by Yannis Mihanos: A lot has been said about Floyd Mayweather Jr’s reluctance to take the big fight against arch rival Manny Pacquiao. Last news is that Mayweather appears eager for the fight to happen .If that is true that might be his big chance to seal his boxing legacy. Or maybe not? What if this happens and has a bad outcome for the number 1 pound for pound king of boxing today?
How much will affect him and the boxing world? Will he ever be the same afterwards? What a defeat will mean on Mayweather’s legacy? What I think is possible to happen is the following:
The first reaction is Floyd’s verification that he was right to avoid Manny for all these years. What may happen is the following episodes in no particular order:
The first of course is the reaction from Floyd himself: it will be the verification that he was right to avoid Manny for all these years. It was indeed a very bad moment. The end of the myth, that Floyd is unrivaled and the greatest ever. But the biggest blow is not this but this: the biggest blow will be on Floyd’s super inflated ego that suddenly will begin to deflate with disproportional side effects.
And that will signal the end of his career as great, right? At least that’s what Floyd might think.
There are people in all parts of life who can’t take failure, people who are raised to believe that perfect is great and imperfect obsolete. I suspect that Floyd is one of those people.
Mayweather’s boxing record as it stands right now looks perfect but it is made out of avoiding the most dangerous opponent of his generation: Pacquiao.
In my life I too have struggled with accepting failure and facing my fears, it is not an easy task I admit.
So here’s what I have learnt so far: The major perception and myth is that accepting failure is loser’s attitude. But that is far from the truth. You see, what a failure does, is continuously testing us and pushing us forward.
Only through trial and error, through fire and steel ,through cold and hot , real greatness can surface. How you bounce back from a defeat reveals what you are made of. How you take a punch or how you even get up after getting knocked down is the key.
What are you made of Floyd? I honestly don’t know, because I have never seen you losing or dropping from a knockout. Not for the last 18 years…That might be also my biggest compliment to you. It depends how somebody see’s it.
The legacy of Mayweather has certainly not been cemented yet, he still has something to prove, first to himself and then to all the rest.
With the news running that Saul “Canelo” Alvarez has agreed to fight Miguel Cotto on the same day that Floyd is guaranteed to fight his next opponent, the pressure further accumulates for him to take the right decision.
If he decides to skip the obvious choice and go on completing his contract with Showtime the usual way,that will keep in his all time boxing record a parenthesis.
A parenthesis that will say the following: he never faced his most difficult opponent.
Even like that, Mayweather’s legacy will be remembered in the hall of fame also for the right reasons as a terrific defensive fighter with undeniably great marketing skills.
I surely will remember Mayweather for that.
You don’t see every day a top athlete in any sport to self promote so good and so consistent, for that I take my hat off him.
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