Uneasy lies the head that wears the crown?
Words from the flowing pen of the famed Pinoy playwright Willie Shakespeare. It is not widely know but my main Manila man Hermie Rivera informs me that ?Shakey? as he was known in his youth in Bacalod wrote nearly all of his works first in Tagalog and then in English.
I say, hey what?s the difference because a rose by any other name swells as sweet?
But back to an uneasy head underneath a crown.
Manny Pacquiao seems calm and serene wearing the mythical mantle of boxing?s best around, pound for pound, kilo for kilo and like that. His crown seems a perfect fit and his throne is as comfortable as a living room sofa.
It?s the former Ring King, Floyd Mayweather, who has a severe case of agita and possibly even some mental imbalance over having lost the sport?s top title.
during his ring sabattical.
No less a head doctor than Freddie Roach has taken notice of the Mayweather malady/
I recommend that Fraud Mayweather Jr. go to the public library and read ‘The Emperor’s New Clothes.’ It’s a fairy tale, like the one he’s been spinning that he is the king,” Roach said.
To make matters worse, the Golden Boys just hauled PBF to London where royal affairs and proper titles are so important and so widely discussed. Why bring a mere common such as Mayweather there when King Manny was there just a few short months ago wowing one and all?
It really wasn?t so much Mayweather losing it by inactivity as it was Pacquiao, the stoic and humble warrior, earning the appellation on substance alone. One of the old Chicago blues singers might?ve put it like this, Manny pitched a Wang Dang Doodle first against tired blood Oscar De La Hoya and then feisty Brit Ricky Hatton.
Oscar acted almost as though it was beneath his dignity to fight a mini man such as Manny but then he went out and got his backside whipped horribly. Yakker Hatton talked a great fight until the opening bell rang and then, when it was put up or shut up, he was drilled into the silence of the lambs.
Even had Pretty Boy Floyd never stepped out for a brief interlude he would be sharing the top of the leaderboard with Megamanny now. That?s at best. At worst, he?d be where he is going into the July 18 bout with Juan Manuel Marquez, a solid Number 2 but Number 2 nonetheless.
Deep thinker and fight fan Roman Malendevich passed along, as is his wont, some intellectual material which, as usual, is way too deep for a simpleton like me but I did detect a link to Mayweather?s discomfort. (Be nice to the Noblest Roman as I hear he can bench press five Pacquiaos and the entire Mayweather family with two hands. Roman makes his Governator look like a girlie man in the gym.)
From Steve Pinker?s (MIT / Harvard prof linguistic, evolutionary psychology and cognitive neuroscience) book ?The Stuff of Thought: Language as a Window into Human Language?, in the chapter on politeness:
?? Oddly enough, though people are less likely to be addressed with fancy title in real life, they are more likely to be granted them in officialdom. In universities nowadays, almost every administrator is a Dean, and in corporations every executive is a Vice President.
Title inflation is most keenly felt at the top, where potentates have to bestow themselves with ever more lofty titles. Haile Selassie, the emperor of Ethiopa from 1934 to 1974, contented himself with ?King of Kings, Elect of God, Conquering Lion of Judah?.
Not to be outdone, North Korea?s Kim Jong II claims the titles ?Guardian of Our Planet?, ?Lodestar of the Twenty-first Century? and many others.?
Now those are massive, impressive titles.
I thought thought rassler Dusty Rhodes was impressive when he called himself ?the Man of the Hour, just too sweet to be sour.? And I was duly impressed when oldtimer Classy Freddie Blassie, self-proclaimed Toast Of The (West) Coast, referred to all others as ?pencil necked geeks.?
Now, look, I feel Mayweather?s physic pain. How would you look to go out to a strip club and, before you make it rain dollar bills, no one bows down and says, ?Mr. Pound for Pound is here??
And Mayweather cannot possibly reclaim his former honorific unless and until he strikes Manny down with furious anger and vengeance.
In the meantime, in between time, Mayweather is a prophet without honor, an emperor who belongs on a clothing optional beach.
He has no regal regalia, no kingly presence, no nothing beyond constant letters from the IRS.
His social status sinks as Manny?s keeps rising. They ?forgot? to include Mayweather in Time magazine but he may make the ?Least Influential? polling.
From crown prince to clown prince?must this be the sad story of Mayweather unless and until he can defeat Pacman? I say no, it doesn?t have to be. Let?s throw Mayweather a bone.
Repeat after me, ?Floyd Mayweather, Conquering Lion of (Zab) Judah.?
Selassie is dead so he can?t sue us on this, don?t worry.
Freud used to discuss penis envy. Maybe Roman can let us know if he ever analyzed title envy.
Floyd Mayweather Jr., report to the shrink?s couch immediately.
Since it?s TGIF, I close with a nifty joke from the Noblest Roman:
Four people are walking down the street: a Saudi Arabian, a Russian, a North Korean, and a New Yorker.
A reporter rushes up to them and says, “Excuse me, can I get your opinion of the meat shortage”?
The Suadi Arabian says, “Shortage – what’s shortage?”.
The Russian says, “Meat – what’s meat?”
The North Korean says, “Opinion – what’s an opinion?”
And the New Yorker says, “Excuse me – what’s excuse me?”
Hey, wait a second Roman, I resemble that last guy.
Michael is a former sports columnist at the New York Post. He was a criminal defense attorney and worked for sports legends Howard Cosell and Don King. Marley also operates BoxingConfidential.com. Email him your thoughts. He makes it a practice to always recommend Pacland and Philboxing
