Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Saul Alvarez will wear Grant Gloves, while their opponents, Miguel Cotto and Shane Mosley will wear Everlast.
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Mayweather, Alvarez glove controversy resolved
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LAS VEGAS -- New Grant gloves were flown in from New York for WBC welterweight titleholder Floyd Mayweather Jr. and WBC junior middleweight beltholder Saul Alvarez, resolving a pre-fight issue that was raised by their respective opponents in advance of Saturday night's HBO Pay Per View-televised bouts at the MGM Grand Garden Arena. The issue was first raised by Naazim Richardson, the trainer of Shane Mosley (46-7-1, 39 knockouts), the opponent for Alvarez (39-0-1, 29 KOs). Richardson spotted the plastic patent leather thumb section of the previous pair of gloves and cited a bad seam on the equipment, complaining that plastic can cut a fighter's face more easily than leather. In agreement with Richardso was the camp of WBC junior middleweight beltholder Miguel Cotto (37-2, 30 KOs), who defends against Mayweather (42-0, 26 KOs), prompting the switch. "One of our inspectors, Mike Martino, was here at noon when the new gloves came in. A normal pair was flown in and no one had an issue, and so, hopefully, nothing will arise between now and fight-time," said Keith Kizer, executive director of the Nevada State Athletic Commission. "Alvarez and Mayweather are wearing Grants, and Shane and Miguel are wearing Everlast. So the issue was with the Grants, and it's been resolved. They've got normal gloves, they've got great gloves, and we're happy to see that." Mayweather will earn a guaranteed $32 million, an all-time record for the sport, compared to $8 million for Cotto, and Alvarez, $1.2 million to $650,000 for Mosley.
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