FACEBOOK TWITTER RSS APP PODCAST Opinion & Analysis : Staff Columnists BENT: Don't Put Floyd Mayweather, Jr. In A Cage, Just Don't Order His Fight

Jul 21, 2009 - 6:55:40 PM
By: Jason Bent, MMATorch Columnist


Professional boxing has recently been in the news, and as has been the case for some time it was for all of the wrong reasons. We most recently lost one of the most popular fighters of the last decade when former welterweight Arturo Gatti was found dead and presumed to have been murdered by his wife. Never one to allow anyone to ever overshadow him, Floyd Mayweather, Jr., who will be making his comeback to the ring in September after a premature retirement, has taken the spotlight due to comments made recently in regards to mixed martial arts.

Mayweather, Jr. of course was scheduled to make his return on July 11th, but both he and HBO thought better of things and opted to not oppose the UFC 100 card due to the fear of having the undefeated boxer's return relegated to being an afterthought. Mayweather, Jr. would not admit as such and has been one of the most vocal in the boxing vs. MMA debate, which no one of sound mind continues to participate in.

Boxing and MMA are two different sports tied together by the fact both are combat sports and currently competing for our entertainment dollars. They are apples and oranges and no one should ever compare the two as if one is a sport and the other some sort of perverse exploitation of bloodlust. Mayweather Jr. has been one of those who has done just that, and his anger towards the sport is clearly coming from the fact that his star which once shined so bright is diminishing by the day as athletes such as Georges St. Pierre trump him him in terms of fan awareness.

Boxing paydays are larger than those of MMA for at least the very top fighters in the sport, and for perhaps the time being, as it is likely something will have to give in the future as the UFC becomes even bigger. At a certain point, the fighters will have to enjoy a larger piece of the pie, although for now all are gratefully accepting what they can get due to the fact that they cannot ply their trade anywhere else for the most part. Boxing has been ingrained in our culture for over a hundred years and over the past twenty years it has been allowed to do so because of little to no competition and stars such as Oscar De La Hoya, Lennox Lewis, Flod Mayweather, Jr. and the aforementioned Arturo Gatti.

Floyd Mayweather. Jr.had the following to say about MMA in a recent interview in the Las Vegas Sun:

"It takes true skills to be in the sport of boxing, and mixed martial arts are for beer drinkers. Boxing is for everybody. I mean, you can't take my shoes off and take my shirt off and just throw me in a cage. You do that with animals, you don't that with humans…In boxing, we know who's dominating."

"Black fighters and Hispanic fighters is dominating in this sport and this is not a racial statement but there's no white fighters in boxing that's dominating, so they had to go to something else and start something new."

He also added the following after unleashing a tirade towards boxing promoter Bob Arum:

"It's not hard to find me. Everybody knows I'm in Las Vegas. Just look for the biggest mansion and the prettiest Rolls-Royce...that's me."

Floyd, I wish I could find you now but hopefully someone closer to you will actually put you in your place in regards to your hateful statements.

I am a white man and right now I am red with embarrassment and full of shame for the sheer fact that I have put my share of very green money into his pockets over the years. Now, one thing which is for certain is that Floyd Mayweather, Jr. cannot sell Pay-Per-Views.

Fact.

Floyd Mayweather, Jr. was strictly an HBO fighter for the bulk of his career, and it was because his fights were neither entertaining nor competitive and most folks did not give a damn about him as either a fighter or a personality. It was not until he fought Oscar De La Hoya that he actually was at least partly responsible for some PPV buys, and this was largely due to Oscar being his opponent. The same can also be said of Mayweather's bout with Ricky Hatton, which again was sold strongly because of Hatton and not because anyone was crazy about Floyd. Only two men have ever sold PPVs on their name alone and those men are Mike Tyson and the aforementioned Oscar De La Hoya. Floyd Mayweather, Jr. is a great fighter, but he is not the name most fans will mention when asked to name a legend of the sport or a great champion.

I understand that Mayweather is scared of MMA, and in particular the UFC, because he knows that this sport is fast making his a dinosaur, and soon this will impact his bank account if it has not already. Floyd is poking a bear which has been doing nothing but peacefully going about its business, and in the process he has also said hurtful comments about the largest group of folks who actually buy boxing PPVs.

