The Fight, and Beyond

There’s an old saying, “don’t judge a book by its cover”, that saying does not apply to Floyd Mayweather. The pound for pound best fighter in the world and the undisputed king of self-promoting has a domestic violence history that has haunted him for quite some time. But Floyd doesn’t seem to let that show. When asked questions about his history he merely brushes it off and uses a promotional tool to jab the question. Needless to say, Floyd Mayweather is not a crowd favorite and that was evident Saturday night in his fight against the “hero”, Manny Pacquiao. What was dubbed the fight of the century didn’t necessarily live up to the lofty expectations that were set six years ago when the fight first came into our lives. The idea that two boxers with as different of backgrounds as you will find slugging it out for 12 rounds would win over the hearts of millions of people and turn them into boxing fanatics seemed far fetched from the beginning, and if the fight was any indication, it’s going to stay that way.

Leading up to the fight the talk wasn’t about who had the quicker hands or who had the quicker feet, but who had the cleanest life outside of the ring. It wasn’t a split decision in any way; Manny Pacquiao is to the Philippines what Lance Armstrong was to the United States, someone that could carry an entire country and win over the hearts of people in other countries. It wasn’t hard for him to do that though, as Floyd Mayweather backed himself into a corner with his domestic violence history and with the way sports are handling those types of situations, he was never coming out of that corner.

Many people who know me know that I’m a fan of Floyd Mayweather. I’ve been a fan since before I knew ANYTHING about his history. I’m still a fan of Floyd Mayweather, but don’t label me as someone who is pro-domestic violence. Do I respect the things he has done, absolutely not, and if you think that I’m totally cool with dudes beating women, then you’re the one who needs to rethink some things. I’m a sports fan, I’m a sports writer, and I appreciate the greatness of certain athletes when they are in their atmosphere. When Michael Vick got charged and convicted in his dog fighting case, I was torn up; being a fan of Vick was hard at first because of the heinous nature in which his crimes were committed. But for those three hours when he was on the field, I put all that on the back burner and just watched him play football.

Let me ask you this, if Adrian Peterson goes into the last game of the regular season and is 10 yards shy of breaking Erick Dickerson’s single-season rushing record, what are you going to do? Are you going to cheer for him to break the record or are you going to boo him because you know his history of beating children?

Sports are a way out for us, they are what brings out incredible passion and brings so many people together who have a common bond. They are an escape for some people whose lives are filled with unthinkable tragedies and a way to let go of all the wrong in life and just be free for just a few hours.

I get the fact that some people might not root for certain athletes based on what they know about that athlete, but don’t cloud the minds of the rest of us who like to watch those athletes for the sole purpose of seeing them do some of the most incredible things a human being can do. Let us live in our own world where we think nothing is wrong.