By Paul Strauss: The casting director has made the necessary choices, and the scene is set. The plot is nothing new, but one of which people never tire……..Good vs. Evil. We’ve seen this dramatic theater umpteen times over the course of history, but can’t wait until we see it again. Even the younger generation, who sometimes thrive more on anti-hero’s, like the simplicity of this kind of battle..Things are clear cut, black and white, or right and wrong.
Boxing promoters have always tried to create such scenarios, and when they get two likely candidates, they lick their chops, because they know it means a big gate and lots of moolah. Jack Johnson was the perpetual evil one in a white sporting world. Anyone (white) he was matched against was the good guy. The Galveston Giant enjoyed and cultivated it. Tex Richard capitalized on the attempts to classify Jack Dempsey as a “slacker”, and Rickard used it when he matched Jack against the handsome french war hero named Georges Carpentier. That resulted in the first million dollar gate. Then the Brown Bomber carried the weight of the free world on his shoulders when he entered the ring against the the Black Uhlan. Max Schmeling was portrayed as one of Hilter’s Nazi stooges, and a potential symbol of the superiority of the Aryan race. It only took a little more than two minutes to destroy that scheme. Sonny Liston was a former convict and thug against the shy gentleman named Floyd Patterson. Evil crushed good twice in those matchups. In the eyes of many, Cassius Clay was a draft dodger, and his arrogance and boisterousness and decision to become a muslim pushed many to side against him, even if it meant cheering for the Big Ugly Bear. A majority of the public cast Cassius on the heap with the rest of the evil ones. So, in that situation you had Liston as the lesser of two evils. It wasn’t until later that Cassius, who became Ali, would change their minds. More recently we had a convicted rapist and ear biter make it easy to place him on the side of evil. His tremendous destructive power, both in and out of the ring, fascinated the curious public. Now the public views him with a more sympathetic eye as a pathethic charcter, who wasted his talent and fortune. Those matchups are just in the heavyweight division, but the same is true in all weight classes.
In other divisions, we’ve had plenty of characters, who gladly put on the bad guy robe to make money, and in the case of dirty fighters, win. Fighters like Harry Greb, Fritzie Zivic, Sandy Saddler, Rocky Graziano, Jake LaMotta, Gene Fullmer, Mustapha Hamsho, Prince Nassim Hamed, Roberto Duran, Macho Camacho, and Joel Casamayor to name a few. There are many more, of course, and the reason or reasons they are sometimes placed on the side of evil can vary considerably. For some, it is simply because they are dirty fighters. What Margarito attempted to do took him far beyond simply being dirty. Some fighters do not intentionally try to be dirty, but the result is the same because they are so awkward and uncoordinated. Then some are placed on the negative side, because they want to be there. They like it there. They’re like little “Johnnie” in the classroom. The teacher is always reluctant to call upon Johnnie, because she knows the little bastard will make her blush as soon as he opens his mouth. Just like little Johnnie, these fighters use their personalities to purposely get the negative vote. They simply can’t help it. Finally, we have the ignoramuses, who delude themselves into thinking they’re clever or unique, when the truth is they’re just stupid.
As previously mentioned, the portrayal of evil is sometimes done unfairly. Dempsey was not a slacker. Schmeling was not a nazi. Graziano turned out to be a good guy. Ali proved to be a man of strong character, true to his convictions and one who gained a measure of humility. However, when the dye is first cast, a tremendous amount of pressure is placed on the fighter who represents “good”. He must win, or all of humanity, or at least those fans of the sport of boxing will suffer irreparable harm. It’s not enough that Manny will again be David again Goliath. He will also be Gabriel versus Lucifer, because of what Margarito attempted to do prior to his fight against Mosley.
Now, Floyd Mayweather, Jr., has usurped that title from Margarito. He has done so by once again revealing that he falls into the last category mentioned above. Pure and simple, he is a racist ignoramus, someone so full of evil stupidity that he deceives himself into believing he is just as adroit and mentally quick outside of the ring as in. His new name should be Foulweather. Whereas many tolerated and even admired Ali, because he was slick, sly, wily, and witty. Little Foulweather is more like something accreted to the bottom of our shoes. He’s a cretin, a stupid, vulgar, and insensitive person, a clod, and a lout. It was bad enough when he demonstrated extremely poor taste by flashing his wad of dough around, along with his bling bling and luxury cars. That could be dismissed as simply being gaudy, trashy, tawdry, and tacky. Now, he has crossed way over the line with his attempts to gain attention by his pretentious, racist behavior. He has cast a tenebrous, tenebrific, discrimatory gloom over the world of boxing and sports in general. As Robert Preston said in the movie, This Gun For Hire, Floyd should, “Go Milk a Duck!”