ANALYSIS/OPINION:
The gift of vision is one that very successful people often share — the gift of that moment when you see something before anyone else does and you invest all your time and energy in that something special.
You can call it brilliance. You can call it luck. But whatever it is, the successful people recognize it and commit to it.
For Washington native Leonard Ellerbe, the something special turned out to be Floyd Mayweather Jr.
Ellerbe, a former amateur fighter, personal trainer and U.S. Air Force veteran who grew up in the District, saw Mayweather in the ring training in Las Vegas when Mayweather was just 13 years old.
“He was a very good young fighter,” Ellerbe said.
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Ellerbe would become the young Mayweather’s advisor in 1997, shortly after he began his professional career. And now, 18 years later, as the chief executive officer of Mayweather Promotions, he stands front and center of what will likely be the most lucrative fight in the history of boxing — the long-anticipated showdown between Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao on Saturday night at the MGM Grand Garden in Las Vegas.
“I’ve been through big promotions before, but the demand for this has been an incredible demand now for some time,” Ellerbe said. “That has driven the revenue to record-breaking numbers. It’s the fight that everyone has been talking about for quite some time.”
It is the vision Ellerbe and Mayweather have shared together since those early days — a $100 million payday for one night of boxing.
“I had a vision early on what Floyd could accomplish,” Ellerbe said. “We talked about him being the first fighter to make $100 million in a night. We talked about this 15 years ago.”
There have been many reports about the new power broker behind the scenes in boxing, Al Haymon, and his influence with the 38-year-old Mayweather as manager and adviser.
But it has been Ellerbe who has survived the longest with the volatile Mayweather. It has been Ellerbe who has been the constant support for Mayweather among the fighting Mayweathers — his father, Floyd Sr., a former super welterweight fighter who has been at times estranged from his son (he is now training Floyd Jr.), and his uncle, Jeff, a former super featherweight world champion who has trained Mayweather when not in trouble himself. Ellerbe was with Mayweather even when the fighter wound up in a Las Vegas jail for three months on a domestic violence conviction.
In the topsy-turvy world of Floyd Mayweather Jr., the presence of Ellerbe is the one thing that the world champion undefeated fighter could count on.
“He knows he can trust me,” Ellerbe said. “I am very blessed to have played an integral part in his career. You won’t appreciate the impact he has had on boxing until he is gone from the sport. He had been a game changer. He changed the game of boxing.”
At a time when the sport of boxing has fallen off a cliff on the American sports scene, Mayweather became his nickname — “Money Mayweather” — as the highest-earning athlete on the planet, according to Forbes magazine, earning $105 million in 2014 for two fights.
He could make $180 million in one night Saturday — his next-to-last fight, according to Ellerbe.
“We’ve had a great run,” he said. “I’m very happy he will be retiring. He has accomplished everything in his career that he has wanted to do, and will go down in history as the best ever to do it — along with that he was the best businessman in sports. The numbers bear it out.
“I’m just thankful he afforded me the opportunity to help navigate his career.”
Mayweather Promotions will continue to be a force in boxing, Ellerbe said. “I’ll continue to run our promotional company,” he said. “We have a very good stable of fighters.”
As the superfight draws closer, Ellerbe reflected on his days growing up in Washington, fighting to make something out of his life in a poor Northeast neighborhood. He wants to bring a fight to Washington.
“I will definitely do that,” he said. “May not be a Floyd Mayweather fight, but definitely a big event.
“I will always represent Washington, D.C. I love the city and love the people.”
• Thom Loverro is co-host of “The Sports Fix,” noon to 2 p.m. daily on ESPN 980 and espn980.com.
• Thom Loverro can be reached at tloverro@washingtontimes.com.
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