At first glance, WWE’s COO Triple H seems like a weird addition to an entourage when your Floyd Mayweather but when you really think about who Floyd is that ‘weirdness’ melts away. Then you’re left with the obvious connection that both men share apart from Mayweather’s work with the WWE years ago.
“His success as a boxer comes from knowing what really sells tickets is entertainment. You can be a great boxer and win a lot of fights and still have nobody really care about you that much. I think he gets that,” Triple H said. “We’ve even talked about it a little bit. He’s not afraid to play the bad guy and push the buttons of the people who are going to pay to see him fight. He’s a smart guy. He’s created this persona that has driven people crazy. They can’t wait to see him get beat.”
The character Floyd Mayweather portrays is just that. A character. Of course it’s not that far removed from the real Money Mayweather. Any successful character usually isn’t. Triple H should know that as his character on screen in the WWE is obviously an exaggerated Paul Levesque, Triple H’s real name. When you look at the wrestling world almost all of the greats really just played themselves amped up a few times over. Stone Cold, The Rock, Vince McMahon, Macho Man, Hulk Hogan, Shawn Michaels, and the list goes on and on. Mayweather fits in that mold and he knows how to play the media and the fans. If you do a straw poll you would find that people usually land in one of two categories. You’re either passionately against or confidently for Floyd Mayweather. Rarely are you in between and this comes from the Floyd you see on HBO’s 24/7 or Showtime’s All Access, concepts which Triple H credits Mayweather for inventing. It’s not all about the character though, because in boxing, being a character can take you only so far. No, Triple H speaks about when he was helping to train Mayweather for Wrestlemania.
“When I was working out with Floyd to get him ready for WrestleMania, his whole crew would be there,” Triple H remembered. “He always has 4,000 people around him. He’s got a huge entourage, and he would be laughing and everybody carrying on. And there would be that moment when we’d say, ‘OK, let’s get started,’ and he’d say, ‘Everybody out,’ and everyone who didn’t need to be there would leave, and no one made a peep. He was laser-focused. Mentally he was like a trap. We’d work on something, I wouldn’t see him for two weeks and he’d remember exactly what I had said. To be honest, it was super easy to get him ready.”
Triple H continued his friendship with Mayweather through the years and Triple H was fascinated by how everything that Mayweather and his crew does is on-point. Mayweather’s entire empire depends on it. The same way Mayweather wants to be flawless in the ring, is how he wants his organization to run. So when Mayweather says it’s time to work then everyone knows it’s time to get out of his way. Triple H is even amazed at how calm Mayweather can be before a big fight. Triple H speaks on the night of Mayweathers 2012 fight against Miguel Cotto. Triple H wanted to give Mayweather his space to focus or do whatever he had to do to get mentally prepared but Mayweather asked him to stay. Triple H recalls trying to explain to Mayweather.
“I said, ‘Floyd, I just don’t want to be in your way. You’ve got some stuff to do to get ready for this fight.’ And he said, ‘I’ve done everything I’m going to do. Nothing I do in the next little bit is going to change anything, so ain’t no use getting worried about it. I’m going to watch this game for a little bit, talk with you if you want, and then I’m going to go win my fight.’ He’s so calm. It was unbelievable.”
So when Mayweather says that this fight against Manny Pacquiao is just another fight, he means it. Mayweather isn’t doing anything out of the ordinary for this match. Mayweather is going into this match like a robot and preparing how he has countless times before and expecting the same result. Doing or expecting anything else would just be insanity.
h/t BleacherReport