Who here is exited for Floyd and Karina? (Or as I call them, Flarina, with a FLARE.)

I am super-psyched, and I believe he'll do well! Read his interviews. He seems determined. I also find it very funny how Mario and Karina boxed during their season, Mario is a boxer for joy, and then Karina gets Floyd. I'm thinking they did that on purpose. :)

I am really surprised that Mayweather is actually doing the show. Mostly because of his schedule for his upcoming fight, but also because I wasn't sure that ABC/Disney would want to get involved with someone with his past legal problems.

USAToday

Follow-up in LAs Vegas Sun

Well, I am still rootin' for him! I just hope he doesn't hurt Karina. :(

Don't be so concerned for Karina's safety. I'd sooner put my money on him getting a heel to his privates if the situation arises.

The 24/7 shows that HBO did leading up to his Oscar fight were hilarious. It was mostly him, but his father and uncle were the perfect crazyass sidekicks. They have to interview them at some point. They just have to. If anyone can find the 24/7 shows, they are more than worth it. Entertaining and then some.

I'm actually interested to see how he'll handle the challenge of doing something he may not be good at. He doesn't strike me as willing to be vulnerable in front of people. Maybe he'll prove me wrong. I hope so.

I hope he's good also. :)

TV Guide article



This shows the right attitude.

He's not in it to be eliminated the first week. Interesting...

If Dancing With the Stars got rid of people because they had a few legal problems, then there would be nobody on the show. There’s a lot of stars including some very famous ones who have had run ins with the law. Mario Lopez was accused of date rape and caught stealing flowers. Tatum O‘Neal has a history of drug abuse and was accused by her ex-husband of neglecting her kids as well as other things and these are just from memory.
I don’t think Karina has a thing to worry about. As twisted as Mike Tyson was he managed to make public appearances without much trouble. Floyd Mayweather is no Mike Tyson. We do live in a world where a steroid fueled wrestler killed his wife and child but not even he did anything in public.

I thought he was a little underscored- or rather- I thought that with the inflation of the scores they have had for a number of contestants he was underscored. He was fun as all get out to watch- even if the technique was a bit more pop and lock than cha cha. Much better than say Clyde or BRC last season. And I think he could get a lot better. I am throwing my votes to him tonight because I think he is in real danger.

I'm surprised at how flat-footed he was. I would think as a boxer he would be able to dance on the balls of his feet. Also the way they scored him was wierd.

I was expecting him to be much better really. He was very spastic and all over the place. Lots of energy though.

I agree. I thought he was really good but mainly I was thinking of Karina.....I am sure she was so relieved to have an athlete as a partner. I am sure she wants to forget the Master P/Billy Ray Cyrus times. ANd Floyd is committed to the show and wants to do well. I think he will be someone to reckon with.

Actually Ashley had Master Pathetic not Karina. Karinas other partner was Mario.

I don't think he was underscored. I think they did him a favor because his scores will generate sympathy votes which his behavior in the rehearsal footage and his actual dancing may not have generated. I thought he was stiff, heavy-footed, and I thought I saw some of the same tweaking with hip hop styles that was in the Sabrina/Mark cha cha. Or maybe I'm only going on my very limited knowledge of the cha cha.

I do think he was when you put him in context with some of the other scores. I do think he was better than Wayne. And outside of some of his little pouting- I thought he was fine and cheerful in the rehearsal footage. I know Floyd is kinda known as a primadonna- but as someone who is familiar with him, the boxing world and the utter f-upness of his father- I find him a kinda endearing primadonna. And I want him to stay longer because I do think from hereonout he will work hard- and man can he give some sound bites.

I just do not think that he should have scored lower than Wayne. He may have been flat footed, etc. but there was rhythm and fun there. And I do think there is potential

thanks for the correction....I would have sworn it was Karina!!!! And I love the name Master Pathetic.

Agreed. I hate it when the judges inflate the scores of the oldies on the show. I'd rather see Floyd, who is young, fit, and competitive enough to improve, continue in the show than doddering Wayne and recuperating Mark.

Heh. And so can his uncle--if you ever watch him on the boxing circuit.
I'm sad I didn't get to see Floyd's performance tonight. I liked how humble he seemed to be yesterday when the other guys were naming him as a threat. If he sticks around, I'd be excited to see how he grows in this competition.

He didn't deserve to get the worst scores of the night. He was much better than Mark and Wayne.

