Mayweather-Maidana 2: Circus of the sagging big top

By Bart Barry–

Saturday at MGM Grand, over which a 20-story Manny Pacquiao banner likely will not drape, American welterweight Floyd “Money” Mayweather will make a rematch with Argentine Marcos “El Chino” Maidana as part of Mexican Independence Day festivities. Mayweather will seek the definitive victory that eluded him Cinco de Mayo weekend. The fight will happen on Sept. 13 in part because nothing cries ¡Viva México! quite so proudly as an American fighting an Argentine in a casino’s sanitized climes.

Consensus among aficionados is that Mayweather won their first tilt while being beaten upon most satisfactorily, beaten upon in a way that can bend a career trajectory and eventually enable more realistic record comparisons with prizefighters of greater accomplishment. Those who would dissent with official scorecards, though, raise an interesting thought experiment: What if the fight had been scored like Maidana was the prohibitive favorite, not Mayweather, with a full 25-percent anchored to ring generalship?

What is most alarming about the latest installments of Showtime infomercials, alarming at least for the rematch’s box-office revenues, is how, with fewer dramatic scores and gasping narration, and frumpy Warren Buffett in lieu of spacey Roger Mayweather, Floyd is no longer odious at all. He wishes to be. Like an aged magician trying to conjure one more white bunny out the black hat for a birthday party whose kids have seen the trick nine times without promised cake or ice cream, Floyd inadvertently loops back on himself, often in the same clip: I don’t have to talk about how great I am, because I am the greatest and nobody is better than me, because I don’t have to talk about how great I am.

Made to look like a witling on social media by a scorned rapper pal, Floyd can no longer shout smug witticisms at an upturned camera; now YouTubers get Professor Mayweather, fatigued in yellowing light, offering a discourse on how little he cares what anyone says, shortly before securing his yoga mat in a perimeter of hundred-dollar bills. Hip-hop culture, such as it has been for 20 years now, is more synonymous with thespians teaching suburban kids how to appear menacing than anything militant or self-assured, or even clever, and Floyd has long, and oddly, wished to supplant the genuinely macho thing he does for a living with a ruined art form’s hamfisted thuggery. Still, has any public figure in even this meretricious age performed so many hours of heartfelt insecurity as the “Money” documentaries, invented by HBO and aped by Showtime, drive Mayweather to?

A living, breathing antonym for the word contentment, Mayweather has unflinchingly shown how much cannot be bought with so much money. After years of giving neither strippers nor a fiancée nor a harem of ageing women a dot of genuine enthusiasm, in Episode 2 Mayweather spiritlessly drives his squadron of luxury automobiles to his boxing gym – wherein he joyfully watches other men smash one another for the duration of a sadistic, 31-minute round. An embellished $500 million in career earnings, the Big Boy Mansion, an apartment’s worth of footwear, nine employees just to count rope skips, $10 million in sports cars – and the only time the man flashes the feral grin of his true nature is when watching a spectacle men perform round the world, free of charge, outside a hundred thousand bars every Friday night.

Is it any wonder someone grounded as Marcos “El Chino” Maidana does not respect Mayweather? One gathers from watching the men at choreographed “media” events Maidana looks Mayweather’s way and thinks: I’ll never box like him, I’ll never have a fraction his money, but, che, I’m so much happier than he is that, pues, oh well.

Expectations are unusually low for this event – not only does one hear nary a peep from his peers about the fight, but an unknown middleweight vacating a meaningless belt, midweek, stole its headlines, and an incredible Friday morning performance by a different Latin American, Nicaragua’s Roman “Chocolatito” Gonzalez, assured aficionados would have better things to discuss last weekend – and they might yet be missed. The feeling is that Maidana had his best possible fight against Mayweather in May, and Mayweather ultimately made adjustments enough to prevail, and so, whither something finer?

Worse yet, Maidana appears to believe an abundance of desperation was his greatest flaw last time, a belief both his trainer and his trainer’s trainer rushed to disabuse him of, and a pensive Maidana standing unperturbed across from a 37-year-old Mayweather, one whose brittle hands have fairly stiffened but one opponent in 8 1/2 years, make for a pay-per-view spectacle almost certain to leave Mayweather’s endearingly thrifty new advisor Warren Buffett feeling cheated. While referee Kenny Bayless is quite good and generally not officious, he was recently selected to atone for Tony Weeks’ disobedience in May, allowing Maidana to punch Mayweather several times after Mayweather specifically told him not to, and Bayless knows better than to ignore what prefight instructions he’ll be given in Mayweather’s dressing room.

Expect a far more sanitized thing, one that resembles a sporting event more than a fight, immediately after Maidana’s first skyhook righthand caresses the back of Mayweather’s head, Saturday. Barring a delightful surprise, the circus barking will commence round Round 9, comparing Mayweather to whichever great comes to mind, asking in a solemn tone if there’s anyone left for Mayweather to face, without pausing to ask how this legend who needed 24 rounds to win definitively against Marcos Maidana might have done in a Montreal ring with Roberto Duran.

It matters little, alas. Floyd Mayweather is now the ringmaster of boxing’s dilapidated big top.

Bart Barry can be found on Twitter @bartbarry

VIDEO: A Midnight Run with Mayweather – All Access Preview

CLOSED CIRCUIT TICKETS FOR “MAYHEM: MAYWEATHER VS. MAIDANA 2” ARE ON SALE NOW

LAS VEGAS (Sept. 5, 2014) -We are just over a week to go until “MAYHEM: Mayweather vs. Maidana 2” and for the boxing fans who can’t make it to the MGM Grand Garden Arena and still want to experience this event live, Mayweather Promotions and Golden Boy Promotions are pleased to announce that several Las Vegas locations will be offering closed-circuit telecasts of “MAYHEM: Mayweather vs. Maidana 2.”

Tickets for the closed circuit telecasts are priced at $75, not including handling fees. All seats are general admission and select venues are on sale now. Tickets can be purchased via Ticketmaster (800-745-3000), www.ticketmaster.com, MGM Resorts International Contact Center (866-740-7711), and all MGM Resorts International ticket offices. You must be 21 years of age or older to purchase tickets.

**Guests are encouraged to pick up their tickets at least 4 hours prior to event time to prevent waiting in long lines at event time.

Properties hosting these telecasts are MGM Grand Premier Ballroom, Monte Carlo Diablos, Monte Carlo The Pub, Monte Carlo Double Barrel, Mirage Events Center and Bellagio Hyde Lounge.

# # #

Mayweather vs. Maidana will be shown on the big screen in over 500 movie theaters across the country via Fathom Events. For more information visit www.FathomEvents.com

BOXNATION LOOKS INTO ‘MONEY’ MAYWEATHER’S EXTRAVAGANT LIFESTYLE AHEAD OF HIS THRILLING REMATCH WITH ARGENTINE HITTER MAIDANA

LONDON (Sep 4) – Floyd ‘Money’ Mayweather gears up for his rematch with the big-hitting Marcos Maidana next Saturday night, live on BoxNation.

The world’s best pound-for-pound fighter will share the ring again with the ferocious Argentine, at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, as he looks to prove that he is still boxing’s top dog.

Over the years, Mayweather has captured the imagination of the sporting public, not merely from his dazzling performances inside the ring, but also from his lavish and extravagant lifestyle away from the squared circle.

The unbeaten Michigan born fighter, with a record of 46-0, has reported to have grossed over $350m during his 18-year fight career.

Ahead of his highly anticipated ring return on September 13th, BoxNation delves into the money man’s taste for the finer things in life and gives an insight into how Mayweather spends some of his hard earned cash:

Cars

Mayweather turned professional in 1996 taking on the little known Roberto Apodaca. However, as a treat for entering the paid ranks the then 19-year-old bought himself a 1996 Mercedes-Benz S600, a car which he still owns to this day.

It will come as no real shock that the prizefighter now owns a fleet of exotic cars, so many in fact he has his own collection for whichever city he is in. He has a Las Vegas collection, for his main residence, a Miami collection, when sunning himself in his favourite holiday destination, a Los Angeles collection and various others throughout the United States.

The superstar’s favourite cars include his three Bugatti’s – which come in at over £1.5m each – a Lamborghini Aventador, Ferrari 599 GTB and a Rolls Royce Drophead Phantom.

When he doesn’t fancy driving any of those he has a bunch of other vehicles that he whizzes around in, including a Lexani Motorcar, blinged up vans, SUVs and even his own bus!

Watches

Whenever he sees a watch he likes the welterweight ace says he just buys it. We’re not talking your run-of-the mill Casio watches here, we’re talking watches that cost more than your average house – and the car that goes with it.

The 11-time world champion has a Piaget Galaxy worth $1 million, a Jacob & Co. Rainbow Tourbillon worth $2 million and an Audemar Piguet Royal Oak worth $1.3 million, just to name a few.

Mayweather likes to refer to his cars as his ‘toys’ and his costly collection of watches as his ‘wrist toys’. Everything he has he says represents ‘the best of the best’ – at those sorts of prices he’s right about that one.

Properties

Mayweather has a host of properties that he owns and rents including those in New York, Los Angeles and Miami. In fact, the reigning world champion recently sold his spectacular Miami condo worth an estimated $2.6m.

His main residence, however, is in the desert of Las Vegas where he kicks back in his four-story 22,000 square-foot property known simply as the ‘Big Boy Mansion’ that includes a pool that overlooks the Nevada landscape, a full-size movie theatre – with his own private balcony, and rooms adorned with the finest Italian marble and granite.

Everything about his $9m house screams luxury, with no expenses spared even when it comes to minute things such as the shower heads in the bathrooms which he insists have to be ‘top of the line’.

When at work Mayweather is confined to a 22ft ring so there’s no doubt he appreciates the extra space when he gets back home to his seven bedrooms and nine bathrooms!

Plane

Mayweather is reported to own a Gulfstream G-V private jet worth $45m.

The 96ft long aircraft can seat up to 18 people and is used by the American boxer when he is engaging in his promotional tours ahead of his bouts.

His entourage, which includes bodyguards over 7ft, fly on a separate plane because Mayweather is fearful of having too much weight in the cabin.

Jewellery

The 37-year-old once had $7m worth of jewellery stolen from one of his Las Vegas houses.

Mayweather is undoubtedly the ‘King of Bling’ and has an unrivalled collection of jewels which include gold chains, diamond encrusted rings and platinum bracelets.

During the press tour ahead of his first bout with Maidana, the slick megastar spent close to $250,000 in 20 minutes buying his 13-year-old daughter a pair of earrings and a necklace – that was before the real business began when he started haggling with staff over $3.5m worth of jewellery to take home following his promotional escapades.

Floyd Mayweather vs. Marcos Maidana 2 is live on BoxNation (Sky 437/490HD, Virgin 546, TalkTalk 525) on Saturday Sept 13th. Visit www.boxnation.com to subscribe.

-Ends-

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FLOYD MAYWEATHER MEDIA CONFERENCE CALL TRANSCRIPT

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.

# # #

Mayweather vs. Maidana 2 will be shown on the big screen in over 500 movie theaters across the countryvia Fathom Events. For more information visit www.FathomEvents.com

VIDEO: Team Maidana Deconstructs First Mayweather Encounter

FLOYD MAYWEATHER & MICKEY BEY MEDIA DAY WORKOUT QUOTES

LAS VEGAS (Sept. 3, 2014) – Undefeated 11-Time, five-division world champion and perennial pound-for-pound king Floyd “Money” Mayweather (46-0, 26 KOs)participated in a media workout Tuesday, 11 days before his rematch with exciting Argentine slugger and former welterweight world champion Marcos “El Chino” Maidana (35-4, 31 KOs) in the main event of “MAYHEM: Mayweather vs. Maidana 2” on Saturday, Sept. 13 live on SHOWTIME PPV® (8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT) from the MGM Grand Garden Arena.

Dozens of television camera crews, radio newscasters, newspaper and web reporters, photographers and (video) bloggers were on hand to watch Mayweather (46-0, 26 KOs) work out Tuesday at the Mayweather Boxing Club. The media workout was streamed live via satellite feed, YouTube, Ustream,www.mayweatherpromotions.com, www.goldenboypromotions.comand TheBoxingBlog.SHO.com.

Mayweather worked out for close to two hours. He shadow-boxed, hit the mitts, did calisthenics, worked the speed bag, jumped rope, smacked the heavy bag, did stretching exercises, sit-ups, stand-ups, posed for photos, signed autographs and conducted copious amounts of interviews, some in groups and others one-on-one, as soul and rhythm and blues music blared in the background.

Also participating in the media workout was “Money Team” mainstay, the talented Mickey “The Spirit” Bey (20-1-1, 10 KOs) who challenges IBF Lightweight World Champion and winner of 13-in-a-row, Miguel “Títere” Vazquez (34-3, 13 KOs), in a 12-rounderon the four-fight PPV telecast. In other fights, popular, unbeaten WBC Super Bantamweight Champion Leo “El Terremoto” Santa Cruz (27-0-1, 15 KOs) defends against Mexico’s Manuel “Suavecito” Roman (17-2-3, 6 KOs) and Alfredo “El Perro” Angulo (22-4, 18 KOs) takes on James De La Rosa (22-2, 13 KOs) in a 10-round middleweight bout.

Preceding the PPV telecast, SHOWTIME will present a live 10-round junior welterweight bout between John Molina Jr. (27-4, 22 KOs) and Humberto “La Zorrita” Soto (64-8-2, 35 KOs) on “COUNTDOWN LIVE” (7 p.m. ET/4 p.m. PT).

Here’s what Mayweather, Bey, Mayweather’s trainer, Floyd Mayweather Sr. and Mayweather Promotions CEO Leonard Ellerbe said during Tuesday’s workout:

FLOYD MAYWEATHER, 11-Time World Champion

“This is a remarkable turnout and I appreciate the media who came out today. I’ve had a tremendous training camp and worked very hard. I’m mentally and physically prepared. I’m doing this fight for the fans. The fans have been with me for 18 years. It’s because of them I’m here today. I have to embrace the fans.

“This fight is about the sport of boxing. Fans wanted to see this fight. They like to see excitement. Why not do it again? Maidana is a hard worker who is coming to fight. My job is to be patient and smart and to entertain.

“The first few rounds were exciting last time and then I turned it around in the second half. I expect to throw more combinations this time. I can’t say if the rematch will be easier. I won the first fight, it’s up to him to change. The champ can make adjustments and I can be especially smart about it. Nobody can solve the May-Vinci code.

“Watching a fight from the outside is totally different than from what’s going on in the inside. He may have been attacking but I was countering, throwing body shots. That affected his thought process and he fought different after that.

“I always find a way. Whether I am 26 or 37, I still find the way to win. I guess when you win all 12 rounds, or 10-plus rounds so many times, fans and the media get spoiled. The bar is set so high. I fight not only my opponent, but everybody, the biased fans, the biased critics.

“But I was the one who set the bar so I can understand. But it’s not about silencing critics at this point. My thing is I have to take care of my children and family. My job is to do what I what I do best. My job is to be Floyd Mayweather.

“People are entitled to their opinions. They are entitled to believe what they want to believe. But when you reach this level that I’m at there are always those taking shots at you. I don’t worry about that. Taking shots at me only comes with the territory. If you want to believe lies or rumors, that only makes my story better.

“I’m one of those who trains every day. I look and feel strong. I’ve dedicated myself to training. The other day I went 14 non-stop rounds. As I get older I grow mentally if not also physically.

“I’m going strong and my team is going strong. SHOWTIME and CBS are the best. They gave me an offer I couldn’t refuse.

“I don’t really focus on who I might fight next, or how many times I’ll fight. But my job is to take it one fight at a time. We’ll see how it plays out on Sept. 13 and go from there.

“One day I want to go into the Hall of Fame, not as one of the all-time best, but the best.”

MICKEY BEY, Lightweight Contender

“The world title fight for me is huge and it just shows that being patient and doing the hard work pays off. I’ve had a lot of interruptions but you just have to stay patient, stick with it without losing focus, training hard and never think about quitting or giving up.

“It’s gonna be a big night on Sept. 13. It’s been about a year’s wait for me, but look at that as a positive because it gave me more time to perfect my craft. I had so many breaks with no fights, but I just had to stay dedicated, keep looking at it as a positive thing, and keep learning.

“Vazquez is a legit champion with several title defenses. I give full credit to him. He’s rated No. 1 at lightweight. That’s what makes it better for me. A lot of people complain that guys are fighting for vacant titles or cherry-picking. I just love the biggest challenges and coming out on top and that is what I’m gonna do on Sept. 13. We’re both stepping up and I’m the underdog.

“I prefer this. I don’t need the easy route. I’m finally where I’d be if I hadn’t had all the inactivity. So I’m gonna kill all the birds with one stone. People don’t know how hungry or determined I am. You never know who’s gonna come out on top in this game, you never know for sure what the guy has inside, and you never know what a fighter’s gonna bring that night. So you’ve got to be ready.

“There’s no added pressure on me. Every promoter has fighters that lose. I’m just glad that I finally get to step up for a title against a legitimate champion and can become a world champion. That is definitely big for me

“Camp was excellent. I learned from the [John] Molina fight. I’d won every round but the only thing I shouldn’t have done was showboated at the very end. Nobody beat Molina like I beat him, not even (Lucas) Matthysse. Matthysse had problems with him.

“So I learned the hard way that you don’t play around until after the bell rings and the fight is over.”

FLOYD MAYWEATHER SR., Trainer and Father of Floyd Mayweather

“Maidana is going to get his butt whooped again, just in a more fashionable way this time around.

“Floyd beat Maidana in the first fight and there’s really nothing else to say.

“I am going to have Floyd do a lot of things differently in this fight than he did during the first fight.

“I am going to tell you something, something was on Floyd’s mind that day and the lord is my witness. He finally came around and told us all what it was about. Floyd is going to give Maidana a boxing clinic this time around.”

LEONARD ELLERBE, CEO of Mayweather Promotions

“Nothing has changed now that we are taking the lead and promoting Floyd’s fight. And Floyd plays a big part in that as well. He is there every step of the way and makes decisions on all of the major creative and marketing areas that goes into selling one of his fights. But that has been the case for many, many fights now. Floyd is always hands on. He’s been making the decisions then and now.

“Personally there is no difference now that Mayweather Promotions is the main promoter. The whole licensing thing is simply a formality. We’ve been putting in the work for years but just haven’t been getting the credit.

“It’s hard work combined with marketing that will allow you to make the crossover to the masses. You have to go beyond the diehard boxing fans to reach a bigger audience and make a PPV fight a success.

“This fight is a must-see fight. The first fight was a tremendous fight. Maidana and a lot of his fans thought that he won the fight. The judges saw a very close fight, with Floyd getting the nod. We know coming into this fight that anything can happen. It’s important for the fans to tune in because you never know what will happen on September 13.

“Being able to witness the greatest fighter to ever do it, it can’t be explained what a wonderful opportunity it is. It’s all history in the making.

“Floyd has super human powers. He is an incredible athlete. What other athlete in sports has been undefeated in anything over the last 16-17 years? Who else has dominated their sport over that long of a period of time? Floyd Mayweather has been undefeated since 1996.

