Floyd Mayweather Post-Fight Press Conference Transcript June 6

Amari (Miami Times): (00:18)
How you doing, Mr. Money?

Floyd Mayweather: (00:21)
Hey, how you doing?

Doing all right. Amari [Stall 00:00:24] with the Miami Times. My question to you was why Miami and how did it feel to come down here? Your performance was great.

Well, we chose Miami. Of course, the first choice was Las Vegas because that’s where I started my career at. That’s the mecca of boxing. We wanted Vegas at first. Nevada commission turned us down, so our next choice probably was LA, Dallas or Miami. We didn’t really know where we wanted to go and so we wanted the fans to be able to come out and have fun, so we chose Miami.

I’ve got a follow up. In the fourth round, you had that pep in your step after you hit Logan Paul with a left hook. How did you feel out there?

It was fun. I wanted to give the people a show and he was fighting to survive, as you guys can see. Every time he punched, he’ll clinch. Every time he’ll punch, he’ll clinch. He was the bigger guy and a little awkward. His background is wrestling, if I’m not mistaken. He was good at tying me up. A guy that came in over 200 something pounds. I came in at 155, but no excuses. I had fun tonight and I go out there to put on a show and I really believe that he was just going the distance. That was win for him, so he was happy with going the distance.

Reporter 2: (02:08)
Floyd, he seemed pretty fatigued by the middle part of the fight. Were there times where you felt that you hurt him and maybe even could have gotten him out of there?

He can grapple. He’s good with holding. He’s very, very good with holding. Like I said before, his background is wrestling, so when a guy over 200 something pounds is holding you, I’m trying my best. Even though I’ve got a lot of experience, but it’s hard to get a heavyweight off you. I fight at welterweight, fighting a heavyweight and like I said before, I had fun. I’m pretty sure he had fun. He was so… The brother Jake, as well as Logan was so happy that his brother was able to go the distance. It was cool.

Reporter 2: (02:54)
His brother saying that he won the fight, I’m assuming trolling you, so to speak, but what are your thoughts on that?

He’s entitled to feel how he wants to feel. I mean, a guy that’s retired like myself, train a few days a week. I’m not training everyday for this. For me to be retired, to be a grandfather and to come have some fun with a guy that’s in his 20s, when the money comes, we’ll see who’s the real winner. At the end of the day, I’m going into the hall of fame for boxing and I have nothing to prove. When I was competing, I had a great career, a great career. If they’re happy with holding eight rounds, dancing and grappling for eight rounds, congratulations. One thing about me, I don’t go back and forth because we went out there, we did what we had to do and that’s what it is.

Reporter 3: (04:08)
Floyd, congratulations. Great event. You guys put it together in record speed. Your face looks clean, like you didn’t fight yet.

It is what it is. Like I said, I came here to Miami. It was fun. This is my, probably third time. Third time as a professional fighting at Miami. I fought a couple other times in Miami. I had some great turnouts before. This was a great turnout tonight; 30,000. We done… It was a great gate. Hopefully the fans was pleased and the people was pleased. I think if he would have fought, if he tried to fight a lot more, then it probably wouldn’t have went to eight.

Reporter 3: (04:52)
The Showtime site crashed earlier this evening.

Huh?

Reporter 3: (04:56)
The site crashed. So many people trying to buy the Pay Per View.

I’m just truly blessed to be where I’m at, to be able to build a legacy and still make a fortune off of my legacy. It was fun. I’m happy that my children was able to come out, my mom and people from all walks of like to come out. The media see some action, have a bit of fun. I feel good. It was cool. There’s really nothing I can really say, but we did what we did tonight.

I know I shouldn’t be able to walk to a man that big.

Speaker 7: (05:36)
You were locking him down the whole time.

I was pressing the action. He’ll punch two punches, hold. Three punches, hold. There’s nothing really I can do. I mean, as you guys see, he was putting his leg on the rope. He was fatigued, but when it alk about this exhibition, I’m going to talk about he knows how to hold. He’s a great holder, a great grappler, also. Like I said, I’ve been in this sport for so long, so long and tonight, I was letting people see that I’m able to come out at my age, at 44 and still sell out 30,000 and still do crazy numbers to where I can make Showtime crash. I’m truly blessed and I can’t… I’m not here to bash anyone, talk bad about anyone. Of course, at my age, I’m not going to perform like when I was 19. I don’t supposed to. It’s all about growth and aging. Is my hair going to be all black forever? Absolutely not. When I get old, it’s going to turn all gray. I understand that. That’s a part of life. Am I going to be able to fight like I always fought when I fought Diego Corrales or Arturo? Absolutely not and I understand that.

