| Kelly Swanson
Gracias, todo el mundo, por acompañarnos hoy. Hoy en la llamada no tenemos nada menos que "TBE’ el mejor luchador de la tierra, Floyd Mayweather, 11-tiempo campeón del mundo. También tenemos a Leonard Ellerbe, CEO, Mayweather Promotions. Leonard, por favor comience con las presentaciones. Gracias.
Leonard Ellerbe
Gracias, todo el mundo, por acompañarnos en la llamada. Entraremos directamente en esto sin más preámbulos.. Nada menos que el propio Floyd Mayweather.
Floyd Mayweather
¡Eh, Cómo están todos? Quiero agradecerle a Leonard. Quiero agradecer a Kelly. Quiero agradecer a mi equipo. Quiero agradecer a todos los medios de todo el mundo que han estado cubriendo esta pelea.. Quiero agradecer a todos, Solo quiero decirles que están haciendo un gran trabajo y les agradezco..
Q
Esa cosa en SportsCenter la otra noche, cuando hablabas de tu lugar en la historia del boxeo y dijiste que pensabas que eras más grande que Muhammad Ali. ¿Puedes ampliar tus razones por las que te sientes así??
F. Mayweather
Solo siento como, como dije antes, Me quito el sombrero y luego reconozco a todos los campeones pasados. Son, Creo que era una leyenda. Respeto a Ali como respeto a cualquier otro campeón. Siento que he hecho todo lo que puedo hacer en este deporte durante toda mi vida., por treinta y tantos años. Siento que he hecho tanto en este deporte como lo hizo Ali.
No hay falta de respeto hacia él. Solo siento como, cuando lo miras, Ali estuvo genial en una categoría de peso, que es de peso pesado. Pero se puso de pie por una buena causa; defendió una causa infernal en su época.
Creo que es difícil para un chico vencerme. Sigo siendo agudo, Todavía muy, muy agudo a la edad de 38. Todavía va fuerte a la edad de 38. No hay falta de respeto a Ali, Como dije antes. Me siento como si fuera el mejor, no es diferente de cómo se llamaba a sí mismo "El más grande,’ Me llamo a mí mismo "TBE".’
Estoy bastante seguro de que me criticarán por lo que dije., pero me puede importar menos. No podría importarme menos la reacción. Creo que lo que creo es que probablemente fue criticado en un momento en particular cuando dijo que era el mejor. Sentía que era mejor que Sugar Ray Robinson. La lista sigue y sigue. Estoy bastante seguro de que habrá otro peleador que vendrá y dirá que es mejor que Floyd Mayweather y que será criticado..
Q
¿Crees que Manny Pacquiao cree algo de lo que dice Freddie Roach cuando se trata del malo y todas estas otras cosas?? ¿O crees que solo está echando humo??
F. Mayweather
No voy a hablar negativamente sobre Freddie Roach. No tengo que hacerlo en absoluto. Si digo algo sobre el chico, van a pensar que Floyd se está metiendo con un chico, quien no lo es 100 por ciento saludable.
Entonces, si comento algunas de las cosas que dice, él está haciendo de esto básicamente una cosa del tipo Dios y el diablo. La mejor manera de manejar una situación como esa., es no decir nada en absoluto, si no tienes nada positivo que decir. No tiene que entrar y pelear, así que cuando se trata de eso, depende de los dos luchadores.
Tiene derecho a decir lo que quiera decir, pero el luchador no habla asi. No podría importarme menos porque se trata de los dos luchadores. Le deseo a Freddie Roach nada más que lo mejor; No tengo nada negativo que decir sobre él.. Estoy realmente bendecido de estar donde estoy y estoy agradecido de estar donde estoy.
Q
La magnitud de esta pelea, Sé que lo tratas como una pelea más, pero que hay de tu equipo? ¿Cómo ha tratado su equipo con la prensa??
