GL: How has it been for Mayweather Promotions to be working with Goldenboy Promotions thus far? "Greg, Goldenboy has the best promotional company in the business now hands down. We want to model our company after theirs and hopefully one day be as successful. Their whole staff from top to bottom are very professional and they've proven they have a formula for success which is great for boxing. As DK would say "working together works."
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GL: Are you suprised at how quick the fight sold out when the tickets went on sale? Also, do you think Hatton's UK fanbase played a major part in the sellout? Â
LE:Â No, it's truly a blessing that Floyd is the face of boxing now.Â
He has established himself as a crossover star and having back-to-back eight-figure gates is truly a remarkable feat considering this is only his 5th pay-per-view fight. This has been a tremendous year for the sport and its great to see a number of great fights happening. To give you an idea of how big our event is Greg, you can take the Taylor/Pavlik fight, the Pacquio/Barrera fight, and the Mosley/Cotto fight and add them together and it still wont eclipse our live gate gross.
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In a megafight it always takes two to get the desired success you want to achieve, but for some unforseen reason Hatton has this distorted perception of himself being the draw in this fight which is far from the truth. I was reading a quote where he mentioned "he hadn't fought in front of less than 8,000 fans over the last 7 years." Obviously all the guiness he's drank over the years has affected his brain cells. Hatton's a very good undefeated fighter and he has a tremendous following in the UK, having fought 37 of his 43 fights there and we welcome that. Greg, truth be told, Hatton's fans are coming to see Floyd. That's why there's been over 30,000 ticket requests from Britian. The British fans have had unlimited access to all three of his previous fights here in the US and not one has come close to selling out. The facts are he did about 4200 paid attendance in a 18,000 seat arena in the Collazo fight that grossed $500k, he fought in the Paris ballroom against Urango and had a 5200 paid attendance that grossed $1.2m, and then he did 9800 paid at the Thomas and Mack arena with Castillo, the same arena Floyd did 15,000 with Judah coming off a loss. I guess since none of these fights soldout, then it must of
been imposter instead of Ricky Hatton.
GL: With all the trash talking that's going back and forth will Floyd be looking for the knockout come December 8th? LE: If Ricky comes to fight which I expect he will, Floyd won't have to look for the knockout because it will happen. He's said a number of times he's putting his country on his back and he won't let them down. Ricky and his trainer also say they have the right gameplan that Oscar and Castillo didn't have to solve the Mayweather puzzle, but last I checked Nevada has the best commission and they don't allow grappling and excessive holding.
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GL: Is there anything you'd like to say in closing?Â
LE: This has been a great year for Floyd and all boxing fans, thanks for all the support. The fans are in for a treat over the next month with some great upcoming fights leading into the maincourse on Dec 8th. Also, tune into another exciting 24/7 series starting on 18 Nov.
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