Re: Is Floyd Mayweather an ATG?
ummm, Sure. Stats Wise, he made it further than most. That's what most people will remember, his defense and pulling off wins. The other stuff will appear inconsequential to most and not be remembered by most. Some may have an asterisk next to some of his fights but every fighter may have some of those.
Honestly, I think his "greatness" may have a tapering off effect as other fighters promoters and other lesser talented fighters start to emulate some of his strategies for prefight demands, choosing their own opponents, utilizing promoter/advisor muscle (venue holding dates, paying off sparring partners), and other stuff like , drug testing requirements, catch weights, freddy roache's commission appeals against knee braces, title hostage holdings (cotto), etc... There will be plenty of "good enough" guys with inflated records or Sven ottke types with better marketing that may be pushed to the forefront, that the criteria for greatness may become stiffer than ever by the loyalists or washed out completely by the casual fans. The networks, promoters, and the NVSAC will quickly try to fill the hole left by floyds absence and that leaves little space time wise, between Floyd and whoever his successor will be. With the bag of tricks listed above, there will be lots of f*ckery on display. Look at whats its done for fighters like danny garcia, khan, petersen, Chavez Jr., Leo SantaCruz, stevenson etc. Even though i like some of these fighters, I cant help but wonder where they would be without, gimme fights, technicalities or creative matchups instead of fighting mandatories or the stuff listed above.
** As a side note: My opinion is, the "money generated/per fight salary" wont become or carry the prestige that many will hope because its relative to costs of living and inflation.
They want your @$$ beat because upsets make news. News brings about excitement, excitement brings about ratings. The objective is to bring you up to the tower and tear your @$$ down. And if you don't believe that, you're crazy.
Roy Jones, Jr. "What I've Learned," Esquire 2003
Bookmarks