Friday, March 29, 2024

Floyd Mayweather Jr, Not a Gentleman.

September 24, 2011 by  
Filed under Misc., News, Opinion, Sports, Weekly Columns

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(ThyBlackMan.com) I did not watch the fight.

After a week in attendance at a conference, I was seeking to relax quietly at home. Then social media went abuzz. An on-line debate concerning sportsmanship began to blaze across my screen; an intense, polarizing debate.

Curious as to the impetus for such impassioned dialogue so late at night, I searched for highlights of the bout. I soon located a clip of the knockout sequence. I witnessed Victor Ortiz’s head butt to Floyd Mayweather Jr., a classless act. I was, however, grateful to see what appeared to be quick and   genuine remorse from Ortiz as evidenced by a kiss to Floyd Mayweather Jr’s cheek, the bumping of gloves and a hug.

What followed that hug was one of the most repulsive acts of sportsmanship I have ever witnessed. While Ortiz was moving backwards from his embrace of Floyd Mayweather Jr., and thus, had his hands down, not yet resuming a defensive posture, Floyd Mayweather Jr leveled him, first with a left hook to the right jaw, then with a finishing right to the same jaw. The act was so repulsive it engendered a guttural response of “Oh, no!” from the television announcer.

Boxing is a brutal sport. Although I’m a fan, at times the sport’s history has been marred with cheating and poor sportsmanship, be it the illegal wrapping of hands or intentional low blows. But for one fighter to level another when that fighter was not set to resume the bout is a tremendous low for sportsmanship in a sport ripe full of unsportsman-like conduct.

Some people have expressed the legality of Mayweather’s punches. Fairness, not legality, is the order of the day here. When questioned about the fairness, not the legality, of his punches in a post-fight interview with Larry Merchant, who noted that Ortiz was still engaged in a “ceremony of apology,” Mayweather promptly avoided the question by thanking all who purchased pay-per-view and those who travelled to Vegas. When pressed further, Floyd Mayweather Jr responded, “It’s protect yourself at all times… We not here to cry and complain about what he did dirty or what I did dirty. I was victorious.”

When athletes become content with victory at all costs, even dirty play, it’s a sign that the end of the sport’s prominence is looming large. Legality doesn’t necessarily equate with fair or good. In sports, while it is legal to run up the score, it is not considered good sportsmanship. In his first letter to the Corinthian Church, the Apostle Paul wrote, “You say, ‘I am allowed to do anything’ — but not everything is good for you. You say, ‘I am allowed to do anything’ — but not everything is beneficial.” Legally winning dirty is clearly not beneficial to the sport of boxing or to boxing fans.

But this is much bigger than boxing. What happened in the ring Saturday night is a microcosm of what is taking place within this country. The state of manhood in America is increasingly troubled. A generation ago, the offended boxer would have committed himself to squarely, but fairly, beating in his opponent’s head. Today, victory is claimed through less than noble devices.

Across demographics, men are displaying a lack of responsibility and accountability, gentlemanliness and class. In record number, men are abandoning the responsibility of raising their own children. Cowardly men are repeatedly assaulting women. Men are failing to pursue the opportunity to better themselves through the pursuit of higher education. Not only are men absent from the home and higher education — they are absent from the church as well.

What is the impetus for the downturn of manhood in America? The problem is readily apparent. We have an emerging generation of men victimized by paternal absenteeism and the failure of an entire generation of men to nurture and raise their young boys. Concerning the death of the gentleman, sportsmanship and class in American society, this is the true culprit: the failure of the previous generation of men to properly raise and nurture their sons. This is unfortunately vividly illustrated in Floyd Mayweather, Jr.’s public and painful relationship with his father, Floyd Mayweather, Sr. While the senior Floyd Mayweather Jr taught his son to fight, and to fight well, he failed to teach him how to be a gentleman.

In a recent Ebony Magazine article, “The Decline of the Elite Black Athlete,” an open letter to Black male athletes, writer Kevin Powell articulates the impact of these failures upon present athletes and his generation. Powell writes, “Like many of you, I grew up with a single mother and an absent father in an impoverished ghetto environment with sports as one of the few outlets for my hopes and dreams, and my anger and frustrations, too.” Powell further expresses the negative impact of this absence upon these athletes as expressed to him by Coach Tony Dungy. “Mr. Dungy has talked about the fact that so many of you have not had consistent father figures in your own lives. That is why… some of you truly struggle to be the men and role models we desperately need. Because you just do not know what to do, what to be, despite your fame and money.”

