MAYWEATHER VS. MARQUEZ UNDERCARD CONFERENCE CALL TRANSCRIPT

Posted on | August 21, 2009 | No Comments

Tuesday, August 18, 2009

Richard Schaefer: Welcome everybody to the first of a series of weekly conference calls leading up to the great showdown “Number One / Numero Uno” between Floyd Mayweather and Juan Manuel Marquez on September 19 live from the MGM Grand in Vegas. Tickets are still available. They’re priced from $150 to $1000. It’s a great event. We have an amazing line up of sponsors who are supporting this event: Tecate, Quaker Steak, AT&T, DeWalt Tools, Affliction and Southwest Airlines. The call today is about the undercard and I’m really proud to say that going back to 2000 when I started to get involved in boxing, this really is the best on the card I have seen so far of any promoter and any promotion. A big thank you goes out to one guy who really made it happen and that is Floyd Mayweather. Floyd Mayweather gave instructions to Leonard Ellerbe and me to really create an event within the event. And what I mean is that this is an under card which could really stand on its own. There are two fights in there which could be stand alone HBO events and so I really want to thank Floyd for the commitment to this card to really create that event within the event. I want to thank our respective matchmakers as well, the matchmakers of Mayweather Promotions and Golden Boy Promotions, Eric Gomez, for getting these fights done. When you put together this level of fights it’s always a lot of fine tuning and negotiation and so on, but they were able to pull it off. Now it’s my pleasure to turn it over to the president of Golden Boy Promotions, Oscar De La Hoya, who is going to be talking about two of the fights. Then I will turn it over to Leonard Ellerbe who will be talking about one of the fights. We are going to have the fighters on the call. They’re going to make brief comments and then we’re going to have it open to you guys for any questions. Please Oscar.

Oscar De La Hoya: Thank you very much Richard. And first of all, before I speak about the undercard I want to say that Juan Manuel Marquez is in tremendous spirits. He is in tremendous shape. He is convinced that he is going to win this fight. He has been training very hard. He has gained the weight. He has gained the muscle mass. He has now gone up to the welterweight division and he feels comfortable. He feels even stronger and just as fast. So I think people will be very surprised how well Juan Manuel Marquez adjusts to the new weight class because it hasn’t been a problem for him. He’s been doing all the right things. Marquez says that the fact that the card being postponed for a few weeks is actually a blessing because it gave him more motivation to keep training hard and it gave him more time to build on the great strategy that they have against Mayweather. Back on the undercard, this is a card that we haven’t seen in quite a few years. It is going to be an excellent, excellent undercard. I don’t even want to call it an undercard because these fights, like Richard says, can stand alone and be main events in their own right. We have put together, along with our great matchmakers, Eric Gomez and Robert Diaz, at Golden Boy and with Leonard Ellerbe and all the staff at Mayweather Promotions something very, very special. We will be showcasing Rocky Juarez for the WBA World Featherweight Championship title and he will be fighting Chris John, who is the defending champion. They had a great championship fight in February of this year which was an action-packed, back and forth type of event which I believe people are really looking forward to. Rocky knows that this is going to be one of his last opportunities to crown himself a world champion. I strongly feel this is one of those fights where it’s do or die for both fighters. Chris John wants to really make a statement. He really wants to fight in the United States especially on such a tremendous card like this one. Fighting beneath Mayweather and Marquez and making a statement to show the American crowd that he can become a force to be reckoned with. So we are very excited to be presenting this fight to you. Also on the undercard, we have a special fight which I, as a true boxing fan, am really looking forward to Michael Katsidis vs. Vicente Escobedo.

Here you have Michael Katsidis who defines what a true warrior is. Michael Katsidis is a fighter who never disappoints. His style is a style that is progressing. He is a warrior. He comes forward. He gets cut. He puts up tremendous battles and really fights until the end, going up against a young kid, Vicente Escobedo, who is maturing, who is tough, very talented and trained under Nacho Beristain in Mexico City along with the great Juan Manuel Marquez. So this is one of those fights for Vicente Escobedo that if he wins, it can make his career. As for Michael Katsidis, winning just elevates his status as a lightweight fighter. So this fight will be for the WBO interim lightweight championship and we at Golden Boy feel that we have not seen one of these undercards in quite a while. It takes me back to those cards that the great Don King used to promote along with Chavez. He used to put Felix Trinidad in the undercard and used have great, action-packed fights and people were really excited. We at Golden Boy along with Mayweather Promotions feel that this is what boxing must go back to. This is what we have come to the conclusion of not only giving you a great main event but at the same time giving you, from top to bottom, fights that you will truly enjoy. So on behalf of Golden Boy, on behalf of the matchmakers and Mayweather Promotions, we want to thank the media. We want to thank everyone who appreciates these great fights, this great line up and I’ll return the call to Richard Schaefer. Thanks.

Richard Schaefer: Thank you Oscar. It’s a pleasure for me now to hand it over to the CEO of Mayweather Promotions, Leonard Ellerbe, who was very instrumental in putting this card together. Leonard will give a brief update on Floyd, where we stand, how his training camp is going, and then he’s going to introduce the fighters, the participants of another exciting undercard fight.

