LAS VEGAS — Floyd Mayweather has been fighting toe-to-toe more often as he has gotten older. But he was in a full backpedal on Wednesday, apologizing to those he might have offended when he said the NFL overreacted by indefinitely suspending Ravens running back Ray Rice.
“If I offended anyone, I apologize,” Mayweather said on Wednesday while speaking to reporters following a formal press conference for his fight Saturday night against Marcos Maidana of Argentina at the MGM Grand Garden Arena. “I apologize to the NFL. I’m not perfect. I strive to be a perfectionist, but no one is perfect. I don’t condone what happened. Of course not.”
Whether Mayweather’s apology was sincere is anyone’s guess. But maybe boxing’s pound-for-pound king is starting to realize there are boundaries even he can’t cross. Maybe he has encountered enough lawsuits and bad press to understand even though he’s guaranteed to make $30 million for fighting Maidana, there will come a point when the buying public will say enough is enough and decide not to spend $50-$60 to watch him on pay-per-view.
There has always been an arrogance and flamboyance associated with fighters. Their bravado allows them to get away with language and actions that aren’t always politically correct. Outlandish behavior and comments are often encouraged. Their education comes mainly from the streets of hard knocks.
But as Mayweather, 37, prepares for his fourth fight of a massive $250 million deal with CBS/Showtime, he finds his brand being threatened by actions that stem mostly from his own behavior and comments.
During the week of his first fight with Maidana last May, Mayweather took some heat for saying former Clippers owner Donald Sterling “wasn’t a bad guy” despite the release of Sterling’s racist rants. A few days later, Mayweather earned more bad press for posting a picture on Instagram of a sonogram with wording accusing his former fiancée Shantel Jackson of aborting their unborn twins. Jackson is now suing Mayweather for physical abuse and humiliating her in public.
The timing of Jackson’s civil lawsuit, filed nine days before the rematch with Maidana, was orchestrated to generate headlines. Now Mayweather has created his own bad press by suggesting the NFL should have stuck to its original two-game suspension of Rice despite the emergence of the most recent video.
Of course, Mayweather is about the last person who should be critical of penalties for domestic violence. His own criminal résumé includes a two-month stay in a Las Vegas jail in 2012 on domestic abuse charges.
“I’m not even an NFL player. I’m a boxer,” Mayweather wanted to remind everyone on Wednesday. “That’s what I do for a living. I’m just trying to focus on the fight. That’s my main focus. My thing isn’t to focus on anyone else’s problems. I’ve got this tough rugged fighter in front of me. That’s what I need to focus on.”
Mayweather (46-0, 26 KOs) needs to deliver an impressive performance to erase any doubt Maidana is a threat to his unbeaten record. Mayweather rallied to win three of the last four rounds last May to earn a majority decision. Maidana (35-4, 31 KOs) asked for a rematch and got it basically because, other than Manny Pacquiao, there are few other worthy candidates for Mayweather to fight.
This rematch hasn’t generated the buzz that normally surrounds a Mayweather bout and the bad press he has received may further diminish pay-per-view sales that are already slumping. That’s not a good combination for those who must pay Mayweather in excess of $60 million for two more fights. Maybe that’s why he was finally apologizing.