Floyd Mayweather, JR: TMZ’s Character Assassination
By Geno McGahee
Domestic violence, assault and battery, attempted murder, racial slurs, and the list goes on and on as the coverage of the outside of the ring Floyd Mayweather, JR., continues, but how much is real and how much is the typical sensationalistic nonsense that we have grown accustomed to?
TMZ released a recent video of an altercation between Floyd and a security guard that was unwilling to allow the champion fighter access to his home without presenting an ID. In the video, Floyd contends that the security does not challenge others that live there but have opted to pick him out to harass. Eventually, Floyd gets out of the vehicle and presents an ID and is allowed entry. It is really a nothing video without much going on outside of an irritable Floyd dealing with a security guard that may have tweaked him just for kicks.
When you examine TMZ and the content where they basically chase around celebrities and spread negative news about them, you have to understand that they have no reason to tell the truth and would prefer to report rumors, especially if they are hurtful. Britney Spears, Lindsay Lohan, and recently Miley Cyrus have been subjects of the show, featuring them as drunks, drug addicts or whores, and whether they are or not doesn’t really matter. It sells.
Harvey Levin, the producer of the show is a complete sleaze. You only have to listen to him talk for two minutes to realize just how much of a bad person he is and what his motivations are.
If you don’t know him by name, you will know him by face if you have ever watched The People’s Court. He is the annoying and patronizing jerk that talks down to those surrounding him in New York City, asking them what they think of the case. He is also featured on TMZ on TV, spreading the dirt, real or manufactured, involving celebrities or world figures. It is the National Enquirer of our time and it is selling. There are enough bored housewives to tune in and support this nonsense, and now they have focused on Floyd Mayweather, JR.
Levin got himself into some legal hot water years ago, during the OJ Simpson murder trial, when he wrongfully reported that Prosecutor Marcia Clark was searching Simpson’s home before a search warrant was issued. He apologized and retracted the story, but does no retractions now. The rules have gone out the window and now we are just entirely about the negative.
Mayweather, JR., has made himself an easy target. With Mike Tyson out of circulation, but it should also be noted that TMZ had a field day with him as well, Floyd is the new angry fighter that is out of control. It has been said that the media builds up people so that they can tear them down and that is absolutely true as long as garbage “journalism” like TMZ exists.
Make no mistake here. Floyd did himself zero favors in the public’s eye with some of his antics. Some people were irritated by his “Money” Mayweather persona, but most of those offended were too dense to realize that it’s just a character and it was created to sell tickets. Muhammad Ali understood that you needed the story, the character, the villain, and Floyd adopted it and implemented it and it worked like a charm. Typically, a fighter like Floyd, as good as he is, doesn’t make the money that he makes, because they are not exciting inside of the ring. He may not be exciting inside the ring, but his persona was interesting enough to compel the masses.
The boxing public is very frustrated with Floyd because he is hesitant to face Manny Pacquiao, or so it seems. The anger directed toward Floyd turned into masses upon masses of message board commentary, calling Floyd a coward and sometimes, things that are far worse. Mayweather, JR., is not immune to the criticism and responded in a rash and stupid way, using racial slurs in reference to Filipinos and Manny Pacquiao. He later apologized, but the damage was done and most still point to this.
We have a former disgruntled employee of Floyd’s accusing him of running him off the road in Vegas, the mother of his child claiming domestic abuse and theft, and another security guard claiming assault and battery. This is too much for TMZ to resist. They don’t care if it is true or not. In fact, even if they know it’s false, they will proceed.
Case in point would be Oscar De La Hoya in fishnets. The pictures were supposedly taken by a stripper of the “Golden Boy” in drag, and posing with boxing gloves here and there, and TMZ ran the story, BUT anyone with any photoshop skill or anyone that has functioning eyes can see that the pictures scream fake and they turned out to be just that. Surprise, surprise, but it didn’t matter how it would affect the career of Oscar or his family life. TMZ ran it because it would sell and they are now shifting the focus to Floyd, and you have to take everything that they report with a grain of salt. It’s mostly nonsense.
In the end, you cannot blame TMZ alone. They are just one of many scummy bottom feeders that get readers through some deception and a lot of stretched truths with little regard for the people that they may hurt in the process. TMZ is just one of many shows that promote the worst and if it doesn’t exist, they will manufacture it.
The only good thing that is coming from all of this negative Floyd press is that we know it bothers him and it may just prompt him to act sooner rather than later and face Manny Pacquiao in the ring. Even with all of these distractions and time off, I still suspect that Mayweather would win, and that victory would be the good news that he needed to get himself back on track in the public’s eye and perhaps all of the bottom feeders out there will shift focus away from him to their next victim.