Character: The foe Floyd can’t KO

By Phil Tildsley: Mayweather has talent. Some say he is the greatest talent….some even scream it.

However, is that all he has?

Perusing the many articles written about Mayweather over the last few weeks and the responses they generate, it becomes evident that the chief emotion this man is producing in the majority of boxing fans is……frustration.

The knowledgeable boxing fan will invest much time reading article after article on this man, that display his fight stats in various forms and orders, only to be left with a raised blood pressure and a slightly receded hairline. Frustration is rife!

And what is frustration? The primary cause will vary as a person ages get but the explanation for why a grown man gets frustrated and why a toddler does also are surely congruent.

-It is the inability to achieve a desired goal that is known to be acutely achievable

The frustration of the knowledgeable boxing fan is evoked due to witnessing Floyd’s obvious talent but his consistent refusal to use it. You want to see him use his talent but he won’t. He could….but he doesn’t. He doesn’t fight Mosley, he doesn’t fight Cotto, and he doesn’t fight Williams.

When you watch a fighter with limited talent try his damned best over and over and succeed or fall short are you frustrated? I am not.

The problem? The missing ingredient?…Character

Now Floyd beat Oscar. Sure many will say De La Hoya was was semi retired which is correct, but you simply can’t step up a weight class and beat a ten time world champion like De La Hoya without being a talented guy.

Now Floyd beat Marquez. When Cotto came back after his defeat to Margarito he openly admitted his fight with Michael Jennings was a “tune up” bout, as well as being for the vacant WBO title. Nothing wrong with that, it’s been practiced for years. No such admission from Mr Mayweather. He touted his fight with Marquez to be fair combat for the “numero uno” spot in the world. A man with character simply can’t challenge a man two weight divisions below you, come in heavy at the weigh in, not even secure the KO and expect praise and adulation.

His HBO performances are bipolar. In the Marquez series he is quoted as saying “ill do me….” Now I would never ask blood from a stone and I’m not asking for Milton from Mayweather but c’mon “ill do me”??. He can also be seen playing what is called slaps in the UK with his Father. When the question of who won arises Floyd can be seen leaping over to his Father exclaiming repeatedly in an increasing volume as his Father ignores him “I got you, I got you!!” You can witness Floyd trying to turn his father, vying for his attention. These are not the actions of a blood and guts hero full of character. Can you imagine Miguel Cotto doing this?

4) Mayweather can be heard saying in the HBO post Marquez fight interview to Shane Mosley “Respect me as a man….”

To all readers including the most ardent of Mayweather fans, the diehard of the diehards, please, ask yourselves truly, when is the last time you respected a man who literally asked out loud for that respect?

When I watch boxing it is in the hope to see some now less common attributes in society at large. The never say die attitude, the underdog who risks it all, the idea of two men battling it out to see who is superior on a base level. The pursuit of glory, the guts, the falls, the comebacks, the upsets and the punchers chance. I admire character.

Maybe it’s me, maybe I’m asking too much. After all Mr Mayweather never signed any declaration stating he will fight for the principles I admire or I desire him to fight for. Maybe I’m old? Maybe money alone now and not character is what a man is measured by. Money wants money and he gets it! Is this success? Perhaps his current outbursts of not being accredited stem from a mismatch between fans and his ideas in what results you measure success by. He gets the most money so he truly believes that based on his own moral code he deserves appreciation. In the fans eyes he fights only for money thus we declare he deserves little appreciation.

“…… Everybody’s got talent. I got talent. You think you can play big-money straight pool or poker for forty straight hours on nothing but talent? You think they call Minnesota Fats the best in the country just ’cause he got talent? Nah, Minnesota Fats’s got more character in one finger than you got in your whole skinny body”

Bert Gordon. The Hustler 1961

Cursed is the individual blessed with talent but lacking the character to exploit it.

LLCoolP

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