Tag Archives: Mayweather

Why Mayweather’s fight this weekend matters

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FM2Floyd Mayweather jr, who may be the most polarising figure in all of sport, fights for the last time in Las Vegas this weekend.

Should we care?

Of course we should. There are those who claim Mayweather is bad for boxing, but he’s one of the main reasons people talk about boxing. Like Mike Tyson and Sugar Ray Leonard before him, he transcends his sport.

Sugar Ray was adored and Tyson has become a redemptive figure, but the Mayweather shtick is pure malevolence. He entertains himself (and some of us) by flaunting his riches and his prowess as a fighter. He wears his haughtiness like a badge of honour.

The selling point to this weekend’s fight has less to do with opponent Andre Berto than Mayweather chasing down Rocky Marciano’s mythical 49-0 career mark. It’s a staggering record given the nature of the business and it’s one Mayweather has relentlessly pursued since turning pro 19 years ago.

Mayweather has told anyone who will listen that this really is his final fight. He says his kids are getting big and training has become a drudge. He wants to live a little, away from the crazy environment he helped create.

His advisors and trainers insist this is true, but the maverick and fighter that Mayweather is suggests he will hang around for another go, beyond this weekend. Insiders claim he will go for 50-0 next year with another tango with Manny Pacquiao, presumably a fitter version than the one who succumbed in May.

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Andre Berto.

Berto doesn’t rank among the glitterati of the welterweight division, but one fight above all should define the danger he presents to Mayweather this weekend.

Two years ago he fought Jesus Soto Karass. In the second round Berto tore the tendon in his right shoulder and was visibly in pain. He fought on with just his left arm, even dropping Karass, before being stopped on his feet in the 12th. It showed staggering bravery and exemplified Berto’s warrior spirit.

There’s every chance Mayweather will outbox him, but Berto won’t die wondering. He will bring it hard and heavy, which is why I’m betting it will be a better fight than most anticipate.

You can catch it live on SuperSport 2 from 3am on Sunday.

High Stakes

Female MMA superstar would give Mayweather hell

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Margaret McGregor putting the hurt on Loi Chow in 1999.

Floyd Mayweather jnr has a new rival for the best self-publicist in sport: UFC champion Ronda Rousey.

There isn’t a bigger figure in female sport than Rousey, thanks in the main to her role as a totem in the macho world of Mixed Martial Arts. She’s a star, she can fight and she’s become a cultural icon.

She got in a good jab a few weeks ago by wondering aloud how Mayweather felt to be “beat by a woman” (after winning an ESPN award) and has followed up by claiming she would beat him in an all-in fight.

Mayweather shot back snarkily:  “I’ve yet to see any MMA fighter, or other boxer, make over $300 million in 36 minutes. When she can do that, then call me.”

Hear the drumbeats across social media and see the publicists circling like vultures overhead and you sense that something may be in the works. Remember, for boxing – and MMA – the weirder the better.

We’ve had one-legged boxers, 50-year-old champions and even midgets fighting. A man against a woman seems a natural step in fighting’s often warped evolution.

Except it’s already happened.

Sixteen years ago former drug-dealer Margaret McGregor made history when she beat part-time jockey Loi Chow in a four-rounder in Seattle. It was regarded as a freak show and the Mercer Arena was packed out.

Rousey concedes Mayweather would beat her in a boxing match, but insists she would prevail in a MMA contest. Such a bout would create massive hype, although, not surprisingly, this path has also been treaded.

A few months ago Brazilian amateur Larissa Schroeder belted Fernando Lemos in an MMA bout.

Part of the reason Rousey’s threat has gained such a strong foothold in the public consciousness is because Mayweather is the most polarising individual in sport. He gets up people’s noses. Those same people would love to see him defeated, particularly by a woman.

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Ronda Rousey during her shoot for ESPN Magazine.

There’s no boxer equipped to do the job at welterweight, so why not endorse the claims of a ferocious female who would likely chop him down in a no-rules fight?

The irony would be glorious: a man with assault and domestic violence convictions getting whipped by a woman.

Rousey’s grappling game would cause him endless trouble and she’d likely have him on his backside in seconds thanks to her excellent judo pedigree – she competed at the2014  Olympic Games.

Will it happen?

Probably not.

But, damn, it’s good to dream.

Mayweather – yawn – limbers up

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Floyd-Mayweather-Jr-Cartoon-HD-WallpaperAndre Berto has had five fights in the past five years and lost two of those.

And this is who Floyd Mayweather jnr expects us to get excited about as he chases Rocky Marciano’s mythical 49-0 mark?

Berto is so far down the radar of most boxing watchers that only hard core fans would have heard of him.

