There are more than a few similarities between Floyd J Mayweather and Donald J Trump, the best pugilist of his and very arguably any era, and the maybe a billionaire frequently bankrupted reality tv host turned PEOTUS.
Top of the list, both men know how to play the media like a trombone.
They press buttons, they make noise, they make headlines.
Rinse and repeat, rinse and repeat.
I saw Mayweather in action all fight week in New York, as the pound for pound King, currently on hiatus I mean retired, and was impressed with his ability, as I am Trump, to play the media.
Floyd borrows some from the Trump playbook–or is it DJT who takes from TBE?–in that he offers up a semi filtered stream of consciousness monologue which contains newsworthy or incendiary or trash talky tidbits which get people talking. When Floyd starts talking about the strip club he’s opening in a few weeks in Vegas, he likely knows some find that off putting, being that he’s done a stint for getting in a fight with his ex. He cares not a bit. It’s Sinatra style, doing it his way, same as Trump, to hell with the naysayers.
Floyd also keeps us off balance, checking our notes from the week before, by changing his mood and mind. One day, no, one minute, he says he is happy in retirement then the next he says the right sized check will bring him back.
On Saturday night, the fight game Sinatra sort talked to interrogator Jim Gray on Showtime and Gray asked Floyd about the prospect of him taking on another master media handler, UFC’s Conor McGregor, in a boxing match. Said Floyd, “I don’t know what Dana White said, I don’t know what he…well, the best thing to do is look up how much money Conor McGregor has made, then look how much Floyd Mayweather has made, and then we can make that fight happen.”
Wait, what?
I heard him the other day say he didn’t miss boxing a bit and was more than happy doing the promoter thing…
“You want that fight?” Gray asked.
“Um, I’m a businessman when all is said and done,” Mayweather said. “Absolutely.”
Pretty masterful, it must be admitted.
Will he? Won’t he? Why don’t he?
Like Trump said when asked about when he’d pick a certain cabinet member, I like to keep them guessing.
Same with Floyd.
It allows the people to have a more vested interest, to weigh in, to debate other fans or fans debate haters.
It keeps him relevant.
Absolutely.
