http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/boxing/major-shakeup-appears-in-the-works-at-mayweather-promotions-205454192.html?soc_src=copy

Major shakeup appears in the works at Mayweather Promotions

By Kevin Iole


Major changes appear afoot at Mayweather Promotions, with CEO Leonard Ellerbe's job in apparent jeopardy, according to comments by pound-for-pound champion Floyd Mayweather Jr. to FightHype.com's Ben Thompson.

In a brief question-and-answer session with Thompson, Mayweather indicated unhappiness with cutman/hand wrapper Rafael Garcia, and suggested there are problems between Ellerbe and himself.

Just last week, a glowing feature on Ellerbe ran in the Washington Post in which Mayweather lavished praised upon him.


It takes brains to want to surround yourself with brains. I want to surround myself with the best businessmen that I can possibly surround myself with. Leonard is a very shrewd businessman.

The rematch with Maidana was the first that Mayweather Promotions promoted on its own. It was licensed in Nevada in July and largely ran the show the rest of the way, with little involvement from Oscar De La Hoya's Golden Boy Promotions.

It was an awkward, difficult promotion, made tougher by a civil lawsuit filed against Mayweather by his former fiancee and by Mayweather's egregiously tasteless answer to a question about ex-Baltimore Ravens running back Ray Rice slugging his wife.

But that may have been Ellerbe's one and only opportunity to run the ship himself. Mayweather told Thompson he is growing apart from Ellerbe.


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 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.

Yahoo Sports called Ellerbe for comment, but his phone went directly to voicemail. He didn't immediately respond for comment.


Richard Schaefer, the ex-CEO of Golden Boy Promotions, told Yahoo Sports he hadn't read the interview and declined comment. Mayweather Promotions had earlier hired long-time Schaefer confidant Bruce Binkow in a marketing role and several employees from Schaefer's days at Golden Boy were visible assisting with the promotion for the Maidana rematch.

Schaefer attended the fight and sat in the first row in Mayweather's corner, but he made a point to stay removed and until fight night, mostly out of view.

He would be a logical person to replace Ellerbe, if Mayweather indeeds fires or parts ways with Ellerbe. However, Schaefer is in a legal dispute with Golden Boy, which claims he's under contract to it until March 2018. De La Hoya said last week his company has a no-compete clause in Schaefer's contract and intends to enforce it.

The case will likely be settled in court unless the sides can come to a settlement.


The truth of the matter is, he has a contract until 2018 that stipulates he can not compete or he can not be involved in boxing . It's a strong, solid contract that, obviously, I'm standing by 100 percent.

It's all unclear where things are going, though Mayweather reiterated in his interview with Thompson that he plans to fight again in May 2015.

What we know is this:

• Mayweather is unhappy with Ellerbe and feels they're growing apart, but he has yet to say Ellerbe is no longer with the company.

• Schaefer is close with Mayweather, but has to resolve his issue with Golden Boy before he'd be free to take a job with Mayweather Promotions.

• The powerful manager/advisor in the industry, Al Haymon, will remain involved with the company, Mayweather said, but federal law prohibits him from taking an official role in the company while he serves as a fighter manager

www.pacifictrainingcenter.com


http://www.facebook.com/pages/manage/#!/pages/San-Diego-CA/Pacific-Training-Center-Boxing-Muay-Thai-Fitness/145216788833188

>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.

Of all the yes men on payroll ellerbee is easily the most respectable
He's one of the few that's been there from the start and actually brings something to the table unlike p-reala and floyds harem of whores
If this was mayweathers first time promoting ellerbee should be given a mulligan
Those offences sound relatively minor and it wasnt his fault floyd fucked up an already lukewarm buzz supporting ray rice
Ellerbee is basically taking the bullet for a bad performance and underwhelming ppv numbers

~~~~~~

I mean the logistics shit ultimately does come on Ellerbe as he's allegedly the boss, if the process or people you got in place aren't executing flawlessly on fight night, it's understandable to be annoyed

But the real deal is Floyd is seeing these numbers, knows they aren't hitting the expectations, and is looking for someone else to blame rather then the dull ass fight he fought (which I loved but the nascar types hate)

You can't charge people $70 and put on a boring technical fight and expect people to be ok with that

Sucks Ellerbe is gonna have to fall on his sword for this


does it really matter?

vote for bin: http://i.imgur.com/2slpbEo.jpg

>and underwhelming ppv numbers

grassrootsphilosopher

I'm just forecasting based off the weak buzz
Showtime didn't officially release the first fight numbers, a telltale sign that it did under a million
Last fight did 800k based off distributor estimates though and I'd expect something similar this time
Showtime basically took huge losses on 3 of these 4 mayweather fights

