Exclusive Interview with Jeff Mayweather: Floyd is Gonna whip Pacquiao

by: DB News Room
Albert Alvarez

Exclusive Interview with Jeff Mayweather

Jeff, what’s good? What can you tell us about the Godzilla of all fights being inked?

JM- Well you know Albert, it’s on the table and being reviewed so you and I both know that it needs to happen.

What can you tell us about the split in this enormous pot?

JM- I believe that it has to be 50/50 right down the middle. Someone will always have something to say, like Floyd can say that he is undefeated and he just had a real easy time with Marquez, where with Pacquiao, Pacquiao struggled hard as heck against Marquez. Pacquiao can come back and say well I beat Oscar and Hatton much easier than you did. So that is why I am saying that the way to be fair in all this is to split it right down the middle.

Now obviously this clash is a real Super Bowl type of event here, so one should pretty much treat it as such. In saying that, don’t you feel that this fight should end up in a huge stadium like they used to do in the old days?

JM- You make a great point by saying that we should treat this fight as a Super Bowl event. I agree with you on that, but I still feel that this fight belongs in Vegas. I mean come on now Albert, Vegas is where the top money is made and above all, Vegas is the Boxing Capital of the world.

On our weekly spotlight column, I recently just yesterday wrote on how I compare this fight to Oscar vs. Tito. Oscar brought the beauty of boxing as well as his good looks just as Floyd brings now, and Tito brought the beast of boxing in the sense that he was knocking guys out with either hand just as Pacquiao does now. I got to tell you though, that for this fight I have no idea who will win, I even ask our readers for help in helping me decide on a winner.

JM- That is a great comparison. Oscar versus Trinidad is very much like what Floyd and Pacquiao bring to the table. Like you said Oscar was a boxer and Trinidad was the banger. Who did you think would win that fight, between Oscar and Trinidad?

Well I was a huge Trinidad fan because of the vicious pictures he painted, but I always knew that Oscar would win because Oscar was the more versatile of the two.

JM- Well there you go. You have the same thing happening here. You can’t tell me that Pacquiao is more versatile than Floyd. Floyd is by far the most versatile fighter out there.

I agree with you that Floyd is very versatile and can adapt quick to anything thrown his way, but PacMan brings that blinding speed out of the southpaw stance with either hand, I mean I can honestly see Floyd being hit flush with a shot he doesn’t see coming.

JM- Well you are right. Pacquiao is fast and he can catch Floyd with something, but the question is how often that can happen through the course of the fight. You can’t hurt what you can’t hit. Floyd is gonna whip him.

So if Floyd is going to whip Pacquiao, then out of all the welterweights out there today, who has the best chance on coming close to Floyd?

JM- I would have to say Pacquiao.

So you think that Pacquiao can beat Mosley?

JM- Yes, but only if he does it at a catchweight. At 147 I’m not so sure. Mosley is very durable and is a heck of a fighter but he is also easy to hit with the right hand. In fact, if Berto can land that right often then he can beat Shane, but Shane is tough and has that great chin. Shane has a better chin than Berto does, so we’ll have to see.

Alright Jeff, well thank you so much for your time and keep me posted on anything new.

JM- Yes, Albert for sure. Next time you come back out here hit me up so we can talk. Thanks for the call, take care.

Pacquiao-Mayweather Should be 'ABV'- Anywhere but Vegas

By Steve Kim

On March 13th, the mega-bout between Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather will take place. This promotion will be one of the biggest of all-time and harkens back to days gone by when boxing wasn’t just covered by the daily papers on a regular basis, but was front page news. As I’m typing this up on Wednesday afternoon from my office in Montebello, California, I was informed that Richard Schaefer, CEO of Golden Boy Promotions, had canceled his trip to Dallas to meet with Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones about putting this fight at his new billion-dollar football palace, which I’m told came as a great surprise to his counterpart, Bob Arum and HBO Sports president, Ross Greenburg, who were both prepared to make the trek to Texas.

I’ll say it right now, that’s where this fight belonged. And if it didn’t end up there, it should end up at the Superdome in New Orleans or the Georgia Dome in Atlanta. Where it shouldn’t end up is anywhere near Las Vegas.

