Floyd Mayweather and the death of boxing

Wells (If ya don't know, the guy in the middle in the logo, I'm on the left, and Andy is on the right, with a fish) wrote last week about the highest paid, most under performing athletes on Hammertime sports. Like a transformer changing from Mack truck to kickass intergalactic robot, this idea was the spark that got my wheels turning.

You just got analogy punched, also if you think of Optimus Prime as any other iteration than this one from the 80s, you're doing it wrong. By the way, does anything we write here get YOU thinking? We would love to hear about it. We envision Hammertime Sports as a sports based opinion community. Got something you want covered? Write a guest post or comment on one of articles! We (probably) won't make fun of you!

Topping the big money list was Floyd Mayweather, which seems unfathomable to me. Never has one athlete represented the death of his sport more than Mayweather (Though cases could be made for Barry Bonds and Lance Armstrong). Here are the reasons Floyd Mayweather is the last boxer you will ever know by name.

PAY-PER-VIEW

How many people even watch boxing anymore? My father in law will often wax poetic to me about the glory days of boxing. He talks about coming on a Friday to gather around the television and watch some epic fights. Fights where men equal parts elegance and brutality would pummel each other into swollen and crumpled lumps of flesh on the mat.

Now in my lifetime? I can't remember seeing a single boxing match I cared about. This was due in part to there being more interesting sports to watch, and having no interest to pay the $50 pay-per-view fee it costs to watch the best fighters. Think about if they did this in other sports. You only get to watch the Patriots play the Packers on Sunday if you pay $50 per event. You only get to watch Lebron highlights on Sportscenter if you agree to pay for a monthly sports package.

Were it not for the Rocky Movies, I'm not sure I would know what boxing is/care at all about it.

This entire post was, in fact, an elaborate excuse to post this clip. 

And this one

Can I have one more? Of course I can. 

Mayweather topping the list of sports earners last year for ONE fight tells you just how crooked boxing is. So Tom Brady can play through a 17 week regular season (soon to be 19) plus another four weeks of playoffs, taking hit after hit by guys who could use Floyd Mayweather as a toothpick, and he doesn't get the same kind of pay that Floyd gets for ONE FIGHT? Define a broken system.

HIS FIGHTING STYLE: 

Floyd Mayweather is an unapologeticly prolific defensive fighter. He's very quick, and is a master at moving his body in a way where he doesn't get hit much. He doesn't knock guys out, usually because he's too busy getting out of the way. Every Mayweather fight ever: His opponent gets frustrated/wear down, Floyd peppers them with little punches that score points and do little damage. Besides, you're trying to sell me the best fighter in the world if 5'8 and 140lbs? Nah.

 Now, the Big Show is a giant man, but somebody should really get Floyd a stool. 

Maybe Hollywood is part of the problem for me in boxing. Can you imagine the disappointment you would feel, having grown up on four iterations of Rocky (we don't count Rocky 5), and then watching Floyd Mayweather prance around the ring-not really punching or getting punched- for like 14 hours or however long boxing actually lasts? It's brutal man. I would rather watch Women's field hockey, I could at least ENJOY the fact that I don't understand what's going on and make a drinking game out of it.

THE EMERGENCE OF MIXED MARTIAL ARTS

This doesn't have to do with Mayweather exactly, but is an illustration of why asking people to pay for boxing is so ridiculous. I like MMA, though it has some of the same pay problems boxing does as well. Here's the difference though: take two boxers who are not-that-great and have them duke it out and its ugly and boring.  Take two MMA guys who don't know what they're doing (or better yet, one) and it's going to be brutal. Let average joe daddy issues throw an elbow and things get very interesting.

Plus you get moments like this one. I don't want to be anywhere NEAR one of these guys in a fight.

REFUSING TO FIGHT MANNY PACQUIAO 

It's been noted over the years that the two best boxers in the game right now are Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao. That these two guys are in the same weight class makes it all the more exciting. Except, that is, until you see that they've never fought. Probably will never fight. Floyd cries a lot about Pacquiao, he's too strong, too fast for it to be natural. So he refuses to fight unless there are ridiculous blood testing regulations that no one would agree to. Things like getting your blood drawn every day, including hours before the fight.

How is it possible that these two have never fought, and that they can impose their own rules on when they fight? Boxing is run through independent promoters who select fights for the boxers. There is no governing body that makes a schedule and says you have to fight that guy. Fighters choose fights based on the purse and title involved, and in Floyds case, who he can beat.

By the way there are so many titles now a days that they have lost all meaning. Pay enough money and somebody would probably GIVE you one

I'll go back to my NFL analogy. Say Bellichick wants to go for the quest of the perfect season, which was in the cards a few years ago. What if, instead of playing the Giants in the superbowl, he just decided not to because there was a chance his team could lose. But Hey! He's still undefeated!See the problem here? Being undefeated, as Floyd loves to claim, is irrelevant when you don't fight the only guy who matters.

Up next for the champ Floyd 'Did-I-Mention-He-Just-Got-Out-Of-Jail-For-Hitting-His-Wife' Mayweather, for ONLY $50 to watch on your television (in addition to what you pay for cable), is a terror of the toddler boxing league, Jimmy 'Iron Fists' Lebowitz! Can the Champ remain undefeated! Tune in to find out! 

And the thing that gets me about Mayweather is he seems to be either enjoying or unaware of his sports impending demise. It's like every new rapper you've never heard of who comes out with a song about how great they are. Truth is we know you're not, and pretty soon we'll forget about you all together.

OK, so maybe this isn't connected in any way to Rocky or this blog post. But here's four minutes of Tony Jaa shattering people's elbows in The Protector, one of my favorite kung-fu movies of all time. You're welcome.