There’s really nothing to do now, in the wake of this boxing version of Watergate, except hold Floyd Joy Mayweather Jr. in contempt.
Utter contempt, total contempt and a contempt which will endure even beyond 2011 when he decides to fight Manny Pacquiao.
Try as I might to look on the positive side and to be fair to the Mayweather camp, it’s Mission Impossible.
These guys could screw up a one car funeral procession. They make the Keystone Kops look like slick detectives.
But, having said that, you can’t blame his acolytes if Mayweather refuses to meaningfully engage in contract talks, let alone walk into the ring and face his most dangerous opponent.
Compare and contrast Mayweather’s cold-blooded and uncaring attitude about the desires of boxing fans to Pacman’s.
Not only is the Congressmanny eager to test his skills against much taller and bigger Antonio Margarito, he just told Abac Cordero (Philstar) that he would love to fight “Margocheato” in his homeland of Mexico.
As for Mayweather, Pacquiao said he thinks Floyd is running away from him but that won’t engage in a whizzing contest with some of the skunks around the American boxer.
?They never run out of reasons saying why it won?t happen. But the truth is they don?t want the fight. Sila ang may ayaw,? said Pacquiao.
?And they say so many nasty things about me. But I don?t mind. I won?t even say anything bad against them. Let?s show them that Filipinos know how to respect people,? he said.
All we get from the Mayweather camp is avoidance, doubletalk and hocus pocus.
Now, they’re really reaching for slim straws, citing that June 2 Make A Wish charity video in which Mayweather spoke about taking a long vacation from the ring.
That’s normal chatter from a fighter who just fought a major fight a month earlier. Nobody’s got a problem with that. Mayweather is entitled to his long holiday, to his R & R.
But how come Bossman Floyd?he’s his own boss we are repeatedly informed?never told his underlings, particularly influential Al Haymon, to cease and desist from any and all discussions of a Nov. 13 Pacman bout with either HBO’s Ross Greenburg and/or Bob Arum.
According to Greenburg, whose only goal was to bring the parties together so they could make a deal, he was busy from May 2, through June 2 and or on about to July 2, trying to get the two camps in sycn so a bout contract could be written up and made ready for signatures of Floyd and Manny.
Floyd Mayweather spokesman Leonard Ellerbe (right) said that Bob Arum and HBO sports chief Ross Greenburg could be lying about failed Mayweather-Pacquiao negotiations (Getty Images)
Wouldn’t it have been in the category of common courtesy for Mayweather to instruct Haymon to shut down the talks and to let both HBO and Arum know the matter could be revisited next year when Floyd will be looking for a fight?
And what about Mayweather showing some consideration, a modicum of respect, for his vassals at Golden Boy, Oscar de la Hoya and Richie Rich Schaefer?
Bossman Floyd could’ve told Haymon to pull their coats, to tell them to get off the airwaves with Oscar’s nationally televised declaration that ?the fight is very close? and Herr Schaefer’s nearly daily shortstopping of inquring reporters with his ?I must honor the gag order? rap.
But he didn’t because, in Bossman Floyd’s world of self imposed megalomania, it’s all about him and never about anybody else, not even the people who handle his business.
I mean, HBO has not exactly given Mayweather the field hand treatment over the years, have they?
Floyd does 100 percent of his boxing business with the prime cable network and it would’ve been good form to tell Greenburg to stop spinning his wheels but, obviously, that never happened.
Mayweather could’ve also avoid the public’s blanket condemnation by issuing a press release stating that he would be glad to entertain a Pacquiao proposal once the calendar flips over to 2011.
But he did not do that, either.
Instead, he and his minions stood idly and silently by as cagey Arum kept telling the waiting world, or at least that portion of it that cares about this fight, that he was imposing a drop dead date.
Bossman Floyd let Bossman Bob play bossman, I guess.
At the end of the day, the second failure of negotiations won’t matter much if Mayweather means business next year.
But, if he doesn’t and if their fight never happens, tbese missteps and miscues will haunt him and tarnish his ring legacy.
John L. Sullivan, legendary Boston Strongboy and heavyweight champ, used to stroll into saloons and bellow, ?I can lick any man in the joint!?
Joe Louis said that Billy Conn ?can run but he can’t hide.?
Muhammad Ali shouted: ?I am the greatest!?
What words will remain attached to Mayweather in posterity?
?Sorry, not now, I am on a long vacation.?
That’s Mayweather, the boss with the cold sauce.
He thinks we should call him Your Highness but we actually refer to him as Your Arrogance.
