Good article on Floyd's image

Floyd Mayweather: Boxing’s Achilles “Heel”

November 17th, 2009 | by Jesse Campbell


Someone forgot to tell Floyd Mayweather how difficult it is to play the villain. Now at the height of his mainstream popularity, Floyd has been able to climb boxing’s lofty financial ladder by playing the ‘heel’ (In the world of Professional Wrestling, heels are the “bad guys”.). He has danced with the stars, wrestled ‘The Big Show’ at WWE’s biggest show, showcased his wealth on HBO’s hit series 24/7 and after earning boatloads of money from fighting Oscar De La Hoya, changed his moniker from “Pretty Boy’”to “Money”.

It looks like it is more fun to be the heel. The ultimate “good guy”, Oscar De La Hoya, protected that golden image. He had to speak, dress, and carry himself a certain way to continue the public’s perception of him as a good guy. Because he had the requisite boxing skills, it’s the image that sold the tickets and the pay-per-views.

But it looked as if Floyd was able to approach marketing himself in a completely different manner. He was able to be as boisterous, loud, and disrespectful as he wanted (going as far as to insult the very commentators who call his fights at HBO), it only fanned the flames of his popularity. The more trash Floyd talked, the more attention he was able to draw, and the more the mainstream public loved him.

However, beneath the surface, at the very same time, boxing critics and enthusiasts began to hate Floyd for all the same reasons the general public fell in love with him, and his legacy and image have taken a hit. Floyd has failed to realize that his legacy, the very same legacy he has fought so hard to create and sustain, can be distorted by biased writers, promoters and fighters in an attempt to re-create an alternate history that is much more harmful to the former pound for pound champ.

Floyd recently encountered a small taste of the effects of his heel turn, when he had an impromptu radio interview with hip hop artist R.A. the Rugged Man on Sirius satellite radio. R.A. asked several questions and pointed to various discrepancies in Floyd’s fight history in an attempt to discredit Floyd’s opponents, selection of fighters, business acumen and even his heart. The conversation was immensely popular on the internet message boards and has helped promote R.A.’s upcoming CD better than any traditional hip hop promotion. However, the fact remains, as much as Floyd’s antics in the public have made it difficult to feel sorry for him, how much truth was behind the allegations?

For instance, yes, Floyd fought a much smaller man in his comeback fight, in Juan Manuel Marquez. According to R.A. and 90% of the boxing “insiders”, this was a terrible idea from the start. But fighters take tune-up fights all of the time, so why should Floyd have to jump back into the competitive pool after an 18-month layoff?

Manny Pacquiao trainer Freddie Roach was previously quoted as saying, “Marquez could give Mayweather a lot of trouble. I would have to say Marquez is the smartest fighter today. He’s like a scientist. Mayweather has never faced adversity like Marquez did when he was knocked down three times. He has always picked easy fights. He’s never faced adversity like Marquez.” Yet, as the fight rapidly approached, Roach’s stance on the fight changed, and by the time Floyd was standing at the winner’s press conference, Roach was sending condescending congratulations in an attempt to mock his return effort.

R.A. also contended that Mayweather ducked a fight with Antonio Margarito for $8 million to instead fight Carlos Baldomir. Once again showing that the boxing enthusiasts are choosing to either rewrite history or focus on certain elements of the truth in an attempt to disparage the villain. Mayweather, when rejecting then promoter Bob Arum’s offer to fight Margarito, did so to opt out of his contract with Arum to become a promotional free agent. According to Bob Arum, Mayweather preferred to await the outcome of the Oscar De La Hoya-Ricardo Mayorga fight, instead of committing to Margarito, because he preferred a fight with Oscar. R.A. and fellow Floyd critics have left out that there was a limited window in his contract with Arum to exercise his buyout option, and Arum had already gone on the record stating he didn’t want to have anything to do with a fight with Oscar (“I don’t want to because if I did that fight, I would be working for such a small percentage, it’s not worth it,” Arum said).

History changes over time. And history’s perception of Floyd has gone from the pound for pound king, to a timid, fight ducking, greedy coward. But the facts don’t support this argument. What the facts do support is Floyd wants to fight for the biggest purses on the biggest stages for the biggest share.

We do know that, just over the horizon, the potential Pacquiao-Mayweather mega-fight will provide the Mayweather with a stiff challenge and jaw-dropping paycheck.
There is no question who will play the villain in the mythical match of modern day boxing superheroes. The only question is: will the villain die in the end

 

Thanks. Good read and pretty spot on. He has turned into a somewhat Villian, but a win would change all of that.

 

If he fights Pacquiao it will be clear that it's all about money and not not losing or not fighting tough fights.

 

Hell of an article.

 

Great article...:good

 

As usual, Big Reg is on his dean lol... But Reg, RA did ko Floyd but Floyd is still undefeated. Did the RA ko happen in the amateurs lol...

 

so are you saying he shouldn't fight pac? boy you are really trying to make him into a villain. i thought this is the fight the fans want and to be honest he already stated he is in it for the money on numerous occasions (ok he says it all the time) (see sky sports interview). You really can't blame him for being in it for the money b/c he knows @ this point whatever he does win, win, or draw(yeah i'm a fan)people are going to have something negative to say about it... he just can't win with some (most) people.

 

****ing good read. The haters will miss all the important points as usual.

Good article.:bbb

 

Floyd doesn't fight who the fans want him to. He doesn't fight the very best in his weight class. Others do

 

2.5 million people wanted to see the oscar fight.

I say the fans defo wanted to see that one LOL

 

Great article thanks, I was definitely informed:thumbsup

 

Man that was a real article. So many of these clowns keep rewriting history. There was tons of stuff going on in the background around that Marg-a-cheato time period.

 

Good read.

 

Thanks for the Article BigReg,

But you should know by now...In fact, it was you that kind'a gave me the "RUNDOWN" of the Majority of ESB Posters...I'll use a quote I heard awhile ago:

"Common Sense, Logic and Facts...only confuses people with NO CLUE!!!!"

They'll still rather believe the "EXAGGERATIONS" of RA...a guy that No-one ever heard of before the Floyd Mayweather Interview.

 

Why is there 162 views but only 12 comments. HAHAHHA

You haters avoiding facts like kryptonite. LMAO