Mayweather-Mosley capturing widespread interest with US public

The welterweight battle between Floyd Mayweather and Shane Mosley is capturing wide public interest here in the United States. No question about it. The lobby of the MGM Grand was packed for the Grand Arrival of the two fighters on Tuesday afternoon – just as it was when Ricky Hatton and Manny Pacquiao fought here in recent years – and protagonists Mayweather and Mosley had opposing ways of treating the melee. It might sound strange, but the mood on arrival, and the numbers turning out, has often reflected whether a fight has filtered out into the consciousness of the casual sports fan.

Mosley made a fleeting, perfunctory appearance before being ushered away to a VIP room off the lobby, where a phalanx of reporters awaited him. Mayweather simply soaked it all up, signing autographs for almost an hour before going through the same ritual with the media, although by the end of the news conference the unbeaten American welterweight dropped into a rambling monologue, sounding off about his own greatness and the lack of respect he is given. Plus ca change.

“When I beat him [Mosley], they are going to say he is old,” said Mayweather. “All these fighters get the belts that I gave up. When you are bigger than the sport, belts don’t mean anything. He needs a belt…A belt means something to him.

“All I can do is hope for the best. There is no limit to what we can do. The sky is not even the limit. If they did say a fight is going to do 700,000 homes, it will do something like 1.4 million. We can never predict a certain number. The ultimate goal is to always break records.”

Mayweather also returned to that recurring theme of his – USADA drug testing.

“There are all these athletes out there cheating. I am clean and pure. I know I am a clean athlete. I didn’t start taking vitamins until I was 30, so I know I am a clean athlete.

“You see so many different fighters going into comas and dying. All fighters are taking is a urine test. From what I hear, enhancement drugs are making these fighters punch harder and all it is doing is hurting the sport. I want to be able to separate the average from the good and from the great. I want to separate the ordinary from the extraordinary.”

Mosley was more circumspect. “I can box too. I have boxed guys I was supposed to punch out. This is what makes me Sugar Shane. Being able to box, being able to slip and slide, being able to do everything. Every time I fight, I’m looking to knock the guy out.

I don’t think I am going to spend the whole fight trying to outbox him. I am going to do everything Sugar Shane is supposed to do. Every fight has its own significance. This fight would be a great win. Beating Floyd would be a big feather in my cap.”

Mosley clearly fancies his chances of causing an upset. “He brings a lot of mouth and we’ll see what this mouth is about. He had to fight somebody if he wanted to be considered the best.

It’s not really what Floyd says or believes; it’s about what I believe. I see where he has slipped and I see some things where his body is beginning to go. But he doesn’t see that.

He has great defence. He’s a great fighter. That’s why we are looking at each other May 1. I am happy he accepted this challenge. Floyd says a lot of things that are sometimes out of line. I guess right now we are enemies. A lot of times when people say something that’s true it hurts. But then when they say something that isn’t true, it just rolls off your shoulder.

When they say those different things and I know they’re not the truth, I can’t change their mind. I know the truth.” On Saturday night, at the MGM Grand, we’ll find out just how good Mayweather is, and whether Mosley, the bigger man, has the power to unsettle the self-styled king of the ring.

Author: Gareth A Davis

Source: blogs.telegraph.co.uk