THE WEIGHT-ING IS THE HARDEST PART

LAS VEGAS - Amidst Mariachi bands and frenzied fight fans, Floyd Mayweather weighed in for tomorrow night's fight with Juan Manuel Marquez at 146 pounds, two pounds over the bout's agreed-upon catchweight.

September 18, 2009 - by Dave Larzelere | Photos by Will Hart

Nothing was said by the announcers and no one on the stage raised an eyebrow. It was the end of the weigh-in for the main event of tomorrow night's Mayweather/Marquez boxing card at the MGM Grand Garden Arena, and Juan Manuel Marquez already had weighed in at 142 pounds to the deafening roar of his maniacal Mexican fans. Then Floyd Mayweather stepped onto the scale to a considerably lesser roar and his weight was announced to the crowd. 146 pounds. He stepped off the scale and the traditional stare-down ensued between the two men as if nothing strange had just happened.

But something very strange had just happened, and many an eyebrow was raised in the crowd. The gathered boxing cognoscenti looked around at each other as if they'd missed something. Wasn't there a catch-weight for this fight? And wasn't it 144 pounds?

Indeed it was. Later on up in the press room, Golden Boy's CEO Richard Schaefer explained that the initial contract for the fight had stipulated that penalties would be assessed for coming in over the agreed-upon weight of 144 pounds, and that Floyd now would be paying such a penalty. Schaefer would not disclose what amount Mayweather would be forced to pay, but he did say that it was "substantial" (the unconfirmed rumor in the press room was that it was in the neighborhood of $500,000, $250,000 for each pound over the limit). When asked if he thought Mayweather ever intended to make the weight, Schaefer answered yes, and added that Mayweather's team was very upset about the situation.

Not many of the press-members in the room seemed to believe him on that score. There always was something fishy about the catch-weight for this fight. Whenever the bout was discussed, sometimes it was there and sometimes it wasn't. Mayweather and his people often talked as if there were no catch-weight for the bout, as if it were a welterweight fight with a limit of 147 pounds and that was that. At this point, one has to wonder if Floyd ever had any intention of making 144, or if he always figured to come in heavy and just pay whatever penalty was assessed to him contractually.

Obviously, the big question now is how it will affect the fight. The difference between the two fighters is only four pounds, but those four pounds could end up meaning a lot, especially considering the fact that Marquez is unlikely to gain much more weight for tomorrow night while Mayweather could easily put on five or six pounds and come in a good ten pounds heavier than Marquez. The whole idea of a catch-weight anyway in a situation where a much smaller guy is fighting a bigger guy is to force the larger man - in this case, Mayweather - to suffer a little to make weight in order to take some of the edge off his natural size advantage. Clearly, Floyd was having none of the suffering business, a revelation that can't come as any surprise. For his part, Marquez reputedly wasn't fazed at all by the situation, bluntly stating after coming off the stage that he didn't care if Floyd came in as a middleweight, because he's used to sparring with much bigger guys.

As for the rest of today's weigh-in, it was the usual circus-like atmosphere, complete with roving mariachi bands, Mexican chants and songs, dueling comedians and very thin and hungry-looking fighters jawing at each other through their made-for-TV staredowns. Cornelius Lock and Orlando Cruz, who will fight in the first televised bout of tomorrow night's pay-per-view broadcast, got into it pretty good during their stare session, ending up putting hands in each other's faces and then screaming at each other across the stage. Up next on the scales, Michael Katsidis and Vicente Escobedo tried to harness Lock and Cruz's fury, but as they taunted each other, they also wore broad smiles that belied their supposedly furious intent. The Katsidis/Escobedo fight is one of the most anticipated contests on tomorrow night's card for boxing insiders, but up on the stage today they looked to me less like two dudes who wanted to kill each other and more like two friends who'd just bumped into each other on the street and started enthusiastically talking about a movie they'd both seen.

And with that, I'll give you the rest of the highlights of the afternoon's festivites below, listed in award format:

Best hair? Rocky Juarez, sporting one of the, oh, top three or four mohawks I've ever seen in my life. And I mean ever. This was no faux-hawk. This here was a MO-hawk. They better not let him keep that thing for the fight, because it looked blade-sharp up there under the lights.

Biggest boos? Roger Mayweather. Floyd got some boos too, as did Oscar De La Hoya and Bernard Hopkins. But the boos for Uncle Rog were unanimous and heartfelt. In response, Rog laughed and then half-heartedly made a slashing-the-throat gesture. Guy's been booed before, after all. It probably doesn't bother him as much as having to stand in line at Burger King.

Best line? D.L Hughley, no doubt. He had a couple of great zingers on the great Marquez urine-drinking question. The best, I thought, was, "I'm gonna buy Marquez some Gatorade so he don't have to drink his own pee anymore." To which Eddie "Piolin" Sotelo said, "Look, Marquez is a true warrior." Hughley deadpanned, "Yeah, well, you can be a warrior and still some drink mineral water or something."

Best suit? Tommy Hearns, resplendent in a white linen jammy that looked like a bazillion bucks. The Hit Man can definitely wear a suit. I look at him standing tall at whatever he is, 6'2" or so, and I think to myself, how on earth did that man ever make 147 pounds?

Worst staredown? Rocky Juarez and Chris John. I really, really don't think those guys are angry at each other at all. They weren't even trying up there.

Best Mariachi band? The one up in the stands on stage right. They had better outfits and on the whole seemed like they were committing to the moment. The guys up on the left sounded to me like they were just going through the motions.

Best (or worst) sneakers? Bernard Hopkins. Man was wearing some tennis shoes so white they hurt my eyes. He definitely comes correct, Bernard. Them things were whiter than Floyd's teeth.

Best overall moment? Triple H. That's right, Triple H. The WWE star will accompany Floyd into the ring tomorrow night. He made an appearance on the stage today and, for a brief moment, got into his WWE persona. I loved it. When it comes to the weigh-in for a big fight, I say the more WWE it gets the better. If only Big Show had made the scene, the whole thing would have been off the hook.