FLOYD MAYWEATHER RESPONDS TO OSCAR DE LA HOYA WITH THE FACTS: "DON'T THROW STONES IF YOU LIVE IN A GLASS HOUSE"
By
Ben Thompson | November 24, 2015
BT: Floyd, a couple of weeks ago, Oscar De La Hoya wrote an open letter addressed to you. In it, he accused you of being boring and afraid to take risks, claiming you lied to fans by promising them an action-packed fight with Pacquiao...
FM:
[Cutting in] They always say Mayweather is a boring fighter. I sit back and think, if I'm such a boring fighter, if all I do is run, if I'm such a chicken, then why every time I make any move, it goes viral? Everything I do goes viral. I don't care what network it is, it can be a guy at flyweight to a guy that's a heavyweight, my name is always being brought up. I believe my name is being brought up for a reason. To the people that keep on saying, "Aw, the fight was boring! The fight was boring," listen man, I'm sitting in my house counting this money, you know what I'm saying. I'm sitting in my house counting this money, chilling. I never told the public that it was going to be the most exciting fight in the world. I just told the public I could beat him.
BT: Oscar also said that boxing was better off without you, and then he began attacking your career, saying the big names you faced were past their prime and the rest of your opponents were "forgettable". Personally, I thought he had a ghostwriter because some of it sounded like some of those bitter journalists out there, but De La Hoya insists he wrote it himself in retaliation to comments that you made about him. Is there anything you'd like to say in response to De La Hoya's letter?
FM: Listen, there was something Genaro Hernandez told me before he passed away. We were close. It's not like we talked on the phone every day, but when we did see each other, we sat down and we communicated. He was very, very happy with my success. Genaro Hernandez said that when my career is over, I will be, if not the best, one of the best.
People forget, when I fought Genaro Hernandez, I think I only had 17 fights. I turned professional at 19. It took me a little over a year to become a world champion at Jr. Lightweight/Super Featherweight, same thing. I was 21 years old.
So I fight Genaro Hernandez, I think, in Ocotber. Less than 2 months later, I fight Angel Manfredy, who really beat Arturo Gatti at that particular time for the IBF title. It was really supposed to be a unification bout. After that fight, I don't know how many times I defended the 130-pound title [8 times]. At that particular time, you had Jesus Chavez, who was tough. Carlos Hernandez and Emanuel Augustus, also tough. We fought Diego Corrales, may he rest in peace. When I faced Diego, he was undefeated, had no blemish on his record. They said he was too big, too strong, and I went out there and done what I had to do. He was another tough champion that I faced in my "handpicked" career. I really wanted to fight Shane [Mosley] when I was 130 and he was 135 because I was all about the best fighting the best.
BT: I remember that. You were pretty vocal about wanting that fight, but Shane wasn't interested in doing it at that time. I believe both he and his dad were saying there wasn't enough money in the pot for that fight. They decided to chase after De La Hoya instead.
FM:
I never really had anything against Shane Mosley. I was trying to make the fight happen at that particular time, but it didn't happen. Eventually it happened down the line, and when it happened, I was in my 30's and he was in his 30's, but I faced Shane off of one of his most impressive victories against a cheating champion [Antonio Margarito].
When I moved up to lightweight, Stevie Johnson out of Denver, Colorado was one of the best boxer-punchers in the smaller weight classes around at that time. He wasn't a tall guy, but he was a very, very good boxer and a very, very good puncher. He lost a tough battle to [Jose Luis] Castillo. I think they fought a rematch and it was either a draw or he came up short again. I immediately moved up to the 135-pound weight class and I fought Castillo. I had a torn rotator cuff, but I know I really won. Did he have times in the fight where he landed some good shots? Yes, but if you go look, the first 6 rounds, I won. Well if you got 6 more rounds, you mean to tell me out of those 6, I didn't win 2 out of the last 6? So we know we really won that victory, but the writers was saying that they feel that he should've got the nod. They felt like he should've got the victory. I said, "Well, I know I beat him, but if y'all feel like it was a fluke, let's do it again!" Well you know what? We did it again. I was the same fighter and same results. I didn't stand there. I boxed, stayed on my toes, was a lot smarter that time, but they said, "Floyd was running!" So we beat Castillo for the second time.