“You can’t look past September 13. Mayhem – Mayweather vs. Maidana 2. We just had a fighter get knocked out, who was the heavy favorite going into a fight. We are not looking past Marcos Maidana. We know he has tremendous punching power, when he hits guys they fall. He’s been in the ring with Floyd and he has a tremendous amount of confidence coming into this fight.

“Maidana has done a lot of trash talking because of that supreme confidence that he has. He is going to come in tremendous shape and Floyd will have his hands full. It’s going to be great, this fight will be better than the first fight.”

# # #

Mayweather vs. Maidana will be shown on the big screen in over 500 movie theaters across the country via Fathom Events. For more information visit www.FathomEvents.com

HISTORY SAYS MARCOS MAIDANA HAS A SOLID CHANCE TO WIN FLOYD MAYWEATHER REMATCH

LAS VEGAS (Sept. 3, 2014) – Welterweight and junior middleweight boxing history is rich with legends of men who found victories in rematches. If we base our projections in historic facts, we could say Argentine power puncher and former welterweight world champion Marcos “El Chino” Maidana (35-4, 31 KOs) has a solid chance to win the Sept. 13 SHOWTIME PPV® rematch against 37-year old, 11-time, five-division world champion and pound-for-pound king Floyd “Money” Mayweather (46-0, 26 KOs).

The late Vernon “The Viper” Forrest was shocked in June 2008 by “The Contender” winner Sergio “The Latin Snake” Mora, losing a majority decision for his WBC Junior Middleweight Title. They met again in Sept. of that year and it was a different Forrest in the sequel. Boxing with class and precision, Forrest won a lopsided decision to regain his crown in what would be the final fight of his career.

Cory “Next Generation” Spinks found out about the danger of second chances the hard way in Feb. 2005. The then-undisputed welterweight world champion packed a wild arena in his hometown of St. Louis for a rematch against former junior welterweight champion Zab “Super” Judah. Judah and Spinks had traded knockdowns in their first fight, but it was Spinks who emerged the victor in a hotly contested fight. The rematch was no contest. Having seen the best Spinks had to offer, Judah overwhelmed the second-generation star with a ninth-round knockout and left a champion.

Kocihi Wajima and Oscar “Shotgun” Albarado had a fantastic rivalry for the undisputed junior middleweight crown in the mid 1970s. In their first bout in Jun. of 1974, Wajima built a lead on two judges scorecards only for Albarado, on the road in Tokyo, to roar back in the 15th and final round. Albarado dropped Wajima three times to score the knockout and set the stage for a rematch in January 1975. In the second fight, Wajima outboxed the Texan to win a unanimous decision and begin his second of three title reigns. Wajima would do it again in his next two fights, splitting stoppage wins for the WBA Title with Korea’s Jae-Doo Yuh. Fittingly, Wajima would capture his final crown with a knockout in the last round of their rematch.

The talent rich 1930s produced a classic three-fight rivalry for the welterweight crown between of Hall of Famers. In their first of two 1934 fights, the former lightweight and junior welterweight champion Barney Ross won a split decision over Jimmy McLarnin for welterweight honors in front of 60,000 fans in Long Island City, N.Y. Surely confident in victory, Ross may have overlooked that no welterweight champion had successfully defended the title since the 1920s. McLarnin won the hotly contested rematch with another split decision to continue that odd streak. They settled matters for good in 1935 when Ross left with a unanimous decision that began his four-year title reign.

Perhaps the wildest rivalry for the welterweight crown came in the age of silent film. New York’s Jack Britton and London’s Ted “Kid” Lewis were made for each other and for all time. Fighting 20 times between 1915 and 1921, in title and non-title affairs, Britton and Lewis exchanged the crown four times.

No previous victory guarantees another.

Lewis won their first title fight, besting Britton in Aug.t 1915 and he did it again the following month. Britton regained the title the following April only to see Lewis take the strap away again in Jun. 1917. Lewis held Britton off until March 1919 when he was stopped in nine rounds for the only knockout win in their epic series. Their title trading at an end, Britton won the final fight of their series with a successful defense in Feb. 1921.

Those are just a few of the memorable moments in welterweight and junior middleweight history where conventional thinking about rematch outcomes met the unpredictable anarchy that makes boxing the most exciting sport of them all.

The only thing a great first fight really guarantees is a must-see rematch. On Sept. 13, history says anything can happen.

# # #

Plus, SHOWTIME will televise John Molina Jr. against experienced Humberto Soto in a 10-round junior welterweight bout during “Mayweather vs. Maidana 2: COUNTDOWN LIVE” (7 p.m. ET / 4 p.m. PT, immediately preceding the live PPV event).

Tickets for the live event are on sale now and are priced at $1,600, $1,200, $850, $600 and $350, not including applicable service charges and taxes. Tickets are limited to eight (8) per person with a limit of four (4) at the $350 price range. To charge by phone with a major credit card, call Ticketmaster at (800) 745-3000. Tickets also are available at www.mgmgrand.com or www.ticketmaster.com.

Mayweather vs. Maidana will be shown on the big screen in over 500 movie theaters across the country via Fathom Events. For more information visit www.FathomEvents.com

VIDEO: “Floyd Mayweather Is a Living Legend”

Jordan Shimmell’s opponent for September 11th fight in Las Vegas is announced

Jordan Shimmell, 16-0 with 13 KOs, will be boxing Joell Godfrey, 17-11-1, at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas on September 11, 2014. Shimmell versus Godfrey is an 8 round cruiserweight bout on the Golden Boy Promotions and Mayweather Promotions card televised by Fox Sports 1. The show is being held in Las Vegas 2 days before the Mayweather-Maidana 2 rematch being shown on Showtime PPV. Therefore, there will be a lot of activity, fans and media in Las Vegas and the September 11th show is the lead-in show to the big PPV event on the 13th.

Joell Godfrey was one of the cruiserweight boxers on the reality television show “The Contender”, Season 4 and he has been a pro since 2006. Godfrey turned pro soon after losing a 5-0 decision to Eric Fields in the National Golden Gloves semi-finals while Jordan Shimmell lost a controversial 3-2 split decision to Fields in the finals of that same tournament in Omaha, NE (winning a silver medal). It was Jordan’s first National Golden Gloves appearance in his first year as an open-class boxer at 17 years of age. Jordan went on to win the National Golden Gloves in 2009 and won two more silver medals at the National Golden Gloves in 2010 and 2012 and two bronze medals in 2008 and 2011 losing by split decision in the bouts he lost in the National Golden Gloves tournaments. Jordan won the U.S. National Championships in 2009 and 2011 and earned a bronze medal in the 2011 U.S. Olympic Trials. Jordan Shimmell competed in numerous international competitions including the 2009 World Championships and won a gold medal in the 2007 World Golden Gloves, a bronze in the 2011 Pan Am Games Qualifier in Panama and a bronze in the 2011 World Cup of Petroleum Countries in Russia.

Joell Godfrey is coming off a big win in February of this year when he defeated Brazilian Marcus Vinicius de Oliveira who was 23-1-1 heading into the bout. Although Godfrey has lost 11 times, he has never been stopped and has always gone the distance including in 8, 10 and 12 round bouts. He has been very durable and has fought for the WBC Continental Americas and FecarBox titles.
In Jordan Shimmell’s most recent bout he won via disqualification at 2:31 of the 4th round on Friday, August 1, 2014 at the Little Creek Casino in Shelton, WA against Epifanio Mendoza who was 37-17-1 with 33 KOs. Since his loss to Jordan, Mendoza has won two in a row including scoring 3 knockdowns in an 8 round unanimous decision victory on August 29th over Cuban amateur star and two-time world amateur champion, Rey Recio who was 6-0 going into the bout.

Jordan Shimmell continues to move up in the world rankings and will soon be a top 10 world-ranked cruiserweight contender. Jordan Shimmell is the USBO Cruiserweight Champion and is ranked in all of the regional rankings.

VIDEO: WATCH FLOYD MAYWEATHER WORKOUT AT 5:30 PM ET

VIDEO: How Can Marcos Maidana Defeat Floyd Mayweather? ALL ACCESS Finds The Answer

MARCOS MAIDANA MEDIA CONFERENCE CALL TRANSCRIPT & MP3

Kelly Swanson
Thanks, everybody, for calling in today. This is awfully exciting. We’re just weeks away from “MAYHEM: Mayweather vs. Maidana 2” and we’re very fortunate to be joined today on this conference call by Marcos Maidana along with his trainer, Robert Garcia. We also have on the line, Eric Gomez, senior vice president of Golden Boy Promotions and Leonard Ellerbe, chief executive officer of Mayweather Promotions. I’m going to turn it over right over to Leonard to make the introductions and get this call started.

Leonard Ellerbe
Hello, everyone. Thanks for joining us on the call today. We have Marcos Maidana who will be fighting Floyd in the main event. We have a tremendous undercard, which will open up with Alfredo Angulo taking on James De La Rosa. The next bout we’ll have Miguel Vasquez who will be fighting Mickey Bey for the IBF lightweight title. Then in the co-main event we’ll have Leo Santa Cruz who’ll be defending his super bantamweight title again Manuel Roman, and then obviously in the main event it’ll be none other than Floyd and Maidana.

This fight is the rematch. The first fight, as we all know, was a tremendous fight. I think Marcos came into the fight and he proved to many fans and media across the world that he was a force to be reckoned with. During the fight I think that he proved himself and that many people thought that he had won the fight, so he has the opportunity in two weeks to prove that the first fight was no joke.

So he’ll be coming into this fight better prepared. He and his trainer, they have an excellent strategy coming into this fight from what I’m hearing. He’s coming into this fight with a tremendous amount of confidence because in his mind he believes that he broke the “May-vinci code,” and what an interesting situation we have that’s developing in front of us.

This fight will be promoted by Mayweather Promotions along with Golden Boy Promotions. Our sponsors are O’Reilly Auto Parts, Corona Extra and “The Equalizer.” We still have a few tickets left at the $600 price. This event also will be shown in over 500 movie theaters across the country through Fathom Events.

So without further ado, I’d like to turn it over to our co-promoter, none other than senior VP of Golden Boy Promotions, Eric Gomez.

Eric Gomez
Great. Thank you very much, Leonard-happy to be on the call for this fight, and this is a great opportunity obviously for Marcos Maidana. He’s ready for the fight. He’s training hard, and we feel that Robert Garcia is going to have a great game plan this time around so he can finally get over that hump and beat Mayweather.

This is going to be the fight of his life. So to talk a little bit about training camp and how things are going, I want to introduce to you the trainer for Marcos Maidana, Robert Garcia, to say a few words.

Robert Garcia
Thank you, Eric. Well, training camp is going great. We’ve been training hard, sparring well. We have great sparring partners, and everybody’s doing a great job. Everybody in the gym, the whole team-not only myself and Maidana, but everybody that makes Team Maidana-everybody’s doing their job, and so far everything’s great.

We’ve had a full training camp this time around. We’re not short on sparring rounds. I’m not short on legwork. I’m not short on anything. We had our full eight weeks of training camp, so training camp is better than ever-I think the best training camp I’ve had with Chino since he got to me.

E. Gomez
Great. Thank you very much, Robert. Thank you. Also, to introduce to you to say a few words and talk about how things are going is Marcos Maidana himself.

Marcos Maidana
Good afternoon to everybody. I’m training hard and I’m ready for September 13th.

Q
Do you agree or disagree that the only way to beat Mayweather is probably by knockout?

M. Maidana
No. I don’t agree with that statement. I think that I can win by decision or by knockout. The first fight was a very close fight. It was a decision that was a majority decision, so I feel that I just have to make a few adjustments, put a little more pressure on, land better punches, and yes I can win, I can win by decision. But obviously the knockout would be nice, and that’s a possibility as well.

Q
Robert, for those saying that the only way that Maidana can beat Mayweather is by knockout your answer is what, sir?

R. Garcia
Oh, definitely not. We could also win by decision. Like “Chino” just said, it would be very nice to get a knockout, but if we win the rounds the way we were doing the first half of the fight I think there’s no question that we could also win the fight by decision.

Q
Marcos, what are the one or two things that you need to do differently to make sure that you secure a victory in the rematch?

M. Maidana
The first fight I think that my attack, the pressure, was very good, but I didn’t do well with my distance control. I think I smothered a lot of my punches, I wasn’t able to really catch him with good solid shots, being able to extend my punches, and that’s one of the things that I’m working on.

Because I smothered my punches I don’t really think I ever hurt him, but this time around if I get him with good solid shots, work my distance control, I think I can hurt him.

Q
Robert, could you answer the question of what Marcos needs to do most differently to make sure he gets the win this time?

R. Garcia
Look, we are fighting the way we did the first fight with the pressure. But like Chino is saying, we need to have a little more distance, a little more control in his punches, and we are working on that. His punches are thrown a lot more accurate, straighter punches, and our sparring partners are telling us that this time around they feel the power even harder than they did the first time. So he’s actually listening and doing the job that he’s supposed to be able to make those changes.

Q
Did you have a shorter camp in preparing for the last fight? How long was the first camp compared to this one?

R. Garcia
Yeah, that is correct. We had about five weeks for the first fight, and even though Chino came in already semi in shape, it was still not the same. This time he came here nine weeks before the fight, since we started training full camp. We had a good eight weeks of training, so I think that it’s going to make a big difference. Five weeks compared to eight weeks of training makes a big difference for this type of fight, and I think with everything that he’s doing and learning new things, they’re going to see a different fight this time.

Q
Marcos, do you agree with Robert on the fact that being able to focus entirely on the camp and having a more normal length camp will benefit you for this fight?

M. Maidana
This time around, yes, that’s true. This time around I’m training to win. I know what to expect. I know Mayweather now, his style, what he brings to the table. I’m coming to win. I have more concentration, no excuses whatsoever, and adequate time.

Q
Marcos, do you think fighting in a rematch like this, back-to-back, does it benefit you or Floyd more? And Robert, if you can answer that question when Marcos is done I’d appreciate it.

M. Maidana
I think it’s an advantage for me. It might be a little bit of an advantage for him, but I think it benefits me more having a rematch with him. I’m able to correct the mistakes I made in the first fight and take advantage of his mistakes. Even though he makes very few mistakes I already know what they are, and I think I can exploit that and take advantage of them.

R. Garcia
Look, you just said Mayweather’s only done one rematch, and obviously everybody seen he easily out boxed Castillo. But it’s a big difference, Castillo’s style to Maidana’s style. Maidana is going to come in with an aggressive style that nobody, not even the best boxer can get away with, and Mayweather’s not going to get away with it.

Maidana is going to pressure, and he’s going to be the fighter that everybody wants to see. I think in this case the rematch benefits us because Mayweather can’t do much more different things. We can, and we are, and the rematch benefits us.

Q
Do you feel, Marcos, that Floyd Mayweather is giving you the rematch because you deserve it or because they can do business on the pay-per-view?

M. Maidana
I really don’t think about that. I really don’t care. My concern is winning the fight. I want to beat him this time. I’m going to do whatever it takes to beat him.

Q
Who really gave who the rematch? Did Floyd give you the rematch or were you willing to give him the rematch? How did the rematch come about?

M. Maidana
Look, I really don’t know the details how it came about. My manager, Sebastian Contursi, called me, and he just said, “hey, we got the rematch”, and I’m happy.

Q
For Marcos and Robert, do you feel that Mayweather was forced into this position because of the perception that the fight was so close and the notion that people thought you won, or do you think that he could’ve moved on without taking this rematch and without his legacy taking a hit?

M. Maidana
I think that I got the rematch because it was a close fight. It was a close fight. He probably wants to prove a point. He wants to demonstrate that he can beat me outright. It doesn’t really matter. What matters is that the rematch is happening, and I’m very happy.

R. Garcia
I truly believe that he had no other options. He was forced to give us a rematch. He was forced to fight Maidana. There were no other names out there that he could’ve fought in September that would make sense. A rematch with Maidana is the only fight that makes sense to sell pay-per-views to please the fans, and he had no other options. That’s what I think.

Q
Do you think that the referee will be a factor given that Floyd was not happy with Tony Weeks and that Bayless has more of a working familiarity with Mayweather, having officiated his big fights with De La Hoya, Mosley and Canelo? For both Marcos and Robert.

M. Maidana
Maybe. Maybe the referee is going to intervene. Maybe he’s going to be a big part of the fight. I really don’t know. I’m going to go in there and I’m going to do my job. I’m going to do what I’ve been training for, what my work is, and I’m going to go there and work. It really doesn’t matter to me.

R. Garcia
Yeah, I think that Tony did a great job in the first fight. Kenny Bayless is also a great ref. He’s done a lot of championship fights, so he’s experienced, and I have no problem with him. Nobody knew who the ref was, and Mayweather by starting to announce that Maidana is a dirty fighter, Maidana is an MMA fighter, well that was pretty much already preparing whoever the ref was going to be to see that and to have that in his mind.

Well, I don’t think there’s going to be a big difference because Kenny is a professional. He knows. He’s done a lot of fights and he has to be fair. It’s a fight between two fighters. Kenny’s a great ref, and I know he’s going to do a great job.

Q
Robert, you’re using the Powerlock gloves, correct?

R. Garcia
I’m still not very sure. I know Sebastian Contursi is still on that. I haven’t talked to him lately. I know Maidana yesterday was still asking me if we had resolved that. I told him no. So maybe that’s a question Sebastian or maybe Leonard Ellerbe could answer, but we have no problem. We don’t have a problem with the Powerlocks.

We just wanted enough time to train and not use them the day of the fight when we had never wore those gloves before. There is no problem. The Powerlock is a good glove, and we have to wear that-we are already training in it just in case, but I have no problem. I’m already training my fighter to be prepared for that.

L. Ellerbe
Yes, Marcos will be fighting in the Powerlock gloves.

Q
Robert, win or lose, if Floyd is say dominant or just if he wins, will you be able to move on without talking about the gloves?

R. Garcia
Look, when we agreed to the fight then we can’t go back and say, “oh, we should have used the gloves.” No, there’s nothing we can do. We agreed, we’re fighting in those gloves, so there’s not going to be no excuses. The fight is going to be the fight, but it does make a difference, and Mayweather’s the only fighter that can make those calls, make those decisions, and we also have to understand that that’s the way it is. That’s what business is. But no, we are not going to have any and we can’t have any excuses.

Q
For Marcos and Robert, do you feel that by the time you get to September 13th given that Floyd was willing to engage more in the first fight, that that’s a result of him slowing down a little bit as a professional, or do you think that was just because of the pressure that Marcos was able to bring to him on the first fight in May?

M. Maidana
I don’t think age has anything to do with it. I don’t think it does because in the first fight, yeah, he could’ve fought with me a little bit, but then he started boxing and moving at times. So I don’t think age has anything to do with it. He’s a good athlete. He’s in shape. I think that it was his decision to stand and fight with me. This second fight I hope he decides to stand and fight with me, to fight like a man. I hope he doesn’t start running or trying to move away.

R. Garcia
I agree with what Chino just said. Mayweather is going to be 38, but he’s taken care of his body. He’s an athlete. He’s a natural, so I don’t think age is a factor in this fight. But like Chino said, we just hope that he wants to please the crowd like he said he tried to do it the first fight, well hopefully this time he does it even better.

