It’s been a long time since Floyd Mayweather was 23, but I think
it’s safe to say he wasn’t the kind of puncher to attract the 1.5 million
viewers that tuned in to see Adrien Broner last weekend. I do remember an ill-fated
stab at repackaging Boxing for the “Hip Hop Generation” called KO Nation back
in 2000 that fell flat despite a “then” Emanuel Burton actually giving Floyd
his toughest fight to date. Back then Floyd was only known to the Boxing heads
and insiders despite winning his first belt 16 fights in against a much more
respected foe than Antonio Demarco. By the time he started receiving the
treatment Adrien Broner is getting from ESPN he was pushing 30; which lent an
authenticity to his unlikeability-he was pissed off because he was finally in the money. For the last week
we’ve seen and heard Adrien Broner everywhere and he’s promising he too will be
in the big money category, not because he’s a great young talent, nor because there’s
a big named Mexican rival out there, but because Floyd (his mentor) told him
so. Well that’s real nice of him to promise the kid that the financial
realities of the business that he exploited will still be there if he would just
use the “how to become rich and unlikable in Boxing” template he designed , but
it aint that easy.
Boxing is different, this isn’t like LeBron and Kobe benefiting
financially from the marketplace created by Michael Jordan- each fighter is a
unique case and subject to the landscape and timing. Just watching the
Lightweight Champion do the media rounds I can tell he isn’t the personality
that Floyd was, he’s a lot younger and not as compelling a subject. He tries too
hard to come off as the next Floyd; something he should know isn’t respected no
matter how polarizing the original article was during his career. He’s much
more offensive than Floyd and even told him he’d have kicked his ass (when
Floyd was 23) but when asked about the possibility of doing it in real life he demurs-
and this could cost him millions. Boxing is a blood sport, and one of the
oldest traditions is the old being eaten by the young-because that is the way
nature intended it to be. There are no sacred cows, and you can’t be a young
Lion, see that old Lion sitting on the hill with all of the food and let him
get away. Watching this dynamic play out is unsettling to me because Broner won’t
be what he thinks he’s going to be without Mayweathers head on his mantle, and
Mayweather is shrewd enough to know it.
It’s the worst kept secret in Boxing, even Max Kellerman gets
asked in the street if Broner will fight Floyd but “The Problem” is too caught
up in idol worship to take any talk of this seriously. Sugar Ray Robinson is
the greatest fighter to draw breath, you can stack Broner on top of Mayweather
and still not equal him, but even he was young once-his idol was Henry
Armstrong. He loved “Hurricane Hank” so much that he beat Fritzie Zivic to
avenge his idol; he stated as much in every account of his young career. Boxing
in the 1940’s was run differently than it is now, and Armstrong needed the
money, so soon after beating Zivic for his “idol” Robinson beat the man he
wanted to be like. Adrien Broner loves Floyd no more than Larry Holmes loved
Muhammad Ali, the only difference is Larry was a mature family man with
priorities-he loved his wife and newborn daughter more than his former boss.
Rocky Marciano cried after knocking Joe Louis through the ropes but he was told
the public wouldn’t accept him if he did not desecrate the sacred cow. It was
cruel, but Boxing is cruel, if friendships “mattered” ask Floyd if he would
switch places with Zab Judah-a friend who he meticulously exposed as a mentally
fragile frontrunner back in 2006. A much better question for Broner to ask
himself is: what would happen if he was a 36 year old “Money” Broner and Floyd
Mayweather was a young lion?
Given Broner just signed a 30 month, 6 fight deal with Showtime,
a deal that may get into the 250 Million dollar “sphere” Mayweather would tell
everyone the old man isn’t worth that kind of money. Mayweather would also
point out “correctly” that old man Broner won’t finish that deal, and the only
way he could is to fight a bum after Guerrero and a bum after Alvarez. Floyd
would tell everyone Adrien is like a Big Brother to him but he’s no longer a “Problem”
that it’s time for him to step up and fight the REAL best fighter in the world.
Broner could try to ignore him, but Floyd would only persist; “if he loved me,
he’d give me an opportunity to feed my family”. If the bigger Broner said he
was too big for the kid brother Mayweather wouldn’t be fazed, remember
Mayweather and Broner are closer in size and more conceivable that Floyd and
Oscar were back in 2007. Even Floyds own father thought he was too small for a
De La Hoya who was younger than Floyd is today. Floyd would crash Broner's
press conferences as he did when Acelino Freitas and Joel Casamayor faught back
in 2002 and he would tell the world all of the things Broner hinted at during
his media blitz last week. When Floyd was a Problem he even told Prince Naseem
Hamed he’d go to Featherweight to beat him, all for the almighty dollar- and we
knew then he was the real deal.
Mentorship, appreciation from an older champion towards a
phenom in his division or vicinity is a sham- a psychological layer to keep that
younger lion from putting the older fighter on notice. I knew Andre Ward was “the
goods” before the Super 6 Tourney ended, but I really knew he was special when
Bernard Hopkins “endorsed” him and claimed he wouldn’t fight him because he
liked him too much. Right, you can ruin a young, flat footed Kelly
Pavlik with no problem but a man who made his bones being an iconoclast wouldn’t
want to touch a church boy with a Gold Medal around his neck?. How convenient.
Hopkins knew; and he used Boxing’s current political state to avoid the natural
process of the young stud letting you know your time is up- so Chad Dawson took
the beating. Adrien Broner is not guaranteed riches that equal his talent,
Floyd Mayweather knew this and lived it-would he be what he is today had he not
caught De La Hoya going out the door?. There’s no guarantee a cash cow of
Floyds magnitude will magically be there when Broner is 27 and in case he needs
a little Boxing history… most of them ride in on the back of the previous cash
cow.
This kid has 30 months or less to become what he will become
or he may be looking at Super Fights with the likes of Lucas Matthysse and
Danny Garcia. Floyd Mayweather is a master of the psyche job; he isn’t going to
just come to Broner because he knows what the kid can do-Broner’s going to have
to make himself a problem to ignore. That’s how Floyd became a legend, the
highest paid athlete in sports and a role model for Adrien Broner, “making it
happen”. The Showtime deal has stipulations, and Broner should be putting out
feelers to see if he can get on one of the undercards to showcase himself as a superior
product. HBO won’t mind loaning him out, nor be sensitive to the friendship;
they have the younger guy so they would love to do business with Showtime as
they did when Lennox Lewis ended the Mike Tyson/Showtime farce. It’s dirty,
messy, uncomfortable shit, but Boxing is that kind of business- Broner being a
veteran of the streets should know this by now. He just may have to do something
that he really don’t want to do for money, but it beats what he was doing
before and it will be more money than he’s ever seen-besides Floyd would do the
same damned thing.
“I hate when people say I only fight for money, of course I do!
that’s why they call it Prizefighting you stupid mothafucka” Floyd Mayweather
