Wouldn’t it have been difficult to watch it without paying for it?
I wouldn’t have paid 99 cents to watch it, much less $99 on pay-per-view. I did read a bit of the pre-fight coverage, marveling at the spectacle of various pundits wringing their hands about Mayweather’s abuse of women, the sad state of boxing, the exorbitant cost of watching two over-the-hill fighters etc. etc., while themselves reaping the benefits of hyping an event that in good conscience they should have minimized or ignored.
*"The Browns began Day 3 of the draft by taking their fourth defensive player, nabbing Northwestern safety Ibraheim Campbell, a 5-foot-10, 210-pounder who likes to hit. He started 45 games in four years for the Wildcats.
“I would consider myself a physical player,” he said. “It’s a violent game, and I try to be as violent as possible in everything I do.”"*
Hopefully not quite everything you do, Ibraheim. :eek::smack:
My son saw the fight with some of his friends. He chipped in for food and drinks, so I suppose he “paid” in some sense.
Five years ago this would have been even more huge. Mayweather waited until Pac-Man had been worn down and knocked out by other fighters before he deigned to fight him. Mayweather won’t fight anyone with a chance to beat him, which is why he picked Pacquiao orginally - Manny started at flyweight (112 lbs.) and this was around junior middle.
Pacquiao would have knocked him out easily back then. But Mayweather ran away and hid. He’d rather beat up women.
Oh well - Mayweather will die of a drug overdose or be shot soon enough or rape someone like Tyson and go to prison. And good riddance.
To put it in perspective, Pacquiao signed a deal with Nike and Nestle that will get him some $5 milion. I read somewhere that the ad space on Pacquie’s trunks, for this fight along, was over $2 million.
This is a mindset I’ll just never get. If the man can entertain an audience while fighting, who cares what else he does? Do you routinely interrogate your plumbers and mail carriers to ensure they don’t think or behave in ways you disapprove? If they fix pipes or deliver mail, I don’t care one whit whether they are immoral in their private life, or even that they have a private life. As far as I’m concerned, my mail carrier or plumber (or any entertainers I enjoy) don’t even have private lives. They might as well be robots that turn on when I desire their services and go back into a box at the factory to recharge until next time.
Let’s say there is a front page spread that says your plumber is a serial wife-batterer, or that your mail-man routinely steals cars or deals drugs. Are you seriously perfectly happy to continue using their services? Happy to continue lining their pockets?
Some guy screws up. Sure let him make a living like all us other smucks. But he’s somebody that is legally and morally questionable. I kinda draw the line at somebody like that having more money than they know what to do with, more putang than they can handle. being famous as shit, not working day in and day out for peanuts like most of us “better” people, being treated like royalty wherever they go, and to just rub salt in the wound, being considered “hero’s”.
If society intends that the punishment for beating a woman should be to be barred from the profession of your choice for life, then it should enact legislation to that effect.
And if it did, they’d just have held the fight in Zaire anyway.
Probably not that, either, although being jailed for beating up his male lover might have had more impact… because of the lover being male, not being beat up.
A professional boxer isn’t like the rest of us, he’s a trained fighter. A professional boxer punching someone should be treated as assault with a deadly weapon.
Of course, he should be allowed to make a living but it should be made clear his behavior outside the ring is completely unacceptable.
