INSIDE CAMP PRETTY BOY
By Ron Brashear
Inside Boxing Writer/Columnist

Las Vegas, Nevada. (IB – April 8, 2007) – While I was vacationing, with my family, in sunny Las Vegas last week, I decided I would pick one day and stop by to see “Pretty Boy” Floyd Mayweather (37-0, 24 KOs) train for his upcoming mega fight with the Golden Boy, Oscar De La Hoya (38-4, 30 KOs) on May 5th, 2007 for Oscar’s WBC 154lb title.

I was actually wearing (2) hats during this visit; 1) – Representing www.insideboxing.com from a media perspective, and 2) – representing Youth of Honor Foundation, www.youthofhonor.org , as the President & founder an effort to have some dialogue with Floyd about the growing concern of troubled youth throughout the world today and how he can be a beacon of light to inspire them to lead a more positive and productive life, without distracting him from his business at hand.

I was honored to have been accommodated on both fronts and it was an awesome visit to go inside camp “pretty boy”.

The champ in the ring:

It was on Wednesday, April 4th, and approximately one month prior to the big showdown. Floyd Mayweather Sr. picked me up from where I was lodging and took me to Floyd Jr.’s gym to attend his workout session. When I arrived, there was boxing’s #1 pound-for-pound fighter sitting there getting his hands wrapped by Rafael Garcia, along with his advisor, Leonard Ellerbe, and Roger Mayweather (Floyd Jr.’s Uncle & trainer) looking on. In addition, HBO production team was on site filming the day’s events as part of the upcoming 4-part reality series (De La Hoya – Mayweather 24/7), which premieres on Sunday April 15th 2007.

After Floyd conducted his warm up exercises, the sparring sessions began. I can tell you this much; Floyd Mayweather Jr. is very focused, his body is chiseled, and what I observed was nothing short of a “beat down” that he was putting on his bigger sparring partners. During one of the sessions, Floyd turned southpaw and clocked his sparring partner with a left hook and practically knocked him out on his feet, even through the protective head gear and Roger had to step in and bring a halt to the session.

I looked over at Floyd Sr. and he said; “I don’t know how much he is paying these guys, but it ain’t enough to take that kind of punishment and I surely wouldn’t want their job .” Granted, these sparring partners were not on De La Hoya’s level, however, it was very apparent that Floyd Jr. is bringing significant power along with his increased weight and performing at the 154lb level. I witnessed several rounds of sparring where Floyd was sharp, his punches were crisp, and he was like an energizer bunny and kept a fearless pace and pummeled his sparring partners, one after another! When I spoke to Roger, he offered, “Hey man – I am back now with little Floyd and we are just fine-tuning him now. He is already in great shape now and you can best believe, come May 5th, he will be at his peak performance and that will create problems that Oscar will not be able to solve. Floyd is going to break him down.”


The champ out of the ring:

After the day’s training session concluded, Floyd Jr. was very gracious and afforded me the opportunity to interview him about today’s troubled youth and how he could lend some inspiration to them.

RB: Floyd – who was inspirational in your life as a youth to keep you focused in the gym and not to fall victim to the streets and end up on the wrong side of life?

FMJr: “I have to thank my parents for their support of me. It was a pattern of my family to keep me focused and they kept me in the gym to keep developing my skills. They taught me the importance of hard work and how it can pay off, and it did.”

RB: What would you say to the youth today that are traveling down the wrong side of life and may not have the family support to steer them back in another direction?

FMJr: “If you don’t have the support there in your family, don’t be afraid to ask for help and seek support from others in your community. You have to first of all, believe in yourself, set some goals and work very hard to achieve them. Also, be very selective of who you chose as your friends. If they are really your true friend, they wouldn’t let you go out in the streets and do wrong and get yourself in trouble.”

Well folks, you just heard it straight from boxing’s #1 pound-for-pound champion and you can see that he is very focused on what he has to do inside the ring, come May 5th, and he has a strong concern and passion about what his status can do outside the ring. I view Floyd as an all around champion and he is wished the utmost and continued success! I can hardly wait to see the outcome of the May 5th fight with the Golden Boy. It is sure to be an electric night for boxing!

In closing, I would like to publicly thank Floyd Jr, & Leonard Ellerbe for their support of the Youth of Honor foundation as well! I will cherish the photo of Floyd holding up the YOH T-shirt (GET YOH JUMP ON LIFE ©). That is exactly what he is doing, getting his jump on life by being the best that he can be… It sure takes a lot of self-confidence to move up in weight class, take on the biggest superstar (De La Hoya) in boxing today, on Cinco de Mayo holiday (which commemorates the victory of Mexican forces led by General Ignacio Zaragoza over the French occupational forces in the Battle of Puebla on May 5, 1862.), on a Golden Boy Promotion event, and coming in as the challenger having to; not defend, but to take the title away from the champion. Can it be done? With “Pretty Boy” Floyd, the impossible is very possible. As the promotional banner states, THE WORLD AWAITS.

You have just gone InsideBoxing.com

Ron Brashear can be contacted at brashear@insideboxing.com, ron@youthofhonor.org