Let’s stand in front, let’s exchange punches, and let’s see who is the better man is. Let’s see who is the stronger man is, and we’ll show him the difference there. But I think age is not a factor in his age right there.

Q
How do you change or adapt stylistically in the second fight to maybe cut the ring off better and make sure that Mayweather is forced into more of those tight spots that favor your offensive output?

M. Maidana
Yes, you’re right. I was able to force him. I was able to force him to fight, to stand and fight. It had a lot to do with conditioning. The times when he decided to box were because I let him. I let him get away. I let him be able to box and move. I think that I did well in forcing him to fight because of the pressure I put on.

This time around I’m not going to get tired. I’m going to be on him from the opening bell for the entire fight, and I think that’s going to force him to fight.

R. Garcia
I think Chino just said what I have to say. We’re training to be able to do what we did for 12 rounds. We’re training to do that. The first fight we only had five weeks of training, so sparring wasn’t the same. We didn’t have enough rounds.

This time we’re having the full training camp, so I don’t see why we can’t do the same thing we did for the first five, six rounds for 12 rounds. I think we’re going to be able to do it for 12 rounds.

Q
Now that you know Mayweather, what can you do to benefit you in this fight that’s going to work for you in this fight?

M. Maidana
I have to keep pressuring him. When I was able to pressure him in the first fight and get him on the ropes and fight with him, make him fight, I did very, very well. Whenever he moved, that’s when I had problems with him, but this fight here I want him to stand and fight like a man.

Q
Do you think you’re going to be able to intimidate Floyd? Do you think you’re going to be able to do things to make him fight?

M. Maidana
Yes, this fight I’m not going to respect him. I’m not going to respect him. I’m going to go at him, and I want him to fight like a man. Stop crying like a little [expletive] and fight.

Q
What can you do in this second fight to make it better to make him fight you?

M. Maidana
I’m going to do my job. I’m going to come to fight. I want him to come and to fight, and to stand and fight like a man. Don’t be a little [expletive] and run around. Come and fight like a man. Stand and fight me.

Q
What are you going to do after this fight win or lose?

M. Maidana
I’m not thinking about anything else but the fight. I’m not thinking about what’s after this. I’m just thinking about this fight and winning this fight. That’s all I’m thinking about.

Q
Mayweather has made comments that the first fight he stood and fought with you toe to toe because he wanted to please the fans. Do you think that’s the case?

M. Maidana
No, I think that I forced him to fight. I didn’t let him try to box. I think that I’m the one that forced the issue. I made him fight me, and that’s the reason he fought that way.

Q
How is training going? How is the sparring going for you?

M. Maidana
It’s been great. I’ve been sparring with Mikey Garcia, Thomas Dulorme, Stevie Forbes, and I’m very, very content with the work they’ve given me and the work I’ve done in the gym.

Q
Marcos, at any time have you dreamt or had a dream about knocking out Floyd?

M. Maidana
No, I haven’t had the pleasure of having such a nice dream.

Q
Your manager and cousin, Sebastian Contursi, they say that you’re going to knock him out within nine rounds. What do you think of that?

M. Maidana
I’m going to try. It’s very difficult to knock out Floyd because he runs, but I’m going to do my best, and we’ll see what happens.

Q
How do you feel about Floyd saying that you’re a dirty fighter?

M. Maidana
You know what? It doesn’t bother me. It doesn’t bother me. There’s things that he does as well in there, so it’s time for him to stop crying and just fight.

Q
Marcos, I’m curious how close do you really think you would’ve came to retiring if you didn’t get a fight with Floyd, and if you don’t win this rematch can you see a scenario where you would actually retire?

M. Maidana
Yeah, that’s true. I haven’t really thought about past this fight, but that is true. I did make those comments, and I was really contemplating retiring if he didn’t give me the rematch, and I would’ve retired for the rest of this year at least and then see what comes up next year. But, yes, it was something that crossed my mind, and I was willing to retire.

Q
How do you see yourself winning the fight if he runs away from you more and if he tries to stay away and just simply box? Can you see yourself winning the fight if he just completely tries to stay away through the whole fight?

M. Maidana
Look, I’m preparing for anything. I hope that he stands and fights. But if he’s going to run like a little [expletive] I’m going to have to chase him all around, and I’m prepared to do that.

Q
How do you expect Mayweather to change for this fight, and how will you counter whatever change he makes?

M. Maidana
Yeah, I’m sure that for this second fight he can come out and fight differently, have a different game plan. I’m not going to change. I’m going to come, and I’m going to put the pressure on, and I’m going to try to force him to fight. I’m hoping again that he doesn’t start running like a little [expletive] all over the ring.

Q
How would you counter a lot of the moves that he does, the shoulder roll? Even when you cut off the ring and he gets in the corner he’s able to make his opponents miss. How do you plan to counter those types of situations?

M. Maidana
The way to counter that, his defensive moves with the shoulder roll and the arms and all that, I’m going to hit him there. I’m going to hit him in the shoulder. I’m going to hit him in the arms, and come eighth, ninth round he’s going to be so tired from all the punches that he’s not going to be able to defend himself anymore.

K. Swanson
Okay Leonard, if you want to make a closing comment and Eric, Maidana, and Robert too-anybody who’d like to say one last thing before we wrap it up.

L. Ellerbe
We’d like to thank everyone for joining us on the call today. Just want to remind everyone that Floyd has his media day next Tuesday, and his conference call on Wednesday. I think we all heard from Maidana that he’s coming into this fight with a tremendous amount of confidence for obvious reasons, and the question I guess we’ll ask ourselves is will he be able to keep the pressure on Floyd like he did in the first fight because as we all know pressure busts pipes; or will Floyd be able to pick it up like he did in the second half of the fight and possibly stop Maidana as he’s never been stopped before.

E. Gomez
Great. I’ll just say a few words. This is shaping up to be a great rematch. Obviously I think that Maidana is going to bring it. He’s got anger. He’s got desire. He’s got everything. This is do or die for Maidana. He’s going to come and bring it. Like he said many times on the call, he hopes that Floyd stands and fights.

Floyd has a lot of pride. He’s a great champion. I think that he’s going to hear him loud and clear, and he’s going to come to the fight as well. So I think it’s going to make for a great fight, so don’t miss it.

# # #

Mayweather vs. Maidana will be shown on the big screen in over 500 movie theaters across the country via Fathom Events. For more information visit www.FathomEvents.com

MEXICAN BOXING LEGENDS TALK MARCOS MAIDANA

LAS VEGAS (Aug. 28, 2014) – Aggressive, determined and fearless. Proud Argentine and former welterweight champion Marcos “El Chino” Maidana has won the respect of some of the greatest Mexican world champions of our time for the fiery intensity he brings each time he steps through the ropes.

The fact that Maidana is the only boxer to defeat Adrien Broner and one of the very few in history to give 11-Time World Champion and perennial No. 1 pound-for-pound superstar, Floyd “Money” Mayweather, a legitimate test only adds to the anticipation heading into their upcoming rematch.

Here’s what the Mexican champions have to say about Maidana as we inch closer to “MAYHEM: Mayweather vs. Maidana 2” on Saturday, Sept. 13 live on SHOWTIME PPV® from the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas.

JULIO CESAR CHAVEZ, three-division World Champion and Boxing Hall of Famer
“We all know Marcos Maidana is not a technical fighter, but nobody can deny he is a very dangerous one, perhaps one of the most dangerous fighters Mayweather has ever faced.

“I must confess I was amazed to see how courageous Maidana was; he squared up in front of Mayweather and just went at it with everything he had.

“Maidana possesses a singular characteristic that we usually see only in Mexican fighters – he is simply fearless. He is brave and powerful and from the moment he steps into the ring he fights like there’s no tomorrow.”

ERIK “EL TERRIBLE” MORALES, first Mexican-born boxer to capture World titles in four different weight classes

“When you think of what makes a great Mexican Champion, you think of determination, aggressiveness, heart and the guts to get the job done. That’s what it means to be a great Mexican warrior; you leave everything in the ring, your heart and soul are out there.

“I remember watching the first Mayweather vs. Maidana fight back in May and I can say, Maidana left his heart in the ring. He fights with passion and aggressiveness. He leaves it all out there.

“There’s no boxing in Las Vegas or anywhere without great Mexican fighters. We all know that. And Maidana has the heart of a Mexican warrior.”

ISRAEL “MAGNIFICO” VAZQUEZ, former super bantamweight World Champion
“Marcos Maidana’s boxing style resembles that of the great Mexican fighters. He is fearless, doesn’t stand down, he likes to pressure his opponent and has a very powerful punch.

“You have to give Maidana some credit for his boxing skills; he has won the lead role in a rematch fight against one of the best fighters in the world, Floyd Mayweather.

“Besides being a very good fighter, Marcos has a very nice characteristic, he’s truly humble. That’s a feature you don’t find that often in boxers of his caliber.

“This is a very tough fight for the both of them; that’s why I’ll refrain from any predictions. Both fighters have a big test in front of them.

RAUL “DIAMANTE” MARQUEZ, Former IBF 154-Pound World Champion
“Maidana is a fighter that takes the lead and doesn’t back up. He comes prepared and he comes to fight.

“Nobody thought that he was going to stand up to Mayweather like he did. He left his heart in the ring.

“He made all Latinos proud. He stood in front of Mayweather like true Mexican champions do.

“He can go the distance if he wants, he’s aggressive. He fights with the determination of a Mexican.”

# # #

In other PPV fights, undefeated Leo “El Terremoto” Santa Cruz (27-0-1, 15 KOs), of Los Angeles, will defend his WBC Super Bantamweight World Championship against Mexico’s Manuel “Suavecito” Roman (17-2, 6 KOs), Miguel “Títere” Vazquez (34-3, 13 KOs), of Tijuana, will defend his IBF Lightweight World Championship against Mickey “The Spirit” Bey (20-1-1, 10 KOs), a Mayweather Promotions’ rising star from Las Vegas, and Alfredo “El Perro” Angulo (22-4, 18 KOs) will move up to middleweight to face James De La Rosa (22-2, 13 KOs) in a 10-round bout. .

Preceding the PPV telecast, SHOWTIME will present a live 10-round junior welterweight bout between John Molina (27-4, 22 KOs) of Covina, Calif., and Humberto “La Zorrita” Soto (64-8-2, 35 KOs) on “COUNTDOWN LIVE” (SHO, 7 p.m. ET/4 p.m. PT).

# # #

Mayweather vs. Maidana will be shown on the big screen in over 500 movie theaters across the country via Fathom Events. For more information visit www.FathomEvents.com

TRAINING CAMP QUOTES FOR THIS SATURDAY’S MAYWEATHER PROMOTIONS SHOBOX: THE NEW GENERATION TRIPLEHEADER

LAS VEGAS (Aug. 27, 2014) – Undefeated super middleweight contender J’Leon Love is just a few months removed from the toughest fight of his career, but the Floyd Mayweather protégé doesn’t expect things to get any easier this Saturday when he steps into the ring with hard-hitting veteran Rogelio Medina.

Love (18-0, 10 KOs) and Medina (32-6, 26 KOs) will square off in the 10-round main event of a special Saturday presentation of ShoBox: The New Generation, LIVE on SHOWTIME® immediately following the premiere of ALL ACCESS: Mayweather vs. Maidana 2 Episode 1 at 9:30 p.m. ET/PT.

Tickets for the Mayweather Promotions “Desert Showdown” from The Pearl at the Palms Casino Resort in Las Vegas are priced at $25, $50, $75 and $100, plus applicable taxes, fees and service are on sale and available for purchase by clicking HERE.

Love picked himself off the canvas this past May 3 to register a hard-fought victory over former world title challenger Marco Antonio Periban. But while Love is looking to make another step toward becoming the 56th ShoBox alum to graduate to a world title, Medina is aiming for redemption in his return to the series after getting knocked out by Love’s stablemate and sparring partner, Badou Jack, last December.

In the co-feature, once-beaten super middleweight contender Badou “The Ripper” Jack (16-1-1, 11 KOs) will look to bounce back from the first loss of his career when he takes on Jason Escalera (15-2-1, 12 KOs), who has never been knocked down and has not lost a fight contested at 168 pounds. Jack vs. Escalera will be a 10-round super middleweight bout.

In the opening bout of the telecast, undefeated yet untested super middleweight prospect Ronald “Thrill” Gavril (9-0, 7 KOs) will square off Thomas Falowo (12-2, 8 KOs), who spent the past month as a sparring partner for Sakio Bika, in an eight-round super middleweight contest.

Here’s what the fighters had to say as they prepare for Saturday’s showdowns:

J’LEON LOVE:
“My last fight was definitely a learning experience. Periban was a title contender and a very experienced fighter. I faced some adversity and I was able to bounce back and come through with a win.

“Every fight is a learning experience, but this one was under the big lights. It shows I have the heart and determination to win. I know where I want to go with this and I know a world championship is on the horizon. I think I have maybe two more fights before I fight for a belt.

“I’m still growing as a fighter, but I’ve graduated from prospect to contender and I’m just a few wins away from graduating to world champion. Saturday night is just another step. I think I’m almost there.

“Being in shape is the No. 1 key, following the game plan is next. Just staying focused is what gets you the victory. I have a great team around me that won’t let me slack off or fall victim to cutting it short in the gym.

“Badou isn’t just a training partner; he’s like a brother to me. He told me I can’t take Medina lightly, he told me to be careful because this guy can put you down. He’s tough, he’s going to bring it and I have to stay sharp.

“We always want to work on our defense. The guy has a lot of power but your hands can’t hit what your eyes can’t see. I have great movement and defense and we need to apply that to the game plan. I can’t let him get off. I need to take control and do what I have to do to get the victory.

“I step in the ring to make a statement every time I fight. This is just continuing the pace of what we’ve been doing. Just get that W and move to the next opponent.

“I grew up watching the world champions today fight on SHOWTIME and here I am headlining a card in Vegas. It’s an honor and a blessing. This is to show we are the next generation of fighters that the world is going to see. We’re here to make a statement.”

ROGELIO MEDINA:
“I’ve been traveling to my opponents’ turf for my last few fights, but I don’t really care about that too much. It’s just the two fighters in the ring. There aren’t that many fighters in my weight division in Mexico so that’s why I have to fight on the road for the good opportunities.

“I actually didn’t know that Jack and Love were sparring partners until recently, but every fight is different so I’m looking at this as another big opportunity for me. If my opponent feels that just because I lost to Jack then he will have an easy night, then he’s in for a surprise.

“My trainer and I have been watching a few of Love’s fights and have been working on some things in the gym that we can take advantage of. I think Love was actually given too much time to recover from the knockdown against Periban. I know that he can be hurt and when I hurt him I plan to be more aggressive than Periban was. I need to take advantage of that.

“I definitely need a win to get back on track. I don’t think about getting a knockout or a decision, I just think I need a win and will be ready for it however it comes.

“In my last fight I went up against the local favorite, Jonathan Gonzalez. My team, the TV commentators, the fans in the stadium, they all thought I should have won the fight but they gave it to him by split decision. At first I was upset, but I know I gave it my all and put on a good fight. I think I won and now I’m just focused on my next fight.”

BADOU JACK
“My last fight was the most disappointing minute of my life. It wasn’t really a lucky punch, so I’m not making excuses, but he’s not on my level and I wasn’t supposed to lose. I threw a lazy jab and got caught, so it was my fault. He was lucky he landed it because I was just stupid.

“I’ve been in the gym for five months, focusing on not throwing lazy jabs and working on my range. I’ve been sparring with both J’Leon and Ronald, but mostly Ronald. They all look good, everyone is in top shape and we’re ready.

“This guy (Escalera) is tough and coming to fight so I’m going to be 100 percent ready for him.

“I thought I would get an immediate rematch against (Derek) Edwards, but I guess he pulled out.

“I just need to keep winning. Things happen and life goes on. Right now, I need to beat this guy and we’ll be right back in contention for an eliminator or a world title shot after maybe one or two more fights.

“I want a rematch, I want to avenge my loss. I’ll do anything to get that fight made just for my pride. Other than my pride, that guy was nothing special. I want to be a world champion one day so I know I have to fight the best out there.

“I told J, don’t sleep on Medina. He can punch and he’s very tough. He’s not the most skillful fighter, but he has 26 knockouts. He can punch hard and he definitely throws a lot of them. I told him to just be smart in there.”

JASON ESCALERA
“Badou Jack was dropped in his last fight and I think that can be repeated if he makes the same mistake. The KO can be repeated again.

“I’m undefeated at 168 pounds. This is the weight for me, for my future. I’m like a whole different person fighting at super middleweight. I feel good and strong there.

“Training camp is going well. I’m getting great work with amateurs and pros, quick people, people who move around and don’t stay right in front of me. I like to spar with people who stay toe-to-toe with me. We know Badou likes to throw straight punches, so I’m working on perfecting my bob and weave

“It’s a great style matchup. I fight better when my opponents are brawlers. I like guys that come forward, confront me and fight. I’m not the type to run after fighters. We’re here to fight and that’s what we’ll do on Saturday.

“I think I can win a brawl. People like to see a brawl; people like to see actual fighting and not two guys running away from each other.

“If he makes a mistake again he will get dropped with the same punch. I feel sharp, I feel good, I’m ready to rumble.”

RONALD GAVRIL
“We’ve been sparring with all the Mayweather guys here at the gym for about eight weeks. It’s been a good camp, solid work. I’ve been sparring with J’Leon and Badou.

“We’ve been working on a few things, trying to work on my jab.

“This should be a good matchup for me. They tell me this guy likes to stand there and trade and that’s what we’ll give him.”

THOMAS FALOWO:
“Sparring with Sakio Bika was a great experience. He can definitely crack. That was definitely some grade-A work right there.

“This is a good matchup for me. I like the fact that he seems to come forward. I definitely think it’s going to make for a fan-friendly fight.

“I’m just very grateful for this opportunity. The timing couldn’t be better – I’ve been feeling like I’m at my peak right now. Between the training camp and how much I’ve improved over the past couple of months and the past couple of fights, I’m ready.

“I understand that I’m going into this fight as the underdog, but by no means am I an opponent. I’m going in there and I’m coming out with that win. I’m ready to go.”

# # #

Tickets for the event, sponsored by Corona, are priced at $25, $50, $75 and $100, plus applicable taxes, fees and service are on sale now and available for purchase by clicking HERE.

For more information, visit www.mayweatherpromotions.com and follow on Twitter with @mayweatherpromo, @coronaboxing, @PearlatPalms, @ShoSports, @Swanson_Comm. And become a fan on Facebook at www.facebook.com/MayweatherPromo and www.facebook.com/SHOBoxing and follow the conversation using #desertshowdown.

FLOYD MAYWEATHER, THE PROMOTER, WILL ATTEND A SPECIAL SATURDAY EDITION OF SHOBOX: THE NEW GENERATION ON AUG. 30 AT THE PEARL AT PALMS RESORT AND CASINO IN LAS VEGAS

LAS VEGAS (Aug. 27, 2014) – Exactly two weeks before Floyd “Money” Mayweather faces Marcos “El Chino” Maidana in the main event of “MAYHEM: Mayweather vs. Maidana 2” on Saturday, Sept. 13 live on SHOWTIME PPV®, the 11-Time World Champion and perennial No. 1 pound-for-pound superstar will be at ringside to watch three of his brightest rising stars compete in Mayweather Promotions “Desert Showdown” in an action-packed edition of ShoBox: The New Generation from The Pearl at the Palms Resort and Casino in Las Vegas.

