LAS VEGAS -- After Floyd Mayweather once again outpointed Marcos Maidana in their welterweight championship rematch in September, Mayweather was not a happy camper about how various aspects of the promotion were run.
It appeared as though he was going to cut ties with longtime adviser and close friend Leonard Ellerbe, the CEO of Mayweather Promotions, who has been with Mayweather for virtually his entire career as a trusted confidant and key member of his inner circle.
"I think we're just getting to a point where we're outgrowing each other,” Mayweather told website Fighthype at the time. “I think I just see things my way and I think he sees things in another way. For example, this time around when I went out and fought, my WBC and WBA titles in both weight classes (welterweight and junior middleweight) were on the line and I didn't approve of that at all. That's something I didn't approve of.
"Also, my daughter was sitting in the front row and her mother wasn't sitting next to her, so the ticket arrangements were totally wrong.”
Mayweather went on to say, “It's just people outgrow one another. I'm not mad at him. There's no hard feeling like I hate the guy; not at all. No hard feelings whatsoever. People just outgrow one another, just like when people get a divorce. They're no longer on the same page mentally.”
And for several months, Ellerbe kept a low profile and nobody seemed to know if he was going to continue in his role.
But Ellerbe remains very much a part of Mayweather’s team. He ran the kickoff news conference in March to announce the much-anticipated showdown with Manny Pacquiao on Saturday night (Showtime/HBO PPV, 9 ET) at the MGM Grand.
And he has been at Mayweather’s side, as usual, throughout the promotion. On Tuesday, Ellerbe was on stage at the MGM Grand Garden Arena as Mayweather made his grand arrival in front of around 4,000 fans (but without Pacquiao, who ditched the event for his own fan rally earlier in the day at Mandalay Bay).
And then he was next to Mayweather on a couch in a conference room in the bowels of the arena as Mayweather met for about a half-hour with reporters.
At one point during the discussion, Mayweather, turned to Ellerbe and apologized for what he said after the Maidana rematch.
“You’re my partner in crime. We been through a lot together,” Mayweather said. “(After) the last fight I said some things about my friend that I want to apologize for. It’s very immature what I did and (I) spoke some things about Leonard that I shouldn’t have said.
“I was kind of upset. But real friends go through certain things, but we still here. We still going strong.”
Ellerbe did not say anything. He just smiled.
After the Maidana fight, Rafael Garcia, the 86-year-old boxing lifer, who had served as Mayweather’s hand wrapper and cutman since 2001, appeared on his way out as well. Garcia did not wrap Mayweather for the Maidana rematch and was not happy about it after being replaced by Bob Ware. After the fight, Garcia said he would retire from boxing.
But Mayweather, who always spoke glowingly about Garcia, asked him back for this fight and Garcia is happy to remain part of the team.
“Floyd wants me here, I am here,” Garcia said. “Maybe when he’s finished (boxing), that is when I will be finished also. But not yet.”
