Oscar De La Hoya And Floyd Mayweather Jr. Get Us Pumped Up For Fight Night

De La Hoya vs. Mayweather: The World Awaits is mere days away. Before these two rivals fight May 5 on Pay-Per-View, they talked with members of the media on a conference call. Check out what these fighters had to say as they fired off salvos in a war of words before their war in the ring.

Mayweather Lets Everyone Have It

Floyd On Oscar’s Style

“He’s extremely stiff. I’m a fighter with special effects. I can do whatever it takes to win, inside and out. … You already know what he’s going to do. He does it time in and time out. … We have two things we do know about Oscar: We know he gets tired and we know he will lay down. Those are the two things you guys gotta know about Oscar. Oscar can be beat, because he’s got four L’s. In his last four fights, Oscar is 2-2. In my last four fights, I’m 4-0. There’s no style that can beat Floyd Mayweather because we haven’t seen him lose yet. So May 5, buy the fight to see if this guy’s got what it takes and see if he’s got the style that beats Floyd Mayweather.

Nervous? Floyd? Don’t Be Silly

“I ain’t nervous. I’m never nervous. What am I nervous for? I’ve been in 18 championship fights. This guy, he don’t pose no threat to me. It’s not being cocky, it’s my confidence. I believe in myself. Oscar doesn’t pose a threat to me. I’ve been in there with every style. He hasn’t been in there with a style like mine. … Am I nervous? Absolutely not. I don’t even think about the fight. All I do is do what I got to do and that’s go train. I never change my regimen. If I’ve been winning with the same regimen for this long, why change up? The only thing I’m doing different is just pushing myself a little more. [Floyd talks aside to someone in the room] This dude is funny! This dude asked if I was nervous! I was like, ‘You must not know Floyd Mayweather, asking if I’m nervous.’ Hell no! Are you crazy? Me?”

Floyd On “Sugar” Shane Mosley

“Shane Mosley is [Oscar’s] sparring partner, that’s what he is. That’s all Shane Mosley’s ever been, is a sparring partner. I can’t talk bad about Shane because he’s not his own boss. If I’m going to say anything bad about Shane, I’m going to talk to his wife or I’m going to talk to Oscar. Because those are his bosses. All I can say right now about Shane is that Shane ain’t nothing but a sparring partner. [Floyd talks aside to someone in the room] Hey, yo, Rod! Man, cook some breakfast!

Floyd Gets Cranky If He Doesn’t Have Breakfast

“I can’t even say nothing about [Oscar] no more. All I want to do is talk about my style. Even when we got to do the interviews — even with the people on the phone right now — we got to do the interviews and I’ve been doing the same interviews you all been doing for years, the same old fake bulls***. … And you keep believing all those stories he been telling you all. All those media stories he been telling you all. Oscar De La Hoya is a fake-ass fighter. And he says stuff like I don’t deserve to be in the sport of boxing, and I don’t deserve certain things. We all know Oscar De La Hoya is greedy, he’s ungrateful and he’s a brat. And HBO will tell you that. All I got to say is one thing: God don’t make no mistakes. And the reason why I’m undefeated is that God has truly blessed me with a talent, the talent is boxing, and I’m appreciative. And when it’s all said and done, only God can judge me. And God don’t make no mistakes. That’s why I’m in this fight. And this dude says s*** like he thinks he’s selling this fight out. Like I tell everybody before, it takes two. You know. S***. I do good numbers with or without Oscar De La Hoya. Is this my biggest payday? Absolutely. Is this his biggest payday? Absolutely. Why? Because it takes two. I needed a dance partner and he needed a dance partner.”

So, Floyd, How’s The Family?

“I’m going to tell you right now, we need to talk about me and Oscar. That’s the fight we’re here to talk about. I’m not fighting my dad. I’m not here to talk about that. What happened in the past happened in the past and I’m going to leave it at that. On May 5, you’re going to see the best Floyd Mayweather. I’m in great shape. Not just great shape, tremendous shape. … Boy, the media just loves trying to find out what’s going on with me and my dad. And they’re the ones keeping that negative s*** going for all these years. And it wasn’t even nothing that big. Like I told you all before, you all know what rules. This is America. It’s about controversy and money. If you’re all going to ask me questions, talk to me about me. Everybody keeps asking me the same questions about my dad. Listen, my dad is in the gym everyday. Me and my dad’s personal business is me and my dad’s personal business. When you all interview me, I don’t ask you guys what’s going on with you and your dad or you and your mom. So what’s going on with me and my dad is me and my dad’s personal business.”

