Manny Pacquiao: 10 Things We Learned From the Floyd Mayweather Interview
Floyd Mayweather finally talked over the weekend.
With all of his legal proceedings going on, Mayweather hadn't taken time to discuss where he's at, his future, or the possibility of facing Manny Pacquiao.
He finally addressed those subjects though, with writer Ben Thompson and fighthype.com.
Give Thompson credit—it's a great interview, and it's everything we have been wanting to hear from Mayweather over the past six months.
Whether you agree with it or not is one thing, but if you're a boxing fan you can at least hear his thoughts now on certain things and form your own opinions.
I've gone through and pulled some of the best stuff from the interview. There are some things I won't even touch though, because they're slanderous.
But here are 10 things to take away from the interview.
10. Does This Make Sense?
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Early on in the interview, Floyd sounded-off about matters in the sports world.
"I sit back and think about certain things that go on in our country," he said. "I think about the Michael Vick situation."
"Not saying it was right, but he did time in prison for dog fighting and you got people that's out here killing innocent animals every day; innocent rabbits, innocent deer, and innocent birds. But why aren't they in prison?"
I'm going to pretend he's not equating deer hunting with the inhumane treatment and killing of pit bulls.
Moving on...
9. About His Critics
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I've said it before, and Floyd just keeps proving me right—he has a massive persecution complex.
What he doesn't get is that he brings it on himself with his own behavior and attitude.
"Most people should be talking about how Floyd Mayweather is a great undefeated future Hall of Famer that's his own promoter and that works extremely hard to get to where he's at," he said.
"Instead, all you hear is hate and jealous remarks from critics who criticize me and, you know, most of the time, the people that criticize me can't do what I do."
No, no. They just have a problem with a talented fighter who should be a superstar and who cusses out security guards for no reason.
8. On Being Treated Unfairly
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Floyd seems to believe he's treated unfairly and pointed to the UStream video, in which he went off on a racist, homophobic rant about Manny Pacquiao.
"They're going to write and say what they want to say, no matter what you tell them," he said.
"It's like this—when I said what I said on UStream, they said I was racist, but the next day when I apologized, they didn't put that on every network and in every newspaper."
What he doesn't realize is he doesn't control the space for stories in newspapers.
Most fans can decipher between a true apology and someone who's just apologizing when they got caught doing something wrong or because they just want the heat off themselves.
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7. On Muhammad Ali
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When talking about criticism, Floyd, of course, had to reference Muhammad Ali.
"I take my hat off to Muhammad Ali," he said. "When Muhammad Ali was at the top, everyone hated him.
Now that he can barely walk, he can barely talk, the world praises him and loves him and I never want to be in that position."
And now you can see why he continues to catch so much criticism. You have to think he really doesn't get it.
6. On Manny Pacquiao's Fights
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One problem Floyd has with Manny Pacquiao is the timing of his fights and how he's fought them at catchweights.
If they don't fight at a normal weight class, fighters will often agree to a weight in-between each other, which is called a "catch weight."
"I don't think a lot of people really know and understand—I beat Ricky Hatton when he was undefeated," Mayweather said.
"I beat De La Hoya at a weight that De La Hoya was comfortable at. He fought De La Hoya at a catchweight. I mean, how can you be world champion if you're fighting guys at a catchweight?
"I mean, to be the official champion at that weight class, or to be known as the man at that weight class, you have beat the guy at his weight class.
All these guys he's beaten, he's beaten them at catchweights to where the guys are drained once they get inside that squared circle; they're already drained."
5. The Significance of Facing Pacquiao
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While some of his comments didn't make sense, Floyd definitely knows the significance and importance of facing Manny Pacquiao.
"I really don't have nothing against Manny Pacquiao," Mayweather said. "I think the people make it more than what it really is because I think it will be one of the biggest fights in boxing history.
"I think that any fight that I'm involved in will always be a mega-fight.
"It's just so much behind this fight which will make this fight truly unbelievable as far as numbers and as far as people tuning in to watch the event; it's a very huge event."
Absolutely dead-on.
4. Why The Fight Didn't Happen
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Floyd said the main reason the fight with Pacquiao hasn't happened was blood testing, but he went overboard and actually said things that could get him in more legal trouble in terms of a potential slander lawsuit.
No need to include it here.
"The Mayweather-Pacquiao fight didn't get made because Manny Pacquiao said he wanted two weeks of non-testing," he said.
"The last two weeks leading up until the fight, he didn't want to take the tests, so that's why the fight didn't happen.
"Everything they asked of me, I agreed and what I asked of them, they didn't agree. When Manny gave blood before the first Morales fight, he lost. He didn't give blood for the next two fights and he knocked Morales out with ease."
What Mayweather implies right here is simple. I think we all know what he's getting at.
3. On Being Contacted By Bob Arum
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Thompson mentions how promoter Bob Arum said a fight between Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather Jr. was his top priority following Pacquiao's win over Antonio Margarito.
He then asked if Mayweather or advisor Al Haymon was contacted by Arum.
"Al Haymon is my go-to guy. We didn't hear anything from Bob Arum," Mayweather said. "What people must understand, there's no stopping me, Al Haymon and HBO together.
"...Nobody has reached out. After the first negotiations didn't come through, nobody reached out to Al."
2. His Finances
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Even if he doesn't fight this year, Floyd won't be hurting.
"You gotta realize, Manny's not making the money he should be making," he said. "He's making a lot, but he's not seeing a lot. I'm making it and I'm seeing it.
"Without boxing in 2011, Floyd Mayweather is still going to see over $30 million just from businesses outside the ring."
Good to know he's got financial security, and doesn't mind referring to himself in the third person.
1. On Pacquiao-Mosley
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Besides being one of the greatest fighters of his generation, Floyd is also quite the fight fan and gave his prediction on Manny Pacquiao's fight with Shane Mosley on May 7.
"I don't think Shane really has too much left at 39," he said. "I take my hat off to Shane for being a tough competitor; he's a future Hall of Famer, but I think he was in a grueling fight with me. It was a very tough fight for him."
"From the outside looking in, people didn't realize how tough of a fight it was with me, but it was a tough fight for him. I think that was his last hurrah."
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