SPORTS
May 4, 2012 | Bill Dwyre
LAS VEGAS — A big mistake while pondering Floyd Mayweather Jr. is to try to make sense of him. His unpredictability is his only certainty. It is well before noon Friday at the MGM Grand. This is not so much a resort and casino as it is a massive enclosed labyrinth of contrasts. Under the same roof, yet miles apart, unemployed dads lose the rent money to slot machines while Mayweather generates a throng of worshippers that symbolizes why he will increase his already hefty bank account by about $32 million.
SPORTS
May 3, 2012 | By Lance Pugmire
LAS VEGAS — The antidote to Floyd Mayweather Jr.'s brash methods of remaining unbeaten might be stored away in a champion who doesn't talk very much. Miguel Cotto, Mayweather's Saturday night opponent in a World Boxing Assn. super-welterweight title fight at MGM Grand Garden Arena, has lost to only two men. The first was Antonio Margarito, who one fight later had plaster-caked inserts confiscated from inside his hand wraps. Fifteen months later, Cotto, after basically training himself, lost to Manny Pacquiao by 12th-round technical knockout.
SPORTS
May 1, 2012 | By Lance Pugmire
There will be a rematch. At the end of Floyd Mayweather Jr.'s controversial, borderline-sucker-punch victory over Victor Ortiz in September, HBO boxing analyst Larry Merchant's post-fight interview with Mayweather took a personal turn. Mayweather accused Merchant of never giving him a break, and said angrily that HBO should fire the now 81-year-old, to which Merchant replied, "If I was 50 years younger, I'd kick your [rear]. " When Mayweather returns to the ring Saturday at MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas against world super-welterweight champion Miguel Cotto, Merchant will help call the action, and has been assigned to post-fight interview duty even though the sport's top power broker has said he doesn't want to talk to the man. Are you surprised you got this assignment given HBO's reputation for catering to the wishes of Mayweather and his team?
SPORTS
May 1, 2012 | By Lance Pugmire
LAS VEGAS — The volatility that defines Floyd Mayweather Jr. is rooted partly in the complex relationship with his father. Floyd Mayweather Sr.'s boxing lessons helped propel his son to unimaginable riches. The younger Mayweather gets another huge payday Saturday for his title bout against 154-pound champion Miguel Cotto of Puerto Rico at MGM Grand in Las Vegas. But there's tragedy in the familial connection, too, of lessons outside the ring that were left for the son to learn painfully on his own. On June 1, Mayweather Jr., 35, is scheduled to report to Clark County (Nev.)
SPORTS
April 25, 2012 | Bill Dwyre
LAS VEGAS — The two prime ribs of boxing, Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Manny Pacquiao, continue to create their sizzle separately. Their fight of the century, any century, seems to be going the way of the Edsel and the eight-track tape. Passage of time doesn't heal all, but it sure does dull things. It is Mayweather's time now. Boxing is nothing if not a huge attention grab, and Mayweather is in the center ring of the circus he so deeply loves. He will fight Miguel Cotto at the MGM Grand here May 5, and that correctly has the current spotlight.
SPORTS
April 11, 2012 | By Lance Pugmire
LAS VEGAS -- Floyd Mayweather Jr. told The Times he is not among those who believe the long-awaited showdown against Manny Pacquiao is likely to happen in the fall. "No, I don't think it's going to happen," Mayweather said of a Pacquiao fight. "It's because of [Pacquiao promoter] Bob Arum. It's not my fault. " Pacquiao trainer Freddie Roach, and even Mayweather's uncle and trainer, Roger Mayweather, have speculated recently that Mayweather and Pacquiao will fight in November, should Mayweather defeat Miguel Cotto (May 5)