Floyd Mayweather's 10 Most Memorable Moments On HBO's '24/7'
Floyd Mayweather Jr., boxing's pound-for-pound champion, announced a six-fight contract with Showtime and CBS on Tuesday. The deal, which promises to be the richest individual athlete deal in history based on the present pay-per-view buy rate for Mayweather's events, marks the end of Floyd's lengthy relationship with HBO, which has broadcast his past 23 fights. The last time Mayweather fought on a network that wasn't HBO? A Feb. 17, 1999 victory over Carlos Rios on TNT.
Aside from the seismic repercussions on boxing's domestic broadcast wars, Tuesday's announcement effectively marks the end of Mayweather's run on HBO's 24/7 docuseries, a franchise he often took credit for having launched and popularized. The network has produced 17 editions of 24/7 since it debuted with the run-up to Mayweather's 2007 megafight with Oscar De La Hoya, and Floyd has featured in six of them.
Frequently, the Grand Rapids, Mich., native has provided some of the most colorful moments. Here are 10 of our favorite.
1. Putting De La Hoya on blast
Series: De La Hoya vs. Mayweather
Quote:You a p----. And I'm the top draw. You remember that. ... I'm gonna beat you till you respect me. I'm gonna beat you and I'm gonna make you call me pretty.
The series debut was the only 24/7 where Mayweather settled for second billing -- but he stopped at nothing to steal every episode by relishing the heel role. His incessant trash talking helped make the show a crossover phenomenon.
[youtube="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CKslSiCBLCo"]
2. Father and son
Series: Mayweather vs. Ortiz
Quote:You couldn't fight worth s---, you wasn't nothing but a motherf---in' cab driver. Get the f--- out my gym!
Floyd's complex relationship with his dad has been a storyline revisted throughout the boxer's run on the series, though it was never more explosive than when they nearly came to blows after a disagreement over female fighters during the build-up to Mayweather's fight with Victor Ortiz.
[youtube="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZyRmwXhGecA"]
3. Money on the line
Series: Mayweather vs. Ortiz
Quote:Yeah, I seen my daddy on 24/7. Yeah, he was hatin'.
Perhaps the zenith of Mayweather's bromance with 50 Cent came when he "phoned" the rapper-turned-promoter, a stack-to-stack connection that quickly went viral.
4. G.O.A.T.?
Series: Mayweather vs. Mosley
Quote: He said I'm better than Muhammad Ali. Yup, I'm better than Muhammad Ali. Sugar Ray Robinson? Yup, I'm better than Sugar Ray Robinson.
No icon has proven too towering for a Mayweather takedown.
[youtube="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jL4WgXQh3hM"]
5. Easter rebellion
Series: Mayweather vs. Cotto
Quote: I don't f---ing understand Easter because rabbits don't lay eggs. You ain't never thought about that did you?
Excuse me while I piece together fragments of my skull.
[youtube="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y5_klqStA1M"]
6. Trolling the U.K.
Series: Mayweather vs. Hatton
Quote:They stick their middle finger up basically saying, 'F--- you,' so I stuck my middle finger back up and said, 'F--- ya'll.'
Hatton is a massive Manchester City supporter -- his grandfather and father played for the club -- so naturally Mayweather turned up to the U.K. press conference for their 2007 fight wearing a Manchester United shirt.
7. Juan "Pee Pee Mouth" Marquez
Series: Mayweather vs. Marquez
Quote:Pee pee mouth, Marquez, that's who I'm fighting. Pee pee mouth.
One of 24/7's most memorable moments featured Juan Manuel Marquez drinking his own urine while preparing for his fight with Mayweather. The subsequent episode captured Floyd's priceless reaction to the previous week's telecast, with Marquez from then on becoming known as the "Pee Pee Mouth."
8. Who is Shane Mosley?
Series: Mayweather vs. Mosley
Quote:Shane, I barely know who the f--- you are. F--- you mean I want to be like you? How I wanna be like you? Come on, man. I'm the face of boxing. I'm the cash cow. I hold the record for pay-per-view, for the highest gate. Me.
Mayweather deflected Sugar Shane's psychological ploys with ease, casting his older opponent as a has-been -- and not shying away from the steroid allegations from Mosley's past that haunted him.
9. Bad hair day
Series: Mayweather vs. Mosley
Quote:Kid got a jheri curl, man. Come on, man, it's 2010. Kid must have woke in that Hot Tub Time Machine. ... Man, you dumb motherf---er, you almost 40 years old. You better be fighting for a check, you stupid motherf---er!
Mayweather blasted Mosley's outdated coiffure with a memorable one-liner -- then torched his opponent's drawing power and career earnings.
10. The Ortiz massage
Series: Mayweather vs. Ortiz
Quote:He let a man massage him and the other one wearing fishnet.
Angry with the emphasis that HBO had placed on his younger challenger, Mayweather blasted Ortiz's less masculine qualities with a vaguely homophobic rant.
