How has it been being a part of this, how stressful has it been to do all the interviews and media?
"It's been quite, you know, sometimes annoying, of course. But the thing is, we are in the biggest fight in history, so I think we have to expect this. I'm hoping we don't end up (training) downstairs, because there's a lot of people here today. It's been exciting. It's been sometimes fun, sometimes a pain in the ass. ESPN had me until 9:30 at night one time. But we got through it, so we're all still here. It's a little hot in here right now. But this is what I expected, though, this is the biggest fight of all time. After seeing the press conference, I said, wow, this is really big. Because I thought I was in some big fights in my life. Michael Moorer fighting Holyfield for the heavyweight championship of the world, I thought it would get no bigger than that. This fight is crushing that. That was my biggest fight to date, like, press-wise. But this fight is killing everything. This is the biggest fight in the world. That's why I'm really anxious to get ready to go to the fight. We're leaving on Monday, we'll drive out. We'll work out a little bit on Tuesday and Wednesday, and the fight will be Saturday. I'm really looking forward to this fight. I feel my guy is the better guy in this one. I'm confident. I feel really good about it."
How's Manny been holding up with all these obligations?
"He gave a lot of the obligations to me. He told Fred Sternburg to give the interviews to me instead, because he was tired of it."
Was it overwhelming for him?
"Yeah, it's overwhelming. Too much for him. He works hard, and it's getting late, he's tired and needs his extra sleep. But one thing about this place, I go home about 9:00 every night, I get a little bite to eat, and by 10:00, I'm in bed and sleeping. Then I'm up at 5, because I have Cotto at 7 in the morning. Cotto's gonna be the next big fight after Manny. I am training two guys now. But it's working out very well."
Would you be surprised when the fight starts, the first round, Floyd comes out and is the one trying to push Manny back, using his size?
"I won't be surprised. I kinda feel that's gonna happen in this fight. That's what I would do. I would try to take Manny out of his game plan. I do think he's gonna come out a little more aggressive. He's gonna be the bigger guy and the stronger guy in the fight -- well, not the stronger guy, but he'll have bigger muscles. I'm not sure why. A fact's a fact. Look at his training camp. There's a lot of bad guys there."
Does any of that stuff from the training camp, does it worry you preparing Manny for a Floyd that might be a little up in motivation and new things he's doing?
"I don't think so. I think change is sometimes bad. He's consistently been a winner for a long time. Now for the first time in his life he's gonna go in the swimming pool with Flipper. I hope they had some bodyguards. I think it's actually foolish to do things that close to a fight. I would never do that. I would never change like that. Manny's really focused for the fight, and really trained hard for this fight. We've still got a couple more days to go, so I can't wait to go to Vegas and get this fight on."
Floyd Sr yesterday at the workouts said that he feels if Floyd gets on Manny, he could end up stopping the fight within six rounds. What's your response to that?
"I really hope that happens. If he doesn't run, I'll be very surprised. He's only gonna be able to run so far, because we will cut the ring off and set traps for him. We know he likes to move and run. Somewhere inside me I think he mgiht attack us. If he does, we'll be ready for it. But I really expect him to do what his dad likes best, and that's run."
So the whole fight you feel he won't be willing to engage with you guys, it'll be more of Manny chasing him around?
"I do feel that, yes. Speed is the key."