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March 23, 2005
By Andre Courtemanche
“They say I run my mouth a lot. I’m looking for someone to shut me up. Until I do find someone, I’ll keep running my mouth.” Floyd Mayweather Jr.
Photo: Ed Mulholland
At a conference held today, WBC #1 ranked super lightweight contender, two-time former world champion and pound-for-pound entrant “Pretty Boy” Floyd Mayweather Jr. did much to set the stage for an ugly grudge match June 25 against WBC Super Lightweight Champion Arturo “Thunder” Gatti, but little to sully his image as an arrogant, spoiled brat.
Incensed by Gatti’s failure to show up for today’s Main Events and Top Rank jointly hosted “Thunder and Lightning” promotional event, and apparently forgetting his own failure to show earlier this year at his scheduled Gatti vs. Leija post-fight appearance, Mayweather went on an extended rant aimed not only at Gatti, but also at times against Roy Jones Jr., Bernard Hopkins and even his own father.
“He’s a bum. I’ll walk right through him. I don’t have any respect for him. None. He’s a straight up bum,” said the undefeated 28 year old of Gatti. “I feel disrespected. When you disrespect me you get punished. Normally I just beat you. Sometimes I may even let someone go the distance, but I’m upset because this guy has been trying to get out of this fight any way he can. I’m here doing everything by myself and he’s not doing anything. This is a chance for us to make mega-millions and this guy is not here.”
With the fight being held in Gatti’s adopted home of Atlantic City (at the Boardwalk Hall), Mayweather also has an answer as to why his fights regularly draw poorly, while Gatti has established himself as a box office champion. “I would get the same results (ticket sales) Gatti gets if I fought in (Mayweather’s hometown of) Grand Rapids every time. I could sell out a fight in Grand Rapids every month. The fight is on his turf, but I aint worried about that. I’ll show how much confidence I’ve got by going onto his turf and beating him. And after I beat him, I’ll throw a party right on his turf. I will party right on his turf after I beat him.”
A heavy favorite going into the fight, Mayweather says he expects little resistance from Gatti. “Why do I call him a bum? Because he is a bum…I feel he is nothing but a stepping stone for me…This guy is scared of me…I’m an A grade fighter and he is a C grade fighter…If he rushes, he’ll get knocked out quick. If he tries to box, he’ll get punished for a long time…I’m a lot faster than Oscar De La Hoya. Oscar wasn’t even at the top of his game and he busted him up…I can go to any boxing gym and train, guess why? Arturo Gatti is nothing but a heavy bag…I’m not training, I’m hanging right now. I’m on my way to party in Miami with Puff Daddy before I go to training camp.”
While he may have the boxing world’s respect for his often-amazing talent, Mayweather has always seemed to be able to turn off fans with his brashness and apparent lack of respect for most.
Of boxing’s current pound-for-pound list, he says, “How many different weight classes has Bernard Hopkins been to? I could have stayed at 130 lbs and milked the belt forever. Instead I went to four different weight classes (he has competed in three). No way could you put him in the same league as me. Do the math. I’m in exciting fights. All these fighters are going the distance with him. If somebody is the crème de la crème, they should be busting guys up. He doesn’t care for me and I don’t care much for him.”
And as for former perceived P4P king Roy Jones? “I’ve shown fans I can stand there toe to toe. I’ve shown I can counterpunch and I’ve shown I can move. All Roy Jones ever showed was that he can stand on the outside and counterpunch all day. And Roy hasn’t fought the (quality of) guys I’ve fought. The king (himself) stepped up and took his crown.”
Gatti has seemingly changed his style, or reverted back to his initial one, under the guidance of respected trainer Buddy McGirt. Does Floyd think McGirt will factor into the outcome? “Buddy McGirt is his trainer. If they say Floyd Mayweather is the new-millennium Pernell Whitaker that hits harder, and Pernell Whitaker beat Buddy McGirt, how can he possibly give him a game plan to beat me? Nobody has beaten me. There are already six ways for him to get beat, he’s been beaten six times, and I’ll show you the seventh. There’s no way a guy with six losses will beat me. No way in hell. I know what he’s going to do. He’s going to lose. I can adapt to any style, so it doesn’t matter which Gatti shows up. You can’t bring a gun or knife into the ring, but he’s going to think I did when I get a hold of him.”
He is leather-clad lightning. He is a wizard of a fighter with no perceivable limits. But is it possible to be so unlikable that no amount of incredible talent will ever matter? Floyd Mayweather will more than likely get past Arturo Gatti in June, but if Floyd Mayweather chops down the rest of the boxing forest…will anybody ever care?
“(After beating Gatti) I look forward to fighting Oscar De La Hoya. I am willing to test my dad’s training skills against my boxing skills by fighting Oscar. He says he is the world’s best trainer? I say I have the world’s best trainer (his uncle Roger). My daddy was a welterweight and I have his genes, so I know I can carry the weight at welter. There are guys shorter than me in that division and I’ve looked better and stronger with every weight I go up to. And I’m looking forward to fighting Kostya Tszyu. I respect Tszyu. He’s earned it. I have none for Arturo. He’s not being a professional about this. I flew all the way to the east coast for a press conference and he didn’t even show up.”
