Even in exhibitions, no one can beat Floyd Mayweather

Mexico CityFloyd Mayweather rarely leaves Las Vegas, the city where he rose to fame and which now serves as his retirement refuge. That is why it was so surprising that he came to Mexico City to put on an exhibition. A performance like this, which is not a real fight in a country that is on fire with boxing, seemed like a crazy idea. The fighter who retired undefeated with fifty victories as a professional, sporadically leaves his confinement to put on these shows that generate too many millions for his already legendary fortune.

Furthermore, John Gotti III, the opponent on duty, is not a boxer in the strictest sense, but a character who comes from mixed martial arts and who only moved to boxing in 2020. If that wasn’t enough to attract attention, the last name he carries would do the trick; he is the grandson of the mafia boss with the same name who headed the Gambino organization in New York.

The response of the Mexican public would be an enigma. Would the 21,000 seats at the Mexico City Arena be filled? The bait would then be to try to recreate a bit of the atmosphere that these evenings usually have in the United States, with a gallery of famous people among the guests and ostentation to dazzle. The prices also wanted to emulate those functions, the most expensive ticket was sold for 128,000 pesos, although there were also seats for 165 pesos. With all that, the capacity ended up looking with an acceptable entrance of around eighty percent.

The public was angry at the poor performance before the main event. Especially when Victor Ortiz stepped into the ring to show off his performance against the Argentinean Damián Coria. It was just two men sparring without any intention of touching each other and with an obviously overweight Ortiz, although it was supposed to be a welterweight boxer, who could barely stand the eight rounds due to lack of air.

It was not until the preliminary fight of David “King” Picasso, who defeated Armenian Azat Hovhannisyan by unanimous decision to retain the World Boxing Council silver championship in super bantamweight, that boxing’s dignity arrived at the night.

Picasso provided the elegance and Hovhannisyan the courage. The Mexican displayed his technique with the beauty of an artist, but without the power necessary to cause damage. The Armenian complicated the fight from the sixth round onwards and managed to impose a fight on the short ground that did not favor Picasso’s style. Despite the difficulties that this entailed, the King was able to take the victory.

When the main act arrived, the first to enter the ring was Gotti III. He had to try to win over the local public, so he wore a bandana with the Mexican flag and his team wore jorongos with the sun stone on the front. He achieved something but was not convincing.

But tonight was Mayweather’s night and no one could steal the spotlight from him. Floyd came in his most colorful version of a Mexican with a tricolor jorongo and accompanied by the singer of corridos tumbados Natanael Cano. The American danced and followed the rhythm of the piece as if he had been born in Sinaloa and not in his native Michigan, as if it didn’t matter that in his career he mercilessly dispatched eight fighters born in this country, among them Saúl “Canelo” Álvarez, Juan Manuel Márquez and José Luis Castillo.

Mayweather has always been a spoiled brat. And now that it is not an official fight, he did what he wanted, he complained to referee Hector Afu and pushed him when he was warned. The man in long pants could not stand such insolence and decided to leave the ring. Another referee had to step in to fill the role. There were no winners, because this was not a real fight.

What did happen was that Mayweather got his wish. He organized a mass exhibition in a country deeply linked to boxing. There was no fight, just a stage show, and he won millions, many millions, and he hardly had to do anything.