Kelly Swanson - Okay,
thank you, operator. Thank you, everybody, for joining us today on
this conference call with eight-time, five-division world champion
Floyd Mayweather and Leonard Ellerbe, CEO of Mayweather Promotions.
Before I introduce Leonard, who will introduce Floyd, I wanted to do
make a couple comments. First of all, Floyd Mayweather is the face of
boxing and his face is actually on the cover of this week's ESPN The Magazine. That magazine is a special fight issue with half the
magazine dedicated to The One, and that magazine will be on newsstands
this Friday and throughout fight week. Congratulations, Floyd.
I
would just like to take this opportunity to tell Floyd Mayweather that
he has many times acknowledged my role in his career and I want to
tell him at this time that I appreciate him for affording me the
opportunity to be part of his career and the Mayweather experience
since 2005. His hard work and dedication to his craft and his
perfectionism as an athlete and an individual always challenges me to
stay positive and do the best job possible for him and the Money Team.
Thank you very much, Floyd.
And
now, without further ado, I'm going to go ahead and turn this over to
Leonard Ellerbe, CEO, Mayweather Promotions to make the formal
introduction. Leonard?
Leonard Ellerbe
Thank you, Kelly. The One. I'd like to thank everyone for joining us in on the call
today.
Mayweather versus Canelo, The One. Everyone knows this is the most
anticipated fight in the history of the sport and we have every
indicator that this is going to be the biggest fight in the history of
the sport. It started out with the fight going on sale, the fight
selling
out in the first day, breaking Floyd's old record against De La Hoya, $19.5 million at the gate.
Next,
when you look at the closed circuit we opened up with 12,000 seats. We
sold them out as well. We opened up 13,000 more and we're about to
sell out of them. When you look at the closed circuit as it relates to
the restaurants and bars, right now, currently, we're at 50% higher
than we were at Floyd and De La Hoya in '07.
As it relates to the movie theaters, tracking very well right now. Several of the movie theaters
are
sold out right now. The fight will be shown in over 542 theaters
nationwide and every indication we have thus far, we're going to do a
big, big number there.
When
it comes to sponsor activation, this is the most activated event in
the history of the sport. Corona, AT&T, O'Reilly Auto Parts,
Valvoline, Mexican Tourism board, Insurance, Nature and Nutrition, and
Bacardi Spirits. Tremendous support from our sponsors.
As
it relates to the fan participation, the ticket demand is unbelievable
at this point when it comes to the interest as it relates to the
advertising. We have the biggest advertising plan ever, a record number
as it relates to the cable and satellite business. It's at an all-time
high. Showtime, CBS support has been phenomenal thus far. They rolled
out every one of their assets from the NFL on CBS to the college
football on CBS, and you'll see that over the next week-and-a-half, the
promotion. It'll be everywhere.
So without further ado, I'd like to introduce the eight-time world champion in five different
weight
classes, the face of the sport, the highest paid athlete in the sport
and the guy who makes this whole thing go, none other than Money
Mayweather himself.
Floyd Mayweather
Hey,
how are you all doing today? Thanks for having me. Thank you, Kelly,
for the kind words. Thank you, Leonard, for doing a tremendous job. You
guys have worked day in and day out for me to be in the best position.
Mayweather Promotions is going to continue to bring you guys
the biggest and the best fights. I just want to thank everybody because
without you guys and without the support and without the media outlets
I don't know where my career would be. So I want to thank everybody.
That's on my mind today.
Q
Obviously,
your goal is to retire undefeated and have a Hall of Fame career.
You've also talked about the mark you want to make as a promoter and
that you are making as a promoter. When you think about your career
being done and your children and your legacy, what do you want to look
back on and say you accomplished not only as an undefeated fighter but
the mark you left? What kind of things do you want to say?
Also,
what do you look forward to in retirement - spending time with your
kids, those types of things? Can you just kind of share that with us?
Mayweather
Well,
as far as my children, the most important thing and the great thing
about my career was I was able to put them in a comfortable environment.
They were able to get a great education that
I
wasn't able to get. My family has been in a comfortable position for
17 years, so that's a great thing. The mark in the sport of boxing was
that I brought that ... to the smaller guys ... the sport as far as
just making smart moves like getting the best so you can receive the
best, leaving my mark in sport as far as cleaning up the sport. It's
all about just giving the fans excitement but, like I said, on an even
playing field as far as random blood and urine tests. That's not just
in the sport of boxing, but in all sports when you're competing at the
highest level.
Mayweather
Promotions, we don't want to stack our company with a ton of fighters.
Every fighter that's under our banner, we cannot promise them that
they will be world champions. I think about that and I talk to fighters
about that all the time. The only thing we can do is keep our fingers
crossed. The only thing Leonard can do is do his job, and I'll play a
major part. The key is working hand-in-hand with the future fighters.
That's what it's about, the fighters, the present fighters and the
future fighters. The key is working with them, trying to show them a way
that I can hand my torch to them so they can take it to the next
level. That's what it's about. It's about helping these young fighters
grow and taking things to the next level.
Q
When you look around at your team as it is right now with your father in your
corner,
Roger's still there and much of the turmoil with the jail sentence and
all that behind you, and as you head into this fight how would you
compare your level of contentment and happiness with how things are
around you right now heading into this fight?
Mayweather
I'm only human. Some days are better than others. Some days I have good days, some days I
have
bad days. You know, that's life. ... What I try to do is I constantly
tell myself this: just like you smile on sunny days, you have to smile
on rainy days. That's what I constantly tell myself. I'm happy to be
working back with my father. Of course, he's a perfectionist. I'm a
perfectionist. No one is perfect, but we strive to be the best that we
can be. The only thing I can do is try to become a better person each
and every day. Each and every day I try to become a better person.
Q
I
know you came up the hard way, particularly when it came to the guys
in the top positions being willing to give you the opportunity to face
them. Ever since you've been at the top, though, you've been giving a
lot of these younger guys that opportunity that wasn't afforded to you
back in the day. I was just wondering, do you think it's easier today
for these younger fighters to get that type of opportunity to fight the
best, to get a shot at that top spot compared to when you were younger
and coming up?
F. Mayweather
Of
course, it's a lot easier now to fight ... boxing is tainted, is
watered down. I feel like there are too many belts, it's too many
champions. It's like I said before - I don't think I told you this - but
it's so crazy how I beat Miguel Cotto for the WBA Junior Middle
Weight Champion, right? So how did Austin Trout beat Cotta for the WBA
championship and how is Canelo the WBA champ?
Like
I said before, these are things I just don't understand what's going
on with the sport. I think we should have one belt and that's it. Like I
said before, I think the sport is real, real tainted now. It's not
like it was before where you got guys that had to work their way from
the bottom to the top. When I was fighting I wanted to fight Oscar De
La Hoya way back when. I couldn't get the fight. I couldn't get the
fight until I was on my own, until I got my own company. I wanted to
fight Miguel Cotto when he was undefeated. I couldn't get the fight.
Sometimes
they say, "Well, Floyd Mayweather's opponents was handpicked." That's a
good thing. I want to come in and think they put me in a position to
where if I did have an easy career and I made a lot of money, then I
feel like my team has done their job.
I
commend my team. Leonard, you've done a tremendous job because when I
sit back and I think about my career, I say you know what? I had a cool
career. I didn't take any punishment. If they say these guys were
handpicked, they was handpicked to make $40 and $50 and $60 million,
then you know what? Leonard, you've done your job. You've done a
tremendous job. If you've done that, keep doing the same thing. Keep
handpicking them. If they're going to keep paying, keep handpicking
them.
Q
One
last question on that note, Floyd. As far as these younger guys
getting that opportunity to fight you, do you think that's a good thing
or a bad thing when they get that opportunity so
quickly as far as when it comes to their hunger and things of that nature?
Mayweather
It's
so crazy. I didn't fight him when he was 40 (Canelo fighting Shane
Mosley). So what's so crazy is I didn't fight Shane Mosley when he was
40; I fought him when he came off one of his biggest victory. People
seem to forget that. I never fought nobody for a vacant belt. Everybody I
fought, I fought a champion, a guy that was a champion.
These
are the things that I did in the sport. Like I said before, it's not
my fault. It's about timing and it's about having the right team.
That's what I got. I got the right team.
Q
One of the things I want to ask you about was is now that you've been through most of your
training
camp for this fight and it is your quickest turnaround between the May
fight and now the September fight I wondered, did you feel like you
thought you would feel? As you talked about during the course of this
promotion, you're a little bit older now, perhaps a little bit wiser.
Was it okay physically for you to go through that which you have not
done for quite some time, having fights back-to-back with just four
months in between?
F. Mayweather
I thought I was going to be kind of upset because I didn't get a chance to take a vacation, but
actually, this camp went great. I was able to get right back into the groove, get right back in
there.
Actually, it was a good turnaround because I was still sharp. I was
able to be sharp. This camp has been tremendous. I've been getting good
work, good solid work. The young guys have been pushing me. After this
fight I look to fight in May and then fight in September again.
Q
So
you feel like from a physical point of view these turnarounds, after
pretty much like a decade of not fighting this quickly between fights,
it's okay? You feel like ... up against Canelo you'll be maybe even
sharper than when you fought Guerrero?
Mayweather
Well, thank you, but I wasn't impressed with my fight against Robert. It's probably because I
took over a year off, but I think I'll be a lot sharper this fight because I got right back into the
groove
of things. Like I said, we got a lot of young and up-and-coming talent
in our boxing club that pushes me to the limit and keeping me sharp.
I'm trying to outdo the young guys, so
everybody that's ... boxing club is competing against each other to be the best. The only thing that can do is make me better.
Q
Leonard
addressed it a bit in his opening remarks talking about the amount of
closed circuit tickets that have already been sold, the fact that their
gate record has already been broken of all time that you did with
Oscar in '07 and the fact that most people believe that this fight is
going to be one of the top selling pay-per-views in the history of the
sport, and some people think maybe it breaks the record you set in
2007.
What
I'm curious to hear from your point of view is we know when Floyd
Mayweather fights it's a big fight, whoever it is. I'm wondering from
your point of view, what do you think has made this one in particular
even that much bigger than all of the other ones except perhaps the
fight you had with Oscar. Why has this one resonated the way that it
seems to have?
Mayweather
He's
young and I've seen guys 22 and there's a guy 25 and ... 30 and 0, a
guy 26-0, but you've never seen a guy 44-0 versus a guy 42 and 0. Like I
said before, in Mexico he's a young rock star and everybody that they
put in front of him he was able to go out there and do his job. He done
it in a tremendous fashion. He's a good, strong, solid boxer and I
mean, it's a very intriguing match up. Me not even being a boxing fan, I
would want to see two undefeated fighters at the top competition
against one another.
Q
You
think it's in the sport there's been this major pent-up demand for a
true super-fight. You've had lots of big fights, but maybe not a true
super-fight since you've fought against Oscar. Is that part of the
reason that people have decided, for whatever reason, that Canelo was a
guy that they think might have a chance to take that zero from you, and
for that reason this is that big time fight?
Mayweather
I think that if me and Cotto had the same vehicle behind us when we faced each other, that night
would have been a lot bigger than it was. Like I said before, this is a very great big fight. I'm
pushing
myself to the limit right now. Anything can happen. Any given
Saturday, anything can happen. So I'm prepared for anything.
Q
Is
it just my imagination or have you gotten a little bit more mellow as
the years have gone by? And I mean that as a compliment, man. I just
don't think you talk as much trash as you did a few years ago. Are you
mellowing with age?
Mayweather
The thing is this: everything was a business plan. My business plan was to be very, very
entertaining,
be very wild, turn it on when it's time to turn it on, turn it off
when it's time to turn it off, and that's what I did. I built my fan
base. I became a mega-star. I became a household name. That was the
ultimate goal. It was just a business plan that I had, you know what
I'm saying? There's nothing fake, but you got to know when to turn it
on and when to turn it off. That's what I was talking about at my gym,
actually with Adrian Broner, you have to know when to turn it on and
when to turn it off. It's just business. It's about being
entertaining. I feel like if I didn't step up to the plate and speak my
mind or be flashy and flamboyant then I probably wouldn't be in the
position that I'm in right now. I think it's a gift. It can be a curse
because when you in this position and you at the top, it's not just
luck on my side. It's been a gift, my career.
Q
Being
that you do hold so many records and what not, I'm curious. This fight
most of us think at least has the chance to approach the 2.5 million
pay per view buys you did with De La Hoya. How important is it to you,
Floyd - let me ask you a different way. How much would it mean to you
to break that particular record? Are those things important to you as
well?
Mayweather
It all depends. We still can break the record and we don't have to do 2.5 because you have to
realize this: right now we're talking about financially. This is the reason why: I think
when I was fighting Oscar, I can't remember what it cost exactly at that because
that was '07, so that was six years ago. Of course, the price of everything has gone up, so the
price of pay per view is higher now. So we don't have to do exactly 2.5 to break the record
from a financial standpoint.
Ellerbe
To
touch on what he's saying, obviously we're speaking in terms of the
gross amounts. In '07 most homes were just standard definition and now,
when you look at the cable satellite systems, about 80% of the homes
are in HD now. Obviously, with charging $64.95 for the fight, those ...
make a difference.
Q
I
wanted to ask you, how much does it mean to your legacy that your
insistence on Olympic style drug testing for fights has led to a
different mindset in that area for a lot of fighters? Is that a big part
of your legacy?
Mayweather
What's so crazy is at first it was like everybody was saying, "Floyd, he's a chicken. He's
scared" and I felt like I'm not being a chicken or I'm scared. All I'm saying is this is the
only even playing field. I feel like if I step up the plate and I'm the best and I'm saying that I
want to be tested, I feel like every athlete should say it. Not just every boxer. Every athlete
that's competing at the highest level should want to be tested if you're a real professional.
Q
Do you feel that you're the guy who changed the sport a little bit?
Mayweather
Absolutely.
I feel I was the first one to take an important stand on cleaning up
the sport. Now you hear every fighter, even with Timothy Bradley
versusMarquez, now Timothy Bradley is saying that he don't want to fight
unless Marquez tests. So you're constantly hearing that. Now
everybody, or at least the guys that understand how important it is,
are now is saying, "I want my opponent to test. The guy that I'm
competing against, I want him to take a test." Like I said before, I
started it all and now, like I said before, it's done everywhere.
Q
Considering the magnitude of this fight card do you think the stage might be too big for a 23
year-old kid who's never been on one this size?
Mayweather
We'll just have to see. I think it's a little different from fighting on Floyd Mayweather's under
Card
to fighting Floyd Mayweather, so I think it's a lot of pressure.
Sometimes when it's pressure a guy fights better, he competes better. We
don't really know. We have to see how the fight plays out. Hopefully
the pressure and everything that's surrounding the event makes them
fight better. The only thing I want to do is give the fans a good fight,
a very, very exciting fight. After this fight I have four fights
left, so I'm not overlooking this guy, but like I said, I truly believe
there's a lot of pressure on Canelo at this particular time, yes.
Q
What are your thoughts on Kenny Bayless being named the referee?
Mayweather
I just found out about that today. I mean, Kenny Bayless, he's a great referee. He's fair.
I
think he's going to let us fight. A lot of times you've got refs
that's always trying to break up the action, and Kenny Bayless is one
guy - he's not for the bull (****). He likes to treat every fighter
fair.
I'm comfortable with whoever. My job is just to go out there and compete. It doesn't matter
who
is the referee or the judges. I just want to be treated fair, of
course. I feel like both fighters should be treated fair. I feel like
they chose the right judges. I feel like they chose the right referee.
Now it's time for me and Canelo to go out there and give you guys
excitement.
Q
I
know you're a big sports fan. I don't know if you've watched the U.S.
Open tennis tournament at all. What kind of tennis player do you think
you would have been had you not been a boxer and is there a tennis
player out there competing today that you think might make a pretty good
boxer?
Mayweather
I don't know. As far as tennis, I used to like John McEnroe. After
John
McEnroe, Pete Sampras. But of course, Arthur Ashe was a legend. His
name will always live on. As far as in Las Vegas, of course you have to
take your hat off to Andre Agassi, Mr. Las Vegas along with Wayne
Newton and myself. I got to, the Williams sisters, of course. Venus
and Serena, man, unbelievable. ... I used to like her (Serena) too. I
remember how you she was and how good she was even then. She was a good
player. So yes. What's crazy right now is my Uncle Roger's daughter is
playing tennis. They are saying that in about in like six years she
should be a professional.
Comments
(following question) What I've been doing lately, I've been betting on
college football. So if you guys tune into All Access, this week All
Access will be the best. Last week, I thought that was the best, but
this week you guys get a chance to meet the females from the Money team,
so it's going to be an exciting show. I want everybody to tune in to
All Access this weekend. This is show number three of All Access,
Mayweather versus Canelo. You guys cannot miss this.
Q
I
just wanted to touch on the fact that a lot of English fans are coming
out to see you in this fight, some even without tickets. What do you
make of the fact that you've been taken to so well by the British
public?
Ellerbe
I can answer that for him. His phone went dead. He takes great pride in his U.K. fans,
obviously,
and it goes back to '07 when Floyd fought Ricky Hatton. The
environment in the arena was something that we had never experienced
before. Even up until this date I think it was the rowdiest crowd. The
British fans are just phenomenal. After the fight when the fight was
over Floyd gave thanks to Ricky Hatton and talked about the tremendous
fan support with the U.K. fans. I think from that point on there was a
love affair and it started from there. I think with each and every
fight that Floyd has fought his British fan base has grown even bigger
and bigger. He really, really appreciates the fan support because they
are die hard fans. Here it was that Ricky Hatton, with all due
respect, he took a beat down and they were still cheering their guy on,
singing the song. They're just die hard fans and that was one of the
reasons why we signed the guy ... Because like I said, Floyd has great
love for his U.K. fans and hopefully one day soon we might make that
trip over the pond.
Q
I
actually wanted to find out what it was ... he said to us that he'd
spoken to Floyd about Floyd thinking about moving over and looking at a
place to live over here. I just kind of wanted to get his thoughts on
our culture and what it was that he particularly liked about England
itself.
Ellerbe
Well,
he obviously has put some feelers out there with looking for a place, a
vacation place, but one of the things from the business standpoint,
we're looking to take a big event over there, and maybe in the near
future.
Q
I want to ask you about Mayweather Promotions being part of this fight which is going to do
huge on pay per view, break all these records. What is the status now? You've seen a lot of
other promotions. Where do you think Mayweather Promotions is compared to some of the
other major boxing promotions today?
L. Ellerbe
Well, I wouldn't compare our promotional company to any other company because we're not
competing
with anyone. As Drake says in his song, we started from the bottom and
now we're here. Obviously, Mayweather Promotions has the biggest
fighter in the sport. With Floyd being the face of the company we're
able to attract all different types of talent. We've been taking
our time working very, very slowly, but we're going to make a lot of
noise here in the near future - a lot of noise. Currently right now I
have ten fighters that signed to Mayweather Promotions and seven of
them are fighting on the card. We have seven of the eight fights on
9/14. We have Badou Jack who's fighting the co-feature on the Fox show.
He's fighting Periban. We have a lot of young, good talent that
they're on the rise. Obviously, we have Ishe Smith and ... Ishe would
be a world champion and ... fighting also on the card opening up the
pay per view portion. So we have a lot of good young talent and we're
taking our time with the right talent. It's about the quality, not the
quantity. We're going to take our time and we're going to be a force to
be reckoned with when the time is right.
