Tweet
Is this fight more personal than any other?
MAYWEATHER: Yes. He got into my personal business so I’m going to give him a personal beating. I am always a villain. To me all press it good press. I’ve been on the cover of all the magazines lately so I just say, well put me on the cover.
I’m not going to England to fight Ricky Hatton. Every night I sit home and click on HBO and watch. The superfights are only a few rounds. We have a lot of fights out there. We have a couple more fights at 140. There are two mega-fights. One of them became a WWE wrestling which was the Tszyu-Hatton fight. Me and Gatti, that is a championship fight. Tszyu is down and Ricky Hatton is up. We are going to take Gatti down I will take on Hatton and then I’ll get a little green and take on Cotto and punish him. Then I’ll be the King and go on to 147 to take over ‘47.
There was a report that you and Leonard had an exchange of words.
MAYWEATHER: We were only joking, we are always joking. I love Sugar Ray Leonard and I respect him as a champion. He is one of the greatest of all time. He always says, ‘You couldn’t beat me.’ If you let a lightweight come up and beat you at 147, I could beat you. We were only joking, I love him and he was a great champion and I would love to follow in his footsteps.
Could you elaborate on trying to emulate Whitaker and
MAYWEATHER: Pernell Whitaker, he was a hell of a boxer and I respect that so much. Aaron Pryor had a lot of determination to win. Whitaker was one of the best boxers ever with heart and a determination to win of Aaron Pryor. That is unbelievable.
What do you think Gatti will get away with in Atlantic City as Hatton did?
MAYWEATHER: I’m no Kostya Tszyu. If he elbows once I am going to elbow back. However way you want to make it happen, we can make it happen. If you lower me, I will lower you. I’m a double fighter. If you box clean, I’ll box clean. If you get dirty, I’ll get dirty.
Absolutley, that’s why they made the fight there. They can hope, they can wish and plan, but it’s not going to happen. He’s not on my level and it’s not going to happen. I’ll tell you what’s going to happen…he’s going to get out-boxed easy then I’m going to stop him. He’s not a Castillo and he’s not a Corrales, he’s not a Jesus Chavez. He’s a blown up club fighter. He’s a club fighter.
It can come in different ways. They said this guy’s got so much blood and guts and they say how my chin is. In 33 fights, I’ve never shown my weakness. I will never show my weakness. He’s shown his weakness. He’s shown that if he gets hit to the body, he will go down. Look at my opponents and his last 6 opponents and tell me if they are on the same level. His last 6 are not on the same level as my last 6. If the media doesn’t know this, in 1998, he couldn’t even get past Manfredy, so if he couldn’t take care of Manfredy, I took care of him for him.
Floyd said he tried to fight Leija, he tried to fight Branco and he tried to fight Dorin, but they wouldn’t accept it. Gatti was allowed to fight those guys and he wasn’t.
Arum: I don’t know who Floyd said it was but it was clearly HBO. Floyd is absolutely correct that HBO nixed all of those opponents. Then they accepted them with Gatti. I assume because HBO felt that Floyd was in one category, the top-pound-for-pound if not the pound-for-pound fighter and Gatti was an attraction and much more limited in ability. What Floyd said is absolutely correct.
MAYWEATHER: You heard that from a great promoter. Listen and you could learn something.
Why now?
Arum: Two things, one Floyd was the mandatory, the WBC mandatory for Gatti and Gatti didn’t want to give up his title. Secondly, the biggest fight out there, financially for Gatti was Floyd Mayweather. That’s the reason that the fight was made. Look, I don’t want to demean Gatti and I’m not playing mind games with Gatti. That’s for Floyd because he is going to fight him. I think Gatti is a good fighter and a courageous kid and he’s everything people say he is. But Floyd Mayweather is the kind of fighter that comes along once in a generation and he is extremely, extremely talented and he’s something special. But that said, it shouldn’t demean Arturo Gatti.
When was the last time you went into a fight with thins kind of chip on your shoulder?
