Good and bad. Good in the sense that he generated alot of money and put asses in seats regardless of people seething to see him finally lose. Bad (imo anyways), because the PPV price point shot up significantly each fight he had post De La Hoya... i mean 4 million buys at $100 a pop is crazy!! Look at how much it costs to buy a PPV nowadays, and Floyd pretty much started it.
He kept Boxing afloat business wise when the HW division stopped being the premier money weight class with the Klitchkos fighting in Europe. However how much he protected his "0" and made such a big deal of it has left a terrible legacy on todays boxers, who don't want to take any risks anymore and lose that precious "0". Canelo perhaps being an expectation somewhat.
Absolutely terrible. Bad doesn't describe it. Now every boxer and casual fan thinks protecting the 0 is the most important, marinating fights, cherry picking, everyone thinking theyre worth much more than they are, Mcgregor/ Logan Paul farce triggered a wave "celebrity exhibitions" now every casual just wants to watch those, must I go on?
Mixed, as is the case with all but a very few. Good: - he drew quite a few people into boxing, even if they wanted to see him lose. Some of those became dedicated fans and not just casuals. - he brought money into the industry. Even if others brought more exciting styles, it takes two to tango. - he was an exceptionally talented fighter. To those of us who appreciate defensive art, his fights were a gift (even if we wish he took more risks). Bad: - he never really tested himself to the utmost, because he always took calculated risks. Floyd was part of a long-term transition into lower-risk matchmaking. He was so good that he could still fight good names without taking much risk, but we never found out what he was actually capable of. - he led to more people glorifying their meaningless 0s. Floyd's 0 was not meaningless as he fought good opposition, but harping on the 0 so much led other fighters to focus on preserving theirs at all costs.
Floyd is very bad for boxing for the ff reasons. - played calculated risk strategy by avoiding fighters in their prime. - he fought most of the time in his hometown. If we put several of his fights he fought abroad he would have multiple losses. - caught lower testo ratio which is a redflag for PED. - he loved to hug his opponents which is very disgusting to watch - he was most od thr time favored by the judges and refs.
Represents basically every evil of pro-boxing in 'The West', except biting ears off. Also a poster-child for Murican meritocracy, an illiterate low-life who has vastly more than 99.99% of the best and the brightest in the country. Sums up the USA actually.
Today's boxers forget Floyd Mayweather did fight good opponents at 130-140. Only at 147 did it really start to get questionable. His impact on the sport in the aftermath has not been good whatsoever.
I voted for Good. Now there are certainly things we can be critical of Floyd in regards to his career and persona, but for boxing itself I think he was fine. A lot of negative things about the sport preceded him and aren't entirely based just on him. Let me explain: 1. Floyd brought updated programs to the sport. Remember the award winning HBO 24/7? Yea, it was his fight with De La Hoya and his made for TV antics that kicked it off. In the days of the internet and constant news updates, boxing could no longer be about just the fight. It had to generate buzz, exciting and build up to a massive fight. And to do that new shows on fight camps, interviews and celebrity exposure were very useful. 2. He kept boxing relevant in his time. We fans should all know that boxing is simply not a super popular sport as it once was (back in early 20th century it was within top 5 in America). Truth is the sport only has its dedicated fanbase, but it has no mainstream appeal beyond the major celebrity fighters themselves. It was Floyd, and Pacquiao, that for a few nights a year gave boxing world attention. And that is more than what a lot of sports around the world will ever get. So we should appreciate Floyd for that. 3. He advocated for things which are a net good for boxing, even if he was still a bit selfish. He followed the footsteps of Oscar and others in not being tied down by a promoter once he could independently achieve success. We was more willing to carve out his own legacy (good or bad) rather than leave it entirely up to a promoter, and given the lack of protection boxers have with no regulatory bodies...I think that's noble. Plus he also began advocating for tighter drug testing for his fights. I don't wanna get into the whole "controversy" about Pacquiao and such, but strictly focusing on the content itself...its a good thing he did. There is no reason why better drug testing should never not be advocated. As for his faults on "risk taking and fighters now protect their 0", I don't think its truly fair to put in on him. That was simply unique to Floyd since he really was the #1 PnP fighter and he had already achieved that before he really pushed it. Floyd himself has come out and criticized other fighters for wanting all the luxuries/high paydays without actually working (fighting) for it. A lot of what he did, he did after becoming a champ and not before. It should be strictly on the fighters of today to realize they gotta work for their paydays and success, and not just expect them because they're contenders at best.
Boxing is bad for boxing. Had he been used the right way by promoters, it would have been a different story. But boxing has had opportunities to become a mainstream sport before. Like in the 90s when they had Oscar De La Hoya, Felix Trinidad, Julio Cesar Chavez, Mike Tyson, Evander Holyfield and Roy Jones, Jr. at more or less the same era. And boxing did nothing to promote itself. I've always said it: the NBA promoted themselves, so did baseball, American Football and the NHL. Even the WWE when they had Macho Man Savage and Hulk Hogan did a great job at promoting themselves to the masses. Had boxing tried to, they might have been able to close the gap between themselves and the other sports. NASCAR, which produced more deaths than boxing at least in that era but also licensed themselves with many product brands and thus had many brands promoting their league, did close their gap. Boxing just refuses to promote itself. They had one last chance with Mayweather, and did almost next to nothing except the promoters pocketing more money for themselves. And, before you say Mayweather promoted himself, well, yes at the end he did. And he made a lot of money for himself. But that was towards the end and can you really blame him for that?
