Splitsville for Mayweather-50 Cent Bromance

Things looked rosy in May, as Biebs, Floyd, 50 Cent and Gamboa grinned for the flash. Today, smiles have been shelved, as Floyd and his ex bestie Fiddy are beefing bigtime. (Hogan)

Say it isn't so. Another celeb couple we thought had staying power is officially splitsville. Floyd Mayweather and 50 Cent, Segway riding besties who seemingly had the sort of connection that comes with coming from the same sort of humble beginnings and ascending to similar heights, are kaput. Or so it would seem judging from their epic tussle on Twitter.

If there was merely smoke indicating that the fires of ardor had burned out, then we saw a full scale conflagration play out on Twitter Friday night, which told the boxing world that Fiddy and Money are no more.

First Danny Devito and Rhea Perlman, and now Mayweather and 50 Cent. It's almost too much to handle, all this discord and instability…

No, seriously, this one did take me by surprise. Maybe it shouldn't have, maybe I didn't pay enough attention to the duo. I guess I needed more complete confirmation than the mid September news that their child, TMT Promotions,  was kaput, that Fiddy was chatting with Manny Pacquiao about doing business. Rumors had been churning before that–the two had beefed at a Vegas steakhouse over a debt Floyd supposedly owed Fiddy, in May–but it looked like the duo was full steam ahead in July. But Floyd did his time, for a domestic beef, and it looked like the bromance went off the rails during or right after the stint. Fiddy was there when Floyd was released Aug. 3, but quickly after, the gossip mill spewed out talk that the rapper and Floyd's galpal Miss Jackson cried on each others' shoulders, and other parts, while Floyd was away at college. The smoke got heavier when Fiddy spoke on the radio September 12: “[The issues between us] really comes from…everybody around him is waiting on the next time he feels generous,” he said. “And I have a lot [of money] so I don't wait for nobody. I'll go do what I gotta do. I don't have to sit around and wait for the next time he feels like giving somebody something.” Smoldering increased when on Oct. 12, Fight Hype printed a story which laid out an attempted coup by Fiddy, and his pal Tommy Smalls, and their supposed plan to have Floyd dump advisor Al Haymon.

Heck with smoldering, we got full fire Friday.

Fiddy lobbed the first bomb when he wrote, “GAMBOA WANTS TO FIGHT FLOYD. I will put up a extra 20 million for the winner. He don't like it that Floyd pulled out.”

He is referring to the Cuban Yuriorkis Gamboa, who was signed to the promotional team, the Money Team, which formed together late summer, and splintered and dissolved by late fall. This reference left fight fans and pundits somewhat scratching their heads, seeing as how Gamboa weighed in at 127 pounds his last fight, a win over Ponce De Leon in September 2011. Floyd was 151 for his last scrap, against Miguel Cotto in May. Much of the reaction on Twitter to the 50 trashtalk was along the lines of, If 50 Cent wants to get into the boxing biz, and stay there for a spell, he'd do well to not offer up one of his guys–and it looks as of today that he got Gamboa in the divorce–who is 20 plus pounds less than the top pound for pounder he's offering him up against for a sacrifice.

Fiddy was just getting started. He threw down on Mayweather's longtime right-hand man, Leonard Ellerbe, writing, “Ellerbee you a broke bum GAMBOA want to fight tell him to Floyd lace up. Lol.” He then kept at the Gamboa-Mayweather proposal. “GAMBOA is the truth, FLOYD no that, stop tricking and Fight.”

Mayweather was alerted to the words of warfare and countered. SMS = Similar Mayweather Show, SMS = Sisters Managing Sports, SMS = Snakes Maneuver Slick, he Tweeted in succession, an allusion to the name of the Fiddy splitoff promotional company, SMS, which is the name of Fiddy's consumer electronics company. SMS stands for “studio mastered sound.” He added, in reference to Fiddy, “A male boxing groupie.. hold my belts because your album sales have declined.” Mayweather added a Jpeg of Fiddy looking like a valet, holding four Mayweather belts draped over himself during a weigh in. He judged Fiddy's street cred by Tweeting, “I respect the shooter not the one who got shot,” a shot at Fiddy's resume bullet point that Fiddy was shot and struck by nine bullets in 2000.

Some skeptics, wondering if this isn't all a ploy, for attention, or to launch some sort of Trojan horse deal, have said that this could be a con job. I doubt it, as the language got pretty heated. “Hold my money F— Boy,” Mayweather Tweeted, alongside a shot of Fiddy with wads of cash all over him. Mayweather kept on flurrying, posting a photo of him with Dr. Dre, who also makes headphones, and competes in that realm with Fiddy. A couple more knocks on Fiddy's declining rap sales followed.

Fiddy wasn't fooling, either. “I can't hang out with Floyd no more, I'm tired of running from manny pacquiao,” the rapper-promoter Tweeted. “GAMBOA MOVING UP IN WEIGHT FLOYD. You should have know not to go against me PUNK.”

The new kid on the promotional block then talked smack on Andre Ward, and offered up another property he got in the divorce, apparently, Andre Dirrell, for a scrap. Not sure if Dirrell was or is aware of the suggestion, since he and Ward have put off a fight, because they have been friendly.
Fiddy seconded a Tweet which made reference, it would seem, to the person who shot him being dead, so again, this was heated material, and I have to think, not a work.

“MONEY Floyd you know I have more MONEY then you,” Fiddy Tweeted, in his second to last toss. “Al Haymen got you on a Allowance, you go broke every fight stupid.”
The tiff flamed out at that point…

Readers, I'd like your take. I've heard rumors that Fiddy, who got licensed back in July to promote in NY, might have a show coming up in NYC in February. Could this all be a ploy to get buzz for him, and Floyd? Or is this the real deal, true enmity between men who were soulmates, it seemed, but who allowed business, or money, or a gal, or jealousy, or some combination of those, or something else we don't know about, get between them?