It's been less than 48 hours, but I miss the old days, when it was so much easier to call Floyd Mayweather a pussy who ducks tough fights. There's still lots to dislike and even hate about the guy, but after the schooling he gave Shane Mosley on Saturday, there's a little more to like and respect.
It was that second round man, when Mosley speared that motherfucker with right hands. One to the mouth, the other to the ear. Had dude's knees shaking, had him stumbling aound Ellerbe Street. It was the peak of my vitriol for Floyd. I was literally screaming for blood. The smell of Kai's fear wasn't lost on me. Probably because the shit in his pants was so sharp-smelling. Fact is, Floyd didn't crumble. He spit fireballs just like Nazim Richardson predicted. Lead lefts, his own right hands countering Shane's flailing. Moving to his right to fuck with Shane's range and take away his only weapon.
I'm not a full convert. He'll likely never be my favourite fighter, but I respect Floyd about 30% more. It has a lot to do with him getting rocked. "Ain't nothing cool about what happened in the second round," Floyd said. Actually, that was fucking cool. Sure call me bloodthirsrty, say I'm no different than the romans cheering Maximus to cut down his foe. But that's a less elegant reading than the idea that I like boxing for the same reason I like Die Hard and Batman: I like heroism. I like when guys fuck up, get hurt, and overcome that shit. And Floyd overcame. Guy had to actually go uphill for once.
Here's another way to put it: he's got a little Pac in him (nh). Maybe Pac's advantages of heart and spirit aren't as decisive as people think. The dichotomy we've set up between Pac and Floyd (Asia versus Black America, Dan HIll versus 50 Cent) looks a little simplistic right now. The overlapping in the Venn Diagram a little more pronounced. Fact is, Shane is 38 years old. He has a lot of physicality left, but he's nowhere near as strong of will as Manny and Floyd are right now. Those guys, over the last half decade, have been juggernauts. Not only are they rolling, they're peaking. Try to tell them that they've lost a step and they'll fuck you up. They can't be broken right now, the way Shane was.
Floyd says that boxing is about hitting and not getting hit. Well, I prefer hitting and getting hit, at least once in a while. Pac's willing to stick his chin out. You could label me a sadist, but that doesn't really make sense when the discourse is boxing. People who like boxing like violence, a priori. In fact, we pay money for violence. The fighters make money from the fans. Therefore, fighters owe the fans a certain amount of violence. What's a "certain" amount when a PPV cost about 60 bucks? Well, I don't know exactly, but I know that the returns that Manny gives us always comes back with interest. Dude sticks his chin out on purpose. Floyd, on the other hand, has been in debt to me the last few years. This Saturday was different, though, and for one night "Money" actually paid out.
That is the easily the most grudging concession speech I've ever heard! You are the John McCain of boxing fans...