(Photo credit: Hogan Photos) CANELO ALVAREZ
“It truly is an honor to be here amongst all of you. Whenever I am doing anything in boxing, San Antonio is on my list because you guys treat me like family.
“I am going to prepare myself like always to give everyone a great fight. This is the fight the fans have been asking for and I am going to prepare myself for a great victory.
“I love it here and I’d love to fight in San Antonio later this year. Thank you very much.”
(Photo credit: Esther Lin/Showtime) LOS ANGELES (May 6, 2014) – A four-city, four-day, whirlwind press tour for “HONOR & GLORY: Canelo vs. Lara,” a highly anticipated event headlined by a showdown between former WBC and WBA Super Welterweight World Champion Canelo Alvarez and WBA Junior Middleweight World Champion Erislandy “The American Dream” Lara, commenced Tuesday at El Pueblo Historical Monument in Los Angeles.
Hundreds of fans and media members turned out for the Golden Boy Promotions open-to-the-public press conference that also was streamed live in High Definition across multiple SHOWTIME platforms, including via satellite feed, YouTube, Ustream and sports.sho.com/live.
Mexican superstar Canelo Alvarez will square off against WBA Junior Middleweight World Champion Erislandy “The American Dream” Lara in a 12-round bout. The event will be produced and distributed live by SHOWTIME PPV.
Lara was originally scheduled to defend his WBA title against Ishe Smith on Friday, May 2 in Las Vegas to kickoff Cinco de Mayo Weekend withdrew from the fight to face Canelo.
Floyd Mayweather
First, I want to thank Stephen Espinoza, I want to thank SHOWTIME, I want to thank CBS, I want to thank Leonard Ellerbe, I want to thank Al Haymon, I want to thank Richard Schaefer, I want to thank Kelly Swanson, I want to thank everybody, all the networks and all the people that are covering this fight and all the people that have covered my fights throughout the years.
I want to thank you guys and I just want to say I really appreciate you and everybody that’s a part of the event and that helped get these events started, “THE MOMENT”. I couldn’t choose a better team, because we work as one. I know Maidana is going to come and bring his best, so I know that I cannot overlook him, so I’m in training every day and dedicating myself.
Q
What were you able to do, in terms of the promotion, that you all were able to put together, such an amazing card?
NEW YORK CITY (April 22, 2014) – Photo by Tom Casino / Showtime – Former WBA Welterweight World Champion and current WBA International Welterweight Champion Luis Collazo spent the afternoon of his birthday speaking with reporters about what he calls the “highest plateau that one can fight on.” Collazo, who turned 33-years-old today, will face former unified world champion Amir “King” Khan in the co-main event of “THE MOMENT: Mayweather vs. Maidana” on Saturday, May 3 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas live on SHOWTIME PPV®.
Collazo opened up about his spirituality, work ethic and excitement for this chance of a lifetime taking place in less than two weeks. Below is a selection of Collazo’s thoughts ahead of his fight against Khan.
Also on the call we have Robert Garcia, who is a former world champion and the Boxing Writers Association of American 2012 Trainer of the Year; and, also, Leonard Ellerbe, Chief Executive Officer of Mayweather Promotions; Stephen Espinoza, Executive Vice President and General Manager of Showtime Sports; and last but not least, and to make the introductions for the call, and to start us off, is Oscar De La Hoya, President of Golden Boy Promotions. Oscar?
The Argentine Maidana (35-3, 31 KOs) is winding down final preparations as he gets set for the biggest fight of his career when he faces undefeated boxing superstar, 10-time world champion and current WBC Welterweight World Champion Floyd “Money” Mayweather in the main event of “THE MOMENT” on Saturday, May 3 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena live on SHOWTIME PPV®.
Kelly Swanson
This week has been jam-packed with information about the April 19 ‘History at the Capitol. Yesterday, we did a conference call with the undercard fighters, and now, we have our main event fighters available today to talk to the press. I’m very excited about it.
Bernard Hopkins, the IBF Light Heavyweight World Champion, certainly a future first ballot Hall of Famer is on the phone; along with Beibut Shumenov, who is the WBA and IBA Light Heavyweight World Champion. I think it’s going to be an amazing unification bout; let’s go ahead and talk a little bit more about the fight and its particulars as well as introduce the fighters. I’d like to introduce Bruce Binkow, the Chief Operating Officer and Chief Marketing Officer of Golden Boy Promotions.