Media Interview with Floyd Mayweather Jr

Posted on 09/09/2011

Thank you everybody for joining us. We are right on time today, and we really appreciate taking the time of the one and only chance Floyd “Money” Mayweather to have this conference call. He is coming off a blistering media workout yesterday for everybody that was in Las Vegas. Just a little homework before I introduce the principals. We are coming into Fight Week, and we are going to kick off Fight Week next Monday.

Floyd will be making an appearance on the Conan O’Brien Show. That’s a late-night talk show on Monday night at 11:00 Eastern Time and Pacific Time. And then we will also do a photo opportunity with all the fighters in Los Angeles before we proceed to Las Vegas where we will participate in all Fight Week activities with all the fighters, and Canelo and his opponent, Gomez, will stay in Los Angeles to do their fight.

So, without further ado, everybody look for that Fight Week schedule. We will be sending it out tomorrow to let everybody know all of the activities happening tied into the fight. And joining us today, as I mentioned, is Floyd Mayweather, six-time, five-division world champion and also Leonard Ellerbe, Chief Executive Officer of Mayweather Promotions, and Richard Schaefer, Chief Executive Officer of Golden Boy Promotions who will make the introductions for the call. Richard?

Richard Schaefer

Thank you, Kelly. Wow! Over 100 people are on the call already. That’s fantastic. That just shows you that the fight is like the weather out here on the west coast. It is hot. It is a super fight, and it is hot. The countdown has started-10 days to go for the biggest Pay-Per-View event of the year-September 17, HBO [Pay-Per-View] live from the MGM Grand in Las Vegas and the Staples Center in Los Angeles. It is the return of the superstar, Floyd “Money” Mayweather.

This will be the fifth fight in a row that Floyd Mayweather is responsible for the biggest pay-per-view event of the year. His average number of Pay-Per-View buys per fight now stands at slightly above 1.5 million in homes. Unheard of-a league on its own.

Talking about pay-per-view-for this fight, the pay-per-view ordering window will set up following right after the first episode of 24/7, by the way, at the suggestion of Floyd. The results are stunning. And I mean stunning in capital letters. I’m not going to give you any prediction on how the Pay-Per-View numbers are going to be for this fight, but remember, we do hold the all-time record, and I’m a firm believer that records are here to be broken.

Floyd has set out to conquer as well the global pay-per-view market. The fight will be on pay-per-view in the United Kingdom and for the very first time, there will be as well as French language Pay-Per-View feed to Canada. Truly a global event shown in almost in 170 countries live around the world.

But before I’m going to hand it over to Leonard, I’d like to take a quick look at the different promotional assets which are in play for this fight. We haven’t really talked about it much, but I think I would like to cover it very quickly. Turner Broadcast assets-TBS, TNT, CNN, ranging from the 24/7 replays to Piers Morgan, Conan O’Brien-Kelly just mentioned it-and substantial advertisement assets, during the Major League Baseball games and within other entertainment programs on these highly rated channels. Time Warner digital assets, such as Time, Inc., Sports Illustrated, CNN, Money, and Fortune all having coverage for the fight, clearly broadening the appeal of the fight to an encore boxing fan base.

Time Warner video assets, CNN, People en Español, and others are showing exclusively produced videos. Time Warner outdoor assets: iconic locations from the East Coast Time Square to the West Coast Sunset Boulevard and about 2,000 additional locations in between – I’ve never seen anything like it. Time, Inc. magazine division-an amazing lineup of magazine assets, which Time Warner owns-such magazines as Fortune, Essence, Sports Illustrated, and others are all activating in print, digital, and video.

And, finally, and most importantly, the HBO assets-beside the 24/7, there is as well a new program called 24/7 Overtime. It’s going to be live from Friday, September 16, right after the last episode of 24/7. It’s being introduced for the very first time. It’s posted with the live test from Las Vegas with latest updates, celebrity guests. It will give the audience a taste of what’s going on in Vegas. So, what happens in Vegas no longer just stays in Vegas. HBO, as an award-winning production team, will bring Vegas Friday night to your home with the latest and greatest related to this amazing showdown.

I know by now you guys are probably all ready to order the Pay-Per-View, but as they say, but wait, there is more. On Saturday, September 17, Mayweather will take over one of the HBO Channels-HBO Zone, which will exclusively show fight content, including live coverage from Las Vegas leading up to the fight. This is a first, and, again, it is just like it was with the first ever 24/7. It is Floyd-Floyd Mayweather who is introducing new, exciting ways to broaden the appeal of boxing to the general market.

I do want to point out as well the record-setting activation from Tecate and AT&T. They have virtually converted all of their national media by creating a site-specific advertisement package, both with the TV sport, print, radio, outdoor, and store activations. Tecate and AT&T are joined by DeWalt, which has implemented activations in special boxing events in Lowe’s stores around the country. And after some accents from the fight game, another sponsor is back, in fact, just signed on today: Southwest Airlines. Corporate America has, again, put their muscle behind Floyd and this fight.

Finally, the fight will be shown in a record-setting number of movie theaters around the country. The advertisement support, which we have received from the movie chains, really complement our 360 approach which is “wherever you are, wherever you go during the next 10 days, you cannot miss but see the exposure for this great event.” It is without any doubt the most heavily promoted boxing event we have ever put together, and I’m sure you can probably feel my excitement through the phone lines.

