Floyd Mayweather is a 39 year old, undefeated, welterweight, and recently retired boxer. Conor McGregor is a 27 year old, 19-2, featherweight MMA fighter that is in his prime. Floyd is the most famous boxer in the world even after retirement because for some reason, nobody seems to believe that he is permanently retired despite reports. Ever since Rhonda Rousey got lost to Holly Holm in a knockout, it seems as if Conor McGregor has taken over as the face of MMA.
The way I see it, there are 4 major differences between Floyd Mayweather and Conor McGregor.
- Floyd is retired and Conor is in his prime.
- Floyd is a boxer and Conor is an MMA fighter
- Floyd is undefeated.
- Conor is liked and Floyd isn’t.
Conor is funny. The only people that don’t like him are his opponents and their fans and it is because he is funny. However, he is not just joking around all the time and making innocent jokes. He is making cocky, boisterous, and even highly disrespectful jokes. His humor is less comedian and more the most popular guy in school that knows how popular he is and brags about it in the most humorous way possible no matter who hurts in the process. Floyd isn’t that funny, but basically does the same thing that Conor does. Floyd goes into every fight declaring that he’s going to win, demanding that he gets the most money out of the fight (which he can do because people watch fights for him and not his opponent), and brags about how much money he makes afterwards by showing you what he does with the money. However, he is hated mostly because of this exact reason. The exact reason that Conor McGregor is liked. In sports like MMA and boxing, athletes tend to be cocky. As a matter of fact, in most individual sports, athletes tend to be overly confident. I guess that this has something to do with the fact that they have to believe in themselves more than anybody else because they have to achieve all the success on their own with no team to lean on. So when they do get the success, they have the mentality that nobody can tell them anything. However, specifically in boxing, the athletes take the self-righteousness to another level. They’re notorious for believing they’re unbeatable and letting the opponent know it. Muhammad Ali. Enough said. Floyd engages in this kind of big talk, too. But, if he said anything close to this, he would be all over the news. (watch until 3:23
This is one of the most racially insensitive things that I have ever heard an athlete say in my entire life. Yet, I haven’t heard anybody say anything about it yet and it’s not like he’s some unknown athlete. His ‘I can say whatever I want’ attitude along with his 19-2 pro record has gotten him to UFC stardom. His nickname is ‘notorious’ for a reason. However, I would suspect that alluding to colonialism of the Brazilian people in your trash talk would be considered crossing the line. People still love him, though.
This is a big reason why people don’t like Floyd Mayweather. It looks like all the evidence from every case that he has been involved in has resulted in him being convicted of domestic violence although he denies all of them. However, many of our athletes and entertainers aren’t perfect and success is usually what makes most of the general public forgive a certain act. For example, we will never forget that Tiger Woods cheated on his wife with 10+ women because he hasn’t played well since. However, Floyd has retired without a single loss on his record and people still don’t like him, so there’s more to it. This is another reason why most people don’t like him.
He shows off how much money he has constantly. He shows off his money and nice things he owns more than any rapper that I know and it’s not like he has ever gone broke after a big paycheck like many athletes do. He consistently has money coming in, consistently blows off the money, and shows everyone on social media. He is the villain in boxing. I said ‘is’ not ‘was’ because after retirement you still have people that want to see him lose and get beat up. Plus, he doesn’t have the comedic appeal of a Conor McGregor. However, him showing off is just him being a cocky fighter just like McGregor, so there has to be more to it.
In January, Floyd alluded to the fact that they were both cocky, but that Conor is liked because of it. Conor then responded by saying this. There are a lot of factors that make Floyd such an unlikable guy. However, on a purely boxing level, the one thing that everybody brings up is how cocky he is. I am not going to completely dismiss Floyd’s comments as ridiculous like a lot of people are, though. Floyd has never said anything as racist as what McGregor did to that Brazilian crowd. I am not excusing his domestic violence and nobody ever should, but let’s be real. When an athlete has success, people tend to forget about their past transgressions. History has shown this, but that has not been the case for Floyd who has won every match he has fought on the professional level. As there’s more speculation about a Conor McGregor-Floyd Mayweather fight that probably won’t happen, I’ve been thinking. What Floyd is talking about reminds me far too much about the backlash that Cam Newton was getting from a lot of people during the NFL season for celebrating his success and he has never even gotten into any legal trouble that we know of. I understand that there is a lot to not like (and envy) about Floyd Mayweather, but something just doesn’t feel right to me about the love that Conor McGregor gets and the hate that Floyd gets. The difference might be race related or it might not be. It might be because Floyd isn’t as funny when he’s being offensive as Conor. However, Floyd will be alright regardless.
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