Arturo Gatti, may he rest in peace, they said he was back because he was working with Buddy McGirt. They said he got him back to boxing and got him on the right path. When we faced each other, they wanted me to get beat. I went on his turf; didn't cry, didn't complain, went and done what I had to do. The results is what they are. I came out victorious. That was at 140. I also faced another former world champion, DeMarcus "Chop Chop" Corley. I faced him when he was at the top of his game. I tried to get that fight with Kostya Tszyu. He was a hell of a fighter, hell of a champion, solid competitor, but the networks couldn't get together. Go back and do your research. Ricky Hatton, undefeated. They tried to say, "Well, he was really a 140-pounder and you was the bigger man when you knocked him out." No, let's get this right. In the Olympics, I fought at 125, which is 57 kilograms. I was a 125-pounder. When I turned professional, I turned professional at 130. Technically, I'm a 130-pounder that beat everybody that they put in my way.
I mean, Shane was in his 30's, I was in my 30's. And when you look at me fighting Shane Mosley, I mean, what's so crazy is almost every guy that I faced always outweighed me by 20 pounds. when I faced Oscar De La Hoya, he was in his 30's and I was in my 30's. But like I said before, go back and do your research. Oscar De La Hoya, Miguel Cotto, I tried to fight all of these guys sooner than when we fought, but Top Rank didn't want that to happen at that particular time. The Top Rank staff always talked and commended me on fighting whoever whenever. They said that there's other fighters under their banner who was fighting handpicked opponents. I never knew what that was until I turned professional with Top Rank, what handpicked opponents were, so don't throw stones if you live in a glass house! It's not knocking anyone, but Chavez was over the hill. Pernell Whitaker was over the hill. Truth be told, I thought Pernell Whitaker won. I thought Ike Quartey won. I thought the other guy that he faced at 160 [Felix Sturm], he came up short against him, so when you get to talking about handpicking, let's be real careful about what we speak about and what we talk about.
A couple other champions I beat, they were in their 20's and I was in my 30's. Young, hungry lions. So I'm trying to put everything into perspective when I sit at home and I think about this. I never ducked or dodged anyone. I think the one guy that I didn't fight in my era is probably Antonio Margarito, but everything happens for a reason and God showed me that reason. I'm glad I didn't fight that cheater.
There's
a very interesting video that they showed me on social media. It showed different fighters who were beaten at 38, 39, and 40, and then they showed me competing at 38. It's totally different. Like I said before, I'm just speaking from the heart and speaking facts. I want those fighters to continue to keep beating they brains in, letting everybody cheer for both sides and both competitors, and then I want to see those fighters go out with a bankroll like I went home with, without taking any punishment with all of their faculties.
All I'm saying is this, Mayweather Promotions, we are the past, the present, and the future of boxing and MMA. We want to treat everybody fair and we don't want to fukk up with nobody. I'm here to let the mixed martial artists and the fighters know, fukk what you hear about me. I'm a good person. I'm not on drugs, I'm not on alcohol, and I'm not a liar. I'm only human. I can contradict myself, I'm not perfect, but I strive to be a perfectionist every day.
FLOYD MAYWEATHER RESPONDS TO OSCAR DE LA HOYA WITH THE FACTS: "DON'T THROW STONES IF YOU LIVE IN A GLASS HOUSE" || FIGHTHYPE.COM
Glad to see Floyd Mayweather acknowledge what his stans have been denying for YEARS
Out of his own mouth, Floyd feels there was only 1 guy he didn't fight in his era.....and that guy is "The Tijuana Tornado" Antonio Margarito, the same Margs that his stans told us Floyd didn't duck or avoid or even know
@seemorecizzy you ready to finally acknowledge on behalf of Floyd stans worldwide that when me and others were saying that Floyd ducked Margs, that it was actually true?
to O'Neil Bell
