I think Floyd would have been more concerned with paul Williams margarito would lose by UD every day of the week, and Floyd really wouldn't need to shift into top gear
The DLH fight was conducted at 154. Lineal at 147 had no bearing on the public's perception of DLH-May or what Mayweather was worth to Oscar - that fight was sold on a combo of DLH's big name with Floyd's big mouth, and Floyd still had to box in Oscar's ring, at Oscar's weight, using Oscar's gloves and taking the short end of the dough. It could easily have been, had Aaron not turned down an offer in early '81 that would've multiplied his best payday more than 10 times over. Pryor had a solitary title defence under his belt at that point and he wasn't a closed circuit draw or a big earner. He'd made $8,000 one fight prior to boxing Cervantes, $45,000 against Cervantes himself. Here he is talking about having declined Leonard's offer (it's summer '81 at the time of filming, and he's just made his second successful title defence, also his first outing of the year); This content is protected Aaron did eventually accept an increased offer of $750,000 for a fight in 1982, but Ray never ended up getting past his scheduled bout with Roger Stafford, due to the discovery of his eye injury and immediate retirement (on medical advice). That's why I say the 'Leonard ducked Pryor' story is, in fact, antithetical to reality. The only guy who ever declined an offer was Aaron. I didn't mean to accuse you of peddling it, but more to say that if that myth can be regurgitated all over the internet, surely we can reconcile ourselves to a duck story that carries a bit more actual substance, even if it casts an ATG in a slightly unflattering light.
Winning the lineal title at 147 and being the recognized welterweight world champion certainly gave Floyd juice to make $25M to Oscar’s $52M for their fight. The fight was at Jr Middleweight for DLH’s title but to sell the fight to the general public, it helped that Floyd was the lineal welterweight champion. No one outside of Boxing knew who Floyd was before DLH. Being the lineal champion at welterweight gave him the ability to make that kind of money. If he came in with being the WBO welterweight champ Floyd probably wouldn’t have made $15M. I knew Pryor and Ray were in talks and the fight was being discussed, but I remember reading Leonard moved on...looking at bigger names for bigger money that added more to his legacy....I didn’t realize it was that close to happening. Pryor is an idiot for turning down the fight. That would have been an interesting fight.
It really didn't, though. The Floyd-Baldo PPV did less buys than the Floyd-Gatti PPV. That fight didn't win him greater visibility, greater respect, greater leverage at the negotiating table, greater anything. The dreadfully dull promotion (nevermind the fight itself, which is generally considered among Floyd's very least entertaining) didn't help, with zero spark generated between the principles either in or out of the ring, Floyd having nothing to work with in the worthy but nondescript Argentine. Floyd-Margarito was a much more marketable fight, a much more credible fight, and would've likely produced Mayweather's best PPV buyrate to that date, instead of failing to match the Floyd-Gatti numbers. PPV buyrates mean more than "lineal" when it comes to the negotiating table, and I'm genuinely surprised that anyone here would argue differently. If it was about "lineal", Baldo would've been at the negotiating table with Oscar, not Floyd. We're talking about the showbiz arm of 21st century boxing here. For better or for worse, Joe Average knows next to nothing about the concept of "lineal", he's only there to be entertained in one way or another. The promotion of DLH-Floyd centered around Oscar being his usual handsome, winsome self and Floyd (a 'hood' black guy with a bunch of belts) throwing dollars into the camera and lipping off at Oscar. Lineal was scarcely ever even mentioned in the promotion. It's revisionist to suggest that the 147lb lineage was some lynchpin factor in the whole deal, or some big boon for Floyd at the negotiating table, because it absolutely was not - again, Margarito was both the more marketable and more credible fight, and Floyd would've gained greater exposure from it (and likely ended up making more money from it than he made from Baldo, after all perks were factored in on top of the 8 million base purses). We're discussing the same industry which came to within a pubic hair's width of marketing Adrien Broner into a PPV star (the Chino fight was actually a PPV fight before it was switched to regular SHO). Broner was never lineal in any of the three divisions he'd won titles in. What did this mean to the legions of Joe Average who constituted his TV ratings? Nothing. Granted, it all worked out happily for Floyd in the end, his earnings went to the moon and he became a big star of sorts, but a uniquely favorable set of circumstances had as much of a hand in that as Floyd's hard work. That he succeeded in becoming a man of exceptional wealth (by hook or by crook) doesn't change the fact that he ducked Antonio Margarito in 2005-2006 when the fight was a viable concern. He did. It happens. The day that we all set aside our predispositions and admit it, in the realisation that Floyd ducking Tony does not tear the very fabric of our lives asunder, is the day that 21st century boxing fans can finally move on from the episode.