MAYWEATHER: To be honest, every time I fight I go in there with a chip on my shoulder. For the Arturo Gatti fight, it’s going like this…what HBO wants me to say, is to blow Arturo Gatti up and say what kind of killer he is. And he’s not. I’m not going to get over here, I’m not going to sit on the phone and lie. I’m not going to get on the phone and say what a great killer Gatti is, I’m going to get on the phone and tell you the truth. The truth is I’m going to punish him. That’s what the truth is. I’m not going to get on the phone and lie. I don’t do that. At the end of the day I have to look at myself in the mirror and say “you weren’t really yourself.” That’s me lying to myself and my family. The truth is he’s not a good fighter and he’s not on my level and I’m going to show you. He shouldn’t even be in the ring with me. I’ll show you.
What do you expect to see in Gatti’s eyes once you meet?
MAYWEATHER: He’s going to be nervous. I am never nervous. I know I’m ready. I stay ready. Even when I’m not in training, I stay ready. This guy doesn’t even know how to sell this fight, the guy is so nervous. We fly out to the west coast and we go to his town and he’s not even there. I participate in everything they wanted me to as far as autographing gloves, being at the Trinidad fight. This guy hasn’t done anything. He’s talking about how I don’t have a chin, but come June 25th, we’ll see.
Training Camp?
MAYWEATHER: My training camp is going great. We box 14 or 15 rounds, 5-inute rounds. One day we kept switching them off, I only box middleweights and sometimes we box 30 minutes straight. I am running 5 and 6- minute miles. We are running 8 miles between 5 and 6-minutes. So this camp is going great. The first day I went back to the gym, I boxed 13 rounds.
Muhammad Ali was the same way. Once his career was over, everybody loved him, because he spoke the truth.
Undercard?
Arum: We put Calderon on because he is enormously popular in Puerto Rico and we hope his presence on the card, by the way, he’s a tremendous little boxer at 105-pounds. That will draw a lot of Puerto Rico fans and he’s fighting Gerardo Bernet on the card and that should be a tremendous fight. Whenever a Puerto Rican fights a Mexican, that’s a war. And of course Julio Chavez, Jr. is a terrific young prospect and he’s only 19 and had no amateur experience, but he’s really beginning to make his presence with the boxing fans. He’s fighting Rubin Galvan and he’s a kid that really should be looked at because down the road he’s really going to be terrific.
MAYWEATHER: Yes. He got into my personal business so I’m going to give him a personal beating. I am always a villain. To me all press it good press. I’ve been on the cover of all the magazines lately so I just say, well put me on the cover.
I’m not going to England to fight Ricky Hatton. Every night I sit home and click on HBO and watch. The superfights are only a few rounds. We have a lot of fights out there. We have a couple more fights at 140. There are two mega-fights. One of them became a WWE wrestling which was the Tszyu-Hatton fight. Me and Gatti, that is a championship fight. Tszyu is down and Ricky Hatton is up. We are going to take Gatti down I will take on Hatton and then I’ll get a little green and take on Cotto and punish him. Then I’ll be the King and go on to 147 to take over ‘47.
There was a report that you and Leonard had an exchange of words.
MAYWEATHER: We were only joking, we are always joking. I love Sugar Ray Leonard and I respect him as a champion. He is one of the greatest of all time. He always says, ‘You couldn’t beat me.’ If you let a lightweight come up and beat you at 147, I could beat you. We were only joking, I love him and he was a great champion and I would love to follow in his footsteps.
Could you elaborate on trying to emulate Whitaker and
MAYWEATHER: Pernell Whitaker, he was a hell of a boxer and I respect that so much. Aaron Pryor had a lot of determination to win. Whitaker was one of the best boxers ever with heart and a determination to win of Aaron Pryor. That is unbelievable.
What do you think Gatti will get away with in Atlantic City as Hatton did?
MAYWEATHER: I’m no Kostya Tszyu. If he elbows once I am going to elbow back. However way you want to make it happen, we can make it happen. If you lower me, I will lower you. I’m a double fighter. If you box clean, I’ll box clean. If you get dirty, I’ll get dirty.
Absolutley, that’s why they made the fight there. They can hope, they can wish and plan, but it’s not going to happen. He’s not on my level and it’s not going to happen. I’ll tell you what’s going to happen…he’s going to get out-boxed easy then I’m going to stop him. He’s not a Castillo and he’s not a Corrales, he’s not a Jesus Chavez. He’s a blown up club fighter. He’s a club fighter.
