LAS VEGAS ? Well, here we are again. Back in Nevada, back at a Floyd Mayweather fight, back with the same tired storylines. Let?s criticize Mayweather?s opponent — and really, was there anyone outside of Marcos Maidana?s inner circle who was clamoring for a rematch of a pretty conclusive contest four months ago? — let?s watch Showtime?s Mayweather-produced infomercials, let?s bait him for the slightest hint that a showdown with Manny Pacquiao might be in the offing.
Let?s do it all and then, on Sunday morning, let?s leave disappointed.
It?s a predictable cycle, yet here we are again, back begging for more. For most, the appeal of Mayweather isn?t watching him fight. It?s wondering when — or if — he will lose. A Mayweather win won?t be a bullet point on Pardon the Interruption or a front page (or any page) story in The New York Times.
A Mayweather loss? That would lead SportsCenter.
Boxing With three fights left in Floyd Mayweather’s career, a father reflects by Greg Bishop
Mayweather knows this. He is Sylar from Heroes, Ben Linus from Lost, the character you can?t stand but one you tune in to see, just to find out if he finally gets his comeuppance. Worse, really. Those characters were fictional. Mayweather is not only outrageous, he?s a two-time domestic violence offender who insists that the absence of bruising on his victims proves he’s innocent. This week, he declared that the NFL overreacted to the disturbing video of Ray Rice flattening his fianc? in an elevator, a comment Mayweather would later apologize for.
That Mayweather still has big brands like Corona and O’Reilly Auto Parts sponsoring his shows and convinces 800,000-plus people to plop down $75 twice a year is a minor miracle.
But they do, which is why Mayweather is free to cruise through the twilight of his career, free to cherry pick opponents who are willing to swallow any deal he offers. Canelo Alvarez wants to fight? Only at a catchweight. Maidana wants to wear a certain pair of gloves? You wear what I tell you. After Bob Arum raised hope that a Mayweather-Manny Pacquiao showdown could happen in 2015, Mayweather was quick to dismiss it.
?Not true,? Mayweather told reporters. ?I can’t say what the future holds, but Arum and Pacquiao [are] trying to sell tickets for the [fight with the] guy named [Chris] Algieri. Trying to sell tickets for that fight. I don’t know where they [are] fighting, I don’t know anything about what Top Rank is doing.?
It?s a dictatorship, and a lucrative one at that. Mayweather pocketed north of $75 million for fights with Alvarez and Robert Guerrero last year, and the two fights with Maidana will likely generate $60 million or so more. He is a revenue generating machine, peerless not just in boxing, but in all sports.
Boxing Double standard: We condemn Ray Rice; but what about Mayweather? by Greg Bishop
Yet there is one thing Mayweather?s money can?t buy: a legacy. No question, Mayweather is a Hall of Famer. He?s not Sven Ottke, an undefeated, longtime former unified super middleweight titleholder who has not come close to earning a spot in the Hall. In his prime– and even before that — Mayweather was scary good. He dominated Diego Corrales. He destroyed Arturo Gatti. He climbed up to 154 pounds and outclassed Oscar De La Hoya. He?s the best defensive fighter since Pernell Whitaker. Better, even.
But he is not, as he so often declares, the best ever. Could he have ever been? Truthfully, it?s doubtful. Sugar Ray Robinson is widely regarded as the greatest fighter in boxing history. Muhammad Ali, Henry Armstrong and Joe Louis are also on the list. But what could Mayweather have been had he engaged Pacquiao in 2010 and 2011? Where would he rank if he fought Miguel Cotto when Cotto was in his prime? What would we think of Mayweather if instead of a rematch with Maidana he took on Pacquiao and followed it up with Tim Bradley and the winner of a Kell Brook/Amir Khan tussle next year?
Would we consider him the best? Probably not.
Would we be in awe of his accomplishments? Absolutely.
At a time when Mayweather could be burnishing his legacy, he is choosing to be indifferent to it. At a press conference on Wednesday, Mayweather told a roomful of reporters that ?I want to give you the fights you want to see.? But Mayweather?s disdain for Arum — whose hands aren?t clean in this mess, either — has ensured that the fights an aging boxing fan base wants to see will never happen.
None of this will impact Mayweather?s bottom line, of course. His six-fight deal with Showtime, a pact that likely will conclude this time next year, has staggering guarantees. He will sit atop the various athlete money-making lists at the end of this year and, barring injury, again next year. He will end his career having raked in more money than any athlete in the history of the sport.
But the greatest? Far from it. Mayweather?s team has often attacked the media for printing less than flattering stories. On Wednesday, Leonard Ellerbe, the CEO of Mayweather Promotions, chastised reporters for criticizing Mayweather, citing, amazingly, the attacks as the reason boxing nips at the outskirts of the mainstream. “The hating and criticizing, you guys have to stop,” Ellerbe said. ?So many find ways to criticize and denigrate. We find ways to bring him down. This is why boxing isn’t big, like the NBA. Lots of fighters make substantially more money since Floyd put the sport of boxing on his shoulders.?
In truth, Mayweather has not elevated boxing much at all. He has elevated himself. He is a bona fide superstar, recognizable all over the world. But it?s hard to see how the sport as a whole has greatly benefited from it. Fighters’ desperate desire to get into the Mayweather sweepstakes has led to many of them avoiding tough opponents (see Khan, Amir) to not risk a loss that could knock them out of the running.
Mayweather says he will retire next year, and if he does boxing will miss him. But just like it moved on from Marvin Hagler, Tommy Hearns and Sugar Ray Leonard, from Roy Jones and Oscar De La Hoya, it will move on from him. The best way, the only way for Mayweather to leave an everlasting impression on the sport is to finish his career matching up with some of boxing?s best. It?s a path everyone in the sport wants, but one Mayweather has yet to show a serious interest in taking.
