COMMENTARY | He prefers the nickname “Money,” but you could just as easily call Floyd Mayweather “Teflon” Floyd.
Just about a week away from his September 14 bout with Saul Alvarez, it has become obvious that, despite years of bad publicity and ugly scandal, the five-division world champ has emerged unscathed and bigger than ever.
For the longest time— and it’s still ongoing to some extent— the media was relentless in tearing down the art and legacy of Mayweather. At the height of Manny Pacquiao mania, the media played the two fighters against one another, painting Pacquiao as the humble super hero and Floyd as the arrogant, cowardly villain. In many ways, this dynamic helped push Pacquiao to stardom as a “People’s Champ” and universally lovable character, but it didn’t destroy Mayweather and it didn’t permanently cast him as a sniveling cad, either.
Even a brief stint in jail for domestic battery couldn’t destroy Mayweather’s image or his ability to effectively promote himself. Lesser scandals have destroyed bigger stars, but “Money” never lost a step.
It seems that there’s nothing Mayweather can do, personally or professionally, to wreck himself or bring down his star. Even as a prizefighter without a single Fight of the Year on his resume and a firmly established reputation as a safety-first counter-puncher, Mayweather is commercially untouchable. As a matter of fact, his upcoming bout with Saul Alvarez on September 14 will earn him the tidy sum of $41.5 million in anticipation of a blockbuster.
So, what gives? Why is this man, this boxer, among so many others, able to keep and even expand his fan base in the face of relentless negative press and personal scandal?
African American blogger Lloyd Knight offers his explanation: “As a black man, I believe we as a people have supported Floyd Mayweather through negative press for many reasons. First, when the world hates on of us, we are more likely to support someone within our culture. Two, many of us see him as the embodiment of the hip hop culture. He’s flashy, brash, and backs it up. And lastly, many see Floyd’s antics as an act. He is performing similar to what we see in professional wrestling. He’s a heel.”
“He was smart enough to embrace the villain role,” comments writer and hardcore boxing fan, Ruben Diaz. “He cashed in on crossover appeal. People either love him or hate him, and even if they’re not paying to watch him, they’re certainly going to talk about him, and that’s enough to keep his name and brand abuzz.”
Mayweather, himself, has acknowledged his use of role playing to tweak the public’s interest, recently saying this during a media conference call:
“Everything was a business plan. My business plan was to be very, very entertaining. Be very wild. Turn it on when it’s time to turn it on, turn it off when it’s time to turn it off. And that’s what I did. I built my fan base. I became a pay-per-view star. I became a household name. That was the ultimate goal. It was just a business plan that I had.
“It’s nothing fake. You’ve just got to know when to turn it on and when to turn it off?.If I didn’t step up to the plate and speak my mind, be flashy and flamboyant, I probably wouldn’t be in the position that I’m in right now.”
But aside from being a hip-hop antihero whose fans are “in the know” when it comes to his role playing gimmick, there may be something deeper involved.
Unlike fellow sports stars like LeBron James or Tom Brady, who are employed by teams and very much beholden to the rules and whims of their respective leagues, Floyd Mayweather is his own man. Even fellow fighter and arch-rival Manny Pacquiao looks every bit the employee within his own empire, tightly guided by promoter Bob Arum.
Few men rise from poverty to riches without owing something (or everything) to the power brokers behind the scenes. Floyd Mayweather is a different breed of man, altogether. Self-made and self-motivated, Mayweather is the master of his own domain. He works when and how he chooses to work and gets paid on his own terms. There’s no need to wait for a check from the NBA or NFL; Mayweather gets his millions directly as the product of his hard work.
Few athletes have Mayweather’s level of self-determination. Really, few people, period, have this level of self-determination. And it’s mind blowing to think that Mayweather, born into poverty and into a life of familial chaos, was able to fashion a king’s lifestyle for himself in just a few short years, using little more than the will to succeed and a belief in his own abilities.
Like it or not, Floyd Mayweather is the American Dream. And those who have embraced his persona and have stayed loyal to him through thick and thin may merely be responding to this uniquely American brand of optimism. He is deeply flawed, as all humans are, but Mayweather is the embodiment of the idea that, through hard work and sheer determination, a man can be anything he chooses to be. And for all of those who have struggled, and continue to do so, it’s hard to not respond to the reality behind Mayweather’s bad guy act.