It can come in different ways. They said this guy’s got so much blood and guts and they say how my chin is. In 33 fights, I’ve never shown my weakness. I will never show my weakness. He’s shown his weakness. He’s shown that if he gets hit to the body, he will go down. Look at my opponents and his last 6 opponents and tell me if they are on the same level. His last 6 are not on the same level as my last 6. If the media doesn’t know this, in 1998, he couldn’t even get past Manfredy, so if he couldn’t take care of Manfredy, I took care of him for him.
Floyd said he tried to fight Leija, he tried to fight Branco and he tried to fight Dorin, but they wouldn’t accept it. Gatti was allowed to fight those guys and he wasn’t.
Arum: I don’t know who Floyd said it was but it was clearly HBO. Floyd is absolutely correct that HBO nixed all of those opponents. Then they accepted them with Gatti. I assume because HBO felt that Floyd was in one category, the top-pound-for-pound if not the pound-for-pound fighter and Gatti was an attraction and much more limited in ability. What Floyd said is absolutely correct.
MAYWEATHER: You heard that from a great promoter. Listen and you could learn something.
Why now?
Arum: Two things, one Floyd was the mandatory, the WBC mandatory for Gatti and Gatti didn’t want to give up his title. Secondly, the biggest fight out there, financially for Gatti was Floyd Mayweather. That’s the reason that the fight was made. Look, I don’t want to demean Gatti and I’m not playing mind games with Gatti. That’s for Floyd because he is going to fight him. I think Gatti is a good fighter and a courageous kid and he’s everything people say he is. But Floyd Mayweather is the kind of fighter that comes along once in a generation and he is extremely, extremely talented and he’s something special. But that said, it shouldn’t demean Arturo Gatti.
When was the last time you went into a fight with thins kind of chip on your shoulder?
MAYWEATHER: To be honest, every time I fight I go in there with a chip on my shoulder. For the Arturo Gatti fight, it’s going like this…what HBO wants me to say, is to blow Arturo Gatti up and say what kind of killer he is. And he’s not. I’m not going to get over here, I’m not going to sit on the phone and lie. I’m not going to get on the phone and say what a great killer Gatti is, I’m going to get on the phone and tell you the truth. The truth is I’m going to punish him. That’s what the truth is. I’m not going to get on the phone and lie. I don’t do that. At the end of the day I have to look at myself in the mirror and say “you weren’t really yourself.” That’s me lying to myself and my family. The truth is he’s not a good fighter and he’s not on my level and I’m going to show you. He shouldn’t even be in the ring with me. I’ll show you.
What do you expect to see in Gatti’s eyes once you meet?
MAYWEATHER: He’s going to be nervous. I am never nervous. I know I’m ready. I stay ready. Even when I’m not in training, I stay ready. This guy doesn’t even know how to sell this fight, the guy is so nervous. We fly out to the west coast and we go to his town and he’s not even there. I participate in everything they wanted me to as far as autographing gloves, being at the Trinidad fight. This guy hasn’t done anything. He’s talking about how I don’t have a chin, but come June 25th, we’ll see.
Training Camp?
MAYWEATHER: My training camp is going great. We box 14 or 15 rounds, 5-inute rounds. One day we kept switching them off, I only box middleweights and sometimes we box 30 minutes straight. I am running 5 and 6- minute miles. We are running 8 miles between 5 and 6-minutes. So this camp is going great. The first day I went back to the gym, I boxed 13 rounds.
Muhammad Ali was the same way. Once his career was over, everybody loved him, because he spoke the truth.
Undercard?
Arum: We put Calderon on because he is enormously popular in Puerto Rico and we hope his presence on the card, by the way, he’s a tremendous little boxer at 105-pounds. That will draw a lot of Puerto Rico fans and he’s fighting Gerardo Bernet on the card and that should be a tremendous fight. Whenever a Puerto Rican fights a Mexican, that’s a war. And of course Julio Chavez, Jr. is a terrific young prospect and he’s only 19 and had no amateur experience, but he’s really beginning to make his presence with the boxing fans. He’s fighting Rubin Galvan and he’s a kid that really should be looked at because down the road he’s really going to be terrific.
Comment