FLOYD MAYWEATHER’S MAINSTREAM APPEAL

Mayweather vs Mosley
March 3rd, 2010 By Frances Martel

MR. POPULARITY

New York, NY- It hasn’t been difficult to fall out of love with the technical expertise and calculating matchmaking that defines the Floyd Mayweather (40-0, 25 KOs) camp. Even the most loyal fan is, by now, happy with the prowess his career has made throughout the years and wouldn’t mind seeing him fade out of the boxing spotlight and do something more productive (and entertaining) with his time. Yet Mayweather is still here, and he’s still fighting some of the best, and there’s nothing we can do about it, because something about the way he presents himself is appealing to the world outside of the boxing one fans regularly inhabit. Mayweather is the biggest star our sport has today, and if only for his importance in the sport’s exposure will he refuse to make a silent exit.

FAIR AND BALANCED MAYWEATHER WITH GRETA VAN SUSTEREN

In fact, even when trying to avoid Mayweather, it seems he pops out everywhere. His ubiquity is not, as it is with, say, Manny Pacquiao (50-3-2, 38 KOs), limited to niche communities and boxing scribe hubs. Last night, for example, Mayweather’s stomping ground was Fox News, of all places. Watch his pleasant yet awkward interaction with the network’s sanest (read: most boring) host, Greta Van Susteren:

Click to watch Floyd v. Greta

FOX NEWS’ NEW NOVELTY ACT

It is abundantly clear that Van Susteren knows absolutely nothing about boxing. In fact, she seems only vaguely aware of who she is talking to, or why, asking questions like “does it make a difference that Shane [Mosley (46-5, 39 KOs)] is older?” and acting shocked that, as a welterweight, he is clocking in 147 pounds. And if Van Susteren is clueless, the fact that she has to explain to her audience that boxing is also “a mental sport.” From the perspective of someone who follows the sport, even casually, the entire interview is nothing short of cringeworthy. But Fox News, like any other media outlet, is ultimately a business— meaning someone at the company saw something in Mayweather that could make money with the average Fox News viewer. Now, the average Fox News viewer is the kind of person that takes Glenn Beck and Sean Hannity seriously (or, in Beck’s words, “idiots”). More importantly, even if they are rocket scientists, they are not your average boxing enthusiast, and even more rarely are they boxers. Despite this, the Van Susteren team saw an opportunity for ratings by bringing him on, something that distinguishes him from the average boxer. As much as we love them, imagine Yuriorkis Gamboa (17-0, 15 KOs) on The O’Reilly Factor or Paulie Malignaggi (27-3, 5 KOs) on Glenn Beck—it’s absurd. Yet Mayweather bringing the sport exposure to an audience so alien from it feels comfortable and proper.

MAYWEATHER: BOXING’S JOHNNY WEIR?

In this sense, even if his performances tend to be, if not unsuccessful, uninspired and dull, Mayweather is a wonderful character for the sport of boxing. He has, in many ways, become its spokesman in a way that fighters rarely do (these positions are often left to promoters like Don King, and even Oscar de la Hoya (39-6, 30 KOs) attempted to assume this position unsuccessfully). For better or worse, he is the face of boxing to a nation of casual observers, and given his way with words and his colorful haughtiness, that’s not such a bad thing outside of the ring. Yet because he performs his sport in a way that many don’t have the patience to watch, Mayweather is shunned by a great number of boxing purists. Not that I won’t admit to falling asleep during his fight with Carlos Baldomir (45-12-6, 14 KOs), but the talent is still there, no matter the style. Mayweather will probably reel in horror at the comparison, but he is, in some ways, boxing’s Johnny Weir—an intelligent, skillful, colorful character that refuses to conform to the cultural demands of his sport and has positioned himself as its biggest face to the dismay of many fans and champions before him. Granted, he is neither as intelligent, eccentric, or influential (and no 24/7 series has approximated the greatness of the figure skating documentary Be Good Johnny Weir), but the effect on the sport is the same: we don’t want him because he doesn’t deliver the goods we seek, but the rest of the world wants him because he’s entertaining to them since they’ve never sat through his fights.

THE UPSIDE FOR SHANE MOSLEY, BOXING

But maybe, for the first time, they will. After a quite successful Dancing with the Stars appearance and some face time on Fox News, Mayweather’s charming behavior may have impressed some casual fans enough to lure them in. The American casual boxing fan is remarkably fickle and constantly demand eccentric personalities that fit their mold. A balance of wholesomeness and genuineness is key, which is why, respectively, the American public has rejected Malignaggi and someone like Calvin Brock (31-2, 23 KOs), the “boxing banker.” Mosley will benefit from Mayweather’s publicity, too, and the more public Mayweather goes, the bigger the victory will be for Mosley when he gives Mayweather his first taste of defeat.

Source: ringtalk.com