I've met Floyd a couple times. He actually is nice and soft spoken. He's the type of guy who looks you in the eye and pays attention to what you are saying even if you're a nobody. He grew up in the gym and now I've heard takes the time to give young guys tips and such. When he gets around his entourage is when he can act cocky. His "Boyz" beat the crap out of Bouncer the other year at a local bar. It turns out Floyd had went to Middle and High School with the bouncer.
His pre fight talk is not anything crazy. He hasn't said anything more outrageous than a dozen other guys of this era. I think Roy Jones has been more disrespectful to opponents than Floyd and never gets sweated for it.
Floyd has done a lot for Grand Rapids. He gives to charity both his money and his time. He picked up the $162,000 tab for the Golden Gloves National Tourney this May. He'll be in town this weekend throwing a big multi venue event with Music and such. I won't be attending, but could probably get VIP if I wanted to hang with his crew, which i don't, not my thing.
People forget how bad he got robbed in the Olympics. He was dominant and was robbed in the semis. I think this really hurt him as much as it hurt Roy Jones. Both these fighters have used it as motivation, you have to take it, no ones gonna give it to you and once you have it everyone is gonna try to steal it. Floyd will fight again. He retired because Oscar wouldn't give him a 50-50 split. It was a blow to him, he had worked so hard to be boxing's top draw and here it was and he still could not get a 50/50 billing with Oscar. Even as a fan of Floyd's, I can still be objective and admit that Oscar is still the bigger draw. Floyd should have took the split he was offered.
Bookmarks