"Once people start making power moves without communicating with me, then I think it's time for us to move our separate ways. I mean, I'm glad the fight is over with, but I think when May comes around and you guys see All Access in May, I'll have a totally new team and probably a totally new staff. We may make a lot of changes in my team, but Al Haymon ain't going nowhere," stated undefeated pound-for-pound king Floyd Mayweather, who recently informed FightHype.com that he planned on making some changes to his team in the very near future. Check out what he had to say!
BT: Floyd, your corner looked a little different in this fight than it has in the past. Some people are speculating that there might be some issues going on with your team. Is there any truth to that?
FM: Well, I like to keep my fans and everybody updated on what's really going on in the Mayweather camp and in the Mayweather world, but as of right now, I can't really say who's in or who's out; I can't really say at this particular time. I don't want people to think my life is perfect. I strive to be a perfectionist, but my life ain't perfect.
BT: It sounds like something is going on. I know Rafael Garcia didn't seem too happy about something on fight night.
FM: Rafael Garcia is feeling a certain type of way because Bob Ware, AKA "Do It All" Bob, he wrapped my hands. Rafael is one of the best hand and eye specialists in the world. He's one of the best, if not the best, but even Alex [Ariza] was able to show Rafael some different things, which was great, and then Bob, he wrapped my hands in training camp and it was the best it felt in my life. I've never had my hands wrapped like that in 37 years. But I told Rafael that we work together as one, as a team, and his pay is not going to change. I told him there's enough to go around. On Saturday night, Rafael Garcia was in Mickey Bey's corner working and in the middle of the fight, he left Mickey Bey to come back in the back to wrap my hands. I told him that I believe in doing good business and he needs to go back to work Mickey Bey's corner. This was the biggest fight of Mickey Bey's life. We have a well-rounded team. We got other guys that can wrap. We got other guys that can do cuts. They might not be able to work cuts like Rafael, but we got guys that can wrap good. I mean, you're not going to find somebody who can wrap hands or do cuts like Rafael because he's a legend. He has videos that he's extremly good on, but when it comes to wrapping hands, you know, Rafael Garcia is still one of the best, but the best I've ever had my hands wrapped was by "Do It All" Bob. The Nevada Commission said that they had never seen anyone wrapping hands like Bob Ware. I love Rafael Garcia, but we're one team. Basically Rafael said, "I've known you longer." Rafael, no matter who is wrapping my hands, you should want the best for me because it's all about the talent. If the talent wins, we all win. If the talent lose, we all lose. I think once Rafael got his check, the way he came by, he was like, "I'm through," like that's it. You know, of course I want him to be on my team, but even if he's not, that still don't take away from God-given ability to have good hands and good feet, so with or without anyone in my training camp, I'm still gonna be able to fight. But I love Rafael and I'm going to always love him, but I don't know who's out and who's in. I don't know if Rafael Garcia left me. I don't know.
BT: There's also been some rumors regarding Leonard Ellerbe and Mayweather Promotions...
FM: (Cutting in) Leonard, I think we're just getting to a point where we're outgrowing each other. I think I just see things my way and I think he sees things in another way. For example, this time around when I went out and fought, my WBC and WBA titles in both weight classes were on the line and I didn't approve of that at all. That's something I didn't approve of. Also, my daughter was sitting in the front row and her mother wasn't sitting next to her, so the ticket arrangements were totally wrong. It just got to a point to where everyone wants to do what they want to do instead of communicating and compromising like we used to. We got to this point by us communicating and compromising. If I'm not mistaken, my dad wasn't able to work [Andrew] Tabiti's corner, his fighter. My dad, he got all his stuff, the things that he needed for the fight, extremely late. That's just very unprofessional. There's just a lot of other things within our team that's just not right. Leonard wasn't in my corner, so, you know, it's not any hard feelings. It's just people outgrow one another. I'm not mad at him. There's no hard feeling like I hate the guy; not at all. No hard feelings whatsoever. People just outgrow one another, just like when people get a divorce. They're no longer on the same page mentally.
Ben, it's just I'm growing in a different direction from everybody else. I'm at a new place in my life and I'm trying to get better. Even though I'm 37, I'm trying to get better and I want to become better and I want my team to become better, and if you're not on the same page as me, then there's nothing I can really say or do but say it's time for you to do your own thing since people may not want to do things the way I want to do things or communicate or compromise. There's no way that I go beat these fighters for these titles and then without me saying anything, someone tells me I got four titles on the line at two different weight classes. When I beat that guy for just one belt, I had three belts and beat him for one belt, and the next fight, after he already loses to me, I come back and say, here, I'm gonna fight you for four belts in two different weight classes? Come on, man. It doesn't make any sense; I don't think so.
BT: Do you feel like people are starting to do things behind your back without your knowledge?
FM: I just want to be able to communicate with anybody that I work with. Once people start making power moves without communicating with me, then I think it's time for us to move our separate ways. I mean, I'm glad the fight is over with, but I think when May comes around and you guys see All Access in May, I'll have a totally new team and probably a totally new staff. We may make a lot of changes in my team, but Al Haymon ain't going nowhere.
CHECK BACK SOON FOR MUCH MORE FROM UNDEFEATED POUND-FOR-POUND KING FLOYD MAYWEATHER
