Shane Mosley, Richard Schaefer, and Mark Taffet were on the line to field questions on a media conference call about the up coming mega-fight labeled; ?The World Awaits.? The fight, scheduled for May 5 at The MGM Grand Garden Arena, in Las Vegas, is between WBC Junior-middleweight Champion Oscar De La Hoya and Floyd Mayweather Jr.
Mark Taffet, HBO Sports VP, announced that the telecast will be available to over 61 million PPV households, but he refused to even dream about the possibility of two million buys.
?That?s (one million) a record for an HBO pay per view event, and consistent with the magnitude of De La Hoya-Mayweather,? said Taffet. ?And we are thrilled also that the PPV distributors will be opening their ordering windows early to accommodate what we expect to be a huge surge of consumer orders as the fight approaches.?
?We know that we have a special event on our hands,? said Taffet. ?Big fights in this business are usually measured when they hit that rarified air of one million buys, and we fully expect that this fight will hit those levels.?
Taffet said that they are getting a great response. ?The distribution, marketing, and promotion efforts are going to be the most comprehensive in our (HBO) history. Our distribution will exceed 61 million homes. That?s a record in the pay per view business.?
Taffet described HBO?s ?24/7?; a series of shows leading up to May 5th. ?The cameras will follow the two fighters as they go across the country on the 11 city promotional tour,? he added. ?And emotions ran very high as you are aware during that press tour.?
He explained how the four episodes will also go into the training camps and show, among other things, the strong bond that exists between Floyd and his Uncle Roger Mayweather, as well as scenes of Sugar Shane Mosley helping his former foe De La Hoya prepare for the big fight.
Two time De La Hoya conqueror and now his business partner, WBC Welterweight Belt holder, Sugar Shane Mosley addressed the media and answered some pointed questions about De La Hoya and his training camp.
Talking from The Golden Boy?s training camp in Puerto Rico, Mosley said that De La Hoya looked very sharp and fast in training camp as he works with new trainer Freddy Roach.
?His jabs and his hooks, and his right hands are getting over the top of Mayweather?s jabs,? envisioned Mosley. ?He?s working on a lot of great things.?
?Oscar is too big and will catch him later on in the fight,? added the four time champ.
Mosley was called a ?glorified sparring partner? by Mayweather.
?I really don?t care about what Mayweather says,? answered Mosley.
