Justin Bieber to join Mayweather’s ring walk

Boxer Floyd Mayweather Jr., right, meets Justin Bieber after a news conference, Wednesday, March 11, 2015, in Los Angeles. Mayweather is scheduled to fight Manny Pacquiao, of the Philippines, in Las Vegas on May 2. AP PHOTO

LOS ANGELES–Pop music star Justin Bieber says he’ll be at Floyd Mayweather’s side when the unbeaten American walks to the ring on May 2 (US time) to take on Manny Pacquiao in their welterweight world title super-fight.

Bieber, a friend of Mayweather who has accompanied the fighter to the ring at other fights, told celebrity website TMZ.com that he would be part of the boxer’s entourage for the long anticipated bout with Filipino ring icon Pacquiao in Las Vegas.

Bieber, a onetime teenage heart-throb, has in recent years found himself in trouble for run-ins with authority ranging in seriousness from egg-throwing vandalism to alleged assault on a photographer in Argentina and a limo driver in Canada.

The 21-year-old Canadian isn’t the only celebrity backing Mayweather over Pacquiao, a winner of world titles in eight different weight categories with a record of 57 victories, five defeats and two draws.

Rapper Ludacris told interviewer DJ Envy on the radio show “The Breakfast Club” that Mayweather, whose unblemished 47-0 record has helped him become the highest-paid sportsman in the world, is training as never before.

“I’ve never in my life seen him this focused and training this hard,” the entertainer said. “He knows that everything is on the line.”

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