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All ACCESS Episode 2 Recap: Floyd Insists He Will Retire, Berto Says He’s Hungrier Than Ever
Time for another All Access, or, at least, access selected for maximum impact in attempting to hype up the severe counter-climactic fight which is to unfold Sept. 12, Mayweather vs. Berto, at the MGM in Vegas. No knock there, anything after #MayPac is a back track…
This was the second installment in this post #MayPac era, which means that everyone who took in the buildup and the tear-down of May 2 sees everything Mayweather and Pacman do, arguably, through a changed set of eyes.
Which means after being told we’d see the Fight of the Century, and instead seeing a runaway Mayweather win–runaway not intended pun-nily–we’re most of us not inclined to watch promo shows or listen to pronouncements without first running them a cyncism (realism?) filter.
So when people hear, as we did in this second ep, that Floyd will retire after Sept. 12, they react maybe differently than they would have a year ago. They have bought a car, it was a lemon, and now the salesguy is back at them, asking them to give him another shot.
Fool me once, shame on me. Fool me again, and I’m the fool…
Now, that’s not in everyone’s head. Many savvy folk didn’t listen to a lot of the hype leading to May 2; they know Floyd is risk averse, wouldn’t turn into Tyson, would still be an avoid contact first sort of pugilist. They were the wise ones…But it’s all the other ones who will need to be convinced to tune in again.
To kick off ep 2, on SHOWTIME, we saw Floyd working out. Berto says he deserves the opp, and then Floyd brags. Yep, hard to re-invent a wheel, for sure..
It’s all recap, from ep 1…or maybe we’ve just already heard all this in the last few weeks, since Berto got the gig, it’s hard to recall.
A narrator tells us Floyd has a new toy. It’s a car, fastest in the world, one of only two made…sells for $4.8 mill or so.
Some of us yawn, others ahhh, and say he’s earned every cent. None talk about him being in a challenging fight Sept. 12…
Floyd is in the gym, throwing weights…He says he’ll send Berto back to Haiti if he acts crazy, that Berto looks up to him. He hands out some cash to a kid, then oversees tape over Berto’s eyes on a poster in his gym.
He gets his hair cut and talks to the muscle dude who sparred and got stopped right away in ep 1. Muscle guy says he will do it again and people laugh at him..
Next up, we see Floyd at a club. He chews gum, takes in the scene, makes ladies chuckle. It is 3:25 AM, and keeps chugging, till after 5. He showers in his bathing trunks and a gal soaps his back. He calls Berto a “million dollar fighter,” dissing him, while in a whirpool. “They wanna know if I’m retiring? Absolutely,” he promises.
Berto, though, is not thinking exit. he’s thinking upset. Massive proportions it would be. President of Haiti he’d be. Daddy Berto shows up; he was a wrassler, and MMAer, early on. Andre is much about Haiti, where both parents came from. We see him helping during the huge quake. Good, positive stuff, people helping people…
Then, Floyd working out. He says he could train himself, but him Roger and Sr work as a team. Roger is not one hundred percent, though, the fighter says. “His memory has went away a lot, from getting hit with big shots in fights..,” says Floyd. Nothing cool about getting hit, says Floyd. He disses the Rope A Dope. The name of the game is hit, and not get hit, he iterates. He wants to leave with a sharp mind, he notes.
Next up, Berto stretches. He says he took stuff for granted, and went off the rails, though, against Jesus Soto Karass; he injured his right shoulder, tore it. So he used the left, to his immense credit. He lost in round 12, by TKO; but new trainer Virgil Hunter said that told him Berto could do some good things. He had shoulder surgery and then had to to evaluate his purpose, question it. He rehabbed for nine months and won his next two. “I went through some s–t, but everything is coming back full circle now,” he says.
The Mayweather Boxing Club is seen; local kids get backpacks and pizza. He could throw in a curveball, toss $20,000 in cash in one or two, next year, spice things up..
Go to school, get good grades, they are told. Then back to work…We see Tank Davis bang in sparring…and little ones…like Cashflow Diaz, age 12. Floyd says he will promote hard after fighting ends….
To follow, we see him sparring, usually verboten. He gets grilled, about retiring. People are seeing through those new eyes, they doubt. He insists he will exit. We are told that Berto has lost, but is the tougher for it. He insists he will press the action come Sept. 12. End show…
The last All Access runs next Friday, 5:45 PM ET.
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