Leonard Ellerbe: Thank you Richard. A brief update on Floyd: Training camp is coming along great. He’s had excellent sparring thus far. He’s really worked himself back into great shape. I think a two year layoff has done his body great. With the time that he has been off he’s had a chance to sit back and reflect on how much he has missed the sport and which I truly feel as though the fans are truly, truly in for a great event that night. To go along with obviously the great main event, we put together a great under card. As Richard and Oscar touched on, we have three exciting televised fights. But before I talk about one of the TV fights, I’d also like to mention that Mayweather Promotions also has four excellent young fighters on the card. We have Cornelius Lock and Said Ouali. We have another young fighter, Dion Savage, and one of my favorites who is a young Hispanic fighter and he’s going to be a fighter to watch for the future, his name is Jesse Vargas. He is undefeated. So like I said, Mayweather Promotions is truly excited to once again work with Oscar and Richard and putting on this great, great event.One of the TV bouts that will be televised will be the Zab Judah and Antonio Diaz bout which will be a ten round bout, a truly, truly exciting fight. We’ve got two excellent veterans going head to head against each other. Obviously with Antonio Diaz coming from a great fight family with his brother, Julio. As I mentioned, he’s a veteran fighter of 51 fights with 27 knockouts. He holds great wins over former undefeated champion, Cory Spinks. He has wins over Emanuel Augustus, Ivan Robinson, Omar Weis, just to name a few. And obviously he’s fought the great Sugar Shane Mosley and Antonio Margarito. He’s currently on a four fight win streak.

Antonio Diaz: I’d like to thank everybody for making this possible. I am excited for this fight. When they told me I was fighting Zab Judah I was excited. Zab is a great fighter but it’s a great opportunity for me to get back up there. I came back to boxing a year ago and I’ve been doing good. My body took the three year rest pretty well. I’m excited to go back in there – back in the ring and back in the spotlight.

Leonard Ellerbe: Zab’s record speaks for itself. He is a former undefeated world champion. He has been in with the best fighters in the world Floyd, Miguel Cotto, Shane Mosley. He is a former two division world champion and he has unbelievable hand speed and I think the fans are in for a great fight. Antonio, he’s a pressure fighter that has tremendous speed and we really feel that this is going to be an exciting fight and the fans will get their money’s worth.

Antonio Diaz: Like you say, he’s been in with the best fighters out there. You know I’ve been in with some of the best fighters also. But I think that Zab Judah, at the weight that we’re fighting at, will probably be still a little too small. I think I’m the bigger man and I’ll be able to go in there and wear him down. That’s exactly what Miguel Cotto did and I’m planning on doing the same thing – break him down, break him down until he is in my game plan and go from there.

Q: Antonio, my understanding is that the weight for the fight is 144. What is the weight for this that you agreed to do?

Antonio Diaz: Yes, we’re fighting at 144.

Q: I’ve seen most of your fights and your comeback. I think I’ve seen all of them actually and you have looked pretty good I thought after, like you said, the long layoff. When you decided to make your comeback were you just sort of watching your brother continue to fight and still had the itch to do it or what was the reason after a long layoff to then decide to come back and now to take this big step up against somebody like Zab who is a real fast and strong fighter?

Antonio Diaz: Yes, my brother had a big factor in my comeback. He’s over here. He’s working out in our gym and I will see him work out and I started doing a little workout with him, a little role work and a little bit of sparring. So my brother started feeling a lot better then. Then when I stopped it just motivated me to come and get back in the ring. I put up a lot of weight in the time of the layoff. I was up to 205 pounds and now when I started my weight started going down gradually, I was like, “You know what? I feel invigorated. I feel healthy. I feel my reflexes are still there.” I was sparring with Julio. I was out there sparring so I was doing a lot better and my body felt good so that is one of the reasons when I thought of making a comeback.

Q: How far do you think you can take it?

Antonio Diaz: As far as I can go.

Q: Obviously you beat somebody like a Zab Judah I would imagine that is going to get you all kinds of opportunities. Is that what you have in mind, to beat a guy like Judah and then perhaps fight for on one of the welterweight titles?

Antonio Diaz: Exactly. My role is to beat Zab Judah and then like I said, I’ve been training very hard since the first day they told me that they’re working on the fight. I was motivated, I was excited. I’m in great shape so I know I’m going to beat Zab Judah.

Q: This obviously is a very good undercard like you said. I’m wondering if in the back of everybody’s mind that is putting this together, your matchmakers, Leonard and the whole crew, have one eye on the fact that there’s a UFC event that same night and that’s competitive with this pay-per-view?

Richard Schaefer: We talked about that before Dan and I don’t think it is really competitive. I think it is another event which is going on and sometimes you have baseball, basketball and football the same night too. Just because all these sports use a ball that doesn’t mean one eliminates the other one. So UFC has their audience and I’m sure they will be putting on a good event and we focus on our event for fight fans and sports fans. If you have Floyd Mayweather on, it really captures not just the boxing audience but general sports audience. On September 19 the biggest name in sports that will be performing is going to be Floyd Mayweather.