I don't particularly care for Mayweather as a boxer, and I thought his routine was a bit spastic for Ballroom, but no way he should score less that Newton and the rich guy. I must confess, however, that I don't spend a lot of time looking at Karina's partner, whoever he may be. Lord hayuh mercy.

Word to the poster upthread on Mayweather's relatives. As a matter of fact, Roger ("The Black Mamba" when he was fighting) would be a very entertaining contestant himself.

I also expected Floyd's scores to be higher. This is my first real season (just caught a few bits and pieces before). so I can't say I'm onto the scoring process. I love any kind of dance, and was a majorette in high school. But ballroom dancing looks really tough to do well. I admire all the quasi and real celebrities for learning this difficult choreography. I loved Floyd's energy. The only thing that put me off was when he referred to himself as "Floyd" a couple of times. Using the 3rd person to refer to oneself usually marks an enormous ego.

Someone in another thread pointed out that Floyd was in the typical boxing stance for a lot of his Cha-Cha. I think it's disadvantageous to him that he's training for a fight at the same time as he's doing DWtS. It's obviously gonna be very hard for him to go back and forth between his boxing stance, and proper ballroom form. Seems almost impossible.

Anyway, I love him. I'd been wanting him to do DWtS for awhile now, and I'm so happy he got paired with Karina since she's awesome. This was my dream pairing. During his HBO reality show, they showed a lot of footage of him dancing around in the gym, and I could tell he had a lot of natural rhythm. His work-ethic is pretty legendary, so the negative edit is quite funny, although I totally expect that from this show.

He definitely needs to tone it down a notch or 10 on the dance floor, but he was definitely entertaining, and I appreciate that their was routine was quite fast and hard. You'd rather someone give you too much than too little, cause that too much can easily be toned down. Plus, I appreciate someone giving it their all and really working the stage.

Howard Stern and the gang were saying they could tell that he's one of the best, and they were all pissed off about Floyd's scores. Howard's gf said Floyd was the most fun and entertaining. I heard that a lot yesterday, so I'm hoping his fanbase keeps growing. One of Howard's sidekicks, Fred, actually predicted Floyd would win. I'm not so sure about that, since his type never wins, but it was nice to hear him being discussed like that this early.

That is why I was a bit surprised to see him get so frustrated during rehearsal- but why I believe that once he got over his pout- he did indeed work very hard. (The editing after the pout made it seem as such.)

I still think that some of the scenes during the HBO behind the scenes story leading up the Mayweather/De La Hoya fight were hilarious. I can’t remember who his father started scuffle with someone from the other corner’s camp after/during a fight- but Floyd’s reaction made me crack up. There was a melee going on and someone asked if Floyd was going to intervene- and he essentially said something along the lines of “Why would I want to get involved with that madness?” except his actual wording and delivery were a lot funnier. It may seem harsh when written down- but with how Floyd, Sr. can be- it was actually very pragmatic.

Sportswriters seem to really like Floyd in spite of themselves and even when they are pitting him as the bad boy against the golden boy (a’la his fight against Oscar.) I think it is that even though he is a prima donna- he can be so funny or engaging even when he is ridiculous or can make you roll your eyes. Kind of like he realizes that he has a role to play if you will The boxing world has been so full of prima donnas- that I guess they are used to it and enjoy those who seem to enjoy what they do and have fun with it as opposed to those who are angry and or waste opportunities time and time again – which can happen in the sport.

I do feel that the posturing that can happen in the boxing world a lot can rub people the wrong way on shows like this for the general public- but it does not bug me. Holyfield, Oscar and Lewis are the exceptions in that they are not always so up front with their confidence. But even Laila last year had that uber-confidence that you can find in boxing- she was just not so flashy about it (and had the dancing chops to back it up.)

I do agree the way they scored him was weird. Coming in everybody was saying they thought he was a good dancer. Even his partner Karina is extremely confident in his abilities. I thought Floyd’s dance was energetic and strong and one of most entertaining of the show. Also looking at the clip, the acting was so poor that the, so called, drama looked incredibly fake. Those two did shine on the dance floor and I hope that soon the scores will reflect their abilities. The judges were so far off base but it sounded to me like the audience loved them. I certainly did.
I don't. Master P was an easy target for some but this guy is a rap superstar who added something to Dancing With the Stars that can’t be denied, cool. Master P was and is the coolest guy that’s ever been on this show. While he wasn’t the best dancer, he was so far from the worst. If he hadn’t been a last minute replacement and had the same time to practice as everyone else, he would have shown well as a dancer. He takes hits because he did something brave, he took a chance. It wasn’t like Dancing With the Stars was going to raise his profile, in fact he raised Dancing With the Stars profile. They got better quality stars after he went on the show, because he made it cool. Jerry Rice did it for sports stars and Master P did it overall.