The early sacrifice that I made, that I talked about when I was signed with Top Rank. I was with a company from 1996 to 2006, for 10 years. Beat the best fighters and didn’t make eight figures at all. I would make eight million, seven million, six million on the regular. As soon as I became my own boss, my first paycheck was eight figures and from there, I was able to pay myself more and more and I was able to be my own boss and earn what I wanted to earn. It’s not bashing any fighter when I talk like this. Not bashing any fighter.

Reporter 5: (08:02)
Floyd, you mentioned-

Hold on. Hold on.

Reporter 5: (08:04)
Sorry.

When I come and do an exhibition or come out and box and have some fun, I do it because I want to do it, not because I have to do it. Whereas, Pacquiao at his age, which it’s sad that he has to fight. I’m financially set and I want to let everybody know this. You’re going to hear so many different stories, “Oh, Floyd has to do this.” No. I’m well off. Every property that I have is paid for. My jet is paid for. All my cars is paid for. I own billion dollar buildings. I own so much property and I’m steady investing in different things. I’m investing in the tech world. I made a lot of smart investments, so I didn’t do it by myself. I want to think my team and as well as Leonard, a guy who’s been loyal to me. You test different people’s loyalty. Of course, we go through ups and downs. That’s a part of our friendship. That’s a part of business. Kelly Swanson, Steven Espinoza, Al Hammond and Fight Height.

Got to give a shout out to Fight Height because when the world was against me, writing bad articles about me constantly, they stood behind me, so that’s why when it’s time to do an interview or it’s time to get some behind the scenes footage, I will always give it to Fight Height first because like I said before, I believe in reciprocation; treating me like you want to be treated and I’m here to let the world know, I already know that I’m not going to perform at the… I’m almost 45 years old. I’m not going to be able to perform like 20 years ago. Of course not. That’s a part of age, but you age gracefully, but I’m still smart enough to make smart investments and push my kids to be great. Tonight, the best thing about this whole week, it wasn’t this fight. It wasn’t the money. The best thing about this week was my youngest daughter graduating.

Reporter 5: (10:42)
Floyd, you mentioned… Right in front. Down here. Floyd, you mentioned the grappling [inaudible 00:10:55].

The who?

Reporter 5: (10:57)
The grappling, the holding from Logan.

Yes.

Reporter 5: (11:00)
Was there ever in point in the fight where you felt if you wanted to, you could have got him out of there?

I could have went… I mean, the people wanted a show. I mean, I could have. I could have really pressed real hard and start throwing these crazy combinations, but it was fun. It was fun.

Speaker 7: (11:24)
Entertainment.

Things happened and it was fun tonight. That’s all I can really say, but… His whole goal wasn’t to come out here and knock me out. His whole goal was to survive and that was a win for him. If he could have landed a few punches; punch and hold, punch and hold, that was a win for them. If they’re happy, then so be it. When the history books is written, I will always be [inaudible 00:11:54]. When the history books is written.

Reporter 6: (12:01)
First of all, Floyd congrats. After this performance, is there any chance to see you again in a professional fight?

Oh, absolutely not. I’m retired from the sport of boxing. I’ve retired from the sport of boxing. I said that before. It’s not easy. Even for this fight, just training. I’d train a day, take a couple days off, train a day, take a couple days off because of the age, because of the wear and tear from early on in my career. Really not no punches to the head or anything, but boxing is really wear and tear on the body. Just sports, period is wear and tear on the body; whether it’s football, basketball. It’s wear and tear on the body. Athletes, period, when it’s blood sweat and tears. You abuse the body a lot, but as far as me coming back in the sport of boxing, absolutely not. As far as me doing an exhibition again, probably not. We don’t know. We’ll just have to see, but I’m pretty sure we’ve done some great numbers tonight, Steven. I want to say thank you to Showtime. I mean, I was able to… I was with HBO and I was able to come over to Showtime and make them the A side in boxing. I told them that I’m capable of doing that. My team believed in me. Steven believed in me.

