Tag Archives: Leonard Ellerbe

Posted on 08/03/2021

By: Hans Themistode

With his most recent performance, Gervonta Davis proved that size doesn’t always matter.

On June 26th, earlier this year in front of a jam-packed crowd at the State Farm Arena in Atlanta Georgia, Davis moved up two weight classes to take on a much larger man in Mario Barrios. While the Baltimore native was cautious in his first trip to 140 pounds, he ultimately found his groove and scored three knockdowns on the night before ending things in the 11th. The win for Davis netted him the WBA “Regular” title in the process.

With that victory well behind him, Davis revealed that he plans on returning to the ring this coming October. At the moment, team Davis is currently scouring the boxing landscape as they look for his next possible opponent. Amongst those possible candidates have been: Joseph Diaz, Ryan Garcia and a slew of others.

One name, however, that has received noticeable attention recently, is former unified 147-pound champion, Keith Thurman.

According to promoter of Davis and CEO of Mayweather Promotions, Leonard Ellerbe, he’d put them in the ring against one another in a “nanosecond.”

Thurman, 32, was once considered by most as the best fighter that the welterweight division had to offer. Since defeating Danny Garcia in March of 2017 and unifying titles, Thurman has struggled with activity. The Clearwater, Florida native has fought only twice in a four-year span and is coming off the first defeat of his career at the hands of Manny Pacquiao in July of 2019.

Although injuries have ravaged much of his career as of late, Ellerbe still has a tremendous amount of admiration for Thurman as a fighter.

“Keith can fight his ass off,” said Ellerbe on his social media account. “He’s a guy I got a lot of respect for but that fight I’d make in 2 seconds.”

If Ellerbe did in fact pick up the phone and get both men to sign on the dotted line, it would represent the fifth fight in a row for Davis in a different weight class.

The Baltimore product scored a decisive second-round knockout win against Ricardo Lopez in July of 2019 at 130 pounds. He then followed that up five months later, this time at 135 pounds against Yuriokis Gamboa, stopping him in the 12th. One year later, Davis would drop back down to 130 pounds to stop former multi-division champion Leo Santa Cruz in the sixth round of their contest. And, of course, most recently, Davis made the trek ten pounds north to stop Mario Barrios.

If Davis were to climb up even higher in weight, Ellerbe is very much confident that Thurman will suffer the same fate as those who came before him.

“Tank is not a 47 pounder but Tank would knock him the f*ck out right now.”

Posted on 06/22/2021

By: Hans Themistode

Oscar De La Hoya wasn’t kidding around when he said he wanted to make his return to the boxing ring. After spending several months getting his body back into fighting shape, the former six-division world champion is finally ready to place his skills back on display.

First up, is a September matchup against former UFC champion, Vitor Belfort. Should things go the way he’s expecting, De La Hoya wants to move into the next phase of his master plan.

“I want to make the biggest comeback in boxing history,” said De La Hoya during an interview with Chris Mannix on DAZN. “I want to get two of these fights down under my belt and get the timing ready and everything, and then my third one, I want to call out Floyd Mayweather.”

While De La Hoya’s news may have made sports fans giddy, CEO of Mayweather Promotions in Leonard Ellerbe wasn’t amused in the slightest. As for those who are envisioning the two share the ring one more time, Ellerbe shot down all hopes of that ever happening.

“Absolutely not,” said Ellerbe on The Jake Asman Show on SportsMap Radio. “It’ll never happen. There’s zero interest in doing that.”

Following a 2007 split decision loss at the hands of Mayweather, De La Hoya has always been acrimonious towards him. The “Golden Boy” would end his career one year later as he suffered a one-sided eighth-round stoppage defeat at the hands of Manny Pacquiao. As for Mayweather, his career would span another decade. Along the way, he picked up win after win before finishing his career with an undefeated record of 50-0.

While the two haven’t crossed paths since, the pair have thrown verbal haymakers at one another through the media over the years. Mayweather, 44, may have hung up his gloves for good in 2017 but as he put it, “I haven’t retired from making money and entertaining the fans.” That entertainment stretched to his most ring outing.