Chesty LaRue (love that name - hee!) the melee was between his uncle/trainer and Zab Judah's dad/trainer. Then everybody got into it, save for Floyd. It was the most exciting part of that fight.

He's doing great. I loved the quick step and how Karina cracks the whip. Yet there is no way in hell I'm voting for him. As a boxing fan (and his fan), I hope he gets eliminated soon. He has to train for a huge fight against Hatton in December.

Floyd's posture still needs work, but it did look much better than last week. If he can make it past tonight's elimination round, next week could be a turning point for him. He would be dancing the Jive I think, and that is a dance where his posture issues wouldn't be as glaring. Also, it would give Karina a chance to choreograph a routine that would take advantage of some of his strengths, namely the fact that he can really move his legs and feet and that he has a really good feel for the music. A well-received performance next week would be a great confidence booster, could win over some voters, and might motivate him to work even harder at improving on his weaknesses. I'm really starting to like this guy.

Oh- thanks for the correction Sleepyhead Case. And how could I forget since Judah was suspended after that. It sure was funny though- there was this hurricane of chaos around Floyd and he was just staying out of it. (As an aside- Zab Judah is kind of a sad case to me- yes he has wrecked a lot of his chances himself but I was really rooting for him against Cotto.)

I do think that Karina should use one of those posture correction bars with Floyd to help him out just so he gets used to the feeling of having correct posture. I also Floyd should quite wearing those looonnng baggy shorts in his rehearsals -I think he should wear tighter attire so he can see his hip movements, etc. better.

I know this is off-topic but to respond to mlewis,

the thing that sums up Master P's appearance for me is the fact that he refused to wear dance shoes and even made a concerted effort to disrespect the entire concept when he threw Ashley's gift of shoes to the floor (although that may have been somewhat staged). That said everything we needed to know about his attitude toward ballroom dancing and toward the show and results in him standing apart from all other contestants who were at least willing to be good sports and give it the old college try and to have fun. With a modicum of effort, he probably would have performed better than Kenny Mayne, Tucker Carlson, Jerry Springer and a few others, but he just didn't give a shit about the show, his partner, or dancing in general. At least, that is the reason I don't respect him for his appearance on the show. Of his business acumen, or proper place in the rap/hip hop industry, I have little knowledge, thus no real opinion.

I have to agree with some posters here, give Floyd a few hours with the posture bar and man would he be unstoppable. He needs to correct all of his posture issues and he'd blow alot of people out of the water.

I agree. If I were one of the pros I owuld love to have an athlete as a partner: they are conditioned and they hate to lose. Although that logic didn't work for that NBA dude, now did it?

Edited to add: That "NBA dude was Clyde Drexler."

I agree...if Floyd gets his posture corrected, he will be serious competition for Helio in particular. His footwork is amazing for a beginning dancer. I think he needs to channel his frustration during practice into determination, and he'll do OK. Frustration can be tough to control. Im sure that Len wil give him some pointed advice that he better pay attention to, lest a vote-off be in the offing. I'm rooting for Floyd, because he has such untapped potential.

Why is Karina not on Floyd about his posture though? I don't get it. Maybe she has been and we just never see that in the training packages, but she has to know how much of an issue it is in his dancing.

It's like Floyd seems to think the footwork is the only thing that matters and completely ignores his upper body.

Karina's very tough and determined. She must've said something to him a few times, and he didn't go along, so she shifted focus.

The upper body is a serious distraction (I often think I'm watching two different halves instead of one person) and is contributing to him blending into the woodwoork. He's the person where I go, "Oh yeah, he's still there," every week.