I’m just excited to really be continuing to work with Floyd and his team and to make history, and in the process, continue to break records together. It is a real pleasure for me now to introduce to you our good friend, Leonard Ellerbe, the CEO of Mayweather Promotions.

Leonard Ellerbe

Thanks, Richard. I’d like to thank everyone for coming on the call. We’ve had a great training camp. This has been probably our best training camp thus far. Floyd is working extremely hard for September 17, and even though he’s working hard, he’s found a way to also give back during this time. An example-last Friday, he Skyped with the troops in Afghanistan over, I guess it was around 2:00 a.m. and the reason why he did it was because he felt it was very important to be able to communicate with the troops and let them know how much he really appreciates what they’ve done for the country. He stayed on the phone with them, I think, it was over two hours.

During this time, he was able to give them a behind-the-scenes look at everything that he has going on in his life. For example, how he lives, all the wonderful things-like his cars and things of that nature, so it gave them a different perspective of actually to feel a part of what he has going on in his life.

Yesterday was a big day for us. We opened up the media to his Media Day, and during that time, we had the live stream on Ustream, and there were over 88,000 people that tuned in to watch Floyd have a great, great training session. It was an unbelievable turnout with the media we had on hand, and it was a truly, truly great workout. Without further ado, the six-time world champion in five different weight classes, none other than the biggest star in the sport, “Money” Mayweather.

Floyd Mayweather

First off, thank the media. Thank HBO. I thank my staff. Thank all the sponsors, Richard Schaefer-they call it Golden Boy Promotions, but I prefer to call it Richard Schaefer Promotion because he’s done a hell of a job. Richard Schaefer is a great guy. I mean, Al Haymon, of course, I take my hat off to you every time. Kelly Swanson, thank you-you’ve been with me so many years. Leonard Ellerbe, you know, we’ve been through a lot but we’re still going strong. We have a strong team, and nothing can stop us.

The media-what else can I say? You guys have helped us-helped not just Mayweather Promotions, but Golden Boy Promotions over the years go to the next level, and I’m very, very thankful for that. Come September 17, I want to go out there and put on another pleasing performance, and I’m pretty sure that Ortiz-I want to thank the Ortiz camp for participating in the promotions. They’ve done a hell of a job, but, like I said, you’ve got 24/7 coming on this Saturday once again, and I think they’ve got to come up with a different scheme.

I know the public is tired of hearing the same story over and over again, so I think they will come up with something creative this weekend. I just want to thank everybody on the line. Thanks for calling in. We can get to the questions now.

Floyd, I would like you to, if you could, tell me about when you attended the Andre Berto/Victor Ortiz fight in April. I know you were there ringside. I just would like you, if you could, tell me what you saw in that fight. Were you looking at the moment-you were there to, I guess, enjoy the fight also, but were you thinking about I might want to fight the winner or did that sort of just come to you as the fight was progressing, or was that not part of it? And, if so, what did you see in Victor in that fight that made you decide, “you know what, this is a guy that I want to get an opportunity to fight?”

F. Mayweather

Just going to the fight, I didn’t have any plans. I had plans of going to 50 Cent’s house-I was going to his house in Connecticut. Come to find out, he only lived an hour away from the casino where the fight was being held. We just went normally as-just wanted to go see a fight. I don’t really go to boxing like that, so I sat down and enjoyed the fight from the beginning. As soon as I walked in, the fight was interesting. I thought both guys were very impressive.

Victor Ortiz was the better man that night. I didn’t have any plans. When I left, I was like man, I mean I thought in my head, “This guy-me and him get it on-it’d be an exciting fight.” I was happy that the guy won a title, and then I thought when I spoke to him after the Marquez fight, he came over to me and he said some pretty generous words-some respectful words-and I said, “Don’t worry. I know you had a setback before, but a true champion can take a loss and bounce back. Don’t worry, you will be champion.” And then, two fights later and now we’re facing each other. Things happen like that in the sport of boxing.

So was it really in your mind when you walked into the arena that I’m going to scout the fight as some type-

F. Mayweather

No, I wasn’t scouting. I was going there just to watch. I wasn’t scouting an opponent. I was going there just as a spectator just to watch the fight.

Okay. I just want to ask you one other question. We all know about Floyd Mayweather’s boxing skills. Obviously, that’s been well documented. I wonder, would it be important for you or would you like to get a knock-out? Because it’s been awhile.

F. Mayweather

It’s not really that. It’s just that these fighters go into survival mode. Once they’re down on the scorecard or once they feel they have no chance of winning, they go into survival mode. Mosley did the same thing. Marquez did the same thing. These guys go into survival mode. Hatton was a little different. Hatton came to fight, and so, I get knock-outs if a guy comes to fight and put it all on the line, but once you get to the pinnacle, you get to Floyd Mayweather-you get to elite level, the guys-they go into survival mode.

I wanted to ask you. You recently were engaged, so can you kind of talk about that and how that’s changed you as both a fighter and a man and does that give you extra motivation heading into this fight on September 17?

F. Mayweather

No. It’s just that with going through everything, it’s always good to have a strong lady behind you-a strong person period, whether it’s a best friend or a female friend. She has stuck behind me through it all and never judged me. She just said we live and we learn and no matter what it is-rich or poor, through it all I’ll be here for you. That’s why she’s-I mean she’s very important in my life.

