As the world awaits the May 5, 2007 super-fight between Oscar De La Hoya and Floyd Mayweather Jr., the Golden Boy and the Pretty Boy each called in from their respective training camps to give us all a little insight as to how preparations are coming along and their thoughts on the fight. Much of the controversy surrounding this fight is the situation with Floyd Mayweather Sr. who has now rejoined forces with his son and brother, Roger, after working with De La Hoya for the last six years. When asked about the situation, The Pretty Boy confirmed the rumors stating “I’m in the gym, Roger’s in the gym. My dad is in the gym too. This is a tremendous combination. The Mayweather name in boxing is great. Roger doesn’t get the props he deserves, though. He has been with me since I was 18 years old and has gotten me where I am right now.”
It is still yet to be determined where exactly father Mayweather will be on fight night. “My dad will be sitting front row giving advice or he may be in the corner, we don’t know yet,” said Mayweather. When the issue of any bad blood in the family was brought up, Mayweather said, “the media is what kept this so-called bad blood ongoing for so many years when you all really don’t know what you’re talking about. There has been nothing but love in the gym between us all. To tell you the truth, we don’t even talk about boxing or anything at all in the gym, it’s all business. When the training day is over, Roger goes home, my dad goes home, and I go home. That’s it,” added Mayweather.
De La Hoya on the other hand, does not seem to be bothered by this family reunion. When asked if he felt the merger was to his disadvantage, De La Hoya said “No, I don’t think it will make a difference at all. We’re ready for everything and we’re ready to stick to our game plan.” The “we” that De La Hoya is referring to is the combination of himself, and new corner man, world class trainer Freddie Roach. “Freddie Roach has been very instrumental to me. He has made a big difference with our strategy with me being the bigger man. He is really helping to get me into tip top shape,” said De La Hoya. “Mayweather Sr. would make me throw a 25 punch combo, and the first three or four punches would be effective but the rest would be just arm punches. With Roach you throw combinations that you would actually throw in a fight. Overall, Roach is more intense,” added De La Hoya.
The focus of the conversation then turned to how each fighter would handle one another. Mayweather plans to make easy work of De La Hoya, stating that he is a “straight up and down fighter. He fights really, really stiff. I fight with special effects, while you already know what Oscar is going to do. He is a one-ended fighter.” Mayweather also added that on fight night he would just simply go with the flow. “Sometimes I fight inside, sometimes I fight outside. Sometimes I box and move and other times I stand toe-to-toe. You don’t know which Floyd Mayweather will show up on May 5th but you will be excited and entertained. Oscar likes to lay off in the first six round and then come on strong, or come on strong and try to get an early knockout. I am ready to fight 12 rounds, not just six,” stated the Pretty Boy.
When questioned about his body adjusting to yet another new weight class, Mayweather confidently said “I’ve been training really hard and my body looks great, better than it ever has before.”
De La Hoya has also flown in fellow pugilist as well as business partner, Shane Mosley, to spar with him in order to get ready for the speed that Mayweather brings to table. Mayweather laughs at this, stating “Shane Mosley is just a sparring partner, that’s all he is and that’s all he should be.”
Taunting and bashing De La Hoya seems to be a big part of Mayweather’s game plan, but the Golden Boy isn’t the least bit surprised. “I never once had contact with Floyd Jr. prior to our media tour for this fight,” said De La Hoya. “I only knew what his father told me, that he’s a bad guy and he doesn’t listen. Now I understand what he was talking about,” added De La Hoya, with a little chuckle. “He has gotten under my skin and I plan on being very aggressive in there with him,” said De La Hoya, who always seems to be at his best when he is personally insulted (see De La Hoya's complete obliteration of Vargas and Mayorga).
This doesn’t seem to bother Mayweather too much as he doesn’t thing to highly of De La Hoya either. “Oscar is a fake ass fighter and a faggot. He said he wanted certain gloves, I said okay. He said he didn’t want to fight at a catch weight, I said fine. I even agreed to the place where he wanted to fight. These guys ain’t no different than Don King or anyone else. After this, I never want to deal with Golden Boy promotions again.”
If Mayweather never deals with Golden boy promotions again, how can he ever secure another huge payday against Mosley? You really don’t think he is going to stay retired, do you?
De La Hoya – Mayweather “The World Awaits” will be broadcast live on HBO Pay Per View on May 5th at 9pm eastern time.
