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By Mitch Abramson - It’s not easy getting close to Floyd Mayweather Jr.
Anyone who’s seen Mayweather in the ring can attest to his defensive genius.
But Brett Yormark came close.
When he sidled up next to Mayweather at a fight in June of last year, Yormark, CEO of the Brooklyn Nets and the Barclays Center, had larger ambitions than to make idle conversation with the sport’s top fighter.
No, instead, he was trying to persuade Mayweather to one day fight in Brooklyn at the Barclays Center, no easy chore.
It turns out Yormark wasn’t the only one who had that goal in mind. That same night, Yormark crossed paths with Barclays Center majority owner, Bruce Ratner- also on hand at the match between Paulie Malignaggi and Adrien Broner- and the two conferred over the idea of getting Mayweather to Atlantic Avenue.
“Brett, we’ve got to get him to fight in Brooklyn,” Ratner said breathlessly of the sport’s top fighter and biggest draw.
Thus began a nine-month odyssey for Yormark to land the biggest fish in boxing and out-hustle Madison Square Garden in the process, a crusade that consisted of “dozens” of face-to-face meetings and phone conversations with Mayweather’s representative and a monetary offer to the fighter that Yormark described as being “probably one of the biggest guarantees ever made” to an athlete. (Yormark declined to reveal a specific figure.) [Click Here To Read More]
Anyone who’s seen Mayweather in the ring can attest to his defensive genius.
But Brett Yormark came close.
When he sidled up next to Mayweather at a fight in June of last year, Yormark, CEO of the Brooklyn Nets and the Barclays Center, had larger ambitions than to make idle conversation with the sport’s top fighter.
No, instead, he was trying to persuade Mayweather to one day fight in Brooklyn at the Barclays Center, no easy chore.
It turns out Yormark wasn’t the only one who had that goal in mind. That same night, Yormark crossed paths with Barclays Center majority owner, Bruce Ratner- also on hand at the match between Paulie Malignaggi and Adrien Broner- and the two conferred over the idea of getting Mayweather to Atlantic Avenue.
“Brett, we’ve got to get him to fight in Brooklyn,” Ratner said breathlessly of the sport’s top fighter and biggest draw.
Thus began a nine-month odyssey for Yormark to land the biggest fish in boxing and out-hustle Madison Square Garden in the process, a crusade that consisted of “dozens” of face-to-face meetings and phone conversations with Mayweather’s representative and a monetary offer to the fighter that Yormark described as being “probably one of the biggest guarantees ever made” to an athlete. (Yormark declined to reveal a specific figure.) [Click Here To Read More]
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