By Conrad Allan: What is it about the sport of boxing that entices people to demand more of a boxer than they themselves would offer or condone within the confines of their own career? He is a warrior! He challenged the best! He is humble! He cherrypicks! He’s a safety first fighter! He is a fraud! All of these statements have been used in one form or another in reference to the upcoming fight between Marquez and Mayweather.
For Mayweather, he has garnered much more hate than any other boxer in this generation. Why? Because he mows a little lawn for a lot of money, of course! By making a comparison to a lawn care company, Mayweather chooses the job that requires less work for more money. Hey, Mike “So and So”, I want you to choose between two lawns to mow for me for the same payment.
The first is a fourth of an acre without small trees and shrubbery, and the second is a full acre with trees and shrubbery. Well, Mike “So and So” would be a fool to pick the second for the same payment. But when it comes to fighters we expect them to risk their lives even if they don’t get the mooch: for their legacy, for our entertainment. Mayweather once said Bob Arum offered him slave wages.
Slaves in Rome fought in the coliseum for the masses entertainment with great risk and hardly any reward. It seems, when it comes to Mayweather, we would ask the same thing. How dare he treat his career with risk management principles? The same principles that any successful corporation in this country operates under. The common man or woman would take great care to treat their own lives and businesses with these principles to insure the maximum return on an investment if possible.
Whether mowing a lawn, painting a house, or chopping a tree. If the job is a lot more dangerous, you want a lot more money! Just because there are fighters who do not take care of themselves in this regard and choose to take fights that ultimately end their careers and cause long term damage is no reason to deny Mayweather his right to do so.
There have been warriors who risks their lives throughout history, but only the smart warrior wins in the end. Mayweather knows that regardless of how he acts or who he fights the masses will forget him. If he fought every Welterweight out there the masses will never change their minds.
They will want him to do the hardest job for the least amount of money. They will want his blood to spill, his skin to crack and split, and his heart to explode in the wage of battle. And that is fine . . .in the movies! We would never operate under such guidelines for our own careers that keep our families fed and clothed. It’s ridiculous that I should even have to ask, “Hey, which lawn will you mow?”
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