On June 6th, at the Hard Rock Stadium in Miami, Florida, Mayweather took on social media star turned de-facto boxer, Logan Paul, in an eight-round exhibition. The prevailing thought process heading in was that Mayweather would easily stop the YouTuber before the final bell. That, however, didn’t occur.

Considering that Mayweather appeared to be a shell of his once dominant self, De La Hoya believes that the newly inducted Hall of Famer now has a chip on his shoulder.

“I think Floyd after that exhibition he did with Logan [Paul], I think he feels like he has to prove something once again inside the boxing ring,” said De La Hoya.

While those around the boxing world have criticized Mayweather for his failure to get his man out of there and appearing a step slower, he laughed all the way to the bank as he recorded over one million pay-per-view buys for his showdown against Paul.

With the numbers that Mayweather vs. Paul accumulated, Ellerbe simply believes that De La Hoya is attempting to piggyback off his success.

“Oscar De La Hoya is just trying to use Floyd’s name to build some buzz about whatever he’s attempting to do and nobody’s really paying him any attention.”

Posted on 06/05/2021

By: Hans Themistode

Although Floyd Mayweather has made more money than anyone in boxing history, he’ll look to pocket several more million this coming Sunday night. The newly inducted boxing Hall of Famer is set to take on YouTuber turned de-facto boxer, Logan Paul, at the Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Florida.

Having faced a long list of all-time greats and defeated them all, Mayweather is comfortably in the conversation for the greatest of all time. During his prime years, Mayweather toyed with his opposition before ultimately cruising to victory. According to CompuBox, Mayweather retired with the highest plus-minus in its history with +24.7. In addition to that, Mayweather’s opponent landed only 19.2% of their punches while he connected on 43.9% of his own.

Yet, despite the long list of superlative words used to describe Mayweather and his unbeaten career, CEO of Mayweather Promotions, Leonard Ellerbe, believes it could all go up in smoke if the unthinkable happens Sunday night.

“Honestly, his legacy is already cemented,” said Ellerbe during an interview with SecondsOut. “But if for some reason the incredible happens, which I don’t even want to think about, it would definitely tarnish his legacy. The last thing that Floyd would want to happen is to be the laughing stock of the entire world. Can you imagine if this dude hits Floyd with a shot and even drops him? Can you imagine? That’s what does make me nervous.”

During his near 25 year career, Mayweather has seldom if ever appeared hurt in the ring, let alone dropped. Yet, in order for Paul to win their showdown, he’ll need to take the fight straight to Mayweather. According to the rules of their contest, there will be no judges scoring the bout but a stoppage and knockout can take place.

While Mayweather was always known for his ability to hit and not get hit, his power was virtually nonexistent during the latter part of his career. Outside of the final fight of his career which took place against UFC star Conor McGregor in 2017, Mayweather hasn’t scored a stoppage win since 2011 against Victor Ortiz.

Still, not many are expecting Paul to land a significant blow against Mayweather. If, however, he does, Ellerbe believes it could be lights out for the former five-division world champion.

Contractually, Mayweather is set to tip the scales later tonight at approximately 160 pounds. As for Paul, he was given a weight limit of 190 but can rehydrate as high as he would like. Meaning, Mayweather could be significantly outweighed come fight night.

As Ellerbe stands back and analyzes the situation, he doesn’t like what he sees. Although he’s backed Mayweather for decades and still continues to do so, he admits that Mayweather isn’t the same fighter he used to be and that in turn could lead to a long and painful night.

“He’s working against a bigger man,” continued Ellerbe. “Logan Paul will be a heavyweight on Sunday night. So you have a welterweight essentially, boxing a heavyweight, any damn thing can happen. Floyd has all the skills but I’m realistic. He hasn’t done anything in four years. He keeps his body in fitness shape but not boxing shape and this guy has been working his tail off for the past couple of years. When you’re throwing punches with mean intentions, anything can happen.”

Posted on 05/20/2021

By: Hans Themistode

Leonard Ellerbe couldn’t help but smile once it was revealed that Deontay Wilder won his legal arbitration against Tyson Fury.

