Uncle Roger is free as a bird, some might say a dodo but a bird nonetheless.
Now let me reveal why I?m certain that Nephew L?il Floyd won?t be incarcerated as he returns to court in Las Vegas this Monday morning.
There are many reasons why ?Money? Mayweather won?t be going to either the Clark County Jail or to a Nevada state pen such as forlorn Lovelock where #32 Orenthal James Simpson is cooped up.
The main reason may be the same as Mayweather?s self-bestowed nickname, ?M-O-N-E-Y,? the new tag he chose after growing tired of his earlier ?Pretty Boy? persona.
The Mayweather-Manny Pacquiao Super Bout will be a positive jolt to the battered and bruised Vegas economy.
My former Las Vegas Sun sportswriting colleague Jim ?Catfish? Hunter is thought to be a native of the gambling mecca but t?ain?t so.
Hunter was actually born or hatched in Bremerton, Wash., up near rainy Seattle, and gesticulated and matriculated as U. of Oregon Duck where he tried but failed to run in the footsteps of the legendary ?Pre,? Steve Prefontaine.
Hunter?s been around Vegas for so long he actually has photos of himself, back when he was head flack at the Hilton, wearing Elvis Presley?s fabled on stage jumpsuit. You know, the hunka, hunka of burning funk outfit with all the glitter, jewels and other, as Don King would say, ?fabulous doodads.?
You mention “Mister T” and Hunter starts spieling about fight promoter-car dealer-charlatan Tony Trudnich, not the “I pity the fool” character from the “A-Team” show.
Hunter never knew Busy Siegel but he did know Ash Resnick, Jimmy The Greek and Lefty Rosenthal, not to mention Gus Guiffre and Famous Ron Amos…you get the drift…
Hunter knows Vegas and vice versa and he tells me parts of his metropolis look like it?s 1929.
?It is bad out here,? Hunter said, ?the casinos are doing lousy business, so many people are laid off and you?ve got whole shopping strips that are deserted, not to mention all the abandoned houses.?
And, hey, Hunter is an optimist, a the glass is half full kind of guy.
The point is the city fathers cannot afford to have the mercurial Mayweather go to the pokey on this criminal case when he is all but certain to be one half of a sporting event, the Super Bowl of Boxing, which may do $100 million just on PPV TV.
Fast forward to late August and assume two things. One, Pacman has dispatched Sugar Shane Mosley on May 7 and, two, Mayweather doesn?t want to waste time with any silly ?tune up? fight. Mayweather has to know that ?tune up? can turn into ?tune out.?
Let?s say Bob Arum and the Mayweather side get together and The Big One is announced.
Instant sellout. Instant excitement. Instant positive charge for the ailing tourist economy?for nearly every bartender, taxi driver, maid and waitress in all the major hotels.
In 2010, Las Vegas had one decent boxing attraction, the Mosley-Mayweather bout.
In 2010, Pacquiao?s two bouts were both held, for different reasons, at Jerry Jones? fancy football playpen in Arlington, Texas.
Arum and others exclaimed a New Age of big stadium boxing.
But neither Jerry Jones or anyone else will outbid Vegas for Mayweather-Pacquiao.
It will land at the MGM Grand, which supplanted the pioneer Caesars Palace, as the real glitzy cathedral of the biggest fights.
Sending Mayweather to the slammer is a lose-lose proposition for everybody.
L?il Floyd?s no jail plea will incorportate community service, anger management/domestic violence classes and a financial penalty.
He will walk on this case because those call the shots in the city, from Mayor Oscar Goodman on down, all know they need Mayweather.
As great as he is, as powerful an attraction as he?s become, nobody is going to fly into Southern Nevada to drink, eat, gamble and otherwise cavort because they want to see Manny shadowboxing.
Floyd Mayweather has Vegas right where he wants it, in a financially vulnerable position like never before.
Who knows, if all the money rolls in even for one three or four day period, the hometown pariah might change his local image.
Floyd Mayweather Jr., hometown hero.
It could happen.
It will happen.