Like I told Steven, if the numbers ain’t right on this fight, they’ll be right on the next fight. I understand business; whereas… I’m going to give you guys a breakdown on what we do. When I fought Robert The Ghost Guerrero, we done some pretty cool numbers, but it wasn’t… It’s more than what any other fighter does, but it wasn’t the numbers that they wanted to see, so I said, okay. I know how to do it. We’ll fight another guy that’s young, hungry and undefeated, which was Canelo when he was at the top of his game and I was old at that particular time. I knew that we would do great numbers because two young, undefeated champs… I mean, there’s two undefeated champions, period. When they collide, the world wants to see it, especially when he’s got a huge country behind him and I’m a big worldwide figure in the sport of boxing. We came together, we did great numbers than I think we done the Marcos Maidana fight. Twice in a row. We’ve done some pretty cool numbers.

Then, I made a call to Al. I said, you know what we’re going to do? We’re going to do some record breaking numbers. I said, the guy that they claim that, “I’m scared of,” which I’m not, Manny Pacquiao, I said all I want to do… Any time, I just always want to be on an even playing field. I just want to be on an even playing field, so we were able to do a Pacquiao fight. We did record breaking numbers. Then, I said let me do a fight that I want to do, which was the Berto fight, just a cool little warmup fight. They owed me that gift to be able to do the little Berto fight. Then, I done that fight. That’s how it worked. Then, I see I was able to rob the bank again. I said if I’m able to rob the bank at 40 and make 350 million, why not do it? It’s all about working smarter, not harder. It’s all about working smarter, not harder. Y’all can’t be upset that when I was Pretty Boy Floyd and beat all the best and the tough fighters and didn’t really get paid anything.

I’m not saying I’m unappreciative, but I wasn’t getting paid. I was underpaid. Now, it’s time for me to really get the… I bust my ass to get to where I got to. Since I’m still a king of the throne. It’s not king of the throne as far as in the boxing world. I’m the king of the throne in business because for me to be able to come out in eight rounds and I can’t even say what’s the number that I made, but just now, when I come up here and sit down, before I can even walk out there to the arena, before I can walk out there, I made a million dollars. Just sitting in the dressing room, I made a million dollars. They say, “It’s not all about the money.” Well, your kids can’t eat legacy. They can eat off the currency. I believe in building generational wealth. That’s what’s important to me. Generational wealth. My kids will be great because I will push them to be great. Not in boxing, just in business. Whatever they want to do, whether it’s music, real estate, football, whatever they want to do, I may not approve of it, but I will always push them to be great.

My dad pushed me to be great. Pushed me to be great. Even like tonight, if those young kids is happy, “Oh, I went eight rounds with the exhibition,” the main thing you should be happy with is this, it wasn’t a real fight. That’s like some sparring in the gym. If I’m able to come and spar… You talking about fighters got to go out there and really fight right now in the sport of boxing. They’re fighting. They make three or four million just leading up to this fight. Just leading up to the fight. My trunks alone, just my trunks alone 30 million. With the patches on my trunks, that’s 30 million alone. Who’s really the smartest one in the sport of boxing? Y’all getting upset. Y’all getting upset. Guess what? I’m not going to no boxing sites because all they do… I get the hate on both sides. If y’all don’t like me, don’t write about me. If you guys don’t want to see me do no exhibitions, don’t come. Don’t watch. I’ll come on record and tell y’all. When it comes to legalized bank robbing, I’m the best. I changed my name from Pretty Boy Floyd. When I changed it to Money Mayweather, I started making money. You got to speak things into existence.

Y’all can write the stories that y’all want to write. I don’t care if y’all write good stories. I don’t care if y’all write bad stories. At the end of the day, I will always have the last laugh. The people that write the stories, you be like, “Damn, I’m writing this story about Floyd, but look at the house I go to and look at the house he go to. Damn, I’m writing about Floyd,” but you’re telling me that this kid… You tell me another boxer that makes 30 million dollars from patches on his trunks. Tell me one. Tell me one. Remember, y’all forget. I’m the one that put heavyweights out of business when I was fighting. It’s all about the big guys, the heavyweights. I put them out of business. All the guys that y’all said was extraordinary, the Canelos and the Pacquiaos, I made them look ordinary. Then, y’all go back and say, “We want to see Floyd fight them again.” Why? When you get it done right the first time, you ain’t got to do it the second time. If this kid said he’s been training every day for years, every day in boxing, I’m somewhere in Aruba, in the Bahamas, in Dubai. I’m traveling the world on my jet, making millions every month, not worried about nothing.

