By Jake Donovan
Showtime continues to go all in with its coverage of “The One” pay-per-view extravaganza between Floyd Mayweather and Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez, which takes place September 14 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.
Saturday night featured the premiere of the four-part “All Access” series dedicated to the even. The prologue takes us back to the most in-ring achievements of both fighters. The first scene reveals the final moments of Mayweather’s dominant points win over Robert Guerrero this past May.
“Still undefeated…” is belted out by Hall-of-Fame ring announcer Jimmy Lennon Jr as Mayweather picks up the 44th win of his career, now unbeaten through 17 years as a prizefighter
“Right now I just can’t be beat,” insists Mayweather, a statement both with merit and without much room for debate.
The man tabbed with the best chance to threaten that current standing will be staring him down in Las Vegas next month. Setting up the fight, we go back in time two weeks further, where the cameras take us to San Antonio where Alvarez picked up the biggest win of his career with a 12-round points win over Austin Trout in a matchup of unbeaten super welterweight titlists.
From the win, time is immediately fast forwarded to the point in which both fighters agreed to face the other. Alvarez insists that history will be made, although there are contradictions to be found in his actual statement on the subject.
“All of Mexico will never forget that day. They will never forget. It’s time for a new champion,” says Alvarez, either forgetting that he – and not Mayweather – is the defending titlist in the fight, or revealing his place as a rare B-side in the promotion.
Nevertheless, the stage is set for the September 14 event. With that, the first part of All Access officially begins.
We get a glimpse at the fetishes of each fighter. Mayweather is shown examining custom-made “TMT” necklace charms, while Alvarez reveals his affinity for shoes.
“I love shoes,” Alvarez says in an honest attempt at speaking English.
Both scenes took place in New York City, preceding the first stop in their press tour. Times Square in New York City provided the backdrop for an unforgettable 10-city, two-country tour which drew hundreds of thousands of fans over a two week span.
Upon the conclusion of the tour, both fighters head to their respective training camps and prepare for two months of hard work for the biggest fight of their respective careers.
Mayweather is being examined by a doctor, a session which doesn’t break stride even as Oscar de la Hoya makes his way to the room. The two have history together, a long-standing feud stemming from their record-breaking May ’07 pay-per-view headliner. Mayweather won a 12-round split decision in a fight that shattered records at the box office.
The level of discomfort is felt the moment de la Hoya walks in, bearing a forced grin as he casually asks whether “The One” can break their own pay-per-view mark of 2.45 million units sold.
“We shall see,” Mayweather quips, barely batting an eyelash while wearing his multi-million dollar smile the entire time.
de la Hoya shakes hands with others before leaving the room, the look on his face revealing there’s no direction he’d rather head than to the nearest exit.
“Our 2007 fight will never be forgotten. There was a lot of bad blood. There was a lot of animosity and hate towards each other. There’s still this little thorn in me in the side of my ribs that I still haven’t taken out,” de la Hoya admits.
Alvarez recalls his childhood, a troublemaker befitting of his role as the youngest of seven siblings. In efforts to keep him out of trouble, a 10-year old Canelo was introduced to a boxing gym by his older brother Rigoberto. It was at that time when he met the trainer and promoter still guiding his career, Chepo and Eddy Reynoso.
Eddy Reynoso described Alvarez as a diamond in the rough. A brief amateur career was transitioned into his pro debut at age 15, and from there the rise to stardom in his native Mexico.
The cameras cut from Guadalajara to Las Vegas, where the scene is described as “just another day at the Mayweather Boxing Club.” Will Clemons, a 29-year old super welterweight from Cincinnati makes his way into the gym for his first time. Such circumstances mean an initiation – full-contact sparring with Mayweather until one fighter quits.
The cameras cut off, in accordance with Mayweather’s ‘no-filming’ rule during sparring sessions. Clemons, who has two pro fights to his name but none since 2011, reportedly lasted the equivalent of seven rounds, though uninterrupted as Mayweather beat on him for 21 consecutive mintues before the session ended.
“Will got the s*** end of the stick,” states unbeaten prospect J’Leon Love, who fights under the Mayweather Promotions banner.
A few days later, it was Mayweather who was left with a bitter taste in his mouth. This time, it was as a promoter, as cameras take us to his Shobox-televised card in July headlined by unbeaten prospect Mickey Bey Jr. For nine rounds, the fighter looked to maintain his “0” as he handed John Molina.
Then came the unbelievable finish from Molina, who had Bey badly hurt, with Mayweather and Leonard Ellerbe with mouths agape at ringside. Bey was unable to clinch his way out of trouble, taking a beating until the fight was stopped. Gone was his unbeaten record, in a fight where he was miles ahead on the scorecards.
Mayweather was professional about the situation, congratulating Molina and instructing his team of fighters at ringside to never assume that they will win every fight.
“I take every opponent seriously,” Mayweather lists as part of the motivation for being at his absolute best at all times. A reminder of this is revealed in a scene at the newly formed Nevada Boxing Hall of Fame, where the unbeaten pound-for-pound king was honored as the Fighter of the Year at the event earlier this month.
Overall, the episode wasn’t mind blowing, but served as a fitting table setter for the next three weeks. Fans of HBO’s ‘24/7’ will likely rant that watching such documentaries doesn’t feel write without the narration of Live Schreiber, but actor Barry Pepper does a masterful job of verbally encapsulating the past several weeks of the lives of Mayweather and Alvarez.
The next episode is set to air Saturday, August 31 on Showtime.
Jake Donovan is the Managing Editor of Boxingscene.com, as well as a member of Transnational Boxing Ratings Board and the Boxing Writers Association of America. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox
