Mayweather to return for exhibition bout with YouTuber Logan Paul

Floyd Mayweather will return to the boxing ring in February for an exhibition bout against YouTube personality aul, the undefeated former world champion announced on Instagram on Sunday.

Mayweather, 43 and with an unblemished record of 50-0, last fought professionally in August 2017 when he won by TKO over mixed martial arts champion Conor McGregor, who was making his boxing debut.

The five-weight division world champion said he will step into the ring on Feb. 20 at a yet to be determined venue to face Paul, who has a record of 0-1, with that loss coming against fellow YouTuber KSI.

The fight is the latest exhibition bout featuring ageing former-champions and celebrities.

Former-heavyweight champion Mike Tyson, now 54, returned to the ring last month to face Roy Jones Jr. in a charity exhibition bout that was ruled a draw.

-reuters-

Mayweather stops fading McGregor with 10th round TKO

A ruthless Floyd Mayweather scored a 10th round technical knockout over mixed martial arts champion Conor McGregor on Saturday, cementing his legacy as one of boxing’s all-time greats.

McGregor, making his professional boxing debut, had boasted he would knock out the 40-year-old American early but his lack of ring savvy betrayed him as Mayweather improved to 50-0 to surpass heavyweight great Rocky Marciano’s 49-0 record for most wins without a loss or draw.

Whether the megafight will be the richest of all-time, as promoters predicted, is still to be determined but Mayweather left no doubt of his place in the pantheon of boxing greats in what he said was his last fight.

As promised, McGregor came out full of fury and menace but Mayweather, long regarded as the finest defensive fighter to step into the ring, left few openings and used the first three rounds to feel out his opponent.

By the fourth round Mayweather went on the attack and started landing blow after blow against a suddenly desperate McGregor who was bravely hanging on while clutching and grabbing the American.

In the 10th, Mayweather moved in for kill pinning a visibly fatigued McGregor against the ropes and landing a flurry of punches when the referee stepped in to stop the fight.

source: interaksyon.com

Time running out for Pacquiao, Mayweather to book May megafight, says Roach; Floyd to announce decision on his birthday?

Time is running out for Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather to book a May 2 showdown, Pacquiao’s trainer Freddie Roach said Tuesday.

Amid a welter of reports in recent weeks that a deal for the much-anticipated bout was all but done, Roach warned that a decision would be needed soon if both fighters are to prepare adequately.

“We are getting really close,” Roach said of reaching a cut-off for declaring a May 2 fight a reality.

“I need eight weeks. That window is getting smaller and smaller.”

In fact, Roach said, he could make do with a slightly shorter training camp with Pacquiao, the eight-division world champion who said Monday in the Philippines that a deal was “near.”

On an eight-week schedule, the first fortnight would be core training and general conditioning, Roach said.

“The boxing would start six weeks out, because if you go more than six weeks with Manny you’ll burn him out because of his work ethic.”

Pacquiao is 57-5 with two draws and 38 knockouts, while Mayweather is 47-0 with 26 knockouts.

Fight fans around the world have clamored for years for a showdown between the boxers widely regarded as the best “pound-for-pound” fighters of their generation.

The Sunday Telegraph in Britain reported that the pair had agreed to a $250 million deal, although on Sunday night in New York, Mayweather said in a brief television interview during the NBA All-Star Game that nothing had been signed by either party.

Last year, Mayweather used the occasion of his 37th birthday on February 24 to announce his opponent for a May 3 bout — plumping for Argentina’s Marcos Maidana and snubbing England’s Amir Khan.

A similar birthday announcement by Mayweather would make for a nine-week lead time to a May 2 fight.

Pacquiao promoter Bob Arum last month ignited buzz over the fight when he said negotiations had been “narrowed down to extraordinarily small points.”

On Tuesday, however, Arum took himself out of the prophecy business.

“I know nothing,” Arum said of the state of negotiations as he attended a public workout at Roach’s Wild Card gym for Chinese fighter Zou Shiming.

Roach, however, thinks the fight — which ran aground in 2009 — will happen.

“I think we’re close enough it will happen sometime in the near future,” Roach said. “Floyd says he wants to fight. Manny says he wants to fight. Fights get made like that.”

Pacquiao said this week he had agreed to the Mayweather camp’s demands regarding drug testing.

Pay-per-view bonanza

Published reports citing sources close to the Filipino ring icon have also said he has agreed to give Mayweather the lion’s share of what promises to be the biggest pay-day in boxing history.

“I think it would be the biggest fight of all time,” Roach said. “A lot of it has to do with the world we’re living in — you have pay-per-view almost everywhere.”

Those pay-per-view revenues have added another wrinkle to the negotiations, since the fighters are under contract to rival US telecasters, Showtime and HBO.

If fight fans do get the bout they’ve been waiting for on May 2, Roach has no doubt who will bring the fireworks, with Pacquiao ready to take some risks to make an exciting fight.

That’s not something he expects from Mayweather, a slick defender who Roach believes is reluctant to risk his unbeaten record.

“I don’t think he really cares about the fans,” Roach said of Mayweather. “I think he just wants to do enough to win. Manny’s not like that. That’s why Manny’s been knocked out a few times. That could happen again, but I’d rather see a fighter get knocked out trying to win than just trying to go the distance.”

source: interaksyon.com

Floyd Mayweather says he’s ready to fight Manny Pacquiao: ‘Let’s do it’

Floyd Mayweather said on Friday that he’s ready for the long-awaited megafight with Filipino boxing icon Manny Pacquiao.

In an interview on the Showtime network during a fight card his company was promoting, Mayweather said he was willing to make the fight happen, even suggesting a May 2 date for the bout.

“We are ready. Let’s make it happen. May 2. Mayweather versus Manny Pacquiao. Let’s do it,” Mayweather said in the interview.

There has been clamor for the megafight since 2009, but concerns about drug testing and money matters have made the fight seem unlikely to occur.

The undefeated American boxer also said that it was not him that was keeping the much-anticipated fight from happening and pointed at Top Rank promoter Bob Arum instead.

Arum, though, has stated that Mayweather was “smart” and has avoided the fight because Pacquiao poses the biggest threat to his pristine record.

The fight is expected to be the richest fight in boxing history, though Mayweather is expected to demand a much larger purse than Pacquiao in the bout.

Pacquiao has been calling Mayweather out recently, saying he was ready for the fight after his recent win over Chris Algieri and trading barbs with his rival on Instagram and in a Foot Locker commercial.

source: interaksyon.com

Less money from Manny: Mayweather’s manager takes jab at Pacquiao-Bradley earnings

The chief executive of Floyd Mayweather’s promotional company took a jab at the recent fight between Manny Pacquiao and Timothy Bradley, saying that gate receipts from the recent fight would be dwarfed by Mayweather’s next bout.

Leonard Ellerbe said that projected gate receipts from Pacquiao-Bradley of about $8 million last Sunday — a figure confirmed by Top Rank promoter Bob Arum — pales in comparison to Mayweather’s next fight against Marcos Maidana, which has already sold tickets worth $14 million.

“People come to see Floyd Mayweather fight in big events,” Ellerbe said. “That’s why we do the kind of numbers that we do.”

Mayweather, 37, will put his perfect 45-0 record on the line against Argentina’s Marcos Maidana on May 3 in a welterweight world title clash.

Prominent advertising for Mayweather-Maidana at the MGM Grand during the week of the Pacquiao-Bradley fight incensed Arum, who went so far as to threaten never to have Pacquiao fight there again.

He derided the Mayweather-Maidana match-up as “nonsense,” no doubt further provoked by Golden Boy and Mayweather Promotions’ decision to make Maidana available to the media at the MGM Grand just hours before Pacquiao-Bradley on Saturday.

In late 2009 and early 2010, Pacquiao and Mayweather were considered the world’s top pound-for-pound fighters and record profits were expected from a showdown.

But a disagreement over pre-fight blood testing scuttled talks already complicated by the need to satisfy rival pay-per-view outlets HBO and Showtime.

Other negotiations broke down over the division of the purse, and the intervening years have brought a further chill to relations between Bob Arum’s Top Rank Promotions and Oscar de la Hoya’s Golden Boy Promotions.

“It’s really hard to talk about that,” Pacquiao said. “How many years have we talked about it and it hasn’t happened?

“If he wants to fight, the fight will be on.”

Trainer Freddie Roach seems to flip-flop as to whether the bout will ever take place, saying earlier this month he thought it would if only because the pool of potential opponents for both Pacquiao and Mayweather is so small.

In the days before the Bradley fight, he seemed less optimistic, but said if it does happen it could be as a career finale for both men.

“On our side, I think Bob wants that fight to be our last fight,” Roach said.

Pacquiao looks set to clash later this year with the winner of the May 17 fight between Juan Manuel Marquez and Mike Alvarado.

Pacquiao has fought Marquez four times, and was brutally knocked out by the Mexican star in their last encounter in December of 2012.

source: interaksyon.com

Bob Arum blows top over Mayweather posters during Pacquiao-Bradley faceoff

LAS VEGAS – Manny Pacquiao and Timothy Bradley faced off in the final press conference for their welterweight world title rematch on Saturday, but it was promoter Bob Arum providing the fireworks.

Arum thought there was far too much Floyd Mayweather in evidence at the MGM Grand, where signs and banners promoting Pacquiao-Bradley 2 were side-by-side with materials advertising Mayweather’s May 3 fight against Argentinian Marcos Maidana.

Arum introduced Richard Sturm, President of MGM Grand Entertainment and Sports, as “the president of hanging posters and decorations for the wrong fight”.

Sturm sidestepped the criticism, but he was still sitting next to the podium when Arum closed the press conference at the MGM’s Hollywood Theater with another blast at the venue.

“In the Venetian they wouldn’t make a mistake like this,” said Arum, the founder and chief executive of Top Rank Promotions who staged Pacquiao’s 2013 bout against American Brandon Rios at the Venetian hotel-resort in the casino haven of Macau.

“They knew what fight was scheduled in three or four days and they wouldn’t have a 12-1 fight all over the building that’s going to take place three weeks from next Saturday,” Arum said.

“But that’s why one company makes a billion dollars a quarter and the other hustles to pay its debt,” he added.

The broadside from the 82-year-old Arum was a sharp contrast to the restrained comments from Saturday’s combatants, even though both Pacquiao and Bradley have said they have plenty to prove.

Bradley was stung by the outrage that greeted his split-decision triumph over Pacquiao here on June 9, 2012, with even the World Boxing Organization saying that upon review, the decision should have gone to Pacquiao.

In the build-up to the rematch, Bradley has goaded Pacquiao, saying the 35-year-old veteran has lost the “killer instinct” that made him a world champion in eight weight divisions.

Pacquiao, whose loss to Bradley was followed by a brutal knock-out loss to Juan Manuel Marquez before he righted the ship with a convincing points win over Rios, promised an entertaining bout.

“Everything is all said,” Pacquiao said. “Both fighters are doing our best to do our job in the ring and make you guys happy and to give a good fight to make people happy.”

Added Bradley: “It doesn’t really matter what we say, it only matters what we do. Me and Manny Pacquiao basically went through hell in training camp to put on a great show for the fans.”

As he moved to sit down, Bradley asked Arum if he’d hit the right notes.

“Why don’t you ask the guy whose picture is up all over building (Mayweather) when he’s going to fight somebody real?” Arum said.

“I’m not going to say that,” Bradley said with a half-laugh. “You can say that.”

Wrapping things up, Arum pleaded age as his excuse for speaking his mind.

“If whatever I said was incendiary,” he said, “I’m an old guy and I apologize.”

source: interaksyon.com

Dodging Manny Pacquiao? Floyd Mayweather admits picking easier opponents for more money

HOLLYWOOD – Floyd Mayweather says his undefeated record has been partly built on the backs of handpicked opponents who didn’t always provide the toughest fights but did help him become the world’s best paid athlete.

“Sometimes they say, ‘Well, Floyd Mayweather’s opponents was handpicked.’ That’s a good thing,” Mayweather said during a conference call with reporters to hype Saturday’s world title fight against Mexico’s Saul “Canelo” Alvarez. “I commend my team … 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? Keep handpicking them. If they’re going to keep paying, keep handpicking them.”

Mayweather, who Forbes magazine lists as the world’s highest paid athlete, has been criticized for dodging a potential mega fight with Filipino superstar Manny Pacquiao.

The two have tried several times over the past few years to get the deal done for what would likely be the most lucrative fight in boxing history. But each time negotiations broke down when they couldn’t come to terms on a variety of issues, including drug testing and share of the revenue and purses.

Pacquiao’s camp blames Mayweather for the holdup, saying even when they agreed to all his demands — including drug testing — the American would come up with new increased demands to scuttle the blockbuster fight.

“Floyd’s statement speaks for itself. Now we know why he won’t give the fans the fight they want most,” Pacquiao’s trainer Freddie Roach told AFP on Tuesday.

The fight with Alvarez is the second in Mayweather’s six-bout, 30-month contract with American cable network Showtime that could pay him more than $200 million. After Mayweather beat Robert Guerrero in May, he said he wanted to fight again in September – marking the first time since 2007 he will be in the ring twice in a calendar year.

Mayweather’s guaranteed purse for the Alvarez fight is reported to be a record $41 million which would surpass the previous record of $32 million he received for fighting Guerrero.

Organizers are also hoping that this fight will eclipse the 2.44 million record pay-per-view sales and sales of more than $130 million racked up by the Mayweather and Oscar de la Hoya fight in 2007. Mayweather will also get a cut of the pay-per-view money on top of his guaranteed purse.

Mayweather, who is undefeated in 44 fights, says he will take nothing for granted when he faces World Boxing Council and World Boxing Association super welterweight champ Alvarez in a 12-round showdown of unbeaten fighters at the MGM Grand Hotel.

“I am not overlooking this guy,” said Mayweather. “In Mexico he is a young rock star and everybody that they put in front of him he was able to go out there and do his job.

“I am pushing myself to the limit right now.”

The last time Mayweather stopped an opponent inside the distance was two years ago and that came when Victor Ortiz lowered both his hands and was looking at the referee for a ruling. Mayweather seized the moment and hit Ortiz with a combination of punches that floored Ortiz.

Since then, Mayweather has won 12-round decisions over Miguel Cotto in May 2012 and Guerrero.

Saturday’s fight will be contested at 152 pounds with Alvarez’s super welterweight titles on the line. Alvarez (42-0-1) is a 154-pound champion and Mayweather usually fights at 147 pounds.

The 23-year-old Alvarez says he believes he has the perfect fight plan to register one of the biggest upsets in boxing history.

“I am going to follow my game plan and I am going to fight my fight,” he said. “I am not going to allow him to fight his fight. I have a game plan.”

source: interaksyon.com

BEAT CRAZY: Twitterverse pummels Justin Bieber, Mayweather’s new ‘boyfriend’

Somebody got beat up very badly.

And no, I’m not talking about Albie Casiño, Mon Tulfo and Miguel Cotto, who were all physically assaulted in separate incidents you’ve probably heard about in the news, particularly in this section.

It’s a different kind of beatdown for, of all people, Justin Bieber. In this case, the teenage pop sensation got hit with plenty of virtual uppercuts in the hands of online detractors on Twitter, who reacted upon seeing him standing alongside rappers 50 Cent, Lil Wayne and the rest of The Money Team posse of boxing great Floyd Mayweather, Jr. who just defeated Cotto for the WBA junior middleweight/superwelterweight belt.

Not that the former YouTube phenomenon, who scored big hits with “Baby” and “Boyfriend,” was popular with numerous internet bloggers and message boards to begin with. As with most overnight successes, Bieber is not without his own share of haters.

Nick Collins, a critic for the UK-based broadsheet, The Daily Telegraph, offers perhaps the most spot-on assessment for the hostile reception: “Bieber’s character also appears to strike a particularly sour note with his Internet critics, with many remarks commenting on his youthful appearance, his teen-pop songs, his image as a heart-throb to young teenage girls and his manner of speech.”

Associating himself with a world-class athlete like Mayweather (and yes, that was him carrying the former’s title belt) is obviously an effort to improve his image and score pogi points beyond the usual Bieber faithful. But apparently, that didn’t turn out to be the case here.

Here are some of the “kinder” tweets from around the world yesterday and today: “Justin Bieber was in Floyd Mayweather’s entourage last night. I really hope his job in the group is the human punching bag.”

“If I was a boxer, I wouldn’t have Justin Bieber in my posse. Maybe that’s why I’m not a boxer.” “Floyd Mayweather just lost a lot of street cred for having Justin Bieber walk out with him.” “Justin Bieber joins Mayweather in the ring after Cotto fight…. boxing plummets to new depths.”

Even 50 Cent, who just two years ago, boldly stated, “I hate Justin Beaver.” Now they’re buddies. Naturally, the rapper is not spared from the barrage of derisions: “Please tell us that “50 Cent and Justin Bieber is trending because they are involved in a massive gang war…”

“50 Cent and Justin Bieber is trending. They shouldn’t be in the same sentence.”

Of course, the superstar hitmaker may really be a nice kid and true to his clean-cut boy-next-door persona just couldn’t say no to the brash, outspoken fighter. His tweet to Mayweather right after the fight sounded gracious and polite: “Hard Work & Dedication. congrats champ. glad i could be a part of it.” To which Mayweather responded, “Keep up the great work and thanks for the support.

Still, the whole thing didn’t necessarily sit well not only with fans of Mayweather and 50 Cent but also with those of our very own Manny Pacquiao, who two years ago was the subject of racist rants from the controversial sports figure Bieber chose to identify himself with—the same boxer the kid now also describes as “misunderstood” in another tweet.

Which also explains why many Filipinos shared similar sentiments. San Juan Representative JV Ejercito tweeted, “Maybe Mayweather and Justin Bieber are both arrogant and full of themselves that is why they get along?”

Sportscaster Jinno Rufino also tweeted this declaration yesterday: Never say never to @FloydMayweather ….. Bieber lost ALL his Pinoy fans.” TV5 anchor Paolo Bediones, on the other hand, simply lamented, “…sad sad day for filipino beliebers.”

Well, whether Justin Bieber really lost a lot of fans both here and elsewhere by casting his lot with Mayweather, even if only for just one night, only time and public reception to his records and concerts will tell.

Meanwhile, the misunderstood Floyd Mayweather, Jr. will be serving his 90-day sentence for domestic abuse very soon. Baby, baby, baby, ooh!

source: interaksyon.com