Bob Arum, the 83-year-old CEO of Top Rank Inc., may have summed up the spirit of Wednesday’s press conference in Los Angeles for Floyd Mayweather’s May 2 fight with Manny Pacquiao when he said: “Everybody has their own opinion.”
Arum made the quip after Showtime’s Stephen Espinoza rambled on about how Mayweather had made fighting Pacquiao a “top priority” for the last five years and Showtime has become “the No. 1 pay-per-view distributor.”
HBO reps in the crowd may take issue with that.
A difference of opinions is why the fight took five years to make, and everyone having an opinion is why Mayweather-Pacquiao figures to be the richest fight in boxing history.
Who will win?
“We’re going to kick his ass,” Pacquiao’s trainer Freddie Roach said into the microphone before a large media gathering of about 600 at the Nokia Theater.
Who will have the best trainer? Roach, a seven-time winner of the Eddie Futch Trainer of the Year Award, or Floyd Mayweather Sr., who trained Oscar De La Hoya to greatness and will be training his son in the biggest fight of his career.
“From Day 1, I was always taught to be a winner,” Floyd Jr. said.
Can Mayweather Promotions, the lead promoter for the bout, put on an event of this magnitude with the same efficiency as the Top Rank machine? And can HBO and Showtime work together without any further grandstanding? Time will tell.
At least everyone was civil on Wednesday, unlike the last press conference where HBO and Showtime planned to work together for Lennox Lewis against Mike Tyson. That presser prematurely ended when Lewis and Tyson got into a brawl during the introductions causing the fight to be postponed.
The only Mayweather-Pacquiao presser before fight week at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas consisted mostly of everyone thanking everyone for finally making the most anticipated fight of this era a reality.
“May 2 will be the Fight of the Century,” Mayweather said. “It’s all about the best fighting the best. Pacquiao is one of the best fighters of this era. Everything is about timing, and I think we couldn’t have chosen a better time.”
Unbeaten in 47 fights with 26 knockouts, Mayweather did try to plant a seed of sorts. Pacquiao is 57-5-2 with 38 KOs.
“One thing I know about any sport, when you lose, it’s in your mind,” Mayweather said. “If you’ve lost once, it’s in your mind. If you’ve lost twice it’s in your mind.”
Pacquiao, a hero and congressman in his native Philippines, seemed unfazed by it all, spending most of his time at the podium thanking God for raising “someone from nothing into something.”
Not exactly trash talk.
“The fight is on and I know you’re very excited,” Pacquiao said. “The both of us are going into hard training and we will do our best to make you happy.”
Normally, a fight expected to generate $300 million or more would have a multi-city press tour. But the late announcement of the fight made that impossible and it probably isn’t necessary. social media already is promoting the bout on a 24/7 cyclewith anyone with a telephone offering an opinion. Oh, by the way, ticket prices will range from $1,500 to $7,500 when they go on sale at a date yet to be set. There was no announcement on the pay-per-view price.
Read more: First shot fired by Mayweather: ‘If you’ve lost … it’s in your mind’