F. Mayweather
Estoy muy feliz, como dije antes. Un poco de todo me llevó a este punto. Todos tocaron una clave importante. Trato de mantener a mi equipo en la tierra. La gente habla del dinero. Eso juega una clave importante. Mi lugar en la historia juega un papel importante. Un buen desempeño juega un papel fundamental. Todo juega un papel importante, clave principal.
Solo trato de mantener a mi equipo en la tierra y trato de mantenerlos enfocados y solo trato de enseñarles todos los días cómo salir y pescar por sí mismos.. Eso es lo único que trato de enseñarle a mi equipo. Les digo que se mantengan positivos, y lo que escuché fue mantener un ambiente positivo a mi alrededor, que me mantiene cómodo y feliz.
Q
¿Estás emocionado en algún momento de esta pelea?? Sé que dices que tratas esto como un trabajo, pero ¿estás emocionado de finalmente subir al ring y que suceda esta pelea??
F. Mayweather
Es como dije antes. Realmente no me estoy volviendo loco. Es solo una pelea para mi. Sé que es la pelea más grande en la historia del boxeo., pero no puedo abordarlo de esa manera porque no voy a ejercer ninguna presión innecesaria sobre mí mismo.
He’s a fighter that’s extremely talented, he’s a very good fighter also, and my thing is just to be Floyd Mayweather. People actually don’t know, how is this fight going to be fought? I can’t say. Como dije antes, I’m not a psychic. I cannot predict the future. But I will be at my best May 2nd.
Q
Escuchar, if you believe Bob Arum, this fight might not happen. That there’s issues with tickets, there’s the contract has not been signed, lo que. Do you know anything about that?
F. Mayweather
When it comes to the business side, that’s for Leonard Ellerbe. I don’t try to worry about tickets; I try to worry about the guy that’s in front of in me, which is going to be Manny Pacquiao. That’s my whole focus. Tickets are something I don’t really deal with.
Q
Have you trained harder for any previous fight than you have for this one, and would that be down to your respect for Manny or the fact that you need to work a bit harder the older you get?
F. Mayweather
When you’re trying to perform, when you’re at this level, you always want to perform extremely well. You don’t want to overtrain. You want to train to where you know you’re completely ready. Go out there and be at just 100 por ciento. As far as this training camp, I’ve trained extremely hard. I believe that we’ll just see how everything plays out.
Q
I’m hearing reports, Floyd, that you’re looking stronger and fitter than ever.
F. Mayweather
Bien, some people say that, you might not believe that depending on who is telling you. Esperemos. Hopefully I am. We’ll just have to see. That’s why I’m at this level, at the pinnacle of my career, because I’ve been pushing myself for so long and working so hard.
Q
Can I just ask you about Amir Khan? Is he still in your plans?
F. Mayweather
My focus right now is the guy that’s in front of me. My last fight is in September. I never want to overlook anyone. I believe you take it one fighter at a time. A partir de ahora, Manny Pacquaio is the guy that’s in front of me, and that’s my focus.
Q
My question is regarding, Manny Pacquiao has said he thinks it’s Floyd’s time to lose. He’s almost implying that it’s maybe, God is on his side. I was wondering how you think, if God actually does care who wins prizefights?
F. Mayweather
I actually believe God loves us all. The people that are on this call, every writer, every fighter, every athlete that goes out there and competes. God loves us all. Una vez más, Soy un luchador. What I do, I’m a professional prizefighter. I believe in God and I love God. I don’t think God takes sides.
Q
Lot of stuff gets reported in the fourth or the sixth weeks leading up to this. We don’t always get a chance to ask you yourself, so I want to give you the opportunity. Is there anything that was reported that you want to clear up that you want to actually say no, that isn’t true, you guys got it wrong?
F. Mayweather
No, nothing at all. Because once my career is over, that’s when I’m going to read everything, de todos modos, all the articles that people have written. When I come home, I leave boxing at the boxing gym. When I go to the gym or when I go to train, I work. I dedicate myself to my craft.
When I come home and I’m not on the computer, I’m not looking at myself. I’m not buying magazine covers with me on the cover. I’m not on the computer looking up articles. I could care less about all that. My job is to go out there and perform and be at my best, and be the best that I can be in the sport of boxing.
