For Floyd Mayweather Jr., the number 48 symbolises his solidified status as the best fighter of his generation. For Manny Pacquiao, perhaps it’s a fatalistic sign to choose an ironically simpler path into politics. But personally, Mayweather’s record represents 48 victories against an invisible opponent. An opponent he may or may not be conscious of each time he steps in the ring.
First and foremost, I’d like to denounce all allegiances to Floyd Mayweather’s entourage, “The Money Team”. I neither like nor dislike Mayweather, and the smallest fibres of my brain somehow suspect that he’s not even aware of my existence. But throughout his career, I have always respected the countless number of plaudits he receives for his technical and cognitive boxing skills. Often, I have heard him referred to as ‘The Most Intelligent Boxer of All-Time’ or a ‘Master Technician in the Ring’. As we can see from his easy victory against Pacquiao, such praise is obviously justified.
Given the large emphasis placed on the physical attributes of black sports stars, these compliments are refreshing to hear. It’s great that we are closely associated with power and pace, but this becomes a serious issue when collectively we are seen to be deficient in our technical and more importantly, mental abilities.
The appreciation for Mayweather’s mental skill-set strikes a long contrast to the description of Jack Johnson, the first African-American world-heavyweight boxing champion in the Jim Crow era. The former champion was characterized as a ‘menacing, black brute’ by the US media. Admittedly, the styles and weight-classes of Mayweather and Johnson are contradictory. Mayweather – a cautious, quick counter-punching welterweight, Johnson – a brazen and aggressive heavyweight similar to Mike Tyson. But such a description is inexcusable. Sadly, offensive stereotypes have navigated their way through the years into other sports…
Sport: Football Location: Brazil World Cup 2014 Match: Ghana vs USA
With Ghana facing the tough task of beating the USA to progress into the next stage of the World Cup, panic was starting to set in. Their passing was sloppy. Some of the defending – clumsy. I knew it. They knew it. Even my Mum knew it. As a Nigerian and West African rival, I am ashamed to say that a sick part of me derived a worryingly high level of pleasure from this spectacle. But this all changed after hearing what can only be simply described as word vomit from the commentator Robbie Savage.
His criticism was valid. However, the same cannot be said for his choice of words. One of the keywords which he kept using to describe Ghana’s play was naïve.
To me, the word naïve is what you say about a young kid who takes sweets from strangers. It’s a term reserved for those that would trust a serial-killer with a machete. The absent-minded. Not only does such a word have connotations of immaturity, it gives birth to feelings of inferiority. It is a word so often targeted at black athletes in the sporting world and unfortunately so often overlooked.
We are not fools. We are not brutes.
There should be no reference to skin colour when we speak about cognitive and technical abilities – both inside and outside of sport. Skill levels of athletes depend solely upon the individual, not their ethnic category. In Las Vegas, Mayweather displayed a boxing IQ far surpassing the page of any Harry Potter book. As he draws a curtain on his career, let’s remember him for something other than his nickname.