The former WBC heavyweight titlist enlisted the help of Daniel Weinstein as he pursued a third showdown with Fury. After settling for a draw in December of 2018, Wilder was handed the first loss of his career in February of 2020 via seventh-round stoppage. While the Alabama native enacted his immediate rematch clause, Fury grew impatient as surgery to Wilder’s left bicep as well as the uncertainty of COVID-19 left their third contest up in the air.

Rather than continue to wait, Fury attempted to move forward with an undisputed showdown against unified titlist, Anthony Joshua. Despite promoter Eddie Hearn publicizing that a showdown between the pair was a virtual guarantee, Ellerbe believes he underestimated the entire arbitration process.

“You got one guy who does a lot of talking and that’s his job to do that,” said Ellerbe during an interview with FightHype.com. “But in this situation, they miscalculated the whole arbitration. They thought they could just move on but it played its course and we see what the results are.”

Those previously mentioned results, saw Wilder emerge victorious from their legal dispute. Now, Fury has no choice but to face Wilder by September 15th. Unwilling to protract their contest any longer, promoter Bob Arum has stated that their third contest will take place in Las Vegas, Nevada at the Allegiant Stadium on July 24th.

With their matchup officially set in stone, Ellerbe didn’t mince words in terms of who he wants to win.

“I hope he beats the dog sh*t out of Fury.”

At first glance, the words of Ellerbe would appear to be coming from a man who is holding a grudge against the British native. On the contrary, Ellerbe doesn’t have an issue with Fury at all. But, after spending the better part of a year listening to Fury gloat and run Wilder’s name through the mud, Ellerbe is simply hoping that he’ll make him eat his words.

“I don’t have any issues with any of them but I just hope he beats the sh*t out of him. He talks a lot of sh*t, a lot of sh*t. I wanna see him bring that same energy in the third fight.”

Posted on 01/11/2021

By: Hans Themistode

Teofimo Lopez has planted his flag in the ground and won’t budge an inch.

After doing what many believed to be impossible in beating Vasiliy Lomachenko in mid-October of 2020, the Brooklyn native announced that he would no longer play second fiddle to anyone.

“I’m the A-side now,” said Lopez during numerous interviews over the past several months. “Including against Gervonta Davis. I’m the king now.”

Those words however, made CEO of Mayweather promotions in Leonard Ellerbe incredulous. Dismissing the skills of Lopez is something that Ellerbe finds impossible to do. With that said, Ellerbe believes that the notion that he would be the A-side in a fight that involves his biggest star in Davis proves that Lopez has a few loose screws.

“He’s a terrific young fighter,” said Ellerbe during an interview with Fight Hype. “It’s a tremendous accomplishment in beating Lomachenko. But for him to make that comment, it just shows the lack of knowledge of how the business goes.”

For Lopez, his unification bout against Lomachenko allowed him to make boxing history. With the Ukrainian native in possession of three world titles and Lopez in possession of the final one, his victory crowned him as the youngest undisputed lightweight champion of all-time.

The term undisputed though, becomes a sensitive topic for Ellerbe whenever Lopez is mentioned as such. Despite his bout with Lomachenko being labeled as a fight with all the lightweight marbles on the line, the Mayweather promotions CEO simply isn’t ready to name him as the official undisputed king of the division.

“He’s not undisputed because Devin has the WBC belt,” stated Ellerbe.

There’s been nonstop confusion concerning Lopez and his undisputed claim. While at one point Lomachenko did hold the WBC, WBO and WBA lightweight world titles – the Ukrainian ultimately forfeited his WBC strap and instead, accepted the “Franchise Champion,” status – a new designation introduced by Mauricio Sulaiman, President of the WBC.

Haney, who held the interim tag, was then elevated to full champion status. Regardless of Haney’s new position, Sulaiman has stated on numerous occasions that Lopez is in fact the undisputed lightweight champion. In that same breath, he has also said that Haney is the WBC lightweight belt holder, furthering the confusion of it all.

While Ellerbe would rather not get involved in who has what title, the long time CEO acknowledges that Lopez does hold multiple belts. Those belts however, may have answered the questions surrounding the talent of Lopez in the ring, but for Ellerbe, on the other hand, he has several more rhetorical questions.

