Tuesday, June 28 – New York City

Wednesday, June 29 – Los Angeles

FLOYD MAYWEATHER, Six-Time World Champion in Five Weight Divisions

“I want to thank Victor Ortiz for stepping up to the plate and taking the test.

“I also want to say congratulations to Victor Ortiz.  It’s not easy to bounce back from a crucial loss. He bounced back like a true champion.  I take my hat off to him.

“It’s not all about the money.  We all know I am going to make a ton of money.  He [Ortiz] is going to make some good money too.  I earned the right to make the money that I make.

“It starts here.  Someone has to give him the opportunity to take the thrown.  Why not let it be me?

“I don’t duck or dodge anyone.  This is for the fans.  This is for the Pacquiao fans too.  Do I want the Pacquiao fight?  Absolutely, if that is what the fans want. I want to give the fans what they want, but I have to take it one step at a time.  I cannot overlook Victor Ortiz.

“I don’t want to hear about him [Ortiz] losing before.  Right now he is the world champion.  This is about me facing the world champion and fighting the best.

“My main focus is Victor Ortiz.  I want to go to camp and dedicate myself.

“I want to give you excitement.  I want to you to enjoy HBO 24/7.

“Anything can happen in the sport of boxing.  If you beat me I want you to earn it.  I don’t want it to be tainted.

“This is not my last fight.  Hopefully I can give you 10 more fights.  I am closer to 40 than I am to 21, but I am not going anywhere.

“[To Ortiz] On Sept 17, I know you are going to be there and you are going to bring your best, and me and my team are going to bring our best.

“I have to have a lot of Mexican fans and I wouldn’t be where I am today without them.

“I want to thank HBO.  We have a relationship that goes far back.  I am loyal to the company that I am with.  I have been with HBO since the beginning of my career.

“My ultimate goal is to take the title from Victor Ortiz.”

VICTOR ORTIZ, WBC Welterweight World Champion

“I realize there is a lot of love/hate going on here.  Tell me one thing I haven’t already heard.  People who loved me left me.  I have been through a bunch of bull.  I am facing one of the best fighters of all of time.  That was a dream of mine since I was a little kid.  I am not supposed to be here according to statistics.

“I am newly crowned [champion] and I am not ready to give that up.

“It’s not a challenge when you are a champion.

“I have to thank my team for motivating me.  The times they wanted me to go to war, I went to war. Mayweather is a beast, but I’m a monster.  If Mayweather wants to box, I will box.  If he wants to bang, I will bang.

“At the end of the day, I am walking away from this fight with that championship.  I’ll be damned if someone is going to take that away from me.

“This is a dream to me.  I am not going to put this dream down.  I am going to run with it as long as I can.  I want to be like Bernard Hopkins and hold my title for as long as I can.

“I don’t need to match Mayweather word for word.  I am not a talker.  I never have been.  At the end of the day, we are going to have gloves and my punches are not as soft as my words.

“I am Mexican to the fullest and I am going to show the world how the Mexicans roll.

“I am tired of hearing that he is fighting Manny Pacquiao next.  He is fighting me next!”

“On September 17, there is going to be a repeat of what happened on July 7, 1985, when Roger Mayweather fought Julio Cesar Chavez.”

LEONARD ELLERBE, CEO, Mayweather Promotions

“This is another Mayweather experience.

“This is going to be the biggest fight of this year.

“Floyd Mayweather doesn’t need much of an introduction.  He is the biggest star in the sport. He is the biggest attraction in the sport.  He is the best fighter on the planet.

“Talk doesn’t win fights.  Skills do.  Last [time] I checked, there was only one undefeated fighter on this dais.

“Mayweather has been the best in the sport since day one.  He has been the biggest star in this sport since day one.

“He [Mayweather] is a Six-Time World Champion in Five Weight Divisions and he is back.”

RICHARD SCHAEFER, CEO, Golden Boy Promotions

“This is going to be a real fight.  It is a dangerous fight for both fighters.

“Year after year, Golden Boy Promotions and Mayweather Promotions have put together the biggest fights of the year.

“Victor Ortiz has been surrounded by the same team.  He believes in them and they believe in them.  There is a friendship and a mutual respect there and that is the reason that they keep going from victory to victory.

“I have to applaud Floyd for taking the fight with Victor Ortiz.  He might have just challenged himself too much because he hasn’t fought in 16 months.  Victor Ortiz was active.  He is 10 years younger.  He can hurt Floyd Mayweather.  He has the power and that is the story line.  Is the star, the undefeated Mayweather going to remain undefeated, or is the power going to put a stop to that?”

DANNY GARCIA, Ortiz’s Trainer

“Floyd Mayweather is one of the greatest champions ever, but I have the current champion and on September 17 I will have the best pound-for-pound fighter.

“We are going to work very hard, we are going to have a good plan and fight a great fight.  We expect Floyd to give a great fight too.

“We want to dedicate this fight to the Mexican people.

“About two months ago we became the welterweight champion of the world and we felt amazing. We will feel even more special when we become the pound-for-pound champion on September 17.”

