From the moment I arrived at the MGM Grand Hotel in Las Vegas on Wednesday for Floyd Mayweather Jr's grand arrival, it has been a bit surreal.
Just outside the media box office, I bumped into Alex Ariza, Mayweather’s fitness coach, the same Alex Ariza who was for eight years Manny Pacquiao’s fitness coach.
I greet him and he asks where I’m from? I tell him Abu Dhabi.
“Man, I’ve heard so much about Dubai and Abu Dhabi, I really want to go there,” he says. “I hope I will after this fight, we’ve just been so busy with getting Floyd prepared.”
He tells me to take down his telephone number and asks me to call him after all is said and done on Saturday evening, telling me he would love to meet up in the UAE. I was not expecting that!
I make my way towards security and just outside the entrance I see Stephen Espinoza, the vice president of Showtime Sports, reading some emails on his phone. I ask him if there was a big fight to be staged in Dubai or Abu Dhabi would Showtime be interested in broadcasting it?
“Oh, absolutely, if there is a big title fight, which we feel that it can excite the audience in the US, we will set it up to air it here. But the talent has to be really big,” Espinoza said.
As soon as I enter the MGM Grand Garden Arena, I see Floyd Mayweather Sr, and I notice a couple of seats behind him are empty. So I grab a seat, and extend my hand, he shakes it and greets me with a big smile.
I tell him I travelled all the way from Abu Dhabi just to see his son, and he smiles again. I ask him if he would mind taking a picture? “Let’s get it on,” Floyd Sr says.
“Thank you, man, thank you for coming. My son appreciates fans like you, he is here because of the fans from around the world.”
A couple of rows behind, I see Nate Jones, Floyd Jr’s assistant trainer and former Olympic team member. We chat for a while before one half of Saturday night’s main event makes his grand entrance.
Floyd Jr, the man who will put his WBC (Super), WBC and The Ring Welterweight titles as well as his unbeaten 47-fight record on the line against Pacquiao arrived to a packed MGM Grand Garden Arena and said a few words. I make my way to the stage where the media was invited to interview the champ.
Also: John McAuley explores the long and complicated history between Freddie Roach and Floyd Mayweather Sr
As you can imagine, the demand to interview Floyd is high. Hotel security, local police officers and Floyd’s own personal body guards keep the media scrum at a safe distance from him.
While I wait patiently on the edge of the stage for my chance to speak to Floyd, I take the opportunity to ask former WBC lightweight and WBA welterweight champion Adrien Broner about his future fight plans.
“Hey, man, listen, I will take on anyone, anywhere. You know it. I’m AB,” he says.
What about Amir Khan in Dubai??
“Amir doesn’t want to fight me. I will fight him in Dubai if he wants, that would be a great venue for our fight.”
Broner is always entertaining.
After I get my five minutes with Floyd I head back to the media centre, only to see Bob Arum, the founder and chief executive of Top Rank, the company that promotes Pacquiao, walking along with at least four cameramen filming his every move. He stops to talk to someone, so I grab my opportunity to shake hands with the man who once promoted “The Greatest” of them all, Muhammad Ali.
It’s been a very surreal few days indeed.
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