The tattoo emblazoned upon the late Tupac Shakur’s stomach, T.H.U.G. L.I.F.E., was an acronym that stood for “The Hate you give little infants f*** everyone.” An entire generation of men has grown to exemplify this neglect. In the ring, Mayweather, Jr.’s evident neglect was displayed for the world to see. While Ortiz was floored, gentlemanliness, sportsmanship and class were assassinated.

Rest in peace.

Written By Pastor Michael W. Waters

Official website; http://twitter.com/pastormwaters

 


Comments

18 Responses to “Floyd Mayweather Jr, Not a Gentleman.”
  1. MakingSense says:

    First of all this Pastor whoever he is, he doesn’t need to ever again comment on the sport of boxing especially when it’s apparent he didn’t understand what he saw. There were headbutts throughout the fight as well as rabbit punches and elbows from Ortiz, the 4th round had the most headbutts of any round with three. The last and final headbutt was the most blatant. Ortiz had been told to watch his head by Cortez, on top of that Cortez was giving the signal to the judges that Ortiz was headbutting. Again this Pastor like so many others don’t know what they were watching. The last headbutt was intentional and Ortiz plan was to give up the MMA move and follow it with the left to knock Mayweather out. That didn’t go as planned and the end result was him getting rightfully knocked out. You need to blog about other issues and stay out of the boxing ring because you don’t know what you’re talking about at all. As for these clowns mentioning Cotto and others, you can’t be serious. I saw someone mention Top Rank lmao they’ve been ripping Manny off for years lmao he never wanted the fight with Floyd, Top Rank wanted that fight so they could take millions from Manny as they’ve been doing. He needs Floyd, Floyd doesn’t need him.

  2. Demarkis says:

    1. Floyd Mayweather gave Ortiz the chance of a lifetime. Floyd ((invited)) Ortiz to fight on this world stage. Ortiz could hvae become legendary as the man who took Floyd Mayweather out. And millions would have called Ortiz a hero had he done so. But Ortiz used the crown-of-his head on at least 3 occasions. But the temerity… No the inmitigated gall of this man to launch himself into Floyd could have cut Floyd. To act like this on this stage??? And were that cut-advantage effectively exploited by Ortiz, the fight would have been stopped. Floyd ended the fight, turned the lights out, and gave this man what he deserved.

    Ortiz is a Mexican fighter. These guys are known for GRIT, HONOR, and HEART in the ring.

  3. Demarkis says:

    “A generation ago, the offended boxer would have committed himself to squarely, but fairly, beating in his opponent’s head.”

    Look, this is boxing. The instructions are to protect yourself at alltimes. (((ESPECIALLY if youre going to be the one cheating.)))
    In the 1920s one of the most beloved fighters ever, Jack Dempsey fought Jack Sharkey. When Sharkey complained to the referee in the seventh round that Dempsey was hitting low, Dempsey unloaded a haymaker, a left hook to the exposed chin. Fight over. When asked why he threw the punch when Sharkey wasn’t looking, Dempsey said, “What was I supposed to do — write him a telegram?”

  4. I ACTUALLY WATCHED THE FIGHT says:

    I dont understand all this hoopla about Mayweather being the bad guy in this. What is the first sentence of this article. How does one have an opinion in it? anyway….
    Ortiz intentionally launched himself at Mayweather, which was flagrant, poor, and unsportsmanlike. then tries to kiss, hug an love all over Mayweather?! WHAT?! Give me a break. The REF, after deducting a point, brought then together, back to FIGHT. When the ref says go, you go. too bad Ortiz’s adolescence in the ring showed. yeah, he had his hands down, but the same goes for any other sport… if the Quarterback isnt ready for the snap, he’s gonna get sacked. If a wide-receiver catches the ball, and doesnt turn around, he’s gonna get lit-up from behind. You can STEAL the ball in basketball without the other players knowledge. you can STEAL a base in baseball. C’mon folks. it was a fight. Ortiz cheated, and acted pretty stupid. He got sacked, got his ball stole, got blindsided, etc.
    SPORTS! Thats the way it is.