Yes, the majority of boxing champions are either black or hispanic, but not all of them since the Klitschko brothers are white and doing quite well for themselves in the heavyweight division. That said, the boxing fanbase is one that is and has been largely white, although that too has been shifting due to the growth of the hispanic population in our country. It cannot, however, be denied that a large group of those who purchase the PPV events have been the very white people that Mayweather wished to spew his venom towards.

Brock Lesnar may have said the wrong thing when he made his remarks about his beer of choice following his beating of Mir; he offended a large advertiser and made his apologies soon after, but at no time did he outright say anything against those who actually bought the UFC 100 event. Bud Light may not have paid him, but all of us did and it mattered not if we were black, white, yellow, red or green. Yet Mayweather slams beer drinkers as if this is a white activity while forgetting that beer companies have helped line his pockets as well by supporting boxing events; and yes, beer drinkers love boxing, too.

Look, I will not get my underwear in a knot over someone who wishes to tell me that they think MMA is barbaric. Odds are I will not be able to dissuade them as this would be along the same lines as trying to get someone who abhors it to watch professional wrestling. When someone rails on and on about how someone can watch something that is so "fake" it is clear that these are people who are likely to never, ever pay any mind to a WrestleMania event. Those who think MMA is stripping a man of his shirt and shoes and throwing him into a cage to do battle are likely to not be intelligent enough to debate matters.

Floyd Mayweather, Jr. is at best an ignorant man who deems MMA to be that which I just described, and at worst he is a raging racist who has just made comments that would get an athlete of a fairer skin color stripped of all endorsements and forced to apologize on David Letterman's show.

It is sad to know color still matters in 2009, but it would be ignorant on my part to imagine it does not. Boxing directs a large portion of it's shows towards the hispanic audience in hopes of finding a home for what is currently nearing death's door. People speak in hushed tones and are more apt to keep their hatred within rather than to make these statements publicly, and racism has truly never gone away, so in that respect it is not necessarily shocking Mayweather, Jr. harbors such feelings towards the white athletes who compete in MMA or those who buy tickets to the event, but this does not make them any less hurtful to say the least.

Arturo Gatti never made the kind of money Mayweather made, and he certainly never won the bouts necessary to do just that; Gatti took part in a series of three fights with Micky Ward which will be what he is most remembered for, but if I had to describe him to those unfamiliar with his successes, I would succinctly tell them that he was the "Forrest Griffin of boxing". Which is true. Gatti came to fight and picked himself up off of the canvas a litany of times to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat, and in doing so earned himself a fine living along with a legion of fans who were sad the day he retired, and even moreso the day he was brutally murdered.

UFC 103 is set to take place on the same night Mayweather, Jr. makes his return to face Juan Manuel Marquez, and it is likely that he is shaking in his boots as we speak. He imagined that he dodged a bullet having not fought on the same night as UFC 100 but now is forced to again go head to head with the UFC and MMA in a battle for PPV supremacy, which he is likely to lose.

Which is what should happen to Mayweather, Jr. for it would be the best thing possible. I cannot ask for him to be punished in any way, shape or form, and this is because while I agree with nothing he has said, I do agree that he has the right to make those statements. It is up to the court of public opinion to determine his punishment, and for those combat sports fans to make their verdict be known on September 19, 2009.

For on that September night it will not be about white or black but green. And it gets no more "black and white" than this in terms of what matters to those who compete for entertainment dollars in this strained economy.

So, wave your fist in rage and shake your head in sadness that Mayweather, Jr. views this sport, and perhaps white athletes, in such a light. But make your voice heard, not by saying a word but by choosing just where to put your dollar on the 19th of September.

If you are like me you will be watching Rich Franklin take on Dan Henderson in a rematch of their bout from January, along with a wonderful welterweight matchup of Mike Swick and Martin Kampmann. Sit back and watch these men without shirts and shoes as they compete in the sport of mixed martial arts and enjoy yourself, because that is what actually matters after all.

Maybe have a beer or two and feel sorry for Floyd Mayweather, Jr. who matters about as much as his sport seems to at the moment, and stands to lose a fair sum of money as fans flock to watch the UFC rather than his fight.

Just don't feel bad for him.

Be glad he opened up his mouth to start with and let us know just who he really is.

Because when I think of Floyd Mayweather, Jr. I will think of him with a word that begins with a very BIG "r," and that doesn"t mean "Rolls-Royce driver," but sets him apart from the rest of us just the same.

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