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Mayweathers reunite to take on De la Hoya

Oscar De La Hoya, left, and Floyd Mayweather Jr face off during a news conference at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas on Tuesday. PHOTO: AP

Floyd Mayweather Jr. stood with his arm around his father on Tuesday, showing him off to Oscar De La Hoya and making it clear that the senior Mayweather would have a role in preparing him for their May 5 megafight.

The two have been estranged for years, and Mayweather Sr trained De La Hoya before they split over his US$2 million demand to train him to fight his son.

"He may be in the corner, but not your corner," Mayweather told De La Hoya.

The reunion actually occurred about half an hour earlier in a suite upstairs at the MGM Grand hotel-casino, where the two will meet in one of the most anticipated fights in years.

The two Mayweathers hugged, and it seemed like they had never missed a beat as they talked about boxing, De La Hoya's new trainer, Freddie Roach, and a strategy for the fight.

"We have our ups and downs, but he's still my father," Mayweather said. "Someday my father will bury me or I may have to bury him."

The senior Mayweather, who was in prison on drug charges when his son won an Olympic medal in 1996, trained him for much of his earlier career before the two separated in a bitter and public feud. Mayweather ended up training De La Hoya for his last series of fights, and De La Hoya vowed that he wouldn't fight again if the trainer wasn't in his corner.

"We have our ups and downs, but he's still my father."

Floyd Mayweather Jr, boxer

But Mayweather Sr. demanded US$2 million to train De La Hoya to fight his son, and De La Hoya said he believed his heart wasn't in getting him in the best shape to beat the younger Mayweather. So he hired Roach, a former fighter and respected trainer, to prepare him for the fight.

Mayweather Jr has been trained by his uncle, Roger Mayweather, but he was in jail on domestic abuse charges though he was expected to be released before the fight.

"I'm really glad I can bring family together like it's supposed to be," De La Hoya said.

The latest episode in the soap opera that is the Mayweather family took place on the next-to-last stop of an 11-city tour to promote the fight. Tickets for the bout sold out within an hour last month, generating a reported US$20 million gate.

Mayweather Sr, who described himself as "a former fighter and a poetry writer," came equipped with a poem about Roach, and read it to a crowd of several hundred people in the casino lobby, much to his son's delight.

Mayweather Jr, is undefeated and generally thought of as the best pound-for-pound boxer in the world. But he will be moving up to 70kg) to challenge De La Hoya in a fight that could set records for a non-heavyweight bout.

"I can say this, that he is still my father," Mayweather said. "If it comes down to us going to war, I'm going to ride with my father."
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