  5. Long Soup Fried Rice says:

    Ortiz forgot he was in battle inside the ring thinking he was in Dancing With The Stars hug and kisses came to his senses realizing he was sitting on his backside.Its only OK if you dish out the dirty work but cant handle it come payback time.The ring is a war zone shoot your enemy

  6. Long Soup Fried Rice says:

    Manny is only fighting Old Left Overs

  7. Long Soup Fried Rice says:

    Manny Pacquiao is over rated Mayweather will whip the hell out of him.Just like Ortiz a left hander cant handle Floyd resort to headbutt.

  8. Pippo says:

    He call himself “money” but his actions are really “cheap”. Accept to fight Manny and show that you’re a real Man. You’re (floyd) a Coward.

  9. sankofa says:

    Man I can’t and won’t even comment on this article too much. It is obvious that this writer needs to write about something else, because he/she definitely is not objective.

    Incidentally as Floyd said, even my haters will follow me. @THE TRUTH, stop following Mayweather, just stop it. You come across as a stupid bitch, like this author

  10. nothingbutating says:

    All this talk of Mayweather being dirty is funny.

    This was a fight.

    Was Mayweather mad about the head butt.. yes

    Should he have maybe pushed Ortiz back at the onset of the second hug?..maybe.

    Mayweather came at Ortiz with arms up ready to go before they even touched gloves.

    But Ortiz wanted to hug not just once, but hug twice. For what???..cause he is a nice guy?..in the middle of a fight with the clock running?

    Did I mention this was a fight.

    I personally think Ortiz wanted to hug a second time to slow down or calm Mayweather down cause guess what..he was ticked off.. cause ITS A FIGHT.

    BTW-Did you see the head butt? It did not look accidental. I think you all fell pray to some BS..

    To me its like a Lion fighting with a wildebeast in nature.. The lion is trying to bite the wildebeast but the wildebeast kicks mud in the lions eye.. He says “hold on.. time out.. I am so sorry ..lets hug this out when the lion suddenly bites the wildebeast’s head off.

    All the wildebeasts and zebras and rhinos cry fowl and say that was not fair..very unsportsman like..

    I personally am mad at Ortiz (as I am sure are his trainers) for not being a boxer and acting like they were sitting down for tea in the middle of a fight.

  11. cesar says:

    mayweather dosent have a history of fighting dirty, and ortiz did f#@% up when he head butted mayweather. but mayweather didnt deserve the win. the ref didnt tell them to fight when mayweather hit ortiz. the ref is to blame his job is to stop the fight n make sure that fighters dont fight before he says so the reff was slow to react. mayweather hit ortiz twise n the reff was looking somewere else fucking idiot!!!!! ortiz n mayweather have have their own fault for the poor spotmanship they both showed but two wrongs dont make a right. mayweather is afraid of facing paciao

  12. @the truth says:

    @THE TRUTH.. Then you were never really a Floyd Mayweather fan. A situation like this should never changed you perception especially if they have never been labeled “dirty”

  13. wb says:

    “FLOYD HASN”T DUCKED ANYBODY” – what about Cotto, Clottey, Margarito ? He is scared shit to take on Cotto, how much more the Pacman who beat the shit out of these three.

    Pacman is now taking out his ego and agreed to do the test – why is Floyd still saying the Pac doesn’t want to take the test ? LOL. Floyd only wants easy fights.

    The Pac fought guys ALL bigger than him starting from DIAZ, DELAHOYA, HATTON, COTTO, CLOTTEY, MARGARITO AND MOSELY. Just imagine HOW BIG these guys are.

  14. InYourFace says:

    Before the Mayweather vs Ortiz fight started, it was Ortiz’s camp calling Mayweather a dirty fighter in which Floyd doesn’t have a history of. Then behold when the fight starts its Ortiz fighting dirty because Floyd was dominating him.

