You would be unnerved when you hear Floyd Mayweather, Jr. explain his philosophy of sports. He couldn?t care less about how he wins a fight, he?ll do what it takes to bring it home. Who cares if he gets booed? Who cares if the fans get bored? His motivation is money, it?s all about the hard cash. It?s what drives him. Legacy? Mayweather says that can?t buy things. Working smart is better than working hard. He doesn?t mind cutting corners or taking the easy way out for as long as he?s one step ahead of the other guy.
Mexican fighter Canelo Alvarez says, ?Mayweather?s a fighter that if with three punches he wins the round from you, he?s fine with that ? he doesn?t expose anything and give a beautiful fight, he doesn?t care in what way he wins as long as he wins.? Writer Justin Moyer of the Washington Post quotes a source as saying, ?While Floyd wins, he does so in an almost boring fashion, he doesn?t usually brawl as crowds want to see, with big punches and fighters standing toe-to-toe in a slugfest, Floyd fights the way Floyd fights and doesn?t let others dictate his style.?
If greed is what defines him, Mayweather has little concern for virtue. He has no qualms in beating up women. A prizefighter?s fists are considered deadly weapons but Mayweather was unrestrained in abusing the mother of three of his four children. The victim was assaulted in front of two of their children and was allegedly treated for a concussion, cuts and bruises. ?His history of violence against women has triggered outright revulsion ? three convictions, including one that landed him a two-month jail term in 2012 for misdemeanour domestic battery and harassment,? writes Tim Keown in ESPN The Magazine. ?Those who hate Mayweather don?t want to see him lose; they want to see him buried.?
Unfortunately, for the haters, they?ll have to wait for somebody other than Manny Pacquiao to beat Mayweather and that somebody may not even come along. Pacquiao had his chance in Las Vegas last May 2 but lost a unanimous decision. It?s a wasteful exercise to debate whether or not Mayweather deserved to win. Could there have been a conspiracy to assure a Pacquiao defeat?
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Was there a deliberate conditioning of the mind in the way judge Dave Moretti awarded only two rounds for Pacquiao and the Compubox stats showed a wide disparity of punches landed? Compubox said Mayweather connected 148 punches to Pacquiao?s 81. But an American website BoxingNews24 recently used a frame-by-frame, slow-motion analysis of the numbers and found Pacquiao landing 98 blows to Mayweather?s 68. Unless a conspirator comes out in public and confesses, you?ll never know for sure if a plot was hatched in the first place. Dean’s Corner ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1
The reality is Mayweather won and his perfect record remains intact. He?s now 48-0 and a win away from duplicating the late heavyweight champion Rocky Marciano?s 49-0 mark when he retired in 1955.
Yet, if you ask Mayweather how important it is to preserve his unblemished record, he?ll say it?s not as important as stashing money in the bank. Mayweather used to be known as Pretty Boy as in Pretty Boy Floyd, the American gangster of the ?30s. The fighter obviously enjoyed being called Pretty Boy Floyd and in early publicity shots, posed as the bank robber, holding a machine gun and wearing garish ?30s garb. Now, he?s called Money and enjoying the notoriety of taking money from the people like Pretty Boy Floyd did when he robbed banks.
Mayweather likes to flaunt his wealth. He worked hard for his money so in his mind, he?s earned the right to spend it as he pleases. During a torrid 18-month spending spree that ended last December, he bought 35 cars including a $3.2 Million red Ferrari Enzo. Mayweather is a betting machine and when he wins, announces to the world what a smart gambler he is. Keown says Mayweather is shameless in ?the way he throws out his chin and holds up his money and dares the world to tell him what it sees.?
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Mayweather says fighting is just a means to making money. ?It (the perfect record) don?t define my career,? he says. ?The great thing about my career is I was a smart businessman. Let?s talk about that ? a 19-year career with no punishment on the body and hundreds of millions. Now, that?s something to talk about. At the end of the day, my daughter can?t eat no zero. She can eat the money zero. She can?t spend the boxing record. It?s just work. I just look at it as my job to do what I do. Even 10 years from now, I?m still going to be getting a seven-figure check every month. Of course, I love the fans. I want to give them excitement. I love them. But no, it was the money. Me investing. I look at things in a business aspect.?
Because of Mayweather?s attitude, don?t be surprised if he sells the $1 Million emerald green belt that was awarded by the WBC after the Las Vegas bout. The belt has diamonds and is embossed with 3,000 emeralds. Letters and logos are in gold. There are pictures of the late WBC president Jose Sulaiman, Muhammad Ali, Mayweather and Pacquiao clamped on the belt. Since Mayweather cares only for money, it?s a sure thing that he?ll sell the belt to the highest bidder. Why not?
As for somebody coming along to beat Mayweather, the window is slowly closing on finding the mystery man. Mayweather says he?ll fight one last time in September. His opponent can?t be Pacquiao in a rematch because the Filipino icon won?t be ready until after a year to recover from surgery to repair a torn rotator cuff in the right shoulder. Will Mayweather backtrack and fight beyond September, perhaps against Pacquiao in a rematch? First, he said yes then he said no. That?s Mayweather for you. The man speaks with forked tongue. But if money is his god, you can bet he?ll be back to fight Pacquiao if there is public clamor that translates into another fat paycheck.
