Hey G – The “Coonery” is in full effect on 24/7 these days. I’m glad you picked up on that line about how Floyd will let Shane hold his feet while doing sit-ups, when Floyd’s self-proclaimed best friend, manager, fluffer, etc. (Ellerbe) is the same guy he degraded with that comment. Floyd “the walking contradiction” Mayweather has become hard to watch. Floyd Sr. hit it on the head a few years back when he was quoted as saying “when Floyd Jr.’s boxing career is over, he’ll be broke and hustling on the streets of Grand Rapids.” Anyway, thanks for once again pointing out Floyd’s hypocrisies. Keep up the great work on BTalk. Tyler
Leon’s Response: I don’t even know if Floyd realizes how stupid some of the things he says are. The walking contradiction is right. Why should we believe that he really wants to clean up the sport when he and the rest of the Mayweather men can’t even clean up THEIR language?
I just don?t understand the purpose of this article. And it?s not about me being a Floyd fan. I mean, if a piece was written about Pavlik drinking I could appreciate the information the first few times. But how many times would it take hearing before it got old? Floyd Mayweather being a clown ISNT NEWS. Most people feel that way about him. I just think he boxes well but I wouldn?t wanna have a beer with him. He is what he is so why does that piss people off so much? Damn! Dant’e Okc
Leon’s Response: A Floyd fan who realizes that he’s a clown outside the ring. I didn’t know you guys existed.
G, I’ve been reading your site since before it was your site back in 2002. I think that after reading your articles and opinions all these years, I have a pretty firm grasp of the way you do business and what you like/dislike about boxing and boxers in general. That being said, I agree with almost everything you wrote in the most recent Mayweather piece. You, just like me, admire Floyd for his skill and ability in the ring, but we don’t really care for the guy as a person (he’s pretty much an ass hole and we both know it). However, I think your dislike of the guy lead you to a wrong conclusion. I don’t think that Mayweather is requesting the drug tests because he wants to clean up the sport (and neither do you), but I don’t think it has as much to do with money as you think it does (yes, surprisingly enough from Mayweahter, something that DOESN’T have to do with money). This time, I believe, he’s doing it to save face. After requiring it from Manny for their fight, he can’t just drop it and not stay on his “drug test” high horse or else he won’t have the same leverage when he negotiates with Manny again. In the end, yes, it has to do with money if he gets a fight with Manny, but as of right now, he’s just trying to not look like such a big ass hole. Keep up the good work.
Leon’s Response: Two in a row! So you think you got me figured out do ya? LOL. Mayweather requested the drug testing because he assumed Pacquiao was on something based on the way he’s been handing out ass whoopings AND he lost a ton of his money. Had Mayweather not lost anywhere from $26-$42M during his brief retirement and had those kind of numbers in his bank account, the testing wouldn’t have been an issue. Not saying forget the test cost Mayweather quite a bit of money as well, because there would have been two mega fights with Pacquiao regardless of the testing standards. Now even if he beats Mosley, which I believe he will, who can he fight on a 1M home PPV other than Pacquiao?
Greg, You just said something that’s kinda over a lot of our heads, but we can read between the lines. I don’t know if you really want to elaborate, because I know Floyd’s still your boy, even if he’s not speaking to you right now. When you said “those Astros came into Top Rank gym with those Rockets” (rotflmao) it makes it sound as if some Houston folks paid Floyd an unpleasant, surprise visit back when Floyd used to train at the Top Rank gym in Vegas. What was this about? And were these “Rockets” – guns? Secondly, I saw it stated that you broke a story about Floyd trying to use some young lady to get Mike Tyson in some kind of trouble. And that Tyson confronted Floyd in a nightclub and Floyd paid Tyson a hefty sum of cash on the spot in order to squash it. Did Floyd really have that much cash on him? Was it $50k? $100k? Please clue us in further on these matters. Speaking of Tyson, since you’re one of his friends, do you know if he’s really coming back later this year or early next year? He still has a ton of fans out there that are hoping, but only if he’ll give it 100% and won’t slack on doing roadwork & gym training. I also missed the article you did exposing Floyd’s finances. Where can I find it? Floyd was flashing money on the last 24/7 – and I was chuckling to myself, wondering if it was some of that Golden Boy advance money. Floyd calls Mosley broke and says he’s doing Mosley a favor, but Shane was right in saying “I sign Floyd’s check” (being that Shane is a partner in Golden Boy). Floyd is definitely big on the coonery and doesn’t worry about biting the hand that feeds him. He tries to make it seem as if “Mayweather Promotions” actually PROMOTES, when anyone with half a brain knows that Golden Boy is the real promoter of Floyd’s latest fights (with Oscar, Hatton, JMM & now Mosley). Funny you mentioned it in your article, because when Floyd said “I’ll give Shane a job holding my “feets” while I do situps” a bunch of us yelled out “isn’t that Ellerbe’s job?” lol Thanks,
Leon’s Response: If you can read between the lines there’s no need to elaborate. Floyd gave Tyson serious cash. I’m not putting the exact number out there, but it definitely happened. Check the archives for September, right before the Mayweather-Marquez fight. The name of the story is called, where did all of Floyd Mayweather’s money go. Another interesting read entitled, Mosley is the only way Floyd May Weather the storm, which detailed how and why he could use Mosley as he has, months before it happened. Mayweather promotions doesn’t even have it’s promotional license yet in Vegas. Perhaps their CEO is too busy holding feet during sit-ups to handle that mircroscopic detail.
