Floyd Mayweather sees a little of himself in fan at San Antonio press stop
Floyd Mayweather has signed thousands of autographs in his life and posed for just as many photos, but Monday's meeting with a devoted fan at a news conference in San Antonio to promote his Sept. 14 super welterweight title bout with Canelo Alvarez was probably a first for him.
Boxing's best fighter tried to appease fans angered by his late arrival for a news conference in San Antonio by hanging around long to sign autographs.
When Mayweather eye one unidentified fan, he hoped to get a photo.
The reason?
The man shaved Mayweather's likeness into the back of his head.
Fans had begun to line up at 7 a.m. CT on Monday to be able to get into the news conference. Mayweather was an hour and 45 minutes late, so Alvarez had come and gone before Mayweather arrived.
And the 22-year-old Alvarez wasn't shy about being critical of Mayweather for it.
"I know many of you have been here since seven in the morning," Alvarez said. "At six o’clock, the press conference was supposed to start, and that’s why I’m here at six o’clock: Because I respect you, because you guys respect boxing. There are Mayweather fans here who also have been here since very early. I’m here for them, too.
“He thinks all the boxers have to respect him and he intimidates everybody, but he doesn’t intimidate me. I look forward to the fight."
When Mayweather finally arrived, he was in a good mood and even made a bit of news. His fight with Alvarez is the second of a six-fight deal he signed earlier this year with Showtime.
He said upon signing the six-fight contract that it would take him to the end of his career. In San Antonio, he hedged.
"After my five more fights, guess what?" Mayweather asked the crowd. "I think after 49-0, we may stay in this sport a little longer. This Sept. 14, it’s just another walk in the park."
The nine-day tour concludes today in Los Angeles at LA Live. A stop in Phoenix was canceled because of the death of 19 firemen there.
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