In the featured attraction of the Aug. 30 special Saturday presentation of ShoBox: The New Generation undefeated super middleweight contender J’Leon Love will meet Rogelio Medina in a 10-round bout. In other ShoBox bouts, all featuring super middleweights, hard-hitting Badou Jack will take on Jason Escalera in a 10-round match and Ronald Gavril faces Thomas Falowo in an eight-rounder.

The tripleheader will air live on SHOWTIME® immediately following the premiere of ALL ACCESS: Mayweather vs. Maidana 2 Episode 1 at 9:30 p.m. ET/PT, delayed on the West Coast.

Mayweather, who attends all Mayweather Promotions shows, will be interviewed between fights during a ShoBox telecast that became a three-fight affair after a fight between MP’s Chris Pearson and Steve Martinez was cancelled when Pearson suffered an injury in training.

Tickets for the event, sponsored by Corona, are priced at $25, $50, $75 and $100, plus applicable taxes, fees and service are on sale now and available for purchase by clicking HERE. The first live, non-televised preliminary fight starts at 3 p.m. PT.

“It’s great to be putting on another great card with Mayweather Promotions stars from top to bottom,” said Mayweather, president of Mayweather Promotions. “Even though we will be two weeks away from my rematch against Maidana, there is no way I would miss this. These guys all live by the motto of ‘Hard work, dedication,’ and I look forward to seeing that hard work pay off on Aug. 30.”

“The Aug. 30 fight kicks off two big weeks for Mayweather Promotions,” said Leonard Ellerbe, CEO of Mayweather Promotions. “With a full roster of our toughest fighters, fans at The Palms will be in for great fights from start to finish just 14 days before the biggest fight of the year.”

“We’re excited to work with Mayweather Promotions and SHOWTIME for another exciting boxing event at The Pearl,” said Billy Conn, Vice President of Entertainment and Special Events for the Pearl at Palms Resort and Casino.

With his huge win against Marco Antonio Periban on “THE MOMENT: Mayweather vs. Maidana” pay-per-view undercard in May, J’Leon Love (18-0, 10 KOs) earned himself the vacant WBA International Super Middleweight Title and the respect of boxing fans who saw him get knocked down, but get back on his feet to defeat Periban. Now the Dearborn Heights, Mich., native looks to earn himself a world title fight with an impressive performance on Aug. 30.

His opponent, Rogelio Medina (32-6, 26 KOs), of Hermosillo, Sonora, Mexico, is a hard-hitting 25-year-old looking to find himself in the world title picture with a signature victory against Love.

A member of the 2008 Gambian Olympic Team, Badou “The Ripper” Jack (16-1-1, 11 KOs) will look to rebound from the first loss of his career, a first-round knockout against Derek Edwards. A victory here will surely return the exciting super middleweight to contender status.

Jack takes on Jason Escalera (15-2-1, 12 KOs) of Union City, N.J., who turned pro in 2008 after only 25 amateur fights. The 168-pounder will be seeking his third victory in a row when he takes on “The Ripper.”

Rounding out the tripleheader will be undefeated Romanian Ronald “Thrill” Gavril (9-0, 7 KOs), who will try and keep his unblemished record intact against Thomas Falowo (12-2, 8 KOs) of Pawtucket, R.I. The 25-year-old Falowo will be fighting for the first time in Las Vegas as a professional.

The non-televised portion of the undercard is sure to bring the usual Mayweather Promotions fireworks as an array of their top fighters will look to impress. Featured against opponents to be announced are a pair of welterweights, the United Kingdom’s Ashley Theophane (35-6-1, 11 KOs) and Ladarius Miller (3-0, 1 KO) of Memphis, Tenn. Also on the undercard are Milwaukee’s middleweight Luis Arias (9-0, 4 KOs), Kansas City super middleweight Lanell Bellows (8-1-1, 6 KOs) and Chicago cruiserweight Andrew Tabiti (6-0, 6 KOs).

Marcos Maidana, Leo Santa Cruz, Miguel Vazquez And John Molina Oxnard Media Day Quotes

OXNARD, Calif. (Aug. 26, 2014) – Marcos “El Chino” Maidana, the former welterweight world champion who gets his eagerly awaited rematch with Floyd “Money” Mayweather in the main event of “MAYHEM: Mayweather vs. Maidana 2” on Saturday, Sept. 13 live on SHOWTIME PPV, world champions Leo “El Terremoto” Santa Cruz (WBC Super Bantamweight), Miguel “Títere” Vazquez (IBF Lightweight), junior welterweight contender John Molina, Maidana’s trainer Robert Garcia and Mayweather Promotions CEO Leonard Ellerbe participated in a Media Workout Tuesday at Robert Garcia Boxing Academy in Oxnard.

In world title fights on Sept. 13, Santa Cruz (27-0-1, 15 KOs), of Los Angeles, will defend his WBC Super Bantamweight World Championship against Mexico’s Manuel “Suavecito” Roman (17-2, 6 KOs) in the “MAYHEM” co-featured bout and Miguel “Títere” Vazquez (34-3, 13 KOs), of Tijuana, will risk his IBF Lightweight World Championship against Mickey “The Spirit” Bey (20-1-1, 10 KOs), a Mayweather Promotions’ rising star from Las Vegas. In the SHOWTIME PPV opening bout, Alfredo “El Perro” Angulo (22-4, 18 KOs) will move up to middleweight to face James De La Rosa (22-2, 13 KOs) in a 10-round middleweight bout.

Preceding the pay per view telecast, SHOWTIME® will present a live 10-round junior welterweight bout between John Molina (27-4, 22 KOs) of Covina, Calif., and Humberto “La Zorrita” Soto (64-8-2, 35 KOs) on “COUNTDOWN LIVE” (7 p.m. ET/4 p.m. PT on SHOWTIME ).

The boxers did brief workouts as dozens of reporters and TV camera crews looked on during a media workout that was streamed live via satellite, YouTube, Ustream and online at Mayweather Promotions and Golden Boy Promotions’ websites.

Undefeated 11-time world champion and perennial pound-for-pound kingpin Mayweather (46-0, 26 KOs) was, like always, the main focus of the questions directed at Maidana (35-4, 32 KOs) on Saturday.

Here’s what the fighters said during Tuesday’s workout:

MARCOS MAIDANA, Former Two-Time World Champion

“Looking back at my first fight, I think I can improve my punching accuracy, but my attack overall was very good and effective. I felt I surprised Mayweather. You could see it on his face.

“Personally, I found it much easier to face up against Floyd this time. When we first fought, I thought I wasn’t going to be able to see him, but I found him in the ring many times.

“I always come out looking for the knockout, but I like the way I fought in the first fight. Maybe the biggest adjustment for me going into this next fight is to keep more of a distance between the two of us. But there is no doubt that I am coming out looking for the win and getting that knockout.

“With this rematch, I don’t know if this fight will be any easier or harder. Mayweather has many skills and I am getting ready for the best that he has to offer.

“There has definitely been more notoriety for me since our first fight. Many things have changed and I have many more fans. But, I have had many big fights in the past including my fights with Adrien Broner and Amir Khan that have given me a lot of recognition.

“Going into training camp for the rematch, much of it has been the same, but we have been doing a lot more sparring. We have worked more on my distance, but besides that everything has been the same.

“I thought at times that I was too aggressive in the first fight and I was able to let Mayweather move around a little bit too much. I will be much more careful in the ring for the rematch. I won’t load up so much, but instead fight fresher and with more distance.

“I honestly didn’t have any disappointments in the first fight. Besides a few minor adjustments, I liked our overall gameplan.

“Right after the fight, I felt that I had won. I was the aggressor and the one looking to attack. But, the judges saw it differently. I am still happy with the way I fought. I absolutely thought I won the first fight, and I will win again on Sept. 13.

“When I first heard about the rematch I was relaxing at home with my family and my first thought was that I had to start training again and I had mixed feelings about that. . That being said, I am happy to get this rematch and I am going to make the most out of my opportunity.”

LEO SANTA CRUZ, WBC Super Bantamweight Champion

“I feel as if I have a target on my back. There is added pressure for me in all of my fights because I am becoming a household name. At the same time though, it means that I am doing something right and my hard work is paying off. People want to fight me and take away my title. It keeps me mentally and physically strong at all times. Before, I was the one looking for them, now they are looking for me.

“Going into this fight, I will go out there and try my best. I know a lot of people are saying that the opponent is not up to my caliber, but I just go out there and fight who they tell me to fight.

“My body is rested and hopefully I will perform to the best of my abilities for this fight. I have been training really hard, I am always in the gym, even if I don’t have a fight coming up. I like to be ready just in case.

“I have a strong desire to put on a great fight for the fans since I have this opportunity because of them. If I give the fans a boring fight, then they won’t want to see me on TV again.

“I feel like I learned a lot from the [Cristian] Mijares fight. He moved around a lot and kept me on my toes. My plan was to go out there and break him down, but he was very experienced and knew what to do to survive. I feel like I learned more in that fight than I did in any other fight because I was able to figure out how to chase around my opponent.

“The health of my brother has been both a motivation and a distraction for me. In the past, when I would be getting ready for fights he would be in the hospital and I would go and visit him at the same time. I am constantly worried about his health, but at the same time I use it as motivation because I want to be able to support him financially and the only way I am able to do this is if I keep on winning my fights. I told him that if he keeps fighting for his life then I will keep fighting for world titles.

“My opponent [ Manuel Roman] is a great fighter and has many of the same qualities of my past opponents. The only difference with him is that he hasn’t received the exposure that some of my past opponents received, so many don’t know much about him. We know each other very well, we have sparred in the gym together before and he knows how to fight me.

“I am not looking at this as an easy fight no matter what anyone says. He wasn’t an easy sparring partner; we would go at it back and forth. I didn’t beat him up easily as I have with other partners. We have a lot of respect for one another and we are friends, but once I get into the ring there is no playing nice. This is a business and I have to do whatever it takes to come out with a victory.’’

MIGUEL VAZQUEZ, IBF Lightweight Champion

“Everyone wants to take the title away from me, but I train very hard with my team and I prepare every day to make sure no one takes away my title.

“Although I am on the card for the biggest fight of the year, there is no added pressure for me- if anything it’s a great honor. I’m ready to fight and show that I’m ready for the big leagues.

“I feel great physically, mentally and spiritually. I am more prepared for this fight than ever before.

“I know that Mickey Bey is strong and fast. There’s a reason why Mayweather has him on his team. But I feel ready for him and it’s an opportunity to show my fans and the world what I am capable of.

“At times I honestly don’t feel like I get the respect from Mexican fans and I do feel like they owe me a little bit. But that is also because of the lack of publicity from my old company and the lack of high profile fights. This is not only a great opportunity for me to make a big breakthrough in the United States, but also to get the Mexican people behind me fully. I will prove to the world that I am ready.

“I feel that I beat Canelo Alvarez in my pro debut. The second time I fought Canelo was a mistake on my part because I fought at 150 pounds and that’s not where I should be, but the first fight against Canelo I definitely dispute. Those previous fights, including the loss to Timothy Bradley, motivate me very much going into this fight.

“People may complain about my style, but I base my style off the fact that I don’t want to get hit. Thank God that my style has worked for me so far in my career.

“I have a lot of experience going into to this fight against Mickey Bey, but you always have to work hard. It doesn’t matter to me that we are fighting in Bey’s backyard; I have fought in many different places and overcome various obstacles. I always come out on top.”

JOHN MOLINA, Super Lightweight Contender

“To me, each fight is just like the last fight no matter if I am a huge favorite or a big underdog; I always train the exact same. I take all my opponents seriously and [Humberto] Soto is definitely not someone to take lightly. He is a crafty veteran that has been in the ring with the best fighters and has won some and lost some. I go in to each fight with 100 percent focus and I am not looking past him in the least.

“My last fight with Matthysse was definitely a great fight. Matthysse was looked at as this monster in the division and I was this newcomer coming into the division. Although I’ve been in the boxing game for a while, my name has barely reached the accolades of such fighters as Matthysse.

“What I was able to take away from that fight is that I am one of the strongest guys at 140 pounds. He fought a hell of a fight and won because he was more experienced than me. But, looking back at the fight, I made the mistake of stepping off the gas pedal a bit when I had him hurt and I should’ve gone in for the kill. I know that the fans want the fight to happen again and I am looking forward to the fight if it does happen again.

“I like the things that my new trainer has implemented going into this fight. I am going to utilize my jab and use my reach to my advantage. I am a lot bigger to many of the fighters at 140 and I think this will work in my favor.

“When I changed trainers it wasn’t because I didn’t get along with Joe Goosen, as he is a very good friend of mine. The reason I changed was because of location. I have a one-year-old at home and having to drive 100 miles round trip to train was wear and tear on my body.

“I have seen many of Soto’s previous fights. He is a seasoned veteran and a hell of a fighter. Believe it or not, when I first turned pro he was already at the top tier of the game and was the main event at a fight of mine. When I walked into the room I was like ‘wow that’s Humberto Soto’, but it shows that I have paid my dues and to me he is like any other fighter once I step into the ring.

“I haven’t felt any ill effects from the [Matthysse] fight except for the bad taste in my mouth. The competitor in me wants to come out victorious in each fight. Physically, I feel very strong and prepared going into this next fight. The stage is set for this fight and we will be a great appetizer for everyone to enjoy leading up to the main event.

“I never look at an opponent as someone that I need to knock out or beat impressively. All I can control is how I perform and what I do best is to fight a good fight. Whether I win decisively or by knockout, as long as I get the victory and give the fans what they want to see is all I care about.’’

ROBERT GARCIA, Maidana’s Trainer and 2012 Trainer of the Year

“Training camp has been going great. We have been doing more sparring and working on keeping a distance between him and Floyd. I think that was the biggest thing that we needed to work on after seeing film of the first fight. He needed to not be so aggressive to ensure that he is fresh for all 12 rounds.

“I don’t like the way that Floyd talks about my fighter. On the media tour he was telling everyone that my fighter fights like an MMA fighter and was constantly disrespecting him and I didn’t appreciate that.”

LEONARD ELLERBE, CEO of Mayweather Promotions

“I am very excited for September 13th. The first fight was such a great fight and I think that the work that Chino has put in, he is coming into this fight with a tremendous amount of confidence. In the first fight, Chino was touch and go. He was able to be effective against Floyd in the early rounds and I know the fans loved watching it. Floyd is a mastermind and a warrior when it comes to being in that ring.

“Although the first fight was very close between Floyd and Chino, there are no nerves for me, mainly because I don’t have to step inside the ring. Floyd is very prepared for this fight and is extremely motivated in his preparation. He has some added incentive because Chino has been talking a lot of trash and Floyd finds that very disrespectful. Chino has said that Floyd isn’t the great boxer that everyone thinks he is because he has been in the ring with him already. Come September 13th, Chino has to confront all the things he has been saying about Floyd head on.

“I think this fight will start at the 13th round versus going back to the first round. Floyd is very determined to stop Chino. Floyd wants to stop him to make a point that he doesn’t want his ability to be second-guessed. Floyd feels in his mind that he absolutely won the first fight and some of the fans thought that Maidana had won the fight. Floyd has vowed that he will pick up right where he left off and make the fight as exciting as possible to prove to the fans that the first victory was warranted.

“I truly believe that this fight will be much more exciting than the first fight because you will see much more action.

“Floyd knows what Chino brings to the table and Marcos has made a great argument for a rematch. In all honesty, the fans are the ones who made this rematch happen. The first fight was such a great fight that he fans wanted to see this fight again. Chino was the best opponent that Floyd has ever faced; he came out and was very aggressive from the opening bell. Floyd was able to make the adjustments as the fight went on because he’s the best in the business at doing that, but this rematch will be non-stop action.”

# # #

“MAYHEM: Mayweather vs. Maidana 2,” a 12-round world championship bout for Mayweather’s WBA Welterweight Belt and WBC Welterweight and Super Welterweight World Titles takes place Saturday, Sept. 13 at MGM Grand in Las Vegas and is promoted by Mayweather Promotions, Golden Boy Promotions and sponsored by Corona Extra, O’Reilly Auto Parts and “The Equalizer” in theaters Sept. 26. The event will be produced and distributed live by SHOWTIME PPV® (8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT) and is the fourth fight of a six-fight deal between Mayweather and Showtime Networks Inc. In the co-main event, Leo Santa Cruz defends his WBC Super Bantamweight Title against Manuel Roman in a 12-round bout and Miguel Vazquez faces Mickey Bey in a 12-round bout for the IBF Lightweight World Championship. In the PPV opener, Alfredo Angulo squares against James De La Rosa in a 10-round middleweight bout(162 lbs.). The event will be available in Spanish through secondary audio programming (SAP).
Tickets for the live event are on sale now and are priced at $1,600, $1,200, $850, $600 and $350, not including applicable service charges and taxes. Tickets are limited to eight (8) per person with a limit of four (4) at the $350 price range. To charge by phone with a major credit card, call Ticketmaster at (800) 745-3000. Tickets also are available at www.mgmgrand.com or www.ticketmaster.com.
Mayweather vs. Maidana 2 will be shown on the big screen in over 500 movie theaters across the country via Fathom Events. For more information visit www.FathomEvents.com

VIDEO: Recap: Mayweather vs. Maidana I

SHOWTIME PPV®, MAYWEATHER PROMOTIONS & GOLDEN BOY PROMOTIONS BREAK WITH TRADITION; SET EARLIER START TIME FOR “MAYHEM: MAYWEATHER VS. MAIDANA 2”

NEW YORK (Aug. 26, 2014) – In a move designed to enhance the viewing experience, SHOWTIME Sports®, Mayweather Promotions and Golden Boy Promotions have scheduled the “MAYHEM: Mayweather vs. Maidana 2” pay-per-view event, headlined by the rematch between Floyd Mayweather and Marcos Maidana, to start at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT instead of the traditional 9 p.m. ET/6 p.m. PT. The earlier start time is another innovative step SHOWTIME Sports is taking to improve the television viewer’s experience for live boxing events. Viewers in the Eastern and Central time zones, which make up nearly 80 percent of the U.S. population, won’t have to stay up as late as usual in order to witness the conclusion of the event.

“Pay-per-view boxing events have changed, and we think it’s time the scheduling changed too,” said Stephen Espinoza, Executive Vice President and General Manager, SHOWTIME Sports. “Along with our partners at Mayweather Promotions and Golden Boy Promotions, we have been presenting compelling four-fight cards with multiple 12-round world championship bouts. As a result, we’ve seen the start of the main event coming later and later into the night which is not an ideal viewing experience for viewers in the Eastern and Central time zones. No other major sport makes a significant portion of their audiences wait until well past midnight for the peak of the event. SHOWTIME PPV will no longer be one of the exceptions.”

“Mayweather Promotions is excited to be part of this initiative to start the pay-per-view show at 8p.m. ET,” said Leonard Ellerbe, CEO of Mayweather Promotions. “In years past the main event did start earlier and I believe this change is a convenience and great advantage for the paying customer. With Floyd’s fight starting earlier, all of his fans watching will be able to enjoy the event. It works well for both coasts and we very much welcome it.”

