I'd Rather Punch Myself in My Face Than Write About Pacquiao/Mayweather

It should come as absolutely no surprise to anyone that writes for Bleacher Report, and anyone that reads it, that the surest way to generate reads is by simply writing about Floyd Mayweather Jr. or Manny Pacquiao. 

There's even a name for writers that continually write about either fighter with a suggestive/argumentative title — trolls. 

I'm not sure of the exact definition, but apparently a troll is someone who purposefully writes a negative article to gain readership and create controversy.

In Journalism School, that was called being smart. 

I myself am guilty of being a so-called 'troll'. Over a span of two weeks, I wrote five or six or seven articles about either fighter, generally taking the side of Manny Pacquiao.  

One of my articles had over 27,000 reads and 150 comments. Yes, I'll admit, I took some satisfaction in looking at those numbers.

The editors at Bleacher Report aren't stupid. They see the numbers. They see the reads and the comments. If writing 300 articles about Manny and Floyd generates readership, then frigging write about Manny and Floyd. 

That's journalism, baby. 

And while I felt some amount of satisfaction over gaining high reads, the comments, well....left me less than satisfied. 

Most of the comments turned into little more than flame wars by emotionally stunted thirty year old boys with the boxing IQ of a stack of bricks.

There were the guys who continually called everyone 'trolls'. I think, from this point on, anyone who uses the word 'troll' is a 'troll'. 

There were the racist rants that, because I didn't like Floyd Mayweather Jr., somehow I was now a racist. Damn, I voted for Obama. I've got a black friend. What's the problem?

Or, when people accused me of being unbiased. Does someone who writes 'Floyd Mayweather Jr. Might Be The Dumbest Man In Boxing?' sound unbiased? Of course I'm biased, I think Mayweather Jr. is an idiot.

There were the 'factoids' who would write, I'm not joking, five paragraphs of every fight in Floyd or Manny's history and why one fighter was better than the other. 

Then, another factoid would counter with a seven paragraph diatribe on why his fighter was great. 

I gave up after the first sentence.

The all-time great one was when some idiot accused me of not knowing what a homonym was and then wrote a two paragraph diatribe on the state of journalism in the 21st century. It turns out he stole all of it from an episode of Californication.

When someone pointed this out to him, thankfully, he never showed his face again. 

Speaking of faces, the worst flamers never show their face or reveal their true name. In my opinion, that's the sorry state of 21st Century journalism. If you're going to talk the talk, then have the decency to post a picture of yourself with your true name. Show some backbone; don't hide behind an idiotic nickname. 

Anonymity breeds idiocy.

I love boxing and I'd rather punch myself in my own face then do another piece about either Floyd Mayweather Jr. or Manny Pacquiao.

I literally get a stomach ache when I even think of writing something about either fighter. Not that they aren't both all-time greats, but everything that can be written already has been written. 

I can't even read anymore articles about either guy. I just don't care anymore. 

Not that I can blame anyone for writing about either fighter. It feels good to get reads. 

The shame of it is that there are great fights and great fighters and nobody is even paying attention. 

Just this past Friday, I saw an incredible fight between Jesse Brinkley and Curtis Stevens. It's as entertaining of fight that I've seen since the Gatti-Ward trilogy.

Last weekend, HBO featured Yuriokis Gamboa and Juan Manuel Lopez, two of the youngest and best fighters in any division. Gamboa should be the next superstar in boxing and he put on an absolute clinic. 

The Super Middleweight division could be considered as strong as the middleweight division of the 1980's with Carl Froch, Arthur Abraham, Lucian Bute, Mikkel Kessler, Andre Ward, and Andre Dirrell. 

Next weekend should be an outstanding fight between lightweights Edwin Valero and Antonio DeMarco. 

It's a shame that there isn't more interest in these fights and fighters because they are as entertaining as any fight that I've seen with either Pacquiao or Mayweather. 

And you don't need to spend $54.95 to see them happen. 

I've stopped, for the most part, writing about Floyd and Manny. My reads have gone back down to below 1,000 for an article and I'm fine with that.

I enjoy writing about obscure fighters and the outcome between two unknowns on ESPN's Friday Night Fights. 

It's like watching a Jackie Chan movie in the 1980's when nobody else knew about him. There's a kind of inner-circle thing that happens.

And, I enjoy the comments so much more. They're not mean-spirited, for the most part, and someone who will read about Paul Williams will probably be somewhat knowledgeable about the sport and be interested in a dialog.

Quick, do you know the name of the boxer photographed within this article?

So, all you Manny and Floyd fans, I heard that Floyd is demanding that Shane Mosley be tested for rabies and excessive dandruff every three days or the fight is off. 

Ah, maybe that will be a good headline for tomorrow?