Floyd Mayweather is an overwhelming 11-to-1 favorite to defeat WBA welterweight champion Marcos Maidana in their pay-per-view unification bout at the MGM Grand on Saturday night.
Yet there are concerns from the fight’s co-promoter that Mayweather’s life is in a state of disarray and that he might be more distracted by his personal life than he has been since he went to jail nearly three years ago for domestic assault.
Three weeks ago the 37-year-old Mayweather announced that he and his longtime live-in fiancee, “Miss” Shantel Jackson had broken up. On Wednesday night, Showtime’s All-Access reality series revealed that the breakup came shortly after Jackson, who was pregnant by Mayweather with twins, was no longer pregnant.
Despite the drama created by the pregnancy and breakup, Mayweather Promotions CEO Leonard Ellerbe has no concerns about how the events have affected his friend.
“I don’t think Floyd Mayweather gets affected by too many things as it relates to preparation for a fight,” Ellerbe said. “Come Saturday night, you will see an even more exciting Floyd.
“Maidana’s a very tough guy, and we know he’s gonna bring it. At the end of the day it’s about wins and losses and Floyd’s a winner.”
Mayweather, a 10-time world champion and world’s pound-for-pound best with a 45-0 record, is scheduled to earn at least $32 million for his 36 (or fewer) minutes in the ring against Maidana (Showtime pay per view, 9 p.m. ET Saturday).
He has earned a minimum of $105 million for his last three fights and likely a whole lot more from pay-per-view.
During a roundtable discussion with reporters Tuesday, Mayweather refused to answer a question about how he’s been since his breakup with Jackson. He called the question “rude,” though nobody at the time was aware of the loss of the twins.
Golden Boy Promotions CEO Richard Schaefer, whose company is co-promoting the fight, is concerned about Mayweather’s mental state.
“There’s no question about it, he’s distracted,” Schaefer said. “Think about it, we saw a very emotional Floyd (during Wednesday’s press conference). Clearly, with a day or two to go until fight night, against without question one of the most dangerous opponents he’s fought, his focus should be 100% on the fight.
“With what we’ve seen, and what we’re hearing today, I think there is a lot of other things going through Floyd’s head. In one moment he says it might be my last fight, the next he’s saying he might fight more than the three fights. There’s a lot of stuff going through Floyd’s head.”
Future Hall of Fame fighter Bernard Hopkins sees it as an opportunity for Mayweather to turn a negative into a positive.
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SOURCE: USA Today
Bob Velin
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