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45 Laws Of Perfection

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Floyd “Money” Mayweather Defeats Saul “Canelo” Alvarez by Majority Decision and Remains Undefeted While Maintaining A Perfect Record of 45 Wins and 0 Losses 

45 Laws Of Perfection

by NORRIN RADDICAL 

MGM Grand Casino, Las Vegas Nevada – Boxing mega-superstar Floyd “Money” Mayweather, put his perfect unblemished 44-0 professional record and WBA super-welterweight title on the line this past weekend (September 14 2013), against fellow undefeated (42-0-1) and WBC junior middleweight champion, Mexican sensation, Saul “Canelo” Alvarez at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas.

Once again the reigning pound-for-pound best boxer in the world proved his valor, validated his merit, and continued to cement his legacy as one of the true all time greats of the sport, as Mayweather (now 45-0) , well-nigh flawlessly boxed his way to a majority decision victory over a 14 year younger and considerably bigger Alvarez (now 42-1-1). Boxings self-proclaimed “bad-guy”, renowned for his defensive brilliance in the ring, more often than not, stood toe-to-toe in the middle of the squared circle with Alvarez (who outweighed Mayweather by 15 pounds on fight night, 165lbs.-150lbs. respectively), delivering a high-octane arsenal of dexterous blows and combinations from rounds 1 – 12, including straight right hands, a variation on the straight right, the right hook, and the most important punch in boxing, a left jab, that at times was executed with such intensive veracity, that it appeared to be more of a javelin piercing through Alvarez’s attempts at defense, rather than a punch. Alvarez’s offensive endeavors didnt fair much better, as Mayweather in his classic “philly-shell/shoulder-roll” posture, (boxing stance where a fighter holds his lead hand, -left hand for orthodox, right hand for southpaws-, across his upper abdomen or sternum, while holding the other hand -power hand- high and close to side of the head for guard while tucking the chin in behind the lead shoulder, a position utilized for years by many great boxers throughout the decades, but popularized, familiarized and refined by the Mayweather family boxing style), eluded, blocked and deflected nearly all of Alvarez’s blows, causing the young champion to throw a high volume of air-shots, missing his opponent completely, or at best, connecting with Mayweathers elbows, but rarely if ever landing a glove on any vital areas, such as Mayweathers chin or torso. Contrary to the pre-fight prognostications of many fans and so-called experts alike, it was Mayweather and not Alvarez, who was the aggressive stalker during the bout, routinely walking-down the bigger man, before tatooing him with blisteringly accurate combinations of jabs, lead right hands and uppercuts, that at times sent Alvarez’s notable red-headed mane skyward, towards the lights of the MGM Grand. Ironically, Alvarez found himself playing the mongoose to Mayweathers swift, venomous cobraesque strikes, even resorting to possum cajolery, ala Ali-Foreman, by laying on the ropes and enticing Mayweather to come over and pummel him, with the hopes that Mayweather would become careless and possibly even tire himself out, leaving himself vulnerable for a big counter shot to be landed on the chin by Alvarez. However, unlike the Rumble in the Jungle, there was no dope to rope, as Mayweather inerrantly employed his greatest, though perhaps least appreciated, pugilistic tool, one that even suprasses his advanced technical prowess of jabs, right hands, defense and footwork. That invaluable asset being, his ring IQ. Mayweathers combat intelligence and ability to mentally adjust in nano-seconds to the efforts of his opposition, conflated with a natural genetic aptitude for boxing and 17 years of consistent championship experience (making Mayweather the longest reigning champion in the history of boxing), is what has converged to make him unequivocally the best boxer of his generation and arguably the best of all time. While Alvarez tried laying on the ropes in hope of baiting Mayweather into a trap, Mayweather simply continued to box from the outside, peppering Alvarez with combinations from a comfortable distance, eventually turning the tables and luring Alvarez back to the center of the squared circle, where Mayweather went back to work in typical surgical fashion, dissecting with offensive precision and neutralizing all of Alvarez’s efforts with inimitable defense, despite the frequent, and subsequently waning, outbursts of “Ca-ne-lo…Ca-ne-lo…Ca-ne-lo” from the large Mexican turn-out at the MGM, for support of their young champion on this Mexican Independence Day weekend.

