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Lem’s latest: ‘I’m effin’ Floyd Mayweather!’

Fighters Network
31
Aug

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At one point during the second episode of Showtime’s All Acess: Mayweagther vs. Canelo, which airs on Saturday night at 10 p.m. ET/PT, Floyd Mayweather Jr. gets wind that Canelo Alvarez’s power is injuring his sparring partners so badly that they are leaving almost as swiftly as they had arrived.

One was ushered out with fractured ribs, and another, with a dislocated shoulder.



But Mayweather appears to be unmoved.

“I could care less what the rumors is about Canelo’s camp…I can care less about what Canelo did in his camp. I’m not a f–kin’ sparring partner. I’m f–king Floyd Mayweather, and I can f–kin’ fight.”

As The RING and WBC junior middleweight champion, Alvarez (42-0-1, 30 knockouts) will put his crowns on the line against Mayweather (44-0, 26 KOs), THE RING’s No. 1-rated pound-for-pound boxer, on Sept. 14 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas on Showtime Pay Per View.

Click here for a video clip of the second episode of All-Access: Mayweather-Canelo.

SETH MITCHELL ON CHRIS ARREOLA: ‘THEY SAY THAT IT’S A CASH-OUT FIGHT’

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Advisor Al Haymon, who is perhaps the most powerful and influential man in boxing, has matched his fighters against each other more and more lately.

On the Mayweather-Alvarez card, RING junior welterweight champion Danny Garcia will put his undefeated record, WBA and WBC belts on the line against RING No. 1-rated Lucas Matthysse.

In April, WBO middleweight beltholder Peter Quillin scored two second-round knockdowns 30 seconds apart, and dropped his man twice more in the seventh and final round of a technical knockout over Fernando Guerrero for the first defense of his title.

On Sept. 7, heavyweights Seth Mitchell (26-1-1, 19 KOs) and Chris Arreola (35-3, 30 KOs) will become the most recent Haymon fighters to pair up when they battle at Fantasy Sports Casino in Indio, Calif. on Showtime.

Mitchell is coming off June’s unanimous decision over Johnathon Banks that avenged a second-round stoppage loss in November, and Arreola had surgery in May to repair a broken nose suffered during April’s unanimous-decision loss to Bermane Stiverne.

“I think that Al is one of the smartest business people that I’ve ever met,” said Golden Boy CEO Richard Schaefer during an earlier interview with RingTV.com. “How could he sign all of these fighters to the point where he represents 80 or 90 percent of the talent which matters, and then they can not fight each other? That was never an issue.”

But some have suggested that putting Mitchell in with Arreola could be Haymon’s way of trimming his roster, which also includes Mayweather, Devon Alexander, Adrien Broner, Deontay Wilder, Marcos Maidana, Gary Russell Jr. and Edwin Rodriguez, among others.

“Absolutely, I’ve heard the rumors,” said Mitchell’s manager, Sharif Salim. “We don’t look at that at all. Somebody else might. We look at this as a step to the championship. We absolutely feel that we’re going to win this fight. Quite frankly, I feel more comfortable with this fight than I did with that slick, counterpunching Johnathan Banks

“Not only that, but this man could be taking us very lightly, at least from the comments that we’re hearing from Arreola. But we’re not taking him lightly. So, now, we look at this as another part of Seth’s amazing trajectory from a 10-fight amateur fighter to where he is now.”

Mitchell concurred.

“The fight was proposed to me, and I accepted it. I haven’t turned down a fight that was offered to me yet. I haven’t felt that my camp or my team has put me into positions where I can’t win. We may be in a position where it’s a tough fight, but that’s the name of the business. That’s the name of the game. I want to be in spots where the stakes are high, and this is a high-risk, high-reward, and the winner moves on to another big fight, and the loser has to start over, and that’s just what it is. It might not be fair in the eyes of many,” said Mitchell.

“They say that it’s a cash-out fight, but I look at it as a cash-in fight. It’s my cash-in fight…I understand, and that’s one thing about me. I understand that people can genuinely like you and want you to win, but the bottom line is that this is a business, and you’ve got to put up, and I understand that. It may not be fair, but that’s just what it is. You’ve got to entertain, and you’ve got to be fair. No matter what type of person you are, you can’t keep fighting on these prime-time networks, Showtime and HBO, when you’re losing, and I understand that it’s a business and that you’re got to put up.”

OSCAR DE LA HOYA: ‘WE’RE GOING TO SEE ABNER MARES BETTER THAN EVER.’

altGolden Boy President Oscar De La Hoya praises the fact that three-division titlewinner Abner Mares has requested that Golden Boy CEO Richard Schaefer pursue a rematch with Jhonny Gonzalez in the wake of last Saturday’s first-round knockout loss that dethroned him as WBC featherweight titleholder.

“I love it. I love it. That’s the smartest decision that he can make. It shows you what a great fighter he wants to become. I do feel that Abner was on cruise control. Jhonny hit him with the perfect left hook, but he got caught while he was on cruise control,”said De La Hoya.

