For one West Hollywood waiter, his grand dream has been realized by the making of Floyd Mayweather Jr.’s long-awaited fight with Manny Pacquiao.
Last year, Gabriel Salvador, a waiter at Craig’s restaurant in West Hollywood, reconnected with Leslie Moonves, the chief executive CBS Corp. who frequented the establishment. Salvador’s teenage son receives boxing lessons from Pacquiao’s trainer, Freddie Roach.
“Every tree starts with a seed, correct?” Salvador said. “I just knew, with no doubt, that if I brought Freddie Roach to Leslie Moonves, those two men could make the fight happen.
“I’m the finder.”
Floyd Mayweather Jr., Marcos Maidana CAPTION Floyd Mayweather Jr., Marcos Maidana Ethan Miller / Getty Images Floyd Mayweather, right, battles Marcos Maidana during a WBC/WBA unification bout at MGM Grand in Las Vegas on May 3, 2014. Mayweather is considered one of the most successful boxers in the history of the sport. CAPTION Floyd Mayweather Jr. Al Bello / Allsports Floyd Mayweather Jr. celebrates his victory over Augustine Sanchez at the U.S. Olympic Box-offs in Augusta, Ga., on April 20, 1996. CAPTION Floyd Mayweather Jr. Hans Deryk / Associated Press Floyd Mayweather Jr. looks on as he awaits a decision by the judges following a pre-Olympic tune-up bout against Russia’s Viacheslav Smirnov in Miami on June 17, 1996. Mayweather went on to win a bronze medal in the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games. CAPTION Floyd Mayweather Jr., Serafim Todorov Rick Bowmer / Associated Press USA’s Floyd Mayweather Jr., right, fight’s Bulgaria’s Serafim Todorov during their 57-kilogram class semifinal at the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games. CAPTION Floyd Mayweather Jr. Paul Morse / Los Angeles Times Floyd Mayweather Jr. reacts after losing to Bulgaria’s Serafim Todorov in the 57-kilogram semifinals at the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games. During the times that Salvador handled Moonves’ table, the men bonded over their love of boxing.
Then, at Roach’s Wild Card Boxing Club in Hollywood, Salvador made a bold statement.
“I think I can make this fight happen,” Salvador told Roach. “I talk to Leslie every time he comes in, we have a great rapport. I trust you with my son. Give me the benefit of trust.”
From there, Salvador told Moonves, “You’re the king of making things happen. I’ll bring Freddie Roach to you,” setting up a meeting in June at a Beverly Hills hotel.
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Salvador said that Roach and Moonves discussed obstacles preventing a Mayweather-Pacquiao fight and Roach said “I’ll talk to Manny. Manny wants this fight to happen.” Moonves agreed to speak to Mayweather, who has two fights remaining on his contract with the CBS-owned Showtime cable network.
“Once that meeting happened, you have what you have now, the greatest trainer of all time seeing what his fighter can do against Mr. Undefeated,” Salvador said.
When Mayweather announced the fight Friday, to take place May 2 in Las Vegas, people praised Moonves for succeeding where others had failed. All the efforts since 2009 to put together a Mayweather-Pacquiao bout had collapsed for various reasons, but mostly over personality conflicts.
Moonves got involved with some sore feelings at Pacquiao promoter Bob Arum, who put one Pacquiao fight on Showtime during a leadership change at HBO, then returned to HBO.
Manny Pacquiao, Floyd Mayweather Jr. finally agree to mega-fight Manny Pacquiao, Floyd Mayweather Jr. finally agree to mega-fight “You’re going to have to deal with Bob,” Roach told Moonves. “Manny just signed a new contract with him.”
Roach arranged an October meeting between Moonves and Arum at the promoter’s Beverly Hills home that ended with the the men exiting arm in arm, Roach said.
Stephen Espinoza, a Showtime executive vice president who had been involved in failed fight negotiations, said, “When we look at the history of these negotiations and ask why this one was different, the obvious answer was Leslie. I don’t think he had a doubt in his mind that this deal would close.
“He was really the catalyst for seeing this through, and refused to take no for an answer from any side.”
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Moonves had acted in good faith and paid Mayweather than $30 million for four fights, three of which didn’t deserve that kind of money.
Arum, whose promotional work started with Muhammad Ali, respected Moonves’ business acumen in leading a television network powerhouse.
Moonves pushed Mayweather, his manager Al Haymon and Arum to embrace a shared goal.
“Both sides realized how important this fight would be,” Moonves said.
At one point, Moonves had Arum and Haymon at his home, describing the session as “fine, very respectful, with a lot getting accomplished in those two hours.”
Manny Pacquiao CAPTION Manny Pacquiao Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times Rated as the best pound-for-pound boxer in the world, Manny Pacquiao was already called the best boxer in the 2000s. At the age of 35 with a record of 56 wins, five losses and two ties, Pacquiao shows no sign of slowing down. CAPTION First punch on American soil Laura Rauch / Associated Press Pacquiao’s professional boxing career started in 1995 and he boxed primarily in the Philippines until 2001. In his 2001 debut in the United States against Lehlohonolo Ledwaba of South Africa, Pacquiao won by TKO in six rounds. CAPTION Losing his featherweight title Eric Jamison / Associated Press Before facing Mexico’s Erik Morales in March 19, 2005, in Las Vegas, Pacquiao had not lost since September 1999. Morales won by unanimous decision to take the WBC international super featherweight title. CAPTION Another shot at Morales Jed Jacobsohn / Getty Images Ten months later, Pacquiao faced Erik Morales again. Pacquiao knocked Morales out in the 10th round. It was the first time Morales was knocked out in his boxing career. CAPTION Winning the lightweight title belt Eric Jamison / Associated Press Pacquiao trades punches with David Diaz during their WBC lightweight championship boxing match June 28, 2008, in Las Vegas. Pacquiao won by knockout in the ninth round. “You have a lot of strong personalities involved in this thing. These negotiations are always tough, but I’m not in unfamiliar territory. I’ve obviously done a lot of big negotiations with entertainment shows, with the NFL. I’ve never been in anything quite as complex and tricky as this.”
Said Espinoza: “The sheer number of issues ? the boxers, the promoters, the networks ? there was a time in looking at it, I thought it’d be too much to overcome.”
Part of the deal involved a joint pay-per-view broadcast with Moonves’ rival, HBO.
Moonves and HBO Chairman Richard Plepler were in agreement on the need for a Pacquiao-Mayweather fight.
“We’re arch-enemies, but they’re good guys over there. It’s a true partnership,” Moonves said.
Keeping with Roach’s promise, Pacquiao accepted Mayweather’s push for a 60-40 purse split and a drug-testing plan that he’d balked at previously.
Then, late last month, Mayweather looked across courtside at a Miami Heat game and saw Pacquiao. The two met later at Pacquiao’s suite and came away convinced that each wanted the bout.
That “certainly greased the wheels in getting through the final stages of the process,” Espinoza said.
Mayweather-Pacquiao is expected to shatter pay-per-view and live-gate records, with ringside seats at $5,000 apiece and the pay-per-view expected to be in the $100 range.
“The sky is the limit. This event has a scale and stature we may never see again,” Espinoza said.
Moonves plans to be ringside, and Salvador said he’ll be there too, part of a “finder’s fee.”
“I’m sitting in the front row, right next to Mr. Moonves,” Salvador said.
