(Originally Published: July, 2019 @ Boxing.com)
Floyd Mayweather could only take about three days of the boxing world heaping praise on Manny Pacquiao before he exploded. In the wake of Pacquiao’s impressive win over Keith Thurman on July 20, Mayweather let loose with this social media diatribe out of the blue:
“I find it real ironic how every time Pacquiao’s name is brought up in the media, my name is always attached to it. This man’s entire legacy and career has been built off its association with my name and it’s about time you all stop using my brand for clout chasing and clickbait and let that man’s name hold weight of its own. For years, all you heard was that ‘Floyd is afraid of Manny Pacquiao’. But what’s funny is, when we finally fought, I won so easily that everyone had to eat their words! All of the so called boxing experts, critics and jealous American ‘fan base’ either went mute and ran for cover or made every excuse in the world as to why I should give Manny Pacquiao a rematch. My take on all this bullshit is that y’all are just upset that I broke Rocky Marciano’s record and hate the fact that a Black, high school dropout outsmarted you all by beating all odds and retiring undefeated while maintaining all my faculties simply by making smart choices and even smarter investments. Ultimately, I will always have the last laugh!”
Pacquiao would answer back with a catty social media post of his own:
“@FloydMayweather You come to my fight and then use my name in a post but I’m the one that is trying to stay relevant? if you want to be relevant again… #MayPac2”
And, of course, Mayweather would feel compelled to fire back:
“Let’s stick to the facts! Bob Arum is no longer your promoter, so when it comes to @mayweatherpromotions & PBC events I’m the HNIC!
Bottom line, I make more money than you; I beat you, then I signed you! I was only at your fight supervising you, my employee, as any real BOSS would do. You made $10Million for 12 rounds, when I just made $9M in under 3 minutes playing around in an exhibition with a pizza delivery guy! I beat you mentally, physically and financially!
Remember, you fight cause you have to, I fight when I want to!”
And it would go on and on—a battle likely waged by flunky ghost writers of Mayweather and Pacquiao getting a childish thumbs up from the fighters before posting their “burns.”
I’ve said for a long time that Mayweather gets a bum rap for his level of opposition over the years. You could count on one hand the top fighters he realistically could’ve faced, but didn’t. In terms of legacy, there’s nothing shameful there. If he did play selective matchmaking, looking to take on opponents at the most opportune time for himself, he was doing nothing that hasn’t been standard procedure from promoters and matchmakers throughout the history of the sport.
The difference with Mayweather is that he did all this himself and retained ultimate power of his career throughout the second half of his professional life. He bucked the system and the old school way things are SUPPOSED to be—and the dinosaurs in charge will never let him off the hook for showing fighters that there was a better, more lucrative way to conduct business.
But Mayweather isn’t fighting anymore and all of this nonsense ego thumping in retirement comes off as pathetic posturing.
Mayweather Promotions WAS co-promoter for the Pacquiao-Thurman card and Mayweather was in the ring, supposedly lending his image to the event. To have him come back and slash at the fighter he co-promoted that night, diminishing his presence and achievement, makes no sense from a business standpoint.
And, as long as we’re talking business and Mayweather Promotions—why was he so tied into this Pacquiao beef during fight week for his own fighter, Gervonta Davis? If anything, he drew attention away from the super featherweight champ making a championship debut in his hometown of Baltimore.
But we all know by now that Mayweather is only good at promoting Mayweather because, frankly, Mayweather only cares about Mayweather.
Any first-year Psych student can tell you that those crowing about “having the last laugh” aren’t actually laughing at all and that those who genuinely “don’t care,” don’t keep telling the world how much they don’t care.
If the five-division former world champ really wants to be as happy as he portrays himself to be—stacks of cash all around him and a pack of twerking strippers flapping their ass cheeks in his face—he needs to take a full step back, out of the limelight, and get used to the creeping irrelevance all fighters suffer through when they are no longer fighting.
He needs to embrace his new role in the sport as a maker of stars because, honestly, the constant grasping at his own fading star plays out as sad and pathetic. Rather than being the super entrepreneur money man he fancies himself to be, he just comes off as the sad little rich kid who yearns for all that money can’t buy.