Yeah, I said it. Sorry, we’ve been there and done that.

If this fight is really about promoting the sport of boxing overall and really having a transcendent appeal, why in the world you would take it back to the same setting that helped make boxing a niche sport to begin with a couple of decades ago? When boxing was truly thriving, events like Pacquiao-Mayweather didn’t take place in casinos out in the desert oasis. They took place in major cities like Chicago, New York and Los Angeles, where over-flow crowds, in excess of 50,000, regularly packed stadiums to watch championship fights. When the large majority of boxing’s biggest bouts started taking place almost exclusively in casino resorts, it was a major factor in boxing decline in general popularity.

Does a bout the caliber of Pacquiao-Mayweather, which has already garnered unprecedented interest from fans and media alike, really belong in an arena that holds less than 20,000 patrons? Let’s make this very clear, the only ones who really benefit from this fight being in Las Vegas are the ticket scalpers…uhhh, I mean, brokers, who in one of the business’ dirty little secrets, are in cahoots with the promoters themselves to make sure the average fans cannot purchase a large majority of the tickets to big fights at face value. Do you know why you poor schmucks can’t buy even the cheapest ticket for a lot of these promotions, even though you spend all morning on the phone trying to get through on the first day tickets go up for sale?

It’s simple. A very, very small number of tickets are actually made available to the public to begin with. The rest? Well, they go to corporate sponsors, the casinos themselves (who give them out to their big players) and then the brokers, who create a secondary market right off the bat. I’ve already read that if the fight is in Vegas, the seats will be priced between $2,500 (which none of you really have a shot at anyway, under any circumstance) and $500 (which will be immediately jacked up to three or times more than face value after the few seats that are actually made available to the public are quickly gobbled up.).

Put this in a much larger venue and you give fans a real opportunity to actually enjoy a big fight atmosphere, which is key in creating and cultivating a new fan base. I mean, that is an important facet of this promotion, isn’t it? Boxing, unfortunately, at the highest levels, has catered exclusively to the elite. Joe Public, was priced out and left out long ago. Seriously, what other professional sports industry would even entertain the thought of putting such a seminal event in such a small venue? It made me chuckle that Las Vegas was talking about building a makeshift arena that will seat 30,000 for this fight. Could you imagine telling a Roger Goodell or David Stern, “Hey, you guys are putting on perhaps the most important event in your sports recent history, how about us putting up a bunch of bleacher seats in a vacant lot, near the strip in Las Vegas and taking it there?”

And yeah, I know, events like the Super Bowl and Final Four have long ago become nothing more than one big corporate cocktail party where the velvet rope is only opened for the rich and famous. But there’s a huge difference. These events aren’t on pay-per-view. They are already shown on the biggest platform possible. Boxing, long ago, went away from this as the sports decision makers decided it would be wiser to take the welfare checks that are provided by the premium cable networks in the form of licensing fees.

Boxing had a golden opportunity to be put on the same stage as the Super Bowl and NBA All-Star Game, which the new Dallas Cowboys stadium will be playing host to in the near future. That would have spoken volumes to the magnitude and importance of this event.

There’s a train of thought that, for all this city has done for this business, boxing had an obligation to bring this fight there. Hogwash and poppycock, I say (yeah, hogwash and poppycock). First of all, boxing, and the big events it staged, helped put Las Vegas on the map. And many others will tell you that it was instrumental in branding properties like Caesar’s Palace in the 70s and 80s. Also, it’s not like these casinos never got any financial benefit from hosting these fights. Yes, Vegas has been great for boxing but boxing has also been vital to Vegas, too.

And Las Vegas is struggling, huh? Boo-hoo, cry me a river. Listen, it’s not like I don’t have empathy for any region that’s hurting economically, but guess what? There are about 500 other cities that are grappling with the downturn in financial fortunes. Why not have this fight in Detroit, then? Let’s be honest, this city is staggering because of its own greed and mismanagement. It overbuilt and overleveraged itself. In an ironic twist, it gambled and lost. It shouldn’t be boxing’s job to provide it with a stimulus package. And have you been to Vegas recently? I don’t find it to be all that affordable or cheap, to be honest with you.

