The next great Dallas athlete is being compared with Floyd Mayweather | SportsDay - Errol Spence is Breaking into the Mainstream

That's what makes Floyd so amazing. No single boxer out there or even in the history of the sport has gamed boxing as a system better than Floyd has. Gosh, like many of the heads around here, I love boxing for more than it's violent veneer, but the violent nature, I'm certain, is what originally attracted the vast majority of us (practitioner and spectator alike) to the sport. Floyd was as close as you could get to a perfect fighter, defensively. On the inverse, Manny is a very flawed fighter from a technical standpoint (though he's so athletic, good luck capitalizing on his "mistakes"), and more smothered and obliterated his opponents as opposed to out boxing them. I think there's no question to who the superior boxer is, but I'd watch Manny fight over Floyd any day.

Despite that though, Floyd possessed an arrogance and pompousness out the ring. Fuck that smug asshole, is what he made everyone think. Manny, his rags to riches story, the unparalleled entertainment from his performances and his kind-of-cute bastardization of the English language during interviews made him a fighter you didn't have to try too hard to market. Floyd, however, just as he busts his ass in the gym, put in a lot of work to raise the stock of his name.

His style seems to unanimously be perceived as boring to the casual, yet despite this, he pulls the biggest purses in history. What the fuck?

He earned the biggest fight purse in boxing history (at the time) when he fought Oscar as the b-side (and the last time he was the b-side,ever). PPV numbers the likes of which noone had ever seen. He promoted the fuck out of himself. Got everyone interested. Then fight day comes... He bored everyone to death and coasted to an easy shutout victory. It was expected from the hardcore heads. Historically speaking, an easy, but boring UD is pretty much the only wise thing to bet on during any Floyd fight, does not really matter who his opponent is. A lot of people (you don't hit 2.4m views with just the hardcore fans) claimed to be turned off from the sport... Then he proceeds to have the most lucrative fight career ever and struggled to lure in anything less than a million buys regardless of how ridiculous his b-side was (the ghost, anybody?). Then he smashes the old record in his fight with Pacquiao, wherein Floyd is the a-side. The fight provides us the exact same results... boxing is dead. Never watching a Floyd fight again.... but even though he's "retired," the one fight people, once again, can not stop talking about in this forum AND over at the bigger r/MMA is Floyd against someone who has never even boxed professionally! We, as consumers, have been mercilessly played by Floyd Mayweather.

Anyone else notice this as well? With the gloves off, going to a bar or something, I'd much rather have Maidana or Mathysse having my back than Floyd, but within the constraints of the rule set of boxing as a sport and the whole promotional, business and negotiating part of boxing, Floyd is unparalleled.

Despite his greatness. How does being a boring fighter with long, boring fights and the lack of a rags to riches or awesome background story (Floyd's daddy problems are tame compared to other shit guys like Pac and Tapia had to deal with) story lead to becoming one the most financially successful fighter, one of the richest athletes in general and has his "retirement" set in the lucrative and cushy promotional biz?

He was born with the blueprint. A dynasty fighter with his dads and his uncles watching him evolve from childhood, developing- no perfecting the defense-centric style of the Mayweathers. He had Ali to learn shit talking from and realize how wonderful controversiality was to a fighter's bottom line. Tyson was the face of boxing when Floyd was a kid, so I do not doubt he definitely looked at some of the mistakes Iron Mike made and learned from them. To be hated and a stupid head was infinitely more profitable, than to be a reserved, respectable intellectual with the patience of a saint... you know, like that one Ukrainian with the doctorate.