Can you also talk about the extremely long lay-offs? This is 16 months. So, is it a little bit more difficult for you to get back into the gym and get back into fighting mode and just stay sharp, or do you kind of train during these 16 months that you’re down?

F. Mayweather

Well, I just try to be responsible and have discipline as a fighter, you know. Maintain my weight-I keep my weight between 147 and 150 even when I’m off. A lot of times people say is it what you eat-no, it’s how much you eat. I don’t overindulge myself in just food. I don’t overindulge myself with eating. If it’s something that I like to eat then I’m gonna eat it, but I’m not just going to pig out.

I work out. I love to play basketball a lot-even when I’m off. I’ll be off because it takes-even if I fought two times a year, it takes six months to build the fight of this magnitude-to build up before it can be a huge blockbuster in pay-per-view. It has to be the right opponent. We have to have the right game plan.

My last question following off of that is do you believe in the concept of ring rust when people bring that up?

F. Mayweather

Well, I haven’t showed it thus far, so everybody’s entitled to say certain things, but I just try to focus on going out there and doing my job.

Hey, Floyd, it still seems to me that there are people out there, whether it be fans or promoters or other fighters who don’t seem to understand just how terrific of a boxer you have been over the past 16 years and just how good you are. Does it bother you that there is still some doubt? It seems amazing that there can still be doubters at this point, but there are. Does that bother you and do you care?

F. Mayweather

Well, you got to realize that certain individuals call themselves boxing experts. I mean, I feel like what better fighter-if you wanted to patent your fighter or patent a style, what better fighter to use than Floyd Mayweather. That’s not bragging or boasting. It’s just I feel I have the remedy to know how to win, whether it goes the distance or a knockout. The main thing about life is winning in life. Who doesn’t want to be-every reporter on this phone should think they are the best. If not, hopefully someday, they’ll be looking to be the best.

So, it’s more like you hear about all these-you got all these new guys that’s around now, right. And then you say it’s obvious Floyd must have been doing something right thus far because you have no fighters left from the ’96 Olympic team, no fighters left from the 2000, no fighters left from the 2004-even from 2008. So you have to ask yourself where did these guys go?

I’ve been dominating the fight game since Victor Ortiz was nine years old until now and I’m still sharp. So, like I said before, I have to thank you for the compliment because, like I said, reporters like you keep me striving and keep me working hard and keep me in the sport.

One last thing, Floyd. How important is it to you in your heart and perhaps for your legacy that you retire undefeated?

F. Mayweather

I feel like anybody-I mean anything can happen any given night. Anything can happen any given Saturday. Anything can happen, but, like I always said, if a fighter beats me, I want him to do it the fair and honest way because I’ve done it the fair and honest way for 16 years. No matter how much Floyd brags or boasts, no matter how much he talks about his money, when it’s all said and done, I’m fair. I’m fair. So, I just want to be-the only thing I want to do-I want to be treated fair. That’s all I ask.

You talked earlier about guys who come to knock you out. You do the best against them. I was looking over a list of fights that I thought were among your top five best, and I wanted to know A) if those would jive with yours and B) if they would, in fact, be among your most rewarding. Three of them were Hernandez, Corrales and Hatton and against those guys, like you said, you ended up getting a knockout and they seemed to come to fight. Is that consistent with your thinking?

F. Mayweather

Exactly-because Hernandez is where it all started. With Hatton, it’s just that I beat him when he was undefeated. And I beat Corrales when he was undefeated. I beat both guys when they were at the top of their games, and, of course, both guys-Corrales and Hatton-were both younger than me, once again, for those that don’t know. At one particular time I felt disrespected when the Hatton fans came over here and kind of booed the National Anthem. That made me want to fight that much harder for my country, but, of course, things happen, and Genaro Hernandez gave me my first opportunity when I was ranked No. 8-the World Champion gave me my opportunity, so I have to be thankful for that.

What was so crazy was last night I was just laying on a sofa in my hotel room changing the channel and I said “Let me go through some of the numbers in my phone.” Genaro Hernandez-I went to the Gs, and Genaro Hernandez was the first name that I seen. My eyes got kind of watery because I was like, “Man, it all started with him.” I told him “Anything I could do to help you while you were in that situation, let me know.” I don’t care what it is and then a few months later he passes away.

You think about certain things like that or you think about Corrales-he put everything on the line to face me and to fight his heart out. It hurt him deep inside so he was mentally never right and then he got to drinking and then he got into a bad accident. What was so crazy is that he crashed right by my sister’s house, so you think about certain things like that or you think of Arturo Gatti, you think about different fights like that. At the end of the day, it’s like everybody that I face, they’ve got families, they have children, and so, you know, I think about things like that.

But first, when you were talking about rating the fights-yes, Genaro Hernandez gave me my first chance when I was at 130. The biggest fight at that particular time was Diego Corrales. We both were young, undefeated, and with the Hatton fight, once again, I moved up in weight class. I was at 147. He was moving up. He had beaten everybody that they had put in front of him and I had to go out and represent the red, white, and blue like I always do.

Last question for you is what did those three fights, given the nature of each of the situations that you described, what did they bring out in you because you stood your ground-your marksmanship was especially there against Hatton. What did they bring out of you? What did they have in common?

