Las Vegas: Floyd Mayweather says he is going to come out swinging and be the aggressor early against Manny Pacquiao when they meet in Saturday’s super fight in Las Vegas.
The 38-year-old Mayweather, who is putting his undefeated record on the line to fight Filipino icon Pacquiao at the MGM Grand, usually needs a few rounds to feel out and adjust to his opponent’s game plan.
“I am going to approach it in a very, very aggressive way and go out there and press the attack early,” Mayweather said on Thursday night on the NBA on TNT.
“Of course I would love to win by knockout. I am pretty sure he is going to come at me extremely strong. I am facing one of the best fighters I have ever faced.”
Mayweather was on the NBA television show with hosts Shaquille O’Neal, Charles Barkley, Kenny Smith and Ernie Johnson.
Mayweather’s disclosure that he will be the aggressor is welcome news to boxing fans, who are being charged a hefty $100 (Dh367) for the pay-per-view to watch the fight in their homes. The 12-round welterweight unification fight is expected to generate a record $400 million in revenue.
Mayweather’s longevity in the sport has been attributed to his brilliant defence and counterpunching skills, but it also makes for some boring fights. Pacquiao’s trainer Freddie Roach said on Thursday he goes to sleep watching some of Mayweather’s title fights.
Mayweather, who is the world’s highest grossing athlete, said he would spend the next day and half before the fight doing light workouts, watching play-off basketball on TV and trying to stay focused.
“I want to be real relaxed and real calm. I just try to have tunnel vision when I am on my way to the gym,” he said.
Mayweather, who is 47-0 with 26 KOs, told the show’s hosts the secret to keeping his unblemished record intact is that he never takes any opponent lightly.
“Even if I am fighting a guy they say is just a regular guy, then I am still going to train extremely hard.”
Mayweather told Barkley he doesn’t watch tapes of his opponents because he learns all he needs to about them once they are trading blows in the ring.
“I never watch my opponent. I feel like you can have a certain game plan, but once you get inside that square circle the game plan changes,” Mayweather said.
“Boxers may fight certain guys the same way, but they fight me different.”