Gosh. The one thing that really sells it for me is the Ortiz KO. Like, that's how I knew he was different. A class of his own entirely. Other fighters may have thrown that punch and likewise knocked out Ortiz in the heat of the moment, but what made Mayweather's kayo "different" was what I personally perceived as the intent behind it. Others yet might have noticed Cortez's lapse in reffing and would have been a good enough sportsman to withhold the punch. Floyd isn't particularly scary and won't inspire fear in his opponents. Fucker barely throws a punch and most of the guys that end up in the ring with him leave it twelve rounds later, a little tired but not too worse for wear and with a vastly improved financial situation. Then he throws a "cheap shot," and it ends in a kayo. However, it wasn't a cheap shot, It was legal. I truly believe it was calculated. While the ref didn't know what was going on, while Ortiz probably disgusted with himself and apologizing for the headbutt and while several million spectators watched as Floyd kayo'd Ortiz, outraged and confused, I truly feel that the only one who was calm and aware of all the factors in that situation was Floyd. Everyone else didn't have their shit together and he simply saw his opportunity and capitalized on it like he always has. Was it a scumbag thing to do? Yes, but it was fair and within the rule set, unlike Ortiz's headbutt. Protect yourself at all time, they like to say. Who else, thrown in there, would even consciously be aware every little detail in those confusing circumstances? How many from that awfully small number would have willingly made the same choice Floyd did?

Unlike other great fighters like SRL or Manny. Who've shown themselves to be nothing or have at least developed a public persona of humility, kindness and general likeability, their in-ring performances have showed chinks in their armor. Pacquiao, SRL have shown they can lose their cool and get flustered in the ring. They're only human, after all... but as Duran and Marquez have shown us, such emotions can be manipulated, and exploited to great effect. I've seen Floyd in countless interviews. He's arrogant and honestly, his vocabulary or the lack thereof, makes me think he's a fucking idiot who can't form a coherent sentence to articulate his little ideas. I'm sure many share this same sentiment. This is in stark contrast to his aforementioned contemporaries, yet despite how easy it is to agitate him (just question his greatness) out of the ring, I've not seen a fighter in the history of this sport as emotionally unphased and focused as Floyd in the ring. In a career that includes a good two decades of nothing but championship level fights we, as the internet boxing communities-- (here, Sherdog, boxingscene), communities which have developed from a mutual love the fisticuffs and have no shortage of nuts willing to analyze every single frame of footage...--- we still cite SINGLE punches as "proof" of why Floyd could be beaten. We do not talk about fighters who've beaten him or when he got caught and knocked down and LOL @ the idea of landing a flush combination of Floyd. Nope. All that knowledge and our combined attempts at diminishing his career ultimately boil down to some stupid punch Mosley threw in the second round of their fight.

Everything about his career was calculated. I don't think it was "easy" per se, but the "cherry-picking" criticisms might hold some weight. They certainly shouldn't be dismissed without some scrutiny. He even squeezed his opponents as hard as possible. Glove brand, size. Ring dimensions. Catch weights. Last minute changes. Quite frankly, by virtue of his skill, I don't think he needed to go to such lengths. I think even if he wasn't such a diva, that he'd still be undefeated, albeit a lot less hated. While he didn't need these advantages, flexing your a-side demands frustrates and may allow you to get in the head of an opponent and carving out whatever advantages he could certainly did not hurt his chances at the victory that always came. This guy bent the rules and stacked the deck at every opportunity, but never cheated. There will be no asterisks on his record.

This post went on a lot longer than I thought, but hey it is r/boxing and Floyd is always the subject here. We talk a lot about his techniques or whatever, but very little has been said of his mentality. I don't think we talk enough about what he thinks and otherwise don't give him enough credit for it. We make fun of him because he can't read or something, but I don't think Floyds wealth was something that was accrued by virtue of his skill. Skill wasn't particularly high on the rung on what traits determined ones' financial compensation. He busted his ass. He is as much the tactician outside the ring as we all know him to be in it.

To conclude, I'm just going to say it again. When it comes to boxing, Floyd certainly was unparalleled at the competitive aspect. However, what he does not get credit for is his supreme intelligence. We stand in awe of his athleticism and boxing knowledge. No one was ever good enough to beat him. However between Floyd and any of his opponents in regards to boxing and it's mental aspect, the promotional/business/financial side and anything to do with the sport outside the ring... that there is a disparity between Floyd and his opponents that is greater than even the difference between their skills.

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