It was always going to be interesting to see how Floyd Mayweather Junior and “Sugar” Shane Mosley would act when they came face-to-face on their press tour to hype up the big May 1st WBA welterweight title fight they will be engaging in in Las Vegas. Well, yesterday, on the first stop of the pre-fight publicity tour, we got out answer as the two got in each other’s face in New York. When attempting to conduct the traditional (and, truth be told, now somewhat tiresome) “stare down,” the two laid hands on one another and some pushing and shoving took place. Sure, one’s first thought in cases like these is to think the entertaining little scuffle taking place is nothing more than a staged event to get more people interested in the fight. However, as fans know, there is genuine dislike between these two welterweights and there has been for some years – also, this fight, sure to be a massive success on pay-per-view, needs NO further hype to make it a big deal.

After both guys had calmed down, they gave brief interviews with the media. Both men had some interesting things to say.



“Shane Mosley is one of the best welterweights of this era, and of course myself, I’m one of the best fighters who ever lived, so you put us together and this will one helluva fight,” Mayweather said. “All roads lead to Floyd Mayweather. Oscar [De La Hoya], Zab Judah and now Mosley – they all get their biggest paydays against Mayweather.”

For his part, Mosley, the defending WBA champion at 147-pounds, is sure he will get the win and that it will then maybe lead to an even bigger fight with Manny Pacquiao.

“This win will be the icing on the cake,” Mosley said yesterday. “I’ve beaten Oscar twice when he was in his prime and [Antonio] Margarito and to be on the big stage with Mayweather and then hopefully go after Pacquiao, this is like the dream boat.”

Co-promoter De La Hoya said he knows already what will happen when the two fighters get into the ring, and he said with a smile how, “it ain’t gonna be pretty!”



Both guys were dressed impeccably in snazzy suits and both guys had the look only fighters who are ready to rumble can have. Both men looked pretty much to be at or even on weight right now and May 1st promises to be one great night.



De La Hoya spoke very strongly of the possibility of a KO. However, he never said in whose favour!