By Mark Vester
The family feud between the Mayweathers will finally get a chance to come to life in the ring. The ongoing battle between Floyd Mayweather Sr. and his pound for pound son, Floyd Mayweather Jr., is set to explode in September.
Mayweather Sr. has accepted Oscar De La Hoya’s three-fight training assignment, which includes the September rematch with Floyd Jr. Although Mayweather Sr. was absent from De La Hoya’s corner for the first fight, a big part of the HBO reality series, “De La Hoya-Mayweather 24/7,” was focused on the feud between Floyd Sr. and his son, and the rivalry that exists with his brother, Roger Mayweather.
He previously trained De La Hoya for six-years, but after requesting a trainer’s fee of $2 million, De La Hoya replaced him with trainer Freddie Roach. The fight, which took place last May, broke several revenue records within the sport of boxing when 2.4 million pay-per-view purchases were made. Mayweather Jr. would win the fight on the cards with a close split-decision.
The fight was successful, but the action in the ring did not live up to the promised hype of an all-out war. The family-twist will provide plenty of drama with the pre-event festivities.
Speaking with The Grand Rapids Press, Floyd Sr. knows the general public will turn the rematch into a father vs. son/father vs. brother fiasco, but he also knows the family angle will make the fight more successful.
"Another fight between them wouldn't do anything like it did before without me in the corner," Floyd Sr said. “It's brother vs. brother, father vs. son. I'm not looking at it personally, or like a rivalry, but I know people are going to put it the way they want to put it, and that's fine."
Floyd Sr. groomed and polished his son’s skills during his amateur days and the early part of his professional career. After years of internal tension, Floyd Jr. replaced his father with Uncle Roger. Floyd Jr.’s public praise for Roger’s abilities as a trainer, and attributing his professional success to Roger, has only caused more tension with Floyd Sr.
The first assignment with De La Hoya is a tune-up bout on May 3. The list of possible opponents is down to three names. Steve Forbes, Paulie Malignaggi, and Dmitriy Salita. Floyd Sr. views the tune-up as a win in the bank.
"In reality, that fight should be in the bank," Floyd Sr said. "If you're already getting ready for Little Floyd, the first guy should be no problem."
The older Mayweather has been watching his son’s progress and picked up on a lot of flaws that he plans to expose with De La Hoya. He doesn’t want to De La Hoya to just win, he wants him to kick his son’s ass.
"I see things he's doing wrong," Floyd Sr said. "The thing he doesn't understand is I still study the game. I taught him everything he knows, and I've brought out more stuff in myself since we were together. Whatever my son wants to say about it, I'm the motivator, the innovator, the creator, and I'm still here today. It's just a job to me, and I'm going to train that old man to go in there and kick his ass."
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