Although the final number of pay-per-view buys for the Mayweather-“Canelo” Alvarez mega-fight dubbed “The One”, have yet to be officially calculated, it was already known that the record for gate revenue was already set by the Mayweather-Alvarez bout, as well as on Mexican Televisa, with 22 million viewers in 6 million households, a new all time high and record was set for boxing viewership in Mexico. While the 23 year-old Mexican, former champion, is reported to earn in the neighborhood of $10 million for his courageous efforts, Mayweathers purse guarantee of $41.5 million, will be significantly augmented by his position as co-promoter of the mega-event (another Mayweather Promotions and Golden Boy Promotions joint venture, as has been the case for Mayweathers last 8 bouts), with figures of somewhere between $80 – $100 million being estimated for Mayweathers total earnings after all revenues for the event are tallied up.

Conspicuous by his absence, was Mayweathers co-promoter himself, Golden Boy Promotions founder and former boxing world champion and U.S. Olympic gold medalist, Oscar De La Hoya, who in the week leading up to the star-studded fight, checked himself into rehab for substance abuse. As humans, none are immune to the vices of a society in which one exists, so there can be little if any criticism leveled towards De La Hoya in his efforts and pursuit to manage and heal his addictions (with which we all hope for his healthy and timely recovery), however the timing of De La Hoyas decision to enter rehab has garnered a few justifiable head scratches and raised eyebrows. While De La Hoya has adopted and embraced Alvarez as his personal protégé’, one has to wonder how or why someone decides, of all times, to not be present on your prized apprentices coming out party onto the grand stage. Would De La Hoyas attendance have altered the outcome of the fight. No, not at all. After all its not like he could get in the ring and fight for Alvarez, (by the way De La Hoya lost to Mayweather via split decision, in the previously highest grossing fight and pay-per-view event of all time back in 2007), but still, the absence of his mentor, could not have been a welcomed turn of events for Canelo.

In one last somewhat bizarre occurrence, (well, maybe bizarre, if it wasnt the sport of boxing), in a fight that was nearly plenarily perceived to be a shut-out pitched by Mayweather, by all viewers, on-lookers and spectators, even by the most ardent, tribal Mexican supporters of Alvarez in attendance at the MGM, the scorecards, however, did not and failed to, reflect that same ubiquity of perception. Judges scorecards for the bout read, 117-111, 116-112 and the totally bewildering, inexplicable score of 114-114, being tantamount to a draw, having to have had scored an equal number of rounds for each fighter (even the score of 116-112 by the standards of most boxing purists and pundits, was itself a score that was much too close to be accurately indicative of the action that took place in the ring, as many found it difficult to score even a single round in Alvarez’s favor and had the score a literal shutout of 120-108, all 12 rounds for Mayweather). The judge who scored the fight 114-114, effectively and in stark, diametric, counterintuitive opposition to all things visible and, or rational, was Cynthia “C.J.” Ross, who by the way, also was a judge in last years controversial, upset victory of Timothy “Desert Storm” Bradley over Manny “Pac-Man” Paquiao, in which she scored that match 115-113 in favor of Tim Bradley. Less than a week after the fight, following the backlash of harsh (and well deserved) criticism for her incompetence, ineptitude and spurious performance as a judge for a professional prize fight of this magnitude, Ross has summarily and officially taken an indefinite leave of absence from the sport of boxing and her duties as a professional boxing judge, according to the Nevada State Athletic Commission. Lets all hope, just as in the case of Floyd Mayweathers greatness in the ring, she remains consistent in her decision.

