Roger Mayweather Interview
RICHARD SCHAEFER, CEO, GOLDENBOY PROMOTIONS : Thank you, Kelly, welcome and thank you for participating in today’s call. It’s the fourth actually and, you know, things are really heating up. Some of you might have seen, I hope most of you have seen the De La Hoya/Mayweather 24/7 show, the premier last Sunday..
We had an amazing rating. I mean, an amazing, amazing rating, so a lot of people saw that show. We are all very excited about the next one, which is going to be this Sunday. There are, as well, reruns of the first one, so in case you haven’t seen it yet, make sure you check out HBO and see and catch the first episode to get ready for this coming Sunday for the second part.
On today’s conference call, we have a special treat. We’re going to have the trainers of both camps on the call and I would like to introduce to you now Leonard Ellerbe, Floyd Mayweather’s long-time advisor and confidante who is going to make some comments about camp and how everything is going.
And then he’s going to turn it over to Floyd’s long-time trainer, one of the most celebrated trainers in the sport today, Roger Mayweather. And then Roger will make some comments and then we are going to open it up for questions.
LEONARD ELLERBE, ADVISOR AND CONFIDANTE FOR FLOYD MAYWEATHER : Thank you, Richard. Training camp has been going great. Floyd is in phenomenal shape. This is the best condition physically that he’s been in. Obviously, we know what’s at stake.
This fight is a huge fight and we’re just really looking forward to getting to the show on the 5 th of May and we’re just ready to go. We’ve had some great sparring and like I said, mentally, physically, Floyd is ready to go. And I’ll turn it over to Roger right now.
ROGER MAYWEATHER, TRAINER FOR FLOYD MAYWEATHER : Well, as Leonard said, his training is going well, so I guess all we’re doing right now is waiting for the fight to happen. And I guess we’ll see then.
KELLY SWANSON: OK, great. Operator, if we could open it up for questions. Thanks.
TOM STEWART, BANGOR DAILY NEWS: OK, hi. This question is for Leonard. And Leonard, I know you’ve worked with Floyd a long time. You’ve been with him in, you know, numerous training camps. What is it that you see as Floyd’s greatest strength?
LEONARD ELLERBE: His ability to think. He’s a thinking fighter and he’s the smartest fighter out there. That’s Floyd’s greatest asset. It’s not about — not about who hit the hardest and, you know, all that stuff. He’s the smartest fighter in all of boxing and in this particular fight, it’s not going to come down to who weighs the most and all that because weight don’t win fights. It’s going to come down to who’s the most skillful fighter and who’s the smartest fighter. That’s what it’s going to come down to.
DAN RAFAEL, ESPN: Hey everybody. Leonard, I have a question for you. I’ve know you for a long time. I’ve seen you at all of Floyd’s fights that I’ve been to for many years and, you know, I’ve never really known the background of how you and Floyd have come to be together. You know, you’re almost inseparable it seems.
Can you describe just a little bit about how it is that you came to the point where you are his most trusted confidante?
LEONARD ELLERBE: Actually, I met Floyd through Roger. I’ve known Roger for about 27 — between 25 and 27 years and I actually met Floyd when he was probably about 13 or 14, when he came out to visit Roger many, many years ago. And we got …
DAN RAFAEL: Was it in Michigan?
LEONARD ELLERBE: No, in Vegas.
DAN RAFAEL: Oh, OK.
LEONARD ELLERBE: And then we got reacquainted through his Uncle Jeff because I’ve known Roger and Jeff for many, many years and shortly after that, then I started working with him. So I’ve been a long-time friend of the family for many, many years. We just took it from there.
DAN RAFAEL: What is it though about it that has, in your mind, enabled Floyd to put more faith and trust and that sort of thing into you as opposed to any of the other different people that he may have worked with over the years?
LEONARD ELLERBE: Well, probably because we both come from the same background. We both come from an inner city environment and we both know what the struggle is all about. And I think why he trusted me so much is because I tell him the truth.
I mean, if he does something wrong, I tell him, you did wrong, Floyd, and I don’t tell him what he wants to hear a lot of times and that’s what’s really great about our relationship. You know, if we have a disagreement, we don’t bring our disagreement out in public, you know.
A lot of times we disagree on things, but you know, at the end of the day, you know, I might be right about something and sometimes I might be, you know, slightly off on something. But like I said, he knows that he’s going to get it straightforward from me.
I’m not going to sugar coat anything and like I said, he trusts me and he respects me and like I said, that’s why we have a great relationship.
DAN RAFAEL: Thank you, Leonard. I appreciate that.
GEORGE ROSENWASSER, THE VALLEY NEWS: Hi, this question is for Roger. Roger, how are you?
ROGER MAYWEATHER: I’m fine. How are you?
GEORGE ROSENWASSER: I’m good. My question is — this is a little offbeat, but you were a great fighter. You were a champion. You fought probably the greatest Mexican fighter of our generation in Julio Cesar Chavez. My question to you is how in your prime, how do you think you’d fare against Oscar De La Hoya?
ROGER MAYWEATHER : In my prime?
GEORGE ROSENWASSER: In your prime.
ROGER MAYWEATHER: He’s couldn’t whip me in my prime. Listen, he struggled with Whitaker, didn’t he?
GEORGE ROSENWASSER: Yes, he did.
ROGER MAYWEATHER: Whitaker was past his prime, right? And hadn’t fought in a year so what the heck is he going to do with me? He ain’t a better boxer than Whitaker, so I wouldn’t have no problem with De La Hoya anyway.
ROBERT MORALES (LOS ANGELES DAILY NEWS): Hey, you know, Roger, is there anything at all about Oscar De La Hoya that you have talked to Floyd more about or that you think Floyd should be concerned about?
ROGER MAYWEATHER: Well, you know, you’ve got to understand about boxing. First off, Floyd’s been fighting since he was a baby, number one. So there ain’t much really you can teach him about boxing because he understands boxing very well.
Obviously, everybody knows that because he wouldn’t be in this position if he didn’t know boxing. He wouldn’t be fighting a weight class at 154 pounds, coming from 130 pounds, get in this position to whip De La Hoya. So the thing about Floyd is that you don’t have to tell him what to do because he knows boxing.
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