Ready, Aim, Fire: The 'Outside-The-Ring' Execution Of Floyd Mayweather

I read an article recently and like so many articles, it focused on the imminent mega-fight between pound for pound kings Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather. Most of what we read about these two are centered around 'who will win and why' topics, but not this one.

This particular article I found malicious and rather disturbing. Not all directly coming from the actual words written, but the inferences they carried.

It was a full on attack of a man, highlighting his so-called vilification of his hometown, financial troubles (which are rumors), and nailing his estranged relationship with his father,all of which was used to vindictively provide evidence of why, no matter who wins the bout, Floyd Mayweather is a defeated soul.

Personally, I don't get why everyone lets every word out of Mayweather's mouth cut right to the core of them. As far as I can see, he's no different than other outspoken/beloved athletes; Chad "Ocho Cinco" Johnson, Sugar Ray Leonard, Charles Barkley, and the most famous mouth in the history of mankind, Muhammad Ali. In comparison to those names, I think Floyd is actually rather quiet.

The only conclusion I can arrive at as to why people let it bother them, is because Floyd is so amazing at what he does, people find it irritating. Every once in a while, Ocho Cinco is shutdown, Leonard lost, Barkley got rejected, and Ali was bested. So far, no one as been able to make the "Pretty Boy" ugly. He is simply too good for the mouth he has.                                                                                          

Another thing I can't grasp is why people don't seem to understand that all of his trash talking is to sell tickets. After every single fight, have you noticed Floyd pushes through to his opponent, hugs them, and praises them for a good fight no matter how heated the pre-fight was?

Perfect examples are: Mayweather/Corrales, Mayweather/Hatton, Mayweather/Judah for God's sake! And Judah intentionally hit him in the groin and back of the head! I've never seen a man get so severely punished than in Mayweather/Gatti (except for maybe Pacquiao/De La Hoya) and Mayweather hailed the newly uncrowned champ, calling him "a great champion".

People don't see it's just a show, he's an entertainer, and that's just a part of his job description. He even says "America loves controversy, so I give it to them".

I suppose it's to be expected though, the public loves to hate, and Floyd knows that. Ali was hated by white people and I'm sure he would have been hated by blacks had there not been a racial divide in the country.

Manny is a blessing to his country, but a large part of that is because of the country he was born in. The Philippines are ravaged and plagued with poverty, devastation, corrupt governments, and civil war. They NEED a hero like Manny, so when his country looked to him for hope, he harnessed the responsibility and thankfully so.

America isn't in a state like that; we're setup so that even if we were we don't necessarily need to lean on any one man, especially an athlete. Here, Floyd is just another world class champion.

I'm no advocate of Floyd, I won't lose sleep at night if you don't like him. However, I do care about my fellow human being and I am well aware that press of this nature will turn this from a boxing match to a 'burn at the stake' witch hunt.

All in all, I suppose Mayweather is smarter than we all think. Apparently, he was right in saying how "America loves controversy." Love him or hate him, we're going to watch his fights, even if it's just for the hopes you can watch him lose.

That being said, targeting a man's soul is beyond a low blow. I saw Floyd Jr. and his father had finally reconciled and now make up for lost time and as far as I can tell, Floyd is a good father and a family oriented man. It's really not fair, or right for that matter, to crucify Mayweather in comparing the men because at the end of the day, it's just a boxing match.