A lot has been made of the fact that Floyd Mayweather denied Filipino journalists from interviewing him on his recent press stop in Los Angeles.
Some have cried racism on the part of Mayweather and even gone so far as to call for boycotts of his fights. Others have said that the refusal was simply a matter of recognition.
In boxing, as with many sports, only those who either represent a huge concern or have been around the sport a long time are usually granted a lot of time and attention from the stars. The Filipino journalists in question, however respected they are in the Philippines, apparently didn’t draw much water with Mayweather and his handlers.
This particular incident might not have been motivated by anything other than the fact that the journalists were deemed not high profile enough by Mayweather’s handlers. However there are a lot of reasons why people tend to jump to conclusions where Mayweather is concerned.
The most likely truth is though that Mayweather intentionally plays the villain role and enjoys the fact that this allows him to run his mouth at every opportunity. Also whether anyone likes him or not, Mayweather attracts attention, and his people probably knew that avoiding the Filipino journalists was a good idea.
Firstly, the incident would no doubt attract attention, which would serve to keep Floyd in the focus of the public eye. Even a week out from Pacquiao vs Clottey, most fans and experts are spending more time talking about Floyd’s behavior rather than the build up to the fight.
Secondly, if he had been interviewed by the journalists, they might have asked him some of the tougher questions he has been careful to avoid in most of his media outings thus far. The stereotype being widely hinted at is that they would only have asked about drug testing and Manny Pacquiao, although there are plenty of other topics Mayweather would like to avoid that they might have touched on. After all most of the publicly visible Mayweather family have enough skeletons in the closet to put Ed Gein to shame.
The only Filipino that Floyd really seems to fear and wants to avoid is Manny Pacquiao, the late arriving journalists being from the Philippines just happened to play right into his hands.
Sal De Luca, Pittsburgh PA: “Both sides wanted this. Mayweather wanted the attention he always gets when he does or says something offensive, and the Filipino media got a story even though they didn’t get to see Mayweather, a win win situation for all involved”
Benson Santomier, Pittsburgh PA: “Floyd having a history of bad press with Filipino’s lately, he would have been better off giving the interviews and maybe changing people’s perceptions of him. Instead he pushes the people who already hate him further away”
Bernie Walker, Pittsburgh PA: “So two journalists no one has ever heard of turned up late and didn’t get an interview, that kind of thing happens all the time. They were late to the presser, and they weren’t high profile. The same thing would have happened no matter where they were from, the only difference is that there wouldn’t have been any story made out of it”
