Like James Brown and Miles Davis, Floyd Mayweather is a brilliant artist who also happens to be a sociopath. A boxer’s art, however, is synthetic, temporal, lying only in the body, ceasing to have aesthetic value once it fails him. The groundswell of anger coming Floyd’s way-a deserved one, in my opinion-is many things, primarily a response to the most disturbing boxer-on-boxer diatribe since Ali’s pre-fight degeneracy in Manila. What the rant will be, however, is the place where discussions of Mayweather primarily as a prizefighter will all but stop.

What Floyd, and his merry band of hip hop stans, did not configure is how his Kalid Muhammad-esque diatribe might blow up in his face (and in more ways than he thinks). African American History has shown that racialist cause celebs are seasonal and prone to backlash from the collective. Destructive, demagogic figures like OJ Simpson, Marion Barry, and Kwame Kilpatrick were cheered by a subset of the population until their foibles became so embarrassing that they became symbols for bigots to hang over their heads. Floyd might still have a segment of his fan base after this, but how much of a fan base will he have in by the time he fights Pacquiao; when his flaming ignorance will be
played by the press for laughs alongside his base, ugly prejudices, and his chronic fiscal stupidity.

And what of Paquiao? (They’ll fight, trust me. If Floyd went through 120 million before he came back, he will go through this 65 he’s made from his comeback, and need the 55 he’ll get from fighting the Philippine champion). One thing noticeable in his trash talking rant was how nervy it was, how unsettled, almost desperate it sounded; as if he knows Manny will give him a far tougher night than many people think he will. I re-watched Pacquiao’s fight with Clottey, and was floored by how impressive he was. Against a walking bad style fight, a tough iron chinned SOB with world class skills, Paquiao dominated; adjusting his style ever so slightly to throw rapid fire combinations to his body, darting in and out so Clottey couldn’t stand in front of him and impose his strength, not backing off until the final half of the final
round until he had it in the bag. In adjusting to a tough fight, he looked as brilliant as he looked against De La Hoya, Hatton, and Cotto, and showed the transformation from a one dimensional slugger to one of the greatest fighters of the past 30 years.

For all the pathology he showed in that rant, we all know that Floyd also belongs in that category, and might beat Pacquiao with the easiness that he says he will. What if, however, he doesn’t? What if Pacquiao, now a master strategist, follows the same game plan that Jose Luis Castillo did against Mayweather: going to the body and taking away his ability to move. And what if Floyd gets caught with a big punch, and in the same way he got caught against Mosley in the second round? Only this time he won’t be in against a haymaker happy faded champ, but the best finisher the sport’s seen since Felix Trinidad?

Of course Mayweather can quell those questions by getting in the ring with Pacquiao, and putting on another bravura performance. But what happens to boxing if he does? In the course of the past few years, Manny has become many things also, a political figure, human rights advocate, first class sportsman, and the most breathtaking self made fighter since Aaron Pryor (if not Henry Armstrong). He’s landed on the
cover of Time and become, for many, the sportsman that people that hate sports root for; the first athlete since Ali (oh, the irony) that seems to matter. A victory would not only confirm his status as one of the greatest fighters in the history of the sport, it will be seen by many people (spanning all races, creeds, and colors) as a moment of good feeling, akin to Foreman’s victory over Moorer, Ali’s victory over Foreman, or even Louis’ victory over Max Schmeling.

If Floyd wins? He’ll be the racist sonofabitch who beat Manny, and nothing Floyd can say or do can ever change that. Not now. Especially, not now.

Photo of Mayweather shared via Wikipedia through the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported, 2.5 Generic, 2.0 Generic and 1.0 Generic license.

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