The earlier pay-per-view start time is only one of the changes SHOWTIME Sports has made in recent years to improve its live event coverage of boxing.

SHOWTIME has recently added “COUNTDOWN LIVE” to accompany blockbuster PPV boxing events. The preview show, which airs live on SHOWTIME immediately prior to the start of the PPV, offers a live bout along with live interviews, special features and analysis. On Sept. 13, “Mayweather vs. Maidana 2: COUNTDOWN LIVE” (7 p.m. ET/4 p.m. PT on SHOWTIME) will feature a 10-round junior welterweight matchup between John Molina (27-4, 22 KOs) and Humberto Soto (64-8-2, 35 KOs).

In another move to enhance value for subscribers, SHOWTIME CHAMPIONSHIP BOXING, the flagship boxing series on SHOWTIME, has increased the number of fights on each card from the industry-standard two fights to three-fight telecasts on a regular basis. Additionally, SHOWTIME Sports has also given fans the opportunity to experience even more live action with the airing of previously non-televised undercard bouts on SHOWTIME EXTREME®.

# # #

About Showtime
Showtime Networks Inc. (SNI), a wholly-owned subsidiary of CBS Corporation, owns and operates the premium television networks SHOWTIME®, THE MOVIE CHANNEL™ and FLIX®, as well as the multiplex channels SHOWTIME 2™, SHOWTIME® SHOWCASE, SHOWTIME EXTREME®, SHOWTIME BEYOND®, SHOWTIME NEXT®, SHOWTIME WOMEN®, SHOWTIME FAMILY ZONE® and THE MOVIE CHANNEL™ XTRA. SNI also offers SHOWTIME HD™, THE MOVIE CHANNEL™ HD, SHOWTIME ON DEMAND®, FLIX ON DEMAND® and THE MOVIE CHANNEL™ ON DEMAND, and the network’s authentication service SHOWTIME ANYTIME®. SNI also manages Smithsonian Networks™, a joint venture between SNI and the Smithsonian Institution, which offers Smithsonian Channel™. All SNI feeds provide enhanced sound using Dolby Digital 5.1. SNI markets and distributes sports and entertainment events for exhibition to subscribers on a pay-per-view basis through SHOWTIME PPV®.

“MAYHEM: Mayweather vs. Maidana 2,” a 12-round world championship bout for Mayweather’s WBA Welterweight Belt and WBC Welterweight and Light Middleweight World Titles takes place Saturday, Sept. 13 at MGM Grand in Las Vegas and is promoted by Mayweather Promotions, Golden Boy Promotions and sponsored by Corona Extra, O’Reilly Auto Parts and “The Equalizer” in theaters September 26. The event will be produced and distributed live by SHOWTIME PPV® (5 p.m. PT/8 p.m. ET) and is the fourth fight of a six-fight deal between Mayweather and Showtime Networks Inc. In the co-main event, Leo Santa Cruz defends his WBC Super Bantamweight Title agains Manuel Roman in a 12-round bout and Miguel Vazquez faces Mickey Bey in a 12-round bout for the IBF Lightweight World Championship. In the PPV opener, Alfredo Angulo squares against James De La Rosa in a 10-round middleweight bout (162 lbs.). The event will be available in Spanish through secondary audio programming (SAP).

Mayweather vs. Maidana will be shown on the big screen in over 500 movie theaters across the country via Fathom Events. For more information visit www.FathomEvents.com

VIDEO: WATCH MARCOS MAIDANA MEDIA WORKOUT LIVE AT 3 PM

Video: Mayweather vs. Maidana 2 – The Press Tour

“MAYHEM: MAYWEATHER VS. MAIDANA 2” SHOWTIME PPV UNDERCARD CONFERENCE CALL

Kelly Swanson
Thanks, everybody, for calling in. We really appreciate you taking out the time of your day to have this call. We do have a lot of fighters that will be on the phone and available for your questions, and just to give you the order we are going to start with the Alfredo Angulo vs. James De La Rosa fight, followed by the Mickey Bey vs. Miguel Vazquez fight, and end with the Leo Santa Cruz vs. Manuel Roman fight.

Now I’m going to turn it over to Leonard Ellerbe, Chief Executive Officer of Mayweather Promotions to go ahead and talk us through the fights and make the introductions.

Leonard Ellerbe
I’d like to thank everyone for joining us on the call today. Today we are on the call to announce the undercard of the Mayweather vs. Maidana rematch: “Mayhem.” Obviously in the main event we have Floyd and Maidana. Floyd will be defending his WBC and WBA titles, and also, in an unprecedented move, he’ll also be defending his WBC super welterweight title, which has only been done one time in boxing history.

To open up the undercard, we will be having three world championship bouts. In the first bout we’ll have Alfredo Angulo. He’ll be fighting James De La Rosa in a 10-round super middleweight bout, and in the next bout we’ll have the WBC lightweight championship where we’ll have Miguel Vazquez defending his title against Mickey Bey. Then in the co-main event we have Leo Santa Cruz defending his WBC super bantamweight championship, and he’ll be fighting Manuel Roman.

This event will be promoted by Mayweather Promotions along with Golden Boy Promotions. Our sponsors are O’Reilly Auto Parts, Corona and “The Equalizer.” “MAYHEM: Mayweather vs. Maidana 2” will be shown live in over 500 movie theaters nationwide. Before we get into the introduction of the fighters I’d like to turn it over to our partner, co-promoter, and Senior Vice President of Golden Boy Promotions, Eric Gomez.

Eric Gomez
Thank you, Leonard. Obviously we’re very excited about this undercard. We feel that we have a little bit of everything. We’ve got a strong Mexican support in the undercard, and these fights are can’t-miss. These are going to be very exciting fights and we’re going to start off the festivities with a great matchup, a dangerous fight between James De La Rosa and Alfredo Angulo.

James De La Rosa, with a record of 22-2, 13 KOs, he’s out of San Benito, Texas. He’s coming off a great win August 2, a TKO win. He has wins over Tyrone Brunson, Lenin Arroyo, and Tim Coleman, and this is probably the biggest opportunity of his career, and he obviously wants to take advantage of it.

So if I can have James De La Rosa please say a few words to the media and introduce yourself, James?

James De La Rosa
Hello. I’m doing well. I’m James De La Rosa, 22-2 with 13 KOs and looking to come out and put on a show out there in Vegas, and of course come out with a win.

E. Gomez
Great. Thank you very much, James. Now, obviously everybody knows “El Perro,” Alfredo Angulo. He’s always in action-packed fights. He’s always giving it his all. He’s got a record of 22-4, 18 KOs. He’s living in Los Angeles now and is originally from Mexicali, Mexico. Alfredo knows that this is a very important fight because if he’s going to be considered for future world title fights fighting the elite fighters in boxing he’s got to get past James De La Rosa.

This is a very dangerous fight for him but obviously a little bit-something a little bit different for Alfredo Angulo. He’s debuting as a middleweight. This fight will be fought at the middleweight division. So, Alfredo, if you could please say a few words and introduce yourself,

Alfredo Angulo
Hi. Good morning, everybody, and thank you so much for the call. This is Alfredo Angulo, and I’m ready for the questions.

Q
Alfredo, what is bringing on this move to 160 pounds and did the weight cut affect you greatly in the Canelo Alvarez fight?

A. Angulo
I think this is a good fight for my weight. I’ve been getting my weight and my body ready for the next weight class. I cut a lot of weight before the last fight and I think my body will be better at middleweight.

Q
Eric, is it any added pressure when you’re making these undercards because fight fans are holding these undercards to the standard of Lucas Matthysse and Danny Garcia type fights that you made?

E. Gomez
Well, I think that we’re a little bit of victims of ourselves. We are always competing against ourselves because we’ve had such great undercards, but that’s just part of doing a Mayweather fight. Mayweather insists he wants to have good fights, important fights, so I think that with this undercard here you have two world title fights. You have a very exciting fight and Alfredo Angulo’s fight.

I think that we’re going to continue to do that. We’re going to continue to do that. I know that that’s one of the things that Oscar also is very much interested in, making sure that the entire card from top to bottom is stacked and we’re making good fights, and I know that from working in the past with Floyd and his team with Leonard that they expect the same thing.

So they want action-packed fights. They want to do title fights, and it’s very important for the consumer to have a stacked show from top to bottom, and we’re going to continue to do that.

Q
Alfredo, have you already started training camp, and are you planning to get there early so that those mistakes don’t occur again in this new fight moving forward at a new division?

A. Angulo
Yes, definitely. I’ve come up early to the camp, and I’m working on a lot of things that are going to put me in top form by September.

Q
James, how do you get yourself prepared for this fight mentally because of the stage that you’re going to be on?

J. De La Rosa
I know it’s not any other fight, this is a big stage for me. Basically I’ve got to be in my zone, and I’ve got to block everything out and do what I’ve got to do and do what I do best on that stage to get that win and just train hard. That’s what I’m doing. I’ve been training hard and getting ready for it. I just can’t let the crowd distract me or anything like that. I’ve got to focus on myself.

Q
Alfredo, why the change in division, and what was it that you learned with your fights with Canelo Alvarez and Erislandy Lara?

A. Angulo
Well, basically I’ve been saying it all along I was going to stay at 154 up until my body said otherwise. It’s not a struggle. I can still make 154 but not comfortably, so that’s why the jump to 160. You know, I think I’m going to feel more comfortable. I’m going to be the “Perro” that you all know.

As far as the Lara fight, I learned a lot. It was a great experience. I showed the people that gave me no chance, that Perro is always going to be here and give great fights. Honestly, in the Canelo fight I can’t tell you I learned anything because I wasn’t there. It wasn’t me. It wasn’t the one you all know, and I didn’t feel the strength and I wasn’t able to put on the performance that I would’ve wanted.

Q
Alfredo, what do you know about your opponent James De La Rosa besides the record that obviously is very good. But what can we expect in that fight with him?

A. Angulo
You know, in all honesty I don’t really look into too much of my opponents besides obviously their record. I don’t know really too much about James as far as what style he can bring. What I do know is that all my opponents when they are going to face me, they train extra hard. They give it that extra training because they know that it’s not going to be an easy night once they step into that ring with me.

Q
Alfredo, do you still think you’ll have the same power at 160 as you did as a junior middleweight?

A. Angulo
I don’t know. Honestly I think you’ll know come Sept.13 if I have the same or even more going into the new division. We’ll let you guys decide.

K. Swanson
Okay, thank you very much. Okay, that is the last question for Alfredo and James. Both of you, thank you very much for joining us. Good luck continuing to train, and we look forward to seeing you fight on Sept. 13.

Mickey Bey is on the line, and we’re waiting for Vazquez to call in. Leonard, if you would like to come back on and join us and talk a little bit about this fight and introduce Mickey.

L. Ellerbe
Next up I’d like to introduce one of our top fighters and rising stars. He has a terrific record of 20-1-1 and fighting out of Cleveland, Ohio. Mickey’s put together an exceptional professional career, obviously with only one loss coming last July, and it was a loss that he learned a lot from personally. He made a grave mistake at the end of the fight, and it was a valuable lesson that was learned, and I think that coming into the world championship fight this is something that he’s always dreamed of, to become world champion, and come Sept. 13 he’ll get that opportunity. He’ll be facing a tough Miguel Vazquez for the IBF lightweight world championship. So without further ado, I’d like to introduce Mickey Bey.

Mickey Bey
Training camp is going great, and I want to thank my team for making this happen. I’m really excited for the opportunity on September 13.

Q
How far are you away from the mistake that cost you the win against John Molina, and in what way has that motivated you to be a better fighter?

M. Bey
I got past it probably the day after, because it wasn’t like a thing where I had to go back and get better. One thing about it, I’m a humble guy, so I feel like I was kind of showboating to the crowd and I was looking out at the crowd and stuff, against a big puncher and that’s a mistake. So I was mad that that happened, but other than that I won every round, and I took his best shots the whole fight, and that’s a big puncher.

So I got over it the day after, but yes, I was disappointed because I don’t really-I don’t think anybody can beat me as far as if I didn’t do that I would still be undefeated. I love putting on great performances for the fans, but that’s not in my character to have went that far looking outside the ring and all of that type stuff.

Q
Floyd was at ringside for the Molina fight. Did he have any advice or counsel for you after the fight? Was he tough on you? What were his words for you afterward?

M. Bey
No, he wasn’t tough, but he definitely gave me some great advice. After he fought Canelo we watched the fight together, and we went over some things, and he told me that was just a mistake. He said it’s boxing, and anything can happen, so it’s not over until it’s over.

Q
Can you characterize Miguel Vazquez style? And also, do you think you’re fighting the guy that everyone considers to be the best in the division, and does that motivate you even more to get a win?

M. Bey
Oh, yes. It does. Yes, I think he is because people might not credit his style, but at the end of the day he’s been the champion for years, so you’ve got to give him credit. People can say he fights this way and that way, but he’s been the champion for years, so I think it’s going to be a great fight.

You got to give us both credit because, number one, a lot of fighters they might cherry pick or wait for a title. Me, I’m getting in and I want to prove that I’m the best by fighting the guy that’s the best in the division as far as being the champion for so long.

Q
Mickey, how do you prepare for a guy who will do anything to win a fight whether it be stink it out or do anything to take away your best weapon?

M. Bey
Well, I’ll tell you I’ve got way more tools than him. He’s just got the bigger name of course because he’s been the champion, but I think this is going to be a fight where he’s going to be trying to get around my puzzles. I can do it all, and nobody saw my best but you’re going to be your best when you fight on this level.

He fought at this level, so my trainer knows even though we’re expecting an even better Vazquez. But he’s going to have more of a puzzle because nobody really fully knows all the things that I can do.

Q
What do you think is the key to what makes him so difficult?

M. Bey
I think the guys in this game today, a lot of them fight the same pretty much. They don’t really know how to box. A lot of guys can’t beat good boxers. They just like the rock ’em sock ’em robot type style, and whatever happens, happens. A lot of guys just swing for the fences and they just fight with their eyes closed.

Vazquez is a crafty fighter, so I don’t think the guys that he was fighting had the ability and the speed and everything to keep up with him.

Q
Mickey, why did you take this fight?

M. Bey
I’m a beast at the end of the day. If Godzilla came or something came down from Mars I’ll fight it and come in 100% confident. He’s a good fighter. This is what boxing is about. It’s about wanting to prove that you’re the best, and to me it’s just that I want to fight the best and to prove that I’m the best.

Q
Now, both of you are boxers are you willing to change your style for this fight and become the aggressor because he plays the outside so much?

M. Bey
I’m just going to go accordingly really. I’ve got a great trainer, Floyd Mayweather Sr. and he taught me well, so I’m going to just pretty much act accordingly. You never know. I don’t really look at previous fights because any fight can go different, so I’m just going to act accordingly. It could be a boxing match. It could be a street fight. I just come out on top whatever it is.

Q
Is there pressure to not only get the win but also look good and stellar on the Mayweather undercard because of the fact that all of the people will be watching?

M. Bey
Really you’ve just got to do your job. All of you all know this cat’s style, so at the end of the day beating him is good enough. Of course I want to look good, but this dude is a legitimate fighter and a legitimate champion, so I can’t get too caught up into thinking how I look even though I’m sure I’ll look great. But getting the win, that’s the key.

Q
You were talking about a couple of different fight dates. Was it difficult for you in training camp to manage all of that not really knowing exactly what date you were going to be fighting?

M. Bey
Not really. I just pretty much I just go with the flow, man. I just stay calm, relax, and just do my job. I’ve got a great team, so I’m confident in them, and they’re confident in me. I just go accordingly pretty much.

Q
Can you just kind of talk about what this fight means to you? You’re fighting on Floyd’s card and all that. What exactly does this opportunity mean for you?

M. Bey
It’s huge for me to get to this point after so long. I know talentwise I could’ve been champion many years ago, but I just think that it shows if you stay dedicated and stick to your craft everybody’s got a different story. Some people get it fast. Some people get it later. But if you quit or you lose confidence you never get the shot to see what you can do, so I’m just mentally tough, strong, and dedicated, and that’s why I’m glad that everything paid off and I got to this point.

Q
Assuming everything goes well and you do end up winning the title, do you think that makes up for the blemish with John Molina, or is that something that you would still want to go back and take care of?

M. Bey
Either way. I think everybody saw it, so they know. We wanted to get it done right after. He didn’t want the fight, so at the end of the day everybody saw it. They know, okay, why did this guy goof off?. In the last round why did this guy goof off and throw the fight away? I wasn’t really hit and stuff like that, but it was one of those fights where it was just a bad mistake on my end.

It wasn’t anything that he did. I can’t take credit away from him. He got the win that night, but everybody knows it was because I just started goofing off at the end, and that’s something that normally I wouldn’t have done. But I hope the fans enjoyed it, because they will never see that again.

K. Swanson
Okay Leonard could you please introduce Mr. Vazquez? Mickey, if you want to stay on the line I do believe that was your last question, but if you’d like to stay on the line in case some come up. I understand if you have to train, but stand by. Let’s hear from Mr. Vazquez.

L. Ellerbe
Next up I’d like to introduce the current IBF lightweight champion. He’s currently on an impressive 13-fight win streak that goes all the way back to 2008. He won his lightweight world title in 2010. He’s a respected veteran, always come to fight, and come Sept. 13 he’ll be looking to make himself a household name when he puts his title on the line against Mickey Bey.

So without further ado, I’d like to introduce the current IBF lightweight world champion out of Guadalajara, Mexico with a record of 34-3 with 13 KOs, Miguel Vazquez.

Miguel Vazquez
It’s a great honor, and I’m very happy to be here with you guys on this call, and I’m looking forward to it.

Q
What does it mean to you to make your debut with another promoter and to be on this significant card, a Mayweather card?

M. Vazquez
It’s a great honor to be with a new manager like Al Haymon, and obviously another great honor to be on such a great card like it is to be on the Mayweather undercard, and I’m coming very well prepared to come and defend my title.

Q
Now that you’re with a new company, now that you’re on such a big card do you have any plans to change up your style or continue on doing what you do best?

M. Vazquez
No, this is my style. My style is the style that took me to become a world champion, and I don’t plan to make any drastic changes to my style. This is why I’ve maintained and been victorious. I may modify a little bit more aggressive attack, but again, this is the style that’s kept me here.

Q
What can you tell us about Mickey Bey? Obviously it’s the big fight of his life, and what do you expect in this fight?

M. Vazquez
We know Mickey Bey is a very good fighter, very talented fighter, fast, difficult. But I know I’m very well prepared mentally, physically, spiritually. I know that I’m blessed. God blessed me, and we’re prepared. We’re prepared, and we’re going to come out with the hand raised first, God willing.

Q
Miguel, could you sort of take us through the evolution of your style and how it came to be at this point in your career?

M. Vazquez
I’ll say it started off with my father, that he started teaching me the craft, and from there on I learned from the Cubans the art of boxing, to hit and not be hit, and now currently with my current trainer I’ve learned and picked up new things. It’s a style that’s got me there. I go in there, hit, don’t be hit, and I’m blessed by God.

