By Ryan Maquiñana
Floyd Mayweather’s ongoing feud with 50 Cent has escalated to where the latter’s insults regarding the pound-for-pound champion’s literacy have garnered global headlines.
Mayweather, who defends his welterweight and junior middleweight belts in a Sept. 13 rematch with Argentina’s Marcos Maidana, addressed the issue of whether or not the allegations have been a distraction.
“My thing is this. I try to focus on Maidana,” Mayweather said in a Wednesday conference call. “I try to focus on that. People can believe whatever they want to believe. Intelligence and education are two different things.
“I’m happy with my career. When I’m in training camp, I try to focus on my training. The circus is for clowns and my job is just to focus on my job, which is boxing. I know what I can and I can’t do. I could care less.”
Mayweather then brought up his ability to read in the buildup to previous pay-per-view advertisements to counter the rumors. Team Mayweather has provided the video link to BoxingScene.com here: http://appbox.sho.com/S11ZPVHL
“When you’re dealing with pay-per-view, you have to read at least 60 to 70 teleprompters, and I don’t think they could chose a better person for the job than myself,” he said. “And I do it with no problem.”
The defending champion then approached the issue via a big-picture approach.
“I’m not judged by a person,” Mayweather said. “I’m judged by God. Reading do not define my place in boxing history. Will God not let me in heaven because I could not read like a news anchor? For me, myself, I would be perfect at reading if it was how I made my living to feed my family.
“Again, intelligence and education are two different things. First of all, making fun of a person because they could not read is not funny. It’s tragic. Second, if I could not read, it would make my accomplishments that much more amazing. So I could care less. I don’t know if 50 Cent is a boxing promoter, (or) if he’s making music. I really don’t know. My focus is Floyd Mayweather, and I wish him nothing but the best.”
When the controversy originally broke, "The Breakfast Club" show of WWPR-FM in New York released a tape of Mayweather attempting to record a radio drop where he appeared to struggle in reading the prompted message. Again, Mayweather rebuffed the accusations.
“I don’t get paid to read radio drops,” Mayweather said. “I’m capable of having a bad day. I’m not perfect. You know as well as I know. … They edited the tape on how they want to do it. I’m a perfectionist. … I could have been up 24 hours and just landed in New York City.
“People find different ways to break people down and tear people down. ... Explain the videos of me reading teleprompters. When I was at the ESPYs, I had to read a teleprompter. I’m not a news anchor, never claimed to be. Once again, intelligence and education are two totally different things.”
Ryan Maquiñana is the Boxing Insider at Comcast SportsNet Bay Area and the Editor-in-Chief of Norcalboxing.com. He is a full member of the Boxing Writers Association of America. Follow him on Twitter @RMaq28 or email him at rmaquinana@gmail.com .
