By Chris Robinson
As far back as early August, respected trainer Floyd Mayweather Sr. had advised me of talks he had been having with super middleweight contender Andre Dirrell. To go in hand with those discussions, Mayweather also revealed that rapper-turned-promoter 50 Cent was working on a new gym in the Las Vegas area, one in which he said he would likely be frequenting.
Fast forward some months later and Mayweather’s proclamations seem to be near fruition.
Spotted training with Dirrell the past few weeks inside of Johnny Tocco’s Boxing Gym, Mayweather confirmed to me on Monday afternoon that his team and his stable of fighters will be making the official move to 50 Cent’s gym on Tuesday.
“It’s a nice gym,” Mayweather said of the facility. “It’s a clean gym. He’s putting his work into it, his money into it, and I think it’s a nice thing. It’s going to be real nice.”
The gym is said to be located right by the Top Rank Gym, the same building that has been used in recent camps by former middleweight champion Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. and welterweight hopeful Jessie Vargas.
Aside from Dirrell, Mayweather has been working with undefeated junior welterweight contender Lydell Rhodes and will recently be adding talented amateur Donte Strayhorn, by way of Cincinnati, Ohio, to his stable.
In hearing him speak, you can tell Floyd Joy is looking at this as a somewhat of a new beginning.
“I’ve got a whole lot of fighters and they will be coming down to 50’s gym,” Mayweather said. “I got a whole bunch of them and I got a whole bunch yet to come. I’m getting calls every day.”
