We live in funny times. It seems the more worthless the dollar becomes, the more we talk about it. It?s no wonder a guy (Mitt Romney) who plays ?Three-Card Monty? with millions of jobs (and dollars) coined the phrase ?culture of envy.? I can?t recall shows about it while growing up, nor did rappers talk about it at the rate they do today. Had Public Enemy rapped about jewels as opposed to social justice, they might not have been on the FBI?s hit list. We used to have celebrities who ?did? something entertaining enough for us to pay; now we have celebs whom we pretend are talented simply because they are rich. Not so in boxing; even with all our structural cancers, 1.5 million of us tuned in to watch a very rich man earn his paper the hard way. We may not like that Floyd Mayweather made ?Money? his moniker and chief (and only interesting) talking point but we can?t deny he is uniquely gifted at the hardest profession in sports.
We can?t imagine having the money he routinely bets on the NBA in a day but human nature mandates a large majority of us would allow ourselves at least one senseless luxury. Floyd has many but this is written by a guy who, with similar means, just may install a 5,000-seat replica of Soldier Field (DAAA BEARS!) in his back yard. We all overpay for one thing or another and most of us do it for the satisfaction of being able to do it. It?s a unique American gene (called ?I?m the f?in man?) that makes many worldwide call us ?ugly? Americans.
A wise man (actually, my cousin, ?Slo Joe?) once said, ?Consider an unpaid debt the ?fee? you had to pay to get someone out of your life.? Many of us men pay a ?fee? on the first date to get a woman to take us more seriously. You know, perk up the ears so you can put your mack down. You don?t have to be an IRS accountant to see some?um, shall we say, ?over-expenditures? in Floyd Mayweather?s habits? However, they should only matter to you when it comes to the one fight he claims you deserve. ?Deserve.? You know, the word you use when you try to explain to your wife why you ordered the whole damned tier of sports channels with your cable package. We deserved it two years ago but now this stalemate is merely a matter of how Floyd Mayweather wants to frame his world. To hear him talk about why he deserves all the money is to hear a smart businessman explaining market value and yet his generalizations aren?t telling the whole story.
Floyd Mayweather is someone who understands that ?Scared money don?t make money? and he was willing to bet on himself by buying out his Top Rank contract to staggering results. He merely has to view Manny Pacquiao as a similar expense. Al Haymon is a wizard when it comes to money; he must know the accounting practice of laundering funds to a different account under a new name. If 50/50 is so appalling to Floyd, it?s because it?s filed under principle and fairness, two terms foreign to anybody who makes and keeps a lot of money in this country.
Some Money is Dead Money?
Whenever you hear anyone say, ?I like nice things,? check back with them in 10 years. What you?ll find is rarely pretty. Manny Pacquiao in prime form is not a nice thing and he lives on the side Miguel Cotto slid over to the few times he was able to lay gloves on Floyd. Duffle bags of cash is money that isn?t accruing and given the shrinking value of our paper, how can he suggest he wants generations of his family to be well-off? So let?s consider that money ?dead? because he clearly has no plan for it other than to either give it to the sports book or misplace it in sweatpants. Ms. Jackson needs $10,000 worth of shoes, kinda on a whim in front of HBO cameras. This can?t be a long-term investment. She?s more likely a bankruptcy creditor in five years tops; no offense. Multiple cars kill more athletes than ex-wives because the minute you turn the key, the asset depreciates and the car doesn?t produce the adorable children that walked Dad into the ring a couple of Saturdays ago. Gaudy t-shirts worn by the sycophants who lace up your shoes, the chick who soaps up your back and the human walls that surround you everywhere you go when even real A-Listers like Will Smith require less manpower.
One of my favorite Mayweather adornments is Curtis Jackson AKA 50 Cent and honestly, the friendship is refreshingly genuine. Hearing the mogul talk about the philanthropic work he wants to do with Floyd was illuminating and encouraging; it?s clear he?s becoming a positive influence on his buddy. However, there is a dark side to philanthropy and frequently, the money never gets to the people it was intended to help. Jay-Z, Madonna and Wyclef Jean all have failed at putting their considerable wealth to use because there?s more red tape in that hustle than gauze in Boxing. And please, 50 Cent, the world of celebrity worshipping scrubs don?t need another rapper endorsed set of headphones!
