Mayweather-Mosley: Behind the Hype
The Floyd Mayweather vs. Shane Mosley fight in Las Vegas is "historic" according to the hype. That was made clear at the fight's press conference in Los Angeles last week when various promoters likened it to Ali vs. Foreman or one of numerous Sugar Ray Leonard classics.
And they said it with a straight face. Among those spouting the hyperbole was the president of Golden Boy Promotions, the home of "Sugar" Shane Mosley and a former fighter himself. You might know him, Oscar De La Hoya? He lost to both of the contestants in this mega-fight and now promotes one and has an interest in the other if and when he fights Manny Pacquiao.
As if that weren't enough, De La Hoya and his fellow executive at Golden Boy, Richard Schaefer told the assembled crowd (the presser was open to the public) that this kind of fight only comes along once in a generation. But it wasn't over yet, not even close.
De La Hoya announced that; "You have the two best fighters in the world fighting each other".
That's where the cringing started and the crowd didn't react as I'm sure he had hoped. No one booed or threw things but there was no particularly positive reaction either. The elephant in the room was the name that was never spoken; Manny Pacquiao. Even Floyd Mayweather must have felt obliged to make some reference to why he was fighting Mosley in Vegas rather than Pacquiao in Dallas this weekend.
Mayweather is a crusader now. He's fighting for truth, justice and clean boxing. He gratuitously threw out the following, "I want to prove to the world that my sport is clean".
The stated goal of the promotion companies is to sell three million pay-per-views for this fight. That would blow away anything numbers Pacquiao has pulled in for his bouts and surely will be used in any new negotiations between the Mayweather and Manny camps. Maybe they are thinking of trading the demand for blood testing for a larger share of the gross revenue rather than the 50/50 split.
To accomplish the PPV goal the hype and talking points were added to the Procter & Gamble-like marketing plan outlined by Schaefer, they've already got a soap opera up and running so why not use consumer products to sell it.
Mayweather and Mosley nearly came to blows during the first stop of their whirlwind publicity tour; they began shoving each other before their promoters separated them. Mayweather and Mosley have been circling each other for years and their animosity has simmered.
They'll meet for real for the WBA welterweight title May 1st in Las Vegas.