Feeling sorry for this city is like feeling sympathetic to the guy who scammed you out of your paycheck on Three-Card Monty.

Last I checked, Vegas’ biggest weekend of the year is the Super Bowl. When was the last time this game was in “Sin City”? Pacquiao-Mayweather represents one weekend. That doesn’t rebuild any economy. By putting this fight here, all you’re doing is giving these people an opportunity to jack up hotel rooms and everything else for this particular weekend and, trust me, that is what they do. It’s legalized gouging. And for all this talk of just how boxing is propped up by this city, ask promoters how many “four-wall” deals they have had to do in recent years in Las Vegas.

But enough about them for now. Why did I want this fight in Dallas?

Simple. It was the best place to maximize this fight, as well as the sport’s appeal, and this was the perfect venue for it. Dallas, is among the nation’s biggest markets, with just under 7,000,000 inhabitants. It’s a centralized location in the United States that’s very accessible. Also, it can handle an event of this magnitude. Dallas Cowboys games regularly have crowds of over 90,000. If you’re doing Super Bowls and the like, (they just recently had over 75,000 fans for the Big XII championship game between Texas and Nebraska) they could’ve handled this fight. There are plenty of hotel rooms in the “Lone Star” state, I’ve been assured. As for some of the “stuff” that goes on in Las Vegas? As one boxing insider who has great knowledge of the region and these negotiations told me yesterday, "Hey, Steve, trust me, they have hookers in Texas, too." Hey, what happened in Dallas, would have stayed in Dallas.

Texas is vastly underrated as a boxing market. Yes, they do more than watch high school football, college football, spring football and the NFL out there. Just look at their history. Back in 1993 when Julio Cesar Chavez and Pernell Whitaker fought to their highly disputed draw at the Alamodome in San Antonio, they drew over 63,000 fans. 15 years later, as Oscar De La Hoya easily dispatched Patrick Charpentier at the Sun Bowl in El Paso, over 48,000 Texans showed up. You bring these folks significant fights, they show up in droves. They like everything big in this state.

Then there was the head Cowboy himself, Jones, who I was told by someone who had been actively involved in this process from the very beginning, "will be putting on a full-court press to get this fight. He’s not playing around." Jones would have put up his own money, this source tells me, and, unlike other suitors, he has other revenue streams like his suite holders, season ticket buyers, corporate sponsorships, food and beverage and parking, that he could rely on. He may not have blackjack tables or slot machines, but this man can compete financially. He is an audacious man. You don’t just buy the Cowboys and have the nerve to fire a legendary figure like Tom Landry and then, five years later, have the stones to jettison the great Jimmy Johnson (after he brought you two Vince Lombardi trophies) and replace him with former Oklahoma Sooner coach Barry Switzer unless you’re a bit of a risk-taker.

Jones is also a marketing genius. There is a reason why his franchise is, according to some data, the second-most valuable in the world behind Manchester United. Just my opinion, but the media savvy Jones and the attention he would have attracted from the mainstream media had the potential to add value to this event.

Yet, he was told thanks, but no thanks. Just blown off like that. "You don’t treat a guy like Jerry Jones, a legitimate guy, who moved around his schedule and canceled other appointments and do it [the opposite] way," said someone directly involved in the promotion. The Cowboys had been preparing an elaborate presentation to show Arum, Schaefer and Greenburg that Jones and his organization had long been interested in having a marquee fight card in their yard. They were just looking for the right one. This, to them, was the perfect storm. "Jerry was ready to make the biggest offer in boxing history" said a source.

Then there was Dallas Cowboy Stadium, which is quite the attraction in itself. To call it “state-of-the-art” is a massive understatement. It’s what every professional arena will strive to be for the next half century (and unlike other outdoor venues, weather would not have been a factor as it has a retractable roof). The venue has done significant numbers for every large event it has hosted and I’m told that they have already sold over 80,000 tickets for the upcoming NBA All-Star Game that takes place on February 14th. Cowboy officials believe that Pacquiao-Mayweather could’ve done upwards of 90,000.

