MAYWEATHER VS. MARQUEZ FINAL PRESS CONFERENCE QUOTES

Posted on | September 16, 2009 | No Comments

Wednesday, September 16 at MGM Grand in Las Vegas

FLOYD MAYWEATHER

“To go down as a legend, you have to face the best in your era and Marquez is one of the best in my era.

“I have been around the sport and I have experienced many different styles, and I will adjust and adapt. Now I am back and September 19 is another big day for me.

“You can expect blood, sweat and tears on Saturday night. I predict one hell of a fight.

“I have a lot of respect for Marquez. He hasn’t said anything bad about me, so I have nothing bad to say about him. How can I say something bad about someone who respects my fight game?

“This isn’t going to be difficult. Nothing is difficult. I just had to get back into the groove. I had to keep working hard. I love to box. I love to go into combat.

“Roger watches all of the tapes, but Roger doesn’t tell me how I am going to beat him (Marquez). He says to me that I just need to fight and adapt. And if I ask him, ‘How am I going to do that?’ Roger responds, ‘because you are great.’

“I am not like other fighters. Other fighters have been beat. There is no blue print to beat me. There is a blue print to beat Marquez, because he has been beaten before.

“I am a strong individual and only the strong will survive. I have the skills to pay the bills. It is not about who is the biggest. It is about who is the most skilled. When I get in the squared circle, I am going to do what I have to do to win.”

JUAN MANUEL MARQUEZ

“Everyone knows I don’t like talking outside the ring, but I want to say three things. First, I am prepared physically and mentally. Second, I want to thank all of the Mexican people for supporting me and third, I want to dedicate this fight to the Mexican people who are going to be here and all of the Mexican people around the world.

“I want to thank God for helping me train very hard with no injuries. It is a great challenge for me and I am training very hard for this fight.

“In my mind, Floyd Mayweather is the number one pound-for-pound fighter, and to be number one, you have to fight number one.

“Mayweather is illusive and a counter puncher. I am going to go after him. There is a chance he might try to come after me, but I know I am going to go after him.

“This fight is a different weight for me. I worked very hard. I built up my speed and my strength.

“I know people are betting against me, but it doesn’t matter to me. I have my mind and I have my concentration, and I have the motivation to win.

“This fight is the most important fight of my career, and I am going to put everything in the ring.

“I don’t like to make predictions; I let my fists do the talking.”

ROGER MAYWEATHER, Mayweather’s Trainer

“Do you know what great means? Great is Michael Jordan, Floyd Mayweather, Muhammad Ali, Roberto Duran and Sugar Ray Robinson.”

NACHO BERISTAIN, Marquez’ Trainer

“There are not too many fighters who have had the privilege of fighting a great athlete like Floyd Mayweather. Now it is my fighter’s turn. Juan Manuel Marquez is a great athlete in his own right. He has great technique and work ethic in everything that he does.

“I also want to say that Juan Manuel Marquez and I have always admired Mayweather because he is such a bright fighter and outstanding fighter. I feel that he is the number one pound-for-pound fighter along with Bernard Hopkins.

“We have worked so hard for this fight and we believe that we have the chance to win.

“I want to give the highest esteem to Mayweather’s team because they have a great athlete and a great fighter and I hope that he stays humble. He has a great personality and I admire him very much. His uncle and father are great trainers and I admire them as well. Me myself being a trainer, I admire him very much.”

LEONARD ELLERBE, CEO of Mayweather Promotions

“This has been the best promotion. Mayweather Promotions and Golden Boy Promotions working together hand in hand. When you have two teams coming together it is always going to work.

“The king is back. That is why we are all here.

“Floyd Mayweather what can I say? Since he announced his return to the sport of boxing, there has been tremendous buzz. No matter where you look, people are talking about Mayweather vs. Marquez.

“We have introduced a number of different platforms for this fight. There are many new avenues for consumer awareness so there won’t be one person out there who is not aware of this great event.”

OSCAR DE LA HOYA, President of Golden Boy Promotions

“This fight is going to be the biggest fight of the year. There is no doubt about it. The people are anxious, especially since it is falling on the Mexican Independence Day weekend. It is a special night because all of the world will be witnessing an upset.

“I am up here taking pictures from the stage, because I want to capture the moment when Juan Manuel Marquez dethrones the king. I couldn’t do it, but I will tell you one thing–Marquez is ready. I want to freeze the moment of history in the making.