“Correct me if I’m wrong, has he ever headlined a show before? Has he ever sold out any venues? Canelo fought GGG (Gennadiy Golovkin), (Sergey) Kovalev, Liam Smith. Do you think they were the A-side in any of those situations?”

For Ellerbe, the answers to his questions are all obvious. So while he respects what Lopez brings to the table from a fighting standpoint, he believes the Brooklyn native has a long way to go in terms of his box office appeal.

“He’s a good fighter, nothing but respect but he’s delusional when it comes to the business. Having the belts is a great thing, but in no way, form or fashion could he ever be even considered the A-side in anything that’s going on over here. Ryan Garcia is a bigger attraction than he is. That is an irrefutable fact.”

Posted on 09/28/2020

By: Hans Themistode

WBC middleweight titlist Jermall Charlo didn’t just impress his fans this past weekend, but apparently, he also impressed Mayweather Promotions CEO, Leonard Ellerbe. 

Charlo took home a fairly one sided decision victory against former title challenger Sergiy Derevyanchenko. The Ukrainian native was lauded for his championship performances against former belt holder Daniel Jacobs and current IBF champ Gennadiy Golovkin. 

Charlo made his win look far easier than his counterparts and is now recognized by most as a top three middleweight. For Ellerbe however, he believes Charlo should be ranked far higher. 

“Jermall Charlo is the best middleweight in the world right now,” said Ellerbe to Boxingscene.com. 

In order for Charlo to prove that he is in fact the best in the division, many believe that he will have to eventually meet up with pound for pound star Canelo Alvarez. Although the four division world champion has floated between the middleweight, super middleweight and light heavyweight divisions, the Mexican native seems to be comfortable at 168 pounds.

But even if he does choose to drop back to 160 pounds, Ellerbe believes there is no way in hell Canelo would be willing to face someone like Charlo.

“Jermall’s style is all wrong for Canelo. They would never put him in there with Charlo. I don’t think Canelo goes anywhere near Jermall. He’s an animal.”

At the moment, the only fight that Canelo is facing is one in the courtroom. The current WBA middleweight titlist and WBA Regular champion, is in the process of suing streaming company DAZN along with his own promoter in Oscar De La Hoya. 

Their issues stem from DAZN’s refusal to greenlight any of Alvarez’s opponents including current champions in Billy Joe Saunders and Callum Smith. A reduction in purse has been brought to his attention, something that he reportedly would be willing to acquiesce to due to COVID-19, but they are far apart on numbers. 

The first round of his lawsuit has been dismissed due to several documents that were not included in his original claim. Instead of pursuing his lawsuit however, the two sides are reportedly looking to mediate their issues. 

Posted on 04/15/2015

FLOYD MAYWEATHER, 11-Time World Champion

“My training camp is basically running the same way. I think it has been smoother than others. I feel very comfortable and happy with my performances. They push me hard at camp. They know what I need.

“The timing for this fight is right. This fight is about legacy, fans and family. I surround myself with all of the right people.

“I can’t say that this matchup is about hype. This is real life. This is two future Hall of Famers in a mega-fight.

“I’ve done record breaking numbers before and it looks like we’re going to do it again.

“Everything in life is about timing. I have no regrets that this fight didn’t take place five years ago. I didn’t think it was that big then, but it continued to get bigger and bigger. Not just in boxing, but outside of the sport. Pacquiao has continued to grow outside of the sport. We didn’t need to rush anything.

“This is going to be an exciting fight. Our styles are totally different. He is very, very reckless. Every move I make is calculated. I’m always 5-10 steps ahead of my opponent.

“We’ll see what happens when the fight starts. But when all is said and done I’m going to be the winner.

“Pacquiao is strong and solid but I don’t know if he can make adjustments like I can. I feel tremendous.

“This was a difficult fight to make happen, but we made it happen. This fight is one of the biggest ever in boxing.

“I’m still going strong. The last time I looked, I was 47 and 0.

“Anyone can get hit with a great shot, but I can make more adjustments and Manny can’t.

