This has nothing to do with the things that you believe define you. It has more to do with your legacy, both in and out of the ring?
Dear Floyd:
I believe that this could be your year. No, this is not about being the best boxer in the world, again. No, it?s not about improving pay-per-view numbers or polishing that pristine Bentley or even posting your vast shoe collection on Instagram. This has nothing to do with the things that you believe define you. It has more to do with your legacy, both in and out of the ring. In 1998, you beat Genaro Hernandez, then knocked out Diego Corrales in 2001, and then continued to destroy name fighters, many whom we?ve never heard from again. I didn?t need to be convinced; I remember watching your pro debut and just marveling at your talent. With the exception of Hector Camacho Sr., I had seen few young prospects with such a lethal combination of speed and power. Those performances were brilliant displays from a fighter light years ahead of his competitors.
But then you changed. I guess you felt you had no choice. Stay Floyd and be great or mix in a little Sonny Liston and Ric Flair and be marketable. You wanted people to invest in you in a much different way than the typical boxing fan ever did. Whatever you did worked wonders. You became the polarizing figure that fans needed to see. Embrace me or hate me? I got it. Everyone understood it to a point.
Then, something happened: your problems outside the ring began to manifest into a whole new identity ? one you haven?t been able to shake. Sometimes you embrace the identity ? Money, women, cars, with a penchant for being patronizing, reckless, and obscene in your 24/7 episodes. Other times you showcase your good will, such as when you paid for the funerals of Joe Frazier and Genaro Hernandez, but, unfortunately, there are too many layers to your caustic side to accept that the other one exists.
You seem to have an acute understanding of your strengths and limitations. You push the envelope when you need publicity, even if you know those words will spark controversy. You pull back when necessary. Isn?t that part of the villainous mystique that you have so meticulously crafted? You weren?t always prone to racist attacks on opponents or staged attacks on family members when you were coming up. It became all about manufacturing an image that made you despised, but respected in the same breath. Hey, it sold tickets, right? Bold, brash, and belligerent, but also blind when it comes to seeing the bigger picture.
As for your legacy that you have worked so hard to build as the hardest working athlete in all of sports, you never let up; and, consequently, you never let your fans down. There?s not another athlete in the world who can compare with you. With or without Manny Pacquiao to reflect your greatness, there is no denying that you will be considered an all-time great. So that part of your legacy is intact.
But what about when it?s all over? What?s left? All this time, you never stopped to think about who you will be when the sport no longer has room for you. Will it embrace you? Ignore you? Or doesn?t it matter? Maybe it doesn?t. Or maybe that?s what you can?t ever stop thinking about because you can?t control it.
Truth is you don?t need Pacquiao to secure anything. Possibly, in your mind, you have timed it perfectly. Now is the time to face the tarnished version of Pacquiao ? older, slower, and even more damaged than before. What is there to be concerned about? What?s sad is that deep down you believe losing to Pacquiao brings you that much closer to being a nonentity ? alone in a sense. Reality will prove that no matter how money or cars or sunglasses you own or showcase on Twitter, none of it matters when you realize you didn?t invest in anything substantial throughout your career.
Five years late for the mega-fight: anyway, it might be a moot point.
How you treat people isn?t though. What about the people you embarrassed and trampled along the way? Don?t they matter? It?s not about the zero on your record, is it? It?s about the stage. Once you come down from that stage, you?re not Money anymore. You?re just Floyd, and, to you, that?s an impossible notion to accept. In the end, you may be respected but ultimately forgotten. Is that what you want?
Atone for the mistakes you have made in the past; make amends for the egregious comments and ugliness that you have perpetuated. Begin to change now. So when you do retire, you won?t just be another great fighter. First you need to find yourself, and if that path takes you through Manny, then so be it, but also recognize that the identity you felt you needed to adopt all along is the same one that could be the root cause of all your undoing.
