Shane Mosley's Early, But Party Starts With Floyd Mayweather -- FanHouse

By Lem Satterfield, FanHouse

LAS VEGAS -- Shane Mosley, his trainer, Naazim Richardson, Mosley's attorney, Judd Burstein, and their camp members were on the daise for about 10 minutes before Floyd Mayweather entered the Hollywood Theatre nearly half an hour after Wednesday's press conference had been scheduled to begin.

The man who is nicknamed, "Money," wore dark shades, a sharp suit and tie, and a white shirt whose collar bore his last name, "Mayweather," on both sides.

Trailing behind him were his father, Floyd Mayweather Sr., his uncle and trainer, Roger Mayweather, and his CEO of Mayweather Promotions, Leonard Ellerbe.

Once they had all taken their places behind a long, black table, it was clear that the show was ready to begin.

"You know that this has to be a big fight," said Roger Mayweather, during his turn behind the podium. "For all of you people to be sitting in here and eating for free."

Not to be outdone was Floyd Mayweather Sr., who said of his son, "I know that he's smarter, he's clever, he's slicker," and then, directing his next comment toward Mosley, adding, "And he don't have no defense."

Laughter ensued throughout the venue. And then, the man of the hour spoke.

"This is about entertaining the fans and breaking records, and one thing that I've done is that I've built a fanbase. It's about being smart, and just having a gameplan, and working with Al Haymon and Leoard [Ellerbe.'] They take my ideas and they put it all together, and the list goes on and on," said Floyd Mayweather Jr., referring to his advisers.

"It's about taking this sport to another level, and being an icon in the sport of boxing. I'm always looking to go out there and do tremendous numbers. Who don't want to do tremendous numbers," said Mayweather. "There's no limit to what I can make. Something like $115 million in two fights, that's unreal. That's some of the things that my team does. And to be in this sport and to keep 100 percent" of his purse.

The 33-year-old Mayweather (40-0, 25 knockouts) will meet the 38-year-old Mosley (46-5, 39 KOs) on Saturday night here at the MGM Grand, whose initials stand for, "Mosley's Greatest Moments," according to some of the WBA welterweight (147 pounds) champion's camp members.

"Floyd does a very good job of promoting his fights," said Mosley, who is coming off of a January, 2009, ninth-round knockout of Antonio Margarito, whom he dethroned as WBA king at the MGM. "I think Floyd brings a lot of mouth. People dislike him so much they buy the fight just to see him lose."

At any rate, Golden Boy Promotions CEO, Richard Schaefer, is predicting huge numbers for the HBO-pay per view-televised bout, whose buys he believes could surpass the record 2.4 million by Mayweather's victory over Oscar de la Hoya in 2007.

Schaefer told the media predicted the record for Mayweather-de la Hoya, and, on Wednesday, he prohesized of Mayweather-Mosley that "$4 million views" are possible.

Mayweather's pay per view average revenue -- a total of $48 million for six fights -- ranks as the highest all-time. So big is his attraction, said Ellerbe, that he doesn't need a belt to define him as the best boxer in the sport.

So Mayweather has refused to pay the WBA's sanctioning fee, and, thus, is not fighting for Mosley's title.

"With all due respect to any sanctioning body out there, any time that you're making 10s of millions of dollars, it's not a smart business move to give up three percent of your money just to call yourself a champion. That's just our opinion," said Ellerbe, whose fighter stands to make upwards of $35 million against Mosley.

"For some of the younger fighters, the belt makes a difference. But Floyd's already won six world titles, and the model that he has put in place is the model that fighters from this generation and the next generation should look at and admire," said Ellerbe.

"And I'll hypothecially throw out a number," said Ellerbe. "If there was a half a million dollar sanctioning fee, that half a million dollars, Floyd has four kids that he could throw a half a million dollars into an additional fund for them."

A scource close to the negotiations said that the sanctioning fee was "never really discussed" by the Mayweather camp because "it was made clear during the early discussions when the fight was made that Floyd doesn't want to fight for the belt."

On the other hand, Mosley always has wanted to fight for the WBA belt.

"Shane has always wanted to fight for and defend the WBA title, because he's the champion, and, so, he's obviously going to defend his belt," said Richard Schaefer, CEO of Golden Boy Promotions. "So, now, we're going to be sitting down with the WBA this week, and we're going to see what can be worked out."

Mosley will earn a guaranteed $7 million purse, according to Nevada State Athletic Commission chairman, Keith Kizer, plus an upside to pay per view.

"Obviously, I can appreciate a three percent sanctioning fee, but I think that once you get into this level of fights, I think that a three percent sanctioning fee is actually excessive," said Schaefer.

"You look at, for example, the WBO, and they have a cap on their fees, which is actually $150,000 --irrespective of the purse amount, which I think is actually reasonable," said Schaefer. "So it's a matter of sitting down with the WBA and seeing if an agreement can be reached for Shane."

Source: boxing.fanhouse.com