De La Hoya: “Perfect Opportunity to Beat Floyd”

Jerry Glick reporting: Way above the New York Midtown streets on the 80th floor of the Empire State Building a press conference was held on Tuesday to announce to the local media the return of Floyd Mayweather who will face Juan Manuel Marquez on July 18, 2009 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.

Golden Boy in conjunction with Mayweather Promotions are promoting the fight and calling it “Number One/Numero Uno.” Oscar De La Hoya, the head at Golden Boy, picks his man, Marquez, to win.

“I like Marquez,” said the now retired Golden Boy. “I like Marquez because styles make fights. I just think that Marquez has the style to beat Mayweather because of his smarts, he faints, and he’s got a great trainer in Nacho. I think that the style that Marquez is going to present, it’s going to be an aggressive style but smart. It’s been a couple of years so this is the perfect opportunity to beat Floyd.”

Golden Boy CEO Richard Schaefer took the helm and told the media assembled that Mayweather is back in part to build Mayweather Promotions.

“Floyd has made a commitment not just to come back to the sport but to really focus on building up his promotional company as well,” Schaefer pointed out. “I will do whatever we can in our power to help you and continue to work with you to build up your promotion company.”

Schaefer added that Floyd will bring back the biggest of PPV fights. He pointed out how Mayweather has created 3.4 million buys in his two big fights with Hatton and De La Hoya garnering a quarter billion dollars. This, he says, makes Floyd a tremendous asset to boxing.

Marquez: “I’ve got to prepare myself mentally”

Juan Manuel Marquez, 50-4-1 (37), knows what he is confronted with; he said that it is going to be a tough fight and that he is building up his body, even training with big rocks to gain muscle.

“This is different,” said Marquez. “I’ve been working, 20, 25 days on strength training, building mass, strengthening my body to be prepared for this fight. I’m working out with rocks and boulders. I’m going up and working out in the mountains.”

“I’m working out physically so I can build muscle,” he added. “To build mass to able to compete at that weight, not just build muscle and be big, but do it in the right way to be affective.”

“I’ve got to prepare myself mentally because it’s a tough fight,” explained Marquez, “And it is in a division that I am not accustom to fighting in, the welterweight division.”

He sees his road to victory paved with skill, “Be smart, a lot of speed, and a lot of technique. I always prepare to win; mentally and physically, getting myself ready so I can win. He’s not a machine, he’s a human being and any human being can be beaten. “

Mayweather: “When you talk boxing, you’re talking Floyd Mayweather; I am boxing”

Floyd Mayweather was Floyd Mayweather; rather than talking about Marquez, he chose to talk about his favorite topic, Floyd Mayweather. He spent much of his time talking about how well he packs in the fans. That he is the “cash cow.” As true as that is, Marquez seemed to be no more than an afterthought to Mayweather. Yet somehow one must feel endeared to this strange character who is the latest in boxing’s long history of great, lovable, self engrossed, talkative super fighters.

Mayweather’s meanderings went from his grand accomplishments in boxing, and make no mistake, he is a very accomplished superstar boxer, to his parents’ foibles and how he was not born with as much as a plastic spoon in his mouth. He defended his dad’s skill as a trainer blaming Hatton for not following instructions.

Boxing is part and parcel to who this talented man-child is. Even at home, strategy is on his mind.

“I walk around my house practicing on different things that I know that fighters ain’t working on like the jab to the body; you see all fighters want to use it now. You see fighters want to roll their shoulders, I see it, but I’m not knocking them. I respect them because I laid the pattern.”

Mayweather sees Marquez as a defeated fighter before the bell.

“He’s a warrior but when I look at him I see a lot of scar tissue. So he’s offensive minded but he got to become more defensive minded. He’s a hell of a fighter and a true warrior and he’s a guy who’s been around the sport for a long time. I don’t have to bad mouth nobody like ‘I hate’m’ and all that. I’ve done that; but with my retirement I learned when I talked with my mother I learned that as easy as God gave it to you it could be taken away, so I’m thankful for what I got because anybody can be in my shoes but I’m one of the chosen ones, so I’m thankful for that.”

Mayweather on Bob Arum

Mayweather, 39-0 (25), has accused Bob Arum of matching former Mayweather victims against his fighters. Floyd believes that he has softened them up leading to them losing.

“I beat fighters mentally, and once I get them mentally, I beat them physically so they’re never the same. Once I beat DeMarcus Chop Chop Corley, look how many losses he had after that. Once I beat Zab Judah look what happened to his career. Look what happened to Manfredy, look what happened to Corrales, may he rest in peace.”

Mayweather on the layoff and being number one

Retirement was good, said Mayweather. It allowed him to recoup himself physically. He states that he wasn’t 100% against many of his biggest opponents including De La Hoya.

“To let my body rejuvenate and recoup because everybody I fought from Oscar De La Hoya on down I was never 100%; never. Right now my body is fine.”

Regardless that this fight is being called “Number one/Numero Uno, Floyd claims that it doesn’t really mean a heck of a lot to him.

“I don’t fight for bragging rights,” said Mayweather. “I earned that. If people want to say that Manny Pacquiao is number, at the box office Mayweather is number one. Credentials and stats don’t lie. I’ve never been knocked down or knocked out. We all been hit with a good shot but you saw me shake it off like a warrior. Like I said before, if Manny Pacquiao wants to be number one, let’m.”

Floyd then compared their careers from back in 1997, 98, and 99, when Floyd was a young upstart he asks where was Pacman back then. He pointed to the similarity in their ages as a reference for how the two careers have played out over the decade.

“Where was he at when I was dominating,” asked Floyd invoking the names of Jones and Hopkins. “Where was he at when I was a teenager dominating in this sport? Where was everybody?”

Mayweather Jr. on Mayweather Sr.

For a number of years Mayweather has had a love/hate relationship with his dad Floyd Sr. It appears that the love side is in force at the moment.
“You know sometimes you see my dad with the colorful suits and the rings on,” said Floyd. “You must realize my dad was incarcerated at one time. If you were incarcerated two years ago when My Space (was popular), if we were locked up we would still think its My Space, but now it’s Facebook. Things change.”

If you are in for a number of years and come out and see cell phones you would be unfamiliar with them and it is that thinking that he believes the reason that his dad wears gold and wild suits; because that is what was in style when he left society for awhile and he is stuck in the past.

“That’s what happens when you are incarcerated,” said the son.

Mayweather on loyalty

He spoke to Don King and believes that he could have made much more money, but that his loyalty caused him to work with those who were there when he was down.

“What I could have got up front was more than any other fighter, one hundred million,” said Floyd. “But I stuck with people who where there when I needed them, not just financially, but in my rough times. That’s loyalty to Al Hayman and Leonard (Ellerbe). People I can talk to.”

PUNCHLINE

Bert Sugar, that cigar chomping boxing regular and historian had a few things to impart on this reporter during the press conference.

“Everyone is looking at this as a tune-up (for Mayweather), because Mayweather is a much more recognizable name.” said Sugar. “However, I got to tell you this ain’t no tune-up. Marquez might be in many people’s mind’s eye the best fighter out there including Pacquiao. Remember he fought him twice, and I thought he beat him twice, one draw and one split decision loss by one point. So what you have here is a legitimate fight for Mayweather.”

Source: http://www.secondsout.com/usa-boxing-news?ccs=229&cs=84727