A lot has been said about Floyd Mayweather, Jr.’s retirement. Is he coming back to break Rocky Marciano’s record? Is he one of history’s greats? Is this good or bad for boxing?
Well, who better than Oscar De La Hoya to summarize Floyd’s career and retirement? In an open letter that will be published in Playboy Magazine’s December edition, the 1992 Olympic winner shared his thoughts about Floyd, and hit him right in the gut.
The Mexican-American fighter talked about Floyd’s infamous running in the ring, as well of outside of it.
“Let’s face it: You were boring. Just take a look at your most recent performance, your last hurrah in the ring, a 12-round decision against Andre Berto. How to describe it? A bust? A disaster? A snooze fest?” asks the Golden Boy.
“Another reason boxing is better off without you: You were afraid. Afraid of taking chances. Afraid of risk. A perfect example is your greatest ‘triumph,’ the long-awaited record-breaking fight between you and Manny Pacquiao. Nearly 4.5 million buys! More than $400 million in revenue! Headlines worldwide! How can that be bad for boxing? Because you lied. You promised action and entertainment and a battle for the ages, and you delivered none of the above,” he continues.
Oscar also states that Floyd’s only real merit and legacy in the sport will be one of making the most money. Despite having the best defensive game in boxing in many years, Mayweather was always afraid of losing, so he never put it to test like he should have.
According to De La Hoya, Floyd’s talk also fell very short of being close to the sharpness and wit that the great Muhammad Ali possessed. All in all, Floyd’s greatest accomplishment was to disappoint fans fight after fight, just so everyone would hate him even more. Floyd simply figured out fans disliked him so much, they were willing to pay to see him lose, despite the lack of in-ring excitement he brought.
Read whole letter here.