Robert Guerrero's Dad Goes Off Script, Calls Mayweather "Woman Beater"

The firm doing PR for Saturday night's Floyd Mayweather Jr.-Robert Guerrero fight emailed us the quotes from yesterday's pre-fight press conference in Vegas. That helpful little guide said the fighters' fathers had "nearly come to blows," but it left out all the fun stuff.

Manufacturing conflict has been a part of boxing's hype machine for as long as we've had boxing. But as you can see in the video above, when Guerrero's father and trainer, Ruben, flipped his shit and repeatedly ranted about Mayweather being a "woman beater," it killed everyone's buzz.

Some background: Mayweather served two months in prison last year after pleading guilty to misdemeanor domestic battery charges stemming from a 2010 assault on his ex-girlfriend, Jodie Harris. He copped the plea only to avoid a trial during which he would have faced felony charges and the possibility of a lengthy prison sentence. Showtime, in a recent hour-long documentary previewing the fight, repeatedly showed Mayweather and his handlers downplaying the severity of the incident, which happened in front of two of Mayweather's and Harris's three children. That prompted Harris this week to provide Yahoo with graphic details of what Mayweather did to her. Harris did this even though she and Mayweather are again friendly and have even been intimate on one occasion since Mayweather got out of prison.

Now watch how Oscar De La Hoya nervously wipes his brow as Ruben Guerrero continues to shout "woman beater" after ceding the podium. Boxing's hype machine has never been known for being scrupulous, but even it has its limits, apparently. Ruben Guerrero might have done more to draw attention to the fight than any of the self-congratulation the fight's promoters and sponsors have been shoveling at everyone for weeks. It just isn't the kind of attention Floyd Mayweather Jr. wanted.