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Floyd Mayweather Jr. is an entertainer, not a fighter!
Floyd Mayweather Jr. is an entertainer, not a fighter
October 15, 4:10 PM
Indianapolis Fight Sports Examiner
by Dennis "dSource" Guillermo
Fighters fight while entertainers get paid to put on a show. So don't tell me Floyd Mayweather Jr. (the boxer) came out from retirement and reclaimed the throne as the best boxer in the planet- this is not the WWE.
In my book, Floyd Mayweather Jr. (the boxer) retired in 2006 after getting a scare from Zab Judah who knocked him down in that fight (Floyd used his right glove to hold him up on the canvas when he was on the way down, but the referee did not see it) and gave him a test.
After that fight, Floyd has nitpicked his opponents in money fights that were against either smaller, slower and weaker fighters or all of the above. Against the washed-up Oscar Dela Hoya, Floyd only managed a split decision victory, which probably signaled him to resort to fighting smaller opponents instead of risking his unbeaten record against the many tough fighters in his division like Antonio Margarito, Miguel Cotto, Shane Mosley and even Paul Williams. If a washed-up Dela Hoya who was beat-up by a small guy like Pacquiao into submitting almost beat him, what do you think the real great fighters in their prime at the welterweight division do to him?
Whatever challenge and excitement that lacks in his match-ups and bouts, Floyd has made up for with his mouth. You have to give the man credit, he is an excellent salesman. He can sell a lopsided mismatch to those who have known from the get-go that it's a bad deal- like selling heaters in Somalia.
But for some so-called boxing experts to consider him as the best boxer in the planet is simply absurd. I guess people will have their biases but if you asked me, calling Floyd Mayweather Jr. the best fighter in boxing is a disservice to the sport and a slap coupled by a spit on every boxing fan who has followed the sport closely in the past few years. It's downright insulting.
Mayweather Jr. is not even a boxer at this point. He is simply making the most out of the celebrity he has gotten from his years on top as a boxer and using it to keep his name significant and as a tool to make money. It's smart, but I don't know if I can say the same for those who fall for it and still look at him as a boxer. I don't care how long you have been covering boxing or whether you have written for the biggest boxing magazine or website out there or even if you wrote in the old testament of the bible, it doesn't take a genius to realize that Floyd Mayweather Jr. is simply all about making money off boxing right now. And in case you didn't get the memo, he said it himself.
See, the difference between me and these other scribes is that, I don't care about the politics or rubbing elbows with the big wigs of this business. I don't need these media credentials because before I even started writing about boxing, I paid for my way in to see worthwhile fights. I am a fan first and a writer second. And what enrages me as a boxing fan is how this guy sits there and tries to sell us these BS fights and whines and cries about being the best in the sport. I know it's a business, but at least have some form of pride, class and honor in what you do. If you want me to pay money to see you fight, give me something I can home home with and say to my self, "damn, that was worth all the hard-earned money I spent on it".
And what are they trying to sell us now? A fight against an unknown 19-year old prospect from Mexico. WOW! Really??
I'm sorry to all the Floyd fans that might get offended by this piece but I'm just calling it how I see it. I got nothing against Floyd, but if he truly wants to be considered the best, he needs to give fans real fights against real top-flight opponents his size, and not crappy mismatches. Call it hype or whatever you want but just the fact that it is even being "considered" by Mayweather's camp and for Golden Boy CEO Richard Shaeffer to have the nerve and say something about it in the media when he told Mark Vester of Boxingscene.com recently,
"There is a young fighter, 19-years-old. All of Mexico is talking about him. And he is filling up 10,000 people in venues in Mexico. He is fighting at 147; he's undefeated. He's a red head, a red head Mexican. They call him "Canelo," cinnamon head - Saul "Canelo" Alvarez. He would like nothing better than to fight Floyd Mayweather Jr," and added,
"You put Saul Alvarez in with Floyd Mayweather and you put it in Aztec Stadium - you sell 100,000 tickets. The guy [Alvarez] on his own sells 10 to 20,000 tickets. Floyd Mayweather is a big event fighter."
What do these guys take us for?
Perhaps this is why Golden Boy Promotions has been getting unlucky as of late. I call it "karma". They were given an opportunity to change boxing for the better like they promised, and what did they do and continue to do? Give us BS fights and over-hype their talents only to get upset and exposed. At one point in the past five years, I was a big Golden Boy supporter. At this point, I could care less about those guys and whatever they promote. They make all this noise and say they will change boxing and do things right. Well, at this point, traditional promoters like Top Rank, Gary Shaw, Dan Goosen and Lou Di Bella are the ones really making waves for the sport.
Going back to Floyd, until he fights somebody great within his weight class, I can't consider him a fighter. I consider him one of the best boxers of this generation, but as of today, I don't even look at him as a fighter. He's definitely a celebrity, a performer, a dancer, a reality tv show personality, a wannabe rapper, producer and a hell of a marketing and business man, but a fighter, he simply is not. Why? Because fighters fight and a fight means taking on the biggest challenge out there and proving your self, not picking on a smaller or less caliber guy just to pad up your stats and bragging rights on top of getting paid. You don't call that a fight, that's simply what you call in the streets as a "hustle". As a boxing fan, I pay to watch great boxers fight, not hustlers.
Parting shot: How the heck do you end up scouring the earth to fight a 19-year old boxer when you got the best fighters in the planet calling you out for a multi-million pay day?! I was wondering if Floyd was scared of losing to somebody like Pacquiao, Mosley or Williams then, but if he does indeed fight this kid instead of someone his size that people consider great, then I know he's not really scared... He's petrified!
