Floyd Mayweather was featured in a story on TMZ on Tuesday burning hundred dollar bills at an Atlanta club he appeared at over the weekend.
To preface what might at first glance appear to be a rather tasteless attention seeking stunt, Mayweather appeared at the Velvet Room and Compound clubs over the weekend hosting events at each and as such was presumably being paid to promote the clubs.
Being filmed and photographed burning money are sure to have had the desired effect as far as getting him and the establishment plenty of attention.
At a time when a global recession has put millions out of work and millions more are struggling to put food on their tables however, it was hardly a classy move.
We already know Mayweather has more money than he knows what to do with.
He is the highest earning fighter in the sport today, he sells the most pay per views and according to his regularly posted betting slips, has never lost a wager.
At this stage all that is a given, and we don’t need reminding.
Ostentatious displays of his wealth before a baying crowd aren’t anything new to Mayweather of course.
On past occasions he has been known to shred hundred dollar bills and throw them into the air, as well as throwing out handfuls of the bills into the crowd, which one at least one occasion turned out to be fake.
While such displays might impress crowds of late night revelers in Atlanta, on the whole they aren’t going to do his wider public image much good.
Mayweather as he is ever keen to remind people does do a lot for charity, most of which does go unreported.
What he seems perpetually unable to grasp however is that five stories about him giving back to the community are always going to be trumped by a single story about him behaving badly.
And of late if his ostensibly never ending series of legal cases are anything to go by, Mayweather is certainly someone who has a habit of behaving badly. Advertisement
Neither for that matter was it particularly patriotic gesture from the fighter who regularly complains of a lack of support from his home country.
Perhaps most importantly though Mayweather is currently in training for a September 17th bout with WBC welterweight champion Victor Ortiz.
Promoting clubs, partying and court cases after a long layoff are hardly the ideal preparation, even for an opponent as hopelessly outgunned as Ortiz.
Tony Savini, Pitt: “Floyd thinks he can do what he likes and that people will always realize when he’s just playing to the crowd but they don’t, hence people want to see him lose”
