Making sense of Money and Manny

"The strong move quiet, the weak start riots"

Love him or hate him, Floyd Mayweather Jr. is one of the best boxers of this era.

With that said, he is also one of the most polarizing characters the sport has ever seen because of his controversial outspoken nature among other things.

One thing Floyd is most vocal about is his wealth. I guess the name speaks for itself.

Actually, Floyd has a habit of saying things- things that in my opinion, diminishes his brilliance in the ring.

"Silent waters run deep." But I guess for Floyd, silent waters run in deep sh*t because you can never get the man to be silent- unless of course if you ask him about his "rib injury". Actually, in behalf of the press, I thank him for providing boxing with quotes and sound bytes. I'm not going to lie, we are after all in the information and hype industry.

But just as a girl once told me, "talking will only get you in trouble". Perhaps Floyd thinks otherwise as he tries to talk his way out of trouble and sell his September comeback fight against Juan Manuel Marquez.

The thing is with Floyd however is that nobody seems to believe him anymore. His shock and awe type of statements put even the best headline writers like our New York Boxing Examiner aka "dance like a butterfly, sting like a moth" Michael Marley to shame. Sometimes I wonder whether Floyd himself believes in what he says.

One of Floyd's most favorite targets lately is Manny Pacquiao. In an article by Michael Vester of Boxingscene.com Floyd reminded people why he didn't need to fight Pacquiao and said "I'm fighting Juan (Manuel Marquez) because he beat Manny". It pretty much contradicts his old statement but hey, Floyd said he doesn't need to fight Pacquiao so I guess that's why he's going to try and beat the guy that beat Pacquiao- except that Marquez never beat Pacquiao. In the world of "IFs" he may have, but in the real world he hasn't. Truth be told, in the same "IF" world, Floyd was beaten by Oscar De la Hoya like his father Floyd Sr. himself insinuated after their "World Awaits" clash in May of 2007- yup, the same Oscar that quit against Pacquiao and not Larios who stood toe-to-toe with Pacquiao 'til the final bell.

Mayweather Jr. has also made statements against Bob Arum saying the Top Rank boss hash prejudice against Black people, and that the problem with his people is that they don't support him the way Cotto and Pacquiao's people give them their suppport. The quote machine can go forever with Floyd but what I find ironic is, Pacquiao who Floyd said couldn't sell fights anywhere near the way he can, is already outselling his upcoming comeback fight despite Pacquiao's fight not due til' November. Funnier is that Pacquiao has not even done any sales talking yet to the extent that Floyd has.

I guess Floyd might want to blame his people for not rallying behind him but honestly, Floyd should start considering some backyard cleaning and he needs to start with his. If you want to have people rally behind you, do not turn them off by shoving money at their faces and making them feel like they are worthless.

Perhaps TheBoxingTruth.com's John Chavez and Ricardo Lois said it best,

“I’m not a huge fan of Floyd Mayweather Jr. and himself touting he’s a multi-gazillionaire and the fact that he makes 500 million dollars every time he fights but I don’t want to see the fight flop, I think it would be bad for boxing in terms of Pay-Per-View numbers as well as ticket sales but maybe the people around him need to realize that he is not as big of a star as he would like people to believe.”

Ricardo Lois then added,

“How do you think it makes me feel Floyd when I’m outside in my flip-flops putting different oil in my 1999 Honda man? You think you make me want to be a fan? You’re alienating me brother. You’re alienating me.”



Or perhaps Floyd can simply take a page out of Pacquiao. And that page says, "thrill us when you fight and do your real talking inside the ring".

Source: http://www.examiner.com/x-10947-Indianapolis-Fight-Sports-Examiner~y2009m8d20-Making-sense-of-Money-and-Manny