LAS VEGAS ? We get it. Floyd Mayweather is not a scoutmaster. He is not a Big Brother.
They will not make situation comedies in which he is the trusted, wise father. You know, the way they did about Cliff Huxtable. OK, bad example.
It is possible for a reasonably intelligent person to hold two thoughts at once. We all text and walk simultaneously, right?
So the fact that Mayweather is unapologetic about some of the badness in his soul is not contradicted by the fact that he is the most dominant athlete in any sport. And he is only 10 months younger than Tim Duncan.
? Photos: Mayweather made it look easy against Pacquiao
As Mayweather prepared for his blowout victory over Manny Pacquiao, his history of domestic violence began to supplant the fight. Several journalists called for a boycott of this event. No word on whether we should boycott pro and college football, rock concerts and selected movies.
It would be interesting to know if any of those protesters realize that Mayweather has at least given up an ounce of flesh, if not a pound. He served an 87-day sentence in the Clark County hotel three years ago. You can argue that he should have been punished more severely, and you can argue the same thing about spousal abusers in all realms of life. It?s disturbing that Mayweather feels his jail time has replaced all the remorse he thinks he should show. People around him have advised him to be more contrite, but it hasn?t happened yet.
? Column: Fight didn?t live up to the hype
You can enjoy ?Chinatown? without endorsing the personal resume of Roman Polanski. And you can savor the extraordinary command of Mayweather. Pacquiao staggered him with a clubbing left in the fourth round but couldn?t capitalize, and Mayweather?s defense stopped him dead in his tracks. A lot of people picked Mayweather, but hardly anybody picked him to throw more punches than Pacquiao.
?Manny was terrible,? said Floyd Mayweather Sr., who trained his son. ?He made a lot of mistakes. He didn?t throw a straight punch the whole night. It was an easy fight.?
Later, Pacquiao cited a right shoulder injury that came up during training camp, serious enough to make trainer Freddie Roach consider postponing the fight. But, really, how realistic was that? Five years of buildup, and now Pacquiao is pulling out because his arm hurt? It seemed to get better during camp.
Then the problem re-emerged after the third round. Maybe that caused Pacquiao to fight with such energy in the fourth, his best round of the fight. But it also explained how he could miss 91 percent of his jabs. Advertisement
?It?s the same (labrum) injury Kobe Bryant had,? said Bob Arum, Pacquiao?s promoter. ?We used the same doctor he had. We wanted Manny to be able to take a shot for it, but the commission wouldn?t do it.?
Francisco Aguilar of the Nevada state commission clarified that. He said the commission knew nothing of the injury until 90 minutes before the fight, so it denied Pacquiao?s request to take lidocaine and two other drugs.
?I had injuries, too, to my hands,? Mayweather said. ?We didn?t say anything about it.?
Indeed, this development amused the Mayweather camp because it had considered Pacquiao a drug cheat for years. In fact, the Mayweathers were forced into a settlement when Pacquiao sued them for defamation of character.
Senior came close to that line again Saturday night.
?We paid a big price for saying something that nobody thought we should have said,? Mayweather Sr. said. ?But when you get extra strong……?
Mayweather announced that he would win a fight in September and retire at 49-0. That would tie him with Rocky Marciano for the best undefeated record. It would also end his deal with Showtime. Do not etch that in stone, however, since Mayweather also threatened to retire last fall when he fought Marcos Maidana a second time.
?I contradict myself,? he said.
?He could quit right now and not have to prove anything to anybody,? Maywether Sr. told writers. ?He?s been fighting a lot of good fighters. I think he should have an easy fight. Maybe against one of you.?
Mayweather added to the intrigue when he said he was divesting himself of his three welterweight belts. That opens up the 147-pound division to Keith Thurman and other boxers managed by Al Haymon. Mayweather still has two 154-pound belts. The most logical September opponent is Amir Khan.
It won?t be Pacquiao. ?After this,? Mayweather Sr. said, ?I don?t know how many people would watch it.?
If this is goodbye, maybe we should forget the black hats and white hats and just concentrate on one man?s mastery. And so what if Sports Illustrated won?t make Mayweather its Sportsman of the Year? He?s just a great boxer, not a shining example of human behavior like, say, Lance Armstrong.
OK, another bad example.
