Subscribe

The plan that Mayweather launched after parting ways with his old promoter Bob Arum is nothing short of brilliant from a marketing perspective. With a pedigree in the sweet science that, to this point, has been unrivaled, Mayweather decided that it would be much better for people to pay to want to see him lose rather than pay to see him win.

The adopted “Money” persona was a grating one of an African-American with little regard for authority and a total lack of respect of his opponents. He worked his way into a showdown with everyone’s favorite “Golden Boy” Oscar De La Hoya and comfortably slid into the role of tormentor and villain.

Before De La Hoya knew what hit him, Mayweather was landing verbal sucker punches from all angles. He easily got under De La Hoya’s skin and then went to work on the general boxing public by demonstrating a lack of tact as he consistently flaunted his financial status in the most obnoxious ways imaginable. By the time fight night arrived, everyone wanted to see him lose.

The only thing that Mayweather has stood for is his own financial gain.

But, much to the chagrin of many fight fans, Mayweather won and played a vital role in the fight doing record breaking numbers (of which, only he has come close to breaking again). De La Hoya’s crown was yanked off his head by Mayweather, who would then proceed to decorate it in gaudy diamonds and place it with a tilt upon his shaved head.

From 2007 until now, Mayweather has continued his reign of dominance by expertly thwarting the advances of anyone who came close to his throne. And then, almost out of thin air, a Filipino fighter by the name of Manny Pacquiao materialized and became the yin to Mayweather’s yang. Pacquiao was the polar opposite to Mayweather both in and out of the ring.

Where Mayweather was a surgeon inside of the ring, Pacquiao was a wrecking ball who mercilessly trounced his victims. Mayweather loved to be hated and Pacquiao loved to be loved. The stars were aligned for two of the best fighters of our generation to square off. Without retreading old ground, it took five long years to happen. But it’s finally here. Mayweather is going to accomplish everything he set out to do on May 2nd as he looks to have a matching “0” in his loss record to go with all of the 0s on his check.

But has that plan backfired?

For all that Mayweather has done for himself, the one thing he has struggled to do is convince the world that he’s actually a good guy who was just playing up a role; like a pro wrestler or a character in a movie. And if he played his cards right, the general public might have eventually accepted him as they have Muhammad Ali and Mike Tyson, who were also card carrying members of the n*gga you love to hate club.

However, for all of Mayweather’s hard work, he’s run afoul in his personal life and has damaged his image almost to the point of no return. Of course, it all starts with the numerous accounts of domestic violence that have cast a dark cloud over his career. The stories were always around, but it wasn’t until 2010 when a story about Mayweather beating the mother of three of his children surfaced and turned his life upside down.

CONTINUED ON NEXT PAGE

« Previous page 1 2 3 Next page »