He’s beaten one fighter of consequence (Jan Zaveck) and lacks the star power of any number of opponents who would have been better, chiefly Amir Khan, Keith Thurman, Danny Garcia and Gennady Golovkin.

Khan chasing Mayweather so relentlessly these past two years has become an embarrassment, but it’s still hard not to feel some sympathy for the Englishman. He’s done far more to earn a crack at Mayweather and the riches such a fight would bring. Khan should move on and forget about the self-absorbed American showman.

Andre Berto.

Berto is a guaranteed win for Mayweather and poses little to zero threat against boxing’s king. Robert Guerrero even outboxed him a few years ago and we all remember how Mayweather bossed Guerrero.

Mayweather clearly hasn’t listened to his dad who suggested Floyd would be better off retiring than fighting easybeats.

Mayweather will probably get away with it because he’s talking about taking the action to (free) terrestrial television in September. It’s not because he’s a generous guy; it’s because Berto would be a bust at the pay-per-view office.

Doubtless much will be made of long-standing tension between Berto and Mayweather said to involve crank phone calls and other such nonsense.

In a brilliant twist, Argentina’s Cesar Cuenca edged closer to Marciano’s record by winning the IBF junior-lightweight belt last weekend, taking him to 48-0.

Mayweather wouldn’t recognise Cuenca if he walked in the front door, but it would no doubt grate his sense of justice to have another man tugging at his record pursuit.

Boxing’s alphabet soup beyond a joke

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1396868562_1-orgOnly those who don’t understand boxing were surprised by the news that the WBO was stripping Floyd Mayweather jnr of its welterweight title belt.

On news value alone, it shouldn’t have caused a ripple. The World Boxing Organisation, like its more familiar brethren the WBC, WBA and IBF, is a venal organisation that exists only because boxing is the only sport that still runs as if it was the Wild West. There is no over-arching “world” organisation, which means that anyone could start their own organisation. Many have.

Here’s a list of some of the organisations who pretend to have the boxers’ interests at heart: Global Boxing Council, Global Boxing Federation, Global Boxing Organisation, Global Boxing Union, International Boxing Association, International Boxing Council, International Boxing Federation, International Boxing League, International Boxing Organisation, International Boxing Union, Trans America Boxing, Transcontinental World Boxing Association, Universal Boxing Council, Universal Boxing Organisation, World Athletic Association, World Boxing Association, World Boxing Board, World Boxing Bureau, World Boxing Council, World Boxing Federation, World Boxing Foundation, World Boxing League, World Boxing Organisation, World Boxing Union, World Combat Organisation, World Professional Boxing Federation and the World Sports Organisation.

Madness, plain and simple.

These organisations leech off fighters and cost promoters tens of thousands with their demands for sanctioning fees. The WBO spat the dummy because Mayweather wouldn’t cough up $200 000 (around R2-million) for its coffers. Not to mention the promoters who are fleeced big money for boxing officials who expect to travel first class and be put up in five-star accommodation.

They are all as bad as each other. They exist because boxing is largely a free-for-all and people who ought to know better are seduced by shiny boxing belts, even if many mean next to nothing.

The irony with Mayweather is that he brought prestige to the belts. He needed them like a hole in the head. They were no more than shiny trinkets to the world’s best boxer.

Mayweather’s stock wouldn’t be affected by even one percent. People who understand boxing know exactly who the real champions are. Title belts may be nice to look at, but they don’t mean a whole lot.

Boxer Broner a sad joker whistling in the wind

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Former world champion Adrien Broner is the saddest type of sportsmen of them all – a desperate wannabe without the goods.

On Saturday he brought his low-level shtick to Las Vegas, only to get rolled over by Shawn Porter. He was barely in the fight, preferring the practised pout and pose over punching.

Broner has long styled himself on Floyd Mayweather jnr, but whereas Mayweather can back up his boasts, Broner is a cheap, sad imitation with neither the talent nor the class to pull it off.

His latest stunt was to pose bad-ass style with a gun and diss his sport on social media. The problem for Broner is that he’s not accomplished enough for people to take him seriously. And he’s not likeable enough for people to be concerned with his antics. He comes across as stupid and narcissistic.

The big problem for Broner is that he has a helluva mountain to climb if he is to regain his reputation as the next big thing after Mayweather. For a while he looked like he may be the heir apparent, but after the hiding he took from Marcos Maidana and now Porter, he’s at the back of the queue. It’s arguable whether he is even among the top 10 welterweights around with Mayweather, Kell Brook, Keith Thurman, Porter and Maidana all way ahead of him. His pulling power has taken a big knock and he shouldn’t be surprised that fans are no longer excited by him.

You would think his defeats would have taught him some humility. Bizarrely, his ego is more out of control than ever.

The trouble for him is that he’s become irrelevant, another sad joker whistling in the wind.

He won’t be missed.