The Closing of ½ of Boxings “Iron Curtain”

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Vitali Klitschko  (45-2 41KO), retired world heavyweight champion,current Ukranian poliitical figure,

versus Lennox Lewis (41-2-1 32KO) June,21 2003 @ Staples Center, Los Angeles, for WBC, IBO RING, world heavyweight titles.

The Closing of ½ of Boxings “Iron Curtain”

by NORRIN RADDICAL 

After nearly two decades atop arguably boxings most prestigious and heralded weight-class, WBC, WBO and Ring Magazine heavyweight champion, Vitali Klitschko (45-2 41KO), has decided to step down, in pursuit of higher political aspirations in his native Ukraine. “Doctor Ironfist”, along with his younger brother, IBF, WBO, IBO, WBA Super and The Ring world heavyweight champion, Wladimir Klitschko (61-3 51KO), have combined to record one of the longest and most pronounced reigns ever established in the heavyweight division, (being both the 8th and 2nd, longest reigning heavyweight champions of all-time, respectively), and are undeniably the most successful sibling tandem in the history of the sweet science.

The elder Klitschko began his historic rise to heavyweight prominence, after initially competing as an amateur and professional European kickboxer during the early and mid 90’s, before turning professional pugilist in 1996, winning his first 24 bouts by KO and TKO, and subsequently capturing his first professional title, the WBO Heavyweight crown, in his 25th pro fight from the U.K.’s Herbie Hide by way of 2nd round KO, on June 26, 1999. After improving his record to an impressive 27-0, with 27 KO’s, Klitschko faced, in his third title defense, American heavyweight Chris Byrd in April of 2000. Suffering a torn rotator-cuff in his left shoulder, Klitschko relinquished the fight, throwing in the towel at the end of the 9th round, despite being ahead on all three judges official scorecards, giving him his first professional defeat. Klitschko, however, remained a force to be reckoned with within the heavyweight division, as he collected five more consecutive victories, setting up a showdown with WBC Heavweight champion Lennox Lewis in June 2003. During the match Klitschko, who was frequently beating the champion Lewis to the punch, by way of punch volume and landing the harder more telling blows, found himself ahead on all three judges scorecards, 4 rounds to 2. Never the less, due to a cut above Klistchkos’ left eye, opened up by a big right hand from Lewis in the 3rd round, the bout was stopped by referee Lou Moret, after the gash was determined to be severe enough to potentially cause permanent damage by the ringside doctor. Klitschko would go on to regain his position as heavyweight champion, by stopping South African born, Corrie Sanders in the 8th round of their April 2004 bout, winning the WBC and Ring titles vacated by Lewis after his retirement from the sport earlier that year, and also avenging the loss of the younger Wladimir, who had been previously stopped by Sanders. Klitschko continued to defend his title, until November 2005, in which he suffered a severed ligament to his right knee during sparring. Klitschko retired, to undergo extensive surgery and allow the injury to heal, in which time the WBC bestowed upon him the title of “champion emritus” for the first time. Klitschko would return to activity within the squared circle, in 2007, and eventually, again, for the third time in his career, capture the heavyweight title, from then current WBC champion Samuel Peter, by way of 8th round stoppage.

Klitschko would subsequently continue to successfully defend his heavyweight title, putting together a series of comprhensive victories over the next half decade, until his announcement of retirement, for the second time in his career, this past December of 2013. During his first hiatus from the ring, in 2005, Klitschko became heavily entwined within the political landscape of his homeland of the Ukraine, running for the office of Mayor of Kiev in 2006. Despite ultimately losing the election, as he’d done during his professonal boxing career, Klitschko persevered, undeterred by defeat, and was eventually elected in the following years, as a member of the City Council, as his political party leader, and into the Ukranian Parliament in 2012. Now planning his candidacy to run for the Ukrainian presidency, the boxing world observes what is most likely the culmination of 1/2 of one of the heavyweight divisions most unilateral reigns in the hisory of the sport.

