Just two days to go until the highly-anticipated $300m bout in Vegas. Join us for the build-up here throughout the day..
Floyd Mayweather, with a long-held reputation for brashness, has adopted a calm and measured approach all week.Roach said: “I don’t know why Floyd has gone quiet for this fight. When I said we’d kick his ass, there was no response. It’s unusual – I drove home and said ‘I’m not sure he’s going to show up!’
“I think he was forced into a fight he didn’t want to take.”Roach claims he is unimpressed by Mayweather’s flawless 47-fight professional record and says Pacquiao’s five career defeats have been the making of the man. He said: “Maybe the zero on his record puts pressure on him - but I am not really impressed by people who are undefeated.
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“Losses make you a better person and a better fighter – Manny has been knocked out three times and he knows it’s part of the sport.”Earlier, Freddie Roach was adamant Mayweather had been forced to fight Pacquaio because his pay-per-view TV deal with Showtime was losing money.
Roach said: “Mayweather’s a good fighter but he has hand-picked his opponents. I think he hasn’t picked this one, he was forced to fight this one by Showtime. They needed a big fight like this.“Sometimes we do the things we have to do to please companies and make money.”
Floyd Mayweather Senior has responded to jibes that his son is scared of Manny Pacquiao by claiming his son would have ‘whupped’ the Filipino ‘any day, any week, any month, any year’. Mike Tyson had branded Mayweather a ‘very small, sacred man’, while Pacquiao’s coach Freddie Roach believes the Money Man had been forced to take on his man - and had even worried the WBA and WBC welterweight champion would show up for tomorrow night’s ‘fight of the century’.
But Mayweather Sr, coaching his son again after a 13-year hiatus, is predicting an early knock-out of Pacquiao at the MGM Grand Garden Arena.Mayweather Sr today claimed: “Freddie Roach is a joke with no hope“I’m going to be honest, I don’t think it is going to be much of a fight. “They were scared. Floyd would have whooped him, any day, any week, any month, any year.” Mike Tyson never pulled punches during his career and seems keen to keep that record up in his retirement. The former heavyweight champion has had his say on Floyd Mayweather this week, describing the American as "a small, scared man" in the run-up to this weekend's bout.
“He’s very delusional. If he was anywhere near that realm of ‘greater than Ali,’ he’d be able to take his kids to school by himself,” Tyson said in an online video. “He’s a very small, scared man.” “I just like Manny," Tyson added in an interview on Thursday. "Not necessarily because he throws a lot of punches but because he’s very elusive and might be hard to hit.” “I feel I am the one who really wants this fight to happen because the fans also really want to see this fight it's good it happens now. I believe it is God's plan.
“It is about how we entertain fans in the ring to make them happy, I don't want them disappointed as they are paying big money, and they deserve a good fight.” Pacquiao and Mayweather went head-to-head at the MGM Grand for their pre-fight press conference last night – and as the pair eyeballed each for promotional shots, the Filipino was smiling, while the American simply glared. Pacquiao, a devout Christian, recalled his rise from being homeless and starving on the streets of the Philippines to his current status as a multi-millionaire national hero. He said: “There is money in this fight but the most important thing in my heart is to let the people know that God can take someone from nothing to something.
“Before I was sleeping in the street with nothing and now I cannot imagine how that boy sleeping in the street, looking for food and starving became known not just in the Philippines but the the world. It is beyond imagination how blessed I am."
Dave Kidd
Recap: Last night's press conference
Manny Pacquiao claims he has rediscovered his 'killer instinct' in time to fight Floyd Mayweather on Saturday night, reports Dave Kidd from Las Vegas. Pacquiao's coach Freddie Roach had admitted his concern that his fighter had stopped wanting to hurt opponents and the Filipino has not inflicted a stoppage since defeating Miguel Cotto in 2009. But Pacquiao, 36, claims he has rediscovered the appetite for a KO which earned him his fame a decade ago, in time for the world welterweight unification bout dubbed'fight of the century'. He said: “I am so happy because that feeling of the killer instinct – that focus I had from 10 or 11 years ago - it is back.“In previous fights, a couple of fights, I never felt like this, it's different. I am 100 per cent relaxed and confident of winning.
