Boxing legend and former pound-for-pound king Floyd Mayweather was not involved in any acting recently but should still scrap his forthcoming exhibition.
That’s the view of ex-Money Team member and Mayweather Promotions star Ishe Smith.
“Sugar Shay” watched on in disbelief as a freak show unfolded in Miami last week. Like most of us, Smith was sad to see a boxing superstar lower himself to those standards.
According to the one-time IBF champion, Mayweather should scrap the whole event and not go through any other match-ups like this.
“Honestly, Floyd Mayweather is one of the best boxers ever to live. You can argue and debate, but he’s in that argument,” stated Smith.
“He even a better businessman, but he doesn’t need these events. There’s nothing good that can come by them.
“He rarely trained hard for Conor [McGregor]. It wasn’t your typical [fight].
“I’ve been knowing Floyd Mayweather since I was ten years old, and trust me. There was no theatrics involved. No acting.
“He was p—ed off very bad. He doesn’t need to sell this fight. It will do over a million buys. I just don’t think he needs to be doing these, in my opinion.”
Continuing on the “Gotcha Hat” incident, Smith said: “Floyd Mayweather was so p—ed, y’all let these clowns in the game.
“My man is making more than 99 percent of the fighters in the game. Well played, but I hate it!”
FLOYD MAYWEATHER EXHIBITION
Another ex-world ruler in the sport, Julian Williams, disagreed with Smith.
He believes Floyd should get the benefit of the doubt, and the event should be taken into context.
“Why is everyone so offended at Floyd for doing an exhibition? – he questioned before pointing out: “All the greats did exhibition fights.
“Some did them while they were still active fighters like big George Forman and Muhammad Ali.
“Julio Caesar Chavez does them to this day. He’s an entertainer. Let the man entertain!”
Whatever the thought process goes of something like this, you can’t deny that allowing non-sportspeople into the sport is a dangerous precedent.
Taking on a professional sports star from another respected code is all good for an exhibition. Taking on a talentless vlogger who is only interested in milking boxing is where the line should be drawn.
Phil Jay is the Editor of WBN. An Auxiliary member of the Boxing Writers Association of America since 2018. And a member of the Sports Journalists’ Association. Follow on Twitter @PhilJWBN.