Q
My question for you is, in your opinion, what would a victory against Pacquiao do for your legacy? And then how much would it enhance your legacy.
F. Mayweather
It’s just another fight. I just look at the situation. He’s another guy that I faced. You’re just going to say in history, that these two faced each other at one particular time. It was hard to make the fight happen, eventually they made the fight happen, and we faced each other.
Q
Do you believe, aunque, that a victory would in some way enhance your legacy?
F. Mayweather
I’m not sure, because I’m not the one that’s putting myself in the history books.
Q
Do you think it’s true that the winner of the fight will be declared, in essence, by the public, as the king of this era?
F. Mayweather
I can’t really say. I don’t really know. Just look at Ali’s career. When he fought, he looked like the best when he fought. I think he lost seven fights. When I got older I noticed that he lost seven fights and lost some other fight that he lost. He still was known as the greatest. Because that’s what he put out there. Así, that’s what it is.
Q
The wonderment on a lot of people’s minds is when the career is over, will you have enough money for the rest of your life? Do you ever worry about losing at all?
F. Mayweather
Estoy bendecido. I made some good investments to where if I wanted to retire today, I could.
Q
That means there’s no fear of bankruptcy whatsoever in terms of the gambling and the other involvements that you’ve spent?
F. Mayweather
I made some good investments, and if I wanted to retire today, I could.
Q
My question is, you said at the press conference that you though that Pacquiao was surprised at how much bigger you were than him. Can you talk a little bit about that, and then also some of the strategic aspects of being the bigger fighter in the ring on Mayo 2?
F. Mayweather
Normally when I face an opponent, they normally outweighed me by 17 a 20 pounds on fight nights. This has been going on for a good while now. You can read a guy’s body language. When Pacquiao first saw me in Miami, he didn’t expect to see me over there at the basketball game. He looked shocked, como, ‘Damn, he is taller than me. He’s bigger than what I thought he was.’ Just being in the sport for so long, you’re able to read body language; you’re able to read a fighter’s eyes.
Q
Do you feel that some of the trash talking is Freddie Roach being nervous about the fight and trying to get a psychological edge on you?
F. Mayweather
I’m not fighting Freddie Roach, so I’m not worried about that at all. Freddie Roach, he’s Pacquiao’s trainer and he’s going to do what he has to do for his fighter to win. If that’s trying to get an edge, then that’s what he should do.
Q
All of your other fights, you’ve always been a very vocal, always been a vocal fighter. Why the silence this time?
F. Mayweather
This is exactly what I’ve said. Even in my interviews, I’ve said we had to bring a game plan. Even from day one when I was with Bob Arum, I said I wanted to work extremely hard to get to a certain point in my career, which is to get to a point to be the first fighter to ever make nine figures in one night.
It took a game plan to me going out there on my own. It’s just me speaking out with a very, very loud voice. Having a lot of personality. But as you get older, you mature. After trash talking for 17, 18 año, and constantly saying, look what I’ve done. Mírame. Mírame. Sabes de que estoy hablando? I’m the best. Mírame. And everybody they’ve put in front of me I’ve beaten.
I’m at a point where you just say, sabes que? Es lo que es. Yo sé lo que puedo hacer. Yo sé lo que traigo a la mesa. God has truly blessed me to be in this situation. I have a good team. My children are healthy, so I don’t have to do all that.
It’s more like I did all that loud talking and everything to get to a certain point. I’ve still got a lot of personality, I did what I had to do to get to a certain point in my career, y eso es lo que hice. It was a brilliant game plan.
Q
From your personal point of view, how has this fight and this promotion been different from the many other big events that you’ve been a part of?
F. Mayweather
It’s actually been kind of the same. It’s just a little bit over the top, but I just try to stay relaxed. That’s my main thing. It’s a very, very huge event. I can remember every day.
