I did not watch the fight.
After a week in attendance at a conference, I was seeking to relax quietly at home. Then social media went abuzz. An on-line debate concerning sportsmanship began to blaze across my screen; an intense, polarizing debate.
Curious as to the impetus for such impassioned dialogue so late at night, I searched for highlights of the bout. I soon located a clip of the knockout sequence. I witnessed Victor Ortiz's head butt to Floyd Mayweather, Jr., a classless act. I was, however, grateful to see what appeared to be quick and genuine remorse from Ortiz as evidenced by a kiss to Mayweather's cheek, the bumping of gloves and a hug.
What followed that hug was one of the most repulsive acts of sportsmanship I have ever witnessed. While Ortiz was moving backwards from his embrace of Mayweather, and thus, had his hands down, not yet resuming a defensive posture, Mayweather leveled him, first with a left hook to the right jaw, then with a finishing right to the same jaw. The act was so repulsive it engendered a guttural response of "Oh, no!" from the television announcer.
Boxing is a brutal sport. Although I'm a fan, at times the sport's history has been marred with cheating and poor sportsmanship, be it the illegal wrapping of hands or intentional low blows. But for one fighter to level another when that fighter was not set to resume the bout is a tremendous low for sportsmanship in a sport ripe full of unsportsman-like conduct.
Some people have expressed the legality of Mayweather's punches. Fairness, not legality, is the order of the day here. When questioned about the fairness, not the legality, of his punches in a post-fight interview with Larry Merchant, who noted that Ortiz was still engaged in a "ceremony of apology," Mayweather promptly avoided the question by thanking all who purchased pay-per-view and those who travelled to Vegas. When pressed further, Mayweather responded, "It's protect yourself at all times... We not here to cry and complain about what he did dirty or what I did dirty. I was victorious."
When athletes become content with victory at all costs, even dirty play, it's a sign that the end of the sport's prominence is looming large. Legality doesn't necessarily equate with fair or good. In sports, while it is legal to run up the score, it is not considered good sportsmanship. In his first letter to the Corinthian Church, the Apostle Paul wrote, "You say, 'I am allowed to do anything' -- but not everything is good for you. You say, 'I am allowed to do anything' -- but not everything is beneficial." Legally winning dirty is clearly not beneficial to the sport of boxing or to boxing fans.
But this is much bigger than boxing. What happened in the ring Saturday night is a microcosm of what is taking place within this country. The state of manhood in America is increasingly troubled. A generation ago, the offended boxer would have committed himself to squarely, but fairly, beating in his opponent's head. Today, victory is claimed through less than noble devices.
Across demographics, men are displaying a lack of responsibility and accountability, gentlemanliness and class. In record number, men are abandoning the responsibility of raising their own children. Cowardly men are repeatedly assaulting women. Men are failing to pursue the opportunity to better themselves through the pursuit of higher education. Not only are men absent from the home and higher education -- they are absent from the church as well.
What is the impetus for the downturn of manhood in America? The problem is readily apparent. We have an emerging generation of men victimized by paternal absenteeism and the failure of an entire generation of men to nurture and raise their young boys. Concerning the death of the gentleman, sportsmanship and class in American society, this is the true culprit: the failure of the previous generation of men to properly raise and nurture their sons. This is unfortunately vividly illustrated in Floyd Mayweather, Jr.'s public and painful relationship with his father, Floyd Mayweather, Sr. While the senior Mayweather taught his son to fight, and to fight well, he failed to teach him how to be a gentleman.
In a recent Ebony Magazine article, "The Decline of the Elite Black Athlete," an open letter to Black male athletes, writer Kevin Powell articulates the impact of these failures upon present athletes and his generation. Powell writes, "Like many of you, I grew up with a single mother and an absent father in an impoverished ghetto environment with sports as one of the few outlets for my hopes and dreams, and my anger and frustrations, too." Powell further expresses the negative impact of this absence upon these athletes as expressed to him by Coach Tony Dungy. "Mr. Dungy has talked about the fact that so many of you have not had consistent father figures in your own lives. That is why... some of you truly struggle to be the men and role models we desperately need. Because you just do not know what to do, what to be, despite your fame and money."
