Why I Hate Floyd Mayweather and You Should Too

Before you start reading this, I want to make one thing clear: I’m not a hateful person.

When I was a little boy so many years ago, my mom used to look into my big brown eyes and tell me, “Robbie, hate is such a strong word.”

Mom was right– hate certainly is a strong word– and I don’t use it lightly.

With that being said, I can’t think of a word that more accurately conveys my feelings towards one of my generation’s most prominent professional athletes.

I HATE Floyd Mayweather.

Yes, he’s the most decorated fighter of all-time. He’s the most dominant technical boxer that I’ve ever seen, and I can’t think of another athlete who has dominated his or her sport quite as long as “Pretty Boy” Floyd has managed.

I don’t loathe him solely because he may be the greatest technical fighter of all-time; that would be unfair.

I do, however, feel that my animosity towards Floyd is much more plausible and justifiable. Then again, I guess that you can be the judge of that yourself when (if) you manage to scroll down to the bottom of this piece without giving up on me, clicking that little “x” or returning to your mindless procrastination on Facebook.

Still reading?

Awesome.

So that I can astutely convey my contempt for Mayweather, I’m going to break down my hate for Floyd into two divergent and equally important categories: Why I can’t stand Floyd inside of the boxing ring, and why I can’t stand Floyd outside of the boxing ring.

Let’s give this a shot.

Why I can’t stand Floyd inside of the ring

I can’t think of another professional athlete who has made dominance in his sport look quite as easy as Mayweather has in boxing.

But for a moment, let’s consider this: a 49-0 professional record is incredible, but how has Floyd cut corners in order to bolster his case for best pound-for-pound fighter of all-time?

Throughout his career, Floyd hasn’t ever been concerned with giving boxing fans the fights that we’ve truly desired. He’s had several opportunities to fight against some of the greatest fighters of our generation while they were at the top of their games, and time and again he’s avoided fighting this iconic class… at least while they were in their primes. Instead, he’s always seemed content with fighting boxers of lesser talent, padding his record (and his bank account) fight-by-fight like a middle school bully stealing money from a first grader, while incessantly bleating that he’s the best fighter who’s ever lived.

What bothers me about how Floyd has danced around some of the greatest fighters of his generation is this: only in professional boxing can an athlete have the power to protect his own legacy in such a way. Floyd’s fight selection within the past three years has been akin to LeBron James waking up one morning last June and saying “well, actually, I don’t really feel like playing the Golden State Warriors for the NBA title. I’d much prefer to play the Pretzels from New Berlin High School in Illinois.”

LeBron will never have the luxury of playing the Pretzels in the NBA Finals.

Conversely, Mayweather always had the luxury of choosing who he wanted to fight and, most significantly, when he wanted to fight them.

Though Floyd defeated some of the greatest boxers in modern day history– namely Oscar De La Hoya, Shane Mosley and Manny Pacquiao– he only fought each of these boxers when they were either out of their prime (Mosley and De La Hoya) or had displayed considerable vulnerability in other fights (Pacquiao). Just as his defensive techniques often had him dancing around his opponents in the ring, he dodged one of the greatest boxing matches of all-time when he refused to fight Manny Pacquiao in 2009. Instead, he patiently waited until Pacquaio had lost a controversial decision to Timothy Bradley and was knocked out by Juan Manuel Marquez.

Oh, also, did I mention that Floyd is guilty of throwing the biggest suckerpunch in the history of professional boxing?

Do you agree with me yet?

Well, if not, let’s continue.

Why I can’t stand Floyd outside the ring

Though there are several glaring reasons why you too should detest him outside of the boxing ring, including that he’s one of the most arrogant and disrespectful athletes of all-time AND the fact that he has been the highest paid athlete in the world for the last four years running, there is one final reason why I can’t stand the Mayweather: he has a very well-documented past of beating women.

From 2001 to 2010, Mayweather was accused of domestic violence, assault or battery in four different cases, and by four different women.

In 2010, Floyd was alleged to have beaten his ex-girlfriend and the mother of three of his children after learning that the woman, Josie Harris, was carrying on a relationship with an NBA player. Mayweather allegedly snuck into her house in the middle of the night, pulled Harris out of bed by her hair and then hit her in the face several times while she screamed on the bedroom floor. When their children woke up alarmed, Floyd threatened to beat his 9-year-old and 10-year-old sons if they called the police on him.

After he was arrested, Mayweather pleaded guilty to misdemeanor assault and harassment.

Though this was not nearly his first incident with the law and it was his fourth time being accused of assaulting a woman, Mayweather served just two months in prison for the offense.

He’s a well-known misogynist, and a haughty one at that.

In September of 2014, when reporter Rachel Nichols asked him to comment on the many accusations that he had treated women violently, he responded in the most Floyd Mayweather fashion possible.

“Well, everyone is entitled to their own opinion. When it’s all said and done, only God can judge me.”

———————-

In closing, Floyd Mayweather will go down as one of the most iconic athletes of my generation. He’s been utterly fantastic in the ring, and I guess he was okay on Dancing With the Stars.

But with his history of domestic violence coupled with his smug personality and dirty tactics in the ring (I know you saw that Victor Ortiz knockout), I don’t understand how anyone can possibly LIKE the guy.

If you still like him and you’ve read this far, you probably lied and skimmed this entire piece. For the love of God, please go back to the top and read this again.

If you’re still #TeamMoney, at least I can say that I tried to talk some sense into you.

“Hate” certainly is a strong word, but I feel like Momma Ponce would probably agree that if there’s a professional athlete who is completely deserving of my spite, his name is definitely Floyd Mayweather.

So for these reasons and more, I hate Floyd Mayweather, and (if you’ve got a logical bone in your body) you should too.

(Photo Credits: Flickr user So Max O)