Although indusputable in their conflated, statistical preeminence as heavyweight champions, the “Klitschko era” has been rife with criticism, mainly based on what many have considered a very dull, lackluster, robotic fighting style and lack of suitably competetive opposition during their tenure (Vitali also admitted to banned steroid use during the onset of his career). Although these assessments can’t be totally discounted, equally it should be taken into account, the effective profeciency with which the Klitschko brothers executed the fundamentals of boxing, as well as playing a significant,if not crucial and direct role, in the emergence of many of todays eastern European boxing notables, including, fellow Ukranian, featherweight prospect Vasyl Lomachenko, light-welterweight champion and welterweight contender, Russian born Ruslan Provodnikov, and WBA and IBO middleweight champion Genady “GGG” Golovkin of Kazakhstan. All the more symbollically appropriate when considering that the Klitschkos’ entered into boxings’ professional ranks during the decade following the collapse of the Berlin Wall and the ensuing dissolution of the former Soviet Union.

Now, being named for the second time in his career, as “champion emeritus” by WBC president Jose Sulaiman, it will be intersting to see if Klitschko will, at some point in the near future, again answer the call of the bell, returning to the lure of the ring, in an attempt to become only the second fighter in history to capture the heavyweight title for a fourth time, (Evander “Real Deal” Holyfield being the only other boxer in history to accomplish this feat). Or will Vitali continue to pursue his aspirations in a different, though not entirely dissimilar, kind of squared circle, the arena of government, trading in the fundamentals and elements of the sweet science, for the policies and strategems of political “science”, and in the process, making room for a new generation of heavyweights to usher in the next era.

“Mein Kampf “Mayweather

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“Mein Kampf “Mayweather

by NORRIN RADDICAL 

Attention. Warning and beware to the following individuals: Eddy Reynoso, Raushee Warren, Paulie Malanaggi, Joel Diaz, Jermell and Jermall Charlo, Virgil Hunter, Andre Ward, Adrien Broner, Nazim Richardson; and any other elite boxer or trainer that has compared themselves to or has praised or expressed due credit to the pugilistic prowess of undefeated number one reigning pound-for-pound king of boxing, Floyd “Money” Mayweather, because, according to Bob Arum, president of Top Rank Promotions, they have effectively compared themselves to the infamous 20th century WW2 antagonist, warmonger, mass murdering, genocidal, German dictator, nazi executive, Mein Kampf author, social propaganda enthusiast, Adolf Hitler.

Bob Arum (L;) and multi-divisional champion, pound-for-pound #1 boxer in the world, Floyd “Money” Mayweather  (R;) , during somewhat less volatile and more hospitable times.

For all those audaciously intelligent and rational enough to contemplate the sheer absurdity of comparing a super-star, African-American boxer, (who happens to currently be the worlds highest paid athlete), with historys most notoriously psychopathic, pathological, misanthrope, whose name is synonymous with every degenerate and defecient characteristic description attributed and appplicable to mankind, then one has only to peer into the not so distant past, for a sustained dose of risibly shocking suppositions, whereas, this isnt the first, and comically, probably not the last time, that asymetrical, incongruent parallels have been drawn on an imbalanced plane of distorted disinformation by Arum, towards his quondam signee, current all-time great, and future hall of famer, Mayweather. The satirical irony of a promoter referring to a boxer as Hitler, considering the documented historical relationship between the two roles, should not be ignored or overlooked, with the traditional dynamic being, the promoter, as the one exhibiting the more totalitarian, despot traits, routinely hoarding the lions share of the profits, while the fighter, who has just literally risked their life in competitive ring combat, earns only a proportionately small percentage of the overall generated income from the event.