Nothing against the UFC, I’m sure they’re going to put on a great event but we really are just focusing on ours and I think this card clearly shows where our focus is and that is on the Number One vs. Numero Uno showdown between Floyd Mayweather and Juan Manuel Marquez event.

Q: What took so long to do this because the cynic in me would say, “Hey, I would expect a card like this every time I pay fifty dollars for a pay-per-view fight.”?

Richard Schaefer: I think you sort of live and learn. That is something which is true for all boxing promoters out there. It took many years to finally have this kind of card, this kind of event again. We really have to thank Floyd Mayweather for making the commitment, the financial commitment, to put this kind of fight on. Juarez against Chris John and Escobedo against Katsidis, these are two pay-per-view, HBO level events. It takes a lot of money to put these kinds of events on and Floyd Mayweather said, “I really want to give my fight fans their money’s worth.” And that’s exactly what he did. He delivered and the matchmakers executed. I do hope that the results, the pay-per-view numbers and the way fight fans and sports fans embrace this kind of event with this expansive card, that this is going to attract additional people to the sport of boxing and that we can help build a new audience. If that works, then hopefully this is the first of many great pay-per-view cards like this.

Q: This is a very special day for Mexican events and how did you do for this fight, for this under card?

Richard Schaefer: We are very much aware that this is the big Mexican Independence holiday weekend and there will be a large Hispanic audience watching this fight and what we wanted to do is take the number one fighter from Mexico, Juan Manuel Marquez and put him in the ring with the number one fighter, Floyd Mayweather who is undefeated. We created a mega-event by matching up these two guys. We wanted to stay true to the card and to the holiday and we wanted to create an undercard which will have significance and importance both to the Hispanic viewers but at the same time capture the general audience as well. These are the kind of fights you don’t know who is going to win. And for that you don’t need to be a Hispanic fight fan. Any sports fan, any fight fan period loves to see these kinds of evenly matched fights and with Vicente Escobedo obviously being of Mexican heritage against Michael Katsidis, that’s one example. The same is true with Rocky Juarez being of Mexican heritage and the same is true with Antonio Diaz. So you do have that Mexican, Hispanic element there but they are all matched in fights of tremendous significance. You heard Antonio Diaz against Zab Judah. If Antonio Diaz is going to win this fight it will open the doors for him to have a huge welterweight title fight in one of his next fights. The same is true for Zab Judah, you know, so there’s a lot at stake in each one of these fights and that is what all fight fans, not just the Hispanics are going to be looking forward to.

Q: This year we had the Pavlik-Hopkins fight and the Hatton-Pacquiao pay-per-view, we are also waiting for a November 14 Cotto-Pacquiao fight. Do you think that this is the biggest pay-per-view show of the year?

Richard Schaefer: I have no question about it and on one of the next conference calls, we will outline the way the sponsor integration and marketing we are putting together for this fight will beat anyone including, by the way, the largest pay-per-view we had in the history of the sport, Floyd Mayweather against Oscar de la Hoya. The sponsorship element is some of the new activation plans and marketing plans which we are going to implement for the first time. There going to be some groundbreaking announcements which I will make at the next conference call as it relates to the marketing of this event to ensure that this is without doubt going to be the biggest pay-per-view of the year.

Q: I was a little surprised to hear that you got all the way up to 205. How difficult was it to get down to your fighting weight and do you feel like you’re 100% back or tell me how you feel about that?

Antonio Diaz: It wasn’t that difficult to lose the weight because I had a lot of weight on me. I was running with my brother Julio when he was getting ready for his first fight. I was busy sparring at the gym and my weight slowly, slowly starting coming down. After I was at a decent weight, that’s when we took the fight with Felix Flores last year in July. We fought that fight at 152, 151. Then after that, four weeks later I fought at 149. Then I started to gain fights after that. My other fight was at 146. My last fight I was at 143. It wasn’t that hard just to lose weight. I just did it the right way, eating healthy and three, four meals a day and training hard.

Q: Do you feel like you’re 100% back like the way you felt before your layoff?

Antonio Diaz: Exactly. I even think I’m a lot better then before my layoff. Before my layoff my body felt tired. When it was time to go to the gym I felt a little lazy like I don’t want to go to the gym. Now I feel when it’s time to go to the gym, waking up in the morning to do my workout, my running, I don’t complain at all. Before my layoff, I would complain in the gym a lot. I would complain my legs were hurting, my arms were hurting. Now I go in the gym and I’m training 100%. My brother, who’s my trainer, he really pushes me in the gym and everything he asks me to do I’m doing. I’m training very hard and will work very hard and we’re going to be ready for this fight.

