Fight Day Now

24/7 Mayweather-Cotto: Four Double-Take Moments

By Eric Raskin

Floyd Mayweather, Miguel Cotto - Photo Credit: Will Hart

The 24/7 franchise celebrated its fifth birthday this spring, and by now, you would think we’d have seen it all. But the show, and its protagonists, continue to find ways to surprise us. With 24/7 Mayweather-Cotto now complete, here’s a look back at the most double-take-worthy moment from each episode, four scenes that caught us a bit off guard:

Episode 4: Secret ’Stache (4:20)

As Cotto and his team got ready to board a plane from Orlando to Vegas, they amused themselves by drawing moustaches on one another. That, in and of itself, wasn’t necessarily worthy of a double-take. But the particular style of ’stache that Cotto drew on his buddy Bryan Perez’s upper lip was. Let’s just say it called to mind a certain unpopular German dictator. Then again, maybe we should give Cotto the benefit of the doubt and presume he was painting Perez with “The Michael Jordan.”

Watch 24/7 Episode 4 on HBO.com

Episode 3: Driving While Dilated (18:42)

First off, props to the 24/7 post-production team for their musical selection here, as Stevie Wonder’s “I Just Called To Say I Love You” provided the perfect backdrop for Mayweather’s vision-impaired drive down the Vegas Strip. His eye doctor told him to take it easy and stay off the road until his pupils return to normal size, but Mayweather risked life, limb, and a fairly sizable payday (for himself and everyone else involved in the promotion) by ignoring the doctor’s orders. They say the hardest punch is always the one you don’t see coming. Thankfully for everyone, Floyd proved elusive in the face of danger once again.

Watch 24/7 Episode 3 on HBO.com

Episode 2: Strange Bedfellows (19:45)

To paraphrase Principal Rooney: “So thaaaat’s the way it is in their training camp.” We learned that when Cotto is in camp and doesn’t have his wife to keep the other side of his bed warm, his best friend Perez takes her place. As Perez explained, “Nothing weird. Sharing the bed with Miguel is like sleeping with your brother.” As long as we’re referencing John Hughes movies, how great would it have been if Cotto woke up exclaiming, “Those aren’t pillows!”?

Watch 24/7 Episode 2 on HBO.com

Episode 1: Functional Family? (20:22)

Admit it: When Floyd Mayweather Sr. rolled into the Mayweather Boxing Club with a few minutes left in the episode—right around the same point in the broadcast at which he and his son went at it in an all-time classic scene last fall—you sat up straight and braced for some NSFW language. But in perhaps the most shocking twist of this 24/7 run, the two Floyds acted with civility toward one another. No cursing. No histrionics. Not even a subtle snide remark. Maybe it wasn’t as memorable as Floyd Sr.’s last appearance on 24/7. But it was, in its own way, every bit as unpredictable.

Watch 24/7 Episode 1 on HBO.com

Full Fight Day Schedule for Mayweather-Cotto

This weekend’s boxing mega-event, Floyd Mayweather vs. Miguel Cotto, airs live from the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas at 9 pm ET / 6 pm PT. But before the opening bell rings on HBO PPV, InsideHBOBoxing.com has a full day’s worth of fight news and events to get you fired up for the big bout:

- Catch up on all the action of Fight Week, all day long -

InsideHBOBoxing.com has reported every angle of Mayweather-Cotto straight from the ground in Vegas.

- Watch the full run of ‘Mayweather-Cotto 24/7’ -

The full episodes are playing now on HBO.com and YouTube.

- Show up early for the untelevised undercards LIVE on HBO.com -

At 4 pm ET / 7 pm PT, live streaming of the initial bouts of the evening will be available free.

- Kick off your night with ‘Fight Day Now’ -

At 8 pm ET / 5 pm PT, catch HBO’s prefight show right before the televised matches begin.

- Join the Twitter conversation right here -

When the PPV broadcast starts at 9 pm ET / 6 pm PT, stay online for live updates, round-by-round scoring and more.

