Justin Bieber will play hype man once again and walk Floyd Mayweather Jr. into the boxing ring Saturday for his face-off with Marcos Maidana in the WBC welterweight bout Saturday night at Las Vegas’ MGM Grand.
Third time’s a charm?
Justin Bieber would probably scoff at that, as would the so far undefeated boxing champion Floyd Mayweather who the young singer will be walking into the Las Vegas ring at the MGM Grand for the third time for a WBC Welterweight bout with Argentina’s Marcos Maidana.
Analysts figure Mayweather’s is the 11-to-1 favorite to defeat the current WBA welterweight champion Maidana in the pay-per-view fight, amid concerns that his recent emotional social media declaration alleging his former fiancee — Shantel Jackson aborted twins without his knowledge and was the reason for their breakup — may distract him.
USA TODAY reports Golden Boy Promotions CEO Richard Schaefer, whose company co-promotes the fight, said:
“There’s no question about it, he’s distracted. Think about it, we saw a very emotional Floyd [during a Wednesday press conference].”
Schaefer adds, Clearly, with a day or two to go until fight night against without question one of the most dangerous opponents he’s fought, his focus should be 100% on the fight.”
Bieber , who is a pal of Mayweather and his daughter Iyanna (who is of course a “Belieber” ), previously walked the boxer into the MGM ring alongside a mumbling, shirtless Lil Wayne last September where Floyd went on to triumph over Mexican Saul Alvarez.
It was the highest-grossing fight of all time , generating revenue believed to be somewhere around $150 million with Mayweather signing for a guaranteed of $41.5 million before pay-per-view sales, gate take and other incomes were later added.
The trio cut an interesting spectacle and the crowd that night (September 14) included Jack Nicholson, Liam Hemsworth, Heidi Klum, Peter Berg, Denzel Washington, Magic Johnson, Michael Phelps, William H. Macy, LL Cool J, Wayne Gretzky and Don Cheadle to name an illustrious few.
Before that, Bieber, Lil Wayne and fellow rapper 50 Cent did the collective hype man honors for Mayweather’s May 2012 face-off against Miguel Cotto where he took Cotto’s WBA Super Welterweight title in a hard-won fight.
Incidentally, the MGM Grand was the scene of Bieber’s shabby booing at the 2013 Billboard Music Awards when he accepted the very first fan-voted Chevrolet Milestone Award. The 20-year-old appears to be exorcizing any demons he may still feel about the place with boxing appearances.
Earlier today, the Canadian singer posted and tweeted an Instagram video of himself and Mayweather getting spa treatments — a massage and pedicure — respectively.
#moneyteam spa. Gettin ready for the fight. http://t.co/NQsoxXMEx3
— Justin Bieber (@justinbieber) May 2, 2014
In the clip, Mayweather says: “We call this the good life. Pedicure [gestures to Bieber], massage.”
Watched silently by Justin, the 37-year-old champ added, “We make it do what it do.”
There may be more Bieber-Mayweather pre-game rituals posted before tomorrow’s fight.
TMZ reports Mayweather – who is reportedly interested in buying the Los Angeles Clippers from disgraced owner Donald Sterling – will be calling on his entire #MoneyTeam to be in his corner on Saturday so we”ll have to wait and see who comes out to join Bieber.
( Photo: Bieber Instagram )
The scene is set. Las Vegas’ MGM Grand, and Bieber and co. walking out Mayweather to probable victory and a cool $32 million.
We’ll be tuning in to the fight. Will you?