ROLANDO ARELLANO, Ortiz’s Manager

“We are not making boxing history, we are making sports history.  We would like to thank Floyd Mayweather for giving a young lion an opportunity to take over his pound-for-pound kingdom.

“On September 17, we will declare war on Mayweather and Mayweather will declare war on us.

“This fight is one the greatest fight in the history of boxing.  It is going to have a local impact, a regional impact, a national impact and a global impact.  If you live on the moon, when Ortiz knocks out Mayweather you will about hear it.

“Victor Ortiz will change the course of boxing history, just as the Mexican warriors have before him.”

BOB HALLORAN, Director of Sports, MGM Resorts International

“It took 16 months for Floyd to go 10 min away [from home].

“This is the biggest turnout of media and fans since guess when?  The last time Floyd was in New York City.

“Regardless of whom you are rooting for, one man made this fight happen [Mayweather].  The reason he [Ortiz] is here is because he is a world champion, and this man elected him to be his next opponent.

“Mayweather is a minus 750 favorite and Ortiz is a plus 525 underdog.”

# # #

“STAR POWER: Mayweather vs. Ortiz” is promoted by Mayweather Promotions and Golden Boy Promotions, and sponsored by Cerveza Tecate, DeWALT Tools and AT&T.  The 12-round mega-fight, which will be contested for Ortiz’s WBC Welterweight World Championship, will take place Saturday, Sept. 17 at MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nev. and will be produced and distributed live by HBO Pay-Per-View beginning at 9:00 p.m. ET/6:00 p.m. PT.

An announcement regarding ticket availability will be made in the coming days.

HBO®’s Emmy® Award-winning all-access series “24/7” premieres an all new edition when “24/7 Mayweather/Ortiz” debuts Saturday, Aug. 27 at 10:00 p.m. ET/PT. The four-part series will air for three consecutive Saturday nights before the finale airs the night before the welterweight championship showdown in Las Vegas.

Saturday, July 30, at Hard Rock Hotel & Casino

Las Vegas’ Kim Couture, one of the most prominent female figures in combat sports, has been added as a special attraction women’s bout on the nationally and internationally televised world championship Kickboxing Empire card Saturday, July 30, at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas.

Promoted by Martial Arts Association of Las Vegas, the eight-bout event also includes five current and former world kickboxing champions, headlined by Alain “The Panther” Ngalani of Hong Kong against Dzevad “BH Machine” Poturak of Sarajevo, Bosnia, in a clash for the International Kickboxing Association super heavyweight championship.

Other Las Vegans on the card include Chidi “Chidi Bang Bang” Njokuani and Shawn Yarborough.

Known, perhaps, as much for being the outspoken ex-wife of UFC great Randy Couture as she is for her own fighting career, the attractive 35-year-old mother of two and admitted adrenaline junky says she’s excited over her lightweight bout July 30 against Jessica Bartness of Monroe, Washington.

“Everybody I know is freaking out that, finally, after four years, I have a fight here in Las Vegas,” said Couture, who goes by the nickname “Sugar Free.”

“My pro debut was at home in Vegas and I haven’t fought here since,” said Couture.  “It’ll feel good to fight here, because I’m always going to the hometown of my opponent to fight. It’ll be a rush to be fighting in front of so many friends.  I’ll feed off the support I get.”

Having found success in diverse industries, including working as a casino executive and a law-enforcement officer, before she began fighting, Couture isn’t content to just fight her own ring battles. She also works tirelessly promoting women’s fighting, is in the process of opening her own gym, advises other fighters and is hoping, eventually, to become a television commentator.

“I’m not out there trying to be a pinup model,” said Couture, who could pass for one.  “I don’t care about being the face of females in combat sports.  But I do like being ambassador for the sport.

“I try to stay as busy as possible,” said Couture.  “I’ve been training kickboxing for six years. That’s my most dominant area, and I wouldn’t take this fight if I didn’t know I could win.”

Throughout her career, Couture has had to deal with injuries, including a broken jaw sustained just a few seconds into her grueling June 2008 professional MMA debut.  But she says recent and much-needed surgery has her feeling like an all-new fighter.

“I haven’t fought since last October,” said Couture.  “I had to get as second surgery on my jaw. It was exactly what I needed. I got kicked pretty hard in practice and it popped a part loose. There’s a steel plate in the front of my jaw, but I got the top part, by my ear, tightened up and it’s all good as new now.”

Couture will be working with female Cristiane “Cyborg” Santosfor the final portion of training for her kickboxing bout July 30 at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino.

Other international fighters on that July 30 card include Denis Goncheronok of Minsk, Belarus; Sergio Cario of Amsterdam, Netherlands; Edwin “El Tigre” Aguilar of Tijuana, Mexico; Pavel Turuk of Minsk; and Tim Thomas of Birmingham, England.

The card starts at 7:30 p.m. (Pacific) July 30 with doors to The Joint at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino opening at 6:30.

Tickets-priced at $25, $35, $50, $75, $100 and $125-are available at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino box office daily from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. and through Ticketmaster, either by calling 702-474-4000 or800-745-3000 or going on line at ticketmaster.com.