Richard Schaefer: So next fight we’re going to introduce the fighters as Michael Katsidis versus Vicente Escobedo. It’s going to be a 12 round WBO interim world lightweight champion with Juan Manuel Marquez being the champion, the WBO champion at lightweight and Juan Manuel Marquez moving up to fight at a higher weight, we made an arrangement with the WBO that after the fight Marquez will have the option to either move back down to defend his lightweight title or stay at the higher weight, welterweight. So what we have worked out with the WBO is that this fight here between Katsidis and Escobedo will be for the interim title and in case Marquez would vacate the lightweight title then the winner of that fight will be named as the full WBO lightweight champion. It’s a pleasure for me now to introduce to you a young fighter, 27 years old. He’s a 2004 U.S. Olympian, really has been on a tremendous role here by impressively defeating the previously undefeated Dominic Salcido and former world champions Carlos Hernandez and Kevin Kelley and that is Vicente Escobedo. He’s from Woodland, California, 21-1 with 13 KOs. He has waited for this all his life to fight for the first world championship. Here is Vicente Escobedo.

Vicente Escobedo: This is something I’ve been waiting my whole life on. Ever since the Olympics, when I didn’t win a medal. I was shooting for the gold medal and I didn’t get it. This is another goal I want to accomplish so I’m happy to have this opportunity and I’m here in Mexico training well. Everything’s going very well. We’re training hard and we know we have a challenge in front of us. So we’re just happy to be on a card like Mayweather vs. Marquez and especially days on Mexican Independence Day. I know there’s going to be a huge Mexican crowd and it’s going to be a fun night of boxing. So I’m very, very excited.

Richard Schaefer: Michael Katsidis, pound-for-pound one of the most exciting fighters today in the world. He has a record of 25-2, comes from Australia. He’s only one year older. He’s 28 years old and really has gained worldwide acclaim by just the way he fights and he always brings his best. He is exciting. He is a great showman as well, those of you who know him, with a great entrance. He is the former WBO interim Lightweight World Champion. He has fought with some of the best in these weights and he is coming off two impressive wins in a row including an April stoppage of former world champion Jesus El Matador Chavez. First class guy outside the ring as well. Just a terrific young man and truly one of the big names of the sport and that is Michael Katsidis.

Michael Katsidis:I’m at a great age for boxing and of course I’m very excited and it’s good to see Vicente has been training very hard and there’s going to be a lot of Mexican support there on fight night and a lot of people are very excited. I’m really looking forward to it. It’s the world title. Everything is there for the opening. Michael mentioned that it was his birthday recently. Has this been cut down?

Q: I’m looking at the sponsorship and I’m seeing in a big boxing show like this that there’re some names that we haven’t seen before. I was wondering how hard was it to obtain your sponsorship and what you can say about your sponsorship that you have and what kind of role that they’re going to play in the promotions. Did the type of card that you’re presenting bring new type of sponsorship into the market?

Richard Schaefer: In today’s world, in the economic environment it’s not easy to get for anyone to get new sponsors. But if you take the number one name in the sport from a general public’s point of view. I really don’t want to take anything way here from Manny Pacquiao, who’s a terrific fighter, but if you talk about general name recognition here in the United States, you really have one name which jumps out immediately because of the charisma he has, the fact that he’s undefeated, just his whole style and everything. That, of course, is Floyd Mayweather. So if you have sort of like the best ingredient to work with Floyd, then that of course does open the doors to get these kind of national and global sponsors to the table and Floyd Mayweather has a very successful AT&T commercial which I’m sure most of you or all of you have seen. So if you have this kind of star, that kind of personality helps and that is exactly the case here.

Leonard Ellerbe: It really helps that Richard has cultivated a lot of great relationships over the years in working with a number of sponsors. We can’t speak enough on that and as Richard said, in the next week he’ll be touching on some groundbreaking things that will change the whole outlook of how people look at boxing. Boxing truly is coming along strong and it is going to be moving. Boxing is here to stay.

Richard Schaefer: I do want to thank you Leonard. I want to add here as well that on September the 9th I will be in New York. We will have a special sponsorship and marketing forum related to this fight. This fight is going to have an announcement as it relates to the marketing of the event which will be groundbreaking. We will make these announcements in New York to the financial press, the Wall Street Journal, CNBC and all the other financial media because again, there’re going to be some major announcements made. So you will see as we get closer to the fight entering into September, the kind of activation from these various sponsors. Several of these names are for the first time involved in the sport of boxing. That is good news, not just for us in this particular fight, but frankly for our entire sport.

Q: Vicente, I’m sure you’ve seen Michael Katsidis fight. We all have. I guess what I will call a Tasmanian devil type of approach in the ring. He’s a real buzz saw of a fighter, non-stop punches. It seems like he throws every punch with mean intentions. How are you going to deal with a guy like Katsidis? I’m sure you never fought anybody like him before.

Vicente Escobedo: He comes with a lot of heart. You’ve seen in the last fight he comes really aggressive and we got some of these tapes and we’re getting the right sparring partners to prepare for something like that when it comes to the fight I think we’ll be ready. You’ve just got to advance and with training it is going to come along and you’re going to see him come to fight and I’m also going to come to fight too. So I expect a very, very good kind of fight. I think from Katsidis, you expect the best and I’m sure you’ll expect the best from me. I just really can’t wait. I can’t wait. It’s going to be a tough and exciting fight so I can’t wait.