F. Mayweather

They came to fight. Like Genaro Hernandez came to fight. We were banging toe to toe, and I think he approached it like the best man was going to have to win. That’s how he approached it, and Hatton always, you know, approached fights like “I’m coming to win. Either you’re going to get me or I’m going to get you.” I think that even like after Hatton faced me, I don’t think he was never the same and same thing with Corrales. He was never the same once he faced me.

I have to figure that Victor Ortiz can’t beat you skill versus skill. A lot of people say that the only way that maybe he can beat you is if you’re age shows-if maybe you’ve deteriorated a little bit. I mean, you’re 34. It happens to the best of us. I’m wondering if you’ve felt any drop off, any-

F. Mayweather

Excuse, wait, wait. You said it happens to the best of us. I think you’re still writing this story, right?

Yeah.

F. Mayweather

Okay.

I’m just a writer.

F. Mayweather

Okay, well you said it happens to the best of us, so I’ve got to make sure we’re on the same page.

No-you’re better than I am.

F. Mayweather

I’m not. No, no. We’re both good. I’m just joking. I know what you mean.

Yes. Have you noticed anything? Have you noticed any drop-off-maybe it takes longer to shake it out and get the muscles ready the next day? Have you noticed anything?

F. Mayweather

Well, if, hopefully, you know, a lot of people that weren’t at my boxing gym yesterday were able to tune in on Ustream. They say I’m still looking sharp. They say I’m still looking young. When I say they, as far as the media and everybody that showed up yesterday, so I still feel strong when I get to the gym. Once I get started-because I’m a little different from any other fighter. I don’t go to the gym. I don’t shadow box. Other fighters shadow box. When I get to the gym, I just put my wraps on and get right in the ring and start sparring. So, I’m a little different from any other fighter.

Of course, I run at 3 or 4 in the morning, and, like I said, I don’t think as far as me deteriorating or losing skills-I think I’m still very, very sharp-still strong. The reason why is because I don’t think I’ve been in any just like toe-to-toe wars. I think when a fighter’s in a toe-to-toe war-a lot of wars-it’s wear and tear on the body, and I haven’t taken no abuse, so I thank God for blessing me with this great defense.

I think your defense is the best in the game and among the best of all time. I don’t always write complimentary stuff about you, but I always do appreciate that you’re in this sport-you’re a fascinating character, so credit where credit is due. Last question is at the Manny Pacquiao press conference yesterday-him and Freddie Roach both say they think you are preparing to fight them because you’re fighting Victor Ortiz, another lefty. I’d like your response to that, please.

F. Mayweather

Like I said before, on one note, they try and take me to the court room, right? I prefer to hold court inside the square circle. America is the country that I live in, and I’m all about being fair. I just truly believe if you the best-take the test, but a lot of times, like I said before, on one note, Freddie Roach, and I guess, Team Pacquiao don’t want me to speak on them at all-don’t want me to say anything about them at all.

So, I’m wondering why are you guys so worried about-if you had a Marquez press conference, why is Floyd Mayweather’s name coming up if you feel like you’re on the same level as a Floyd Mayweather. That’s all I’m saying. Of course, like I said before, as long as he’s attached to my name, he’s going to make great pay days. As long as he can keep fighting Floyd Mayweather’s leftovers or fighting the fighters that’s already beaten-the media really has to pay attention to this.

They say Shane Mosley-they say Shane Mosley looked the best when he beat Antonio Margarito. His next fight was against Floyd Mayweather. I’m only fighting when he said that was his best performance, so his next fight was against me. So I beat Mosley then-you know what, he fights and gets a draw.

Like I said before, fighters are never the same once they face me. So after he fights Floyd Mayweather, he has a draw on his next fight, he fights Pacquiao, right. Once again, I beat him first. Okay. Antonio Margarito-after he gets beat by Mosley then, Pacquiao fights Margarito. Margarito beats-he cheats and beats Miguel Cotto and then that’s when Pacquiao says I want to fight Cotto.

I beat Hatton when he was undefeated and then fights Hatton after I already beat him when he’s no longer the same. So, Marquez called me out-now, once again, I took the Marquez fight. This is the guy that they had rated No. 2 … I took two years off. Now they say that Floyd Mayweather, you know what, Floyd Mayweather is too big for Marquez but he’s not too big for Pacquiao, but they are the same size.

A guy can come from-it’s okay for him to go from 105 to 154 and say-and he gets a knock out and they say, you know what, it’s all natural. If I went from 147 to heavyweight and was knocking down heavyweights, would that be all natural? That’s what you got to ask yourself at the end of the day. Like I said before, I never accused anybody of doing anything. It’s obvious that you must be hiding something if I say I’m the best-you say you’re the best, so we fighting for the best belts. We fighting for the best titles. We fight in the best city in the world. We fight in the best country in the world. So why not have the best testing? That’s all I ask.

The thing is I’m not just picking on one guy. Everybody that I face has to take the test because I’m saying this sport is a little different from how it used to be. It’s tainted. So that’s all I’m saying. Once again, the guys say, you know, I’m suing Mayweather for saying that I done this or done that. But you’re still attaching your name to me. Y’all still speaking on me. Y’all speaking on me but y’all saying y’all don’t want me speaking on you guys at all.

Do you want Pacquiao next after Ortiz? Are you any closer?

