Floyd Mayweather 's opponent Don Moore has detailed his old sparring sessions with the ring legend - and insists he can beat him.
Mayweather faces former professional boxer Moore on May 14 in his latest exhibition venture. The fight will be watched by just 20 fans on top of the Burj Al Arab hotel in Dubai with tickets costing £150,000 each.
Moore, who is undefeated in 19 professional fights, was once one of Mayweather's sparring partners and was also mentored by his late uncle Roger. They first met at an amateur tournament before Mayweather won bronze in the 1996 Olympics.
Roger's training gave Moore the confidence to beat Mayweather, as he told SunSport : "When I first walked into the gym, I was there to spar Floyd and Roger Mayweather was looking at me. After we sparred, he came over to me and said, ‘Man, you got a trainer?’ I said not at the time, and he said, ‘Listen, I’m going to work with you, I’m going to train you’.
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"He put me under his wing and I was with him ever since, years and years. He taught me everything I need to know to have the blueprint to honestly, truthfully, do what I have to do to perform and be victorious on May 14th.”
Moore, who won no world titles in his unbeaten career, hasn't fought in six years. The 45-year-old said his sparring sessions with Mayweather were always highly anticipated and he is ready to prove he is the superior boxer in their clash.
“Those sparring sessions, every time we sparred, everybody was gripped, they couldn’t wait to see it," he added. "It was always competitive, Floyd always had a problem with me and as everybody knows, Roger trained Floyd, but he also trained Don.
“So the same training Roger was putting into Floyd, he put into this young man too. It’s just that Floyd was in the limelight and I wasn’t. I'm the underdog and I’ve already put in my hard work with Floyd, we’ve already sparred rounds, punch after punch.
“I went over and beyond the call of duty to prepare him for other fights - right now it’s my opportunity to show all the ass I’ve been kicking from back then. I’m not just a sparring partner, I’m a fighter.”
UFC legend Anderson Silva will fight fellow Brazilian MMA fighter Bruno Machado on the undercard of Mayweather vs Moore, whilst former two-weight world champion Badou Jack will also be in action.
