Flamboyant Mayweather takes humble approach with Marquez

LAS VEGAS — In the midst of the cameras, microphones and questions, Floyd Mayweather Jr. pauses to take inventory of what's ahead.

Saturday's showdown with Juan Manuel Marquez at MGM Grand is important (HBO PPV, 9 p.m. ET), as is the TV interview he's booked to do next, but neither comes before his 9-year-old daughter, Iyanna.

"I've got to pick up my daughter from school," he says, pausing to alert his publicist, who offers to find his mother to do it. "Don't worry about my Mom I'm picking my daughter up today. She's been going to school for a while and I haven't picked her up yet."

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This is the fighter, and the man, Mayweather wants to project: A thoughtful, considerate, responsible 32-year-old father of four, dressed down in a white T-shirt, sneakers and camoflauge pants. Not the cursing, trash-talking multi-division champion, flaunting the cost of his home, designer boots or visits to strip clubs.

"(Marquez) respects my fight game. He told me that a long time ago," says Mayweather of the low-key final press conference Wednesday, where he rose to shake hands with Marquez's trainer as the pair showered one another with compliments. "It's just a lot of fighters in the past I talk trash to have really disrespected me. … So I say bad things."

Mayweather (39-0, 25 KOs), regarded as the mythical No. 1 pound-for-pound fighter before leaving in 2007, has passed every test with flying colors.

He's solved master boxers like Genaro Henandez (KO 8), brawlers like Ricky Hatton (KO 10), tall, two-fisted punchers like Diego Corrales, southpaws like Zab Judah (W 12), crafty veterans like Emanuel Augustus (KO 9) and superstars like Oscar De La Hoya (W 12).

In Marquez (50-4-1, 37 KOs) he'll meet not only the best Mexico has to offer, but one of the sport's top three fighters pound-for-pound who is as skilled with both hands as he is gritty.

Mayweather's biggest challenge of the night, however, may be this: Can he carry a major PPV show without a major foil?

Marquez has only headlined a PPV card once, a 2008 decision loss to Manny Pacquiao that drew 405,000 buys.

Before Mayweather fought De La Hoya— the greatest draw in PPV history — Mayweather hadn't exceeded 375,000 buys.

There's also the perception that this is a fight between a great little man (Marquez has never fought above 135 pounds) and a great bigger man (Mayweather has gone as high as 154). It's being billed as a welterweight bout though it'll be below the 147-pound limit. Marquez also is four years older.

"I feel like I always was a pay-per-view star," says Mayweather, whose win vs. De La Hoya drew a record 2.4 million buys and almost 1 million with Hatton. "Marquez has a good following with his Mexican people. He's going to have a lot of support."

This bout was originally announced for July 18 but pushed back to Mexican Independence weekend. Since then the push to grow this into a superfight by co-promoter Golden Boy Promotions has been substantial:

•In conjunction with NCM Fathom, the card will be shown via closed circuit in 170 theaters nationwide, with $12.50 to $15 suggested ticket prices.

•Three major sponsors are on board that weren't for De La Hoya-Mayweather: Quaker State, Affliction clothing and AT&T's first venture into boxing.

•Tecate is offering a $25 mail-in rebate on the $49.95 show for viewers, with purchase of an 18-pack or larger, and a $30 rebate for food purchases at participating stores nationwide.

•An aggressive campaign through social networking sites and in the urban dotcom markets, BET.com, JayZtv.com and Allhiphop.com, among others, to reach out to Mayweather fans.

HBO is in on it, too, using this fight as a launching pad for its new approach to saturating the marketplace with digital content.

It's all part of "the hunger to go younger," says Mark Taffet, senior vice president at HBO PPV. "If you overwhelm that younger demographic with advertising, they tune you out. They want content. ... We're moving in a completely different direction than what we were doing a year ago."

Money matters:

Marquez's base salary is $2 million for the bout. TV undercard combatants Chris John will get $50,000; Rocky Juarez $80,000; Michael Katsidis $125,000; and Vicente Escobedo $90,000.

Mayweather's purse won't be known until Friday because of deductions, says Keith Kizer, executive director of the Nevada State Athletic Commission. The IRS is expected to attend to collect back taxes. According to Kizer, the agreed upon total is "unofficially $5 million."

Source: http://www.usatoday.com/sports/boxing/2009-09-16-mayweather-marquez_N.htm