Q
Were
you surprised at all, on this conference call there was very little
discussion about what to expect in the ring itself between Floyd and
Canelo. It was almost like there's a foregone
conclusion that Floyd's going to win one way or another. Did that surprise you; there wasn't
more technique talk from questions about that?
Ellerbe
Well,
we don't get caught up in the aspect of what everyone else thinks.
That's up to the media and the fans. From a preparation standpoint I
personally know that Floyd, he's preparing the same that he normally
does for any fight and he's treating this fight accordingly. In
everyone else's eyes, they see that this is Floyd's biggest challenge to
date and come next Saturday the world will see. We know what Canelo is
bringing to the table. We've done extensive homework on the young man.
He's a tremendous fighter. He's fought some decent competition thus
far, but fighting Floyd Mayweather is like night and day. Floyd, with
all due respect, Austin Trout, in my eyes, he was the best fighter that
he's fought to date. Floyd Mayweather is head and shoulders above a guy
like Austin Trout. I think come next Saturday night the young man,
he will be in for a rude awakening.
END OF CALL
"THE ONE: MAYWEATHER VS. CANELO," a 12-round fight for Canelo's WBC, WBA and Ring Magazine Super
Welterweight World Championships and Mayweather's WBA Super Welterweight
Super World Championship taking place Saturday, Sept. 14 at the MGM
Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, is promoted by Mayweather Promotions,
Golden Boy Promotions and Canelo Promotions and sponsored by Corona,
O'Reilly Auto Parts, AT&T, Valvoline, Mexico Tourism, Fred Loya
Insurance and Nature Nutrition. In the 12-round co-featured attraction,
WBC, WBA Super and Ring Magazine Super Lightweight World Champion Danny
Garcia and thunderous puncher WBC Interim Super Lightweight World
Champion Lucas Matthysse square off in a fight presented in association
with Swift Promotions and Arano Box Promotions. Also, Ishe Smith vs.
Carlos Molina square off in a 12-round battle for Smith's IBF Junior
Middleweight World Title which is promoted in association with Warriors
Boxing. The opening bout on SHOWTIME PPV features a 10-round
welterweight showdown between Pablo Cesar Cano and Ashley Theophane. The
mega-event will be produced and distributed live by SHOWTIME PPV®
beginning at 9:00 p.m. ET/6:00 p.m. PT. The event can be heard in
Spanish using secondary audio programming (SAP).
Less
than 24 hours after going on sale on June 25, the event was sold out,
but six MGM Resorts properties will host live closed circuit telecasts
of "THE ONE." Properties showcasing the event include ARIA, MGM Grand,
Mandalay Bay, The Mirage, Monte Carlo and New York-New York. General
admission tickets for the closed circuit telecasts are priced at $100,
not including handling fees, and are available for purchase at each
individual property's box office outlets and also are available for
purchase by phone with a major credit card at 866-799-7711. Closed
circuit ticket sales are limited to eight (8) per person. Tickets also
are available through Ticketmaster by calling (800) 745-3000 or online
at www.ticketmaster.com. "THE ONE" will also be broadcast on nearly 550
select movie theaters across the country. Tickets are available at
participating theater box offices and online at www.FathomEvents.com.
For more information, visit www.theonefight.com, www.floydmayweather.com, www.mayweatherpromotions.com, www.goldenboypromotions.com,www.sports.sho.com and www.mgmgrand.com, follow on Twitter at @FloydMayweather, , @CaneloOficial,
@DannySwift, @IsheSugarShay, @Canochampion, @AshleyTheophane,
@MayweatherPromo, @DannySwift, @IsheSugarShay, @GoldenBoyBoxing, @mgmgrand and @SHOSports, follow the conversation using #TheOne and become a fan on Facebook at www.facebook.com/FloydMayweather, www.facebook.com/MayweatherPromotions, www.facebook.com/GoldenBoyBoxing and www.facebook.com/SHOBoxing.