Floyd Mayweather Jr. is now just days away from the biggest fight of the year against Saul "Canelo" Alvarez, and the rhetoric between the two camps is heating up.
During the promotions of the fight, Mayweather Promotions CEO Leonard Ellerbe mocked Alvarez's management team as "inept" for agreeing to a 152-lb. catchweight that the Mayweather camp says they never sought.
"His management put something out on BoxingScene that they would be willing to fight at a catchweight," Ellerbe said. "Because his management is inept, we take advantage of those kinds of things. Why would we go in a different direction? They suggested it, why would we say no and do something different? They put him at a disadvantage, his management did."
Alvarez, who has kept his poise throughout the proceedings despite immense pressure leading up to this bout, has finally taken a shot at the master provocateur.
"I'll tell you the truth of what happened," Alvarez said. "Why would I give up the weight? I'm at 154. I'm the 154-pound champion. I wouldn't do that. But when the (fight) negotiations started, they wanted me to go to 147. I said that's physically impossible. I couldn't do it. Then they inched up to 150. I said I can't do it, that's impossible. Those days are over. I can't make that weight anymore, I've grown."
"Then they went up to 151. And then finally, so we could make the fight, I said, 'If anything, I'll give up two pounds. I'll go up to 152. I agreed to that. Then they tried to force me to be quiet and not to mention anything that they came up with the weight of 152. And that's why ... I haven't said anything until now. They said we were idiots, we were stupid, that we were the ones that wanted the catchweight."
The preternaturally calm and collected is finally showing signs of aggression. That could work one of two ways. It can either be a sign that the magnitude of this fight is finally getting to the 23-year-old star, or he could be preparing to channel aggression that he's hidden into pummeling the pound-for-pound king Saturday night.
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