Katie Couric frets, “I hope he’s nice” before interviewing Floyd Mayweather Jr.

Athletes in this day and age are more prone to control content and messaging, and put out materials from their own crew in order to disseminate info and massage narratives. So it is with Floyd Mayweather Jr., three weeks out from his super-fight against Manny Pacquiao.

A video a day or more gets put out by his crew, showing “Money” in vignettes which portray the different sides of the 38-year-old prizefighter/businessman/father etc.

The March 31 edition shows Floyd getting a visit from eterna-perky Katie Couric, now working for Yahoo. She seems over the moon to visit the fighter, and enthuses over his fitness and grace. The newsgatherer watches him do his thing at the Mayweather Gym in Vegas, and she says, “It’s fun to watch” after expressing amazement at how many folks gather to watch him train, like groupies around a rock star. Couric says she hopes he’s “nice” and seemed nervous, maybe strange considering the caliber of people she’s talked to in four decades in the biz, but after says he was a “pussycat.”

“This was a completely new experience for me, I really enjoyed it. I can’t wait for May 2,” says Couric.

Next, in the April 2 hit, super-fan Matt Rosenblatt chats with Money and they jog together. The guy had to pinch himself, and he says he enjoyed the experience. He says how grateful he is for the opp (we saw Couric say the same thing, interestingly). Rosenblatt says he will hold on to the memory for the rest of his life.

Lil Jamez gets inked.

We saw another side of Floyd, the dad side, in another April 2 video. Daughter Iyanna calls Floyd her best friend and tells us that the Manny fight will be easy work. The young lady says she likes when the Money Team gets together, and it’s nice to see that soft side of a guy who gets a lot of snarly stuff written about him.

On the April 3 hit, TMT rapper Lil Jamez gets a TMT tattoo over his left eye, and says he’s doing it because he’s loyal to “Money” and this shows that he’s also super loyal. Hey, the face tattoo has seemed to work for Tyson…

Jamez admits his family structure was lacking and he sees the Money Team as a surrogate. The rapper is seen in an April 5 video doing his thing. His tattoo has healed nicely and the words flow like Floyd combos…

We hear that Floyd sees his record label as part of his business diversity push.

The musician says Floyd’s work ethic speaks to him, and catalyzes him.

The good times continue in the April 7 vid. Super fan Wayne Hardy and wife Danielle come from Baltimore to check Floyd out. Wayne predicts a Floyd KO8 win, and then they hit the gym. Floyd Sr. chats with the pair, and they both say this is a dream come true. Positive vibes everywhere!

Also April 7, we see Floyd in the gym flow. Hitting bags, hitting pads, etc., he looks sharp, though it’s nothing most fans haven’t seen before, so points are taken for lack of originality.

An April 9 video shows boxer Latondria Jones telling us that Floyd is a positive role model, and fellow fighter Jessica Frazier echoes that sentiment. Her son looks up to Floyd, she tells us.

My take: some people see such videos and dismiss them as pure promo stuff, tailor-made to make the man look like a hero. But maybe it’s good to see positive material churned out, in a world where negativity sells so well. Readers, what do you think about this “new normal” where we see the athlete, or the entertainer, put out their own promo material, rather than rely on the mainstream press to be the disseminator?

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