Sometimes I think about when Mike Tyson got out of prison and he was boxing, and when he was fighting at the MGM Grand. I would go to the MGM Grand, because I wasn’t a professional at that particular time. Just starting. I would go to the MGM Grand and some people would know me so I would take pictures and just sign a few autographs. Yo era como, uno, MGM Grand would never be this packed again. That’s what I thought. Yo sólo era 19 years old at that particular time. That was in ’96. I kept believing though. I always believed that I could do record-breaking numbers. I just needed the right team with me and it took a little bit of everything. The right fights, the right team, and we made it happen.
Q
Beyond all the trash talk and salesmanship, you’ve always been a guy that, cuando se llega a esto, is very respectful of his opponents. I think it’s part of your secret. Is there anything that you admire about Manny Pacquiao, either the fighter or the person?
F. Mayweather
Bien, he’s got to this point by doing something right. It’s obvious he’s done something right to get to this point. I have to respect that.
Q
The Filipino fans are expecting or hoping for a very aggressive Manny in the ring. Is this something that you’re training for, or are you just going in the ring to fight your fight, make the adjustments along the way as you have so successfully throughout your career?
F. Mayweather
If you’re basically asking what’s my game plan, my game plan is to win. That’s actually what my game plan has always been is to win.
Q
A lot of the animosity from the Filipino fans towards you is not directed to you as a great boxer, but more as someone who can put an end towards a Filipino hero’s career. Do you honestly believe that you would put an end to a Filipino hero’s career?
F. Mayweather
Bien, my thing is this. I’ve heard that we’re all God’s children, whether you’re American, Filipino, African, dominicano, Asian, we’re all God’s children. People are going to root for who they want to root for and simple and plain I’m pretty sure I’ve got Filipino fans that like me, and I’m pretty sure that you’ve got some black American fans that like Pacquiao.
I never try to focus on anything like that. My focus is to give the people what they really want to see. Just facing the facts. That’s what I’ve done throughout my career. He’s one of the last guys, he’s one of the last good fighters of this era. It’s a fight that has to happen, and I’m glad that the fight is happening.
Q
How much strength and effort and support from family does it take to get you where you are right now?
F. Mayweather
Bien, the support came a lot. I had a hell of a supporting cast to get to this point, before I became a professional. There’s this guy that I never talk about to anyone. I never say anything about him to anyone. And he’s doing extremely badly right now, not financially but health-wise. I believe he’s lost his memory, which hurts extremely bad. A guy by the name of Frank Brown, I’ve known him since I was the age of three.
He has supported me more than anyone. He has always said that, “Floyd, one day you will be the best fighter in the world.” He’s always taking me to church, taking me through different activities. He was like a grandfather to me. Frank Brown. When I used to fight, he would drive anywhere. It could be in Little Rock, Arkansas. He would drive from Grand Rapids, Michigan to come support me. He would sit in the room with me and say prayers with me.
He’s a guy that I would never forget, because he was there from the age of three until after I fought De La Hoya, because he’s up there in age now. He eventually lost his memory, so he’s at a home. He’s at an old folks’ casa. It really hurts, but I love that guy so much. I think about him all the time.
K. Swanson
Bueno, that’s our last question. Gracias, todo el mundo, por estar con nosotros. Floyd, any final comments?
F. Mayweather
I just want to tell everybody, thank you for all the stories, and all the articles you guys wrote. Muchas gracias. My team appreciates you all, as well as myself. Gracias.
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Mayweather vs. Pacquiao is a 12-round welterweight world championship unification bout promoted by Mayweather Promotions and Top Rank Inc., and is sponsored by Tecate con caracter, Paramount Pictures and Skydance Productions -Terminator Genisys, en los cines julio 1st, Paramount Pictures & Skydance Productions present MISSION IMPOSSIBLE: ROGUE NATION, in theaters & IMAX julio 31st, The Weinstein Company and the new movie Southpaw, starring Jake Gyllenhaal, in theaters everywhere Julio 24 and Mexico, Live it to Believe it. The pay-per-view telecast will be co-produced and co-distributed by HBO Pay-Per-View® and SHOWTIME PPV® a partir de las 9:00 p.m. Y/6:00 p.m. PT. |
