HOLLYWOOD?The real Floyd Mayweather Jr. has stood up and spoken.
Stripping away the normal trash talk since the formal announcement of his highly anticipated bout with Manny Pacquiao, the undefeated American reverted to his brash self in an interview with ESPN?s Stephen A. Smith that was aired Sunday here.
Mayweather said he was coming after Pacquiao in highlight fashion after admitting that he was sometimes ?not impressed? with some of his victories in his 47-0 record.
?I don?t wanna just win,? Mayweather said in the Sportscenter special. ?I wanna do it in such beautiful fashion. I want to do it with such class, such grace.?
When told that it sounded like he was talking knockout, Mayweather chuckled and gave a cryptic, indirect reply.
?One thing about (Pacquiao), he ain?t going to go on survival mode like other guys do when they face Floyd Mayweather,? he said.
?There?s five ways to beat him; there?s no way to beat me,? added Mayweather. ?Choose the weight class, put him in front of me, I?ll beat him.
?Same mentality on May 2nd. Put him in front of me, I?ll beat him.?
The boxer also known as ?Money,? among other flattering, self-appointed monikers, continued to sell himself as the best ever in his sport.
?No one ever brainwashed me to make me believe Sugar Ray Robinson and Muhammad Ali was better than me,? he said. ?No one can ever brainwash me and tell me that.
?I?m gonna respect those guys because these are the guys that paved the way to be where I?m at. But for me to give a sport my whole life? To say there?s someone better than me, absolutely not.?
Mayweather relished Pacquiao?s earlier statement that the Filipino ring icon was more worried before facing Oscar De La Hoya, Miguel Cotto and Antonio Margarito than he is going into the May 2 super fight at MGM Grand in Las Vegas.
?I?m glad,? he said. ?I want him to approach (the fight) just like that. Because the same motherf? that kicked his ass, (Juan Manuel) Marquez? You seen what I did to him.
?I want him to approach it like he?s not nervous.?
Marquez dropped Pacquiao when the eight-division champion recklessly walked into a right hand toward the end of the sixth round in 2012. Mayweather, on the other hand, fashioned out a 12-round rout of the Mexican legend.
Mayweather said Pacquiao tends to be careless sometimes, a flaw he plans to exploit in boxing?s richest fight ever.
?I?m going to win on May 2,? he said. ?I?m going to win.?
Ever since the Fight of the Century between Manny “Pacman” Pacquiao and Floyd “Money” Mayweather Jr. was announced, everyone and anyone has had something to say about who will eventually emerge victorious.
But in this survey, INQUIRER.net wants to know only one opinion: yours. Who do YOU think will win the bout on May 2 and how?
The results of this survey will be published in an infographic, to be released on Fight Day, showing how your prediction compares with the rest of the survey’s participants.
