Many years ago, the late great Bob Marley sang those magical lyrics as if he needed no further understanding of his message. He was too good for us and left before his time should have been called. We can only see and hear him in music and in video, or the nostalgic black-light tapestry. The same is not the case for Floyd Mayweather. Junior. Sorry, friend but hospital papers confirm you are in fact the son of Senior. Pay no mind to the semantics. Pay closer attention to last night’s episode of “24/7″. Money Mayweather was using a $10,000 or more stack of bills as a play phone. Together with his new hijinks crony, 50 Cent, Floyd used up a few minutes of your life that you’ll never get back as he talked into a stack of money. He even used his call waiting to pick up other phone calls. The telephone company can surely lower our monthly bills if one person is paying big-time cash for call waiting and maybe ringback service. HBO’s award-winning series is only worth the effort when Floyd is included. Think about it. Manny’s too nice. Miguel’s too cordial. Ricky was too pub, grub and darts. Juan Manuel was too creative cocktail for us. Only Floyd has the same ability as Howard Stern or some other popular shock jock. You’ll choose to watch to see what he blurbs out as much as you’ll switch to something else because you’re tired of his antics. In this writer’s opinion, the man is as much a genius out of the ring as he is in it.
Watch just about any Mayweather interview that takes place with any reputable news show. He’s well-spoken. He’s polite and honest. Brian Kenny has some fun with him, but for the most part, Floyd takes the high road on just about every question. Cut to the “raw & uncut” aspect of 24/7. The cameras roll, the fight talk starts and once Floyd starts spewing, the doves quickly fly away from the church steeple and the pipe organ goes bananas. The opposing fighter makes Bambi look like a spree killer. It’s this contrast that makes us watch. Floyd’s been on the series for his last several fights. How many times can we be shown his (all paid for, of course) house, cars and gadgets? The answer? As long as he’s still relevant in the fight game. He doesn’t make oceans more money than many of the fighters out there. The difference is that he chooses to show all the world just how much King Midas he has in him. We all watch just to see what he can come up with next. Many of us would love the freedom to wake up whenever we like, go to bed at any hour and jog through our neighborhood in our boxer shorts. Floyd Mayweather knows exactly what he’s doing, whether you are intrigued or abhorred at his lifestyle. One of the old Simpsons Halloween Specials had a short where giant advertising figures came to life and ransacked Springfield. Their solution was to simply turn their backs and not look. The giants fell one by one. Floyd knows you want to not look, but you just can’t for some reason.
A practice among the media that needs to stop is so many of you assuming that you know what’s going through his head. You don’t know this guy. You don’t know what he’s thinking. You’d give anything to have been a fly on the wall during his altercations that have led to his current legal battles. He’s smart enough to keep his friends close. He doesn’t worry about keeping his enemies closer because he loves all comers. The love extends to what’s in your pocketbook as well. We’ve helped make him this mega-rich phenom. The trick is to not look, but you can’t can you? So much of the boxing and general public would love to see him stick around long enough to catch that moment of heightened Narcissism and get his proverbials handed to him. That’s not likely to happen, though. The moment he loses, his allure, mysticism and marketability are underground. Gone south. Forget it. Forgot it. He knows this. He’s too smart to risk his legacy, his health or his fortune. Pride can get the best of just about all of us. There’s likely been times where many of us would have liked to have gone “Floyd” on one of our parents. Some of have, but most of us haven’t. Then again, we haven’t needed to make that choice while a few cameras were rolling and the eyes of millions would soon see the fallout.
We need to just back off and let the man fight. He’s basically only one of two active fighters that can guarantee a great night for Las Vegas, the casinos and the cable providers. Stop pretending that you know him until he invites you over to his house for a game of bartop baccarat or a Segway derby. Even with Miss Jackson in his life (and no her first name ain’t baby), the eyes will be on him on September 17th. Just relax and look forward to the date. You know he’ll be there and he knows you’ll be watching. You may not care for him, but you’ll miss him when he’s gone. Canastota is a lock. Remember though, that he reminded us last night that our PPV money is non-refundable, so bring friends over and have all of them pitch into the satellite fund if possible. The fees have gone up to $69.99 for the HD Telecast.
Welcome to America!