By Ryan Dunn: In the kick-off press conference this afternoon for the Floyd Mayweather vs. Shane Mosley megafight scheduled for May 1, 2010, there was very little in the way of fireworks. Nobody was thrown off the stage, no flags were tossed into the crowd, nobody got sucker punched, shoved, or called bad names. Both of the fighters — and their respective teams — seemed to have an amicable, positive attitude toward one another. Shane definitely seemed like the “lucky one”, stating, “It’s been a long time since I got a chance to show the world that I’m the best fighter. And that’s all I really want.”
Mayweather gave the love back by saying, “It takes two to make a megafight, and Shane Mosley’s one of the best fighters of our era.” It was a veritable love fest for the most part, including the fighter poses for the photo opp at the end.
But there was something worth noting, and something I wasn’t sure would be brought up (and even less so by Shane, first). The BALCO scandal from Shane’s past reared its ugly head for the world to hear. And both fighters had something to say about it.
First, as Shane was closing his statement to the media, he paused to say that “May 1st symbolizes something.” He seemed to gather himself, as if looking for the right words. They didn’t come out smoothly, but he eventually issued them forth: “After this fight there won’t be any… ‘Oh, it’s the clear.'” It took a moment for the crowd to understand that he was referring to his previous abuse of “The Cream and the Clear,” a steroid and masking agent provided to him by Victor Conte and his BALCO labs. As the crowd caught on, Mosley looked for a way to flip it, and finished by saying. “It’s gonna be CLEAR when I whoop his ass.”
Well, well, well. That’s one way to confront the inevitable question mark surrounding this fight. It’s hard to say whether he felt an urge to confront the elephant in the room, or if Golden Boy Promotions said it was in his best interest to get in front of the issue.
Mayweather wasn’t shy about putting in his own jab. “As far as the enhancement drugs issue,” Mayweather said, “I wanna’ show the world that my sport is clean.” This is in keeping with earlier interviews, and it shows his new angle for the blood-test demands. Not much new there. He reiterated his points regarding Pacquiao saying he extended the same terms and couldn’t understand how someone would walk away from a $25M drug test. Many can’t, and perhaps never will, understand that.
But he didn’t stop there. He climbed out the window Mosley opened by stating, “I can’t say how many fights Shane has won in the past where Shane was using enhancement drugs.” The crowd booed and jeered at this, whether at Mayweather for saying it, or Mosley for doing it is hard to tell.
Mayweather let that question hang in the air, and went back on-script by saying of Mosley being the belt-holding champion: “Belts don’t do nothing but collect dust. I’m in the check-cashing business, when it’s all said and done.” You can argue either of those points, I guess, but Floyd has never been shy about saying that boxing is a business to him. In his own words: “I’m showing the world what God blessed me with. That’s all I’m doing.”
It should be an interesting couple of months. We will see if the BALCO scandal resurfaces, whether the wound might be reopened by Team Mayweather, or if they’re simply itching at a healed-over scar.
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