Q
Miguel, it was somewhat of a surprise to see you signing with Al Haymon. How important is that for you at this point in your career?

M. Vazquez
No, besides an honor it was a blessing to have signed with such an important figure in boxing like Mr. Al Haymon, and obviously the dreams of having the biggest fights have now become reality, and now come fight night I have to do everything to come out victorious so I don’t let him down.

K. Swanson
Okay, now we have both Leo Santa Cruz and Manuel Roman on the call. We’ll turn it over to Eric Gomez.

E. Gomez
Yes, here we are. Great. Thank you. Okay, so obviously the co-main event pits one of the most exciting fighters in boxing, Leo Santa Cruz, defending his world title against Manuel Roman out of Tijuana, Baja California, Mexico with a record of 17-2. He’s a hard-hitting fighter. He’s only 26 years old.

This is a great opportunity, the biggest fight of his career. He’s an underdog in this fight, but he’s going to give it his all, so I would like to introduce to you Manuel Roman to say a few words. Manuel?

Manuel Roman
Hi, everybody. I just want to thank God for the opportunity, and I want to thank everybody that’s listening right now. I hope everybody tunes in on Sept. 13, it will be a great night of boxing.

E. Gomez
Great. Thank you very much, Manuel. Now, one of the most exciting fighters in boxing, he’s undefeated, super bantamweight WBC world champion. He’s probably one of the most exciting fighters. This guy throws so many punches it’s hard to count, but he’s coming off so many good, impressive wins.

This is going to be a big stage for him fighting on the Mayweather card, and I would like for him to say a few words -Leo Santa Cruz.

Leo Santa Cruz
Yes, good afternoon to everyone. I just want to say that I’m very happy and excited to be on this big undercard. It’s a dream come true to be on the Mayweather undercard and to be the co-main event. For me it’s what I’ve dreamed since I was really small, and now I have to thank God, thank my manager, Al Haymon, Golden Boy, my team, and I invite you guys to come Sept. 13.

Me and Roman, we’ve known each other since amateurs. He’s a great fighter. I know a lot of people know him, but he’s a great fighter, and he’s going to come out and give me a great fight, and we’re going to give a great fight for all the fans.

Q
Do you feel that being in the co-main event before a Mayweather-Maidana fight you need to be spectacular in order to get the fight that you’ve been calling for against (Guillermo) Rigondeaux or any other fights?

L. Santa Cruz
I think that before I was knocking out people and everything, but I was never really used to fighting fighters that box a little bit more. But we weren’t used to those kinds of styles running and boxing, but now we been training in the gym. We have been fighting fighters that move a lot and chasing them, so I think we’re getting used to them, so I think we’re going to start doing what we were doing before, and of course I think that I need to look spectacular because I’m the co-main event, and that millions of people are going to be watching me.

So I’ve got to go out there and give my best, and that’s what I’m training for, and hopefully I’m going to be at 100% and go out there and give the fans what I always do, war, and go out there and throw a lot of punches so the fans can go happy.

Q
Is the fact there are so many Mexicans on the card and it’s on Independence Day weekend a motivator for you?

L. Santa Cruz
A great motivation-all my fans there are always a motivation, even the Mexicans for all the fans all over the world they give me motivation too because I have great fans. I have Mexicans, Chinese, from the UK, Colombia, Puerto Rico, everywhere, so that’s a great blessing for me, and really I always think about the fans because thanks to them I’m here and they’re always saying nice things about me and everywhere. That’s why I go out there to give them my best, and I always try my best, and hopefully we do it.

Q
Eric, can you address the style differences between Seda and Mijares when he fought them and what he said just now about wanting to look spectacular on Sept. 13?

E. Gomez
I mean, I think that if you look at the opposition that he’s faced, he’s faced really top-notch opposition. He’s fought some of the toughest guys in boxing. He hasn’t had it easy ever since he won the IBF title. I think that he’s popular because of his style, the amount of punches he throws. Obviously we put him in with Seda. He was a slick counterpuncher, a southpaw. Mijares was similar. He was similar, but I think the thing with Leo is that he wants to go to war. He wants to give the fans what they want to see. He wants to stand there toe to toe, throw a lot of punches.

But a lot of times when he starts landing those punches his opposition they change their tactics, and they change, and they start moving around and running because if they stay right in front of him they can probably get knocked out or it’s going to be a long night. They’re going to have to eat a lot of punches.

So I think that he’s one of the most exciting fighters. The amount of punches that he throws every round are incredivke and he’s just going to keep getting better.

Q
You’re going to be on a stage that you’ve never been on before as the co-main. All these eyes are going to be watching. What’s that pressure like?

L. Santa Cruz
Yeah, there’s a big, big pressure on top of me because I’m the co-main event, and to be on this big undercard is a dream come true. This is what I always dreamed, and I’m training 100% and giving my all. We trained really hard with the 12 rounds already sparring with my friend Daniel Garcia.

We’re doing 12 rounds over there, and we’re leaving it all in the ring. So on Sept. 13 we go out there and give it war because that’s what the fans want, and to be on a big undercard like this and a million people watching we got to leave it all right there.

Q
Now, we’re used to seeing you fight three, four times a year, and in 2014 you’ve only fought once. Any particular reason for the layoff, and is that something that you’re going to be giving us now, just two fights a year, or do you want to go back to your old schedule, four and more?

L. Santa Cruz
If it was up to me, I would like to fight three or four times a year, but I think the whole team decided that I needed a little rest maybe, and they are the ones that take care of me, so I respect what they say, and if they think fighting like this is better I respect them, and I’m just doing whatever they want.

But hopefully next year we fight three or four times because we like to stay busy. We’re always staying in the gym. We’re ready, and we’re asking for more fights in the future.

Q
I’d just like to know why you would like to fight Guillermo Rigondeaux, being as though you know that he’s a slick counterpuncher and basically undefeated.

L. Santa Cruz
No, of course. I thought he was running away from me, and then I heard that he’s saying that I’m scared, and some people are saying that I’m scared. So I want to prove that I’m not scared of fighting nobody. I’m here to fight the best, and if he’s the best why not fight him?

Like I say, he does have a hard style, very difficult and everything, but hopefully everything goes well on Sept. 13, and hopefully next year we get to fight that war. We know that it will be a great fight and a hard fight for me, but no matter if we lose, we win.

But we want to give the fans what they want because that’s what the fans want, and if they want it I’m here for them to fight for them and we’re going to try our best to make that fight happen.

Q
You said that you’ve been fighting fighters that move around a lot and that you’ve been chasing them. Is this in preparation for Rigondeaux or no? Is this just so you’re trying to broaden your range?

L. Santa Cruz
Yes because I know Rigondeaux, he’s going to be a future opponent, and we’ve been fighting boxers because we want to be ready so that whenever we fight Rigondeaux we’re ready to go out there and fight boxers that move a lot. We know that that fight is going to happen sooner or later, but we want to be able change styles because I want to know how to fight every kind of style from people that stay there, that bang and that move or fighters like me who want to move too. So I think we’re going to work on any style so that when we go out there we’re ready for anything.

Q
Manuel, are you inspired by all the other upsets you’ve seen so far this year?

M. Roman
Of course I’m inspired. It’s a big card. I’ve never been in the stakes like this, and I thank Leo for the opportunity and all his team, and it’s a great inspiration for me. It means the world to me right now.

Q
What do you say to the detractors that might say this fight isn’t worthy of being a co-main event for Mayweather vs. Maidana 2?

L. Santa Cruz
Yeah, they can say on paper it might be-you guys might say this and that and other things, but I’ve known Roman since amateurs, he was a really good in amateur, and I sparred with him two or three years ago, and we used to work really good in the gym. We used to go to war in the gym and the sparring and everything.

So other people that don’t know him but he’s a great fighter. He has great punches, great technique. He’s good at everything, so I think he’s going to give it his all just like me like me, I never underestimate nobody. I always train 100% because those are the fights that are harder. They’re the ones that are hungrier.

Manuel is going to come out here and he’s going to get a war, so I think we’re both 100% ready, and we’re going to go out there and give a great, great fight.

Q
So after this, considering if you’re successful, will you push for more crowd-pleasing fights or more difficult challenges? Are you interested in fighting anyone else besides him?

L. Santa Cruz
Yes, of course I am. Hopefully everything goes good and we do well in September. We want to look for harder fights, for the stronger ones, again Carl Frampton, Scott Craig and other fighters at 122. All of those, they’re great fights, but we’re going to push it, and we’re going to try to get those fighters to get in the ring.

Q
Manuel, are there certain things that you know from training with Leo in the past that you might be focusing on and try to take advantage of when you guys fight?

M. Roman
As far as I know, Leo is a warrior. He’s a warrior, and that’s what we’re getting ready for, war. So that’s why we’re training so hard too, and this is a big opportunity, and like he said we know each other, and we know it’s going to be a great match, so we’re ready for that.

Q
Leo, how is training going for this fight?

L. Santa Cruz
Training is going great. We’ve been doing 10 rounds, and today we did 12 rounds of sparring. The training camp, the sparring, the miles, everything is going great, strength, conditioning all great. Everything is going great, so we’ve been training really hard. We’ve been leaving it all in the ring and in the camp, so I think it’s going great, and we’re ready for Sept. 13 already.

Q
Carl Frampton was saying that his team and your team were talking, and it was looking good. What happened? Why did that breakdown?

L. Santa Cruz
The truth is I don’t know. I never heard about those talks. I was just training, and I was always in the camp training getting ready for the fight. I never knew the camps were talking or anything. They never told me about a possible fight with him, but like I said, if it was up to me I’d say yes to that fight. I’m here to fight the best, and Carl is one of the fighters I want to fight.

Kenny Bayless to ref Mayweather – Maidana 2

According to Dan Rafael of espn.com, Kenny Bayless will be assigned to ref the rematch between Floyd Mayweather and Marcos Maidana on September 13 in Las Vegas.

The judges assigned to Mayweather-Maidana II were Dave Moretti of Las Vegas, John McKaie of New York and Guido Cavalleri of Italy.

The Nevada commission also appointed the officials for the other two world title bouts that will take place on the Mayweather-Maidana II undercard. For the co-feature between junior featherweight titlist Leo Santa Cruz (27-0-1, 15 KOs) and Manuel Roman (17-2-3, 6 KOs), Robert Byrd of Las Vegas will serve as the referee. Judges assigned were Burt Clements of Nevada, Cathy Leonard of North Carolina and Max De Luca of California.

Las Vegas’ Tony Weeks will referee the fight between lightweight titlist Miguel Vazquez (34-3, 13 KOs) and Mickey Bey (20-1-1, 10 KOs). Las Vegas judges Adalaide Byrd and Robert Hoyle and Julie Lederman of New York will score that fight.

MARCOS MAIDANA, LEO SANTA CRUZ & ALFREDO ANGULO HOST MEDIA ROUNTABLE IN CARSON, CALIF., AHEAD OF “MAYHEM: MAYWEATHER VS. MAIDANA 2”

LOS ANGELES — (Aug. 18, 2014) – Marcos “El Chino” Maidana, the former welterweight world champion who gets his highly anticipated rematch with Floyd “Money” Mayweather in the main event of “MAYHEM: Mayweather vs. Maidana 2” on Saturday, Sept. 13 live on SHOWTIME PPV®, met with media members in Carson, Calif., last Saturday at StubHub Center and took part in an interview on the SHOWTIME CHAMPIONSHIP BOXING telecast.

Joining Maidana at the media roundtable were two-division world champion Leo “Terremoto” Santa Cruz,and Alfredo “El Perro” Angulo, both of whomare on the pay-per-view undercard on Sept. 13.
Santa Cruz(27-0-1, 15 KOs), of Los Angeles,will defend his WBC Super Bantamweight World Championship against Mexico’s Manuel “Suavecito” Roman (17-2, 6 KOs) in the “MAYHEM” co-featured bout whileAngulo(22-4, 18 KOs) will move up to middleweight to face James De La Rosa (22-2, 13 KOs) in a 10-round bout. Also on the four-fight telecast, Miguel “Títere” Vazquez (34-3, 13 KOs), of Tijuana,will defend his IBF Lightweight World Championship against Mickey “The Spirit” Bey (20-1-1, 10 KOs), a Mayweather Promotions’ rising star from Las Vegas.

Undefeated 11-time world champion and perennial pound-for-pound kingpin, Mayweather (46-0, 26 KOs) was, of course, the main topic of the questions directed at Maidana (35-4, 32 KOs) on Saturday.

“He’s not as good as people think,” Maidana told the dozens of reporters in attendance at StubHub Center. “I was able to pin him to the ropes and land punches, so he’s not as difficult or as invincible as people think. He’s hittable. You can land on him. I made mistakes. I was a little too anxious. He never hurt me, but he’s got a respectable punch. You’ve got to respect him.”

Below is more of what Maidana, Santa Cruz and Angulo said during the media roundtable:

Marcos Maidana

Did you get tired in the first fight?

“Yes. I did. I came out strong the first six or seven rounds, and after that I had to take a break and catch my breath a little bit. I had to pace myself. I have to not get as anxious for this fight.”

Are you training any differently for this fight?

“No. No big changes. Just working on my distance control and a couple other minor changes.”

Does your conditioning need to be better this time around?

“I’ve had a little more time to prepare for this fight so this time I’m going to be ready.”

Have you studied the last fight? And what could you do better?

“Yes. Minor changes, but not too much else.

“(Mayweather) can obviously change and get better, but I can change and get better too. The only thing he can do is box and that’s what he did in the first fight. He was moving a lot. What is he going to do? Move more?

“I’m always looking for the knockout. And if I can’t (get it), I’m going to win by decision.”

What would a victory be like over Mayweather?

“It would be the best thing in my career because I would be the first person to beat him.”

How has your life changed since the first fight?

“It’s changed. But I’ve had big fights before. The Amir Khan fight; the (Adrien) Broner fight. But this fight is bigger than those. So it’s changed.

“I never thought that he would give me the rematch. But when he decided to, I was surprised.”

Are rematches harder or easier?

“This is the first time in my career that I’m doing a rematch. It can be a little bit of both. You can argue that it can be hard, but at the same time we know each other so it can be easier.

“I fight for glory. Obviously, my future is secure. But part of me fighting still is because I want to win. And I want to beat Mayweather.”

Leo Santa Cruz

“I’m excited and I’m hungry. It’s been like five months since I’ve been in the ring. I’m just ready to go out there and do what I do and give the fans a great fight.”

On facing his next opponent, former sparring partner Manuel Roman:

“We used to spar a lot and he has good technique, but not a lot of people know him. He’s a good friend, but this is business. Once we’re up there we have go out there and give it our best.”

What are some of the things that you feel you need to improve on as a fighter?

“Everything. There are a lot of things we have to improve on. We’re trying to get different experiences, like fighting with people who move a lot. Every time we’re in the gym there are little things we need to learn. As my father says, ‘You never stop learning.’ I’ve learned a little from every fight.”

Do you plan to fight at 126 pounds next?

“Maybe I’ll do one or two more fights at 122, then go up to 126.”

Who is the one guy you want to fight?

“Guillermo (Rigondeaux). He’s the one who’s been calling me out saying that I’m scared. I want to prove that I’m not scared. I know it’s a hard fight for me, but we don’t care. I want to give the fans what they want. I want to please them and if they’re happy, I’m happy.”

Alfredo Angulo

“I’m happy fighting at 160 (middleweight). It’s a lot better than 154. I wasn’t having trouble making weight, I just feel better at 160. I’m ready to take over the division at 160.”

What do you think about your power at 160 pounds?

“You’ll see on Sept. 13.”

What do you think about facing James De La Rosa?

“I honestly don’t focus on my opponent. I focus on the work I have to do. Virgil (trainer Virgil Hunter) grades them and tells me what I need to do.”

Who do you want to fight at 160?

“I don’t even know who the fighters are at 160. Honestly, I don’t focus on the names. I don’t even know the names at 154. What is most important to me is the fans. Whoever they put in front of me is fine.”
# # #

“MAYHEM: Mayweather vs. Maidana 2,” a 12-round world championship bout for Mayweather’s 147-pound world titles takes place Saturday, Sept. 13 at MGM Grand in Las Vegas and is promoted by Mayweather Promotions, Golden Boy Promotions and sponsored by Corona Extra, O’Reilly Auto Parts and “The Equalizer” in theaters Sept. 26. The event will be produced and distributed live by SHOWTIME PPV® and is the fourth fight of a six-fight deal between Mayweather and Showtime Networks Inc.

For more information visit www.mayhemfight.com, www.mayweatherpromotions.com, www.goldenboypromotions.com, www.sports.sho.com, and www.mgmgrand.com and follow on Twitter at @floydmayweather, @chinomaidana, @mayweatherpromo, @goldenboyboxing, @ShoSports and @Swanson_Comm, follow the conversation using #Mayhem and become a fan on Facebook at www.facebook.com/FloydMayweather, www.facebook.com/chinomaidanaoficial, www.facebook.com/MayweatherPromotions, www.facebook.com/GoldenBoyBoxing and www.facebook.com/SHOBoxing.

MEXICAN STARS AND WORLD TITLE FIGHTS ADDED TO “MAYHEM: MAYWEATHER VS. MAIDANA 2” SHOWTIME PPV® EVENT SATURDAY, SEPT. 13 AT MGM GRAND GARDEN ARENA

LAS VEGAS (August 14, 2014) – In keeping with Mexican Independence Day tradition, Mayweather Promotions has assembled a stellar undercard featuring some of this era’s most exciting boxers to co-feature on “MAYHEM: Mayweather vs. Maidana 2” on Saturday,September 13 from the MGM Grand Garden Arena live on SHOWTIME PPV.

Featured on the four-fight pay-per-view telecast, fan favorite Leo “Terremoto”
Santa Cruz will put his WBC Super Bantamweight World Championship on the line in a 12-round championship bout against Mexican contender Manuel “Suavecito” Roman, plus Tijuana-Baja’s pride Miguel “Títere” Vazquez defends his IBF Lightweight World Championship against Mayweather Promotions’ rising star Mickey “The Spirit” Bey. In the opening bout on pay per view, Alfredo “El Perro” Angulo returns to the ring against James De La Rosa in a 10-round bout.

Rounding out a sensational night of televised fights, SHOWTIME will present a live 10-round Jr. welterweight bout between John Molina Jr. and Humberto “La Zorrita”
Soto on “COUNTDOWN LIVE” (SHO, 7 p.m. ET/4 p.m. PT) immediately preceding the SHOWTIME PPV telecast.

“This is my second time fighting on a Floyd Mayweather pay-per-view undercard and I know that there is no bigger stage than this,” said Santa Cruz. “Manuel Roman is a tough customer. I know he’s going to come prepared and try to take my title. He has nothing to lose and everything to gain, but I plan on leaving the ring with my hand raised.”

“Leo Santa Cruz is one of the top guys not only in the super bantamweight division, but in all of boxing,” said Roman. “I’ve never been intimidated in the ring before and I don’t plan on starting on September 13. Santa Cruz better be ready because I know I will be.”

“I’m looking forward to fighting at MGM Grand again and on this amazing Floyd Mayweather card,” said Vazquez. “It’s time to get to business and get in the best shape ever so I’m ready to put on a show. I respect Mickey Bey, but I plan on winning convincingly to show that I’m one of the best in the lightweight division.

