Let’s face reality here: boxing — aka the “Sport of Kings” — has been on life support for some time now. The reasons for this are plentiful, but of late the sport’s decline seems to have everything to do with the rise in popularity of MMA-style fighting. Not only is MMA-style fighting winning bloodthirsty eyeballs that would normally be owned by boxing, but it’s stealing an entire generation of future fighters who are being wooed by it as well.
It certainly hasn’t helped that boxing’s two biggest stars — Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao — have been doing an odd public dance for what seems like a lifetime without the two of the them ever stepping into the ring to face off. These two guys are boxing right now — but they keep finding reasons not to fight each other — and there’s really no one else of significance out there, no one an entire nation would turn its attention to for one night to see fight, anyway, and it’s been slowly killing the sport by pushing its cultural relevance into the shadows.
So Mayweather and Pacquiao just go on and one plowing through lesser opponents while the rest of us are left to wonder about what could have been. Such was the case Saturday night when Mayweather fought some dude I’d never heard of, accompanied before and after the fight by a special guest.
According to reports, (Justin) Bieber joined Mayweather in the dressing room before the event and sat just feet away from trainer Roger Mayweather and the rest of Mayweather’s self-proclaimed “Money Team” during the fight…Earlier in the day, Bieber shared his support of the Michigan fighter and revealed his excitement about the match on twitter, saying: “cinco de mayo…. #MayweatherCotto yeah @FloydMayweather today is a BIG day.” Mayweather kept the bromance going when he tweeted back: ‘@justinbieber keep up the great work and thanks for the support #TheMoneyTeam. Enjoy the fight.” After the fight, Bieber responded: “@FloydMayweather Hard Work & Dedication . congrats champ. glad i could be a part of it.”
Jesus. F*cking. Christ.
Really, Floyd Mayweather? Bieber? JUSTIN BIEBER? Can you imagine Mike Tyson having, say, Jordan Knight from New Kids on the Block by his side on fight night? How about Muhammad Ali with a young Michael Jackson? No. Hell no. That would NEVER happen. What a goddamn disgrace.
A few weeks ago I went to a bar to watch Jon Jones take on Rashad Evans for the UFC Light Heavyweight Championship and the place was packed to the proverbial gills. This past Saturday night I made a pass by the same bar and it was approximately 1/5 as packed with open seats available at the bar to watch the Mayweather fight. (Also, did you notice that our cousins at With Leather chose to live blog a UFC event on Saturday night instead of the Mayweather fight? Quite telling…)
R.I.P. boxing. It had a nice run, but it was done in on Cinco de Mayo 2012 by a poofy-haired Canadian twat. Thanks for the memories.
(Pic via Just Jared)
