You make a good point there, many folks indeed love to hate the guy and tune in to see him hopefully get flattened. However that still does not explain to me how he could get paid such astronomical sums of money for being such a bore as a fighter, I mean you have to entertain at least somewhat to command that kind of money imo, but that is not even the case with him at all, so what gives? Hell, Hugo friggin` Corro is more entertaining to my eyes than Floyd and I am dead serious btw, and that is saying something considering what a boring fighter Corro was generally in almost all of his fights.
In my experience, casual fans/non-fans care more about the drama of the sport that anything else. Often, that can be created by violence and brutality, but often promotion and image-manufacturing can take its place. Mayweather has crafted himself the illusion of being this part-untouchable slickster, part-flashy gangster, and that appeals to a lot of people. I've seen fringe-fans get more excited over Mayweather's shutting-out of Marquez than any other fight purely because you have the Sky commentary team yelling about him being the greatest fighter since SRL patsch). It's all about image, in the modern day. That's what gets the promotional emphasis.
For me personaly the jury is out about Mayweather at welter. He is going to have to prove some things to me if he wants to make headway in fantasy matches at welterweight or middlewight. The ball is in his court.
I think we can all agree De La Hoya a live body at 154lbs and for that fight, De La Hoya weighed more than LaMotta did during his prime. Aside from that, De La Hoya has more of an advantage stylistically, than LaMotta does. You can't predict a guy will break his hands when they haven't been damaged in years. Sure, LaMotta had a hard head and Mayweather wouldn't hurt him, but why would he need to when he could get on his bike all night long?
Sometimes i feel that i.m in Alice in Wonderland..Who would sensibly match a Mayweather @145lbs with the bullish Lamotta@ 160 pounds...Lamotta would bull Floyd into a corner,destroy Mayweather inside and stop him badly in five rounds...Ray Robiinson [ who I saw prime 4 times] was at almost six feet ,twice the boxer that Floyd Mayweather was, and hit TWICE, yes TWICE as hard as a welterwight Floyd Mayweather..Lamotta vs Mayweather, silly thread...
Lamotta at 170 lbs at fight time would be a tank. See the Robinson vs Maxim fight for my predicted result.
Jack,be real-Whem Lamotta started his career in 1941, his average weight was 170 pounds or so...He was as a youngster thrown in with the wolves at that time,survived and prospered..In 1942 he decided to box as a 160 pounder,and became the "raging bull".in his prime..Lamotta in every fight as a middleweight, had to fight to get down to the 160 pound limit...Finally in 1951, 10 lbs. above 160 ,Lamotta starved himself to make the weight for the Robinson bout, in which the weight drained Lamotta was succesful for the first 8 rounds, than depleted of energy, Jake was tko'd in the 13th round, by Robinson...To say De La Hoya was bigger than Lamotta, doesn,t merit anymore serious thoughts on this thread....