Then, when I see it’s a chance for me to do a heist, a quick heist… I’m going to let y’all know this. Y’all can say what y’all want to say. At the end of the day, I’m the smart one. I don’t care if you write good about me, you write bad about me, just keep writing about me. Y’all keeping my name out there. Y’all talking about, “They say Floyd don’t look good like he used to look.” My bank account looking better and better each and every day. I’m not coming back to the sport of boxing. Absolutely not. I did what I had to do, I made my mark on the sport. I got all my faculties, made a ton of money. “Money ain’t everything. Money ain’t everything.” I know we got to eat food everyday to survive, so we can live longer and that takes money. To me, it looks like money is everything, but one thing money can’t come between, not between me and my children. I love them unconditionally. I knew I was supposed to have been out here earlier this week. I was supposed to have got to Miami earlier. The most important thing was my daughter’s graduation, to me. I’m just saying, to me.

Tonight was… Like I said before, was this the most important thing tonight? I mean just this week? Absolutely not. My daughter was. My children and my family is always the most important thing to me. No matter what y’all write; whether you write good, write bad, “Oh, Floyd ain’t like he used to be.” Well, he getting paid. If you don’t want to watch, don’t watch, but damn. It’s crazy that I can do 30,000 at my age on some sparring. Who’s the smart one. Okay. I know y’all got some questions. Go ahead.

Reporter 7: (22:52)
Rick Mohammed [inaudible 00:22:53]. Sports Media Champ. It’s great seeing you back in the ring, doing what you do tonight.

Oh, yeah.

Reporter 7: (22:57)
Thank you for that show. You had a lot of success to the body tonight, Logan Paul, and I wanted to know at any time in those close clinches was he grunting or cringing? You could tell he was tired and the body shots was really effective.

Breaking him down to the body, a big guy, chopping him down, but Logan, hell of a grappler. Hell of a holder. Like I said before, when you got a guy over 200 something pounds, I’m pretty sure he weight 189 yesterday, came in over 200 after he got re-hydrated. It was cool. Something to do. It was cool tonight.

Maurice: (23:44)
Thank you champ. Let’s go champ.

Speaker 11: (23:54)
Let me just add something. I know Logan is on his way. I know Floyd’s got lots of plans tonight. A busy night ahead of him, but this may be, despite everything that I’ve tried over the last six years, this may be the last time we see him in the ring, so whether you liked the exhibition or not, whether you agree on the opponent or not, give this man his flowers today. They said he was too small to lead the sport of boxing. Said that it’s a small guy. Wasn’t going to make money. They said a guy who left a big promoter wasn’t going to have a successful career. Back in 2014, they said he was done. The other network let him go because they thought his best days were behind him and we saw the last of him in 2015. He gave us a little bonus in 2017. Record breaking bonus. Gave us a little taste in Japan. Gave us another little taste, a little reminder. I just want to say, there will be some criticism, but we can’t pay attention to that. Give this man his respect. For every true boxing fan, it is a joy to see this man in the ring each and every time that he’s in there.

I know you wanted to talk L. Go ahead.

Leonard: (25:31)
Just want to thank everyone for all their support. Again, this was a great promotion. Really, really proud of Floyd. He went out there as always and really entertained the fans. Most people, we don’t care nothing about no criticism because at the end of the day, we’re winning in life. Going in there, when you really think about it, Floyd weighed 155 pounds yesterday. I guarantee you he weighs less tonight. Guarantee. Here it is, he’s in there with a heavyweight. A heavyweight. Again, me, Steven, Al and this whole entire team, we’re really, really proud of him and I think everyone should give him a standing ovation for a wonderful, wonderful career and what he’s given to the sport and how he’s helped so many people. Again, I want to thank everyone for tuning in all over the world and thank everyone for coming out tonight again. Thank you.

Floyd Mayweather Post-Fight Press Conference Transcript June 6

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