Just think about that for a second: 90,000 fans to a fight in the year 2010. That’s staggering in many regards. In the past decade, Europe has had similar events that drew well over 30,000 that featured the likes of the Klitschkos, Ricky Hatton and Joe Calzaghe. One of the reasons why is very simple. They build local attractions and they don’t have casino fights. Lo’ and behold, boxing is still a big deal over there. They haven’t turned it into Wayne Newton with boxing gloves, just another act to fill up a room on a weekend.

Boxing has had a bit of a renaissance in 2009. Two of the major factors in this resurgence is that major pay-per-view shows have been curbed (just three of them this past year). But also, the fact is there haven’t been that many marquee shows in Las Vegas; almost none at all if you take away fights involving Pacquiao and Mayweather this past year.

Coincidence? I think not.

HBO’s Greenburg and I don’t agree on much, but we were eye-to-eye in believing that boxing had a unique opportunity with Pacquiao-Mayweather to really bring this sport to the forefront of the mainstream.

But here are the facts: Arum is a resident of Las Vegas so there had to be some political pressure on him to keep this fight in his adopted hometown. But he was at least receptive to going down and meeting Jones to see what he had to offer. Say what you want about him, but the man does have a keen historical perspective. As for Golden Boy, well, they have a very close, cozy relationship with MGM-Mirage and for them to take have played a part in taking this event elsewhere would most likely damage that union. If the Pacquiao-Mayweather fights landed outside of the 702 area code, then fights like Shane Mosley-Andre Berto (which happens on January 30th at the Mandalay Bay) might have a difficult time finding a home in the future.

Or maybe, just maybe, Mayweather and his representatives simply wanted this fight in Las Vegas. As they thought about the possibility of performing in Texas, they didn’t want to risk getting “Paulie Malignaggi’d.”

Pacquiao-Mayweather is a fight that needs to happen.

It also has to happen in the right setting.

Too bad, it won’t.


LANDSHARK

Just how much interest is there in this fight? Even Land Shark Stadium (which in the past was known as Joe Robbie Stadium, Pro Player Stadium and Dolphin Stadium) recently sent out this email to Dolphin season ticket holders:

“YOUR OPINION MATTERS TO US
We are dedicated to making the Land Shark Stadium experience the best in all of sports by seeking out your opinion as a valued Season Ticket Holder. Periodically, we will be asking you to weigh in on a variety of matters in an effort to enhance the service and value that we provide to you.

Today, we ask if you would like to see the Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather Jr. boxing match take place at Land Shark Stadium.

Bob Arum turns Mayweather-Pacquiao negotiations over to Top Rank's Todd duBoef

By David Mayo | The Grand Rapids Press

Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao won’t fight at Cowboys Stadium, which, in and of itself, was not enough to anger Bob Arum into withdrawing from active participation in the negotiations.

The way Mayweather’s representative made the 11th-hour pronouncement that Dallas is out of the running was, however.

Arum has passed on the negotiating responsibilities for his company, Top Rank Inc., which represents Pacquiao, to Todd duBoef, the company’s president.

duBoef is Arum’s stepson and has been groomed for several years as the 78-year-old promoter’s successor as chief executive of the boxing promotional company.

In the broad scheme of things, the maneuver holds little significance, although it certainly is symbolic of Arum’s distaste for the way the Dallas dismissal happened, with Richard Schaefer, chief executive of Golden Boy Promotions, telling him of the decision hours before their scheduled departure to meet with Cowboys owner Jerry Jones on Wednesday.

Schaefer -- who represents Mayweather in the negotiations but is not empowered to make decisions unilaterally without the fighter’s involvement -- did not respond to telephone messages Thursday. His administrative assistant said he would have no comment on any matters related to Mayweather-Pacquiao negotiations until a final deal was struck.

Arum’s decision also probably is based, in some part, on his difficult history with Mayweather.

Arum frequently has said he would not allow personal dislike for the Grand Rapids native to interfere with negotiations for the fight, and his withdrawal could be designed for precisely that purpose.

