LOS ANGELES, Calif. – The Floyd Mayweather vs. Shane Mosley press tour arrived in Los Angeles today and one thing is clear, everyone is selling this fight and selling it hard. All in an effort to reach the three million pay-per-view plateau.Other than the fighters themselves, everyone who spoke on the stage set up outside the Nokia Theater at LA Live started with the fight slogan: “who r u picking?”
The assembled public’s choice was close to even with a bit of a tilt towards Sugar Shane Mosley.
First, Golden Boy’s Richard Schaefer told the crowd that this fight ranks up there with Ali vs. Foreman.
He went on to speak about how the three million PPVs will be sold, essentially like a bonus with purchase of the fight’s sponsors’ products.
Twenty-five thousand supermarkets in the U.S. will carry a display of Tecate beer products that will offer rebates of 
up to $30.00 off the PPV price with purchase. Another sponsor, De Walt Tools will offer a rebate for the full price of the PPV with the purchase of a power tool at Home Depot.
Oscar De La Hoya, speaking as a former contestant against both fighters and of course the President of Golden Boy Promotions, also tried to liken this fight to some of the classics, like Ray Leonard vs. Marvelous Marvin Hagler. But he went further.
“You have the best two fighters on the planet today fighting each other on May 1”, said De La Hoya. The crowd didn’t react to this and no one screamed the name of Manny Pacquiao but you knew what everyone was thinking.
In all the radio and television interviews given on the tour by Floyd Mayweather he bristles at the slightest mention of Pacquiao and gets petulant with the interviewer.
That is the elephant in this room. By all measures Shane Mosley is not one of the two best fighters on the planet and each attendee today in Los Angeles had his or her own thoughts on why the fight most fans wanted to see wasn’t happening this month in Dallas.
When it was time for Mayweather to speak he made himself sound like a crusader for truth, justice and clean boxing. “I’m trying to clean up my sport”, Floyd said. “That is why we are both (he and Mosley) taking random urine and blood tests.” OK then.
In closing, Floyd knew he was in a city that has a huge Mexican population and he reached out specifically to those avid fight fans. “We want all Mexican fans partying, the weekend of the fight. It’s Cinco de Mayo”.
Well, actually it’s May 1 and May 2 that weekend but hey, in the hyping of a fight, four days off is close enough. After all as Richard Schaefer said, this is “a historic showdown.”
Paula Duffy is a national sports columnist for Examiner.com and the Huffington Post and regularly comments on sports/legal matters for radio affiliates of ESPN and Fox Sports. She founded the sports information site, Incidental Contact, is the author of a line of audio books designed for sports novices and in her spare time practices law in Los Angeles.
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