“I want to thank God for helping me persevere through the tough times and helping me overcome obstacles in my life,” said Bey. “I also want to thank my team for believing in me and helping me get to this opportunity. I plan on seizing the moment and becoming a world champion on September 13.”

“I’ve been anxious to get back in the ring ever since the end of the Canelo fight,” said Angulo. “I’m ready to get back on the winning track and this is a great opportunity for me to do that in front of the world on Mexican Independence Day weekend. This fight could not be more critical for my future in this sport and I want to put on a great show for the fans.”

“This is a tremendous opportunity for me to make my name on a huge stage against a fellow Mexican-warrior in Alfredo Angulo,” said De La Rosa. “On September 13 I’m going to teach an old dog some new tricks.”

“Floyd always wants to ensure the paying fans get their monies worth by delivering a strong night of boxing action through compelling televised undercard bouts,” said Leonard Ellerbe, CEO Mayweather Promotions. “This fight night will be no different from the rest as Leo Santa Cruz and Miguel Vazquez will defend their world titles valiantly, electrifying Mickey Bey will seek to win that title from Vazquez and fan favorite Alfredo Angulo will look to revitalize his career in what will amount to a sensational night of boxing.”

“From top to bottom, the September 13th fight card is going to get fans out of their seats whether they are among the thousands in attendance at MGM Grand or hundreds of thousands watching from home,” said Oscar De La Hoya, president and founder of Golden Boy Promotions. “Golden Boy is proud to promote the most crowd-pleasing fighters in the sport and with Marcos Maidana, Leo Santa Cruz and Alfredo Angulo, all in action under the same roof, it’s sure to be a night that no one will forget.”

One of the most successful and exciting fighters in the sport, Leo Santa Cruz (27-0-1, 15 KOs) is on the cusp of superstardom. Widely recognized as one of the highest volume punchers in the game, the 25-year-old, two-division world champion who fights out of Los Angeles by way of Huetamo, Michoacan de Ocampo, Mexico will be making his third defense of the WBC 122-pound title he won last August. His exciting work rate and significant power have made Santa Cruz a mainstay on SHOWTIME as he prepares for his second consecutive PPV bout after defeating Cristian Mijares in March on the “TOE TO TOE: Canelo Alvarez vs. Alfredo Angulo” PPV card.

Tijuana-Baja, Mexico native fighting out of Paramount, Calif., Manuel Roman (17-2, 6 KOs) is ready for the spotlight. The hard-hitting 26-year-old is coming off of a two-fight winning streak. An underdog ready to upset bantamweight favorite on the biggest stage of his career could pull off the upset of the year.

A respected veteran and the current IBF Lightweight World Champion, Miguel Vazquez (34-3, 13 KOs) looks to make himself a household name on September 13 when he puts his title on the line against Mickey Bey. The 27-year-old from Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico is riding an impressive 13-fight win streak dating all the way back to a 2008 loss against Canelo Alvarez. Vazquez won his lightweight world title in 2010 against Ji-Hoon Kim and has gone on to defeat undefeated fighters Leonardo Zappavigna, Mercito Gesta and, most recently, Denis Shafikov this past Feb. 22.

His opponent, Mickey Bey (20-1-1, 10 KOs) is one of the top rising stars in the Mayweather Promotions’ stable. The 31-year-old from Cleveland, Ohio was an amateur standout who defeated Brandon Rios at the 2004 Olympic Trials but was forced to miss the Olympics because of a bout with pneumonia. Since then, Bey has put together an exceptional professional career, with only one loss at the hands of John Molina Jr. last July, and has risen to contender status in the lightweight division. The winner of his last two fights, including a dominating decision victory against Alan Herrera in his last fight, Bey is ready to fight on the biggest stage of his career.

Despite losing his last two fights, Alfredo Angulo (22-4, 18 KOs) remains a popular and extremely dangerous fighter, who is no doubt looking to take out his recent frustrations on his next opponent. The 31-year-old from Mexicali, Baja California, Mexico always produces exciting fights, as evidenced by knockouts of Gabriel Rosado, Joel Julio and Joachim Alcine, as well as his classic 2011 showdown with James Kirkland. Angulo’s last two defeats came at the hands of the top fighters in the 154-pound division in Canelo Alvarez and Erislandy Lara. Both fighters controversially stopped Angulo in the 10th round, but on Sept. 13 it is Angulo who plans on inflicting pain and walking out victorious.

Angulo’s opponent, James De La Rosa (22-2, 13 KOs) is looking to make his name in the sport with an explosive win on September 13. The 26-year-old Mexican fighting out of San Benito, Texas is fresh off of an August 2 technical knockout victory over Fabian Reyes. This win adds to a list of solid triumphs that includes Tyrone Brunson, Lenin Arroyo and Tim Coleman. Now he looks for his biggest victory and to be able to say he has arrived as one of the sport’s elite.

The two fighters kicking off the night on Mayweather vs. Maidana 2: COUNTDOWN LIVE are sure to make sparks fly in the ring as both look to rise in their divisional rankings. John Molina Jr. (27-4, 22 KOs) from Covina, Calif., is looking to bounce back from his loss to Lucas Matthysse in a fight that immediately jumped to the top of the Fight of the Year list. The 31-year-old owns an impressive knockout victory over Mickey Bey that proved you can never count the powerful puncher out of a fight.

Humberto Soto (64-8-2, 35 KOs) is riding a six-fight winning streak since a 2012 loss to Matthysse. A former titlist in three divisions, the 34-year-old from Los Mochis, Sinaloa, Mexico looks to stay hot and earn himself another shot at a world title with a big televised victory on Sept. 13.

# # #

“MAYHEM: Mayweather vs. Maidana 2,” a 12-round world championship bout for Mayweather’s 147-pound world titles takes place Saturday, Sept. 13 at MGM Grand in Las Vegas and is promoted by Mayweather Promotions, Golden Boy Promotions and sponsored by Corona Extra, O’Reilly Auto Parts and “The Equalizer” in theaters September 26. The event will be produced and distributed live by SHOWTIME PPV® and is the fourth fight of a six-fight deal between Mayweather and Showtime Networks Inc.

Raging Babe Soirée on Friday, September 12th at the Sugar Factory inside the Paris Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada

Las Vegas, NV (August 13, 2014) – The Raging Babe Soirée presented by RAGING BABE will take place September 12, 2014 in Las Vegas, NV at the Paris Casino on the eve of the boxing event “MAYHEM: Mayweather vs. Maidana 2”. The exclusive event will be hosted by the Sugar Factory, inside “The Chocolate Room” at the beautiful Paris Hotel in Las Vegas, at 7 PM PT.

What began as the “Raging Babe Brunch” in Las Vegas, NV has morphed into a traditional event that continues to grow and build off the previous ones. “Boxing has always been classified as a niche sport. However, within that niche exists a small, but strong, network of hardworking women. The goal of this event is to allow these women to meet, network, share experiences, build a support system for each other, while inspiring a future generation of women in the industry,” stated Michelle Rosado, founder of Raging Babe. “More importantly, what has become a special tradition for all past events we have been associated with and directed, we will recognize remarkable female pioneers of this great sport.”

The event’s primary honoree is Livvy Cunningham, manager and wife of boxer Steve Cunningham, and her daughter Kennedy who was born with Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome (HLHS), a congenital heart defect where the left side of her heart was under-developed and unable to function. Today, Kennedy has been listed for a new heart. To read Kennedy’s Heart Hopeful story, visit www.heartbyfaith.com.

“A new heart is giving Kennedy a fighting chance to live and every child deserves that.” Rosado continued, “While Kennedy awaits her new heart, we are supporting the Cunningham’s on this journey by raising money at the soirée to help their family cover expenses that come along with this heartfelt cause.” Rosado also stated that in addition to help raising money for Kennedy through the soirée, Raging Babe will donate a percentage of all financial contributions from event sponsors to the Kennedy Cunningham’s Heart Transplant Fundraiser.

Raging Babe is a full service marketing and branding company who has a growing clientele of professional boxers. Raging Babe specializes in assisting their clients with their presence outside the ring, as well as heading their marketing and digital portfolio, and generating more interaction through their social networks. Established in 2011, Raging Babe has developed, directed, and executed various boxing events, fighter marketing campaigns, and events honoring women of boxing.

Be sure to visit ragingbabe.com for updated information on the September 12th Raging Babe Soirée and follow Rosado on Twitter @M_RagingBabe.

To become a sponsor of the Raging Babe Soiree, or would like to simply contribute to Kennedy Cunningham, contact Michelle Rosado at:

michelle@ragingbabe.com

VIDEO: On the Road with All Access: Mayweather and Maidana

FLOYD MAYWEATHER AND MARCOS MAIDANA GIVE CAMP UPDATES AND THOUGHTS ON THEIR SEPTEMBER 13 REMATCH TAKING PLACE AT THE MGM GRAND GARDEN ARENA LIVE ON SHOWTIME PPV®

LAS VEGAS (August 8, 2014) – As we inch closer to the highly anticipated boxing event “MAYHEM: Mayweather vs. Maidana 2,” both Floyd “Money” Mayweather and Marcos “El Chino” Maidana participated in separate “network affiliate days” earlier this week in promotion of the SHOWTIME PPV presentation of their rematch.

Here’s what the fighters had to say with just over a month to go before mayhem inLas Vegas.

FLOYD MAYWEATHER, Eleven-Time, Five-Division World Champion

“The first fight was action packed for the first four rounds before I took control. He has the will to win like I do. He’s a tough competitor and he has Argentina on his back–and of course I represent the red, white and blue so we must give the fans what they want to see… It’s another blockbuster.

“On September 13, I will be faster. I will be stronger. I will be a better fighter. This time around it will be a more exciting fight.”

“I think that every time that Maidana has gone out and fought opponents, other opponents and even myself, he’s done the same thing. Whereas out of the 45 that I’ve faced, I was able to do different things. I can box. I can counter punch. I can box on the move. I can counter punch on the move. The only way that he can fight is to slug.”

MARCOS MAIDANA, Former Welterweight World Champion

“I don’t know if I’d say this will be easier because even the first one, I didn’t find very difficult. But I already know him and I think it’s a great advantage that I already know Mayweather because he hasn’t given a lot of fighters the rematch.

“I don’t like the media attention, but I have to do it. It’s part of my job for the fight and for the promotion.

“I think more attention is coming because Mayweather is very well known and when you give him trouble and give him a good fight people start to recognize you.”

# # #

“MAYHEM: Mayweather vs. Maidana 2,” a 12-round world championship bout for Mayweather’s 147-pound titles taking place Saturday, September 13 at MGM Grand in Las Vegas, is promoted by Mayweather Promotions, Golden Boy Promotions and sponsored by Corona Extra, O’Reilly Auto Parts and “The Equalizer.” The event will be produced and distributed live by SHOWTIME PPV® and is the fourth fight of a lucrative six-fight deal between Mayweather and Showtime Networks Inc.

For more information visit www.mayweatherpromotions.com, www.goldenboypromotions.com, www.sports.sho.com, and www.mgmgrand.com and follow on Twitter at @floydmayweather, @chinomaidana, @mayweatherpromo, @goldenboyboxing, @ShoSports and @Swanson_Comm, follow the conversation using #Mayhem and become a fan on Facebook at www.facebook.com/FloydMayweather, www.facebook.com/MayweatherPromotions, www.facebook.com/GoldenBoyBoxing and www.facebook.com/SHOBoxing.

BOXING’S BIGGEST SUPERSTAR MAYWEATHER LANDS BACK ON HIS BRITISH HOME AS BOXNATION SECURES THRILLING MAIDANA REMATCH

LONDON (July 24) – Pound-for-pound star Floyd Mayweather will return to his British home of BoxNation with his thrilling September rematch with Argentine assassin Marcos Maidana to be screened live and exclusive on the channel.

The highly charged showdown will be the fifth Mayweather megafight in a row to be shown on BoxNation as ‘The Channel of Champions’ proves that it is once again the undisputed home of big-time boxing.

Following their initial clash in May, which proved to be one of Mayweather’s toughest to date as he pulled through on a majority decision, the pair will lock horns once again at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas on September 13th.

The world’s highest paid athlete, surpassing the likes of Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo, ‘Money’ Mayweather knows he will need to be at his best if he wants to preserve his unblemished record.

“Marcos Maidana is a tough customer and he gave me a fight that had me work for the victory,” said Mayweather. “His style is difficult at best, but with experience comes a way and will to win. I’m not one to give second chances in the ring, but I want to give the fans what they want to see. I will be as prepared as I always am when I step in the ring on September 13. I only see the outcome one way and that’s another successful night for me and my team.”

Recognised as one of boxing’s hardest-hitters Maidana will be drawing confidence from the fact he proved more than just a thorn in the side of the sport’s biggest draw the first time around, as he promises to hand Mayweather his first loss.

“The rematch with Mayweather is the only fight that really motivates me,” said Maidana. “I feel I earned it in the ring and Floyd owed it to me. I’ve already proved that I don’t care if the man I have in front of me is the best pound-for-pound champion. I was close to ending his reign last time. On September 13 he will not get away undefeated.”

The card, being dubbed as ‘Mayhem’, will join a host of top fights that have already featured live on BoxNation this year, including Mayweather’s initial battle with Maidana and Manny Pacquiao’s stunning rematch win over Tim Bradley.

To subscribe to BoxNation (Sky 437/490HD & Virgin 546) for only £12 a month (plus registration fee) visit www.boxnation.com.

-Ends-

Previous highlights have included Haye vs Chisora, Khan vs Collazo and Mayweather vs Maidana.

The channel is available on Sky (Ch.437), Virgin (Ch.546), online at Livesport.tv and via iPhone, iPad or Android. BoxNation is also available in high definition on Sky (Ch. 490), at no extra cost to Sky TV subscribers, providing they are already HD enabled.

BoxNation is also available to commercial premises (inc. pubs, clubs and casino’s) in the UK and Ireland, for more information on a commercial subscription please call 0844 842 7700.

For more information visit www.boxnation.com

*Plus £8 registration fee for Sky TV and new Livesport.tv customers.

THE “MAYHEM” MARVELS: MAYWEATHER vs. MAIDANA 2 PRESS TOUR WRAPS UP IN LOS ANGELES

LOS ANGELES (July 17, 2014) – Eleven-time world champion Floyd Mayweather and former welterweight titlist Marcos Maidana held their fifth and final announcement press conference in Pershing Square in Los Angeles, Calif. on Thursday to formally discuss their highly anticipated rematch taking place Saturday, Sept. 13 at MGM Grand in Las Vegas, live on SHOWTIME PPV®.

Thursday’s press event in Los Angeles concluded a whirlwind five-city, open-to-the-public promotional tour that saw the fighters visit the boxing hotbeds of New York City, Washington, D.C., Chicago and San Antonio.

With Mayweather speaking at the podium, a member of Maidana’s team was throwing t-shirts into the pro-Argentine crowd in an attempt to take the attention away from Mayweather. Numerous Argentinian flags waved in the air on a picture perfect afternoon that also happened to be Maidana’s 31st birthday.

Grammy-nominated hip-hop artist and Los Angeles native Kendrick Lamar entertained the capacity crowd, which was evenly split for Mayweather and Maidana, prior to the arrival of the World Champion fighters.

Jarrett Stoll and Alec Martinez, two members of the Stanley Cup winning Los Angeles Kings, presented Floyd Mayweather and Marcos Maidana jerseys with “Money” and “Chino” emblazoned on the back at the start of the press conference.

Here’s what the participants had to say on Thursday:

FLOYD MAYWEATHER, Eleven-Time, Five-Division World Champion

“Everything on this media tour has been going great. It was crazy to be able to go to Washington D.C. and hold a press conference at midnight and it still be packed. That shows that boxing is very much alive and has loyal fans.

“I started training last night after the ESPYs at 2 a.m., there is no more partying for me, it’s time to start getting focused on this fight.

“Marcos Maidana is a very, very dirty fighter. In our last fight he had over 10 low blows, head butts. He’s in the wrong sport if he wants to fight a bare knuckle brawl, this is boxing. We are both looking to have careers after boxing; I don’t want to risk my health.

“The reason I chose Maidana for a rematch is because of the fans. The bar is set so high for me, the fans expect so much out of me.

“In past fights I would go out and win all 12 rounds. This is the first time my fans have seen someone win multiple rounds against me.

“To be honest, Miguel Cotto and Canelo Alvarez are better fighters than Maidana. They are better, stronger boxers. With me and Canelo, it was more of a chess match as opposed to Maidana who came at me very dirty and reckless. I knew something crazy was going to happen in our fight, which it did, I got a headbutt.

“Even though we are in a brutal sport, if you beat me, do it the right way. I got here with hard work and dedication and a strong belief in my team. Please don’t cheat to beat me, if you are going to beat me, earn it the hard way.

“I don’t have to make any adjustments going into this fight, but he does. I won the fight. If I spar against someone and they win three of 12 rounds against me, that’s a bad day for me. I am a perfectionist and I set the bar so high. Maidana knows in his heart that he didn’t win.

“I know that if I lost this fight, then I wouldn’t take it again. Maidana isn’t stupid, the reason why he is trying to fight me again is because he is going to make more money fighting me than anyone else, even though he knows he will lose again.”

MARCOS MAIDANA, Former WBA Welterweight World Champion

“The situation with the gloves is an open issue. It hasn’t been closed yet. I’m going to talk to my team, we are going to push for my gloves and he’s probably going to fight back. But we won’t surrender, we’ll keep pushing.

“In our first fight, the glove’ issue affected me a little. But now, I know how he [Mayweather] operates and if he wants different gloves, I’ll have different gloves waiting for him. I’ll bring a few options so I’m not caught off guard again.

“Back in May, I tried to get the attention of the referee in the eighth round because Floyd was fighting very dirty and he didn’t even honor that, he tried to pull a Victor Ortiz shot on me. That’s the type of fighter he is – dirty and sneaky.

“In all of his fights, he [Mayweather] brings his elbows out. He really likes to use his elbows. One of his moves is to put his elbow in the fighter’s throat and the referee for some reason let him get away with it. We all know he [Mayweather] does whatever he wants because he has the judges in his pocket. He is a dirty fighter.

“There were rumors that I got paid to use Floyd’s gloves, but that’s not true. I had to accept his gloves because otherwise there was not going to be a fight. He basically called off the fight if I didn’t use his gloves, so I had to, I had no choice. Unlike him, I had come to fight, not to whine.

“It is no secret that I won the first rounds and he [Mayweather] did better on the last ones. This time around I’m planning to keep up with his rhythm. I’m making adjustments, when he presses I’m going to press him too.

“In my first fight against Floyd, I learned that he’s not that great, he’s not that superhuman boxer everybody talks about. If I wouldn’t have been so anxious looking for the knockout, I would have beat him.

“I think Floyd is going to run around inside the ring. In our first fight, he said he was going to stand up and fight and he didn’t. So, it wouldn’t surprise me if this time around he does the same thing.

“I pushed him in San Antonio because he gets too close to my face.

“I really don’t understand him [Mayweather], so I don’t really care for what he says about me. I know he speaks ill, but I don’t care.”

