If you didn’t know any better, you would think that you were attending some kind of lavish awards ceremony. The media came in droves. The red carped was rolled out. Those who walked it came in dapper suits, posing for photographers as if they were attending the Oscars. It had all the elements of a gathering of the stars. The only notable exception was there were only two stars on this warm Los Angeles afternoon, the same two men who will finally share a boxing ring together on May 2.
The Mayweather – Pacquiao Press Conference held at the Nokia Theatre in Los Angeles on Wednesday, March 11, officially announcing the mega fight. The live press conference will be the last time we will see both Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Manny Pacquiao in the same room together until fight week.
That’s probably a big reason why both camps pulled out all the stamps to give the press conference an awards-show feel to it. It worked, too.
Over 700 media credentialed media members were in attendance. Even for the hyperbolic standards of Hollywood, that turnout represents a gigantic number, emblematic of the anticipation surrounding the only boxing fight the world wants to see.
The road to this conference wasn’t easy, and it certainly came with more drama than any of the movies nominated at the Academy Awards put together. There were racial videos, PED allegations, lawsuits, $40 million-dollar offers, and constant mocking and trash-talking coming from both sides. After all the starts and stops, it did seem like we would never find ourselves seeing Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Manny Pacquiao staring each other down (from a small distance) while flashbulbs went off in rapid succession.
Yet here we are. The fight that boxing fans, fighters, promoters, casual fans, and just about every other person in this world wanted to see is here, right in our grasp as we count down the days.
Mayweather, who oddsmakers have identifed as a 1/2 favorite against Pacquiao, has been consistent in saying that the fight was finally made because it was the right time to do it.
He reiterated that in the conference and it’s hard to argue with it. Neither fighter may no longer be in the peak of their powers, but they’re still widely considered as the two best fighters of this generation. The stakes are higher this time because we’re not talking about titles and pound-for-pound rankings anymore. We’re talking about the legacies of both fighters as they enter – maybe they’re already there – the twilight of their careers. Both are sure-fire Hall-of-Famers. There’s no denying that. But what better way to book-end your career than beating the one man everybody thought was your peer, establishing yourself not only as a better fighter, but the best fighter of this generation. That kind of legacy narrative wouldn’t have happened five or six years ago.
Now? It’s all that matters.
As the press conference went on, it became clear that everybody understood what they had in front of them and that nobody was going to do anything to mess it up. Not now. Not when any talk of Mayweather-Pacquiao elicits heated debated and discussion in all corners of the world.
Pacquiao is the underdog in the fight, although heavy betting action on his side has caused his odds to drop from 5/2 odds to 8/5. Nonetheless, the underdog label hasn’t fazed him one bit. The fighting congressman from the Philippines was his usual cheerful self, smiling and giggling for the cameras. No surprises there. But the braggadocios Mayweather, who never met a taunt he didn’t milk for all its worth, was surprisingly low-key and dare I say, respectful of the entire proceedings. He even let out a brief chuckle when blood rival and Top Rank promoter Bob Arum cracked a joke at his expense. Who knew!
In between talks of how big the fight was and how difficult it was to make after the built-up animosity between the two sides, you could tell that none of the people on stage – not Mayweather and Pacquiao, not Arum, not Freddie Roach, not Leonard Ellerbe – really had to say much to build up the anticipation leading up to the fight.
The scene itself, with the red carpets and the horde of media members clinging to every word uttered by the two fighters, already did it for them.
Welcome to Mayweather – Pacquiao, ladies and gentlemen.
Odds courtesy of Bodog