The public rift between erstwhile promoter, Arum, and star prized -fighter Mayweather, seems to have begun to surface around 2005 and 2006, between Mayweathers now classic championship clashes with the late Arturo Gatti (6.25.05) and Zab “Super” Judah (4.08.06), with Mayweather citing, Arum and Top Rank, as owing him millions in unpaid revenue and income for the two bouts combined, and eventually choosing to excersise his contractual buy-out option of $750K, to release himself from the services of Top Rank. It was within this time-frame that there appeared to be a mounting effort on the part of Arum to discredit Mayweather, by publicly challenging his heart and courage as a champion. Arum accused Mayweather of avoiding then, “most feared” welterweight in boxing, former WBO champion Antonio Margarito, whom Mayweather was offered $8 million to face by Arum, however instead, chose to meet with WBC champ Carlos Baldomir for a $12 million  payday (11.04.06), Mayweathers highest fight purse to date at that time. Both fighters, Margarito and Baldomir, boasted strong buzzes and plenty of momentum at the time, being Ring Magazines #1 and #2 ranked welterweights in 2006 respectively. Each man, being naturally bigger and perceived as physically stronger than Mayweather, with similar aggressive, come-forward, pressure styles of fighting, offered up intriguing match ups for the pound-for-pound “Pretty Boy” on paper, however, with Baldomir recently coming off of an upset victory over past Mayweather foe Judah, and a dominating TKO stoppage of Gatti, as well as being the WBC lineal champion (the WBC strapholder generally being recognized as the “legitimate” champion of the division), also factoring in a $4 million pay difference, Mayweather made the decision that made the most sense, not to mention the most “cents”, and went on to defeat Baldomir (04.11.06) by way of a lopsided unanimous decision in their bout.

A couple of years later, moments before his 2009 title fight against then WBA champion “Sugar” Shane Mosley (1.24.09), Mosley trainer and head cornerman Nazim Richardson, discovered illegal “plaster” in Margaritos handwraps. Margarito went on to lose the bout with Mosley, by way of 9th round KO, and was subsequently suspended, receiving a one-year ban from boxing, and also garnering naturally reasonable suspicion of identical wrongdoing in his TKO victory against Miguel Cotto several months earlier in 2008 (7.26.08). It can be said, without much cynicism, that Mayweather literally dodged a potential “brick” by choosing the more worthy opponent for the higher pay. Being this as it were, the controversy over, “foreign objects”, whos duckin’ who, and banned substances, would only continue to escalate between Arum and Mayweather.

In 2007 Mayweather landed what was the biggest fight available in boxing at the time, a confrontation with “Golden Boy” Oscar De La Hoya. Back in 2001, De La Hoya, also formerly promoted by Arum, left Top Rank, filing and winning a lawsuit against Arum, and starting his own company, what has now become the biggest and most succesful promotional enterprise in boxing, Golden Boy Promotions. In his lawsuit DeLa Hoya claimed Arum intentionally attempted to trammel his career, accusations not dissimilar to those made by Mayweather during the time that he and De la Hoya were both promoted by top rank, and Mayweather ardently petitioned to Arum for a fight between he and De la Hoya. Arum spurned the young champions appeals, by dismissing Mayweathers request for a $20 million fight purse, as being unrealistic and outside of feasibility. Despite Arums faithless skepticism, when the two did eventually meet in 2007 (05.05.07), not only did Mayweather earn over $25 million for his split decision victory over De la Hoya, consequently catapulting himself into mainstream mega-stardom and solidifying his postition as boxings undisputed #1 cash cow, but the event also broke all previous pay-per-view and live gate revenue records previously set by the Tyson-Holyfield II heavyweight rematch back in 1997.

Most keen and HONEST observers, would view this as being the central crux of the Arum-Mayweather contretemps. The fact that two of his ex-clients, each of whom, Arum has been accused of deliberately attempting to hamper their star-potentials, as well as, on numerous occassions, has opined, less than complimentary remarks pertaining to each fighters intelligence and aptitude outside the ring, each, had begun to, and have now, exceeded him in both profitability and promotional prestige.

