Floyd “Money” Mayweather is an all-time great boxer; there is no argument unless you are a complete hater. He is not “TBE” (the best ever) as he likes to call himself.
That title unquestionably belongs to Sugar Ray Robinson. If you disagree, get off your ass and do some research. Mayweather is not even the greatest I have seen in real time, but he is up there.
Mayweather has established himself as the best P4P fighter of his generation. His resume of victims is truly impressive. Yes, he at times avoided dangerous opponents (Antonio Margarito), or waited out guys until they showed signs of vulnerability (Miguel Cotto and Manny Pacquiao) but most of the greats avoided certain guys at some point (Robinson included).
Mayweather took it upon himself to always play the heel. This brought him a loyal fan base who thinks he walks on water while at the very same time attracted hatred due to his trash talk, which brought in an audience willing to pay to see him get some kind of come-uppance that never came (he is 49-0).
The combination made him the biggest pay-per-view star in history. For several years he was the highest paid athlete in sports. Although I usually rooted against him, I don’t begrudge him a single cent; he earned every penny.
What I do have a problem with is Floyd’s apparent displeasure with anything in boxing succeeding without him attached to it. When his chief rival, Manny Pacquiao was rolling and damn-near matching the money man in PPV numbers, it drove Floyd nuts.
It became obvious as he would announce his next opponent, retire, un-retired, etc. the same week as Pacquiao was fighting. This was even more troubling because the buying public was forced to watch these two fight opponents other than each other.
If Mayweather wanted a piece of Pacquiao’s fight-week publicity, he should have been sharing a ring with him. However, Pacquiao was too dangerous at the time for Mayweather’s liking.
Pac-man has to take some of that blame too for being way too slow to agree to Floyd’s drug-testing demands. But it was obvious all along that Mayweather was happy to make big paydays against safer opponents until Manny started to slip.
When the fight finally took place on 5/2/15, it was a $100 per PPV dud inside the ring (it shattered all boxing records business wise). As I have said in prior articles, not every big fight becomes a classic inside the ring.
In addition, the onus was on Pacquiao to take the fight to Mayweather. He didn’t. Maybe it was age. Maybe it was his injured shoulder. Maybe it was Floyd’s stinging right hand counters; probably all of the above.
Mayweather fought his fight and won; I have no issue with that. People who expected Mayweather to become Arturo Gatti because they paid $100 are morons.
My problem is that these two could have put on an all-time classic inside the ring five years earlier; maybe two of them. But, Mayweather was more interested in that “0” in the loss column than being known for fighting a classic.
That along with Pacquiao’s promoter Bob Arum being happy to match him with other Arum property stalled what could have been a three-fight rivalry. 5/2/15 should have been May-Pac III, not I.
2016 was an awful year for boxing. The sport was reeling from a fan hangover after May-Pac and fighters seemed to be following suit in avoiding each other for safer opponents.
Fan disgust seems to have woken boxing up in 2017. The much sought after middleweight showdown between Gennady “GGG” Golovkin and Saul “Canelo” Alvarez arrives September 16.
The heavyweight division has some juice to it for the first time in 15 years off Anthony Joshua’s knockout of long-time division king Wladimir Klitchko. Keith Thurman and Danny Garcia pulled in nice ratings on CBS in March.
Even Manny Pacquiao fought on free TV last weekend (being robbed by the judges but showing it’s time to retire). Boxing fans are ready to move on from the May-Pac era and let new stars cross over to casual fans.
However, Mr. Money Man just can’t stand to watch the sport thrive without him, so he is un-retiring again. No problem. He was the best when he left; if he wants to test himself again at 40, God Bless.
But, rather than take on the GGG-Canelo winner at middleweight or a young welterweight stud, he is putting on a circus on August 26 against UCF star Connor McGregor.
Yes three weeks before the biggest fight possible not involving Floyd Mayweather, he has to damage that fight and the sport that made him rich by putting on a novelty act. I know it’s been done before, but not on a mainstream scale like this.
It also shows how pathetic and dumb society is for eating this s**t up. Even if Mayweather came back at 40 and fought another aging legend like Cotto or Pacquiao again, it would have dignity.
This has none. Boxing can only lose here. Floyd should win, but he is 40 facing a bigger, younger guy who can hit. If Mayweather doesn’t win big, boxing looks bad.
If somehow McGregor wins landing that one big shot or gets himself disqualified as Teddy Atlas has suggested is a possibility, boxing suffers. Those who buy this for $100 are almost guaranteed as much or more disappointment than they suffered from May-Pac.
This will turn some casual fans away on September 16 when a truly big fight takes place. Even if I am a McGregor/MMA fan, I wouldn’t like this.
I respect MMA fighters as the most complete in the world; I just don’t buy many UFC PPVs. But MMA fans who buy this are enabling McGregor to hold his title (and his sport) hostage to line his pockets and expand his brand.
So if you are a boxing fan, save your money for GGG-Canelo. If you are an MMA fan, spend it on Daniel Cormier-Jon Jones II on July 29.
However, if you are sad Ringling Bros. went out of business and you miss the circus, go ahead and buy this Mayweather-McGregor carnival. Talk soon.
-Marksman