Floyd Mayweather Jr. apologizes for racist comments toward Manny Pacquiao
by Scott Christ on Sep 4, 2010 4:54 AM EDT
in Boxing News Analysis
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On his official UStream channel tonight, Floyd Mayweather Jr. apologized for recent racist comments that caused a major controversy in the boxing media.
BoxingScene.com has a transcription of the apology:
"I do want to apologize for what happened the other night. I want to apologize to everybody because everybody thought that it was a racist comment that I said. I don't have a racist bone in my body. I have nothing but love for everybody. Some of my guys are Muslim, some of my guys are Jews. Puerto Ricans, Dominicans, whites, it doesn't matter. I got nothing but love in my heart. All I want to say is, if anybody was affected from what I said the other day, I apologize as a man. I was just having fun. I didnt really mean it."
Mayweather also sent condolences out to Top Rank promoter Bob Arum, whose son John died this week in the Cascades in Washington.
Mayweather's apology will inevitably meet a mixed reaction. He already had plenty of boxing fans who didn't care for him to begin with, and others may have been officially pushed over the edge by his absurd and offensive tirade against Pacquiao.
But I will say that at the very least, he apologized. Whether he recognizes it as an actual offense or not (and I would hazard a guess that he doesn't), at least he understands that something about it was wrong. He's not totally oblivious, as stupid as his comments were.
And anyway, for now, Mayweather is just a figure in boxing. He has no fight on the horizon, while Pacquiao will fight on November 13 in a fight that has drawn its own considerable share of criticism. Revisiting a Mayweather-Pacquiao bout -- should Pacquiao beat Antonio Margarito -- is also inevitable, and Top Rank has said that May 2011 is the new target. We'll see if any of the media backlash from the video incident or the Margarito fight affect public demand should the sides negotiate again. Given the personalities and all the drama, plus the age we live in where these things interest a lot of people who otherwise would not care less, I have my doubts that a Mayweather-Pacquiao fight can be dented too badly from the side of public demand.
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This is just a ploy for publicity, to keep his name in the boxing headlines
while Pacquiao’s upcoming fight gets press. Floyd needs to lose money over this, and I don’t just mean lose future earning opportunities. No other way to communicate with him, I’m afraid.
If I was a hungry man with a gun in my hand and some promises to keep...
… and the PR Damage Control Unit springs to action.
by erasedcitizen on Sep 4, 2010 7:50 AM EDT via mobile reply actions
SOMETIMES IT'S HOW THE MESSAGE IS RECEIVED, NOT HOW IT IS INTENDED.
This is at the root of insensitivity. Like getting killed by friendly fire. We didn’t mean to kill you. Sorry we did. The damage has been done here for the entire boxing world to see. I didn’t mean to insult you, but the insuly still cut to the bone,
Pray for Nick Charles
WHAT??
So Floyd was just havin’ FUN?? His idea of FUN is to suggest that Pac dines on dogs..that Manny is a fag_ot…that he’ll have that little MFer cook him some rice and sushi? NO Floyd those are not comments made by sombody just havin’ FUN. They were a malicious attempt to slander and harm another human being…this is just part II or III or VII whatever. There is a pattern here and it is not just havin’ FUN…and the world knows that now…no more free passes. You are guilty…and this probably won’t be the last time we hear this kind of poison from you, your standards are far below what is acceptable in society. Pity.
FWIW, it DOES seem like his comments were taken out of context
There’s no excuse for him saying some of the dumb stuff he said, but in the context of the rest of what was going on, one could almost view it like Floyd’s attempt at sketch comedy in front of the camera. It was in poor taste, but the way it scrolled on the ESPN ticker, you’d think it was much worse than it actually was.
Of course, not sure how sincere the apology is. He obviously hasn’t learned much. He’s back on Ustream again right now saying stupid stuff again.
Bad Left Hook - The SB Nation boxing blog
"Baseball is played on the field, not on a calculator."
But even on ESPN
Dan Rafael said that the ‘clip’ shown was not even some of the worse stuff. My impression was that the ESPN ticker made it seem a less disgraceful (and more palatable for a nationwide audience) attempt at ‘smack talking’ than it actually was.