Q: You touched on it earlier a little bit about the Olympics. How much does that disappointment of not medaling in Greece in the Olympics drive you towards winning the world title? Secondly, I know you’re in Mexico training with Juan Manuel. Is that kind of ironic for you that you are actually kind of fighting for his title?

Vicente Escobedo: It was really disappointing. That’s something that I’ve dreamed of since I was a kid and to not win that gold medal for my country, for myself and for my family, it was very difficult to deal with. So, I move on and now I feel like I have another opportunity. There is a profession that people look for that world title and this is what they want, this is what I’m hungry for so I’m very driven to win this title. This is what I’ve been working on, all that sacrificing, all that sweating, all those hard days of running at the gym and everything. It comes down to this fight and I’m very, very just anxious and very excited. I want to win this for myself and for Mexico. It is kind of odd. All that training with Marquez and there again he still has the title and obviously winning the title there’s the choice whether you’re going to move down in weight. It’s just something you’ve just got to deal with and fight for. I can’t wait for the fight. I really just have my mind focused on. It’s just going out there and fighting hard and winning.

Q: Richard, back in April you did the “Lightweight Lightning” pay-per-view show. Two of the participants were Michael Katsidis and Vicente Escobedo. Was this a match that you had in mind when you put together that show back in April?

Richard Schaefer: Well what we wanted to do in April was to create some buzz for these fighters and keep them busy and move them into bigger fights. You never really know, which fight exactly it will be but it was certainly fights which we were talking about and so I’m really grateful that our matchmaker, Eric Gomez, was able to pull it off to put these great fights together for these two particular guys. It is building one step at a time and the fact that it was April and now here they are back again and the winner of these fights, I think, you know they are in weight classes which are very attractive, a lot of big potential names in fights there.

So even if you move up a little bit to the 140 weight class to show there’s endless opportunities and these are some of the biggest names. Frankly, the most exciting names we have on this card here in a weight class or classes. So for the winner, great opportunities, a lot is at stake.

Q: You put together the four lightweight fights on that card. Now you have this fight where the winner has the potential to fight Juan Manuel Marquez. Seeing that it’s almost a seamless transition does it motivate you to want to put together like more shows like that where you put together like a group of eight fighters in one weight class and eventually match them up against one of your own champions?

Richard Schaefer: Absolutely. I think this is what people want to see, like you put the puzzle together, you think ahead. You just don’t move one side at a time but you see what opportunities are out there. There’s a certain consistency, a consistency with the names of the fighters or the public. So the more you can expose and showcase the talent of these young fighters, the athletes, the more name recognition they will build up and the more they’re going to be integrated with these sponsorship activations. The array of sponsors we are currently working on getting and some of these fighters tied into the sponsorship and the sponsorship packages and again I will talk about that next week because it’s a separate subject. But absolutely and I think it helps everyone. It helps the sport if you can keep on showcasing the same names as long as they’re exciting names and they come to fight and that’s certainly the case here.

Q: Vicente, last year you had a thrilling fight with Dominic Salcido on Telefutura. Not in the same exact way but you almost were forced to play the role of aggressor. Salcido was kind of taking the side for you, but not really hurting you. It took power to finally overcome in that fight. Do you see yourself fighting similar to Katsidis. It just doesn’t seem like a fight where boxing alone will get the job done. Do you think your boxing will be enough to offset what Katsidis brings to the table?

Vicente Escobedo: Yes, the thing about me is I took that. I took that with Carlos Hernandez. I think nothing’s impossible you’ve just got to go out there and pursue it and dictate it and it will happen. I can either box him or I can fight him. I have power as well, but I know Katsidis has power too so you he can hurt me as well and I can also and hurt him too. Some of those fights were very exciting, we don’t know what’s going to happen so you know, you’ve got be prepared. So it’s going to be a very exciting fight. I have two choices to do right now. And everyone will see on September 19.

Q: Michael, you’re obviously one of the more thrilling fighters in the sport. It seemed like it started to catch up to you a little bit. Last year you had the two tough losses in a row. You bounced back nicely, but against a fighter like Escobedo is there a pressure to live up to that, most exciting fighter in the sport, whereas you might be almost leaving yourself open for Escobedo’s superior boxing skills or do you feel like you just have enough to offset whatever he brings to the table?

Michael Katsidis: Well there’s a saying that goes ‘you don’t know what you’ve got til it’s gone.’ I’ve had that title before and to actually lose it and now to be fighting for it again is a great thing to happen for me and my career. So I know how important this is. As performance goes, there’s no being charismatic and all the rest of it. It’s just something that comes out naturally and when I fight. We don’t exactly go in expecting to pull out anything special. It just happens and that’s how it’s been my whole career. So, I do not have high expectations.I’m going to have a great fight on the 19th and this is a world title and every fighter’s been known to go an extra arm and a leg on the night of a world title fight. You can see both fighters are going to pull out everything to win that fight.

