Las Vegas, Nevada: Floyd Mayweather Jr and Manny Pacquiao faced off late on Wednesday at the KA Theatre at the MGM Grand Grand Garden Arena for the final press conference featuring the two protagonists of this weekend’s long-awaited ‘fight of the century’.
Underdog Pacquiao arrived ahead of Mayweather, accompanied by coach of the year Freddie Roach and Top Rank boss Bob Arum. Undefeated WBC/WBA welterweight champion Floyd Mayweather arrived with his father and coach, Floyd Sr.
Aside from their contrasting styles in the boxing ring, the two fighters also arrived in contrasting fashion. Mayweather wore his “The Money Team” track suit, while Pacquiao was dressed in a blazer and trousers.
Compared to the more animated, if not violent, press conferences of other high-profile boxing cards, the two legends appeared tame and low-key before the hundreds of international media. Mayweather and Pacquiao even traded compliments instead of exchanging trash-talking jabs. It was mild and almost boring compared to some of the past press conferences that Mayweather had been involved in.
In fact, Mayweather Promotions CEO Leonard Ellerbe and Top Rank promoter Bob Arum did most of the talking at the conference, which was also attended by top executives from MGM, Showtime and HBO, who also gave speeches.
The WBO welterweight champion Pacquiao gave his message first. Noting there’s nothing personal in this fight, Pacquiao said he’s looking forward to the mega-fight here on Saturday night (Sunday morning UAE time).
“Floyd and I, we’ve been working hard to entertain you on Saturday. To give a good fight on Saturday,” said Pacquiao. “Nothing personal, we’re just doing our job, doing our best to put our name in boxing history. But the most important thing, I’m hoping after the fight we can have a conversation with Floyd, sharing my faith about God.”
While Mayweather, for his part, said: “It’s time to fight now. You guys came out here to see excitement. You guys came out here to see a great event. That’s what both competitors bring to the table. Excitement.
“The biggest fight in boxing history. And I’m a part of it so that’s a great thing. I feel good. I feel strong. I’ll see you guys Saturday.”
While they have found themselves on opposing sides of an argument countless times in the past, both fighters were strangely on the same page in their final face-off before fight night — both were well behaved and thankful for being part of the biggest-grossing prizefight ever.