    The fight was the best fight iv’e seen in a years, packed with drama from beginning to the end. I loved it when Floyd finally hurled epithets and demeaned Larry Merchant after 10 plus years of Merchant demeaning Floyd Mayweather. The crescendo of Mayweather vs Ortiz will be remembered for quite sometime.

  15. InYourFace says:

    I hate preachers, they’re the most hypocritical being on earth. The dumb-assi-facation of America and individuals commenting on a sport they don’t know anything about. The ref said lets go and it was time to fight, not kiss and hug. Floyd punched Ortiz while Ortiz was looking at Floyd, the punch is a legal punch and the blame should be placed on Ortiz for being unprofessional from the first round to the fight ended, throwing elbows, rabbit punches and head butts. People don’t understand that they’re referees looking at both boxers outside of the ropes of the boxing ring, so if Mayweather did anything illegal he would have lost the fight-not won the fight.

    Floyd hasn’t ducked anybody but other fighters have ducked Floyd his entire career. Boxing is a business, so its all about the money when you become a fighter that people want to see fight. If the money not right, fighters don’t fight plain and simple. For the Floyd Mayweather detractors, go to youtube and search for Floyd Mayweather fights and let the record reflect, you will see some amazing boxing exhibitions with knockouts and dominance.

  16. THE TRUTH says:

    MUHAMMED ALI HAS BEEN AND ALWAYS WILL BE THE BEST FIGHTER WHO EVER LIVED. EVEN WITH HIS 5 LOSES BECAUSE HE GAVE IT HIS BEST AND SPOKE THE TRUTH ON EVERY TOPIC. FLOYD MAYWEATHER WILL NEVER BE IN THE TOP 10 OF ALL TIME. MUHAMMED ALI NEVER DUCKED ANYBODY AND DEFEATED 56 BOXERS WITH 37 KOS DURING A TIME OF OVERWHELMING RACISM BUT EVERYBODY LOVED HIM BECAUSE HE WAS A GREAT BOXER AND A GREATER PERSON. FLOYD YOU WILL BE BEATEN BY A T.K.O STOPPAGE WITHIN 1 YEAR AND WHEN YOU DO YOUR MONEY WILL DRY UP. AND WITHIN 10 YEARS YOU WILL BE ALONE LIVING IN ANOTHER STATE AND DRINKING HEAVILY. WHAT A SHAME. WE CAN ALL SEE YOUR INSECURITY EVERYTIME YOU GET LOUD OR FLASH MONEY AROUND BUT ITS ALL A MATTER OF TIME. THE CLOCK IS TICKING AND YOU SEE MANNY EVERYTIME YOU GO TO SLEEP AND HE IS THE 1ST THING YOU SEE WHEN YOU WAKE UP. THAT IS NOT A CHIP ON YOUR SHOULDER ITS A 147 LB FILIPINO NAMED “MANNY P4P CHAMPION PACQUIAO” AND YOU KNOW IT , THATS WHY YOU ARE CONSTANTLY TRYING TO PROVE YOURSELF. JUST KNOW THIS EVERYDAY THAT PASSES IS ONE MORE DAY CLOSER TO YOUR BOUT WITH THE P4P KING PACQUIAO WHO IS GOING TO PUT UP HIS DUKES UNTIL LARRY MERCHANT CONGRATS HIM FOR KICKING YOUR A–!

  17. THE TRUTH says:

    I Was a Floyd Mayweather fan until he took that cheap shot against Ortiz. i gave floyd the benefit of the doubt on everything outside boxing until he threw himself under the bus. I am now a Manny Pacman Pacquaio fan because he is the total opposite of Mayweather. Pacman is a straight laced gentleman who plays by the rules and conducts himself with great sportsmanship and not like a wino fighting over a 40 oz of old english like Floyd did. Floyd Cheated everyone out of $59.oo. (hey floyd you might be a millionaire but to the rest of us who scraped 59 usd to only get ripped off in this down economy is just not right. I just hope you choose to fight Manny Pacquiao and he drops you like a stone, you deserve to get beat down like clubber lang. GO MANNY in 2012 and beyond.I WILL NO LONGER BUY A GOLDEN BOY PPV EVENT AGAIN AS LONG AS I LIVE. I WILL ONLY BUY TOP RANK PPV EVENTS FROM NOW ON.

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