Mayweather salutes ‘real man who built Golden Boy’

LOS ANGELES — As Floyd Mayweather Jr. was holding court with reporters Thursday at the Biltmore Hotel, he looked over his shoulder and saw a familiar, friendly face.

It was Richard Schaefer.

Schaefer, who quit June 2 as the CEO of Golden Boy Promotions and is looking to start his own business, dropped by for the final stop on the five-city promotional tour for Mayweather’s title fight rematch against Marcos Maidana on Sept. 13 at the MGM Grand Garden.

Mayweather briefly interrupted the proceedings to stand up and give Schaefer a warm embrace, then said, “The real man who built Golden Boy.”

Schaefer said he was just there to say hello to a friend.

“I’m just a fan today,” he said. “I’m not involved in the promotion in any capacity. I’m here as Floyd’s friend to support him.”

Schaefer said he was not consulted by the Mayweather team when boxing’s pound-for-pound king agreed to allow Golden Boy to be the promoter of record for the rematch.

“No one contacted me,” Schaefer said. “I think they didn’t want to put me in an uncomfortable situation asking me for my input.”

Schaefer is under contract until 2018 with Golden Boy, which has filed an arbitration seeking $50 million in damages against him.

“I’m leaving that up to my attorneys,” Schaefer said. “I’ll let them handle that. Right now, I’m enjoying some time off. I have seven months vacation that I haven’t used, so it’s nice to relax.

“But I’m happy with what Golden Boy and Oscar are doing.”

Schaefer said he wants to return to boxing at some point. Some in the industry believe that if he is allowed to leave Golden Boy, he might obtain a promoter’s license in Nevada and work with Mayweather.

“We’ll see,” Schaefer said. “I can’t say. I take it day to day. When I’m ready to return, I’ll be ready.”

Contact reporter Steve Carp at scarp@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2913. Follow him on Twitter: @stevecarprj.