From my point of view Floyd shouldn’t be hyping a fight he failed to agree too (and lied about re. talks), he should realize how hollow smack talk would sound in such an instance (its noticeable how much boxing fans don’t like David Haye chatting crap about the Klitchko’s for example). The context was already bad for Floyd, then he goes on a diatribe and completely oversteps the professional line with the ustream video.
There’s smack talk and then there’s petty insults, dumb allegations, racist insinuations and classless behaviour. If its on video, then he should have known people would report it and use it as a story for the on-going Pac-Floyd saga. And that he wouldn’t be able to turn a positive spin on it.
by TheQuestforMerlin on Sep 4, 2010 11:38 AM EDT up reply actions
Like I said,
a lot of street talk means nothing. Fine he isn’t a racist. But he is a grown man—
And he has no—none, not one bit of—class.
Plus, I’m beginning to think he lacks true balls.
I don’t want to get into a whole debate about this, but having friends from other races and nationalities does not give someone a free pass at “not being a racist”… there are degrees of racism… he may not be an extremist like a member of the KKK or a Neo Nazi, but no one would make those comments if there wasn’t something warped about the way he/she views other races/nationalities/ethnicities. It shows a complete lack of respect and sensibility for difference.
And like I said in another post, this is not the first time FMJ has dabbled publicly in racism. I remember the Marquez 24/7 and there were some racist undertones running through some of those episodes. I can’t quite give you concrete examples, but I noticed it right away.
As an aside, I also have to say that I’m quite amused so many people chose to call out Floyd on Sushi being from Japan…I mean, part of the racist tirade strives, precisely, on this Pan-Asian sweeping view. The problem lies on the fact that for the racist, different people are interchangeable… it doesn’t matter where they come from or their idiosyncrasy… they’re all just “the same”. So it’s interesting that people chose to focus on that particular bit of the whole tirade.
Officially boycotting Pacquiao vs. Margarito.
PBF + race
there were some racist undertones running through some of those episodes. I can’t quite give you concrete examples, but I noticed it right away.
I can’t isolate an example either, but I noticed it too—he would—sort of brush up against it and sheer away. At one point as I remember it, he took advantage of the understandable crude jocularity re JMM’s urine-drinking, and started to go off from there, and dropped back. Can’t remember exactly, but I know what you mean. And he’s slyly accurate in his verbal viciousness, it’s really creepy.
And Sly
working it in under the understandable hoots re pee-drinking. And I’m pretty sure I remember that much right, and it wasn’t the only time.
Previously,
I tried to keep an open mind, tho, like Apprentice below, I was—uneasy. But if you think about it, the only constant in his persona other than his ego, and money and his attitude toward it is, one way or another, race. Whether he’s feeling victimized by it or being the victimizer, it’s a big part of his landscape.
So much for being a Madison Avenue darling, eh, Mr. Schaeffer? I’m actually curious as to how Ellerbe, Schaeffer will spin this one.
by erasedcitizen on Sep 4, 2010 11:56 AM EDT via mobile up reply actions
The next Mayweather to hit the headlines will be Roger
Another fine human being who enjoys beating women.
Plus
It was as much Roger, and certainly the most hands on was Roger, in the role of parent for Lil Floyd. So I’ve always tried to cut the kid some slack because he got what he got and he can’t help that, but he’s got to learn sometime.
And, of course only allegedly, but he was according to several reputable accounts caught in the act strangling the girl, who was saved by incoming cops responding to calls from neighbors. He was a light heavy, I believe.
Ellerbe will say it never happened.
Bad Left Hook
"To the town of Agua Fria rode a stranger one fine day..."
by Scott Christ on Sep 4, 2010 12:18 PM EDT up reply actions
That would be a priceless podium moment to witness
I’m almost wishing that’s what he does. But it’d probably be the old reliable standby: His Words Where Taken Out of Context
by erasedcitizen on Sep 4, 2010 12:34 PM EDT via mobile up reply actions
Are we talking about Roger's words ...
Or his fists. If it’s the latter, I believe they were taken off a woman, not out of context.
Either way, they’d be best to let the lawyers do their talking.
