Friday 7:00 p.m.: So here's something you don't see every day. Fifty-five hundred people sat and waited more than three hours this afternoon (many having taken their place in line two or three hours before that) to watch two fighters strip down to their underwear, stand on the scales, pose briefly, and then walk away — an event that, beginning to end, lasted 10 minutes.
More evidence of how this fight has taken on a life of its own.
Friday afternoon weigh-ins are always a feature of the big fight buildup, and occasionally they draw a decent crowd, since it's a chance to see the featured attractions, up close, for free. But this was by far the biggest gathering of its kind in Las Vegas history, and it's hard to imagine that more than a handful of those in attendance were there to cheer on Floyd Mayweather Jr. This is the Oscar De La Hoya show, more proof of how he has become a crossover star in the United States, and a Tiger Woods-calibre superstar in the Hispanic community.
For the record, Mayweather — accompanied by his good pal, the rapper 50 Cent, who will also lead him into the ring Saturday night — weighed in at 150 pounds, four below the super welterweight limit. De La Hoya came in right at 154, though apparently he had no issues making the weight.
While sitting patiently, the fans were presented with a parade of current and former champions — Bernard Hopkins, Shane Mosley, Felix Trinidad, and Roberto Duran (who, happily for all concerned, wasn't asked to weigh in.)
In addition to the MGM Grand Arena, which was sold out three hours after tickets went on sale, 22,000 $50 seats for the closed circuit broadcasts at seven different casinos are now nearly sold out.
Friday 2:03 p.m.: Three hours before the weigh in is scheduled to begin, there are at least a thousand people lined up outside the Grand Garden Arena waiting to get in.
Lennox Lewis and Emanuel Steward have just concluded their chat with reporters - moderated by ring announcer Michael (Let's Get Ready to Rumble) Buffer, who unfortunately felt the need to insert his own observations and analysis more often than might have been absolutely necessary. Both the former heavyweight champion and his former trainer, employees here of HBO, were diplomatic when analysing the fight, making sure that they left open the possibility that either De La Hoya or Mayweather could win. But Steward, especially, who once trained De La Hoya, couldn't help but make it clear that he felt Mawyweather has a definite edge. De La Hoya's best chance, Steward suggested, was to work in behind his jab, establish the left hook, and try to rough Mayweather up and throw him off his rhythm in the early rounds. "But from what I've seen in his training, that's not what they're preparing to do," he said.
Steward added that if Mayweather managed to establish dominance with his speed and boxing skills, he expected him to push for a knockout, "because of his huge ego". That's something he certainly didn't do in his last fight, coasting to an easy decision victory against overmatched Carlos Baldomir last November.
Lewis again dismissed any talk of a possible comeback - though Steward seemed extremely enthused about the possibility, and just perhaps about the potential payday.
"'It's not going to happen," Lewis said. "The legacy lives on."
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Friday 12:30 p.m.: Even very early this morning, you could sense the approaching big event. The casino is jumping, the table limits are rising, the fight crowd is starting to displace the tourists and conventioneers and regulars who are the norm this time of year in Las Vegas.