OK, Floyd, So Tell Us About Oscar. And Don’t Be Shy

“Like I said before, Oscar is a brat. Let me tell you what the deal was. First we had a problem negotiating the money. And then the dude talking about how he wants to wear Reyes gloves. I can’t wear the gloves I want to wear but he can wear the gloves he wants to wear. So he said, ‘Let’s put that in the contract.’ So I said OK, no problem. Then he said, ‘Well I’m not fighting at that cat’s weight.’ I said no problem. Then he said he wanted to chose where he wanted the fight to be at. I told him no problem. I don’t ever want to do business with Golden Boy Promotions again. As of right now, I don’t want to do business with them. I cannot say what the future holds. So going into this fight, you just got to watch them because they’ve got tricks up their sleeve. And when I talk like this, they get mad about me putting their company on blast. But to be honest, they’re no different from Don King, they’re no different from Bob Arum. Oscar talks bad about Bob Arum but then he go do the same things Bob Arum do. … Oscar De La Hoya is a crook, too. He do the same thing Bob Arum do. He do the same thing Don King do. I would never do a fighter like that. That’s why all these fighters up and coming, we have Mayweather Promotions coming, and watch out, we’re going to treat fighters good.”

Mixed Martial Arts Do Not Concern Floyd

“This fight is good for boxing. It’s not like the sport is going anywhere. Like I said before, man, to be honest — UFC and s*** ain’t nothing but a f***ing fad. If they feel Chuck Liddell is so good, we should take Chuck Liddell — we don’t need the best heavyweight, we just need to take a good heavyweight — and let Chuck Liddell fight a good heavyweight, under Mayweather Promotions, and if Chuck Liddell beats him, I’ll give him $1 million out of my own pocket. That stuff ain’t nothing but a fad. Most of those guys, they couldn’t make it in boxing, so they had to turn to something else. So they have all this different type of fighting comes out. We’re like gladiators from the past. Why you think the sport of boxing’s been here for hundreds and hundreds of years? And they’re trying to do anything they can do to knock our sport. Boxing is the best sport in the world. Boxing’s here to stay. And boxing is blood, sweat and tears.”

De La Hoya Punches Back

Oscar’s In Prime Shape

“I’m looking forward to being very aggressive, and not necessarily going in there and trying to walk through this guy. But when it comes to my conditioning, I’ll be able to do everything I want to do inside that ring, so I’m looking forward to that. I didn’t think I could get in better shape at this point in my career, but [trainer] Freddie [Roach] has really taken it up a notch when it comes to being in good shape for a fight.”

Oscar On Floyd Sr. In His Son’s Camp

“I don’t think it’s going to make a difference. Obviously, I know Mayweather Sr. is telling him to look out for this and look out for that. And Oscar’s vulnerable here and there. We’re ready for all that, obviously. We’re sticking to our game plan and we’re sticking to what we can do best. After studying Mayweather Jr. for so many days now — watching his videos and watching his fights — we have him down. And it’s not going to be a fight where I have to change my strategies or change my whole game. It’s going to be a fight where I have to make little adjustments here and there — not major adjustments but little adjustments where I can make sure I capitalize on.”

So Oscar, Tell Us About Floyd

“Mayweather Jr. needs a humbling experience. He really is a little brat. The way he comes across, I mean he’s very arrogant. Obviously we were on a press tour for so many days. He can get up on the podium and say a few nice things, and then his real side will come out. He starts talking all this trash about how I’m nothing and I haven’t fought anybody and this and that. It’s uncalled for. It’s unnecessary. You’d never see Tiger Woods talk bad about Jack Nicklaus. It’s just something that is disrespectful and therefore it revs me up to really shut him up on May 5.”

Oscar On His Intense Training

“I could never understand why Manny [Pacquiao] is so explosive. After working with Freddie, now I know why. I can’t wait to be in that ring May 5. The condition that I’ll be in is because of Freddie Roach, because of the way he makes you train. It’s the way he makes you train. He pushes you every second of every round. There’s no time to breathe. I see in his eyes that he’s very motivated, and that’s refreshing to me because Floyd Sr. — as much as I like the guy and he’s a great trainer and I have nothing bad to say about him — we’ve been together for five, six years. And I guess having Freddie is like a little refreshing, brings something new to the table, and it’s motivating.”

So What Does Floyd Sr. Really Think About His Son?

“The only thing I knew about [Floyd Jr.] was what his father would tell me while we were training down here for several fights. About how he’s a bad guy and hangs around with bad people and how he’s a little brat and he needs a lesson and things like that. I would tell Floyd Sr., ‘How bad can it be?’ I didn’t think it was that bad, but once I got over the tour with him, now I can understand what he was meaning.”

Oscar On Matching Floyd’s Speed

“In boxing, the punch that hurts the most is the one that you can’t see. We know he’s fast. How fast is he at 154? That’s something we’ll see May 5. I’m sure there’s going to be many times where I’m going to lure him into my trap, so to speak. Obviously, the name of the game is hit and not get hit. I’m going to take some risks. I’ll be in tremendous shape, where I’ll have no problem taking those risks. Not letting him hit me, but forget to block a punch or let him hit me one or two or three times to see what kind of power he does have. I think that’s going to happen in the fight. We’ll see. People are talking about speed, about it’s going to be a big factor. People are going to be very surprised at how I’ll be able to match his speed. Fighters like this really take me to a whole new level, especially when they’re that fast. It’s going to be interesting to watch.”

About Ryan Berenz 2166 Articles
Member of the Television Critics Association. Charter member of the Ancient and Mystic Society of No Homers. Squire of the Ancient & Benevolent Order of the Lynx, Lodge 49, Long Beach, Calif. Costco Wholesale Gold Star Member since 2011.