Robert Garcia took issue Friday with Leonard Ellerbe essentially calling him a cheater.
Ellerbe, CEO of Mayweather Promotions, told a story during the Mayweather-McGregor press tour two weeks ago about Garcia doctoring gloves Marcos Maidana ultimately wasn?t allowed to wear before his first fight against Floyd Mayweather Jr. in May 2014. When Ellerbe extended to his hand to Garcia after Adrien Broner and Mikey Garcia weighed in Friday afternoon in Brooklyn, Garcia got into a verbal exchange with Ellerbe regarding Ellerbe?s comments.
Garcia, Mikey Garcia?s older brother and trainer, told Fight Hub TV following the weigh-in exactly why he began yelling at Ellerbe on the stage moments earlier.
?F*** that fool,? Robert Garcia said. ?I told him, ?Don?t f***in? shake my hand.? He tried to shake my hand. I said, ?Don?t shake my hand, motherf***er.? F***ing saying that I?m a cheater, that I took all the padding off Maidana?s gloves. F*** that mother***er.?
When asked if Ellerbe indeed called him a cheater, Garcia continued, ?Yeah, he says I took the padding off Maidana?s gloves when Maidana fought Mayweather. F*** them mother***ers. F***in? p*ssy. I said, ?F*** you. That?s why you?d rather pay $1.5 million, so Maidana wouldn?t wear his f***ing gloves ? on top of his purse.? ?
Robert Garcia referred to a story Ellerbe told during a question-and-answer session with the media before the Mayweather-Conor McGregor press conference July 13 at Barclays Center.
?We came into one fight where I think you can remember this, where a guy had taken out all the horsehairs [from the gloves],? Ellerbe said that night. ?It was Mr. Robert Garcia. They had taken the horsehairs out the gloves and they came to the [rules meeting]. And so we laid the gloves out. And I looked at the gloves and, first off, they weren?t wrapped.
?It just like basically somebody pulled some gloves out the gym bag and it was like, you could already tell the gloves were broken in. And it was like, ?What are these, some training gloves? You?re not getting ready to fight in these gloves?? You put the gloves on and just all you feel is knuckles. You can?t do that. You know what I?m saying? So you just have to prepare for that kind of stuff.?
The Nevada State Athletic Commission wouldn?t allow Maidana to wear a pair of custom-made Everlast gloves for their first fight because Mayweather raised what the NSAC considered valid questions about the padding distribution within those gloves. Maidana wore another pair of Everlast gloves in their fight, while Mayweather wore Grant gloves.
Maidana denied that he was paid an additional $1.5 million by Mayweather to switch gloves, but Garcia referred to that additional payment during his rant after Friday?s weigh-in. Mayweather beat Argentina?s Maidana by majority decision in their first fight and by unanimous decision in their rematch four months later.
When asked after Friday?s weigh-in about his exchange on stage with Robert Garcia, Ellerbe downplayed the tense situation.
?It was nothing,? Ellerbe told Fight Hub TV. ?You know, just a little back and forth between the camps. Nothing. Nothing to it. It?s part of building it up. It?s all good. It?s all good. I don?t have nothing against nobody.?
Mayweather Promotions is the co-promoter of Saturday?s card, which will feature Broner (33-2, 24 KOs, 1 NC) and Mikey Garcia (36-0, 30 KOs) in the 12-round, 140-pound main event (Showtime; 9 p.m. ET).
