Floyd Mayweather Jr is regarded as one of the best boxers of his generation but Mayweather has often been criticised for an apparent ugly side, the undefeated superstar not above throwing sucker punches or bullying veteran commentators.
Don’t just take our word for it, let Floyd hoist himself on his own petard.
There’s this recent Instagram post in which Floyd justifies sexual harassment and assault of women on the basis of what women choose to wear:
Floyd doesn’t just disrespect women, he thinks all Asians are the same as this rant regarding his great Filipino rival Manny Pacquiao shows: “Once I stomp the midget, I’mma make that motherf—er make me a sushi roll and cook me some rice … you know how it is baby, we gonna cook that motherf—er with some cats and dogs.”
And Floyd doesn’t just save his sweet words for opponents, here’s what he said to his, admittedly hard to like, father in 2011 “You couldn’t fight worth shit, you wasn’t nothing but a motherf—in’ cab driver! Get the f— out my gym!”
Floyd is a man who likes to be liked. He surrounds himself with a large paid entourage whose job description appears to involve counting Floyd’s money and laughing at Floyd’s jokes.
So when veteran boxing announcer Larry Merchant had the temerity to question Mayweather’s less-than-sporting knockout of Victor Ortiz things were never going to end well.
The exchange went a little something like this:
Merchant: “So you’re saying that even though he wasn’t protecting himself … that you unfairly took advantage? What do you say to those who say, what did you do there?”
Mayweather: “You ain’t never give me a fair shake … I’m through, put someone else through to give me an interview.”
Merchant: “What are you talking about?”
Mayweather: “You ain’t never give me a fair shake! HBO needs to fire you — you don’t know [expletive] about boxing. You ain’t [expletive].”
Merchant: “If I was 50 years younger, I’d kick your [expletive].”
But Floyd does have a nice side, if you’re Justin Bieber, that is.
Here’s what he had to say to the Canadian pop star in 2012: “I want to say congratulations to Justin Bieber. Keep up the good work, your movie was amazing. I want to say congratulations to all your accomplishments. … Keep working.”