Can HBO and Larry Merchant just assume that the public already buys into their “Mayweather is the devil” routine and stop pushing it on each and every telecast? I guess it’s reassuring that the HBO crew feels independent enough to constantly crotch-kick the guy on his own shows, but it would be a lot more reassuring if Mayweather wasn’t the only fighter they treated like pond scum. Not even Antonio Margarito, boxing’s most vile real villain, catches as much flack as “Money.”
As headliner and co-promoter, Mayweather is basically generating the paychecks for Larry Merchant, a guy almost gleefully eager to wedge his own dislike and disdain into the last few moments of any Mayweather show. As such, I can’t blame the guy for being somewhat peeved about being confronted at every opportunity, especially when others are most definitely not treated with the same blatant and aggressive disdain. If this were an actual lynch mob, they’d be having Mayweather buy the rope and give the yokels a ride to the hangin’ tree in one of his Escalades.
Fierce and sometimes brutal criticism should be part of the game for the media, but it has to be dealt evenly across the board, not just dumped onto the head of one particular target over and over again. In any case, here’s The Magno Report Card for Saturday night’s Star Power PPV:
Floyd Mayweather: C-
It looked as though Mayweather wanted to put on a good show Saturday, it’s just that circumstances got in the way– The circumstances being a flagrant Ortiz headbutt, an inept Joe Cortez, and Mayweather’s own poor decision making. At Star Power, Mayweather looked more like the thug “assaulting” security guards with his index finger than the genius who tamed Diego Corrales years ago.