~~~~~~

this will be interesting to see with all the players involved......ellerbe and haymon specifically.

shaeffer is irrelevant being as that he's tied to a non-compete with gbp until 2018. of course he could support floyd on the dl.

i never understood wtf ellerbe's qualifications were as a business person. but i believe he's been with floyd since the beginning and is/was his most loyal confidant it seemed.

i don't think mayweather promotions is ready to do a big event on their own. as in no other promoter involved at all.

www.pacifictrainingcenter.com


http://www.facebook.com/pages/manage/#!/pages/San-Diego-CA/Pacific-Training-Center-Boxing-Muay-Thai-Fitness/145216788833188

a lot of bets on the fight either

>I'm just forecasting based off the weak buzz
>Showtime didn't officially release the first fight numbers, a
>telltale sign that it did under a million
>Last fight did 800k based off distributor estimates though and
>I'd expect something similar this time
>Showtime basically took huge losses on 3 of these 4 mayweather
>fights

Yeah because no one really wanted to see the 1st Mayweather/Maidana fight to begin with...I don't see how he avoids not fighting Pacquiao in one of his last fights w/SHO...

grassrootsphilosopher

altho i guess thats really all thats left


does it really matter?

vote for bin: http://i.imgur.com/2slpbEo.jpg

as soon as the first fight was looked at as relatively competitive...Floyd ran to do a rematch thinking that they could con people into thinking Maidana had a chance in the rematch..even though it was another obviously safe fight for Floyd...

Floyd took the Canelo challenge...handled it easily... folks aren't going to keep paying to watch him fights are aren't perceived to be the biggest challenge for him...

can't go backwards...

that shit ain't Ellerbee's fault..

Garcia Confirms Departure From Mayweather's Team
Posted by: Salvador Rodriguez on 9/19/2014 .

By Salvador Rodriguez

Rafael Garcia has confirmed that he is no longer the cutman and/or the man to wrap the hands of WBC/WBA welterweight/junior middleweight champion Floyd Mayweather Jr. Garcia has been the cutman and the man in charge of wrapping Mayweather's hands since 2001.

A few days ago, Mayweather did an interview with Ben Thompson of Fighthype.com, where he discussed his dissatisfaction with certain team members. Besides the friction between Mayweather and close adviser Leonard Ellerbe, the pound-for-pound king discussed the issues that he had with Garcia. Mayweather promised that he was going to revamp his team prior to his next fight in May.

"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 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," Mayweather said.

"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 extremely 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."

Garcia denied that he was leaving Mayweather's team because of Ware. He says at 85-years-old it's time to retire from boxing and enjoy life.

"I gave him thanks to him after the fight because I quit boxing, but thanks to him I am where I am," Garcia said.

"I was to accompany Mickey Bey in the fight against Vázquez, but when I returned and bandaging him, I did not object, because the person who steps in there to fight is him, not me."

"I went on vacation to Miami and when I came back I spoke to him and thanked him very much. It has been a pleasure to be with him, but I'm going. I want to enjoy life."

www.pacifictrainingcenter.com


http://www.facebook.com/pages/manage/#!/pages/San-Diego-CA/Pacific-Training-Center-Boxing-Muay-Thai-Fitness/145216788833188

Floyd's also been looking very lonely during his ring walks and pre/post fights. I personally think Ellerbe is one of the most over-rated 'managers' in boxing, but of all the people who need to go from Floyd's camp, it's Leonard & Garcia? *not* the hundreds of yes-man who do absolutely nothing to assist Floyd's preparation? (except get him coke and a cup of ice after the fight).

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