Is Floyd Mayweather Winning Or Desperately Afraid To Lose?

You've heard most of it before.  Some of it I even said myself, so I will paraphrase real quick.

Floyd needs to lose to win and he's way too cocky for most people to root for, even if most of us expected him to win this fight.  Die hard fight fans were simply rooting for boxing, which calls for more mega fights at the MGM Grand.  In other words, Pacquaio needed to win or cut Floyd up a bit for the hopes of a rematch that matters to the viewing public.  A more controversial decision by Floyd could have achieved similar results, but the point of controversy and curiosity and anticipation is not Floyd's 48 or 49 wins- it's his zero.

Zero doesn't comport well in a world that understands personal failure all too well.  Who gets to finish a career unblemished?  Reasonable odds dictate that every man has a cross to bear, and Floyd's cross seems to be crafted out of styrofoam.

At this stage in his storied career, Floyd is even way too skilled with interviews to be sullied by the kind of out of the ring behavior that sidelined several NFL players last season.  When confronted by a reporter who attempted to embarrass Floyd with this NFL analogy and his spotty legal history towards women, he absorbed the jab, side-stepped the hard shot and delivered a calculated counter of 'only God being our judge'- striking the reporter in his tracks.  Floyd is not new to the game, he's true to the game and can bring it outside of the ring with the exact same flare that he uses to dominate inside of it.  He even found a way to repair his feud with Fifty (Cents, the rapper), and, prior to the fight, had him appear on ESPN's First Take to speak on behalf of TMT (TheMoneyTeam), Floyd's money making engine.

As it relates to his money, Floyd "Money" Mayweather is breaking the rules of engagement there too, and getting away with it over and over again.  He has already been a part of the top selling fighting events in the history of boxing, and will likely eclipse previous records since he (yes, Floyd or TMT has dictated the pay per view pricing) and cable were charging $99 for cable viewing- nearly double the price of previous events.  From a marketing perspective, the $99 visual keeps him from being the first boxing pay per view in history to eclipse $100 as well.

He'll save that for the rematch- the swan song he swears will happen in September, which is also when his contract with Showtime ends.

Money Mayweather is solid gold, but his greenish hue might very well be envy since all of his legendary efforts have only made him into the most controversial legend of all time, not the greatest of all time.  That distinction still remains Ali's and Ali's alone- which he apparently tweeted to Floyd just to remind him before he beat Pacquaio and got things confused.

In his response to the Ali tweet, Floyd should have agreed with Ali's claim, but he seemed more inclined to be politically correct but overly proud Floyd instead of humble yourself in the face of true greatness Floyd.  To Floyd's credit, he probably only has the Will Smith movie like most young folks have, as his best memory of the legend we call Ali.  Floyd could have pulled up some old Ali films on NetFlix during an extended hotel stay or two, however, viewing Ali fights only tells part of the story. The legend of Ali is connected to his failures and trials as much as  it is about his triumph in the ring.

Ali was the great over-comer who was unafraid of any challenge, especially the kind he should have feared the most.  He overcame impossible odds to be such a young champion and even stronger odds when he had to revive a career lost to a social movement.  Ali embodies that movement and the capacity to overcome the greatest of odds.

Floyd represents wealth and a defense of his wealth- in and out of the ring. He is an intelligent fighter who recognizes how to score points without giving them up to his opponent. He's hand picked his opponents throughout his career limiting the risk to his record and his money.  Today he fight's the guy that the public chose for him although it appears he chose to put it off until the waning days of both of their careers.  What is normally a loud and boisterous pre-fight Floyd gave way to the serene focused Floyd who seemed to realize his opportunity to redefine his own image against a dangerous opponent is a double edged sword.

The irony of it all is that losing might have been the most profitable way for Floyd to overcome the mega-millions he made last night.  Once again, the only fight that would be bigger than the fight most of us witnessed versus Pacquaio is the rematch from a Floyd defeat. Winning while running and countering- didn't convince anyone, especially Ali, of his worthiness as an all-time great.  Failure seems difficult to deal with, but it is a defining aspect of who most of us are.  From a purely public persona, Floyd is an unblemished champion that will likely retire with an unblemished record- and that might be his biggest blemish.

Floyd Bores Me

The sport is called boxing not fighting.  Sometimes boxer's get pulled into fist fights, but that is never the plan.  Unless you are Manny Pacquaio.  Pac man came for a fight and clearly won the moments when a real fight broke out.  Unfortunately, he could not force the boxer to fight as much as the boxer forced him into a boxing match.  When it comes to the art of boxing (delivering and avoiding punches), Floyd is absolutely the greatest of all time.

