Originally Published: October 26, 2007
It's back to business for Mayweather
It may have been fun while it lasted, but Floyd Mayweather Jr.'s ballroom dancing days are in the rearview mirror.
AROUND THE RING
Mayweather's dancing days are over
Welterweight champion Floyd Mayweather's ballroom dancing days may be over after he was eliminated from the popular reality series "Dancing with the Stars," but the pound-for-pound king had a ball while on the show.
"It was good. On 'Dancing with the Stars,' there was no loser," Mayweather said. "Just to get to that level and to push yourself to do something different, I mean it was crazy. It was wild. But I enjoyed myself."
Mayweather (38-0, 24 KOs) has now turned his attention entirely to preparing for a much-anticipated fight against junior welterweight champ Ricky Hatton (43-0, 31 KOs) of England on Dec. 8 (HBO PPV) at the already sold-out MGM Grand in Las Vegas.
Even though Mayweather's run on the show lasted only a few weeks, he was pulling double duty training for the fight and for his next routine with professional dance partner Karina Smirnoff. It was difficult, Mayweather said.
"I mean, I was happy just to get the experience, just to go on 'Dancing with the Stars,' just do something different," Mayweather said. "I was doing two things at one time. I had to wake up, go to the dance studio. After the dance studio, go to the boxing gym. After the boxing gym, go run. After the run, I had to go back to the dance studio. After the dance studio, I had to go to physical training at the fitness gym. I mean, it was grueling, but was it worth it? Absolutely … I got a chance to meet different people. It was a great experience and it was a great show. People were nice."
Although Mayweather is a competitor and likes winning, he believes his elimination came at the proper time. If he had made it all the way to the final, he would have still been dancing just a couple of weeks before the fight.
"I think I got eliminated at the right time. I mean, I was happy," Mayweather said. "I didn't mind going home, honestly."
Oscar De La Hoya, who lost to Mayweather in May but is promoting Mayweather-Hatton, said he was never concerned that Mayweather's dancing would impact his training for the fight.
"We all know that Mayweather is a professional when it comes to his boxing," he said. "We all know that he's always in great shape. We all know that he goes to the gym every day and he doesn't drink, doesn't smoke. So it really didn't worry anybody much because even though if he did stay until the last week, we felt it wasn't going to affect him because he's always in great shape."
Ultimately, the experience on "Dancing with the Stars" helped Mayweather raise his profile. Being on a show that draws millions of viewers each week can do that.
"This was an excellent opportunity for Floyd to be seen on a mainstream platform with, I guess, over 20 million viewers weekly tuning in," said Leonard Ellerbe, Mayweather's best friend and adviser who was instrumental in getting Mayweather onto the show. "In turn, with Floyd being on the show, this will obviously bring many more eyes to our fight. And ultimately, in my eyes, I think it really, really will elevate the sport."
Hatton said he didn't consider Mayweather's dancing a sign of disrespect, but he said it wasn't something he would do.
"I wasn't too bothered," Hatton said. "I was more bothered about my preparation rather than my opponent's, but it's not something I would have done. Floyd felt he wanted to do it, and I think all in all he was only in it maybe three weeks. So we've still got seven weeks to go until the fight. So I don't think it will have affected Floyd in the slightest. And one thing I will say, Floyd's not got where he's got for taking people lightly.
"I just saw a few little clips of him dancing, and I was quite surprised actually. He wasn't bad. He's got quite a bit of rhythm. He looked to be quite a good dancer. But I don't think you want to see me on a Saturday night in Manchester after about 10 pints of Guinness dancing a bit."
AP Photo/Eric JamisonWith dancing out of his system, Floyd Mayweather Jr. can concentrate fully on his upcoming fight with Ricky Hatton.
Klitschko-Ibragimov close
The heavyweight division hasn't had a unification match since Lennox Lewis outpointed Evander Holyfield to win the undisputed championship in 1999. And since Lewis retired as the universally recognized champion in early 2004, nobody has been able to fill his shoes. But we could get a unification fight and get a step closer to a singularly recognized champ if handlers for titleholders Wladimir Klitschko and Sultan Ibragimov conclude the a deal they are working on. Both sides say they are close to making the unification fight, which would happen Feb. 23 (HBO) at New York's Madison Square Garden. Klitschko and his team were in New York this week to meet with HBO about the fight and adviser Shelly Finkel has been working on a deal with Leon Margules of Seminole Warriors Boxing, Ibragimov's co-promoter. Finkel acknowledged that the deal was "getting close" in an e-mail to ESPN.com. Margules told ESPN.com, "We're making progress and I am cautiously optimistic, but I don't have a done deal yet." Neither fighter has many attractive options and both have talked openly about their desire to unify. The sides, however, remain a bit apart on money. The time to make the fight is now because neither has a mandatory obligation. Klitschko is waiting for a four-man tournament to play out to determine his mandatory challenger this summer. Ibragimov, who outpointed Holyfield Oct. 13, has a mandatory against Tony Thompson, but it's not due until June. "Sultan wants to unify titles. My fighter wants to fight other champion," Margules said. "He wants challenges."
Calzaghe concerned
Super middleweight champ Joe Calzaghe (43-0, 32 KOs) of Wales is preparing for the biggest fight of his career on Nov. 3 (HBO, 9 p.m. ET), when he meets Denmark's Mikkel Kessler (39-0, 29 KOs) in a unification fight in Cardiff. Although Calzaghe is hunkered down in training camp, he caught the latest loss of one of his favorite fighters, 45-year-old Evander Holyfield, who dropped a lopsided decision in a heavyweight title bout to Sultan Ibragimov Oct. 13 in Moscow.
Calzaghe is 35 and says he still has a few more fights left in him, including, he hopes, an eventual light heavyweight title shot. Still, Calzaghe said he has no intention of being around as long as Holyfield and wishes he would retire.
"It's not that I want to get out after two fights," Calzaghe said. "I believe I can keep fighting until 40. There's no [deterioration] in my skills. I'm as quick as ever. I think I'd kick my a** five years ago and 10 years ago, so I feel that my best is still at the moment."
Calzaghe added that he doesn't want to be like Holyfield, a fighter who doesn't know how to exit gracefully.
"I want to be one of the few fighters that retires undefeated and retires at the top and you don't get that too much these days," he said. "Fighters keep fighting and fighting. I don't want to end up like a Holyfield, where it's ridiculous. You've fought your fight and you still want to keep coming back. I'm a massive Holyfield fan and I just wish he'd retire."
Like much of the media, Calzaghe is wondering where Kessler has been. He's been non-existent in the promotion, which has irritated Calzaghe and HBO.
"I just hope he shows up next week and takes his medicine like a man," Calzaghe said. "Every reporter who interviews me tells me the same thing -- they can't reach Kessler. Is he in training camp or a witness protection program? I expect Kessler to be elusive when we meet inside the ring, but what the hell is he hiding from now? Even a groundhog pops his head out of his burrow occasionally. He's boxing's version of 'Where's Waldo?' Poor Mikkel. On Nov. 3 he'll have nowhere to hide."
