I don't know what songs Floyd Mayweather Jr and Victor Ortiz plan to use for entrance music on their way to the ring tomorrow night at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, but I do have my thoughts on what they should come out to.
Ortiz, who will walk out first and be announced before Mayweather despite the fact that he's the defending titlist (a position that usually means you go second), was a kind of easy pick to be honest. For Vicious Victor, I have chosen Soulja Boy Tell'em's "Turn My Swag On":
Why this song? It's easy. In the video, we see young Soulja Boy, who despite his fame and all that is clearly not ready for the spotlight of the big-time, giving an exceptionally poor acting job, abruptly changing his expressions as if being signaled when he should do so, and playing dress-up. As young Mr. Tell'em "puts his team on," so does Ortiz put together his Speedy Gonzales-esque look for fights now. It worked against Berto, and although HBO's Larry Merchant had a bit of a laugh about Ortiz trying so hard to look tough with his scruffy mohawk and goatee, Ortiz silenced the laughter with a gutsy performance and a hard-fought win in a Fight of the Year candidate.
But the real key is the following lyric:
When I was nine years old
I put it in my head I'ma die for this gold
This seals the association.
Mayweather was a bit trickier. There's all the stuff like DJ Khaled's "All I Do Is Win," or something by his Gilligan-hat sporting tagalong buddy 50 Cent, but that's easy. I've gone with Frank Sinatra's classic "It Was a Very Good Year":
There is a trick to this song, as Sinatra stops counting his ages, his very good years, at the age of 35. The great concern with Mayweather, who turned 34 seven months ago, is that one of these fights, no matter how hard he works, it's going to slip away from him. Many feel his legs are already starting to go, and after that, his hand speed next, and without that, who is Floyd Mayweather Jr? Will he leave before it leaves him? Will a fight sneak up on him before he knows it's all gone? Could this be the night?
And now the days are short
I'm in the autumn of the year
And now I think of my life
As vintage wine from fine old kegs
From the brim to the dregs
It poured sweet and clear
It was a very good year
Is Money Mayweather in the autumn of his career? If he leaves on time, he can have more very good years, a vintage wine life to live out happily. If he doesn't, well...