By Tom Drury: As a great admirer of Floyd Mayweather and his boxing skills I find it insulting how fans criticize him on the basis of his personality, some even dare to criticize his achievements inside the ring. I am not a biased writer, I am a boxing fan and the best fighter in our sport is Floyd Mayweather Jr.
I say this from personal experience of witnessing Mayweather fight and understanding all the facts surrounding his 17 year career. I have wrote numerous articles on Mayweather Jr and posted them on this forum, while many comments prove knowledge of the sport, some are bordering on insanity.
I personally like Mayweathers personality, however some of his actions outside the ring leave a lot to be desired. Mayweather is arrogant, flashy, brashy, outspoken, disrespectful but all of these attributes are backed up by scintillating performances in the ring and fight skills second to none. Mayweather has a right to be all of the above, he has earned it. The personalities that should be disliked are that of Nicaraguan Ricardo Mayorga (one of many), a dysfunctional individual, disrespectful, arrogant but with nothing to back it up. The problem here is “success” unfortunately human nature has a tendency to be bitter and envious towards success of an individual, especially an individual that flaunts that huge success “Floyd Mayweather”, Like him or loathe him remains at the top of his game, until he has fallen of that mantle (unlikely) he has every right to be the man he his. Fighting (without being sexist) is dominated by the male race, if any of you have experienced winning a fight whether in the street or in the ring you would know there is no feeling quite like it, that alfa male feeling, a feeling that demands respect, taking that into consideration think how Floyd Mayweather feels on a daily basis, he has dominated the fight game for 17 years while been promoted in front of a global audience. It is an understatement to say “Mayweather” will likely feel unbeatable, which quite frankly at present, is true.
Manny Pacquiao, Wladimir Klitshko, Lennox Lewis, Juan Manuel Marquez, Miguel Cotto These fighters are soft spoken, so called “humbled men” (to name a few) what have all these fighters got in common?…. if you haven’t worked it out yet, yes that’s right “losses”, in some cases knockout losses. When a fighter receives a loss especially a knockout/TKO believe me when i say this “it humbles them”.
Now thats cleared up. Back to the article, as this is a forum mostly used for debate there are a few questions I would like fans to answer questions in regards to Floyd Mayweather Jr and his accomplishments.
Manny Pacquiao, before i begin with this subject, here are the “facts” surrounding Manny Paquiao at the time a fight was on the cards with Floyd Mayweather Jr, these facts are exactly that from the mouths of the fighters themselves, trainers and promoters not over a drink in a nightclub with fellow fight fans. When Mayweather was asked about this fight back in 2009, he was not averse to taking on the challenge, with conditions, however these conditions were generous and fair.
1. Mayweather takes the lion share of the purse. A fair proposal as Mayweather is a much bigger draw than Paquiao, he was then and he is now, he is also undefeated.
2. Pacquiao takes random blood testing. A fair proposal also, every athlete has the right to makesure they are competing on a level and fair playing field, more so in combat sports. Mayweather is the foundation for cleaning up our sport and we all should thank him for that. Nonito Donaire has had an issue in his upcoming fight with Guillermo Rigondeaux, everything is now sorted and the fight will go ahead. Donaire in a recent interview on www.youtube.com siad “every one that fights me in the future will have to agree to random blood testing, if not, no contracts will be signed. Mayweathers insistence of RBT in fights is having a knock on effect which is great for the sport.
Fans talk as if Mayweather was making complicated and detailed demands, this is not true, he only made the two mentioned above, the first condition Bob Arum declined saying Pacquiao deserved a 50/50 split in the fight. The second proposal Manny Pcaquiao and his team (trainer Freddie Roach and strength coach Alex Ariza) declined citing numerous reasons how this would effect Paquiao and his performance. The situation and conditions were very simple, make your own mind up where the fault lies for the breakdown of the fight. The question is was Mayweather scared? did Paquiao have something to hide? did Bob Arum stop the fight for his benefit? i know which scenario i believe it was.
Mayweather is often called a “ducker” laughable i know. Who is it Mayweather ducked?
1. Paul Williams? The Man who lost to Carlos Quintana and who is of no real pedigree also suffered a devastating knockout loss at the hands of Sergio Martinez.
2. Antonio Margarito? The man who suffered four losses against journey men before hitting the mainstream fight arena?
What about all the undefeated fighters, number 1 ranked fighters, multiple world champions and mandatory challengers on Mayweathers resumee?
The final question concerns the fans that say Mayweather hasnt fought the best, that is a bold statement so im intrigued to know who it is the fans consider the best?
The last time I checked undefeated, mandatories, 1 ranked fighters and multiple world champions were the best.
Mayweather back in the ring on Cinco De Mayo against another mandatory challenger Robert “The Ghost” Guerrero in what will no doubt end up with another masterpiece performance by Mayweather Jr, hats off to Guerrero for doing what other fighters fail to do (go through the proper channels that lead to a Mayweather showdown) I believe Mayweather will stop Guerrero in the later rounds of the fight, after that the boxing world will await for the announcement of his next opponent.
Comments are closed.