By Andre Courtemanche
“They say I run my mouth a lot. I’m looking for someone to shut me up. Until I do find someone, I’ll keep running my mouth.” Floyd Mayweather Jr.
Photo: Ed Mulholland
At a conference held today, WBC #1 ranked super lightweight contender, two-time former world champion and pound-for-pound entrant “Pretty Boy” Floyd Mayweather Jr. did much to set the stage for an ugly grudge match June 25 against WBC Super Lightweight Champion Arturo “Thunder” Gatti, but little to sully his image as an arrogant, spoiled brat.
Incensed by Gatti’s failure to show up for today’s Main Events and Top Rank jointly hosted “Thunder and Lightning” promotional event, and apparently forgetting his own failure to show earlier this year at his scheduled Gatti vs. Leija post-fight appearance, Mayweather went on an extended rant aimed not only at Gatti, but also at times against Roy Jones Jr., Bernard Hopkins and even his own father.
“He’s a bum. I’ll walk right through him. I don’t have any respect for him. None. He’s a straight up bum,” said the undefeated 28 year old of Gatti. “I feel disrespected. When you disrespect me you get punished. Normally I just beat you. Sometimes I may even let someone go the distance, but I’m upset because this guy has been trying to get out of this fight any way he can. I’m here doing everything by myself and he’s not doing anything. This is a chance for us to make mega-millions and this guy is not here.”
With the fight being held in Gatti’s adopted home of Atlantic City (at the Boardwalk Hall), Mayweather also has an answer as to why his fights regularly draw poorly, while Gatti has established himself as a box office champion. “I would get the same results (ticket sales) Gatti gets if I fought in (Mayweather’s hometown of) Grand Rapids every time. I could sell out a fight in Grand Rapids every month. The fight is on his turf, but I aint worried about that. I’ll show how much confidence I’ve got by going onto his turf and beating him. And after I beat him, I’ll throw a party right on his turf. I will party right on his turf after I beat him.”
A heavy favorite going into the fight, Mayweather says he expects little resistance from Gatti. “Why do I call him a bum? Because he is a bum…I feel he is nothing but a stepping stone for me…This guy is scared of me…I’m an A grade fighter and he is a C grade fighter…If he rushes, he’ll get knocked out quick. If he tries to box, he’ll get punished for a long time…I’m a lot faster than Oscar De La Hoya. Oscar wasn’t even at the top of his game and he busted him up…I can go to any boxing gym and train, guess why? Arturo Gatti is nothing but a heavy bag…I’m not training, I’m hanging right now. I’m on my way to party in Miami with Puff Daddy before I go to training camp.”
While he may have the boxing world’s respect for his often-amazing talent, Mayweather has always seemed to be able to turn off fans with his brashness and apparent lack of respect for most.
Of boxing’s current pound-for-pound list, he says, “How many different weight classes has Bernard Hopkins been to? I could have stayed at 130 lbs and milked the belt forever. Instead I went to four different weight classes (he has competed in three). No way could you put him in the same league as me. Do the math. I’m in exciting fights. All these fighters are going the distance with him. If somebody is the crème de la crème, they should be busting guys up. He doesn’t care for me and I don’t care much for him.”
And as for former perceived P4P king Roy Jones? “I’ve shown fans I can stand there toe to toe. I’ve shown I can counterpunch and I’ve shown I can move. All Roy Jones ever showed was that he can stand on the outside and counterpunch all day. And Roy hasn’t fought the (quality of) guys I’ve fought. The king (himself) stepped up and took his crown.”
Gatti has seemingly changed his style, or reverted back to his initial one, under the guidance of respected trainer Buddy McGirt. Does Floyd think McGirt will factor into the outcome? “Buddy McGirt is his trainer. If they say Floyd Mayweather is the new-millennium Pernell Whitaker that hits harder, and Pernell Whitaker beat Buddy McGirt, how can he possibly give him a game plan to beat me? Nobody has beaten me. There are already six ways for him to get beat, he’s been beaten six times, and I’ll show you the seventh. There’s no way a guy with six losses will beat me. No way in hell. I know what he’s going to do. He’s going to lose. I can adapt to any style, so it doesn’t matter which Gatti shows up. You can’t bring a gun or knife into the ring, but he’s going to think I did when I get a hold of him.”
He is leather-clad lightning. He is a wizard of a fighter with no perceivable limits. But is it possible to be so unlikable that no amount of incredible talent will ever matter? Floyd Mayweather will more than likely get past Arturo Gatti in June, but if Floyd Mayweather chops down the rest of the boxing forest…will anybody ever care?
“(After beating Gatti) I look forward to fighting Oscar De La Hoya. I am willing to test my dad’s training skills against my boxing skills by fighting Oscar. He says he is the world’s best trainer? I say I have the world’s best trainer (his uncle Roger). My daddy was a welterweight and I have his genes, so I know I can carry the weight at welter. There are guys shorter than me in that division and I’ve looked better and stronger with every weight I go up to. And I’m looking forward to fighting Kostya Tszyu. I respect Tszyu. He’s earned it. I have none for Arturo. He’s not being a professional about this. I flew all the way to the east coast for a press conference and he didn’t even show up.”
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