Get Ready For Mayweather-Canelo “All-Access”

Chasing shadows.

That’s an apt and poetic way of putting what Robert Guerrero dealt with in the ring against Floyd Mayweather on May 4 in Las Vegas.

Narrator Barry Pepper offers that assessment of Floyd’s work in the first episode on Showtime’s All Access-Mayweather vs. Canelo series, which drops Saturday night, at 10 PM, to accompany Showtime’s fight card, topped by an Abner Mares-Jhonny Gonzalez fight. Here is a video teaser, put together by Showtime.

The All-Access is meant to whet appetites for Mayweather’s second bout of 2013, this one against the Mexican hitter with model-level looks and a sturdy frame which has carried him to a 42-0-1 ring record.

The two are shown above, in a Richard T. Slone illustration.

Canelo is shown sending Austin Trout to the mat, for the first time in his pro career, on April 20. He is described as “the face of the new era,” but Mayweather (44-0) begs to differ. “There’s only one name that counts,” counters the 36-year-old Mayweather, with typical bravado.

The show cameras have and will follow the fighters for three weeks, up til fight night. We will see tidbits of insight into their lives and discover surprising morsels, such as that Canelo apparently has a fondess for shoes. “I like shoes, too much,” he allows, in a hotel room, shirtless. (Yes, many frames of the film will appeal to ladies and fellas with an eye for a well crafted face and physique.)

Footage from the Times Sq. outdoor presser is shown. Then Floyd hustles to a G5 on a tarmac. Canelo too is seen, enroute to another stop, DC. We check out a clip from the Grand Rapids hypefest, and Canelo sings, a lot worse than Manny Pacquiao, on a flight.

“We in Mexico, they better not throw no urine on me,” cracks Floyd before the Mexican presser.

Mayweather and promoter Oscar De la Hoya make nice and (feign?) geniality during the tour, and Oscar admits that he still has some negative feelings for Floyd from their own tangle, back in 2007.

Canelo, too, shows an edge, when Floyd runs late for an appearance, and the Mexican notes the perceived disrespect.

In LA, Oscar gets off a winner when he refers to canelo as “boxing’s biggest star” while Mayweather and advisor Leonard Ellerbe chuckle.

“Emeffer, I am boxing,” Floyd says in his gym while he whacks a bag, and dismisses the same patter others have tossed out, that they have the skills and strategy to take him down. Next, we see Uncle Roger holding pads, and Papa Floyd talking about his role as head trainer, for the second straight fight. “Now, we’re on the same page,” says Floyd, with none of the rancor which helped spur drama and interest for these sort of documercials in the past.

In Mexico, Canelo, who is the youngest of seven brothers, works out, before he’s to head back to Big Bear, CA, where he is apparently punishing sparring partners that a few have exited rather than take such punishment for money. He says he was a brawler, and fought as far back as kindergarten, when he was teased for his freckles and red hair. He shut them up then; can he now, against the master craftsman Mayweather? He turned pro at 15, we are told, and we see footage of him causing foes to crumble. Pepper terms him a “natural fighter” and Canelo says, “This is my time to beat Floyd Mayweather.”

Back in Vegas, Floyd doesn’t seem awed by Canelo’s apparent confidence. He is bubbly in the gym, talking smack, taking on a newcomer, Will Clemons, who enters the ring aka The Dog House, at the Mayweather Gym ring. They spar for seven rounds straight, with no break, though we aren’t allowed a peek, by order of Mayweather.

Floyd takes in Mickey Bey’s fight against John Molina, and is a bit deflated some when Bey gets stopped in the tenth and final round. He grits in his teeth and addresses some of his Money Team fighters, cluing them in that not every fight will be a win. Not theirs, anyway…

Canelo is seen offroading, on trails and on a beach. Then, he takes a gallop on a horse, on the Mexican coast, with his brothers. He has sparred with some of his brothers, in the gym run by his trainer, Chepo. In fact, he spars with brother Rigo while the camera rolls.

He then tells us he got a lady pregnant, when he was sixteen, and a baby girl was born. He says he doesn’t like that girl to be on camera, but that he adores her. “She’s made me a more disciplined man,” he says. He is a bit sad that he must leave her to get to camp, he says.

Floyd then hits the Nevada Boxing Hall of Fame, where he gets an award as Male Fighter of the Year. Floyd thanks the champions that came before, showing some humility that pops up more than casual observers might think.

To close, each man leaves viewers with an optimistic take on their chances Sept. 14. Can I get a show of hands, in our Forum, from those who like Canelo to upset Floyd?

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