The pot was not real. Neither, Floyd Mayweather Jr said, was much else that went on in the cable television shows promoting his latest fight.
Not the joint rolling parties with a bevy of female friends in his Las Vegas mansion. Not the 31-minute fights without a break in the “Dog House” of his gym just off the city’s glittering Strip.
Not even the betting that went on between Mayweather and others over who was going to win.
“I don’t want to just sell a fight,” Mayweather said. “I want to sell a lifestyle.”
Called before Nevada boxing regulators on Tuesday to explain what went on in Showtime’s All Access programs aired earlier this month before his rematch with Marcos Maidana, Mayweather said it was all just made-up entertainment to sell the fight.
It worked, he said, bringing in enough of an audience for him to sell more pay-per-views for a fight in which he was guaranteed a US$32 million payday.
“It wasn’t real marijuana,” Mayweather said. “It’s all about entertainment.”
Mayweather, who earlier this year was licensed as a promoter in Nevada, was summoned by Nevada State Athletic Commission chairman Francisco Aguilar to explain scenes in the All Access show that ran a few days before the fight. Mayweather is listed as the executive producer of the show, which bills itself as a reality series filming boxers before their bout.
Turns out it was not so real after all.
“It’s a new generation, a young generation,” Mayweather said. “We believe in going outside boxing and doing something different. Because we did something different we got better pay-per-views this time around.”
Showtime does not release pay-per-view buys, but various reports say the rematch with Maidana did slightly better than the first fight, which did not reach 1 million buys. Mayweather’s fight last year with Canelo Alvarez was boxing’s richest, drawing about 2.2 million buys.
Mayweather appeared before the commission with longtime adviser Leonard Ellerbe and one of his attorneys. Notably missing were his normally large entourage and the very large bodyguards who usually trail him everywhere.
Aguilar and the other commissioners were most interested in two fights shown on All Access, which were presented as going on for more than 30 minutes without breaks, ending only when the beaten boxers quit. On the show, Mayweather is shown arranging the bouts and cheering the fighters.
“The dog house — the rules are you fight till whoever quits,” Mayweather said on the show.
Appearing before the commission, though, Mayweather said the fighters got three to four long rest breaks during the sparring sessions.
“We do take breaks when we spar. I make sure,” Mayweather said. “I’m not going to let anyone get hurt, because safety is very important to boxing.”
Attorney Shane Emerick said scenes showing cash exchanging hands in bets on the fight also did not happen, and Mayweather knows gambling in the gym is illegal. He also said Mayweather does not smoke marijuana or drink alcohol, and would not be around secondhand marijuana smoke because it could show up in drug tests for the fight.
Mayweather is shown in All Access at his mansion while joints are being rolled and smoked. At one point he tells an assistant to go get some more rolling papers.
Commissioners said they were happy with Mayweather appearing before them and satisfied with his explanations.
“You accomplished your goal,” Aguilar said. “I think you represented yourself well.”
Asked as he was getting on an elevator to leave why anyone would want to watch the show if they knew it was all staged, Mayweather smiled and said: “You know I love you guys. Keep up the good work.”
Revelations of positive doping tests for nearly two dozen Chinese swimmers that went unpunished sparked an intense flurry of accusations and legal threats between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the head of the US drug-fighting organization, who has long been one of WADA’s fiercest critics. WADA on Saturday said it was turning to legal counsel to address a statement released by US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) CEO Travis Tygart, who said WADA and anti-doping authorities in China swept positive tests “under the carpet by failing to fairly and evenly follow the global rules that apply to everyone else in the world.” The
Taiwanese judoka Yang Yung-wei on Saturday won silver in the men’s under-60kg category at the Asian Judo Championships in Hong Kong. Nicknamed the “judo heartthrob” in Taiwan, the Olympic silver-medalist missed out on his first Asian Championships gold when he lost to Japanese judoka Taiki Nakamura in the finals. Yang defeated three opponents on Saturday to reach the final after receiving a bye through the round of 32. He first topped Laotian Soukphaxay Sithisane in the round of 16 with two seoi nage (over-the-shoulder throws), then ousted Indian Vijay Kumar Yadav in the quarter-finals with his signature ude hishigi sankaku gatame (triangular armlock). He
Rafael Nadal on Wednesday said the upcoming French Open would be the moment to “give everything and die” on the court after his comeback from injury in Barcelona was curtailed by Alex de Minaur. The 22-time Grand Slam title winner, back playing this week after three months on the sidelines, battled well, but eventually crumbled 7-5, 6-1 against the world No. 11 from Australia in the second round. Nadal, 37, who missed virtually all of last season, is hoping to compete at the French Open next month where he is the record 14-time champion. The Spaniard said the clash with De Minaur was
RALLY: It was only the second time the Taiwanese has partnered with Kudermetova, and the match seemed tight until they won seven points in a row to take the last set 10-2 Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching and Russia’s Veronika Kudermetova on Sunday won the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix women’s doubles final in Stuttgart, Germany. The pair defeated Norway’s Ulrikke Eikeri and Estonia’s Ingrid Neel 4-6, 6-3, 10-2 in a tightly contested match at the WTA 500 tournament. Chan and Kudermetova fell 4-6 in the first set after having their serve broken three times, although they played increasingly well. They fought back in the second set and managed to break their opponents’ serve in the eighth game to triumph 6-3. In the tiebreaker, Chan and Kudermetova took a 3-0 lead before their opponents clawed back two points, but