Mayweather new car |
His legendary boxing career will end sometime around 10 p.m. Pacific time on Sept. 12 after he’s beaten up Andre Berto at the MGM Grand Garden. On Wednesday, the characters and the storylines that have become so familiar over the years were on hand yet again before the final goodbye.
The gym was sweltering as a
smaller than usual media crowd awaited Mayweather’s arrival. When he was
supposedly 15 minutes away, Mayweather’s publicist began to usher the
photographers and videographers into the parking lot of the tiny strip
mall in the Chinatown section of this gambling city where the Mayweather
Boxing Club is located to document his arrival in his new Koenigsegg
CCXR Trevita.
According to Koenigsegg.com, the Trevita is only one of two ever made. Mayweather wrote on his Instagram account last week that he paid $4.8 million to purchase it.Just as Mayweather’s P.R. team herded the photographers into the parking lot, his massive bodyguards were shooing them away, trying to clear the spaces in front of the gym for the boss.
There were seven luxury cars en
route with Mayweather, one said. Another said six. Either way, these
very large men were bound and determined to make themselves useful and
the one thing they were intent on doing was making certain no one was
blocking Mayweather’s parking space.
This is a sight you don’t see in
any other sport. In the second, and most lucrative, portion of his
career, the promotions for his fights were entertainment in and of
themselves.
This day was slightly different
than the rest, particularly the May 2 fight with Manny Pacquiao.
Everything about that fight was over the top, from the six-year build-up
to the $72 million live gate to the 4.5 million pay-per-view sales to
the slew of lawsuits in the aftermath of the fight.
The lighter than normal crowd on
Wednesday was a testament perhaps to disappointment in the Pacquiao
fight as well as the choice of the lightly regarded Berto as his final
opponent.
Mayweather said several times in a brief conversation with reporters that this fight will be it. There will be no comeback.
Leonard Ellerbe, the CEO of Mayweather Promotions and his long-time
friend, said he could see no scenario in which Mayweather would fight
beyond September.
“There comes a point in time
where enough is enough,” Ellerbe said. “What more can you accomplish?
‘Go fight this guy. Fight that guy. Fight this guy. Oh this guy, he’s
the next guy.’ Then he’s going to fight to when? Some of the fans won’t
be satisfied until he says, ‘You know what? I’m going to do the
unthinkable. I’m going to fight Wladimir Klitschko.’ ”
His father, Floyd Mayweather
Sr., swept a glance at the activity and almost seemed in awe. It wasn’t
all that long ago that he and his son were at odds and feuding over what
seemed to be insignificant things.
In the early part of his son’s
career, Mayweather Sr. was frustrated by some of the moves his son was
making, believing they were unwise.
His son proved to be right and became the richest athlete in history.
For the father who first began teaching his son how to box when he was still a toddler, that was the biggest shocker.
Even when he was at odds with his son, Mayweather Sr. always boasted
about how good he was. Junior fulfilled all of Senior’s lofty
predictions for greatness, and then some.
But it wasn’t what happened in the ring during his unbelievably successful career that shocked Floyd Mayweather Sr.
“Yes,” Senior said, firmly, when
asked if anything his son had accomplished had surprised him. “All this
money he got. He’s done made more money than anything in the world.
Never really expected that.”
His son did, though. And all of his dreams have been fulfilled, with one more hurdle to clear.
He’s a massive favorite to
defeat Berto and when it’s official, off he’ll ride into the sunset to
do who knows what. Ellerbe said he fields movie deals all the time, some
asking Mayweather to act and others wanting him to be a producer.
Ellerbe said he expects Mayweather will be much more heavily involved
in running his promotional company when he no longer has to prepare to
fight.Mayweather’s two decades on top have included the highest of highs – wins in the three best-selling pay-per-view fights of all-time – as well as the lowest of lows: A 2012 jail sentence after a plea agreement to domestic violence charges.
He says with a sneer that none of the millions of words written and spoken about him over his 20 years as a pro have fazed him, but that’s hardly true.
He’s buckled down in training and performed at his best when the critics, rightly or wrongly, were attacking the hardest.
As he prepares for battle one
final time, he turns the attention, as he often does, to his wealth.
Nothing anybody could say, he pointed out, will bother him, because of
what boxing allowed him to do for his family.
“From this sport, I made my
father rich,” he said. “I made my mother rich; retired her early. Made
them happy. Making sure my children get the best education. Made sure my
grandmother, well, I didn’t retire her, but I was able to give her a
great life.
He’ll retire, Ellerbe points
out, having beaten the best of his generation, with his faculties intact
and nine figures in the bank.
Think about that for a second,” Ellerbe said. “Who else has ever done that?”
Just about then, Mayweather spins away and begins his workout. Sept. 12 is rapidly approaching.
The long-running show is creeping toward its conclusion.
And Mayweather, whose conditioning appears impeccable as usual, seems to be doing his part to make sure it’s a happy ending.
“I’m always motivated,” he said. “Always. I don’t overlook anyone. I’m always motivated because I’ve never overlooked anyone.”
Source: yahoo news
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