After shattering non-heavyweight pay-per-view records with Miguel Cotto, Floyd Mayweather should view Manny Pacquiao as an overpriced ?luxury? of the sort he ?has? to have. NFL and NBA players are often overpaid based on market conditions and Manny Pacquiao is the only legend sitting on an empty shelf. 50/50 with him is more money and ?amenities? than anything he currently enjoys. Golden Boy only demurs like they want to share their Brat Pack of Alvarez and Khan but why would they do that after Floyd diminished the Ortiz stock? Promotion firms play for the future and Cotto didn?t hit Floyd enough for anybody to get imprudent about ?Canelo?s? chances. If Floyd has a problem viewing Manny as another overpriced trophy, then itemize the purchase into a series of taxes. A four percent ?Legends Tax,? whereby he gets to do to Manny?s ?Fighter of the Decade? award what Hakeem Olajuwon did to David Robinson?s 1994 MVP Award; make it (and the writers who gave it) a punch line. Ray Leonard gave Marvin Hagler the big bucks because he knew he?d always be richer. He simply wanted to neuter the man historically. A four percent ?Good of the Game? Tax during promotions and nobody will be more front and center as the Man Who Saved Boxing than Mayweather. Floyd is an English-first speaker and when not being a defensive ?grownalecent,? he can really engage mainstream media. He can get on the stump and talk about the ills of the sport, even the ones he cares little about solving. The exposure just may make HBO?s ?24/7? the vehicle it was back in 2007 when he made his first appearance on the big stage. Since then, he had to call his father a homosexual slur to get comparable ?buzz? to the initial series. Manny is worth this four percent hike because you can (without the help of TD Waterhouse) quantify his name value with mainstream sports fans and media, his Q Rating, so to speak. They don?t know Manny is dissipating at a faster rate than Floyd; some of them only watch football (or MMA) and say the name ?Pacquiao? because all they watch is ESPN. They also know Pacquiao is the only boxer Skip Bayless and Steven A. Smith are willing to yell at one another for 10 minutes about and this (to any economist) has to mean something you can spin into gold. I?d rather give Manny the markup than to get another year older while Cotto utilizes his new status to beat Manny and come back to the table with Floyd less grateful for the ?opportunity? afforded him in the first fight.
It can happen; that is why most great franchises sign players. They don?t want their rivals to get their hands on.
The last tax increase is a two percent post-boxing income guarantee that I like to call the ?Sugar Ray Leonard Clause.? Floyd is right when he says he will be appreciated once he?s gone; I even predict he?ll be more respected once he slows down because the skill will shine through. But in 2025, nobody will read a book about his big showdown with Miguel Cotto and the fact that his mother is happy and gets to travel. Sugar Ray is carte blanche in boardrooms from LA to NY because of what corporate types believe he stands for. Facing the challenges and beating the rivals that threatened his place in history is a part of his branding and why people will pay to hear him speak. Without Pacquiao, nobody will care or be willing to pay to hear what Floyd has to say in 20 yrs. And he should always have that earning power in case things don?t go well. In 2012 he can say, ?43 tried and 43 failed,? but if you get to be 50 and your trying to market yourself as a winner (like Ray) the question is, ?Who?d ya beat?? I would guess Floyd spends a lot of money on customization that added dimension that allows him to say, ?Not only did I spend too much but here are my initials in 24 carrot diamonds?. Manny Pacquiao is that customization, that diamond in the crown that allows Floyd to hold out his hand, post-boxing, and say ?Pay me.? Keep in mind, the fans Floyd knows won?t be there when he?s old and beaten up won?t have any sympathy (in 20 years) if he?s in financial trouble and regrets treating Manny Pacquiao like an annoying waiter. Time is the only true commodity; three months in jail and in the first week, Tim Bradley can assure there are no 100 million-dollar paydays to greet him once released. It has to be worth 50/50 when you consider the profits being from another galaxy, not to mention the actual bank, the two men can build (Mayweather, Pacquiao and Trust) if the fight is exciting and (God forbid) close. Floyd Mayweather isn?t shopping for an ?opponent; he?s shopping for immortality and for this lifetime VIP pass, you overspend.
More Proof Boxing is in Need of a National Commission?
Jim Lampley?s ?The Fight Game? is more welcomed in the sport than some actual fights being televised by HBO. I loved Jim Lampley?s mission statement to highlight the positives of the sport but found it John Stewart-funny when they went right into the negativity of Lamont Peterson?s positive PED test and subsequent cancelation vs. Amir Khan. Max Kellerman?s endorsement of an outside financial auditor opening the books to determine what needs to go down with Pacquiao and Mayweather was kind of funny too- like those guys can be trusted. Richard Schaefer with a straight face (and shifty eyes) saying there are plenty of options for Floyd (within HIS stable) was as close to a ?Saturday Night Live? skit as boxing can get. He even had the audacity to use the phrase ?Fair is fair? when talking about Mayweather?s position. This from a Swiss Banker who probably knows many rich men who aren?t exactly what you would call choirboys. As the Coup de Gr?ce, Bob Arum had zero problem repeating the ?Floyd Mayweather is from the Joseph Goebbels School of Propaganda? comment he made last week. Lampley shrugged it off with an ?Always with a colorful comment? but without a governing body, what can Lampley do? He?s simply trying to provide a good show to fight fans. No matter how rich, Jerry Jones and Mark Cuban can?t get away with that crap but Arum, after generations of dominance, can speak as a freely and without ramification as any dictator- and boxing is his occupied country.
Frankly, I?m sick of being held prisoner by two men who have no long-term consideration for the sport as a whole, only their interests. A commission/league with a commissioner wielding unchallenged power and oversight is the only way boxing becomes a legitimate mainstream sport. Without one, Floyd and Arum have no sponsors to offend, no guidelines to follow and no mandate to insure consumers see the most competitive bouts that can be made within a calendar year. Arum and Schaefer?s back-to-back interviews should be taken to the federal government as evidence and part of a proposal for intervention and wholesale takeover of the boxing Industry. Why not? If they can do it with health care, they can do it with the opposite of health care.
