?They are going to write what they want to write. But they need a bad guy and I understand. When Bernard Hopkins fought (F?lix) Trinidad, Hopkins was the bad guy. When Oscar de la Hoya fought Trinidad, then Trinidad was the bad guy. So that?s how it works, you have to have a bad guy and a good guy.? ? Floyd Mayweather Jr.
You have to have a bad guy and a good guy.
Early in his career Mayweather decided he wouldn?t let the media or the fans form an opinion of him, Mayweather would create a character to form their opinion.
?Money?, ?Pretty Boy?, ?Cash Cow?, ?Pay Per View King?.
With Mayweather there is no gray area, he knows his image as ?Money? and plays it from the time he signs a fight contract until the first bell is rung.
Mayweather built his character in a way familiar to the world of professional wrestling.
With its origins rooted in traveling carnival shows, professional wrestling for years has used old carnival lingo as its members only dialect. A ?heel? in professional wrestling is a bad guy, a character built on angles specifically to draw ire from the crowd.
?Money? is the ultimate heel.
WWE Chairman Vince McMahon is all too understanding of Mayweather?s brand of self promotion, McMahon himself plays a heel in many WWE storylines as the contemptible, ruthless owner of the WWE, ?Mr. McMahon?. McMahon?s grandfather Roderick ?Jess? McMahon, founder of the WWE was before his days as a wrestling promoter a boxing promoter who helped put together Jack Johnson?s Heavyweight title defense against Jess Willard, a scheduled 45-round fight at the Vedado Racetrack in Havana, Cuba.
In Mayweather, MacMahon no doubt saw someone who could ease into a World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) storyline, which typically combines wrestling and bravado theater.
?The greatest fighter in the world vs. the largest athlete in the world? pitted the 5?9″ Mayweather against the 7?1″ Big Show at Wrestlemania 24 in March of 2008. The wrestling bout began with Mayweather, donning a large chain embossed with the words ?Philthy Rich?, walking to the ring with his entourage as money rained from the sky and ended with ?Money? knocking Big Show out with brass knuckles.
?I got all the money, all the cash, I?m the main event and the main attraction?, Mayweather said to Big Show in a verbal sparring match before Wrestlemania 24.
Compare this to a quote Mayweather used in his lead up to his last fight against ?Sugar? Shane Mosley.
?I?m the face of boxing, I?m the cash cow, I hold the record for pay per view, me. For the highest gate, me.?
Former professional wrestler Ted Dibiase had a similar character to Mayweather?s , built around the almighty dollar. ?Everybody has a price? was Dibiase?s catchphrase. The WWE would intentionally book Dibiase in the best hotels and give him a measure of extra cash that he could use to dispense in ways that would define his character, picking up tabs or paying for low checks with large bills. There are many stories of Mayweather flaunting his cash in Vegas clubs or making it rain money, which some have said is counterfeit, in various nightclubs.
Floyd ?Money? Mayweather, ?The Million Dollar Man? in boxing gloves.
The antithesis to the heel is the ?face? or ?babyface?, a character the crowd will cheer on, a good guy.
In his build up to his fight with ?The Golden Boy? Oscar De La Hoya, Mayweather?s tactics in drawing sympathy and adulation were reminiscent of Muhammad Ali?s taunting of Joe Frazier leading up to their third bout, continually calling Frazier the ?Gorilla in Manilla? and carrying around a rubber gorilla which he would punch for emphasis.
Mayweather had a chicken in a gold cage with the label ?Golden Girl? attached to it brought to the stage during the press tour for the fight. The chicken had a gold medal around its neck, presumably to symbolize the medal De La Hoya won in the Barcelona Olympic Games in 1992. At another point before the fight, Mayweather took items from De La Hoya?s training bag.
De La Hoya was always ?The Golden Boy?, Mayweather just helped that gold shine.
Mayweather did the same for Arturo Gatti, Ricky Hatton and ?Sugar? Shane Mosley. Well before fight time there was no doubt as to who was the heel and who was the face.
That brings us to Manny Pacquiao.
Compared to Pacquiao, Gatti, Hatton and Mosley are practically pariahs.
Pacquiao is a Senator, a recording artist, a movie star; practically a god to the people of the Philippines.
Manny Pacquiao is the ultimate ?face? and Mayweather knows it.
If the fight is set to happen, you will see the dark and the light clearly defined by Mayweather.
You will see ?Money? taunting and chiding Pacquiao, once again claiming his monetary rule, his superior drawing power, his supreme skills.
Mayweather?s ridicule and bravado will paint Pacquiao more so as the savior, the one set to topple the unbeaten Mayweather.
The genius of Mayweather is that his character is defined to the public, the man is not.
?The character I portray, sometimes people think that?s what I am,? Mayweather said to AP Sports Columnist Tim Dahlberg. ?It?s not. Floyd Mayweather is my name, the guy called Money Mayweather is just a character.?
?I?m not at home throwing money around,? Mayweather continued. ?I?m at my house with my children. The rest of it is all entertainment. It?s all business.?
The public only see Mayweather ? the man, in rare glimpses.
In those rare glimpses the public can bear witness to something Mayweather is better at than marketing?. boxing.
If Manny Pacquiao expects to compete against Mayweather, he better bring his best, because he will not be hit by the smarmy remarks or verbal jibes of ?Money? in the ring, he will be hit with the accurate counter punches and hard jabs that have broken down 41 fighters before him.
Mayweather is no doubt the best boxer in the world and until his is bested, there is nothing fake about it.