I think the whole posture thing is overblown. Floyd is what this contest is all about, someone with no dance training learning to dance. He has a lot of new information to absorb in a short period of time and to see how far he’s come is amazing. Watching him in the film clips, it’s easy to see that he’s listening to Karina, has incredible focus and a very strong will to win. To be a championship boxer, like Floyd, means he’s got to work very hard and listen to his trainers if he wants to improve. Those are the qualities that serve him well in this dance contest, as he says Karina’s the boss. His posture will improve as he gets more familiar with dancing and performing. The real key here is that he is engaging the audience with his dancing. He knows how to please a crowd. There is a sense of excitement that comes from Floyd that doesn’t come from any of the other male dancers. Even the best of the rest come off as stiff, bland and somewhat unexciting. Everyone in this contest has his strengths and Floyd has some very good ones. Personally, I think the judges have nitpicked over Floyd’s dancing and underscored him consistently. Floyd is so much better than Wayne Newton, yet the judges continually persist in lumping him in the same category which I think is a shame. the only thing Wayne Newton has going for him is a certain Las Vegas swagger but Floyd has real ability, as Karina consistently points out.

I'm really happy Floyd made it. I hope he can do everything the judges think he can. He seems really determined, and I agree that a championship boxer clearly understands direction. Love Karina too. I'm routing for this couple to pull it all together.

RebeccaCP posted a link to this article in the Media thread but this exerpt gives insight into Floyd's perspective on the judges -



I read this as Floyd not believing he has anything wrong with his dancing (which includes the posture). The fact is that the bad posture detracts from the dance presentation. I'm wondering if he has seen a replay of his dances compared to someone doing the same dance so he compare the posture/frame? The visual comparison may be the way to make him see what Len and others have pointed out as a significant problem. Just a thought.

I sympathize with Floyd not being able to understand what the judges are saying (especially because I'm not convinced that Karina is helping him to understand it, either). The thing is, Len's comments about not wearing speakers but dance shoes, was, I think, the first piece of specific advice given to Floyd. And Karina should have known that and already explained why it could help with the posture issues.

While a visual comparison might help, I think it's a bigger problem that has to do with whether you carry your weight high up in your chest, make your turns through the hips, or push your body up from the ground and your feet. I tend to think that folks who have done a lot of social dancing, particularly without in-hold partner dancing, have to resolve a number of things about balance and frame and posture that feel right to them.

Over the years I have felt that most of the celebs don't do a lot of social dancing. They may be awkward, but they are learning with less of a blank slate than someone like Floyd who actually has a lot of experience as a dancer--it's just that his informal training as to what is good or pretty doesn't map directly to what skills are needed in this competition.

While many folks thought Mario was a ringer because he took dance classes, the real issue IMO was that he was an accomplished social dancer--which hindered him because he had more habits to break than others.

The fact that most of the male celebs named Floyd as their competition before they saw each other even dance (that clip on the women's dance night) was probably because they knew him as someone who "dances" all the time. For most of the men, that's something to be scared of. But Floyd is probably better at improvising than getting the nuances of the ballroom scene. What's Karina's job again?

I totally agree with this. I rewatched his jive and at one point, the way his arms were moving from his sides then up (so his body was in a "t" position) really made his upper body looked like it was lifting weights.

There's some very nice stuff about Floyd in the TV Guide backstage report for this week. It's so sweet that he wants to build a dance studio in Grand Rapids. I mean, that is just adorable. It also makes his motivations on the show seem a bit different, too. I can't believe he gets up at 4 am every day to hit the gym, and works dancing in around that schedule. So maybe he was just exhausted last night, and not bored at all.

I have a feeling he will be going home tonight (and I'd rather have it be him than Mel or Cameron, my other faves) but I have to say, I feel a lot better about him after that article.

Congrats to Floyd for defeating Ricky Hatton tonight in a great fight. I must say, if it weren't for this little show I would have never paid $55 for a pay-per-view fight. But it definitely was a lot of fun. I really do appreciate DWTS for exposing me to so many different things that I would otherwise never give a second thought to.

It was also great seeing Mark Cuban, Wayne Newton, and Helio carrying Floyd's belts into the ring.

Read about the fight here.

Thanks for posting that, loveisthedrug. I wish I could have seen the procession with Helio, Mark Cuban, and Wayne Newton. From what I've read, there were 16,500 British fans at the fight in Las Vegas, and they loudly booed Floyd Mayweather as he entered. Which makes it doubly sweet that Floyd had his DWTS buds there to support him.

You'd think there'd be photos of them everywhere. It's not every day of the week that a boxer has in his entourage a 2-time Indy 500 winner, a billionaire basketball team owner, and Mr. Las Vegas. But so far all I can find is slim pickin's:

(1) Go here and then click on the link that says "Click here for Hatton v Mayweather photo gallery." Photo No. 2 in the gallery is Floyd's procession to the ring, in which you can see his championship belts being held aloft, and a fraction of Helio's face.

