Despite his proven expertise in marketing and promotions, unbeaten champion Floyd Mayweather,Jr. seems to be entertaining the idea that losing a fight at the peak of his career will result in a massive decline in popularity and marketability. It is not fair to say that Mayweather is scared of facing Manny Pacquiao in the ring because, as veteran boxing analyst Larry Merchant said, the guy is not scared to face anyone in the ring including Pacquiao but what he is afraid of is the big “L” or a loss. Everyone knows that Mayweather is unbeaten in 45 professional fights. In many of his press tours to promote his fights, he always talked about his unblemished record and he seems to believe that being undefeated makes him even more marketable. Merchant did not say if being unbeaten in his career make a boxer more marketable but he seems to believe that Mayweather puts more premium on his unblemished record as a way of selling himself to the public to support his fights. Mayweather has been criticized for ducking top-rated fighters including Pacquiao. Those who criticize him say that the unbeaten champion would rather keep his unblemished record by choosing less capable opponents. But there is no evidence to back up Mayweather’s belief that being undefeated makes him more salable to the public. A case in point is Palm Springs star Timothy Bradley, who is also undefeated in his career. Promoter Bob Arum complains that Bradley is hard to sell despite his being unbeaten. Arum pointed to Bradley’s low fan base as the reason for his poor showing in the box office. Therefore it is not the end of the world for a boxer with a single loss or even with multiple loses since he can still have the support of the fans. For example, Muhammad Ali, after his meteoric rise to stardom, suffered his first loss in 1971 against Joe Frazier after a 31-fight winning streak. But instead of the expected downturn, he became even more popular. After losing to Frazier, Ali staged another 10 straight wins before losing to Ken Norton in 1973. In a rematch, Ali beat Norton and went on to win 14 straight fights until he lost for the third time against Leon Spinks in 1978. In the same year, Ali won over Spinks in a rematch. Despite losing five times during his career, Ali remained popular and marketable as fans continue to watch his fights. Other popular boxers suffered multiple losses in their career but remained popular, including Joe Frazier, George Foreman and Mike Tyson, to name a few. Clearly, Mayweather’s perceived fear that he stands to lose his marketability once he suffers defeat, has little or no factual basis.
