May
04
2012
There’s talk that this fight could do over 1.5 million buys, which is amazing to me considering Miguel Cotto has already lost to Manny Pacquiao and he currently sits as an 8-1 underdog. The promotion has been very good and the 24/7 show has been sprinkled around cable television on channels like CNN and TNT.
The go-home episode begins with yet another contrast of the two fighters. Cotto is shown at home celebrated by his fanbase. Maywather is shown under the covers joking that it’s not a guy with him (it’s Miss Jackson), taking a small shot at Cotto and his buddy Bryan Perez.
We finally see Oscar De La Hoya who says that he can finally pass the torch in boxing to Saul “Canello” Alvarez. How? Alvarez doesn’t even speak English and his fanbase is hugely Mexicans, not Mexican-Americans. Oscar appealed to everyone, but mostly Americans. His fanbase isn’t much different than Manny Pacquiao’s US fanbase. That was a weird comment. Alvarez and Shane Mosley is the semi-main.
Floyd says that he tries to turn all negatives into positives, including his upcoming jail term.
Verdict: There wasn’t much to this show, but the visuals were good. If you can buy Cotto as a legit possibility to upset Mayweather, then they did a really good job with this show. Cotto didn’t say a lot. But they showed his desire. You really get the sense that Floyd is in a top class and if Cotto can beat him, he can join that top class. I still don’t know how much I believe that can actually happen, but they tried to contrast each guy and give you the idea that maybe Floyd is over-looking him. But it’s the same story they’ve been telling and it hasn’t happened yet.
Apr
30
2012
The show stars off with Floyd Mayweather doing a 5K run for Habitat For Humanity, in which he also donated 100,000 dollars. There was a Filipino person he was cheering on and he called him Pacquiao. I knew that was coming and I still laughed. It was wrong for me to laugh, yes I know.
He and 50 Cent went shopping and ended up buying Miss Jackson two pairs of shoes for 10,800 dollars. And yes, he paid in cash.
Miguel Cotto’s team is doing some lactic acid test by taking blood from his ear to test his muscle fatigue. Cotto’s trainer says he’s in optimal shape and he believes they’ll win. Cotto is trying to earn some praise from his trainer by telling him he knows he’s doing well.
Mayweather brings up last week’s episode where Cotto and his buddy Bryan Perez mentioned that they sleep in the same bed together. Mayweather pulled out some money and said he wanted Cotto to sleep comfortable because he’s going to make him uncomfortable.
Roger Mayweather says he’s sharper for this fight than for any fight except for maybe the Diego Corrales fight. Mayweather says something really interesting. He says that he thinks he has five fights left. His uncle says he’s fighting more accurately. Mayweather says it’s hard to fight accurately because he’s fighting all on PPV and it takes 6 months to build a fight, meaning he’s fighting sporadically and it’s hard to stay sharp when you’re not as active.
Cotto says he’s prepared for a tough 12 rounds. Mayweather gets his pupils dilated and can’t see well, but I guess he doesn’t have to see well to hit the speed bag.
The Verdict: There’s a neat juxtaposition of Floyd Mayweather. All we see is him clowning around. But the conversation with his uncle says that he might be close to his top level ever. I don’t get that with Cotto even though his trainer pretty much says the same thing. But all the trainer changes, even after his recent success says something. Cotto has a few constants in his life and he’s close to those people. Otherwise, he doesn’t seem to be close to many, including his new trainer. I’m more convinced today that Mayweather wins this fight. Maybe we’ll see something different next week.
Apr
22
2012
Bit of a weird start to 24/7. Basically, Floyd went to the drive in, wondered about Easter, texted Miguel Cotto, played hoop, ate again, and talked to Miss Jackson about his father. Nothing really about the fight.
Cotto and trainer Pedro Diaz are still getting used to each other. Diaz is a bit loud for Cotto’s taste and Diaz says that no one likes change.
Roger Mayweather says that it doesn’t matter who is in the corner. He can’t fight for him.
This is a very clowny version of Mayweather, talking on the phone while hitting the speed bag.
While Mayweather’s clowning, Cotto is contrasted as a family man who is takes everything seriously.
The story of May’s friendship with 50 Cent is that both are rich, 50 is a homebody and May gets him out of the house. And they go to arcades together. Contrast that against Bryan Perez’s relationship with Cotto which is much more brotherly. In fact, they still sleep in the same bed together like before Cotto was big time. Cotto and his father also helped Perez drop over 200 pounds by inspring him.
Mayweather says Cotto’s camp doesn’t have loyalty because he keeps changing trainers.