Also Thursday, Pacquiao’s adviser, Michael Koncz, told The Los Angeles Times that an 11th-hour offer by Staples Center to host the fight probably is a non-starter because, by his side’s estimation, state taxation in California could cost the Filipino fighter between $3 million and $5 million.

Several other sites have been considered and dismissed, including the Congo, Dubai, Atlanta, Miami and New Orleans.

That leaves MGM Grand in Las Vegas as the clear-cut frontrunner -- and the longer talks drag out for a fight just more than three months away, the more likely it becomes that MGM will host.

Promoters progressing as if Mayweather-Pacquiao a done deal

Manny Pacquiao has not signed his name on either a final contract or a deal memo, but promotional teams are discussing purse sizes and possible venues for a boxing Super Bowl.

That's how promotional teams for Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather Jr. are progressing, even if there has been no official announcement that the super-fight scheduled for March 13 has been formally inked by both men.

That official announcement is being crafted as we speak, a promotional source told The Times on Monday, even if Pacquiao hasn't signed his name on either a final contract or even a deal memo that his promoter Top Rank typically uses before working out smaller, but important, details.

"He hasn't signed a napkin," Top Rank chairman Bob Arum told The Times on Saturday, a point another source familiar with the negotiations but not authorized to speak publicly about the talks told The Times on Monday. Pacquiao might not officially sign until early January, the source said.

Still, that source said the verbal commitment by Pacquiao was so strong to Arum while the promoter visited the boxer in the Philippines last week that promoters are operating as if "it's done."

A Los Angeles news conference is being planned for sometime during the first two weeks of January, two days after the boxers first appear jointly in New York.

Already, there's been verbal agreements on the guaranteed purse money, with each receiving in excess of $20 million, with pay-per-view "upside" making pay days greater than $40 million possible, those familiar with the negotiations say.

Additionally, at this hour, the fight will be promoted by Top Rank as "Mayweather-Pacquiao," with each fighter allowed to choose their own brand of eight-ounce gloves before battling for the World Boxing Organization welterweight title that Pacquiao won Nov. 14 with a 12th-round technical knockout of Miguel Cotto.

Without discussing any specifics of negotiations, Mayweather advisor Leonard Ellerbe gave The Times an indication of why the undefeated fighter's name will be listed first in the promotion.

"Floyd's the best fighter in the world, hands down," Ellerbe said.

The debate about that opinion is this bout's best selling point.

Pacquiao, ready to win a second consecutive fighter-of-the-year award, has retired Oscar De La Hoya, knocked out Ricky Hatton in two rounds and battered the naturally bigger Cotto in his last three fights.

So often, Mayweather (40-0) boasts punching speed, fitness and defensive wizardry that trumps his opponents. That will be greatly tested by Pacquiao, whose exhaustive workout routines are legendary and whose insistence to bring massive pressure have made him boxing's first-ever seven-division world champion.

Las Vegas oddsmakers have established the bout as pick-em in the sports books.

When Pacquiao met with Arum, a source said, the boxer's enthusiasm about the fight was hinged not only on the thumbs-up by his trainer Freddie Roach to accept it but Pacquiao's own comparisons between his punishment of De La Hoya versus Mayweather's more tentative split-decision triumph over the "Golden Boy" 19 months earlier.

"Manny's coming right at him," the promotional source said.

Pacquiao has told Top Rank to send him videos of fights in which Mayweather has been especially troubled, including his ninth-round TKO of Emanuel Augustus in 2000, his unanimous decision over DeMarcus Corley in 2004 and his unanimous decision over Zab Judah in 2006.

Meanwhile, Arum, Mayweather promoter Richard Schaefer and HBO Sports President Ross Greenburg are scheduled to visit Dallas Cowboys Stadium owner Jerry Jones on Thursday to inspect if that NFL stadium could host the fight.

The thinking by those trying to get the fight out of Las Vegas -- including possible interest by Atlanta's Georgia Dome -- is that it's "bigger than boxing," on a scale with Ali-Frazier III and other mega-fights, one Dallas fight promoter said.

No matter if the bout is staged in Dallas or Las Vegas, pay-per-view sales are what mostly interest the promoters, and the fact they're so close to finalizing a boxing Super Bowl has visions of riches dancing in their heads.