FLOYD MAYWEATHER Jr.’s racist, homophobic rant toward Manny Pacquiao, so widely viewed via YouTube, should not be dismissed as just more trash talking by a fighter to boost interest in an upcoming bout. The much-anticipated matchup of the world’s two finest fighters is beginning to look as if it won’t come off, in any case, which makes “Money’s” latest trudge through the slime pit even more reprehensible.
Pacquiao, a Filipino, has been targeted for increasingly vile comments by his would-be opponent since he filed a defamation-of-character lawsuit against Mayweather (41-0, 25 KOs) for claiming “Pac-Man” has used performance-enhancing drugs. When public opinion turned around and bit Mayweather on the rump, he issued a halfhearted apology in which he said he was “just having a little fun” and “there isn’t a racist bone in my body.”
But Mayweather’s profane and hateful words – among other things, he called Pacquiao a “little yellow chump” – aren’t the only out-of-the-ring concern for the self-professed greatest fighter ever. He was arrested in Las Vegas Thursday on a felony charge of grand larceny of a cell phone, stemming from a domestic violence complaint filed by Josie Harris, his ex-girlfriend and mother of three of his children. Harris made a police complaint and sought a Family Court protection order, alleging Mayweather pulled her hair, punched her in the head and twisted her arm while she screamed for the children, ranging in age from 7 to almost 11, to call 9-1-1.
Mayweather was released on $3,000 bail on Friday pending a Nov. 9 appearance in Las Vegas Justice Court.
The derogatory tirade toward Pacquiao and the larceny case would be bad enough if they were isolated incidents. There is mounting evidence, however, that they are not. Mayweather, 33, has been arrested several other times over the years on assault and battery charges.
His father, Floyd Mayweather Sr., is an accomplished trainer who might be even more of a raging egomaniac than his son, if that’s possible. Floyd Sr. was shot in the leg by a relative when Floyd Jr. was a toddler, and he later did time for drug trafficking.
Floyd Jr.’s uncle-trainer, Roger Mayweather, was a WBC super featherweight and super lightweight champion whose fuse also tends to be a bit short; he’s to be tried on Oct. 25 on charges he attacked a female boxer, Melissa St. Vil, at a Las Vegas apartment. If convicted, he could face up to 10 years in prison.
Make no mistake: Floyd Mayweather Jr. is a terrific fighter who would find a way to beat Pacquiao, were that scrap ever to take place. But for someone who insists his main concern is preserving and even enhancing his legacy, not banking additional millions, he sure has a strange way of doing it.
Is Z.Z. tops?
Noted trainers Lou Duva and Al Mitchell are working with a Chinese national amateur boxing team at a Poconos training camp in preparation for “Empires Collide,” a dual match against a squad of top U.S. amateurs on Oct. 1 at Capitale, in New York’s Chinatown district.
The Chinese team arrived in America on Sept. 9.
“The No. 1 thing I look for in a fighter is if they have the ability to listen and do what you want them to do,” said Duva, 88, a 2003 inductee into the International Boxing Hall of Fame, who, last year, worked with Beijing Olympics super heavyweight silver medalist Zhang Zhilei. “If he does, he’s like my son – guys like Evander Holyfield and Pernell Whitaker, they were like family.
“Zhang is a hell of a prospect. I think that if we can put it all together, you are liable to see great Chinese boxers up there with the best.”
Mitchell, a North Philadelphia native who coached the U.S. team at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, and, since 1989, has been head coach of the boxing program at the U.S. Olympic Education Center in Marquette, Mich., said he expects the Chinese to give the American fighters a stiff test.
“I expect this to be a very competitive card,” Mitchell predicted. “The Chinese are going to have a good, solid team, and these fights will go a long way toward seeing who is ready for the 2012 Olympics in London.”
This week in history
Eighty-seven years ago today, heavyweight champion Jack Dempsey retained his title against Argentina’s Luis Firpo in one of the most action-packed fights ever, especially so when you consider it lasted only two rounds.
Dempsey went down twice in the first round, but, in between, he floored the much-larger Firpo, known as the “Wild Bull of the Pampas,” seven times, before sealing the deal with two more knockdowns in Round 2. Boxing historian Bert Sugar rates Dempsey-Firpo as the greatest boxing match ever. Even if it wasn’t, 11 knockdowns in 3 minutes, 57 seconds is pretty remarkable.
Tomorrow marks the 32nd anniversary of Muhammad Ali becoming the first man to win the heavyweight title three times, with a 15-round, unanimous decision over Leon Spinks in the Louisiana Superdome, a fight witnessed by, depending on whose attendance figure you believe, 65,000 to 72,000 paying customers. *
