The Shane Mosley-Floyd Mayweather Jr. welterweight championship fight on May 1 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas looms as the biggest fight of the year unless the winner winds up facing pound-for-pound king Manny Pacquiao in the fall.
Even if Pacquiao facing the winner doesn’t happen, Mosley-Mayweather is still a significant fight and Golden Boy is about to launch the promotion full blast.
In addition to a forthcoming “24/7” series on HBO that will follow the buildup to the HBO PPV fight, there will also be a three-city media tour. But the tour isn’t going to just be for media members. The good news for fight fans is that all three events are open and free to the public.
Although the fight was signed a few weeks ago, Golden Boy and HBO smartly decided to wait until after the Winter Olympics are over so it does not get lost in the shuffle.
The tour, run by tour manager Kelly Swanson, will open March 2 at the NOKIA Theater in Times Square in New York. On March 3, the show will roll into the Lincoln Theater in Washington, D.C. When the Mayweather-Oscar De La Hoya tour hit Washington a few years ago, Mayweather was a huge hit and the fan favorite in the city, which is probably one of the reasons organizers of this promotion decided to hit the nation’s capital again. The tour’s final stop will come March 4 at the NOKIA Plaza at L.A. Live in downtown Los Angeles.
Other than a few interviews, Mayweather has not been heard from very much since the fight he was negotiating for March 13 with Pacquiao imploded over their disagreement on the drug testing protocol for the fight followed by the fight with Mosley coming together.
It will be interesting to hear what Mayweather has to say about all of it. I am psyched because they’ll be hitting Washington, making it easy for me to go see what they have to say since I live in Northern Virginia, only about a half hour from the Lincoln Theater.
I expect Mayweather to be respectful of Mosley’s accomplishments and Mosley to give Mayweather credit for his talent. But I also expect there to be some fireworks. Sure, they are selling a fight, but I also don’t think either of them like each other very much.
It should be fun.