“The sport of boxing deserves this. We are showing the world that boxing is alive and well. We are selling unprecedented pay-per-view numbers and live gate numbers. We aren’t up here gloating that Golden Boy Promotions and Mayweather Promotions are doing great things for ourselves, we are doing these things for the sport of boxing. We are showing the whole world that boxing is here to stay.

“I want to tell Mr. Nacho Beristain that I am sorry that I failed you. I didn’t do you right in the ring. You are an amazing trainer. You have done a tremendous job working with 18 world champions, and I wanted to take the opportunity to say that to you.

“Marquez always does what is necessary not only to win fights, but to please his loyal fans. He is not your typical Mexican warrior. He comes in with no holds barred and attacks. He has some good school behind him. That is what makes this fighter different from every body else.

“Marquez is the number one Mexican fighter today, which is a big deal because you have had great fighters coming out of Mexico in the past who have created a loyal following throughout the country and that is what Juan Manuel Marquez has today.”

RICHARD SCHAEFER, CEO of Golden Boy Promotions

“Mexican Independence weekend has really become THE fight weekend in Las Vegas. We (Golden Boy Promotions) have been here regularly on this great weekend in boxing bringing the biggest fights to fans around the world.

“This amazing promotion is going to conclude on Saturday. On HBO 24/7 we saw the vast differences between these two fighters in the way they train and the way they live.

“On Saturday night, Juan Manuel Marquez will carry the hopes and dreams of almost 100 million Mexicans on his shoulders and into the ring. A few minutes later, Mayweather the American superstar will make his entrance. Mayweather is here to put all doubters to rest and to make a statement that ‘Yes I am still number one.’

“There is a tremendous amount of marketing power behind this fight with an excess of 700 million impressions. I couldn’t believe it myself, I had to double check. It is true. There are over 700 million impressions out there for this fight.

“Mexicans around the world are looking to this fight. It is like when the Pope visited Mexico City. It is of that magnitude. This is like their religion.

“There was a poll on Yahoosports.com. Within 24 hrs of the poll being posted, 55,000 people responded. Forty-six percent chose Marquez to win, and 51 percent believe Mayweather will win. As you can see, the public knows this is going to be a close fight and it is going to be a great fight.

“Come and see the fight here at the fight capital of the world, Las Vegas.”

MARK TAFFET, Senior Vice President of HBO Pay-Per-View

“When Oscar de la Hoya retired, people said ‘What will boxing do now? What is going to happen next?’ The answer is simple. Look at what has taken place in 2009. It is evidenced that the best is yet to come. We are in the midst of one of the greatest eras in the sport’s history. This era’s great welterweights are going to leave their mark on the history of the sport.

“There is no bigger story in boxing and one of the biggest stories in sports this year is Floyd Mayweather’s return to boxing.

“America’s number one fighter. Mexico’s number one fighter. The two biggest fan bases.

Mayweather has ignited the urban markets the same way that De La Hoya ignited the Hispanic markets.

“HBO’s 24/7 draws new fans to the sport of boxing in order to ensure boxing’s future. The Mayweathers are must see TV that have our fans glued to their television sets. Juan Manuel Marquez has created an identity with fans that he didn’t have before. And I want to say that we are all intrigued by your (Marquez’) interesting training techniques.

“We have made it so that wherever consumers go, watch listen, read, tweet, text, they are going to be surrounded by Mayweather and Marquez.”

RICHARD STURM, President of Sports and Entertainment for MGM Mirage

“MGM Grand welcomes the return of Golden Boy Promotions and Mayweather Promotions as we end the summer and welcome Mayweather back to the ring. We are also thrilled to host the return of one of the sports’ favorites in Juan Manuel Marquez.

“Saturday night will be a memorable one for fans as Floyd Mayweather returns to the ring after a brief retirement. He has always called MGM Grand home after having fought here five previous times.”

# # #

Mayweather vs. Marquez: “Number One/Numero Uno,” is promoted by Mayweather Promotions and Golden Boy Promotions in association with Marquez Promotions and is sponsored by Cerveza Tecate, AT&T, Quaker State, Dewalt Tools, Affliction Clothing and Southwest Airlines. The 12-round bout will take place Saturday, Sept. 19 at MGM Grand in Las Vegas, NV.

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 Sports’ all-access reality series “Mayweather/Marquez 24/7” returns with the premiere of the finale on Friday, Sept. 18 at 9:30 p.m. ET/PT. HBO will replay episodes #1, #2 and #3 consecutively prior to the premiere of episode #4. The replays begin at 8:00 p.m. ET/PT on Sept. 18. Episodes #1-3 are also available on HBO ON DEMAND.