During Mayweathers breif hiatus from the sport, after his memorable 2007, 10-round KO conquest of then undefeated Ricky Hatton (08.12.07), up until his ring return against Juan Manuel Marquez in 2009 (09.19.2009), another Top Rank poromoted fighter rose to public prominence, eight-division champion, Phillipino boxing icon, Manny “Pac-Man” Pacquiao. In similar fashion to Margarito, but more pugnaciously done, Arum managed to almost inextricably attatch Pacquiaos name to Mayweathers, as the newest and latest “duckee”, to whom Mayweather was purportedly hiding from. These allegations, no doubt, played a pivotal part in Mayweathers choice of Marquez as his opponent upon his return to the squared circle, as Marquez at the time, already had two previous controversial, toe-to-toe, tooth and nail, bloody, no-holds-barred-wars, with Pacquiao. The first being scored a draw (05.08.04), the latter (4 years later,03.15.08), a  razor thin split decision win for Pacquiao by only a one point margin. Mayweather on the other hand, seemed to barely even break a sweat during his bout with Marquez, easily outboxing the Mexican legend, after a nearly two-year layoff, with a 12 round unanimous decision shutout. This should’ve lead to, what every boxing fan erroneously assumed would be, an inevitable showdown with Pacquiao. Negotiations for the mega-fight commenced in late 2009, and the event was scheduled for March 2010, with Mayweather honoring his half of the agreement, by signing his portion of the contract for the fight. Top Rank and team Pacquaio, on the other hand, had an overwhelmingly demonstrable issue with one particular stipulation. Olympic style random blood and urine drug testing became the ultimate insurmountable point of contention. The fact that it was the sole ancillary stipulation requested by Mayweather, while Top Rank and Pacquiao were allowed to choose glove and ring size, as well as include a weight contingency clause in the contract, requiring Mayweather to pay an additional $10 million per pound, if he were to come in over the welterweight 147 pound weight limit, ($10 million a pound!!!), all to which Mayweather readily agreed, not withstanding, even with a commendable good faith, time-concession, offered in the spirit of compromise, which would’ve allowed Pacquiao to be randomly tested no later than two weeks prior to the fight, any and all drug testing methodology stricter than those required by the Nevada State Athletic Commitee (NSAC), as provided by the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA), was at that time, totally unacceptable to team Pacquaio and Arum, who remained intransigent in their position. Declaring everything from superstition, to Pacquiaos potential physical depletion if small amounts of blood were to be drawn within 30 days of the fight, as valid reasons for Top Rank and Pacquiao in their declination and refusal to participate in random drug testing, and thereby terminating the first round of negotiations for the super-fight of the century.

Over the course of the next four years, the spectre of this would-be-classic-clash in the ring, has quite visceraly, hovered over the boxing landscape, casting a nebulous overshadow, which continues to manifest itself in various permutations of teaser negotiations. Such as, a confirmed phone call conversation from Mayweather to Pacquiao, in which a flat purse of $40 million was offered to and refused by Pacquiao, as well as, a not so confirmed or substantiated group of lucrative investors from Singapore, willing to finance and co-promote the event, and, Arums own specious intent, to build a brand new state of the art outdoor stadium to house the event. Any ground for the construction and erection of said arena, has yet to be broken.

