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Floyd Mayweather admits he doesn’t know if exhibition bout in Dubai will happen, talks rift with Gervonta Davis

Mayweather says there’s no reason for him to be jealous of anybody, wasn’t his idea to have his presser the same day as Gervonta Davis.

Mayweather says his job is to stay positive despite any negativity.
Wil Esco is an assistant editor of Bad Left Hook and has been covering boxing for SB Nation since 2014.

Under the backdrop of a lot of reported turmoil over at Mayweather Promotions, specifically with regards to its biggest star Gervonta Davis, Mayweather hops on an interview with Fight Hype to clarify the state of his upcoming exhibition bout as well as respond to the rumors of him being jealous of others getting the spotlight in boxing. Check out a few excerpts of what he had to say below.

On his next proposed exhibition fight

“Yes, this is the exhibition fight that has been pushed back numerous times. It could be because what’s going on with — as far as the people over in Dubai. At first it was supposed to be in February, then they talked about March, then they talked about April — so the dates keep getting pushed back over and over again. I guess now we’re going in May, if I’m not mistaken. So it’s not because of me, it’s because of the guys doing the show...it’s not really on me, it’s on them.

“A guy Ken, he’s connected with Brent from ONE Entertainment. I met Ken through Brent...I worked with them on some international stuff before. As far as working with ONE entertainment before, as far as making appearances overseas, everything has been good in the past, whereas I’ve never done a fight with them. So I think this is a little different and this is a little difficult for them so I don’t really know if the fight is going to happen but the only thing I can do is keep my fingers crossed.”

On holding a press conference for the exhibition on the same day as Gervonta Davis’ opening press conference

“Well that wasn’t my idea. I didn’t want the press conference to be on the same day but Anderson Silva had to fly out because I was in Miami when he was in Miami. So he and Brent said the only day they can do the press conference is Thursday, and they said we’ll pay you a million dollars cash, we just want to make sure you can do it. I wasn’t gonna do it Thursday, but they paid me a million dollars to do it Thursday.”

On Davis indicating that the competing press conference was a move to steal the spotlight from him

“It’s always called divide and conquer, and that’s been going on forever...I’ve always wanted the best for any fighter that’s under the PBC banner as well as the Mayweather Promotions banner. So I’ve always wanted the best for all fighters. And especially you have never seen me push harder for a fighter like I push for my fighters...if I didn’t care I would always go out there and bad-mouth my fighters.

“As far as me being jealous of anyone — and I’m not just talking about my fighters — I mean, God has truly blessed me and put me in a position to be able to give back to my fighters...if giving back is jealousy then that’s what it is...Fighters and individuals are going to feel like they want to feel, and my job is to always be the bigger person and continue to stay positive and push for my fighters to be great.”

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