The tattoo emblazoned upon the late Tupac Shakur's stomach, T.H.U.G. L.I.F.E., was an acronym that stood for "The Hate you give little infants f*** everyone." An entire generation of men has grown to exemplify this neglect. In the ring, Mayweather, Jr.'s evident neglect was displayed for the world to see. While Ortiz was floored, gentlemanliness, sportsmanship and class were assassinated.
Rest in peace.
Follow Michael W. Waters on Twitter: www.twitter.com/pastormwaters
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One notices, however, that old men insinuate themselves into all these situations en masse. Bees don't even like honey as much as old men like these concussion games. Old men hang on these events and their public relations onslaughts in gobs, mostly trying to buy importance.
We are led to believe that old men bring all kinds of heroic rectitude and sportsmanship to these situations. But we always learn that these valuable lessons of life never seem to cover coming clean about money corruption or sexual exploitation. Too bad there's no way to separate the 2000 or so old white men hangers on in sports for every one actual athlete.
I am humbled by such a tremendous response to this post. Thank you all for your comments! Please note that my contention is that there is a downturn in manhood in general, regardless of race and creed. While I have a particular interest in Black manhood, I am not exclusive in my claims.
Even if he tries to claim that Mayweather’s cold calculation of “controversy = more $” is part of the problem, I would counter that it’s no worse than trying to use the controversy of Mayweather’s fight to draw in readers so he can proffer his particular socio-political point of view to a larger audience.
It's not a decline of Black America; it's more of decline in sportmanship. Ortiz boxed dirty, pretty clear to me - and it takes two to tango by Floyd answering to box dirtier. Add the Cortez factor and it's chaos. Merchant was the sideshow with Mayweather giving it his signature flair of usual rudeness.
Well he got a bunch of men and he got their comments. One of the main reasons why preachers don't want MEN in their churches. When you have men in church you can't submit BS and tell them it is steak.
To equate Mayweather with Ali is an insult to Ali and reeks of a lukewarm understanding of Ali's import to sports and American history.
Mayweather stands for nothing, much less any religious convictions. He respects nothing but money. It's a disingenuous comparison.
I could say some more things (not so nice) about Mr Mayweather...but I won't go there.
... these words by the author are most telling, and I feel betray the real reason behind this writing ... given, that the author admits that he didn't see the fight, everything within his column concerning Mayweather, Ortiz and boxing should be discounted and thrown out ... what really should have been discussed are the reasons behind the absence of males in the pews and the lecture halls ... I can't blame the generations after mine for not going on to college, not because of the race-based hell I went through while matriculating, but I'm sure such experiences once retold might give a youngster pause about going to college ... let's face it, unless they've attended private prep/high schools, today's schools do not prepare the young for college ... most graduate with elementary school reading skills ... as for the lack of males in the pews, perhaps churches and pastors need to look into what drove them away moreso than taking pot-shots at their manhood, for as we all know, children are a reflection of their parents' skill in child-rearing ...
Unlike you, I actually saw the fight. Not only did Ortiz headbutt Mayweather, but when Mayweather turned to the ref right after, Ortiz tried to drive a left through Floyd's skull. Ortiz apologized, touched gloves hugged and the ref re-started the bout...both fighters were aware of this. Once time was in, was Floyd supposed to wait until Ortiz told him, "ok, I'm ready to fight."? Floyd took his instructions from the ref that the fight was on...if Ortiz...who was losing the fight at this point...chose to stall, with faux acts of contrition, in order to catch his breath, why should Floyd oblige? Ortiz had a chance when the first punch landed, and instead of defending himself, he looked to the ref to save him, and got introduced to the canvas. Floyd followed the rules, Ortiz didn't, so it's disheartening to see you condemn Floyd for it.
You could have picked more applicable examples to illustrate the problem. Frankly, I think your use of this fight to support your position is like trying to force a square peg into a round hole.