What Arum may have or probably should’ve commented regarding Mayweathers negotiation style, is that, he is stubborn, obstinate, unyeilding and more than a just a bit of a control freak, attributes common to many, if not most successful businessmen and even, gasp, forbid, some other boxing promoters. But when the objective of the agenda is to discredit ones opposition, then naturally only the most heinously, demonizing and polarizing comparisons will suffice. Actually when scrutinized in the proper context, theres another larger than life 20th century figure and personality, thats exponentially more analogous to Mayweather than ‘ole Adolf. Someone who, perhaps not so coincidentally, shared the same vocation, and occupied the same esteemed position atop the sport of boxing as Mayweather currently does. That being none other than, The Greates Of All Times, Muhammad Ali. Even though the die hard detractors and misguided sentimental nostalgists will offer an ersatz scoff at the “mere mention” of Mayweather and Ali in the same sentence, however, boxing accomplishments, abilities and skills aside, all of which are very highly comparable as well, when considering each fighters battles inside the socially biased rings of media and popular opinion, the two legendary fighters are indeed very akin. Not to mention, Ali only had print, and a somewhat limited, broadcast network media to deal with, while Mayweather has the aformentioned print media, albeit somewhat diminished from Alis time, a broadcast-cable television network media complex, that dwarfs even Alis extensive experience with news cameras and reporters back in his day, and of course, the proverbial new kid on the hybrid information block-highway, the ubiquitous online social-media of cyber-space. Just as the media bore an undeniable and pivotal role in the public misconception of Ali as a cowardly draft dodger, so to has the minions of misinformation, wrested the baton from Arums hand, and ran off the track and out the stadium with it, proclaiming the supposition of Mayweather as a courage lackin’, gutless yella’-bellied, runin’ coward, who has ducked every bona fide, real mccoy threat in his era, and has cherrypicked his way to a flawless 45-0 professional record, by strategically choosing to fight soup kitchen, tomato can opponents, with whom the victory was already a foregone conclusion even before the ink dried on the contracts. Despite the disparaging myths and inaccuracies spewed by the media towards Mayweather, rarely if ever do you hear the same outlets give mention to his counterpart, Pacquiaos, plethora of tactically timorous transgressions. Such as, when Pacquiao head trainer, Freddie Roach, explicitly stated on camera, that they refused to fight Shane Mosley at 147 pounds in 2009, even after doing so with De La Hoya, (who hadnt fought at the welterweight limit in nearly ten years), with Roach stating, emphatically, that Mosely was simply too good to fight at that time without a catchweight. The critics will also be quick to surmise, that Mayweather also avoided a prime Mosley at an earlier point in both fighters careers, however with more diligent attention to detail, one would just as quickly be able to verify the fact, that Mayweather did indeed call Mosely out repeatedly, at the same time that he was clamoring for the De La Hoya fight while still with Arum and Top Rank. Also, the fact that Mayweather deftly vanquished Pacquiaos most perrenial adversary, Juan Marquez, who, in their last bout in December of 2012, (08.12.12), the fourth and most definitive installment of the Pacquiao-Marquez epic saga, dealt a vicious 6th round KO, delivering the “Pac-Man” his second loss in three fights, third loss by way of KO, and the fifth loss of his professional career overall.

Additional aspects of Mayweathers plight that closely resembles and mirrors the experiences of Ali, is the extraordinary ability to remain steadfast and unwaveringly commited to ones principals in the face of severely rabid and inane fanatical media and public expectations. When living in a society based on and dictated by popular opinion, each demographic has preconceived behavorial expectations which generally corresponds to some level of nonproprietary stereotypical conduct .In todays society, professional athletes are somewhat percieved, particularly by those in the position to sign their substantial paychecks, in the same vein as “trophy-wives” to a large extent, to be seen or to perform, and not necessarily be heard, at least not beyond the tritely contrived plattitudes predetermined as acceptable by the conventions of a so-called hiearchy, in a popular-opinion based and dictated social structure. Compare the journalistic condemnation of legendary heavyweight champion Jack Johnson, as opposed to the public endearment of Joe Louis. Professing an unpopular (or unapproved by the “establishment”), political view, as well as and especially, defying a system of authority, regardless of how reprobate that authority may be, is a virtually unforgivable taboo for professional athletes of certain demographics. Just as Ali was expected to keep his Louisville lips closed and trot quietly off to Vietnam, so to is Mayweather expected to obsequiously succumb to Arum, the media, and public induced pressure, and simply fight whomever is demanded of him, without the benefit of any pragmatic intelligence or judiciously savvy decision making, such as the practice of engaging in Olympic style random drug testing in preparation for competitive athletic combat.

