Music blared over the loudspeakers, smoke billowed across the stage, and the curtain dropped to reveal Floyd Mayweather Jr and Shane Mosley as a crowd of several thousand inside the Nokia Theater roared.
They won’t meet in the ring until May 1 in Las Vegas, but the first stop on a whirlwind, three-city publicity tour on Tuesday included plenty of pomp and pizazz.
Fireworks, too.
PHOTO: EPA
After lengthy introductions, the unbeaten Mayweather and welterweight champion Mosley sauntered to the middle of the stage and stood face to face. Jawing turned to pointing, pointing turned to shoving, and before long, promoters from both camps were rushing forward to separate them.
“The thing is this: He may be the champ, but we all know belts don’t do nothing but collect dust,” Mayweather said, smiling. “I’m in the check-cashing business, baby.”
Both should be able to cash hefty checks after this fight.
Richard Schaefer of Golden Boy Promotions brazenly predicted the fight will do 3 million pay-per-views, which would shatter the record set by Mayweather and Oscar De La Hoya in 2007.
The fight came together after weeks of negotiations between Mayweather and Filippino Manny Pacquiao failed to produce an agreement.
When potentially the richest fight in boxing history fell through, Mayweather turned to the next-biggest attraction in the 66.7kg (147 pound) division.
“It’s been a long time since I got a chance to show the world that I’m the best fighter, and that’s all that I really want, to be the best,” Mosley said. “I’m going to take my hat off to Mayweather, because I didn’t think I was ever going to get a fight from any of these top fighters. He said, ‘Yeah man, I’ll take that challenge. I’ll fight you.’”
Both fighters will undergo random blood testing. Such an agreement perked some eyebrows considering Mosley has acknowledged using steroids before defeating De La Hoya in 2003.
Mosley claims it was a mistake made by a strength coach connected to the BALCO lab, and insisted again on Tuesday that he lives a clean life.
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