October 15, 4:10 PM
Indianapolis Fight Sports Examiner
by Dennis "dSource" Guillermo
Fighters fight while entertainers get paid to put on a show. So don't tell me Floyd Mayweather Jr. (the boxer) came out from retirement and reclaimed the throne as the best boxer in the planet- this is not the WWE.
In my book, Floyd Mayweather Jr. (the boxer) retired in 2006 after getting a scare from Zab Judah who knocked him down in that fight (Floyd used his right glove to hold him up on the canvas when he was on the way down, but the referee did not see it) and gave him a test.
After that fight, Floyd has nitpicked his opponents in money fights that were against either smaller, slower and weaker fighters or all of the above. Against the washed-up Oscar Dela Hoya, Floyd only managed a split decision victory, which probably signaled him to resort to fighting smaller opponents instead of risking his unbeaten record against the many tough fighters in his division like Antonio Margarito, Miguel Cotto, Shane Mosley and even Paul Williams. If a washed-up Dela Hoya who was beat-up by a small guy like Pacquiao into submitting almost beat him, what do you think the real great fighters in their prime at the welterweight division do to him?
Whatever challenge and excitement that lacks in his match-ups and bouts, Floyd has made up for with his mouth. You have to give the man credit, he is an excellent salesman. He can sell a lopsided mismatch to those who have known from the get-go that it's a bad deal- like selling heaters in Somalia.
But for some so-called boxing experts to consider him as the best boxer in the planet is simply absurd. I guess people will have their biases but if you asked me, calling Floyd Mayweather Jr. the best fighter in boxing is a disservice to the sport and a slap coupled by a spit on every boxing fan who has followed the sport closely in the past few years. It's downright insulting.
Mayweather Jr. is not even a boxer at this point. He is simply making the most out of the celebrity he has gotten from his years on top as a boxer and using it to keep his name significant and as a tool to make money. It's smart, but I don't know if I can say the same for those who fall for it and still look at him as a boxer. I don't care how long you have been covering boxing or whether you have written for the biggest boxing magazine or website out there or even if you wrote in the old testament of the bible, it doesn't take a genius to realize that Floyd Mayweather Jr. is simply all about making money off boxing right now. And in case you didn't get the memo, he said it himself.
See, the difference between me and these other scribes is that, I don't care about the politics or rubbing elbows with the big wigs of this business. I don't need these media credentials because before I even started writing about boxing, I paid for my way in to see worthwhile fights. I am a fan first and a writer second. And what enrages me as a boxing fan is how this guy sits there and tries to sell us these BS fights and whines and cries about being the best in the sport. I know it's a business, but at least have some form of pride, class and honor in what you do. If you want me to pay money to see you fight, give me something I can home home with and say to my self, "damn, that was worth all the hard-earned money I spent on it".
And what are they trying to sell us now? A fight against an unknown 19-year old prospect from Mexico. WOW! Really??
I'm sorry to all the Floyd fans that might get offended by this piece but I'm just calling it how I see it. I got nothing against Floyd, but if he truly wants to be considered the best, he needs to give fans real fights against real top-flight opponents his size, and not crappy mismatches. Call it hype or whatever you want but just the fact that it is even being "considered" by Mayweather's camp and for Golden Boy CEO Richard Shaeffer to have the nerve and say something about it in the media when he told Mark Vester of Boxingscene.com recently,
"There is a young fighter, 19-years-old. All of Mexico is talking about him. And he is filling up 10,000 people in venues in Mexico. He is fighting at 147; he's undefeated. He's a red head, a red head Mexican. They call him "Canelo," cinnamon head - Saul "Canelo" Alvarez. He would like nothing better than to fight Floyd Mayweather Jr," and added,
"You put Saul Alvarez in with Floyd Mayweather and you put it in Aztec Stadium - you sell 100,000 tickets. The guy [Alvarez] on his own sells 10 to 20,000 tickets. Floyd Mayweather is a big event fighter."
What do these guys take us for?
Perhaps this is why Golden Boy Promotions has been getting unlucky as of late. I call it "karma". They were given an opportunity to change boxing for the better like they promised, and what did they do and continue to do? Give us BS fights and over-hype their talents only to get upset and exposed. At one point in the past five years, I was a big Golden Boy supporter. At this point, I could care less about those guys and whatever they promote. They make all this noise and say they will change boxing and do things right. Well, at this point, traditional promoters like Top Rank, Gary Shaw, Dan Goosen and Lou Di Bella are the ones really making waves for the sport.
Going back to Floyd, until he fights somebody great within his weight class, I can't consider him a fighter. I consider him one of the best boxers of this generation, but as of today, I don't even look at him as a fighter. He's definitely a celebrity, a performer, a dancer, a reality tv show personality, a wannabe rapper, producer and a hell of a marketing and business man, but a fighter, he simply is not. Why? Because fighters fight and a fight means taking on the biggest challenge out there and proving your self, not picking on a smaller or less caliber guy just to pad up your stats and bragging rights on top of getting paid. You don't call that a fight, that's simply what you call in the streets as a "hustle". As a boxing fan, I pay to watch great boxers fight, not hustlers.
Parting shot: How the heck do you end up scouring the earth to fight a 19-year old boxer when you got the best fighters in the planet calling you out for a multi-million pay day?! I was wondering if Floyd was scared of losing to somebody like Pacquiao, Mosley or Williams then, but if he does indeed fight this kid instead of someone his size that people consider great, then I know he's not really scared... He's petrified!
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