F. Mayweather

It’s like this. I said what I said about-I spoke on the situation enough. I spoke on the situation enough. There’s no need for me to even speak on it because it’s useless. If the guy wanted to fight, he could have been had the fight. Y’all know this. Why is it now all of a sudden I’ve been dominating the game? What was the guy in ’97? What was the guy in ’98? When LeBron James was playing basketball in high school, they said this kid is going to be a superstar. When Kobe Bryant was playing basketball in high school, you said this kid is going to be a superstar. Same thing goes for Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, and every other athlete.

It’s no different for me-me coming straight from the Olympics or Sugar Ray Leonard. Sugar Ray Leonard going to be a star. Same thing with Ali, same thing for Floyd Mayweather. All of a sudden an athlete is at 25 and just become good. Come on, man, let’s make this make sense now. Some of us were born at night but not last night. Some were born in the day but not yesterday. Let’s make this make sense now. And like I always said, my health is more important than money.

Hey, listen, and this is not a criticism, but you have, probably of any fighter with the exception of maybe Manny Pacquiao, you’ve had more distractions between living in Vegas, living and training in Vegas. You’ve had some legal problems. Your trainers had health and legal problems. How do you put all the trouble behind you and just concentrate on fighting? It’s got to be difficult.

F. Mayweather

Things happen in life. It’s a roller coaster ride. You go through certain obstacles in life. That’s what life is. Life is ups and downs. As long as I got a guy like Al Haymon, you know, in my corner. I got a guy like Al Haymon in my corner and a strong team, I just feel that no one can stop me. You know, everything happens for a certain reason. There are certain obstacles that are put in front of you with every situation that you’re speaking on-that we’re talking about right now.

Like I said before, everything is just common sense. It’s like you never-as far as the Josie Harris situation. She said she got, if I’m not mistaken, she said she got stomped-punched, stomped, and beaten, but we have yet to see photos. And, it’s no different from, like, she said okay, everybody knows where the highest child support-where we can get the most money for child support at is California. So where do you think she live at? Where do you think she lives now? California.

So when me and her were getting along and we were on good terms, she was living in Vegas. If she doesn’t get what she wants, she says, “Okay, I’m going to California. If I can’t get what I want, basically the system will make you give me what I want.” So things happen like that. That’s different between restraining somebody and holding somebody and saying relax. You’re under the influence of prescription drugs. It could be prescription drugs, marijuana, and alcohol. You’re saying you’re not 100 percent coherent. Relax. Or just like the situation with the gate-my gate situation.

Anytime I come in the gate, they bother me. They follow me in the gate. They bother my guests, and I guess, you know, because I’m in a contact sport, so I know how the body can bruise. So when the guy said, “Okay, I’ll poke him in the face.” All of a sudden he got a red mark on his face. I mean, it’s just crazy that when have-I’ve never known anyone to touch-to put their hands on a person with a gun on their waist. So things like this don’t make sense.

Everybody that’s on the phone listening right now-you go back to this attitude to fight. Go right back to this attitude to fight. When the chaos broke out-when everybody was going wild, I handled myself like a gentleman. I went right to the news corner and stood right there. When it stopped, I went back to work.

So, are you saying that you believe people are out to get you, then?

F. Mayweather

I believe that things happen for certain reasons. I just broke it down to you-some of the situations, basically, that is going on. One of the situations that I’m with was a guy-basically a disgruntled employee. A guy that was with me who was a former drug dealer, confidential informant who, I guess, he told on numerous, numerous people. He ratted out numerous people, so he had bad blood. I told him I didn’t want that around me. So all of a sudden, he has a problem-I’m out skating and he has a problem and says you know what, it’s Floyd. But out skating with my family, but he says that I guess shots were fired from a Rolls Royce, and, you know, I had my children with me. These are things they say are going on.

Does that stuff-that constant cloud of stuff around you-bother you at all? When you go into the ring, do you go in with a clear head?

F. Mayweather

When I go in, I don’t focus on anything. I keep a clear head. I don’t focus on nothing. My mentality going into the ring is it’s going to be what it’s going to be.

One more question, Floyd. When you go in against Victor Ortiz, you’re going to see two things that you probably haven’t seen since Zab Judah and that would be a fighter in his prime, probably younger than Zab was, certainly, at that time, and also a southpaw. Are you prepared for that?

F. Mayweather

This has been the longest training camp thus far because we wanted to make sure that we was ready all around the board for a guy that’s 10 years younger, strong, and got good speed. So we will be ready and that’s why we held training a lot longer this fight.

I think part of your ring genius is that you’re able to just sort of take away what guys want to do and it just sort of limits their options offensively when they’re in there.

F. Mayweather

We can call you a boxing expert.

I don’t know if I want to be called a boxing expert because that gets you in a lot of trouble, but that’s just sort of the things from watching you over the years that I’ve noticed that you’re able to take away what guys try to do. It seems awfully frustrating for them. I’m wondering, just from your perspective, when you do that, do you get a sense that, you know, that the fight is in your hands and at what point do you get a sense that that’s happening-when you start taking away things from guys?

F. Mayweather

Like in the Mosley fight, for instance, the first round when we locked up, my mind-instantly-he a beat fighter. He’s a beat fighter. I was too strong, too strong. Like, I could move him around with just my left arm, so I felt-no matter if he caught me with a big shot or not, mentally I said he’s a beat fighter. And that’s what I do going into a fight. Whatever a guy has that is his strongest point about him-whatever his strongest point is as a fighter-what we do is we believe in taking that away. And then what we do is we truly believe in breaking the guy down. If we see an opportunity to go for the kill, that’s what we’ll do.

