COMMENTARY | When
it comes to villains in sports, no one does it quite like WBC welterweight
champion, Floyd Mayweather (43-0-0, 26 KOs).
His brash persona rubs many hardcore and casual boxing fans the
wrong way, so much that they're always willing to shell out cash to watch his
fights, hoping they'll someday get to witness history when the "arrogant"
Mayweather gets what they feel he deserves: a humiliating beating.
While most fighters need the help of other popular boxers to
bring in the big pay-per-view numbers, Floyd consistently puts up impressive figures
regardless of who he faces. He made
history with Oscar De La Hoya back in 2007, setting the mark for the highest
PPV sales in boxing history (2.7 million buys). Mayweather's May 5 bout against
WBC interim welterweight champion Robert Guerrero (31-1-1, 18 KOs) probably won't
beat that mark, but it's on course to put up good numbers.
At first, the idea of a Mayweather vs. Guerrero fight didn’t
catch on with boxing fans, even though the background story to make it a big
draw was always there.
Guerrero, who dealt with a lot of adversity caring for his
wife, Casey,
during
her battle with cancer, is seen by many as a "good guy." To make
things even better, Guerrero isn’t the type of good guy who puts his tail between
his legs and cowers when the big, bad wolf comes around. No, he's the type who steps
up and stands up to the bully.
He's the
perfect hero for the anti-Mayweather legion -- which is primarily responsible
for Floyd's consistently high pay-per-views numbers -- to embrace, and he'll
also draw in a lot of Mexican fans, many of who still have flashbacks of their
homegrown boxers getting tormented by the "Mexican Killer," Roger
Mayweather (Floyd's trainer).
Robert isn't just the perfect protagonist for Mayweather's antagonist
persona; he also matches up well against boxing's pound-for-pound best inside
the ring. His scrappy, a bit awkward style might cause some problems for Floyd,
and he proved that he has serious punching power at 147 pounds during his last
against Andre Berto.
Of course, the odds of Guerrero catching Mayweather with a
big punch are slim, but then again, Juan Manuel Marquez' chances of knocking
out Manny Pacquiao were just as poor.