ROBERT GARCIA, Maidana’s Trainer & 2012 Trainer of the Year

“Mayweather’s been going around saying that Maidana’s a dirty fighter. This is boxing; Maidana finds a way to win.

“If Mayweather believes the first fight was rough, this next fight will be much rougher, believe me.

“I’m bringing somebody new to the training camp. We are starting with basics, running in the morning, timing him. It’s going to be run hard, train hard, eat well and rest. That’s our recipe to win this upcoming fight.

“I’m going to try to bring him into the ring at a different weight this time. Not as heavy. I think that was a mistake on my behalf. Since it was the first time fighting Mayweather, we wanted to take any advantage.

“Floyd is not as strong as we thought, so we are not making that mistake again. Chino would have been a lot faster and a lot stronger if he would have walked into that ring lighter. He would have had the same energy he had in the first six rounds.

“Sixteen years ago, Mayweather and I were both world champions. He mentioned that he would’ve liked to fight me, but we don’t need to do it on pay-per-view. We can take a walk out back and we’ll handle business. I am from Southern California and we know how to handle our business.

“I give Mayweather props for having beautiful women with him. Too bad when they are no longer on payroll they are going to walk away.

“He bet Chino’s purse and we responded by saying we’ll take the bet if Chino can wear his Mexican Everlast gloves. All I need is a handshake from him, but I know I won’t get that.”

SEBASTIAN CONTURSI, Maidana’s Manager

“We will beat Floyd Mayweather, but first I want to thank Floyd. He is a man of his word giving Chino the rematch.

“We need all the Latinos to support Chino on Sept. 13. You guys are the driving force behind his success.”

LEONARD ELLERBE, CEO of Mayweather Promotions

“Mayweather has beat everybody he has faced in the world, everybody. The two fighters will get in there on Sept. 13 and the best fighter will win and we all know who that will be.

“You can’t disrespect Mayweather’s accomplishments. He’s the highest-paid athlete in the world and he leads by example. He is not only going to go down as the best to ever do, but also as the best businessman.

“If you just go out there and beat each other’s brains out then you aren’t going to relate to your kids. Floyd’s a very smart fighter and he’s going to do what he has to do to win the fight.”

ERIC GOMEZ, Senior Vice President, Golden Boy Promotions

“Mayweather and his team have been very professional throughout the tour and they did a great job.

“Oscar De La Hoya’s Golden Boy Promotions is committed to making the best fights and this match up is no exception. The first fight was great, close and dangerous. Floyd didn’t have to take this fight, but he wanted to give the fans what they want. I want to thank him for stepping up.”

“Maidana is up to the task of taking on Floyd Mayweather a second time. He [Maidana] is ready to silence any doubters.”

STEPHEN ESPINOZA, Executive Vice President & General Manager, SHOWTIME Sports

“SHOWTIME PPV has become the industry leader in PPV fights. These events keep getting bigger, better and more exciting.

“The first fight between Mayweather and Maidana was one of the most exciting fights in boxing history and the second fight will be even better.

“There is no event like a Mayweather fight with the music and the celebrities. You add to that the ferocity of a hungry fighter like Maidana and you have the recipe for another unforgettable fight.”

VIDEO: MAYWEATHER – MAIDANA LOS ANGELES PRESS CONFERENCE AT 4 PM ET

THE “MAYHEM” ROLLS ON: FLOYD MAYWEATHER vs. MARCOS MAIDANA CHICAGO PRESS CONFERENCE QUOTES

CHICAGO (July 15, 2014) – The “MAYHEM” that is the Floyd Mayweather and Marcos Maidana cross-country promotional press tour took center stage in Chicago on Tuesday as both fighters resorted to creative tactics to get under their opponent’s skin as they announce their Sept. 13 rematch taking place at MGM Grand in Las Vegas, live on SHOWTIME PPV®.

Eleven-time world champion Mayweather refused to sit down as Maidana and his trainer, Robert Garcia, took their turn at the podium. Instead, he signed autographs for fans, taunted Garcia and chanted his signature line: “Hard work, dedication.”

Not to be outdone, Maidana and Garcia returned the favor when it was Mayweather’s turn on the dais, jetting off stage to greet a large group of “Chino” fans as they chanted “Ole.”

Tuesday afternoon’s event at Auditorium Theatre was the third stop on the five-city, open-to-the-public promotional tour, which continues Tuesday evening in San Antonio and Thursday in Los Angeles.

Here’s what the participants had to say on Tuesday:

FLOYD MAYWEATHER, Eleven-Time, Five-Division World Champion
“Fighting is not all about power. It’s about being smart. I don’t have to change anything. My job is to go out there and do what I am paid to do – that’s be smart and finish first. And I always finish first.

“I’m going to do the same thing I always do. It’s about blood sweat and tears, and nobody does it better than me.

“I’ve had some bumps and bruises, but I always stay on top. His camp needs to make major changes if they want to have a chance.

“My hand got raised so I don’t need to make any adjustments. He needs to make some major changes and probably get a new trainer if he wants to have a chance against me.

“I have to watch this guy in there. He’s dirty.

“If he really feels like he won the first fight then he should bet his purse. He should put his money where his mouth is. But he knows he can’t beat me.

“My legacy and the will to win drives me to keep fighting. All I have to do is keep racking up victories and putting on a show.

“If you want to beat me you have to earn it the hard way.

“Why are we fighting again? Because the fans wanted it. I usually dominate my opponents or knock them out. But this guy won three or four rounds against me, and that never happens.

“It’s obvious he’s doing something right if he is facing me again and he won a few rounds from me. But the referee had a bad night last time. We forgive him but this is going to be a much cleaner fight. Note of those dirty rabbit punches or elbows.

“This is not a street fight; this is not an MMA fight. My health and my career after boxing is what’s important. He has a wife, he has children. I could hit this guy without gloves and he could never talk again. We use gloves to protect ourselves.

“It’s going to be another great showdown because I’m pretty sure he’s going to be ready and I’m always ready. We’re just going to give the fans what they want to see

“My back is always against the ropes no matter how it plays out in the sport of boxing. If I dominate a guy they say he’s over the hill. If I don’t knock a guy out they say he’s slow. I’m not just fighting my opponent, I’m fighting the world – the media, the critics, the haters. But it comes with the territory.

“I’m in this position for a reason so all I can do is go out there and be the best Floyd Mayweather. I just need to dominate, take my time and listen to the instructions that my father gives me.

“Robert Garcia is not the fighter, so he can say whatever he wants to say. It’s up to the fighter to get in there September 13 and show me what he can do.

“This is my era and I just might be on another level.”

MARCOS MAIDANA, Former WBA Welterweight World Champion
“I’m going to have to go for the knockout this time, I have no choice. Floyd’s defense is very good and at times it is hard to hit him. That’s why I want to knock him out.

“First, I’m going to give him a beating and then I’m going to knock him out. It’s going to be hard to get a decision because he connects well and knows how to score points.

“I’m going to make some technical adjustments, work on my distance and always pressure him. Our camp last time was great, but we just need to make minor adjustments to get the win.

“Floyd is trying to get under our skin, but it’s not going to work. We’re going to do our fighting in the ring and this time we’re going to win.

“Floyd is trying to make us lose our cool. He’s trying to make us angry so we break concentration. He does it on purpose because he wants to have the upper hand. But his comments don’t affect me at all.

“Floyd can say whatever he wants about me. He knows that I gave him the toughest fight of his life. The only difference is this time I will knock him out.

“This will be a different fight. He knows what I bring to the table and he knows how I fight. I don’t want to leave any doubt whatsoever. To beat a champion like Floyd you have to knock him out.

“I promise I’m going to put on a great fight and I’m going to shut his mouth. He doesn’t respect anything or anyone. He might have money, but he doesn’t have respect.

“He thinks he intimidates me? Nothing intimidates me. His talk can’t hurt me, his punches can’t hurt me. Come Sept. 13, he’ll be the one that’s hurt.

“One hundred percent the gloves made a difference in the last fight. The gloves I use are fit to my hand and are more comfortable. But the ones that I was forced to wear were not comfortable.

“But the bottom line is, this time I’m going to win with any glove that I wear.

“We only had five weeks of sparring and training camp last time. But in this camp we’ve already been in the gym for a week and we still have eight weeks to go. So we will be 100 percent ready for Sept. 13.

“The rematch was unexpected because I thought Floyd was not going to agree (to fight me). And then, one day out of the blue, I got word Floyd wanted to fight me again. By then I was already thinking I wasn’t going to fight again this year.

“For me, what’s really important here is to come out victorious. I come here to win and I don’t really care about money.

“I think many fighters are obsessed with Mayweather. Everybody wants to fight him because they get the chance to make history if they win. And I want to make history.”

ROBERT GARCIA, Maidana’s Trainer
“If Floyd thinks the last fight was tough, this fight is going to be even tougher.

“I retired 12 years ago, and I heard you talking about me and my fights. I know that you are going to bring up my fight with [Diego] Corrales –I have nothing to be ashamed of. I lost to a warrior. He was a great champion and I lost that fight with honor, not like a [expletive].

“If I fought like a [expletive] and acted like a [expletive] I’d still be undefeated. Floyd fights like a [expletive] and behaves like a [expletive].

“You’ve been bringing up stories about dirty fighting, dirty this, dirty that. Guess what? This fight is going to be rougher for you. You better be ready.

“You are going around telling Chino that you want to place a bet on this fight? Well, let’s do that bet right now. You want to put in conditions? Well, we have our conditions, too. Let’s do a bet where winner takes all. You have a lot of money. Winner takes all.

“It looks to me that you are not that sure that you are going to win. If you were, you would have shaken my hand and agreed to the bet if you were that confident you are going to win.”

# # #

MAYHEM: Mayweather vs. Maidana 2, a 12-round world championship bout for Mayweather’s 147-pound titles taking place Saturday, September 13 at MGM Grand in Las Vegas, is promoted by Mayweather Promotions, Golden Boy Promotions and sponsored by Corona Extra and O’Reilly Auto Parts. The event will be produced and distributed live by SHOWTIME PPV® and is the fourth fight of a lucrative six-fight deal between Mayweather and Showtime Networks Inc. Mayweather vs. Maidana will be shown on the big screen in movie theaters across the country via Fathom Events. Information will be available at www.fathomevents.com.

For more information visit www.mayweatherpromotions.com, www.sports.sho.com, and www.mgmgrand.com and follow on Twitter at @floydmayweather, @chinomaidana, @mayweatherpromo, @ShoSports and @Swanson_Comm,follow the conversation using #Mayhem and become a fan on Facebook at www.facebook.com/FloydMayweather, www.facebook.com/MayweatherPromotions, and www.facebook.com/SHOsports.

“MAYHEM: MAYWEATHER vs. MAIDANA 2” NEW YORK CITY ANNOUNCEMENT PRESS CONFERENCE QUOTES

NEW YORK (July 14, 2014) – Eleven-time world champion Floyd “Money” Mayweather and former welterweight titlist Marcos “El Chino” Maidana held an announcement press conference in Times Square on Monday to formally announce their highly anticipated rematch taking place Saturday, Sept. 13 at MGM Grand in Las Vegas, live on SHOWTIME PPV®.

Monday’s press conference kicked off a five-city, open-to-the-public promotional tour that will see the fighters visit the boxing hotbeds of Washington, D.C., Chicago, San Antonio and Los Angeles.

“I don’t need to change my style. The guy who got the loss needs to change his style,” said Mayweather.

“Although I recognize Mayweather is a great boxer, fighting him was easier than many people think. He has a good defense, but he has flaws and he showed them last May,” said Maidana. “If you want to see a real fight, watch us on September 13. I’m going to win this fight.”

Their first meeting this past May was an epic 12-round welterweight world championship showdown that was arguably the toughest and most exciting fight of Mayweather’s brilliant career. Maidana attacked Mayweather with ferocity and fearlessness, landing more punches on the pound-for-pound champ than anyone he has faced in his undefeated career.

Tickets for the live event go on sale tomorrow/Tuesday, July 15 at 1 p.m. ET/10 a.m. PT and are priced at $1,600, $1,200, $850, $600 and $350, not including applicable service charges and taxes. Tickets are limited to eight (8) per person with a limit of four (4) at the $350 price range. To charge by phone with a major credit card, call Ticketmaster at (800) 745-3000. Tickets also are available at www.mgmgrand.com or www.ticketmaster.com.

Here’s what the participants had to say on Monday:

FLOYD MAYWEATHER, Eleven-Time, Five-Division World Champion
“My job is to win. Everyone remembers a winner. That’s my legacy.

“I don’t need to change my style. The guy who got the loss needs to change his style.

“Marcos Maidana came out and gave a tough effort, I mean he fought his heart out but it wasn’t clean.

“Was I ever hurt? Sure, the shots to the back of the head hurt. Whenever you’re in a heated battle you are going to be sore. It comes with the territory.

“Is Maidana a better fighter than Canelo? No. Cotto? No. He’s just a dirtier fighter. I didn’t get a deep gash from a punch; I got it from a head butt.”

“Cotto is a solid competitor but we saw what happened to him against Floyd Mayweather. When he fought me, they said he was washed up. Then, he fights again and wins, and apparently, he has been resurrected. Same with Marquez.

“There’s always testing. I’m the face of boxing and I want to clean the sport up.

“First they [Team Maidana] want to use gloves with no padding, and then they want to use knees, elbows and everything else. My back is always against the wall with Team Maidana.

MARCOS MAIDANA, Former WBA Welterweight World Champion
“Without a doubt we are going to prove who won the first fight with this fight; with this rematch.

“I fight dirty? He’s the king of the elbows.

“The rematch is a big deal in Argentina. The entire country watched the first fight. There’s going to be no exceptions in this one. Everybody is going to watch.

“Robert Garcia is very important presence in my career. I feel very comfortable training with him. I’ve been working with him since I faced [Jesus] Soto Karass and I think I’m going to retire with him.

“I’ve trained with many trainers and they all tried to change my style. That’s why I lost my way at some point in my career. But with Robert [Garcia], it is different. He added to my style and he brought me back on track.

“I keep getting better in each fight, with defense, head movement. What Robert has done is a fine tune. In the first Mayweather fight, I was a little too anxious, and that’s one of the things that Robert helped me fix.”

LEONARD ELLERBE, CEO of Mayweather Promotions
“The fight was so good the first time, he’s trying to claim victory in this fight.

“Every great fighter has a great team behind them. Maidana has Robert Garcia and Sebastian Contusi, his manager. They advise him and training him well.

“This is an anticipated rematch that will be more entertaining than the first fight was.

“The last fight produced a winner, MAYHEM will produce a champion.”

STEPHEN ESPINOZA, Executive Vice President & General Manager, SHOWTIME Sports
“They called it an ‘Epic fight’, ‘Electrifying,’ ‘A relentless assault,’ ‘Mayweather’s toughest fight in years.’ Those are some of the words writers used to describe the first fight between Floyd Mayweather and Marcos Maidana.

“Some people think that Mayweather won the first fight comfortably, some others think that he won by a slimmer margin. I’m expecting this rematch to pick up right where the last one left off.

“If you look at the judges’ scorecards, they basically split the last five rounds. That’s something we don’t see in Mayweather opponents; to be competitive to the very end and to provide that much action, let alone excitement. That’s why we want to do Mayweather vs. Maidana again.

“We are absolutely happy with the financial performance of the May event. If it wasn’t a success, we certainly would not be doing a direct rematch four months later.”

SEBASTIAN CONTURSI, Marcos Maidana’s Manager
“Maidana deserved a rematch and Mayweather gave it to him because deep down he feels he has to prove himself.

“The driving force behind Maidana is not only his team, it is also the Latino Power.

“Maidana’s empowerment comes from the Latino power that’s going to help him make history on September 13 and end Floyd’s reign.”

ERIC GOMEZ, Senior VP of Golden Boy Promotions
“Golden Boy Promotions is happy to work once again with Mayweather Promotions. We are committed to bringing the best fights to the public and that’s what we are doing with this rematch.

“I’m told this is the greatest city in the world and that’s why we bring the best fighter in the world to kick off the MAYHEM press tour.

“He’s a little bit like Superman [Floyd Mayweather]. He can do it all. He can box. He can punch. But guess what? Even Superman has a weakness and we saw a little bit of that weakness in that first fight. Some call him Chino, but we call him Mr. Kryptonite.”

ROBERT GARCIA, Maidana’s Trainer
“We are glad Maywweather is giving us the rematch. He’s a tremendous warrior and a tremendous fighter, but we know that we are going to go out and give everybody what they want to see: a great fight.”

VIDEO: Marcos Maidana video roundtable

TICKETS FOR “MAYHEM: FLOYD MAYWEATHER VS. MARCOS MAIDANA 2” ARE AVAILABLE AT THE BOX OFFICE TUESDAY, JULY 15 AT 1 P.M. ET/10 A.M PT

LAS VEGAS (July 14, 2014) – Tickets for the biggest rematch in recent memory, “MAYHEM: Mayweather vs. Maidana 2,” go on sale tomorrow, Tuesday, July 15 at 1 p.m. ET/10 a.m. PT.

The repeat of what many are calling 11-time world champion Floyd “Money” Mayweather’s toughest test to date against former WBA Welterweight World Champion Marcos “El Chino” Maidana willtake place Saturday, Sept. 13 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena live on SHOWTIME PPV®.

Tickets for the live event are priced at $1,600, $1,200, $850, $600 and $350, not including applicable service charges and taxes. Tickets are limited to eight (8) per person with a limit of four (4) at the $350 price range. To charge by phone with a major credit card, call Ticketmaster at (800) 745-3000. Tickets also are available at www.mgmgrand.com or www.ticketmaster.com.

With only one day left until tickets go on sale for this mega-fight, check out these facts about Floyd Mayweather and MGM Grand*.
Mayweather’s last nine fights have taken place at the MGM Grand Garden Arena, including the May 3 first meeting of Mayweather and Maidana.
Mayweather’s September 2013 fight against Canelo Alvarez broke the Nevada boxing gross gate record of more than $20 million.
Mayweather has participated in three of the five biggest boxing gates in Nevada history, and seven of the 20 biggest boxing gates in the sport’s history.
“THE MOMENT: Mayweather vs. Maidana” was the fourth largest boxing gate in Nevada history
*Facts from Nevada State Athletic Commission official website

“MAYHEM: Mayweather vs. Maidana 2”, a 12-round world championship bout for Mayweather’s 147-pound titles taking place Saturday, Sept. 13 at MGM Grand in Las Vegas, is promoted by Mayweather Promotions and Golden Boy Promotions and sponsored by Corona Extra. The event will be produced and distributed live by SHOWTIME PPV and is the fourth fight of a lucrative six-fight deal with Showtime Networks Inc.

For more information go to, visit www.mayweatherpromotions.com, www.goldenboypromotions.com, www.sports.sho.com and www.mgmgrand.com and follow on Twitter at @floydmayweather, @chinomaidana, @mayweatherpromo, @GoldenBoyBoxing, @ShoSports and @Swanson_Comm, follow the conversation using #Mayhem and become a fan on Facebook at www.facebook.com/FloydMayweather, www.facebook.com/MayweatherPromotions, www.facebook.com/GoldenBoyBoxing and www.facebook.com/SHOboxing.