London - Floyd Mayweather is perched on a stool, being humble. It is fair to say this is not his natural disposition. Manny Pacquiao, he says, is a great fighter, who will go down in boxing’s Hall of Fame. His voice is low, measured, thoughtful. This is his game plan.
There is no point playing the brash money machine when the man in the opposite corner keeps evoking God. No point going up against piety with naked avarice. ‘This fight is not good versus evil,’ Mayweather murmurs. Oh, but it is, Floyd, it is. Strip away the exceptional athletic prowess of both men - undefeated Mayweather against boxing’s only eight-divisional champion Pacquiao - and tomorrow’s welterweight showdown shapes up with all the thematic complexity of a Disney movie.
Not all, obviously. With Mayweather, there is also a disturbing history of domestic violence that cannot be ignored, a short spell in prison, rumours of illiteracy.
As the hype and the numbers around this fight have mounted so, too, have the voices drawing attention to his sordid past, particularly his attitude to women. He has been called a serial batterer and misogynist - statements backed up by instances of vicious behaviour against women in 2001, 2003 and 2010. USA Today called supporting the fight through pay-per-view ‘the decision all sports fans must make’.
‘How do you knowingly contribute money to a person like this?’ its editorial asked.
ESPN commentator Keith Olbermann went one further. ‘I will not give Mayweather a dime,’ he said. ‘He should have been banned for life by his sport two, five or 10 years ago. I will not promote, watch nor report on Mayweather’s fight. I will boycott it and I urge you to as well.’
This truly would hit Mayweather where it hurts. ‘Whether you pay to see me win or pay to see me lose, I’m the smart one at the end of the day,’ he says, ‘because you pay me.’
Daily Mail