By John Brady – It’s been roughly three weeks since underground rapper R.A. The Rugged Man dished out a heavy dose of reality to Floyd Mayweather Jr. over satellite radio. Unless you are not a boxing fan or have been living under a rock, you have at least heard about their verbal sparring session. The Rugged Man, who happens to be a fan of the sweet science, went on the radio to promote his new album and started to talk boxing. He reiterated what’s painfully obvious to every fan with two eyes, the fact that Floyd Mayweather is immensely talented but no longer challenges himself against the toughest competition. Floyd heard these comments and thinking that he would just simply call up the radio station and intimidate another dimwitted fan, he began to dial up the station. That was one phone call he never should have made.
The Rugged Man went on to tell Floyd everything that Brian Kenny wanted to tell him but could have been fired for. He made sure to remind Floyd that he ducked Antonio Margarito even though he was offered 8 million dollars to fight him. Floyd would then go on to face the non-threatening Carlos Baldomir, not Sharmba Mitchell as R.A. suggests.. Baldomir at that time had only 12 knockouts in 52 fights while Margarito at that point had 23 knockouts in 37 fights and was considered Floyd’s biggest threat. He also informed “Money” May that he is nothing special when being compared to the great Aaron Pryor, Pernell Whitaker, or even Bernard Hopkins. And until Floyd finishes out his career I could not agree more with that statement.
R.A.’s opinion has to be respected because although some of his facts were off, he clearly showed that he’s a knowledgeable fan. His most important point came after Floyd hung up. Right off the bat he reminded the listeners how gifted he thinks Floyd is but he also said something that boxers are starting to forget now a day’s which is this; if you consistently fight the best, people do NOT look down on you when you lose! When most casual boxing fans hear the name Sugar Ray Robinson they’re not aware that he has nineteen losses on his record. All the talk that goes on in boxing today about undefeated this and undefeated that, and the best fighter of all time has 19 losses. Although I didn’t agree with everything that was said, I’m glad it was all said and I’m glad that it’s getting this much attention. At one point he tells Floyd, “you scared of Sugar Shane!” This I actually do not agree with. There are three possible opponents for Floyd’s next fight Pacquaio, Cotto, or Mosley and if he doesn’t take on one of these men he will be crucified in the boxing world. Being the smart businessman that he is, it seems he’s just delaying any action with Mosley to see if Pacquaio wins on Saturday because Bob Arum or no Bob Arum, Mayweather/Pacquaio could be the richest fight ever. If Cotto wins however, I can see Floyd turning his attention back to Shane this way he’s dealing with Golden Boy instead of Top Rank.
Floyd often complains about how Oscar De La Hoya was groomed to be a superstar and although he’s the more talented fighter he never received De La Hoya popularity. Now don’t get me wrong I’m a Mayweather fan and would probably cut him a little more slack than the Rugged Man has but unfortunately for him he made it painfully obvious throughout this twenty minute tirade why he was never and will never be as popular as Oscar. When Floyd was asked about Mosley he brought up steroids, when he was asked about Paul Williams he stated that he was “too big”, and when asked about Pacquaio he unloaded that flawless “Mayweather logic” by telling us how the Philippines, which is one of the poorest nations you can come across, has the BEST performance enhancing drugs. It was nothing but excuse after excuse, which is what his fans did NOT want to hear. Did Oscar lose a lot of big fights? Yes. Was he as talented as Mayweather when both were in their prime? No. The difference is when the public wanted to see Oscar in the ring with a particular fighter that fight happened! It has nothing to do with Top Rank’s favoritism as Floyd would often claim, it has everything to do with the fact that De La Hoya made a career out of taking on tough challenges and Floyd somewhere along the way became more concerned with protecting his unbeaten record than to face the toughest challenge. Floyd would even go so far as to say with his own voice that he is not concerned with his legacy. How can we expect a man to consistently fight the best when even he himself states “legacy don’t pay my bills”. You hear a different Floyd Mayweather in every single interview and this one was by far the worst, hence the reason he should have never picked up that phone.