MMAMania.com kicks off its coverage of the Floyd Mayweather vs. Miguel Cotto WBA Light Middleweight championship bout with the complete first episode of HBO's 24/7, which covers the two fighters as they prepare to throw down on May 5, 2012, at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas.
The first episode, which aired last Saturday (April 14, 2012), opens with Mayweather talking about his importance to the 24/7 series franchise:
"I'ma tell the fans this: If Floyd Money Mayweather is not on 24/7, don't even bother watching. Because when I'm on 24/7, it's must watch TV."
The first segment focuses on Mayweather's recent legal troubles, which have the boxer scheduled to serve a 90-day prison sentence for domestic violence following his fight. Floyd's best friend, rapper Curtis "50 cent" Jackson, tells us that he doesn't think that Mayweather will be bothered at all by his impending time behind bars and we see lots of footage of Mayweather training for the fight.
The scenes then shift over to Cotto's camp, who is portrayed as a very soft spoken family man during the episode. There is a recap of Cotto's most recent win over Antonio Margarito, a bout that held great meaning to Cotto because of the nasty rumors that Margarito fought their first bout with loaded handwraps.
Cotto began working with a new trainer for the Margarito fight, Pedro Diaz, and he is continuing to work with Diaz for this fight. We get a chance to hear Diaz talk about the Margarito fight and the importance of getting the victory back for Cotto, who was an undefeated fighter when they first met.
"When a boxer with a perfect career loses, he looks for many reasons for the loss. This was creating in Miguel a complex situation. A desparate situation. So when Miguel and I started to train, we talked about many things. And I think one of his greatest concerns was to prove to the world what he could do to Margarito. He did it in a big way. That's why I said to him, 'Your nightmare is over."
We then go back inside the Mayweather camp and hear a couple members of his entourage talk about his last fight against Victor Ortiz. Mayweather, who often speaks in strange cliches, says a couple of words about the bout:
"It's like this. You violate, we demonstrate. He violated, and I had to demonstrate."
Okay then.
Then we are introduced to Floyd Mayweather Sr, who has been estranged from his son for a good portion of his career. He seems to pop up whenever his son has a fight, and sure enough, he showed up at the Mayweather training center to make peace with his boy after some words were exchanged on camera at the gym during preparation for the Ortiz fight. The episode wraps up with another clip of Cotto hanging out with his family.
Here is the episode, in two parts.
Part One:
Part Two:
You can catch the second episode this Saturday night on HBO, or if you are pre-occupied with a certain Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) event, I'll be back to recap the second episode, if you want to wait til then!
What are your thoughts on the two fighters after watching this? I like the way they are choosing to present Cotto, who seems like quite a good guy. Of course, it could just be the editing, but he seems like a quiet and family oriented guy.
Mayweather, on the other hand, seems to embrace every last bit of hype that he has been given throughout his life and is bordering on becoming a parody of himself. Nevertheless, his reputation as a tireless worker shines through, and while I'm not sure I respect the way that he handles himself, I can't argue with the success that he has had.
Sound off Maniacs!