From a purely boxing perspective, its really not even close.  Floyd is the master of the sweet science and the undisputed greatest boxer who ever did it.  We, who pay good money to people like Money, call it the 'fight game' because fighting is exactly what we pay our money to see. Who could Mayweather use next to convince us to pay another hundred bucks to see him not really fight with?  We could be convinced to pay for his final fight on earth, but he has to promise to keep that boxing crap to a minimum. When Floyd tried his best against Pac-man to be the fighter that he knows we want him to be, it didn't work and he had to revert.

We might watch the rematch but there needs to be conditions placed on the next fight. Only if he stands and fights and takes out Pacquaio from the center of the ring will Floyd run the risk of getting his face and his record blemished.  The risk could have its own reward, yet that is a calculation that Money must make for himself.  I was hesitant to risk a penny of my money on another Money fight and its not because Showtime will give it away a week later, it's because Floyd doesn't throw enough punches to be the best fighter of all time because he too busy being the best boxer I have ever seen. As a result, when it comes to Floyd, there are really only two things that interest me as a genuine fight fan. Floyd's first real challenge, which  I don't need to pay to see since it will be worldwide news the moment it happens- and the rematch that finally gives him a chance to prove himself as the all-time great he deserves to be seen as.

All of that could have happened in the course of this fight if Floyd was forced to get up from the canvas or climb back late while taking a beating early. He won't clear up his domestic violence stain since the NFL has turned domestic's into public discourse, but he could have dropped the soft champion label by being on the other side of a beating this time. Another smooth song and dance to avoid blemishes and maintain zero didn't cut it for a public fully skeptical about the best boxer who doesn't really want a fight.

Fortunately for Floyd, Pacquaio wanted a fight, but not at the risk of sleeping the way he did when taking a costly risk against Juan Manuel Marquez.  The combination of his lack of normal Pac-man risk taking and Floyd's regular defensive style nearly caused me to take a nap during those last 4 rounds. Pacquaio claimed to have been injured from his training which could explain his lack of risk taking, and justify snooze session #2 if he can use the injury as a viable reason for a rematch.

Floyd doesn't owe it to anyone to take a beating just to prove that he can.  That distinction belongs to a lot of other slurred speech boxers still fighting to be considered the GOAT (greatest of all time).  Many legendary fighters are closer to consideration as the greatest of all time, yet their loss of memory and money challenges the value of being in the running for a crown that will be placed on a scrambled brain. Mayweather is the richest athlete alive and will retain the mental capacity to expand and enjoy his wealth after the boxing days are over.  The next great fighter who we consider the greatest had better finish his career battered and bruised in the brain since we've determined that Floyd's lucidity is also his greatest failure in the ring.

If winning means you have to lose a round, or a tooth or your brain power later in life then I would do it like Floyd has done it too.  In America's past, really poor people who had everything to gain and nothing to lose, risked it all for a chance at boxing greatness.  Floyd started out too damn rich for that nonsense and may be too rich now to even enjoy fighting as a means of making money anymore.  Right now, Floyd basically fight's for the money and his legacy.  The new money becomes indistinguishable in the rising heap that he keeps adding too, and the legacy is tainted by a generation that just doesn't respect boxers over fighters.

Can Floyd actually take a legitimate punch?  Will he ever try? When he finally gets hit with a flurry of punches, will he respond with his own flurry or run like he usually does?  Is there anyone left to fight that will help him tie the undefeated record of Rocky Marciano (49-0).  Floyd didn't come into boxing to break the record and claims he won't stay just to break it. If he does bow out without breaking the record he will probably be the first boxer EVER to quit on time.

Money Mayweather is a winner who did it his way. He calls himself TBE (the best ever) since public ridicule has made him repulsed by the goat thing. Yet, even I'm not ready to label this boxer the best fighter that I have ever seen, although he is as good as any boxer who ever did it.  Purely from a boxing perspective and a historical perspective, his argument has some serious merit.

No one has ever been tagged as the best while they were still doing it anyway.  Even Ali had his detractors.  They lessened in the years since his retirement, but mostly the opposition loses its voice after the career ends and the achievement solidifies into a solid structure like a shoe that only one person's foot will fit. Floyd has solidly placed his foot into the BOOT (best of our time) and the fit is perfect.

As for his place in history? That is for the future historians to determine.