(2) If you were to search for "Mayweather Hatton weigh" on that place we don't mention by name, you could find multiple vids of the Friday weigh-in - a raucous affair - and could catch glimpses of Helio and Wayne Newton holding up the belts.

I have been looking for those entourage pictures too. Sadly cannot find any. With all the talk of boxing dying, Floyd's time on DWTS did bring the sport into the public conscious a bit more again. Getting Helio to show up also helps, considering Helio's post show popularity. Again proving how there are so many different ways people win when they go on this show.

I guess Floyd really got an unfair edit, he seems like a sweetheart. I only got a glimpse into his "real" personality in one of those post-show video interviews when Karina was prancing to the camera showing her tatoo very very loooow on her hip and Floyd was all "Come on Karina, I don't want your boyfriend beating me up!!" He sounded adorable, not sleazy at all, but somebody you could tease. It's really sweet that he has his DWTs co-stars bringing in his belts. I'm very very happy he won.

He seemed like a real sweetheart when talking to Jimmy after he got eliminated.

I know nothing near to nothing about boxing but paid attention this fight because of DWTS. Who knew..

After he KO'd Hatton, he jumped up on the ropes and was fighting back tears. Later, when he brought his kids into the ring and was kissing each of them on the head, I was fighting back tears. I agree that it seems as though they didn't show enough of Floyd's soft side on DWTS.

Yes but it seems like that is the problem for many of the stars. They decide to slant someone a certain way. I mean they lid to portray Julianne as sweet and cute as bubble gum but a few times she was like a shark.. Saw blood and went for it. Remember Apollo saying she would keep saying "Be a man..." How many times did that actually show that side of her ?

I saw that too. I am glad he was able to give boxing more press as they have been losing a bit to that odd UFC. I hope the producers recognize how much an impact edits can have on the celebs. Floyd was given that mean edit, but I am sure had he been paired with a Julianne (any male celeb actually) or Cheryl, he may have lasted a bit longer. But to be honest, I think he left at an appropriate time based on his ability. I agree though that the edit made him seem more harsh. Again, after being on the show, got us to pay attention to boxing and we are left with this impression though so I guess it is win/win.

I liked Floyd on the show. He wasn't the greatest dancer but he tried hard and wanted to do well.

I liked Floyd as well. I'm a big sports fan so I knew a lot about him before DWTS. They really sabotaged any chance of him staying on a a couple weeks longer though with that horrible edit they gave him. That could partly be due to having Karina as a partner as well. They seem to like to give Karina these difficult partners to see what kind of sparks could happen, well ever since Mario anyway and you can argue he was a difficult partner as far as personality as well if you like. I agree that his dancing was probably more responsible for him being eliminated at the time he did, but I think his horrible edit on the show played a part as well.

I'm thrilled he won his fight Saturday, I watched it and it was really entertaining. Loveisthedrug, I thought that moment with his kids was wonderful as well. Was really touching and it showed that soft spot he has. If you watched the HBO series he was on leading up to the fight against Hatton as well as the last series when he was about to fight Del La Hoya, you would've seen how down to earth and fun Floyd could be. Ah well, at least he brought some recognition to Boxing that seems to be lacking nowadays since he's been on DWTS as short of a run as it was.

A betlated congrats to Floyd for his win- that was a tough battle as he acknowledged. Ricky is scrappy.

I always love to see the 24/7 shows on HBO before the fights- and more and more I am thinking that Floyd is performing a role when he is loudmouthed before a fight. He seems to always say some of this stuff with a little twinkle in his eye- like he know that he is playing a part. It does bring attention to boxing. I have read some boxing writers who have said something along the lines of that while Floyd may not become a fan's favorite by playing this role, his over the top personality does bring more fans to boxing than if he was more sedate. I really enjoyed how the 24/7 show displayed the real dichotomy between his Ali like behavior in front of the press and his really sweetness as a dad in his personal life. The show also really highlights his vulnerability- there are still some major issues there with his father. I think that sweetness and vulnerability was on full display after the fight- where he seemed relieved, grateful of the win, full of respect for Hatton, and very happy. I am not saying Floyd is always a puppy dog- but I don't think he is really the extreme personality that the press sometimes portays him as. A few British writers noted that as they became more familiar with him in the lead up to Saturday's fight. Keona- I do agree as well that 24/7 also shows that Floyd can be fun.

Cuban seemed to be having a ball in Floyd's corner- that was fun to see.