Four-division champion Floyd Mayweather Jr. is considered the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world today. With 36 wins and no losses, he has a new promoter, Dan Goossen, and new head trainer, Leonard Ellerbe (who was part of Floyd’s team but worked under Roger Mayweather previously), for his bid to claim the world welterweight championship from Carlos “Tata” Baldomir. On a conference call today, Floyd discussed how he plans to beat Baldomir and what comes next in his legacy.
“I approach every fight like it’s my last fight,” Mayweather began. “I’m dedicated to my craft. I’m dedicated to the sport of boxing. This is what I love. I’m the face of boxing. I’ve weighed 147 from the beginning of camp because I was at camp a lot earlier than normal.” Contradicting the common perception, the former 130 pounder then said, “what a lot of people don’t know is that I’m a bigger guy than Baldomir.” Mayweather is an inch taller and boasts a higher knockout percentage. “I don’t have to brag or boast about what I do,” Mayweather said. “That was the young Floyd. I’m more mature. Out of 36 opponents, 24 got knocked out and the ones that didn’t get knocked out got punished. I know he’s a strong fighter but I’ve been in this sport 20 years. I feel I should be able to conduct myself in an orderly fashion. It’s in the bloodline. I don’t even think about it. I know what I got to go out there and do. The less you get hit, the longer you last in the sport. I’m real, real sharp. I’m sharp as a razor.”
He then explained his reasoning for starting camp early. “When you’re young, you just want to do everything your way. I wanted to start early, do something different. It helped. I like it a lot better. I’m never tired. I’ve never looked like this before. Of course I always play basketball, go running and skate a lot. Once I went to camp, my conditioning was already there. I’m always working out. I work out through the whole year. After my fight, I’ll be at 24 hour fitness the next day. Boxing camp is always 8 weeks. But my training period is year round. I’m always at my best. I’m in tremendous shape. I’m running between 5-8 miles a day. I’ve got the eight-pack going on. I’m a solid 147 pounds.
“I always knew that a lot of people didn’t really understand me,” he continued. “I’m not like any other people in the sport. I didn’t go into a gym at 16. My first day home from the hospital I went to the boxing gym. Boxing is in my bloodline. I knew I was going to end up carrying boxing on my shoulders. I don’t like how a lot of these decisions are going in this sport though. Managers need to stop taking so much money from their fighters. Judges need to be fair. If fighters are going to fight, have your weight down! Check your weight. In the sport, we need to clean that type of stuff up.”
When discussing Baldomir, Mayweather said, “I see he makes a lot of mistakes. I need to capitalize off his mistakes. He’s flat-footed. Of course, some of his shots come too wide and conditioning wise, he can’t be tired in four rounds.” Squashing the rumors about being knocked down by Hernandez, a fighter Baldomir’s trainer worked with, Floyd laughed. “I’ve never been knocked down. I hit Hernandez on the top of the head and I hurt my hand and turned away and my glove didn’t even touch the ground, but they counted it as a knockdown. Baldomir is entitled to say what he wants to say but I better say this - he better not make no mistakes! I’ve been hit by some of the best – Castillo, Corrales. I’m not worried about getting knocked out. All he can do is box and within fifteen minutes, his eyes are going to be closed, there’ll be a white flag going up in there, the ref will count to ten. I let my hands do the talking. I am going to knock him out. I don’t believe I’m going to knock him out, I am going to knock him out. It won’t go twelve. He’ll be too tired. He’s going to get a brutal beating. That’s what the fans want to see and that’s what I’m going to give the fans. He says he wants to get a chance to see his face on the newspapers the next day. He’s going to be on the newspapers alright – but he’s going to be face down.”
One reporter asked about the charity work Mayweather does. “Thanks for asking me that,” he said. “This is what they should write about. Kids in Grand Rapids, Michigan were standing at the bus stop. We bought hats and gloves for the kids who didn’t have anything to keep them warm. We feed the homeless on Thanksgiving. Grand Rapids, Michigan is where I come from. I always try to give back to my community. After the Baldomir fight, we’re having a toy drive skating event. Over the summer, we had a concert and we had so many different stars out to give back to the community that’s never seen so many celebrities before. It feels great to give back to my city and to the people that are less fortunate.”
And as far as Floyd’s future? “It’s hard to say,” he began. “In the sport of boxing, it’s hard to say. Floyd Mayweather doesn’t fight at one weight class. He fights at different weight classes. It depends on what my team negotiates for me. Ricky Hatton – he’s the same guy who asks for ridiculous numbers. He’s going to get his ass busted. Kostya Tszyu don’t want me. He’s too stiff. He’s not mobile enough and what you can’t do is show me that you’re a quitter and quit on the stool. That’s a no-no. Miguel Cotto is a good fighter but Bob Arum could have made that fight happen at 140. So I don’t know what the future holds for Floyd Mayweather. I’m focused on Baldomir. This is a fight you can’t miss. I’m going to go out there and be my best. I was born to be a champion.”
Tune in November 4 on PPV for the welterweight title fight “Pretty Risky” to see who prevails.
