As Floyd Mayweather Jnr’s 6 fight deal with Showtime edges closer to its conclusion and his retirements looms on the horizon after 3 more fights and one further calendar year in the sport, there is much debate about the legacies he will leave on the sport of boxing.
From the TBE (The Best Ever) debate to the merit and validity of his unbeaten record to his seeming reluctance to facing Manny Pacquiao, everyone has an opinion about the positive and negative legacies that Floyd Mayweather has bestowed upon boxing. There is almost a dichotomy of opinion about how he will be remembered in the annals of history. Many lay the blame at his door for how young boxers with bloated records avoid facing the best competition in order to protect their undefeated records, and insist that he must shoulder the burden of the boring and predictable match making that prevails in modern prizefighting. Furthermore, many more point to the fact that he is unwilling to face Manny Pacquiao, the other greatest fighter of his era, and say this alone makes a mockery of Floyd’s own claims that he is best fighter to ever lace up a pair of boxing gloves. However, there also exists a school of thought that reasons Floyd Mayweather’s roll call of amazing accomplishments already guarantees his place among the all the time greats regardless of whether he fights Manny Pacquiao or not.
Personally, I feel his reputation and legacy will tarnished forever unless he conquers his fears and faces Manny Pacquiao before he retires from the sport. Yet I also subscribe to the commonly held belief that he is an all time great fighter, though not in the top 10, he would definitely feature in the top 25 list of all time great fighters, along with Manny Pacquiao, of course.
However, forget Mayweather’s avoidance of Manny Pacquiao, the most negative and oft overlooked legacy he has bestowed on boxing is his ‘little brother’, Adrien Broner. To put it mildly, the 24 year old is a reprehensible human being, a boil on the backside of boxing. Each and every sentence that comes out his slimy little mouth just serves to sully the reputation of boxing even further. Such characters of ill repute like Broner belong in the gutter, preferably bloodied and battered. Yet thanks to the influence of his idol Floyd Mayweather, we must put up with his puerile presence and stomach churning personality. Mayweather made it possible for such cringe worthy personalities to reign supreme in the sport, and he marveled at the similarities between his younger self and his supposed heir apparent as Broner rose through the sport to claim world titles in three different weight classes by the time he was 24 years old. From boasting about his about his material wealth and blasting his opponents with arrogant and disrespectful put downs, to his ill fated attempt at replicating his hero’s fighting style Adrien Broner has done everything in his power to pretend that he is Floyd Mayweather’s heir apparent.
Yet in his delusions of grandeur, he failed to remember that the main reason Floyd Mayweather has risen to his elevated position in the sport is due to his hard work and dedication to his craft. Not only that, but Broner is also blind to the fact that Floyd Mayweather has a deep respect for himself and his opponents which is manifested by how he lives and breathes boxing, training religiously and fanatically for his fights, while simultaneously managing to perpetuate the illusion that he lives the playboy lifestyle. Mayweather said as much himself when he recently commented that Broner concentrates too much on making porn films and pursuing things like his rapping career as opposed to the path of sporting greatness. Instead of training his way to super stardom, Broner has tried to talk his way to the top, and as a result has been badly and brutally exposed.
Everyone can now separate the myth from the reality and it is plain that he is just a crudely rendered copy of his hero, who unlike Mayweather has no redeeming features whatsoever.
After his mauling at the heavy hands of Marcos Maidana it was clear for all to see, in painful clarity, that Adrien Broner was not the Messiah. Instead of the being supposed second coming of his idol Mayweather, Adrien Broner was exposed as nothing more than cheap imposter in borrowed robes who, when faced with one of danger men of the welterweight division, was like a little boy lost. He is nothing more than a dodgy market version of Mayweather; cheap, tacky and tasteless. Yet in his relentless quest to be all things Mayweather, he lacks his own identity and seems like a stranger in his skin, unsure of what his true fighting style actually is.
His self delusion was his downfall, yet his almost unconscionable arrogance knows no bounds and no sooner had he been given the beating of his life he was back to his normal cocky and nauseating self. This monster created by Mayweather is one the most negative legacies he will leave on the sport of boxing. However, Broner is on borrowed time, and his next savage beating is just around the corner, and hopefully his career is finished sooner than later and this embarrassing by product of Floyd Mayweather’s success is buried once and for all. He is a cancer of the sport, and professional prizefighting and boxing in general will be a far better place without his poisonous presence.
The sharks are circling and the scent of Broner’s blood is heavy in the nostrils of all the big name boxers in the welterweight divisions. Let us hope and pray that Broner, the big fish is released from his small pond into the talent deep Ocean of the 147lb division, where he will be ripped apart beyond all recognition, so that this negative legacy bestowed on boxing by Floyd Mayweather will finally be no more.
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BN24 Fans: Is Adrien Broner bad for boxing?
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A Procrastinator called Thief 