But this fight, he’s looking for the knockout, and I’m looking for the knockout, so I can guarantee you guys it won’t go the distance. I can guarantee you.

Now in this particular fight, you said that you’re going in looking for the knockout. Does that mean that you’re going to be more aggressive in terms of taking the fight to him?

F. Mayweather

Absolutely. Right from the gate I’m aggressive. No different from the Mosley fight. Even when I got hit with the big shot, yeah, I held on, but I kept coming. So, yes, for this fight, I’m coming straight ahead.

Yeah. People get a sense that he may be the bigger guy, but you’ve been fighting in welterweight probably a little bit longer than he has, do you get a sense that this is the weight class that you belong at-that you’re best at 147, even better than you were maybe at 130 or 135?

F. Mayweather

I think that these fighters are not disciplined. Just because a guy can put on just a bunch of water weight or stuff a bunch of food-you know, take a bunch of food down and be heavy-I don’t think that’s cool at all. I think it’s about being responsible and having discipline. Me, myself, I just maintain my weight.

It’s not that-see, right now, even with 10 days away, I know how fighters are. He’s still probably 13 pounds over. He’s probably weighing 160, right now or 157. It’s hard to box at your fighting weight and be down. Like, right now, I weight 147-147/148. I can box a strong 12 rounds at 147/148. So even like for the De La Hoya fight, I went into the fight. I weighed 150 the day before, but when I got to the ring the next day, I weighed 148. I went into the ring weighing 148. And he weighed probably 168. So the weight really doesn’t play a factor. It’s really the skill because sometime the weight can put you into slug mode to where you can’t really move and do the things that you’re capable of doing.

Just a final part of that question-do you think that you’re a better fighter at 147?

F. Mayweather

Oh, yeah. I’m sorry.

Do you feel like you’re a better fighter at 147 than you were as a lightweight at 130/135?

F. Mayweather

I’m more comfortable at 147 because I’m able to work hard and eat whatever I want to eat. Like I can eat, I’m saying because I like to be comfortable. If some days, my chef don’t cook, if I want to go out for pizza with my daughter, I want to eat pizza because I feel that I’m putting-I don’t think-you know some fighters think like, oh, if I don’t eat healthy, I’m going to lose. That don’t have nothing to do with it. My skills are still going to be the same. I’m still able to go 12 rounds strong. But I think at 147-I’m more comfortable at 147 than I was at 130. Now am I a better fighter? Probably so at 147.

You haven’t fought many left-handed fighters. Some of the few that you have-DeMarcus Corley and Zab Judah-have given you a little bit of trouble. How do you plan to deal with Ortiz, him being a southpaw with power?

F. Mayweather

Okay, Mosley hit me with a good shot. I mean Mosley hit me with a good shot and he was orthodox. So it’s not really that. It’s just, you know, the southpaws I happened to face happened to be good punchers, and at that time when I fought DeMarcus “Chop Chop” Corley, he was, of course, not now but then he was a strong, young, solid puncher-big puncher-who hit me with a good shot. We was fighting toe-to-toe. So those things happen-no different from Zab. Zab hit me with a good shot, but when it’s all said and done at the end of the day, I always rose to the occasion and came out on top.

So there’s nothing about the stance in general that you find awkward or troublesome?

F. Mayweather

No, not at all. Not at all. Because I have, like I said before, I had good-very, very good work for this fight – very good work. Sechew Powell, Kassim Ouma, Deandre Latimore, and so those are the guys that’s been pushing me to the limit every day. You know, boxing 10 and 12 hours on a regular, so I feel good.

What advice would you give Floyd Mayweather to beat Floyd Mayweather?

F. Mayweather

That’s a good question. I don’t know. You mean you got different weight classes. You got a Mayweather from 130. You got Mayweather from 135, 140, 147. You have Mayweather at 154, so-

The actual Mayweather.

F. Mayweather

I don’t know. That’s a good question. I don’t know.

Are you invincible, do you think?

F. Mayweather

Anybody can, I mean, anything can happen any given Saturday. I just try to prepare-I prepare myself. I always keep my fingers crossed. The only thing I can do is hope for the best and try to stay positive. Anything someone says negative I try to turn into a positive. I got respect for every fighter that’s in the fight game, but when I’m facing an opponent-this is a hurt business. I’m in it to do a job, and I’ve got to be at my best when I go in there to do my job.

You’ve talked a couple of times about moving to the UK, but you that you worry that you won’t look as rich as you do in the U.S. once you change those dollars over to pounds.

F. Mayweather

I don’t think that, you know, I don’t think a few hundred million-it will still look good over there, I think.

Is there any part of you that feels sorry for Ricky Hatton because he’s recently retired?

F. Mayweather

I mean I take my hat off to Ricky Hatton-true warrior, true champion. I think that we had one hell of a fight when we did face each other. Whatever he’s doing now I wish him nothing but the best and him and his family nothing but the best. I mean, the only thing he can do is keep his fingers crossed and hopefully he can go to the Hall of Fame one day.

Okay. And Freddie Roach has said that he can beat you with both Pacquiao and Amir Khan. We were wondering, for you, which one is a proposition?