PBF would have agreed to fight Margo, Hatton and Cotto but he wanted Arum to make the Oscar fight. Arum wasn't going to make the Oscar fight, atleast not for the money PBF wanted so PBF left Arum. That is not a duck. If you say he ducked Margo you then have to say he ducked Hatton and Cotto as well. If Arum hadn't undervalued PBF we would have seen him fight Margo. But Arum did and PBF ended up fighting Oscar and become the new face of boxing and the PPV king. Arum messed up badly with PBF and PBF went on to bigger and better things and Arum is still bitter to this day.
PBF might have fought Thurman but he rematched Maidana who gave PBF a good fight in their first fight. You can't blame him there people wanted to see the rematch. As for Berto he fought him to finish his Showtime/CBS contract and just came off of fighting the fight of the era in Pac.
Tony was still a nobody he was a WBO belt holder. You're acting as if Margo was P4P ranked back then he wasn't, he was only known to hardcore boxing fans like us. Fighting Baldo the champ at WW was more meaningful than fighting a mere obscure WBO title holder in Margo.
Arum wasn't going to give him gross advance guarantees that no promoter could reasonably be expected to grant him, and that's the excuse Mayweather used. Without Haymon, a Mayweather departure from Top Rank would probably have gone very differently. A very unique set of circumstances combined with Mayweather's own industry to create the singular and odd phenomenon that was "Money May". It's not as if all these things that fell into place for Floyd were 100% guaranteed. He swerved a better fight for Baldo. That's just the way it is. Not at all. Rather the opposite. Tony was ready to box Floyd. Arum wasn't keeping Tony away from Floyd through 2005-2006, as he was Cotto. Tony's 2006 wasn't mapped out in advance, as Cotto's 2008 was. Hatton, too, was kept away from Mayweather until Hatton's camp felt ready.
Why in the hell wouldn't he want no parts of a guy who he as beat in pretty much every department? A guy who's slow as **** with no defense and no jab? PBF would stick and move on his slow ass all night long pile up the points and people would call it a boring fight saying PBF ran, it would be easy work.
That is a wholly revisionist perspective. With respect, anyone who labors under the conceit that Mayweather-Baldomir was a more marketable or credible fight than Mayweather-Margarito in 2006 is either kidding themselves or wasn't following the sport at the time. Tony being P4P rated or not is neither here nor there and forms no part of my argument.
Facts don't care about feelings. It's not personal. Whether 'Floyd would've won anyway' is neither here nor there. At that point in time, Floyd and his crew wanted no parts of Margarito. They declined him and eventually went an easier, less marketable, less credible route. Word from industry sources is, Haymon even asked that Tony's name not be raised in discussions with Top Rank.
The bottom line is that Arum undervalued PBF. He really didn't know what he had in him period. PBF left Arum and started getting 25 million dollar payday + after Baldo. If Arum had paid PBF what he was worth we wouldn't be having this discussion right now and his haters would be talking about how the Margo win meant nothing he was just another cherry picked win for PBF Lastly based on what was Margo a better fight than Baldo? Baldo was on a 7 year win streak he beat Clottey and had come off a big win over the former WW champ in Zab and he beat Gatti a media darling his profile was much higher than Margo who was an unknown and beat no one of note other than a green Martinez. Baldo was the better fight period. Quit acting like Margo was a big name and had some big wins because he didn't.
Some people may not like it, but Antonio Margarito is still the only man that Floyd Mayweather Jr. ever truly ducked. As I said, it happens, even among great fighters. It shouldn't tear the very fabric of anyone's life asunder to admit it. If anything, it would just mean that this perennial favorite could finally be laid to rest. But I guess feelings will keep this pot boiling well into the next decade.
No promoter would have given him those guarantees. Floyd Mayweather 50-0-0, $400,000,000 net worth is the product of an exceptional set of circumstances that all came together at exactly the right time. That latter is what you don't seem able to fathom here. If he'd been around ten years sooner, it likely works out quite differently. Floyd was headed into the unknown, in many respects. None of what came after he left Top Rank was guaranteed to Floyd. Floyd overvalued himself and got away with it. That's cool. I don't say that to diss him. I would even say that leaving Top Rank and believing that there was something else different and bigger out there for him was a bold move. It's a pubic hair's width between genius and calamity, my friend. But in the midst of all that, he swerved a marketable, credible fight for a less marketable and less credible fight. It's just reality. A part of the story.
Who did Margo beat that gave him a higher profile than Baldo did? Beating Gatti and Zab raised Baldo's profile he was also the champ. Who did Margo beat that was any better than who Baldo beat? Baldo beat Clottey years before, Cintron never beat anyone of note and was trash, Shotgun Gomez was trash and he lost to Santos. Where are all these big names that propel Margo over Baldo as far as a better name?
