(Photo credit: Esther Lin/Showtime) By Bob Smith: Boxing fights can be watched in many ways, but the best way of course is live and with a group of people. For the wealthy among us who have money and time, in person is best. For those who have some money (or perhaps like to think that they do) PPV is a good option.
A lesser but still decent option is to watch the fight in a movie theater if and when it is available. Cheapskates (including your author) opt to watch the fight live at a bar or a casino for free.
Floyd Mayweather Jr (47-0, 26 KOs) fights are great, and I have viewed most of the recent ones live in one way or another, and the crowd is almost uniformly against Mayweather. In the two most recent fights with Maidana, the crowd roared and cheered as Maidana bullied Mayweather along the ropes, swinging wild punches, and often missing, but still hitting Mayweather sometimes and definitely intimidating him. In the first fight, this proceeded for most of the first four to five rounds or so, and the crowd held its collective breath whenever Maidana got a good series of punches in, hoping desperately for a knockdown or knockout.
By the middle of the fight, however, Floyd had taken control, and arguably he won six or more of the last seven rounds. And the disappointment was palpable.
Watching a Floyd fight live is an ugly exercise in seeing the darker part of human nature. Why do people root against Floyd or even dislike him – E-N-V-Y. It is not even hatred – Floyd is flamboyant, and though he is overpaid, he did earn his money honestly through talent that has been developed through hard work over years into excellence. He is by far the best boxer alive. And really anyone who does not list Floyd as his favorite boxer is just that – a hater – someone who takes his media personality and taunting at a greater value than when he does in the ring. He is cocky yes, but deserves to be, for he outworks is opponent and outwits them and always is a better marketer than they are.
In this recent fight, Floyd dominated from the beginning. If you have a chance to watch it again, check out the beginning of every round. Every single round Floyd arrives at the center of the ring before Maidana. In the first nine rounds, I had Floyd up 8-1, and I felt like he gave Maidana a chance in the 4th round and fought mostly against the ropes to give a different look and so that no judge could say that he ran the whole night. And with the wild and unprofessional behavior by Maidana in the 10th round making that a 9-9 round, Floyd simply had to stay on his feet for six minutes to win, and of course he did do that and won a clear UD.
I knew the fight was over by the end of the first round. Maidana, though dirty and unprofessional as always, gave away his two major advantages in the fight – wild and unpredictable aggression and a huge weight advantage – and opted instead to try to land clean punches at critical times. His punch output was only 578 thrown, less than 50 per round, and it is simply mathematically impossible to beat Mayweather with that few punches thrown. Mayweather out-landed him 51% to 25% or so, if I am not mistaken.
Maidana was a dirty fighter and in this fight was as dirty as he could be given the referee – biting Mayweather in a clinch and using a forearm to throw him to the ground MMA style out of frustration, and rightfully had a point deducted for this. Maidana is someone to watch out for in the prison yard for he will hide a shank carefully and hit you in the neck with it at an unusual time, but that kind of behavior and mentality does not belong in a boxing ring. I lost a lot of respect for him in this fight – in the first fight he did have effective aggression (including, to be frank, rabbit punches, knees, and low blows) but in this fight he had merely ineffective aggression, poor timing, and dirty tactics.
So, to those who don’t recognize Mayweather as the greatest boxer alive, and let your ENVY turn into bloodlust – Mayweather made $32 million plus tonight, which is more than any 10 of you will make in your lifetimes, and that is not including the cuts he gets of other revenue, or any other fight payday for previous fights. Your hatred simply boosts his earning power and makes him a bigger draw the next fight. He is not a coward or a runner, he is the best fighter and marketer alive, and though the classy thing is to appreciate this, the foolish haters only add to his bank account in the end.
The reason is that he only takes fights he knows he will win, and he does win convincingly. And against anyone alive in his weight division, or even one above or below it, from 140-154, he will win. So, I suggest to those who burn with envy and hatred – appreciate this while it lasts, for he only has a few more years as a professional fighter – 2-3 at most – before he moves on to being a manager and promoter full time.
Yes, Floyd is my favorite fighter, though among current fighters, I like Juan Manuel Marquez, Golovkin, and Klitschko as my other favorites. I’d include Ward, but who can consider him a current fighter? So, I do appreciate other fighters and divisions and styles, but none but Mayweather stand so far above their competition.
Though Mayweather is grossly overpaid for what he does, it is great that we live in a country where excellence is rewarded, and those who hate and envy excellence are restrained in the best possible way – being suckered into channeling money into his bank account through their actions!
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