By James Slater in Las Vegas:


I was at Floyd Mayweather's gym of choice, Barry's Boxing, just off the strip in Las Vegas yesterday, and after an impromptu workout by "Pretty Boy" in which he jumped rope and shadow boxed, I managed to grab a few words with the pound-for-pound great. Here are some of the things Floyd had to say.

"First of all, I'm concentrating on Carlos Baldomir. It should be a great fight and it's a great match-up. He may be bigger than me, he may be stronger, but that doesn't necessarily mean he'll punch harder. My knockout ratio is actually better than his. But I'm really looking forward to this fight. I take each fight as if it's my last one. I'm probably at my peak now, I feel faster, stronger and more smart. You have to be smart in this sport, if I'd have fought every fight toe-to-toe I wouldn't be able to give you guys this interview now. Boxing is about not taking punishment but giving it."

Floyd then fielded questions from the media on a variety of subjects. Two of the most interesting ones concerned "The Golden Boy", Oscar De La Hoya, and Britain's own pound-for-pound entrant Ricky Hatton. This is what he had to say on these two prospective opponents.

"I respect what Oscar's done in the sport. No doubt he's been a fine fighter but to me a lot of his opponents were hand-picked. Camacho was over the hill, Pernell Whittaker was past his best yet he still beat him, although it wasn't official. I feel as though a lot of guys beat De La Hoya but it wasn't made official. I plan on making it so. Yeah, the fight is an attractive one but right now, like I said, I'm focusing on Baldomir. But I'm here to clean up the sport. By that I mean to face every possible deserving opponent and clean 'em up."

At this point the name Ricky Hatton was brought up. Floyd wasn't impressed.

"Ricky Hatton don't want to fight me. If he did why is he going back down to 140? Why also did he ask for $13 million, when his previous best purse was only $3million? Ricky should stay back in England fighting wrestlers that are hand-picked. As long as he does that he'll stay undefeated."

When asked if he didn't respect any of Hatton's wins, Floyd responded in the negative.

"Hatton's a wrestler, even when he fought Kostya Tszyu it was a wrestling match. Why does he want to fight me for $13 million when he struggled with a journeyman last time out? And why should I go to England? This is America, I'm the champ, if he wants the fight he has to come here but Ricky Hatton doesn't want to fight me. As I say though I'm looking forward to fighting Baldomir on Saturday, and I want to put a good show on for all you guys."

After speaking with the media, Floyd headed for the scales, where, curtained by his huge minders so as to weigh-in in privacy, Mayweather checked his poundage. Despite the secrecy of the visit to the scales, however, this reporter managed to overhear Floyd's consternation regarding what he tipped in at. Floyd was angry and dismayed that despite the fact that he ate, "a whole bunch of food last night," he only weighed 145 pounds. "Pretty Boy" didn't like the fact that he was so low. Does this indicate an advantage for the huge welterweight, Carlos Baldomir? Carlos, as all fans know routinely walks around at 175-180, yet always makes 147 comfortably. There is little doubt that Mayweather holds all the aces in the skills department but this recent revelation regarding his weight just might indicate that Baldomir is not the complete no-hoper many experts think he is. Friday's official weigh-in will be very interesting indeed.

November 1, 2006

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Let me ask this: Who has the advantage here...A guy that has to cut 50lbs to make weight...Or a guy that walks around at the fight limit or a tad below...

Floyd is always in impeccable shape his stamina is unreal and he is cut and muscular...

I would say Floyd fare better since his engine is running at its optimal level..He dosent have to starve himself and cause his body to go Catabolic (eat muscle and tap into stored glycogen for energy)
it should be business as usual for Floyd when he steps in the ring, Not like Baldo who has to starve himself for 3 days to make weight...Which worries me cutting 50 or so lbs is HUGE especially as you get older and metabolism slows.. That has to start taking its toll and we have seen fighters who have gotten real old in a matter of 3-4 rounds from being weight drained

Look at Corralles and Castillo. Recently trying to lose those last few pounds was impossible and look at the toll it took on Diego..