanic fans obviously are a huge part of the boxing fan base, but Floyd has a tremendous global base, not just only with the Americans. Everyone appreciates a great fighter, and that’s what Floyd has been able to display.

I’ll use an example, we were on the Canelo press tour. I was actually quite surprised that the Hispanic/Latino support since once we got to Mexico City the fans actually loved Floyd, moreso than their own fighters, because they actually know the sport. A lot of times what’s happened in the past is that coming up, fans feel a certain kind of way and people are always going to have opinions. But as a whole people appreciate what Floyd brings to the sport, not only just the American fans, but all the Hispanic, Mexican, everyone.

Q
Since you also said you’re an entertainer do you have anything planned for the Maidana? He’s Argentinian.

F. Mayweather
I’m pretty sure we got some interesting for the walkout and for the people. We always want to give the people excitement all around the board, so I’m pretty sure we got some excitement.

Q
With all the dirty moves that Maidana pulled in the first fight what have you prepared to do differently this time?

F. Mayweather
I can’t prepare for that. Well, I can actually. My job is to prepare for everything all around the board, but I’m going to let the referee do his job and be fair to both parties.

Q
So what made you put the 154-pound belt on the line as well?

L. Ellerbe
Because in an unprecedented move that’s what we’re doing. Floyd is defending his WBC title at 154. It’s only been done one other time in the sport with Sugar Ray Leonard when he fought Donny Lalonde. Floyd brings something different to boxing; that’s why we’re doing it.

Q
Is is safe to say that you’ve been practicing going more for knockouts or are you just going to go do what you do?

F. Mayweather
I’m just going to let the fight play out like it plays out and go out there and do what I do best. If a knockout presents itself of course I’m going to take full advantage of a knockout.

Q
Will you let us in to who’s going to walk you out or anything this time, because it’s rumored from another Bieber sighting to even Miley Cyrus walking you out this time.

F. Mayweather
Well, we don’t know what we’re going to do, but I’m pretty sure it’s going to be something extremely exciting.

Q
So when do you make the decision, is that fight week or you just go out and you just pull something out of the hat?

F. Mayweather
I don’t like to let the cat out of the bag yet. In fact, if I tell you everything you guys wouldn’t have to watch the fight. So I won’t tell you everything. I want you guys to buy pay-per-view and watch the fight.

Q
If you don’t get a knockout in this fight do you think there’s anything that you have to do differently if it goes to decision to get a unanimous decision since the first fight was technically a majority decision?

F. Mayweather
Well, I don’t really know what I can do. Just like my fight with Canelo, I feel like I dominated that fight, but it was a split decision. I feel like when I fought Oscar De La Hoya I felt like I dominated Oscar De La Hoya, but that was a split decision. So the only thing I can do is walk in and fight.

Q
Was the decision to do an immediate rematch was it based more on whatever controversy there was from the first fight, both the dirty tactics and the majority decision, or was it something else?

F. Mayweather
Well, the fans demanded it, the fans said it was real exciting. My team had a meeting. They came up with this guy, and, like I said before, I’m a man of my word. Just like I said after the fight, if you feel like you want to do it again let’s do it again; if you feel like you really want it, so we’re making it happen again.

Q
Do you have any concerns about the judges getting it right, again, if it goes the distance?

F. Mayweather
Well I think we’re in the mecca of boxing, and we have the best commission in the world. So we probably need some new, young judges, whereas I think some of the judges now are a lot older and I think we need some new, young judges.

L. Ellerbe
There’s a new Executive Director of the Nevada State Athletic Commission, Bob Bennett, and he’s done a tremendous job with bringing a lot of things to the forefront. We’re very confident that Nevada’s the best commission that’s out there, and we feel as though we’ll get a fair shake if the fight happens to go the distance.

K. Swanson
Okay. That was our last question. If you want to make one last comment, Floyd and Leonard, and then we’ll wrap it up.

F. Mayweather
Yes, I just want to tell everybody that called-in. I want to say thank you. I appreciate you guys. I appreciate all of the write-ups, everybody that’s on social media, everybody that’s writing for magazines, writing for the newspapers, I just want to say thank you for the work over the years. I really appreciate you, and I’ll see you guys next week.

L. Ellerbe
I’d like to remind everyone to tune into ALL ACCESS coming Saturday. Episode 2 will be televised at 9p.m. ET/ 6 p.m. PT. Tune in.