“Jhonny hit Abner with a perfect punch, which was a feint left hook, and, boom, he went down. All credit to Jhonny Gonzalez. But I do feel that when you reach such success and you feel like you’re unstoppable, there’s times where you’re going to maybe be on cruise control, and maybe he was just trying to take his time and feel him out in the first round. But Jhonny and [trainer] Nacho Beristain, they had a perfect plan.”

Mares (26-1-1, 14 knockouts) first informed RingTV.com of his desire for a return bout with Gonzalez (55-8, 47 KOs), who has scored knockouts in 13 of his past 15 victories.

A 27-year-old who entered the bout as THE RING’s No. 5-rated pound-for-pound fighter, Mares was floored twice by Gonzalez during the first defense of the belt he won in his 126-pound debut, a ninth-round knockout of Daniel Ponce de Leon.

Ponce de Leon was the last man to defeat Gonzalez in an eighth-round technical decision last September that ended Gonzalez’s 12-fight winning streak which included 11 knockouts.

“When you reach the type of success that Abner has, it happens slowly as everything starts to change around you. You start feeling unstoppable, and you start to believe all of the talking and all of the whispers around you,” said De La Hoya.

“Eventually, everybody has their day, but we’re going to see Abner Mares better than ever. This knockout loss, I’m actually glad it happened in the first round and not the 11th. He wasn’t hurt and there was no wear and tear on his mind or his body.”

GOLDEN BOY SIGNS CUBAN FIGHTERS YOANDRIS SALINAS, LUIS ORTIZ

Having signed with Golden Boy last month as a partnership with Dream Team Boxing Promotions, junior featherweight Yoandris Salinas (20-0-1, 13 KOs) and heavyweight Luis Ortiz (19-0, 16 KOs) — Miami-based Cuban fighters — will be in action in September.

“We’re excited to have Yoandris as part of the Golden Boy Promotions roster and to be working with Dream Team Promotions in taking him to a world title and then to the biggest fights that can be made for him at 122 pounds,” said Schaefer.

“His amateur record speaks for itself, and he’s been building up an impressive resume as a professional as well, so there’s no question that he’s ready for the best in the world.”

A 27-year-old, Salinas will face hard-hitting Scott Quigg (26-0-1, 19 KOs) for the WBA’s vacant belt on the Sept. 28 undercard of an all-English clash between former heavyweight titleholder David Haye and unbeaten 6-foot-9 contender Tyson Fury.

Ortiz, 34, has become part of Golden Boy’s heavyweight stable that includes 6-foot-7 Wilder and Mitchell.

Ortiz was last in the ring for his fourth straight stoppage victory, a fourth-round stoppage of Santiago De Paula in November of last year.

“Luis is a welcome addition to our team, and he’s got the talent and experience to shake up the heavyweight division,” said Schaefer. “I can’t wait to see what he can do with the top fighters in the division. I know he’s ready for the challenges ahead.”

SADAM ALI TO MAKE GOLDEN BOY DEBUT ON SEPT. 30

Brooklyn welterweight Sadam “World Kid” Ali (16-0, 10 KOs), who represented the United States in the 2008 Olympics and who signed with Golden Boy Promotions in June, will make his debut with the company against Jay Krupp (17-5, 8 KOs) on June 30 — four days after Ali’s celebrates his 25th birthday.

Ali will try to end Krupp’s three fight winning streak as the headliner to Golden Boy Live! on FOX Sports 1 and FOX Deportes at 9 p.m. ET/6:00 p.m. PT at The Cushman and Wakefield Theater at Barclays Center.

Ali is coming off October’s second-round knockout over Ronnie Warrior Jr. at the Aviator Sports Complex in Brooklyn.

Also on the card is Newark, N.J. junior welterweight Michael “The Artist” Perez (18-1-2, 10 KOs) in a bout against Carlos Molina (17-1-1, 7 KOs), as well as Staten Island light heavyweight and 2012 U.S. Olympian Marcus Browne (6-0, 6 KOs) opposite Kevin “Hitman” Engel (20-8, 16 KOs) as part of the Barclays Center Anniversary Celebration in Brooklyn.

Other undercard bouts also include Emmanuel Gonzalez (12-0, 7 KOs) of The Bronx, Claude Staten Jr. (1-0) of Brooklyn and D’Mitrius Ballard (2-0, 2 KOs) of Maryland in separate bouts against opponents to be determined.

MIKE REED SAYS ‘YESINDEED’ TO A BUSY FIGHT SCHEDULE

Junior welterweight Mike Reed (4-0, 3 KOs) debuted with a first-round knockout in March, had another in April, won a decision in June, and came up with a third-round stoppage last month.

On Sept. 7, he will step into the ring, yet again, at the Rosecroft Raceway in Fort Washington, Md., against Ramesis Gil (8-6-5, 5 KOs) with another scheduled appearance at Rosecroft on Oct. 18.

“I really like the fact that I have been as busy as I’ve been in my first year as a pro, trying to go once month. This fight is a big one for me as is every one after it,” said Reed, whose nickname is “Yesindeed.”

“The guy is really experienced so I know I have to be careful. I’m looking to gain more experience and put a well-named opponent on my record. After this fight, I will be right back in action sometime in October, so I won’t have time to become relaxed.”

Photos: Esther Lin-Showtime; Juan Marshall; Naoki Fukuda

Lem Satterfield can be reached at [email protected]

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