Mayweather trains to beat of own music

When ABC’s series “Dancing With the Stars” begins Monday, one of the contestants will be Floyd Mayweather Jr., who also has a world welterweight boxing title and in December will fight former world junior-welterweight champion Ricky Hatton of England.

“Floyd has his hands full, but he has lots of commitment and energy and he’s doing great in practice,” said his “Dancing With the Stars” partner, Karina Smirnoff. “He has what it takes to walk away with the trophy.”

That would make for a busy two months for Mayweather, who with a 38-0 record and a split-decision victory over Oscar De La Hoya in May has affirmed his standing among most as the best pound-for-pound boxer in the world.

The season’s contestants on “Dancing With the Stars,” which trims its celebrity field weekly by audience voting and the rankings of a three-judge panel, include Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban, race car driver Helio Castroneves and Marie Osmond. They will cha-cha, tango and waltz their way to the show’s live finale Nov. 27.

With Smirnoff, Mayweather has been paired with a standout dancer who helped her boyfriend and actor Mario Lopez finish second to retired NFL running back Emmitt Smith two seasons ago, and was paired last season with country singer Billy Ray Cyrus.

The competition end date is less than two weeks before Mayweather’s Dec. 8 World Boxing Council welterweight title defense against Hatton (43-0, 31 knockouts).

The dancing “is going to push me that much harder,” Mayweather said Monday after he danced briefly with Smirnoff at Universal Studios CityWalk as part of a media tour that will include stops in his former hometown, Grand Rapids, Mich., and England.

“I’ll do my dancing, and I’ll dust you off,” Mayweather told Hatton.

Hatton, the former International Boxing Federation junior-welterweight champion who knocked out former world champion Jose Luis Castillo in the fourth round in June, poked some fun at Mayweather’s future ballroom dancing in a brief video that preceded his Monday entrance.

In the segment, a male comedian friend of Hatton plays an effeminate dance instructor named “Bruno” who jokes he has “a good friend named Floyd,” and then straps on some boxing gloves inside the ring. Hatton says he’s concerned Mayweather, a nearly 3-1 favorite, will attempt to “dance away” during the fight. When Hatton decks “Bruno” with a stiff right, “Bruno” responds, “My darling! Floyd?”

Hatton joked that Mayweather “covered more miles than Forrest Gump,” running around the ring in his November unanimous-decision victory over Carlos Baldomir, and said the “Dancing With the Stars” practice and competition could be a mistake. While Smirnoff said she anticipates three hours of daily dancing practice with Mayweather, Hatton said he’ll restrict his training to boxing-related activities such as sparring and speed bags.

“Maybe he doesn’t realize I’m quite as good as I am,” Hatton said.

Leonard Ellerbe, Mayweather’s manager, said he negotiated with ABC for more than a year to let his boxer follow in the “Dancing” footsteps of former heavyweight champion Evander Holyfield. Ellerbe said the schedule will only enhance the pay-per-view marketing for a fight at Las Vegas’ MGM Grand Garden Arena that sold out of tickets in less than four hours Monday.

“The timing is great,” Ellerbe said. “He’s going to win the competition, and he’ll also destroy Ricky Hatton.”

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