Before we start there are a couple of people who need to stop reading this article immediately.
1- If you are on the Money Team or have purchased a hat, sweatsuit or tee and believe you are on the Money Team.
2- If you simply can not separate the boxer Mayweather from person Mayweather.
3- If you in the words of Roger Mayweather don’t know sh*t boxing.
We are going to start with the boxing.
Mayweather is a bit like the Patriots, even though he has been a champion for 17 of his 19 years as a professional boxer, people like to find reasons to discredit a lot of his success.
There are certain critiques that are valid. Once he got in a position to dictate his selection of whom to fight and when to fight them, that was always a sore spot for some, but if you look at the totality of his career, he wasn’t fighting bums.
His last 16 opponents have been current or former world champs and he has fought 24 former and current champs throughout of his career. Also it isn’t unusual for fighters to pick and choose opponents that the public doesn’t want to see. No one was clamoring for that Pacquiao vs. Algieri fight. I am still waiting on Sugar Ray Leonard to give Hagler his rematch.
In an ironic twist, Mayweather is downgraded for winning too easily and making good fighters look average. Look at it like this, Canelo vs. Cotto is one of the most anticipated fights of the year and Mayweather made Canelo look like an amateur and one of Cotto’s greatest accomplishments was making Mayweather work a little harder than usual, but he didn’t win more than 4 rounds on any scorecard. These are two of the best fighters in the world, fighting on a massive PPV and he made them both look average.
Mayweather limited Manny Pacquiao a high volume, high activity fighter to 85 landed punches (2 more than Berto). Pacquiao for over a decade beyond getting KOed in a fight he was winning, had dominated every opponent, but wasn’t even competitive against Mayweather. Pacquiao had life and death struggles with Juan Manuel Marquez who is one of the greatest fighters of our generation and Mayweather white washed JMM.
Shane Mosley was one of the best pound for pound fighters of our generation is known as someone who hurt Mayweather in one round, while proceeding to lose the other 11.
Mayweather has fought boxers of all nationalities and varying styles. It didn’t matter if they were boxers or brawlers, he has made them all for the most part look bad.
It is a gift and curse, casual boxing fans prop boxers up who engage in wars, it is a common human trait. They are the same type of fans who would say things like…
“Shaq only dunks.”
“James Harden just draw fouls.”
Defense is boring, offense is sexy. In most sports that is what attracts fans. Defensive brilliance, not taking punishment and precision boxing is looked down upon by casual boxing fans.
Fans want wars, they want fighters to take risks, essentially they want blood and it annoys them that Mayweather just won’t do that to please them.
For years, I ponder how did Mayweather become the PPV king while being a defensive fighter who doesn’t really engaged, then it just hit me.
People wanted to see someone, anyone drag Mayweather into a war, they would pay not necessarily because of Mayweather but because they looked at the Mayweather’s opponent like Charlie Brown trying to kick a football. They hoped this opponent would finally be the one that did it, but Mayweather just pulls the ball away like Lucy every time.
https://youtu.be/055wFyO6gag
I asked Mayweather at the post fight press conference if he does indeed retire does he still want to be seen as the villain and this is what he said.
“I didn’t make myself into the villain, YOU DID (you being the media), I just ran with it and took it to another level.”
It is that persona which may cause him to never get the respect he thinks he deserves outside of boxing, but when you take that route to the next level you can’t be surprised by that.
People can’t separate how they feel about the person, from the greatness they see in the ring. Humans run off emotions, so this is somewhat understandable.
Same person can hate Mayweather and love Greg Hardy, that just the way people are, you can’t expect fans or even media to be rational.
I have covered Mayweather fights for six years, I have followed his career for longer than that. I can read people pretty well, I know a lot of the Money Mayweather persona (and he has admitted this) is just marketing and it has worked.
When your opponent is making $4 million and you are making $32 million, from a business perspective you are doing something right.
I think Jen Welter who came under fire for attending the fight said something very interesting. She thought it was important that a strong intelligent woman spoke to him. People don’t really speak to Mayweather, they sort of just orbit around him, so you are just seeing what they want you to see. If you talk to anyone who is really on the Money Team, they will tell you he isn’t the guy people are portraying him to be, but he knows that perception is what drives the money.
I don’t pretend to know Mayweather well enough to know what is really going on in his head. I’ve learned to be indifferent about the athletes I cover, it helps when people are going crazy you can see all angles clearly. My advice to Mayweather would be if he cares about his legacy, would be at some point he sits down and talks honestly about his domestic violence history.
We all know and have reported about what has happened in the past and the fact he doesn’t seem apologetic rubs a lot of people the wrong way. I am not big on fake apologies, so if he honestly feels he did nothing wrong, he shouldn’t apologize, but then you have to understand why people will feel the way they do about him outside of the ring and how that seeps into their thinking about him inside the ring.
This is sports, people have a tendency to forgive and forget. Mike Tyson is beloved and he has done way more crazier stuff than Mayweather. Ben Roethlisberger strong armed women, paid them off and it is rarely mentioned. Dez Bryant slapped his mom, no one cares.
Mayweather doesn’t have to appease anyone, but for his brilliance in the ring to be appreciated the way it should, it is something that he should consider. Saying you are sorry goes a long way these days. He doesn’t have to apologize for how he fights or the opponents he picks, but putting your hands on women is something that unless your life is in danger just shouldn’t be done.
Because, when you really look at it, we have had the opportunity to witness one of the greatest boxers in the history. He has a legit claim to being the best defensive fighter ever and while some would roll their eyes at the TBE label, it is damn near impossible to fight almost 50 times and never have an off night in this day and age.
Every great fighter from Joe Louis to Ali to Sugar Ray Robinson all had an off nights. There have been 147 scorecards turned in during Mayweather’s 49 fights and only ONE card ever had him as a loser (and it was a terrible score). 19 years and only once did an official judge thought someone had beaten him.
Hate him or love him, Mayweather took control of his career and became the most financially successful boxer of all time and if he does indeed leave the sport, he has a left a huge mark on the sport (good or bad depending on who you talk to), but walks away from it without a mark on his face.
For a boxer, that may be worth more than any check in the world.