I get the feeling that if Floyd Mayweather, Jr. ran fifteen children out of a burning building the headlines would be about the ones he left behind. Everything that is wrong with Boxing is his fault. Hell, to some, he may well be responsible for everything that is wrong with the world. Not that I expect anyone to spend anytime feeling sorry for him. His carefully calculated and richly rewarded persona is built on the correct premise that hate sells more than love. His skills didn?t make him the biggest PPV draw in Boxing, his boisterous claims and off putting personality did. So you reap what you sow, but the aftermath of his latest fight with Victor Ortiz has left me puzzled and quite frankly laughing at what I?m reading from many fans and bloggers alike.
Mayweather is one of the more accessible fighters in a sport full of them when it comes to his fans. He signs autographs for hours and always takes the time to accommodate a request and sometimes he goes well beyond the call of duty in giving moments that don?t see the headlines. He is also a man with clear flaws that definitely see the headlines. But when it comes to self promotion, he is the best I?ve seen in the Sport. He is maligned by the hard-core fan base and yet draws their money. He doesn?t have the blood and guts kind of fights that you would associate with attracting a casual fan base and yet he draws their money too.
What I?m getting at, is, as ignorant and dumb as he comes off, this guy gets it. His actions that appall most have made him many more millions than his superlative skills. But what we saw this past Saturday night was not part of the act.
Floyd said he was going to stand his ground against his younger, larger, foe and he did just that. Tagging Victor repeatedly with clean right hands and even cutting loose some of the blazing combinations that were a trademark of his youth. Ortiz was mostly coming forward and had some success with flurries when he pinned Floyd on the ropes. He was also using his head as an offensive instrument from the opening bell. Grinding it into Floyd?s face like a brillo pad until the fourth when he went Spider Rico and delivered one of the most blatant head butts I?ve ever seen in thirty five years of watching Boxing.