Q: Vicente, before the fight that you had last year with Salcido, a lot of people questioned your power and I think you answered that very clearly in the ring. In this fight, Michael Katsidis is well known for having a lot of these tremendous shootouts. Do you expect a shootout and do you think the difference is going to be in this fight power or old world boxing skills?

Vicente Escobedo: I do expect to see a lot of power. I mean, he does them every fight. I think it’s not going deal with power, I think it is skills and it is just being very smart in the ring and fighting intelligently. I think that’s what it’s going to come down to. Now we’ve seen in so many punches, I think that’s what it’s going to come down to. I don’t think power’s going to win the fight. That’s what I expect. That’s what I think.

Q: Michael, you’ve been involved in a lot of tremendous shootouts that have gone on the Graham Earl fight in England and even the Casamayor fight. Is there anything you’ve done to change your style, anything you’re going to have to do to adapt to Vicente to add more boxing skills and movement and angles and that type of thing?

Michael Katsidis: Well what I’ve done in the last year is I’ve come back. I’ve come back from two losses and many fighters haven’t come back from that. Now I haven’t and I’ve come back. I beat Chavez and now I’m here against Vicente. So, every fight I’ve learned a lot and I’m going to carry that into the ring. Whatever specifics I’ve learned, I’m going to show that on the 19th and I suppose that’s what’s the excitement’s going to be, when everyone can see what I’ve come out with. But one thing I can assure is I’m back. I’m very excited to be back and this is a world title fight. So it’s going to be a great night.

Q: Vicente, a lot was expected of you coming out of the Olympics and you’re starting to realize that now but it took quite a long time. Why do you think it’s taken so long for you and then what changed to sort of get you rolling?

Vicente Escobedo: Yes I think my confidence kind of went down and I had to switch trainers and things weren’t going well and I just had a lot of things to deal with. Once I came to Nacho things started changing. Now I started on my style, started learning much more and I think that’s sort of what should have with a trainer and my confidence and little by little I just started coming back and getting better and better. I learned so much and it made me a better person because of that so I think that’s what took me a while.

Q: Vicente, you’re from over here from my neck of the woods in the Valley. First of all training over there with Nacho in Mexico, how different is it from training over here? And the second half of this question, is this the biggest fight of your career since the Olympics?

Vicente Escobedo: It’s much, much different. Much, much different down here in Mexico. The training methods that Nacho has me doing, he’s very technical, very different than I’ve every experience in the States. The thing is, Nacho expects you to work hard and I see a difference as I’ve been training in Mexico and just being away from home. It’s hard just being in another country. You leave your family back at home. Everything’s back in the States and you’re so used to being all the good things back at home. You come to Mexico and everything’s different, the people, the way they live. You’re just very humbled coming here. It just makes me more dedicated and more hard-working. This is the fight that I’ve been waiting for, what I’ve been working toward. And the time has come and I think this is fight of my career. So I’m really looking forward to it. I definitely do believe that.

Q: One more question if you don’t mind. How significant is this for you that the fight’s going to be in Las Vegas and that it’s going to land on Mexican Independence Day?

Vicente Escobedo: I’m very happy that it’s on Mexican Independence Day. You know, it is a chief day for Mexico and for me. I come from a Mexican family. My parents are from Mexico and I come from Mexican blood, so I definitely want to win the title for myself, for my family and for Mexico. We want to put on a good show. So I’m just very excited and I want to thank Golden Boy and everyone that had everything to do with this. It couldn’t land on a better day. I’m very excited and I can’t wait.

Richard Schaefer: Okay thank you. I’m really excited now to announce as well – as I have mentioned it already – the rematch of the first fight, Chris John versus Rocky Juarez, 12 round WBA World Featherweight Championship. The first fight was a great, great battle and a very entertaining, exciting fight back and forth. And in the end it was declared a draw. So we actually – I’m actually having conversations with HBO – that first fight was back in February – to see that we can get a rebroadcast of this fight on some of their platforms and on other platforms as well. I’m having similar conversations as it relates, by the way, for some of Katsidis’ fights and Escobedo’s fights. Really with Katsidis and Escobedo and now here with Rocky Juarez and Chris John, we really have tremendously exciting fights. This fight here is for the WBA World Featherweight Championship with Chris John being the champion. It is a pleasure for me now to introduce you and other Olympian 2000 silver medal winner from Houston, Texas with a record of 28 wins and 4 losses. That, of course, is Rocky Juarez. He has some great victories most recently against Jorge Barrios last September, Barrios being a very, very tough fighter and he was able to stop him. He’s been in some great battles. He fought for world championships, came up a little short and here he is. He has another chance to fulfill his dream to become world champion and that is Rocky Juarez from Houston, Texas. Please Rocky.

Rocky Juarez: Training’s going good. I just got out of the gym now. Actually I’m on my way to pick up my son from school.

Richard Schaefer: You fought against Barrera twice, Juan Manuel Marquez and then here Chris John and now you’re going for the world title again. I know that’s a promise you made I believe to your grandfather and here is your chance to make your dream come true. And so what are your thoughts going into this fight?

