Articles of 2007
Floyd Will Never Be Beloved
So today I get an instant message with a link attached that says, “This is why people hate boxing.” I see the heading and assume it might have something to do with too many sanctioning bodies or something.
I click it and it leads me to a video of Floyd Mayweather Jr. talking into a microphone (looks like he is on a radio program) and without going into too much detail (the majority of his words consisted of several M***** F****'s along with some unintelligible slang terms) I can only say that as much as I have tried to defend the guy in the past I would have to say that anyone who watches that video and tells me, as a result, that they hate Floyd Mayweather it would be hard for me to put up any more arguments on his behalf.
I used to tell people how I had trained in the gym alongside him a couple times out in Las Vegas and how I had talked with on a couple occasions. I always said how cool he was, how willing to talk he was. He came across well to me but now, after watching this video and seeing him on HBO's 24/7, it's hard to defend the guy.
Put it this way, when people watch him on HBO they usually comment on how immature he comes across. They also talk about how his arrogance and flashiness is a complete turn off. Well, the video I watched him in today makes his performances on 24/7, by comparison, look like he's a cross between Urkel and Howdy Doody. He is that bad, that ignorant acting, that arrogant, and that much of a turn off.
(The fact that he is a soon to be thirty one year old father (several times over) makes his immaturity and ignorance seem almost alarming.)
I still believe he will beat Hatton on Saturday but even if he does it will not change the fact that he will have become -if he hasn't already- the poster boy for examples of why people don't like boxing anymore. This is why he will never be beloved.
In twenty years Sugar Ray Leonard will still be revered as a true legend…while Floyd will not draw three autograph requests at a fight, because of examples like THIS.
Hagler will always be bowed to. Larry Holmes will always get respect. Hearns, Duran, Pryor, Arguello and a thousand other all time greats will still be revered long after they leave this earth.
But I have the feeling that, as talented of a fighter as he is, Floyd will be lucky to get Panama Lewis or Crocodile (Tyson's old hanger-on) to hang out with him that far down the line. You know how crazy it is? Watching Floyd today made me actually think how right his father may have been about him all those times he spoke out about his son.
And, for the record, I would say it is a 100-1 shot that any of those ridiculous yes-men that laugh at every attempt at a joke by him will be nowhere to be seen once his fame subsides and the money stays put in his pocket. Listening to those idiots constantly laugh at every joke and back slap him and yes him to death is almost as irritating as listening to his ridiculous monologues.
Former light heavyweight contender Scully is one of the best young trainers in the game. For information on the Iceman's soon to be finished/released “The Iceman Diaries” you can contact him directly at JohnScullyICEMAN@AOL.COM
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