Mayweather all smiles after win, but is he happy in villain’s role?
LAS VEGAS — It’s been hours since Floyd Mayweather defeated Conor McGregor in Saturday’s superfight, and I can’t help but wonder how the victor feels.
Projections say the man called “Money” could be as much as $350 million richer and that his career earnings are passing $1 billion. He paid off for high-dollar gamblers who treated this event as an investment opportunity. And he proved that there’s life after 40, even for an athlete.
But he’s one of the greatest pugilists in history, yet was discounted in a fight against a mixed martial artist making his debut in the sport of boxing. Mayweather was booed — wildly — in his adopted hometown. He played the bad guy yet again in a worldwide promotion.
To be clear, this is no defense of Floyd Mayweather. He has been convicted in domestic-violence cases and served a short jail sentence after pleading guilty to misdemeanor assault and harassment stemming from a 2010 fight with the mother of three of his children. He’s been arrested several times over the past 15 years and was implicated in a 2009 shooting.
Mayweather has avoided his most serious charges and was acquitted in multiple cases. The civil lawsuit against him in the roller rink shooting, in which no one was wounded, was dropped. A spokesman at the time called the suit “an attempt to extort money.” Mayweather was never accused of firing shots, and he was never criminally charged.
These legal troubles, plus otherwise coarse behavior, are far more than enough justification for critics to cast him in the role of villain in this or any other fight.
Supporters push back, saying that in America, you get the justice you can afford. They also say the system is slanted, so if we criticize Mayweather we have to go after countless others.
I guess. But right now, traveling back to Phoenix as Las Vegas empties out, I can’t help but wonder what does he think?
In the aftermath of the fight, for which there were hundreds of media credentials issued, I didn’t get anywhere near him to ask.
The comments he made from the ring shortly after having his hand raised revealed nothing.
Before long, I found myself washed in among thousands of people who poured into the streets and casinos after the match. The Las Vegas police had a heavy presence, but the crowd was calm.
McGregor fans may have been disappointed that their man lost, but he gave a good show, hitting the older, slower Mayweather more often than any other fighter in recent memory.
Still, the overwhelming majority of the people in the streets wanted to see Mayweather beaten.
It’s easy to assume he’s unconcerned by public perception, laughing as he counts his money and surrounded by enablers.
It’s also easy to assume that in today’s media environment — where anyone can get the news they desire to bolster previously held beliefs — that Mayweather thinks the people who boo him are outliers.
But is there any point when the weight of his reputation gets heavy? Maybe when he’s alone? When he looks in the mirror to shave? To brush his teeth?
In these moments, does he hear the boos?
At the weigh-in Friday and the fight Saturday, McGregor fans filled the arena, wearing green and chanting taunts. “Pay your taxes!” they yelled during the weighin. “Ole! Ole! Ole! Ole!” they yelled to exhort McGregor during the fight.
It was nothing new. Mayweather has played the heavy for years, making a career of facing Hispanic fighters on Mexican holiday weekends, flashing his wealth and mocking opponents.
It’s a normal reaction to take what’s presumed to be negative and make it positive. Just look at what my generation tried to do with a certain slur.
And maybe that’s what Mayweather is doing here, making a negative into a positive, even if it doesn’t quite fit. Or perhaps morality isn’t fixed. It could be that he lives unburdened, feeling justified in all his actions.
Another possibility? His background is in the background. He’s served his debt to society, and he’s moved on from misdeeds, accused or convicted, legal or perceived.
“That was in my past, and of course with any situation, when someone talks about domestic violence, I think with a fighter like myself, when they say that ‘Floyd was involved in domestic violence,’ restraining someone, yes, I did that,” Mayweather said in a January ESPN interview. “I’m guilty of restraining. But as far as stomp, kick and beating a woman, I think that the world would see photos.”
Let’s assume that’s true and that he never finds himself accused of another crime.
Doesn’t there have to be a point at which we allow someone to move on from who they were? Or do some mistakes last forever?
We’re going to be seeing less and less of Mayweather from here forward. He looked older and slower in the ring. He’ll continue to promote strip clubs and designer watches, but it’s hard to imagine he has much left as a boxer.
But I get the sense that despite the loss, McGregor is in his ascent.
I wonder if one day I’ll be wondering about the man who calls himself “Notorious”?