LAS VEGAS, NV — The main fighters for this Saturday’s pay-per-view made their official entrances yesterday at the MGM Grand. There was an estimated 2000 fans crammed into the lobby area to see Danny Garcia, Lucas Matthysse, Canelo and of course Floyd Mayweather (who showed up roughly an hour late with understudy Adrien Broner in tow).
The 152 pound catchweight in the main event matchup has been getting a lot of press over the last week, courtesy of the Mayweather and Canelo camps bickering about who proposed it. Canelo reaffirmed his stance that Mayweather was the one who pushed for it after initially wanting Canelo to come to welterweight.
I’m the bigger guy, why would I give up weight? You want to know what happened? They wanted to fight at welterweight.I told them, ‘No way, those days are over for me.’ Then they said let’s do the fight at 150.I said I couldn’t do that. Then 151. Then we finally agreed on 152.
I would come down two pounds to make the important fight. They told us not to disclose anything and we were fine with that. The reason why we are talking about the weight today is because they called us idiots and they are lying.
Mayweather Promotions CEO Leonard Ellerbe admitted the catchweight is an advantage for his fighter, but still placed the blame on Canelo for not being savvy at the negotiating table.
“We took advantage of a situation,” Ellerbe stated. “The kid suggested it himself a long time ago. He put himself out there like that and we’re going to hold his feet to the fire.”
Quite an about-face from the rhetoric we heard last year before Mayweather fought Miguel Cotto, where he bashed catchweights and declared he wanted to beat Cotto at his “best weight” and where he was “comfortable.” That let’s you know that Mayweather thinks a lot more of Canelo’s ability (and size).
For all its firepower, Matthysse-Garcia has been criminally “under-promoted.” At least one of the All Access shows should have been solely devoted to this bout. As a result, Angel Garcia hasn’t had much of a chance to piss people off with his outrageous comments. He let loose all his pent up energy yesterday, spewing jingoistic rhetoric at other nationalities and championing his son. Matthysse, who was conducting a video interview, did smirk a few times in silent acknowledgment of Angel’s rant.
Check back here later today for live streaming of Mayweather and Canelo’s final press conference starting at 3:45 p.m.
Beats, Boxing and Mayhem 