The greatest boxer of his generation, and the highest paid athlete in history, Floyd Mayweather Jr., recently spoke with Fight Hype‘s Ben Thompson about the state of boxing. FMJ argued emphatically that racism still exists in combat sports. While he directed most of his comments at boxing, particularly boxing media’s P4P list, he referenced mixed martial arts as well.
“But you look at things like this, Ronda Rousey, you know, I think she fought somewhere like 11 or 12 fights, which is not a bad thing. Laila Ali went undefeated and was dominating too. After Ronda Rousey fought I think 9, 10, 11 fights, it didn’t even take that long, she got all types of endorsements, movies, and everything. Laila Ali did the same thing in better fashion. Ronda Rousey, she’s a good looking woman when she put it on. Laila Ali is a drop-dead gorgeous woman; I mean a naturally beautiful woman and can kick ass, but you never heard them [the media] saying when she had I think somewhere around 10, 11, 12 fights that she was the baddest woman to ever fight on the planet.
“And what’s so crazy, I don’t really know the McGregor guy; never seen him fight. I heard his name actually from one of the runners that works for our company; a little kid named Ken Hopkins, he’s a runner and takes care of a lot of the daily business. Whatever we need, he takes care of. He’s a cool little kid, I like him, and he does MMA. He told me about the guy McGregor. They say he talk a lot of trash and people praise him for it, but when I did it, they say I’m cocky and arrogant. So biased! Like I said before, all I’m saying is this, I ain’t racist at all, but I’m telling you racism still exists.”
Mayweather may not be overtly racist, but he has stooped to using derisive racial stereotypes in the past. Here is what he said to ESPN in 2010 about about Manny Pacquiao, who is Filipino.
“As soon as we come off vacation, we’re going to cook that little yellow chump. We ain’t worried about that. So they ain’t gotta worry about me fighting the midget. Once I kick the midget a–, I don’t want you all to jump on my d—. So you all better get on the bandwagon now… Once I stomp the midget, I’ll make that mother f—– make me a sushi roll and cook me some rice.”
The fact that Mayweather has used racially tinged language does not of course mean his analysis is wrong. If anything, it only, unfortunately, adds to it.
Highlights from the greatest boxer of his generation.