The Verdict: The first half was a throwaway, but the second half was about contrasting the fighters’ lifestyles. It wasn’t anything we haven’t seen before, but I’m sure it made Miguel Cotto a whole lot of new fans and made Mayweather as polarizing as ever.
Apr
15
2012
With the new Evans/Jones Primetime, 24/7 might have some competition for best hype show going. Let’s see how Mayweather/Cotto compares.
Mayweather immediately starts by saying that 24/7 isn’t much without Mayweather. 50 Cent is next to him and nearly in the dark and says ratings are lower whenever Mayweather’s not involved. Mayweather says if he were HBO, he’d only give Cotto 10 minutes of air time.
Who didn’t love Cotto beating up Margarito? It was a great moment last year.
50 Cent says 1 day is too many to be in jail. He doesn’t think Floyd is thinking about it because the waiting is the worst part. He thinks that when Floyd gets back from jail it’s going to be interesting because being out of jail and going back to boxing and it’s going to be therapeutic for him. Leonard Ellerbie says that he knows the facts and we don’t, and Mayweather plead guilty to protect his family.
Floyd says Miguel Cotto is in there to mess him up and he has to do damage. He was built for boxing and loves the smell of the gloves.
Cotto trainer Pedro Diaz says that the Cotto team needs to understand that there’s no clock. It’s all work. He says that when Miguel lost to Margarito, he was in a complex situation, because he was thinking about why and all he wanted to do was show the world that he could beat him. When he did, Diaz told him the nightmare was over.
It’s kind of odd seeing 50 Cent, who was once the biggest recording artist in the US become a Mayweather hanger on. I’m sure they’re really good friends, but it’s still weird.
Continue Reading »
Sep
17
2011
After a weak episode three, which may have actually hurt the fight, episode four needs to bring it home, like only Floyd Mayweather can.
Floyd rents out Circus Circus for his family and friends.
When Victor trains and is able to throw hard shots, he looks like a killer. He doesn’t have to get out of the way of punches in training though.
Floyd is shown on Conan O’Brien. Floyd says he came in on a 40 minute jet ride and after the show, will go back on his jet and back to Las Vegas for training. Miss Jackie is interviewed about watching Mayweather and she shows a little bit of doubt in sort of an anything can happen kind of way. Chili would’ve never been afraid for Floyd.
It’s noticeable that Danny Garcia wants Ortiz to use his jab more. It’s the only way Ortiz will be able to offset Floyd’s rhythm. But Floyd took De La Hoya’s jab about and Oscar’s jab was much better than Victor’s.
There was a Larry Johnson sighting in Floyd’s gym!
Mayweather shows such respect for his uncle. It’s like the opposite of the respect he shows for his father. He says that Uncle Roger may be a little older and sick, but he still knows that boxing.
Ortiz isn’t a great trash talker and some of his confidence seems false. But he has to be confident. He can’t go into this fight without it.
Episode four was a solid way to end the series. I still don’t believe Ortiz is as confident as he acts. He needs to dig hard early on to break Floyd’s will.
Sep
11
2011
Floyd’s mad that Victor Ortiz’s story is getting so much attention. He’s also upset that Ortiz idolizes De La Hoya because of all of De La Hoya’s problems.
Roger says Floyd is more than ready while Floyd sips on his Mountain Dew soda and hits the speed bag one-handed.
Ortiz shows up at a local block party on his time away from training. He’s also a celebrity ambassador for Big Brothers/Big Sisters. Ortiz’s favorite basketball team is the Boston Celtics. Um, how?
Both guys host public workouts with the media. It’s the most media that’s ever covered Ortiz. Floyd says he wishes his dad well. He also doesn’t like hearing about Ortiz’s story and says he had a tough childhood too.
Floyd trades his Bentley for another white Rolls Royce. Ray J (Brandy’s brother) comes over to play the piano and sing for Floyd.
Danny Garcia and his two sons watch video of Floyd’s fight against Ricky Hatton and they think he’s a dirty fighter and that his best shot is an elbow, while Victor’s best shot is everything.
Steve Forbes is brought in to spar with Victor to be a Mayweather mimic. He was De La Hoya’s last win, basically to be the same thing before his fight with Mayweather.
Mayweather has a Skype session with soldiers in Afghanistan. He gives them a tour of his mansion, losing connection a few times.
Victor took a day off from training even though the coaches didn’t want him to. They decide to go fishing. Ortiz has built up quite the disdain for Mayweather in these last two episodes.
This was the worst episode of the three as nothing really happened. One thing I really noticed was that Ortiz’s hand speed is crazy fast, but it might simply be him putting on the after burners for the cameras. His shot is using those fast hands to hit Mayweather with something solid. Otherwise, he might be tied up in knots.