For years, fight fans have found one reason or the other to hate Floyd Mayweather jr.
For some, it's his 'hit-and-not-be-hit' blueprint for victory, while for others it's his arrogant flash-n-brash attitude that keeps them from becoming fans; but whatever the case, throughout his illustrious career there's never been a shortage of reasons to despise a man who seems to love the role as a villain.
With a million and one ill-fated statements already notched under his belt, there seems to be yet a new reason for many fight fans to despise Mayweather.
After negotiations fell apart for the proposed Mayweather/Pacquiao showdown, Pacquiao went in another direction by selecting Ghana native Joshua Clottey.
Many around the sport found this to be a top notch effort and wondered whether or not Mayweather could ever do anything to exceed his effort.
When the Mosley/Berto fight fell apart due to Berto's great affiliation to those left in a ravished homeland, (Haiti), the obvious choice was a showdown with Mayweather who also lost a dancing partner.
Negotiations hit high gear rather quickly and after only a few days, it was believed that the deal was in fact in place and the fight was on.
Here we are a few weeks later, and suddenly we learn that a fight we felt was pretty solid is actually far from.
Unconfirmed reports a week ago had Mayweather apparently at odds over the fact that he would have to face Mosley at a number far lower than what he would have received against Pacquiao. While that may be true in theory, the reality is that Mayweather had a very well orchestrated and very necessary demand that remains the X-factor in that fight not happening as well.
For those on the cynical side, the reason for Mayweather holding this fight up is loud and clear. They will say he is "afraid", that he "doesn't want the fight", and that he "was forced into this fight" and has opted out. For his apologist, they will agree that he "can more money elsewhere", and that he "doesn't have to face Mosley after Mosley denied him twice in the past".
The reality here is that none of us know why Mayweather hasn't signed the deal, but in an era of hi-tech technology that could allow him to sign a deal from anywhere on the planet (Fax machine, internet, overnight mail, etc) it's a bit hard to understand why a man who has never met an autograph opportunity that he didn't like would fail to place his "John Hancock" on the dotted line.
In a room of a million fight fans, I'm sure we could muster a million different reasons why he hasn't.
With that door wide open, I'd like to walk in and enter another........
With Joshua Clottey a bit down and out about his trainer being declined a visa to come to the U.S. to train him, perhaps Mayweather has considered some "step-aside" money to get him to walk away, opening the door to the slim-but-sparkling possibility of Mayweather reducing his testing demands and agreeing to a neutral date to complete some unfinished business.
Yeah.....I know they said this fight is as dead as it gets, but in an era of the sport where mega-fights have more lifelines than Jason Voorhees from Friday the 13th, I guess it's best for you readers to know that I'm a huge fan of the Beatles.....and in their name, I quote:
"PEOPLE SAY THAT I'M A DREAMER.......BUT (YOU KNOW WHAT) I'M NOT THE ONLY ONE"!
Stay tuned.
(Vivek Wallace can be reached at vivexemail@yahoo.com, YouTube (VIVEK1251), Twitter (VIVEK747), Eastside Boxing, 8CountNews, FaceBook and Myspace).
Source: examiner.com
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