Whats up Greg, First and foremost, awesome sight, thanks for the continual reads and education of the sweet science. Majority of people would agree the request for testing by Mayweather is more a mental head game than the BS that he spews about cleaning the sport up. With that being said, throw out the factors as to why he believes testing should be done and look at it with a clear head. Is blood testing positive or negative for boxing? Any educated person knows that many PED’s do not show up in urine test and even some blood test, but the odds of beating both are slim. I guess I am looking for a bottom line answer in regards to your personal opinion when it comes to whether a more detailed process, blood and urine, testing good or bad for boxing? I personally feel it is good. All the other major sports has followed suit in regards to cleaning up their sport. Boxing has some history when it comes to cheats and setting the bar high when it comes to fair play should be top priority when it comes to a sport as violent as boxing. T for NE Philly
Leon’s Response: It’s a head game that cost Floyd a lot of money and would have cost him a lot more had Shane Mosley realized how much leverage he had before he agreed to fight Floyd under these conditions. The stricter the standard the better. Mayweather brought this out of left-field and just because he was bamboozled out of a ton of money, doesn’t give him the right to try and bamboozle us into thinking he cares about anything about boxing that doesn’t pertain to him. If he doesn’t care about his legacy, why should he care about the standards of testing in the sport? Perhaps his disrespect of NSAC standards of testing is the reason his promotional outfit is still waiting for their license, despite Floyd bringing NINE FIGURE MONEY to the strip.
Just finished your recent piece on Floyd. Not going to try and decipher the source of the bile and venom that courses through the piece, it’s obviously something personal to you and is immaterial as to why I’m writing. First, I like the fact that you are thinking outside of the box with how you approach negotiations. You aren’t tying yourself to the conventional wisdom and look for new ways to leverage your client’s (whether real or imagined) best interest. Second, as to your suggestion that he could have went to Arum for a 50-50 split to fight Manny, didn’t Arum and Manny say no to Mosley before they signed to fight Cotto? He was willing to come in at 143 (or something crazy like that) and they still said no. Manny had an easy night’s work with Clottey who basically came in to pick up a check. I can’t see him taking on a more dangerous fighter in Mosley, at welterweight (147) AND agreeing to a 50-50 split across the board. Arum should have his head examined if he were to agree to such a thing and be sued by Manny for failing to act in his best interest. In short, Shane would have the exact amount of leverage with Manny as he had with Floyd: none. One point I’ve been meaning to write you about is your take on the testing issue that scuttled the Mayweather-Pacquiao fight. First, I think it is important to dispense with this issue of whether Floyd is being sincere when he says he wants to clean up boxing or that he thinks he’s bigger than boxing. In either case, accepting your contentions to be true, they are ultimately irrelevant for one reason: Manny already agreed to the testing. It’s important to remember that this fight fell apart because Manny wanted to limit the number of blood tests to specific days or that random blood testing end 24 days before the fight. There is only one legitimate reason to insist that no blood testing can occur during a 24 day period. Unfortunately it is not consistent with a clean athlete. Given the rather pathetic state of testing in boxing, it is not surprising that you and others are not aware of just how easy it is to defeat (i.e, pass) a KNOWN test, but it is extraordinarily easy (if you want to see an example of a better testing regime, check out professional cycling). So while you consider Floyd disingenuous for demanding random blood and urine testing, I find it far more disingenuous and disconcerting, that Manny was effectively demanding to know when the random blood tests would occur (or when they would stop). As for why Floyd hasn’t sued you personally or Boxingtalk in general is that there has been no damage to his professional reputation. In other words, what you’ve said hasn’t caused him to lose any fights or otherwise hurt his earning potential. And without any measurable harm, there is no remedy for the court to award and thus the suit, if filed, would be likely dismissed for failure to state a claim upon which relief can be granted (didn’t mean to get technical). I appreciate you taking the time to read this. Keith
Leon’s Response: Free agent Mosley could have went to Arum and gotten 50-50 for Pacquiao. Even though Mosley doesn’t deserve such a split, guys like Arum and King (my mentors) are boxing masterminds. Had Arum overpaid Mosley to fight Pacquiao, Mayweather gets left out in the cold, which is priceless to Arum. Furthermore, had Mosley and Pacquiao fought, who the hell would Mayweather be fighting? And would the Pacquiao-Mosley winner have agreed to his testing demands? Hell no. The business side of this game needs to be played like chess and I think some of Mosley’s recent moves scream checker player. Floyd is being disingenous, it’s not a matter of what I consider it to be, it is what it is. So let me get this straight, I expose how he loses his money, which as well all know, is what he loves most. I mention how his memorabilia was auctioned off on ebay and my story warrants no response from he who lived on Boxingtalk for five years because it was untrue? A lawsuit doesn’t have to be winnable to be filed. Frivolous suits are filed everyday. Of course, if they want to prove me wrong, they’d have to explain where all of the money went, and that my friend, is something he does not want to do.
I WILL BE BACK ON MY MAILBAG GRIND, SO GET YOUR QUESTIONS IN
