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By David P. Greisman - Gorgeous George, meet Pretty Boy Floyd.
Floyd Mayweather Jr. is far from the only boxer to mix it up in the professional wrestling world. Some combinations of Sweet Science and sports entertainment have been works – Chuck Wepner and Andre the Giant, Evander Holyfield and Matt Hardy; others, quite real: Muhammad Ali long felt the damage from leg kicks suffered over 15 rounds with Antonio Inoki, and a less acclaimed heavyweight, Butterbean, knocked Bart Gunn unconscious in 35 seconds.
Butterbean-Gunn came at WrestleMania 15. Nine years later, the biggest event in the business, which airs Sunday at 7 p.m. Eastern Time, will play host to scripted fare featuring Mayweather and The Big Show.
Mayweather has captured titles in five divisions. He sits atop pound-for-pound lists. He’s grown from an acclaimed amateur into a prominent professional. With a father and uncles who were also in the sport, one would think that boxing has always been his everything. Not so.
“One of my ultimate goals was to be a wrestler when I was a kid,” Mayweather said last week. “When you watch WWE as a kid, you like, ‘Man, that’s unreal, unbelievable.’ ”
As if to prove his fan-hood, Mayweather rattles off a list of favorites – headliners and mid-carders from the days when World Wrestling Entertainment was the World Wrestling Federation: Greg “The Hammer” Valentine, “Mr. Wonderful” Paul Orndorff, Jake “The Snake” Roberts, Hulk Hogan, the British Bulldogs, the Hart Foundation, King Kong Bundy, Junkyard Dog, Tito Santana, Jimmy “Superfly” Snuka, the Iron Sheik and Nikolai Volkoff. Characters, larger than life, imprinted on a young boy’s mind. [details]
Floyd Mayweather Jr. is far from the only boxer to mix it up in the professional wrestling world. Some combinations of Sweet Science and sports entertainment have been works – Chuck Wepner and Andre the Giant, Evander Holyfield and Matt Hardy; others, quite real: Muhammad Ali long felt the damage from leg kicks suffered over 15 rounds with Antonio Inoki, and a less acclaimed heavyweight, Butterbean, knocked Bart Gunn unconscious in 35 seconds.
Butterbean-Gunn came at WrestleMania 15. Nine years later, the biggest event in the business, which airs Sunday at 7 p.m. Eastern Time, will play host to scripted fare featuring Mayweather and The Big Show.
Mayweather has captured titles in five divisions. He sits atop pound-for-pound lists. He’s grown from an acclaimed amateur into a prominent professional. With a father and uncles who were also in the sport, one would think that boxing has always been his everything. Not so.
“One of my ultimate goals was to be a wrestler when I was a kid,” Mayweather said last week. “When you watch WWE as a kid, you like, ‘Man, that’s unreal, unbelievable.’ ”
As if to prove his fan-hood, Mayweather rattles off a list of favorites – headliners and mid-carders from the days when World Wrestling Entertainment was the World Wrestling Federation: Greg “The Hammer” Valentine, “Mr. Wonderful” Paul Orndorff, Jake “The Snake” Roberts, Hulk Hogan, the British Bulldogs, the Hart Foundation, King Kong Bundy, Junkyard Dog, Tito Santana, Jimmy “Superfly” Snuka, the Iron Sheik and Nikolai Volkoff. Characters, larger than life, imprinted on a young boy’s mind. [details]
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