Watching the latter day Floyd Mayweather in interviews and at media scrums is a little bit like watching a small child who has been told by it’s mother – “think carefully before you speak,” such are the deliberate pauses for careful consideration every time he opens his mouth these days.
The delay each time he’s asked a question grows more amusing every time he is interviewed, and if there were silence you’d probably hear the sound of distant tumbleweed blowing around inside his skull such is the intellectual capacity of the media-trained, self-professed “Best Ever.”
Thankfully for Floyd, the likes of the incredibly astute Al Haymon and right hand man Leonard Ellerbe can get on with the business side of things and pile those dollars up, while Floyd prepares for his much maligned September 12th PPV fight with Andre Berto – a fight that has been slammed as a flagrant cherry-pick given Berto’s lack of relevance in the welterweight division over recent times.
In a video released via fighthype.com, Floyd – noted for his intense training regimen – insists that he will be pushing himself as hard as ever in the build up irrespective of the fact everybody else sees Berto as a “soft touch.”
“I don’t want to slack off because of what the media and social media has been saying. Berto’s a tough competitor, he’s a guy that’s gonna push me and that’s what I need,” he said.
“Me and my father are in camp and we’re working. He (Floyd Snr) don’t really have to push me because he already knows I know what it takes.”
Speaking with a formulaic routine and once again “going through the motions”, he delivered his ‘gameplan’ for squaring off with Berto on September 12th in typical fashion;
“I know I gotta be smart, use a good jab and get the job done. With this guy I’ll probably have to throw more combinations and I’ll probably have to go to the body, (long pause) and I’m really looking forward to this fight.”
“I’m pretty sure he’s gonna bring his A-game and I’m gonna bring my A-game.”
Irrespective of what Floyd thinks of the respectability of Berto as an opponent for his fight to tie heavyweight Rocky Marciano’s fabled 49-0 record, the oddsmakers rarely lie, with Floyd as certain as 1/200 on with certain online betting outlets to beat Berto and achieve the feat!
That should tell you all you need to know, (A £10 stake returns just 5p profit) though Floyd predictably disagrees.
“I think everybody is overlooking Berto and I think the betting odds should be a lot closer. I think the gap in the betting odds is too far apart and should be a lot closer. This fight was supposed to happen at one particular time when he was undefeated and I was undefeated and it didn’t happen – but the time is now.”
I imagine it’s going to be very interesting when those PPV numbers eventually come in. To buy or not to buy – that is certainly the question.
Twitter @Undilutedpoison