As usual, Floyd Mayweather makes everyone wait on his grand arrival

As usual, Floyd Mayweather makes everyone wait on his grand arrival

LAS VEGAS–As is the usual trend for any Floyd Mayweather grand arrival, the unbeaten pound-for-pound king made the crowd and media at the MGM Grand wait an extra hour for him to finally make an appearance–this despite living just a few miles down the road.

Though the atmosphere wasn’t on the level of Mayweather’s last appearance against Canelo Alvarez, Saturday night’s opponent on SHOWTIME PPV, Marcos Maidana, had a stirring amount of support from the Latino boxing community, most of which were his fellow Argentines. Though it is only Tuesday, a good number of them were in attendance and sounded even deeper in numbers based on the volume they were able to punch up in support of their fighter.

Mayweather had the usual pre-fight things to say, gave respect to his opponent and voiced his gratitude to the fans who waited for him more than an hour in the main lobby of the MGM Grand, which will play host to a Mayweather fight for the ninth straight time. Though the Barclays Center in Brooklyn put in a sizable offer and were a real threat to steal Mayweather for this fight, the MGM Grand eventually won out as the official home of the unbeaten 37-year old.

Amir Khan arrived to loud support as he looks ahead to a challenge from Brooklyn’s Luis Collazo. The winner potentially could face Mayweather in September and Khan brought a fair number of Brits over in support. Fellow Brits Ashley Theophane and 2012 Olympic bronze medalist middleweight Anthony Ogogo bring additional UK flavor to the card. Though it is Cinco de Mayo weekend, super middleweight Marco Antonio Periban remains the only Mexican-born fighter on the show as he squares off with Mayweather promoted J’Leon Love in the opening PPV fight.

Adrien Broner punked out Golden Boy Promotions emcee Tattoo on stage when asked about if he could give any advice to Mayweather, since he is fighting the man that handed Broner his first career defeat last December. Broner didn’t take kindly to the question and grabbed the mic to make his own statements. Broner faces Carlos Molina in what amounts to a showcase fight, though Molina obviously has other plans.

Keep following @BehindTheGloves for more content from Las Vegas fight week over the next few days…

-Mark E. Ortega / @MarkEOrtega

-Managing editor at www.BehindTheGloves.com

All photos courtesy of SHOWTIME / Esther Lin.