There is a difference between Muhammad Ali’s braggadocio and Floyd Mayweather’s arrogance. Ali proclaimed, “I am the greatest!” and we smiled and laughed and said ok, dude believes in his own hype, but in a non-serious, non-threatening kind-of-way. Ali’s keen smile and jovial character made even his worst enemies secretly admired him and history has already put him in the iconoclastic pantheon of sports heroes/athletes who have transcended their chosen sport—in this case, boxing.
Muhammad Ali stood for something! He went to jail as a “Conscientious Objector” to the Vietnam War—telling America that those little brown Vietnamese people had never called him a n#####. He became a member of the Nation of Islam—a reactionary religious move where he dealt with America’s white supremacy problem. Ali was so pro-black that he once threw his Olympic Gold Medal in the effin’ river, because he could not wear a medal for a country that held his (black) people as second-class citizens.
Yes! Muhammad Ali was beaten in the ring—several times, but that was not his undoing and neither did it deter from his greatness. Ali was/is a great human being and a credit to his race! That’s what makes him “The Greatest,” not any record of wins verses losses! This is where Floyd Mayweather has the game f##### up! You can never eliminate or overlook the “humanity element” in greatness! So what if Floyd is perfectly undefeated in the ring? So what! In my best Tony Montana voice, “Whoever said having a perfect record meant that you were the greatest? What is the criterion or criteria for claiming the mythical title of the greatest in boxing?” Ali gave us heart & soul! Mayweather gives us money & mammon (riches). Ali used to walk through a Miami ghetto and cause sheer pandemonium! Floyd walks through strip clubs and causes sheer p#####-monium!
Muhammad Ali was a little “god” around the world and more specifically, in Africa, going so far as to slay the dragon that was George Forman (the “Mike Tyson” of the ‘70’s) in the famous “Rumble in the Jungle”—bringing his sport to the people of Africa. Conversely, Floyd has s###### on Africa asking the rhetorically ignorant question, “Why is he not giving to Africa? But what has Africa giving to us? What has Africa came and gave to my children, to my family? If I’m gonna mess money off in a bad way, I’m-a spend it on myself!”
Negro please! “WHAT HAS AFRICA GIVEN TO US?” Let me tell ya! Africa gave the world arts & sciences, philosophy, law, religion, mathematics & algebra, smelting iron, mining gold & silver, diamonds! Africa gave us—the United States of America some 100 million African worker-bees (i.e. captives) that built this great country so that 400 years later a historically recalcitrant Negro like Floyd Mayweather could make money! Africa gave us rhythm & blues, call & response, jazz and the newest fuckery-of-a-musical-genre—rap music! The whole world is indebted to Africa! All of the diamonds that are in Floyd’s jewels come from the blood diamond mines of Africa! Africa is the cradle of civilization and the mother of all living! WHAT HAS AFRICA GIVEN TO US? What HASN’T Africa given to us?!!!!!!!
The fact that Floyd mentions Africa and his reasons for not donating to one of those impoverished countries is his way of undoing Ali’s greatness—like it was no big thing that Ali fought in Africa and felt a kinship to the people of Africa.
Clearly, Floyd Mayweather is trying to undo the legacy of Muhammad Ali by proclaiming that he’s “The Greatest.” Floyd is sniffing the jockstrap of Ali, but I’m here to tell him that his balls aren’t big enough to fill Ali’s jockstrap! Floyd is just an obstinate little imp who suffers from a little man’s Napoleonic Complex of megalithic proportions! F### your money and profligate show of wealth! Floyd claims that every (great) boxer should feel like they’re the best ever, but if you listen to great boxers speak on Muhammad Ali there is a reverence so evident—so thick that none would challenge the veracity (truthfulness) of Ali’s claim as “The Greatest” as evidenced in the following clip.
48-0 in and of itself does not qualify you as “The Greatest!” Hell, Rocky Marciano retired undefeated at 49-0 and he had no fewer “bums” (boxing lingo for not-so-good fighters) than Mayweather, having fought Jersey Joe Walcott, Ezzard Charles and Archie Moore. To attain the title as “The Greatest” entitles endearing one’s self to the people, something Mayweather sucks at. By his adult actions, he was the kind of child that went around the neighborhood with a popsicle—as it melt and ran down his arm, never eating it, but rather showing it off to all the little boys & girls who didn’t have one. He wanted to make sure their lives sucked.
At-the-end-of-the-day, Mayweather can give a gazillion interviews on why he’s “The Greatest,” but as the ghetto-cliché goes, “We don’t believe you! You need more people!” You are great in your era—the era of “bums” and catching foes pass their prime—the era of winning at any cost over prize fighting—the era of pitty-pat-cotton-punching-defensively-skilled-please-don’t-hit-me-championship-fights. I don’t like your boring-ass fights and I’m not awed by your great ability to duck a punch, run and hold. Sorry! I’m from the Muhammad Ali, Sugar Ray Leonard, Roberto Duran, Marvin Hagler, Thomas Hearns, Mike Tyson, Evander Holyfield, Roy Jones era—where men got into the “squared circle” and left their manhood & heart in the ring. This defensive s### Floyd’s doing? Save the drama fo’ ya mama! I will never YouTube that s###!
And as for thinking Floyd can lay claim to Muhammad Ali’s “The Greatest?” Floyd couldn’t carry Ali’s jockstrap in the ring or in life! Keep on chasing the elusive & Holy Grail of boxing titles if you want! You’ll next measure up! No “smedium” jockstraps allowed!