F. Mayweather

Like I said before, I already spoke on those situations-Amir Khan , once he faces the future of boxing, which is Jessie Vargas, my fighter, Amir Khan has a fight with Floyd Mayweather, but he must face Jessie Vargas first. You must earn-you’ve got to earn it. He just fought Zab Judah that I fought six years ago, so you know, don’t fight Zab Judah-I fought a young, strong, hungry Zab, and he fought a Zab that’s older-that’s a lot older, but we want Amir Kahn to fight Jesse Vargas. We’re looking for that fight. If Amir Khan gets past Jesse Vargas, then Amir Kahn has a fight with Floyd Mayweather.

And as far as Manny Pacquiao we said what we had to say about that in the beginning on the phone and there’s nothing else to be said about the situation. If you’re the best, take the test, and we leave it at that.

If you could pick a fantasy ring girl, any girl in the world, who would you pick?

F. Mayweather

I already got my girl.

Would she be a ring girl, Miss Jackson?

F. Mayweather

She can’t be a ring girl. She’s a girl with a ring on her hand.

I wanted to ask-you mentioned earlier that you trained twice as hard for this fight. At your stage in your career-16 years in-what is more difficult?

F. Mayweather

You have to realize-Leonard said that. I said that we started training camp a lot earlier this time. I said Leonard said that we trained-he feels that we trained twice as hard this camp.

Gotcha. At this stage, what is more difficult for you as far as the training goes-getting your body ready or getting mentally ready, you know still get up and do the training that you need?

F. Mayweather

It’s like when I get to the gym, I’m like, “I got to go to the gym.” So it take me awhile to get there. I’m always late to the boxing gym, but once I get there and I get going, I don’t want to stop. Like yesterday I wanted to work out three times at the boxing gym. And then y’all sat in the gym yesterday because it was Leonard’s birthday yesterday. Happy birthday, Leonard, once again. It was Leonard’s birthday yesterday, so I told him he can go ahead and leave and I sat in the gym by myself and just looked around and just gave thanks to God because I’m like, man, everything started inside that ring right there and hitting one of these bags. To become a mega superstar and display your skills to the world is just a blessing.

People in my neighborhood always told me that someday I would be the biggest and the best boxer to ever put on a pair of gloves. When you’re young, it just goes into one ear and out the other, but when reality actually sets in, I’m very, very thankful.

From what you see from Ortiz, do you expect anything to be different even though he’s going to be the bigger fighter from what you’ve seen in his recent fights?

F. Mayweather

He’s really not the bigger fighter. You see fighters, like I said before, on 24/7. You start looking at certain things-I say, “what is going on with the sport?” Now, Victor Ortiz said I look at De La Hoya like that. Now you look at a guy who wears drag, does drugs, drinks alcohol, and commits adultery like a god. You say I’ve never been a Floyd Mayweather fan. I never liked Floyd Mayweather, but I mean, who doesn’t respect Floyd Mayweather? Do you see the things that he’s accomplished? Like I said before, you get mixed feelings from this guy.

What we call it from where I’m from, we call him a liar, so, I mean, he must step up and be honest. I guess he’s a little upset about his payday that he’s getting, but, you know, to get a Floyd Mayweather payday, you got-16 years of hard work and dedication, praise, and belief in a good team and you can be exactly where I’m at.

Alright last question. Just a gut feeling based on what you just said. Do you think either of them are going to take that bet that you laid out yesterday?

F. Mayweather

I’m waiting. I heard no feedback. I’m waiting. What I didn’t like from 24/7-it’s something that I didn’t like. I don’t like how Oscar De La Hoya first, like I told Mosley-you guys probably don’t remember. I told Mosley that he wasn’t a partner in the company-in Golden Boy. I told Mosley that a long time ago when Oscar De La Hoya-Ricky Hatton was his fighter and then he talked bad about Hatton-how Hatton was small and then Marquez-how Marquez was small. Now, me-I was old. And then he talked about Mosley and how Mosley was old.

I mean, you’re supposed to uplift fighters. We’re here, like I said before, boxing is not dead, but the sport is dead when you’ve got guys that’s been around the sport-you know one of the guys that paved the way in the sport is downplaying his own fighters. That’s why, like I said before, I take my hat off to Richard Schaefer because Richard Schaefer has done a hell of a job with those fighters. We can’t even call it Golden Boy Promotion anymore. We got to call that Richard Schaefer’s Promotion. Okay. I got to get over to the gym. I got to have my training day.

Floyd, how tiring of a challenge is Victor Ortiz for you? Is he an easy fighter? This is a hard fighter because you are 41 and 0. Do you think that Victor Ortiz is going to be a harder fighter than anyone that you did beat?

F. Mayweather

I’m not sure, but I think he’s going to be tough competition. He’s tough, solid, and strong. Strong, you know like I said before, they say he’s the bigger guy. But it comes down to who wants it more? Skill sets-who wants it more? Who is more dedicated? Who worked harder? And, I truly believe that he’s going to come out and be at his best and fight extremely hard. And me, myself, I’m going to go out and do the same thing.

I just want to give the fans a pleasing performance. What’s so great about this fight is that Richard Schaefer and Al Haymon, and Leonard Ellerbe and the rest of my team and Kelly Swanson and everybody, and, of course, HBO, what everybody did was they had a brilliant game plan. Everything I asked of them they delivered as far as with the promotions. They delivered, so, it’s going to be a star-studded event come September 17, and the best man will win.