Perhaps the most significant, and equally, perhaps the most subtle parallel between Ali and Mayweather, is the perquisite of both foresight and hindsight. The foresight to know that sticking to your guns and firmly standing resolute on your principals, in the end, will always reward greater long term prosperity, than blindly kowtowing to convention with the ovine masses in a desperate desire for public approval and acceptance. In turn, and just as rewarding, if not moreso, is the perspective of hindsight from a historical context. By standing on his principals, Ali proved to be on the right side of history pertaining to the Vietnam war and the U.S. military draft. As well as Mayweather, who in only four short years, has already been vindicated and validated by historical hindsight. Not only was the precedent already set for more stringent enforcement of drug testing policies by other professional athletic organizations such as Major League Baseball, but also a copious amount of pro boxers have also begun to embrace and apply a more precise drug testing regiment for their bouts, even Pacquaio, who vehemently resisted Mayweathers initial efforts back in 2010, has now, at least marginally, accepted the viability  and reality of more effective drug testing as evidenced by his last fight against Brandon Rios this past November (11.24.13), in which not only was it Pacquiao who demanded the higher degree of testing for the bout , but also, that Rios ended up testing positive for the banned substance dimenthylamylamine (DMAA). Even the chief executive members of NSAC have resolved to implement a more cogent and stalwart drug testing policy over the next few years. In the case of better, more effective drug testing for boxing and combat sports, just as in the instance of Ali and Vietnam, hindsight has again proven itself to be 20/20, or in Mayweathers case, undefeated.

All in all, this is not to say that Arum and promoters (as Mayweather himself is also now the head of his own extremely successful Mayweather Promotions ), do not serve a necessary function within the sport of boxing. The promoter bankrolls and markets the fight, and is obligated, first and foremost primarily, to their own profit margin for the sake of their own financial stability and continuity. This could be the main factor in the notoriously unscrupulous reputations earned by most professional boxing promoters such as Arum and Don King. Whereas with a fighters manager, the relationship tends to be on a more personal level, as the manager negotiates on behalf of the fighter, as opposed to the promoter, whose relationship with the fighter is traditionally based predominantly and fundamentally on the dynamics of economics and profitability. And even Arum, within the last several days, since making his Mayweather-Hitler comparisons, has somewhat, however minutely, recanted from his inflammatory remark, going into semi-light damage control mode, and opting over the last week, to subtly shift the highly ostensible blame away from Mayweather, and place it in the direction of other key figures who have played integral and essential positions throughout the duration of the Mayweather-Pacquiao, Goden Boy-Top Rank chronicles. Of course no party is safe or absolved from the burden of this feigned culpability, in the case of the biggest and most highly anticipated fight that never happened. Everybody from Mayweather financial adviser Al Haymon, (who incidentally, has to some extent, reinterpolated and redefined the capacity of the promoter, as Haymon has successfully maximized and elevated the earnings of the fighters he advises, to a more satisfactory stratum, than the previous standards of the traditional more antiquated and less financially balanced economic models between fighters and promoters), to Oscar De La Hoya, to Golden Boy CEO Richard Schaeffer, to Arums latest public scapegoat, Showtime Network executive Stephen Espinoza.

All the while despite Arums incessantly perpetual finger-pointing, sources close to Pacquaio, such as fellow Filipino countryman, attorney and advisor Frank Gacal, along with independent accounting firm VisionQwest, (hired by Pacquiao in 2010 and summarily terminated by Pacquiao in 2011), have not only explicitly placed Arum and Pacquiaos financial adviser Mike Koncz at the root of Pacquiaos continuously unrelenting tax woes, but Gacal has specifically branded Arum as the single constant and irreconcilable impediment preventing the fight between Mayweather and Pacquiao from happening. With all the pervasive finger pointing, one has to wonder if any attention is ever paid to the three pointing back in the direction of the accuser, generally indicative of an equal, if not greater, share of responsibility to be shouldered when plans dont go accordingly. Perhaps Mayweather has been the spoiler in one too many of Arums plans, but Hitler? C’mon Bob. Heil Mayweather, just aint got the same catchy ring of alliteration to it as the original. Sieg Heil !!!