“I don’t think Pacquiao expected me to look as strong or big when we faced off (at the L.A. press conference).

“I walk around at 150-152 pounds to weigh 147 pounds. Other boxers weigh around 160-170 before coming down.

“I’ve got one more fight on my contract. I couldn’t be happier with SHOWTIME and CBS.

“Las Vegas is the boxing capital. During a Floyd Mayweather fight weekend, you can shop, party, stay out late and do anything you want. The city of Las Vegas has everything.

“There were offers to fight other places, but MGM Grand is my home.

“Anything I’ve asked of MGM Grand, they’ve done for me in a heartbeat. They’re all about making entertainers and athletes happy.”

LEO SANTA CRUZ, WBC Super Bantamweight World Champion

“I’m very grateful for the opportunity to fight on such an unbelievably huge card. I really want to thank Floyd Mayweather.

“Any boxer would like to be on this card where millions of people are watching. I’m happy to represent Mexico on this night and on this fight card.

“I look at it as a key opportunity for me to make an even bigger name for myself, which is my goal because one day I want to become a superstar like Floyd. That’s why I train really hard all of the time.

“There are no little fights for me. I consider every fighter dangerous. You lose when you think a fighter is not on your level and then he comes in hungrier than you. That will never happen to me.

“I don’t know who I’m fighting yet, but I’m sparring different guys with different styles.

“There’s always a lot at risk for me. People keep talking about all of these big fights, but if I don’t win now, there will be no big fights in the future.

“I know who I want to fight, but I don’t pick my opponents; I leave it up to my team. They make those kinds of decisions. My job is to fight and win.

“I have to stay concentrated. I have to maintain focus and concentration. I can’t get ahead of myself. I give 100 percent in training and in the ring. I always want to put on a great fight for the fans.”

LEONARD ELLERBE, CEO of Mayweather Promotions

“Boxing is at an all time high at the moment. There are a lot of great things going on. Between this fight and getting boxing back on network television, it’s all great for the sport.

“This fight will not only elevate the sport in general, but it will bring in the casual fan to the sport and that’s a great thing.

“The impact that Floyd Mayweather has had on this sport is immeasurable. People won’t be able to appreciate that until he retires. He’s done so much for this sport. He’s given fighters a platform to say to other promoters that they deserve the lion’s share of the money. He’s brought more sponsorships to the sport.

“Floyd Mayweather is the highest paid athlete in all of sports and he happens to be a boxer.

“I think the demand thus far only indicates how big this event is. This is a fight that’s been talked about for five years now and everyone is going to get exactly what they’ve been asking for.

“Manny Pacquiao is a great fighter. He’s been in a number of great fights and he’s had a terrific career thus far. These are the two best fighters of this generation and come May 2 there will be one man standing and it will be Floyd Mayweather.

“There’s no doubt it’s going to be a great fight. I’m really excited. I can see firsthand the day-to-day preparation that Floyd puts in and he’s working just as hard as ever. The fans are going to get a great fight that night.

“I don’t know what Manny Pacquiao has to do on May 2, but I know what Floyd Mayweather has to do. He has to do what he normally does and go in there and execute his game plan and I really expect Floyd to knock him out.”

FLOYD MAYWEATHER SR., Mayweather’s Trainer & Father

“Floyd is as well rounded a fighter as there has ever been, but he’s really still here because of his defense.

“Other guys fight with their head and their mind and come up short. It’s his great defense that has kept him on top for so long.

“I want you all to see it. It’s so plain and simple what he’s going to do. Even Ray Charles could see it.

“I honestly never thought that this was going to happen. So many people were trying to say Floyd was scared. Lets see on May 2 who is scared.

“I can’t tell you why or how, but here’s an update, Floyd is going to kick his a** and knock Pacquiao out.

“I didn’t watch one tape on Pacquiao. There is no reason to study him. He’s not at this level.

“Floyd is the best, I must confess. Nothing is going to stop Floyd Mayweather.

“Pacquiao’s trainer Coach Roach (Freddie Roach) is lying to you. Trying to trick you all. Floyd’s not getting knocked down in the gym. Floyd is the one knocking people down. Roach blows smoke with no hope.”