They’llprobably say they love women….but they were just having fun.
I was referring to Ellerbe trying to spin it by saying it never happened.
by erasedcitizen on Sep 4, 2010 12:53 PM EDT via mobile up reply actions
WE HAVE ALWAYS BEEN AT WAR WITH EURASIA
by taco pal on Sep 4, 2010 3:41 PM EDT up reply actions 1 recs
Hahahahahahahahaha!!!!!!!!
I wrote my dissertation on Orwell…. how the hell did I not think of that!!
LOLOLOLOLOLOL
He’s digging his own grave with his mouth.
If I wake up tomorrow and see that the world has ended, then that means God has finally granted my prayers.
GO Armageddon!!!
Gutter level diatribe
And this… “I make 15-100 million a fight – I’m taking a year off” – Do us a favour and fuck off then Floyd. Go count your money then buy a globe and some geography lessons. Add mental midget to clueless racist.
He’ll never be one of the greats in my eyes. Duran, Leonard, Pryor and Hearns, all outclass him. Hearns embarasses him.
"Anytime you go thirty rounds with a guy, try to kill each other, and have the utmost respect for each other, no one understands that, but guys who have been to war understand it." - Micky Ward on Arturo Gatti.
Ditto that GOAT
Great means fighting great ….come what may. Not fighting twice in three years of your prime…by choice.
He will best be remembered by what he hasn’t done, by the fighters he never faced….in their primes.
He will unlikely last as a celebrity as he has not grown as a man. His marketability will diminish as he drifts off the boxing landscape.
He will however be capable of earning money in the sport ….even if it’s like James Toney…well into his forties. And given the way he is going, he may very well need to both financially and mentally. His ego ill require it …and his past brush with the IRS suggests more of the same.
Here here lads.
Spot on as ever, Goaty!
by Phill on Sep 4, 2010 2:56 PM EDT via mobile up reply actions
How about the real stuff?
Like the fact that he says he’s definitely fighting Manny?
That’s really the only shit I care about
It would be the only shit I cared about if I could put any stock into anything he says about what’s next in his career. Last week he was going to fight in Dubai.
Bad Left Hook
"To the town of Agua Fria rode a stranger one fine day..."
by Scott Christ on Sep 4, 2010 12:19 PM EDT up reply actions 1 recs
I thought you said we shouldn’t believe everything he says? What, do we just filter out the bad stuff now? Not believe the racist homophobic comments because “he didn’t really mean it” but believe the other things he said? What is this, man? Pick and choose?
by erasedcitizen on Sep 4, 2010 12:20 PM EDT via mobile up reply actions 4 recs
Ditto. Great post, totally agree.
"The terror of the unforeseen is what the science of history hides, turning a disaster into an epic"
by Oli Goldstein on Sep 4, 2010 1:51 PM EDT up reply actions
Yes. If you don’t selectively hear only the good stuff, then you hate Floyd.
by taco pal on Sep 4, 2010 3:42 PM EDT up reply actions 1 recs
What happened to God?
I thought that was the only meaningful thing Floyd said in his rant.
Well
Ignorance is bliss.
"All the time he's boxing, he's thinking. All the time he was thinking, I was hitting him." - Jack Dempsey
by Drunken cutman on Sep 5, 2010 3:47 PM EDT up reply actions
Well well well..
I wonder who wrote that half arsed excuse of an apology for him. Pathetic twit!
by Phill on Sep 4, 2010 2:54 PM EDT via mobile reply actions
To be honest
If they fight, Floyd probably wins.
Pacquiao is a better fighter P4P, as he would give Floyd all sorts of problems and he is a smaller man. He could even win.
As a fighter, who is better is debatable. As a man, there is no comparison.
Can you imagine the uproar if Pacquaio came out saying stuff like “Yeah, that N* motherfucker, I want him to get out there and pick me some fuckin cotton, and then I whoop his ass!” No half-assed scripted forced ‘apology’ would suffice, and I stress: I would think just as little of Manny if he said those things as I do Floyd right now. The fact is, Floyd HAS said this kind of shit, and I just can’t imagine Manny doing that.
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