Rocky Juarez: Well, I know I’ve been very fortunate. A lot of fighters and never really get a chance to fight for a title where I’ve been given – this is my fifth title opportunity and thanks to my promoters, thanks to Golden Boy, who make this possible as well as my manager, Shelly Finkel who work hard at getting me these opportunities to compete against for a world title. I think I’ve just been very fortunate and blessed. And, I’m 29 years old and I feel like I’m at a point in my career that, this might sound like I’ve said it before but, I’m not getting any younger and I know I can beat Chris John. And the first fight was a tough fight were I thought I came out with the victory but it – you know, I kind of slacked off in the mid rounds where I knew if I hadn’t I wouldn’t be checking right now.

Richard Schaefer: All right thank you Rocky. It is a true pleasure now for me to introduce to you a fighter who is maybe one of the best fighters technically and exciting, really like the total package and that is the WBA world champion, Chris “The Dragon” John. He’s undefeated. He has two draws but he has 42 wins, no losses. He comes from Jakarta, Indonesia, has 22 knockouts, has been a world champion since 2003 and has defended his crown 11 times. It’s probably one of the longest reigning world champions currently in the sport. And you know some of the names he’s fought and some of the wins he has is against the likes of Derrick “Smoke” Gainer and of course, most notably the man who’s going to actually be fighting in the main event against Floyd Mayweather and that is Juan Manuel Marquez. The first fight against Rocky Juarez, a back and forth battle. In the end it was called a draw and he has agreed to go in against Rocky again. He wants to settle the score there. And that is a fighter with a tremendous following here as well as in the Indonesian community and that is the world champion, Chris John. Please welcome Chris John. Chris, would you like to make some comments about your fight and, you know, how your training is going? Are you in the United States now?

Chris John: Yes, we’re year about a week. We’re training in Big Bear. And everything is going good.

Richard Schaefer: Great. I’d like to open it now to the media for questions for Chris John or Rocky Juarez.

Q: Hey Rocky. The Nevada State Athletic Commission tomorrow is going to probably adopt a limited instant replay for boxing. As a fighter I want to get your thoughts about whether this is a good thing for the sport or not.

Rocky Juarez: Yes, I believe it is a good thing. A lot of times the fights are stopped, I guess you could say – the Zab Judah fight was for instance – where it was stopped, where he complained. He made the right complain I feel. It was a head butt and it happened – he happened to lose by TKO, a technical knockout, so I think it is a good thing.

Q: Hey Richard, I just want to double check, speaking of Zab, his fight is going to be with Diaz for ten rounds?

Richard Schaefer: Leonard, can you answer that?

Leonard Ellerbe: Yes, definitely correct ten rounds.

Q: Chris, I have a question for you. With all the title defenses you have made and being a champion for so long, what kind of a legacy do you think you have established in the sport of boxing?

Chris John: Hello. Yes. I’m not finished yet. I like to decide I’m serious. I think I am the best Indonesian boxer ever.

Richard Schaefer: And you know with Chris and his management team have mentioned to me as well, obviously they feel that it’s important they fought the big names and now they want to really have really big fights here in the United States. Chris recognizes to really truly become a global star of the sport is we need to fight some of these big fights here in the United States and he thinks that going to the first fight with as I said in my opening remarks about this fight, he wants to set the record straight and he feels to be on the mega-card like this with Mayweather and Marquez that this actually is the kind of platform which will help him to become a more recognized name here in the United States. And to have his second appearance on HBO in a short period of time I think he’s on the right track.

Q: Hey guys. I have a question for each of you. Actually Richard kind of eluded a little bit to what I was going to ask about – fighting in America, but the question I guess I have for Chris on that same line, when you were growing up in Indonesia and being a young fighter, did you ever think in your wildest dreams you’d be fighting in a big Las Vegas card with the co-features with Floyd Mayweather who is the best fighter in the world?

Chris John: Yes I have always wanted to fight in Vegas. Ever since I was a young boxer, my dream was to represent Indonesia and fight in Las Vegas on the big cards.

Q: Hey Rocky, quick question for you. You guys obviously don’t like to go into the negative, but is your career going to be incomplete if you don’t win a world title or how will you approach that?

Rocky Juarez: I don’t like to look at it like that. I like to look at it as–I’ve been a fighter who’s been blessed as far as being able to compete in the top level competition. I think I fought – I’ve never ducked any fighter. I’ve always gone up against the best fighters in the world. And although I’ve come short, I’ve never given up. I’ve never been stopped. I’ve always gone in the ring and given it 110%. And I feel with that that I’m always going to be happy with myself as well as my fans knowing that I’ve never backed down from nobody and I go in as a warrior. But as a fighter, my goal has always been to become world champion and I’m training very hard for this fight. Chris John’s a good fighter and he has WBA title and we fought it to a draw. But come September 19, I know this is probably my last opportunity. And I’ve said this before but I feel it now where I’m training very hard for this fight and going to be very prepared come September 19 against Chris John.