Get Up to Speed on All the Action of Mayweather-Cotto Fight Week

By Eric Raskin

Floyd Mayweather, Miguel Cotto - Photo Credit: Will Hart

They spent two months preparing. They’ll spend 36 minutes (or less) fighting. We explored every angle of the matchup with a week’s worth of coverage direct from Las Vegas, building up to the collision that is Floyd Mayweather vs. Miguel Cotto on HBO PPV. In case you’re joining the fight-week party late, here’s what you need to know:

Mayweather vs. Cotto matches two of the three most bankable stars in the sport, and as you might expect, that stardom was hard-earned by each gladiator in a series of signature victories. Both Cotto and Mayweather made major statements in their most recent bouts, setting the stage for arguably the biggest-selling event boxing has seen in five years.

Emanuel Steward - Photo Credit: Will Hart

Fight Week officially kicked into gear when the combatants rolled into town, greeted by throngs of fans in the MGM Grand lobby. The people made their predictions, and the next day, when Mayweather and Cotto shared the stage at the final prefight press conference, the media got in on the act of picking a winner. Meanwhile, online, fans were going over the literal blow-by-blow breakdown in HBO’s Under the Lights.

Still more experts weighed in with strategic analysis, including HBO broadcaster and Hall of Fame trainer Emanuel Steward and a man who has faced both Mayweather and Cotto mano a mano, Zab Judah.

Canelo Alvarez - Photo Credit: Will HartSpeaking of mano a mano, Inside HBO Boxing bloggers Eric Raskin and Kieran Mulvaney absorbed the CompuBox stats and exchanged analytical thoughts of their own. Meanwhile, the fine folks on the interwebs have had their say as well, and while Mayweather is the consensus pick, some bolder fans are stepping up and picking the upset.

Of course, Saturday’s action isn’t limited strictly to what happens in Mayweather vs. Cotto. There are three additional televised undercard fights, most notably Saul “Canelo” Alvarez vs. “Sugar” Shane Mosley in a battle of the ages that’s worthy of its own CompuBox analysis.

Fight night is almost here. So sit back, relax, cue up the appropriate soundtrack, get in the zone, and let the “Ring Kings” do their thing.

Mayweather and Cotto Finally Talk Some Trash at Weigh-In

By Kieran Mulvaney

One day before fight night, the final act of theater. If the prefight weigh-in serves an important function for the boxers, a final opportunity to ensure that each man has trained to perfection, that both have met their contractual obligations and that neither will carry an unfair weight advantage, it also offers each man a final opening to assert psychological dominance, by staring into his opponent’s eyes and seeking to divine his level of anxiety.

For the promoters, meanwhile, it is the chance to make one last sell, to increase interest and hype up the fans. The fans obligingly play their part, lining up en masse hours in advance to catch a glimpse of the combatants up close, 6,000 or so filling seats in one half of the MGM Grand Garden Arena.

One by one, young and old, active and retired, professional prizefighters in attendance are brought up on stage and introduced to the crowd: Abner Mares, Danny Jacobs, Danny Garcia, Seth Mitchell, Adrien Broner, Bernard Hopkins, Erik Morales, and even Leon Spinks. Then Saturday evening’s participants step on the scale.

Surprisingly, Shane Mosley is one half-pound over the 154 lb limit for his clash with Saul Canelo Alvarez, who weighs in at 154 on the button. Mosley is surprised; on another scale, he said, he tested himself and was right on 154. No matter, he shrugs, he’d lose it easily, and sure enough, within a half hour he does.

The crowd roars as Miguel Cotto arrives, and boos in anticipation and upon the appearance of Floyd Mayweather. Mayweather, the challenger, steps on the scale first; at 151, he is the heaviest he has ever been, one pound more than he weighed when he fought Oscar De La Hoya five years ago. Cotto hits the 154 limit on the nose.

The two men pose face to face. They stand inches apart, staring into each other’s eyes. They stare. And stare. And stare. Neither moves, neither yields an inch, Mayweather chewing gum, Cotto with ice running through his veins, unmoving. As their handlers begin to move pull them apart, the roars of the crowd echoing through the arena, the two men start jawing at each other, Cotto in particular straining at the leash and shouting across at his foe as camp members ease their men in different directions.

“I told him he’s facing the best,” says Mayweather afterward.

“I said he’s undefeated, but he hasn’t fought Miguel Cotto,” counters Cotto.

Game on.

Watch the slideshow on HBO.com.