Mayweather: I’ve matured, grown up mentally

Floyd Mayweather Jr. at the MGM Grand Arena on Friday, 1 May 2015 for the official weigh in for his fight with Manny Pacquiao. PHOTO BY REM ZAMORA

LAS VEGAS — For the past couple of months, Floyd Mayweather Jr. has been surprisingly respectful, well-mannered and cordial towards his longtime rival Manny Pacquiao.

And Friday’s well-attended official weigh-in that saw 11,500 people cheering and jeering was no different.

READ: Home court edge? Pacquiao cheered, Mayweather jeered in weigh-in

There was no taunting on his part as he made his way to the stage and not even trash-talking when he hit the scale where he cleared the 147-pound limit by weighing in at 146, a pound heavier than the Filipino boxing star.

With the exception of his interview with ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith two of weeks ago, Mayweather has been subdued — completely the exact opposite of his old self, who used to poke fun at Pacquiao on social media.

READ: Low-key Mayweather thanks God for making fight possible

Mayweather has attributed the change in how he carries himself to maturity.

“Just growth, you know, maturing over the years,” he said in an exclusive interview with CNN. “I’m not far from 40 years old so I’ve been in the sport as a professional 19 years.”

Not too long ago, the 38-year-old Mayweather, whose spotless 47-0 record and World Boxing Council and Wold Boxing Association welterweight belts are on the line in Saturday’s unification title bout, was ripping Pacquiao on social media and during interviews.

READ: Floyd Mayweather: ‘No one is better than me’

But things took a sudden turn when the two welterweight champions faced off for the first time in a press conference in Los Angeles last March as a soft-spoken Mayweather had nothing but good things to say about Pacquiao, whom he even called a “very interesting fighter” on that particular Wednesday.

“I can’t grow physically so mentally, I have to grow. Sometimes you outgrow certain things.”

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