Q: Hey first I want to ask a question for Chris. Chris, the first fight, of course, that you had with Rocky ended up in a draw. Do you think that was a fair decision or do you think it was a hometown decision because this fight was in Texas and what do you want to do differently in this rematch?

Chris John: I think it was a home decision, and I did think I won. And yes, this time I think I will win.

Q: Okay and similar question for Rocky. This fight was a draw. Now you said earlier that you won. What do you want to do differently in this fight?

Rocky Juarez: Well it’s funny, you know, my manager Shelly, some of my greatest victories in my career so far has been in my hometown of Houston but as well, some of my worst performances have been in Houston. That’s probably why one of the reasons my manager, doesn’t like me fighting in my hometown.

But I’ve always known that, and I’ve shown throughout my career and throughout my record if you look at it, the majority of all my – I’ve never lost in Houston but the majority of all my decisions have been in Houston where fighting outside my hometown I’ve always come out with victories, with knockouts and I just feel like I probably perform even better when I’m not in my hometown for the fact that the pressure that’s put upon me and try and make a big statement in front of my hometown and make my family and friends, fans happy. But you know, I thought I won the fight and I feel like, you know, fighting in Las Vegas on a big mega card like – with Floyd Mayweather and Juan Manuel Marquez, it ain’t my first rodeo. I’ve been in another big card where Floyd Mayweather fought De La Hoya and so I’m going to be used to it. I think it’s not going to be – it’s not going to have an effect on how I perform.

Richard Schaefer: All right thank you all. Before I kick it over to Leonard for final words– again September 19, the biggest night of entertainment this year, a great top to bottom event. I want to point out as well that 24/7 the award winning HBO show is returning with an all new edition, “Mayweather Marquez 24/7” which will be premiering on Saturday August the 29, a week from this coming Saturday at 10:15 pm Eastern/Pacific. It is a four episode series which will lead right into fight week with the final episode will be premiering Friday the night of – the night before the fight following the weigh in and will be open to the media of course which will be attending the fight in Las Vegas. I just want to tell you I saw some short parts of the 24/7 footage and you will agree with me when we see each other in Vegas that you haven’t seen anything like that yet. I mean Mayweather is his usual self – character, charismatic and so on but then you see that totally different side with Juan Manuel Marquez and Vicente had mentioned the training method of one of the best teachers, the best trainers in the sport, Nacho Beristain. They are absolutely jaw dropping training methods and footage which will be shown from Mexico City from Juan Manuel Marquez’s training camp. So we are all excited for that. Again don’t forget to tune in a week from Saturday, but we will talk again next week for the second one of the conference calls with updates from the great showdown between Floyd Mayweather and Juan Manuel Marquez. Again thank you Leonard Ellerbe for the great work and teamwork we have between our two companies and Leonard for final comments.

Leonard Ellerbe: Thank you Richard. I’ll just kind of touch on what Richard just mentioned about the 24/7. I think that the fans are in for a great treat but they are also just excited for it. You’ll see a lot of the flashiness and you’ll see also the humanitarian side of Floyd. Also we have a great, great team. Welcoming Floyd back into the fold is his dad who also will play a brighter role in Floyd’s training camp this time. And so we will be covered across the board and we’re just really looking excited to getting the show on the road on the 19th of September. We know Marquez is working really hard. He has a great team working with Golden Boy and like I said, it’s going to be the biggest event of the year and we’re just excited.

END OF CALL

Mayweather vs. Marquez: “Number One/Numero Uno,” is promoted by Mayweather Promotions and Golden Boy Promotions in association with Marquez Boxing Promotions and is sponsored by Cerveza Tecate, Quaker State, AT&T, Dewalt Tools, Affliction Clothing and Southwest Airlines. The explosive evening of boxing will take place Saturday, Sept. 19 at MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nev. and live on HBO Pay-Per-View ®.

Tickets priced at $1,000, $750, $600, $300 and $150, not including applicable service charges, are on sale now and limited to 10 per person and ticket sales at $150 are limited to two (2) per person with a total ticket limit of 10 per person. To charge by phone with a major credit card, call Ticketmaster at (800) 745-3000. Tickets also are available for purchase at www.mgmgrand.com or www.ticketmaster.com. Tickets previously purchased for the July 18 date will be honored.

The Mayweather vs. Marquez pay-per-view telecast, beginning at 9 p.m. ET / 6 p.m. PT, has a suggested retail price of $49.95, will be produced and distributed by HBO Pay-Per-View® and will be available to more than 71 million pay-per-view homes. The telecast will be available in HD-TV for those viewers who can receive HD. HBO Pay-Per-View®, a division of Home Box Office, Inc., is the leading supplier of event programming to the pay-per-view industry. For Mayweather vs. Marquez fight week updates, log on to www.hbo.com.

HBO’s Emmy®-Award-winning all-access reality series “24/7” returns to HBO® with an all new edition as “Mayweather/Marquez 24/7” premieres Saturday, August 29 at 10:15 pm ET/PT. The four-episode series will chronicle the preparations and back stories of both fighters as they train for their September 19 pay-per-view showdown.

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