WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Floyd Mayweather was in his true glory on Wednesday at the Lincoln Theatre, entertaining his partisan fans during a press conference that included future ring rival, Shane Mosley, on the second of a three-day, promotional tour.
A day earlier, the 33-year-old Mayweather (40-0, 25 knockouts) and the 38-year-old Mosley (46-5, 39 KOs) had nearly come to blows during a face-to-face stare-down.
But they wisely decided to save their fists for their May 1, million dollar clash at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, where Mosley will defend his WBA welterweight (147 pounds) super championship and earn his largest career pay day.
Between telling jokes, mocking members of the rival camp, and receiving cheers at the expense of Mosley, Mayweather spoke with FanHouse concerning his crusade to implement Olympic-style drug-testing in boxing, and his bout with Mosley, among other things.
FanHouse: How does Shane Mosley rank among the greatest fights in your career?
Floyd Mayweather: You know, I just do what I do, man. All that I do is just do me, man. And be the best that I can be in the sport of boxing. But I'm going to stop his a**.
I just make it and do what I do, man. When a fighters' facing me, they're facing the best. When I'm facing them, I'm just facing fighters.
FH: On Tuesday, when things got a little testy between yourself and Shane Mosley, can you explain what happened?
Mayweather: Well, the thing yesterday, well, basically what happened yesterday was that me and Mosley came face-to-face. And then he came close to where our noses touched.
I'm not really tripping on that. But like I said before, I only like to kiss females. But then if you go back and look at it, he touched me twice. I told him, don't put his hands on me. 'Whatever you do, just don't put your hands on me.'
And then, that was it, basically.
FH: How much of what happened yesterday do you think had its origins from the in-the-ring, post-fight after you beat Juan Manuel Marquez in September, and Shane entered the ring and interrupted your interview with Max Kellerman by challenging you to be his next fight?
Mayweather: I'm not worried about that. You know, you've got to realize, that comes with the territory. Jealousy comes with the territory. You've got to realize this. I've been trying to fight this guy since 1998, and, 1999, and this guy's been ducking and dodging.
And then I tried to fight him again, and he said that he had a toothache. And all of a sudden, now, he's 38, 39 years old, and his career's coming to an end, and he needs a big pay day.
And like I said before, 'All roads lead to Floyd Mayweather.' If you do your homework, and you check all of these fighters, they get their most money when they face me.
Oscar De La Hoya. Shane Mosley. Zab Judah. And the list goes on and on. They make the most money when they fight me. So like I said, 'All roads lead to Floyd Mayweather.' And I pick and chose who I want to fight, because I'm king of the thrown.
I'm not depending on any of those guys, I do what I want to do.
FH: Floyd, I spoke to former Las Vegas ringside doctor, Margaret Goodman, former BALCO founder, Victor Conte, and USADA chief, Travis Tygart, and they all said that you deserve credit for your stance on Olympic-Style drug testing. How does that make you feel?
Mayweather: The thing is this, like I said before, I've got to fight everybody. That's why I dont' even go to the internet, and I don't have to read none of that bulls***.
Because my fans tell me every day, when I go inside a stadium or somewhere, my fans are like, 'Floyd, don't listen to the media.' So that's how I know that they be writing a bunch of bulls***.
But the thing is this, it's like this, I'm a strong-minded person. The only thing that I think about is what my mother tells me every day.
She says 'the world can be against you, but as long as God's on your side, you will always rise.' So that's I take with me every time.
Just because you have one man who that will say, 'Well, I may win, I don't know if I'll win.' But deep in his heart, he knows that he's going to win.
With me, though, all that I'm saying is that 'I know that I'm going to win.' And so they say that 'it's cocky,' or they that 'it's arrogance.' But it ain't cocky or arrogant if you're backing it up.
FH: But if boxing ever decides to toughen its policies on drug testing, do you believe, as do some others, that you should be given some credit for pioneering the effort?
Mayweather: Okay, like I said before. They need to make the changes. I'd change everything in the sport of boxing. They need to make the changes.
All that I'm trying to do is show the world that my sport is clean. I'm trying to seperate the ordinary from the good, from the great.
I never said nothing about Manny Paquiao, but I've never known a man who didn't want to take a drug test and risk losing $25 million. And now, he's making $6 million [to defend his title against Joshua Clottey on March 13.]
The thing is this, you've got people who, even in Mosley's career. They talk about how Mosley beat all of these guys. You know, we don't know, when he got all of these knockouts at lightweight [135 pounds,] we don't know what he was taking.
Source: boxing.fanhouse.com
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