London - Arabstoday
Floyd Mayweather Jr says his opponents are blame for his lack of recent knockouts.'Money' goes into his showdown with Victor Ortiz on Saturday night with just one victory inside schedule since 2005 - a knockout of Britain's Ricky Hatton in December 2007.But the brilliant technician from Grand Rapids says his lack of explosive finishes comes partly because of the way he dominates opponents."It's just that these fighters go into survival mode," explained the 34-year-old. "Once they're down on the scorecard or once they feel they have no chance of winning, they go into survival mode."Mosley did the same thing. Marquez did the same thing. These guys go into survival mode."Hatton was a little different. Hatton came to fight, and so, I get knock-outs if a guy comes to fight and put it all on the line, but once you get to the pinnacle, you get to Floyd Mayweather - you get to elite level, the guys - they go into survival mode."Another reason for Mayweather's lack of KOs is his relative inactivity - just three fights since that split-decision victory over Oscar De La Hoya in the sport's richest ever fight in 2007.This time Mayweather (now 41-0) has been off 16 months since a lop-sided points victory over 'Sugar' Shane Mosley. But he says that is no big deal thanks to the way he stays in shape."Well, I just try to be responsible and have discipline as a fighter, you know," he continued."Maintain my weight - I keep my weight between 147 and 150 even when I'm off. A lot of times people say is it what you eat - no, it's how much you eat."I don't overindulge myself in just food. I don't overindulge myself with eating. If it's something that I like to eat then I'm gonna eat it, but I'm not just going to pig out."I work out. I love to play basketball a lot - even when I'm off. I'll be off because it takes-even if I fought two times a year, it takes six months to build the fight of this magnitude-to build up before it can be a huge blockbuster in pay-per-view."It has to be the right opponent. We have to have the right game plan."