The previously much-awaited Pacquiao-Algieri fight has come and gone, and once more that self-proclaimed spectacle of a “boxer” comes into the picture. The currently “unbeaten” Floyd “Flawed” Mayweather Jr. has managed to prove himself yet again a “champion selector” of beatable opponents.
Let’s try to size up this self-celebrated fame. Either he is intent on cashing in on an unprecedented bonanza in a fight with Manny Pacquiao, or he is hell-bent on retiring without a defeat. (Please note the avoidance of the word “undefeated”!)
If Flawed is to be compared with another (and much more deserving) “undefeated,” like Rocky Marciano, one could “count the ways,” as the saying goes.
Marciano held the world heavyweight championship by defeating contenders who were taller and of no mean ability. Flawed, on the other hand, goes his “fair weather” way against well-selected foes known to be less fast of foot, and nowhere near as quick of hand, and often of less reach in arms.
Marciano had the marked face and broken nose to show for the big blows he took and gave back until his untimely death (if memory does not fail me) in a plane accident. Where Marciano carried varied physical marks from honest-to-goodness ring combat, Flawed with the glistening skull, unmarked face and well-formed nose carries but one “scar,” and that is in his whole self-idolizing and fearful personality—fearful of Manny Pacquiao, that is. No way to ensure “victory” there!
It appears that Flawed is faced with a choice: Either he cashes in on a fight against Pacquiao, or he foregoes the monetary value in favor of his gargantuan delusion as the “undefeated.”
In an interview after his Pacquiao fight, Chris Algieri was very sportsmanlike in his gracious words for Manny, whose face was unmarked. Quality of such big measure will never be seen to emanate from a person as small as Flawed “Fairweather.” One shouldn’t be surprised if, with the patented Fairweather “winning” strategy, Flawed’s “uninterrupted” win string goes on to 50 or more! Meanwhile Flawed fitfully flirts with his reflection in the mirror.
It would seem that frivolous Flawed might have been encouraged by Manny’s resounding defeat to Juan Manuel Marquez, but that’s now just water under the bridge. Of the three—Pacquiao, Marquez and Mayweather—it’s only Flawed that has yet to establish himself and his spurious record. The other two have tasted victory, defeat and even the canvas, but they remain standing with pride.
Just in case he manages to muster the guts to fight Pacquiao: Master Fairweather should have a nose surgeon on hand to fix that proboscis between his eyes! It’s likely to become splayed.
—BOBBY KRAUT,
bobbykraut922@yahoo.com