Mayweather says best puncher could surprise Payne retiring as Masters chairman
Las Vegas — Floyd Mayweather Jr. says it was the first punch of the fight. His promoter thinks it came during the second round.
One shot to the head, and suddenly Manny Pacquiao decided his night might better be spent fighting on the outside.
“I let him know it’s not what you think it is,” Mayweather said. “You’re not just going to run in there. He felt a strength he didn’t expect.”
The knock on Mayweather — and the reason some people give Conor McGregor a chance Saturday night — is that he doesn’t knock out people. Pacquiao never went down either, but Mayweather showed there are other ways to change a fight than putting a fighter on the canvas.
McGregor may find that out early if he goes after Mayweather at the opening bell as expected. The prevailing theory is that McGregor wins the power battle, but there’s more than one fighter with power in this, the most unusual of fights.
“When he gets hit he’s going to find out it’s totally different,” Mayweather said. “The brittle hands, they keep saying that, but when I come across his head he’ll find out that it’s totally different.”
McGregor doesn’t believe that, of course and predicted again Wednesday that the fight would end early with Mayweather on his back.
“I believe one or two rounds, with 8-ounce gloves I don’t see him surviving,” McGregor said. “I’m starting to think I’ll toy with him once he goes down.”
The two fighters got together for the final pre-fight press conference to further hype a fight built on hype. In contrast to the bombastic tone of earlier appearances it was a relatively subdued affair at the MGM Grand.
They posed together and didn’t come close to exchanging blows. They did both manage to get in a few final words, though.
“It’s not going to be easy Conor,” Mayweather told his opponent. “I’ve got a great chin but remember this: The same way you give it you gotta be able to take it.”
Though ticket sales have been tepid — largely because of astronomical prices — the pay-per-view is expected to be watched by some 50 million people in the United States alone and millions more worldwide.
It’s half-fight, half-spectacle, a bout that matches a UFC star who has never boxed against a masterful ring technician with a record of 49-0. Born of Internet hype, it has captured the curiosity of even those outside both sports and could end up being the richest fight ever.
Augusta, Ga. — Billy Payne ruled more with an open mind than an iron fist.
As the sixth chairman of Augusta National Golf Club — and the first with no direct link to co-founders Bobby Jones and Clifford Roberts — he held fast to the heritage and traditions of the club, while looking beyond Magnolia Lane at how the Masters could wield influence around the world for more than one week of the year.
Women joined Augusta National for the first time. Juniors were allowed to attend the Masters for free with an adult. Amateurs from the Asia Pacific region and throughout Latin America could dream about competing for a green jacket.
Payne announced Wednesday that he is retiring after 11 years of change that made the Augusta National logo more powerful than ever.
“There are two people that matter here — Clifford Roberts and Bobby Jones,” Payne said. “The rest of us are custodians. We do our best to first embrace, and thereafter hopefully to advance their philosophies for this club and for the game of golf — their obsession for detail, their passion to be the best. And I’ve done that now for a considerable number of years.”
He officially retires on Oct. 16 when the club, which is closed during the summer, opens for a new season.
Payne will be succeeded by Fred Ridley, a former U.S. Amateur champion and USGA president who is chairman of the Masters competition committee. Ridley will be the seventh chairman, and the first to have played in the Masters.
Payne stays on as chairman emeritus.
Augusta National speaks with one voice, and in that respect, Payne was no different from the other chairmen. With his Southern, homespun style, the 69-year-old Georgia native was more about collaboration than calling all the shots.
Payne ends a remarkable career marked by two sporting events in which he had little previous experience.
He had never been to the Olympics when Payne, a little-known real estate lawyer, led a long-shot bid to bring the Summer Games to Atlanta in 1996. He relied heavily on corporate support, and he showed early signs of his commitment to diversity and inclusion. He chose two women among the first five volunteers he selected for the Atlanta organizing committee.