And two more questions, please. The first, do you think Victor Ortiz needs more than night of inspiration, like he had on Berto?

F. Mayweather

I’m not really sure. I think Victor Ortiz has a strong team and he, like I said before, he became champion because, once again, because of Richard Schaefer. Richard Schaefer said, once he took a loss in his career, but a true champion can take a loss and bounced back. Richard Schaefer said don’t worry about that. He lined him up and got him some pretty impressive wins and put him back up in a position and when Richard Schaefer put him in that position, he took full advantage of it.

Okay. The last question is the last time you were in a special date for Mexican people in America, the fight with Mayweather and Lo Hoya. You wore green/white/red. Do you think that anything special for this time with Victor Ortiz, another Mexican/American guy?

F. Mayweather

This is boxing. It’s not a Mexican thing, a black thing, or white thing. It’s the right thing. I like to bring entertainment to the sport. I don’t think if I was loud talking and I wasn’t backing it up-backing up all my loud talking, I wouldn’t be where I’m at. I don’t have any hard feelings toward anyone-no opponent that I face. It’s just trash talking.

It’s entertainment. It’s fun. Just like 24/7-it’s an entertaining show. If people are watching TV and all I’m doing is sitting at home and I didn’t really have a story to tell or I wasn’t entertaining, then they say, you know what, why is 24/7 even on TV? Because I didn’t watch 24/7 before but I heard when I’m not on 24/7, it’s a very, very boring show. Like I said before, I’m here to give the media, the fans, and the people-even the boxing fans and people that’s not in boxing fans-entertainment on 24/7.

The first one-where you talked about facing the Mexicans and you have nothing against them, but the publicity for this event has kind of been tailored to be, obviously, Mayweather, which is pushing the fight but also the fight that it’s on Mexican Independence weekend. How does it feel to be kind of sharing that publicity and knowing that you may be the one to bring some damper to that angle?

F. Mayweather

When it’s all said and done-when it’s a fight of this magnitude, both fighters are winning. When you’re going out and performing and doing something you like to do and guys are making good paydays, I feel that both guys are winning. Victor Ortiz-this is his biggest payday thus far, and it’s going to put him-of course, he’s gaining by-he’s getting new fans. He’s going to be in a different spotlight, but it’s great for both guys. It’s good for my fans and the people that like to come to entertaining fights and big shows to come out and see me and support me and hopefully the Mexican fans.

It’s not really just that. The whole-the under card-Morales, Canelo, and Jesse Vargas-so list goes on and on. The whole card is entertaining, so, like I said, it’s not a Mexican thing, a black thing, or a white thing, it’s the right thing, and we have a great show.

Speaking, the last question, appropriately about your legacy, what would it mean at your age and coming back from a long time away from the sport-over a year and a half. What will it mean to beat a fighter in his prime which has been the criticism of you recently not getting fighters when they’re up and coming and in their prime?

F. Mayweather

You got to realize I beat Mosley. He’s in his 30’s. I’m in my 30s. I beat De La Hoya. He’s in his 30s. I’m in my 30s. I think when I beat Hatton, I probably was in my early 30s and he was probably in his late 20s. When I beat Corrales he was in his 20s. I was in my 20s. So, there are always excuses. I think it’s just that I make future hall of famers and good and great fighters look like ordinary fighters just because I’m not in a knockout/drag-out fight like certain fighters. And I’m not getting off the cameras-like Rocky, eight times with a busted eye doesn’t mean that I’m not an all-time great or that I’m not the best fighter to go down in history. That doesn’t mean I shouldn’t go down as the best fighter in history.

I thought it was about coming to the sport, taking less punishment, winning, having all your faculties, and raising your family, and being a respectful man, and representing the red, white, and blue. That’s what I like to do.

One last question you mentioned the fact that fighters in the past that you’ve beaten them and that a lot of them haven’t been able to recover mentally. Do you still see Victor as having a big future even if he doesn’t make it past you?

F. Mayweather

Hopefully. Only can hope for the best. It’s difficult when you’re facing a guy like me. Of course, when you get in a fight of this magnitude, it’s not the same way. You got the arena erupting-15,000 fans. It’s different. He used to come to the fight, go out his hotel room, sign a few autographs, but once you get to this level, you’re not going to be able to go out.

It’s going to be real uncomfortable because I heard-let me apologize for him-because I heard he was kind of disrespectful to the writers and to the media on a conference call last week. So let me apologize for him because, like I said before, he’s young. He’s never been on this level before. I’m older. I’ve been here before. I know what it takes. 24/7-done that plenty of times, but it’s different on this level. It’s very, very different on this level. We must see how it’s going to all play out September 17.

Kelly Swanson

Okay, great. That was it. Any last comments, Floyd, before we let you go to the gym?

F. Mayweather

I just want to tell everybody thank you. Thank you for showing up to the boxing gym yesterday. Thank you for all the stories. I’m not just appreciative but my children want to thank everybody also and my team and my staff-Richard Schaefer Promotions. You’re doing a hell of a job, Richard. Leonard, keep up the good work. Kelly, you know you’re my sweetheart. Sometimes if I don’t get things my way, you know I’m kind of rough, but we’re going to keep doing what we’ve got to do and the whole Golden Boy staff, thanks for working hard. I want to thank everybody on my staff and thank all the writers. I appreciate you.