Floyd Mayweather Jr.: "Pretty Boy," "Money," "Cockbag."

Million Dollar Baby

Add another moniker to one of the world's best boxer's name: Floyd "Cockbag" Mayweather.

There are two reasons for the name change, and the first stems from last Saturday's bout with Victor Ortiz. Mayweather ended up taking Ortiz' WBC welter weight belt in that match, but that's hardly what made the headlines.

Nearing the end of the fourth round, the fight that had been scored two rounds to one in favor of Mayweather on unofficial scorecards, Ortiz resorted to underhanded tactics and tried for a lunging headbutt on Mayweather. There's no doubt this is dirty boxing, and maybe Ortiz deserves cockback status of his own. But hear me out.

The referee, Joe Cortez, then stopped action to take a point deduction of Ortiz. During this time, Ortiz tried apologizing and appears to try to kiss Mayweather on the cheek. Mayweather would have nothing of it and I don't blame him. This is boxing, not a kissing contest.

Larry Mechant's kid??

But here's where things really turn south. Usually, after deducting a point the ref will address the score table and then ask the fighters to touch gloves and resume, keeping his full attention on the fighters. What appeared to happen Saturday night was that Cortez resumed the fight, and then, almost as if he forgot to tell the score table something, he turned away from the fighters to say something.

That gave Mayweahter a sneaky opening. He landed two undefended shots: one that seemed to be more testing the waters and the next meant for knockout. And that's what he got. There was enough confusion that many spectators didn't know the fight was back on. Ortiz certainly didn't.

Mayweather is right when he says that the first rule of boxing is to protect yourself at all times. Even if you don't follow boxing but have seen "Million Dollar Baby" you would know this.

But given Ortiz's actions earlier - the lunging headbutt, the attempted kiss - many would say it's justified. OK, let's assume it is and one cockbag behavior cancels out the other, what's to be made of what happened next?

In the post fight interview, 80-year-old boxing commentator Larry Merchant began to ask Mayweather about the controversial punch. To which Mayweather responded, "You never give me a fair shake. HBO needs to fire you. You don't know shit about boxing. You ain't shit"

The 80-year-old Merchant replied, "I wish I was 50 years younger and I'd kick your ass." Merchant responded.

 

Highly entertaining, to be sure. But this is the first lesson Mayweather never learned. Being champ has as much to do with your behavior out of the ring as in it. And his behavior was deplorable.

El Cockbag

The second reason is the one all boxing fans could probably see coming.

No one can stand toe to toe with Floyd Mayweather Jr., except for one man: Manny "Pac-Man" Pacquiao. And no one can stand toe to toe against Manny Pacquiao, except for Floyd Mayweather. They are both referred to as the pound-for-pound best fighters in the world. Yet for more than two years, they have pussy-footed around the possibility of fighting each other. They have reasons. Oh, they have reasons. But none of those reasons outweigh the potential this fight has for their legacies and for boxing. I'm not one of those "you owe it to the fans" fans. They don't owe us shit. But if they want their legacies cemented in stone, it's the fight they have to make happen. And now, not when they are geriatric. The winner of that fight would be heralded in the history of boxing, up there with names that will never be forgotten: Muhammad Ali, Joe Frazier, Sugar Ray Robinson, Sugar Ray Leonard, Joe Louis, Rocky Marciano and on and on.

But this is why Mayweather is a cockbag. He has become so enamored with the idea of his own legacy that he took a cheap shot against a much, much lesser opponent in order to protect it. He's also found ways to make sure he doesn't take a fight with the only person that can beat him. Mayweather's 42-0 perfect record is impressive, but being perfect isn't what made Ali "The Greatest." Ali lost plenty of times. Being the greatest means taking the fight that you may lose. It's questionable whether Mayweather has the balls to stand in the ring with Pacquiao. If he did, that fight would be in the works right now. But it's not..

-Wes

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