Marquez-Mayweather: No lion, free tickets, apathy, strictly "B" List

"I don't worry about no fighter. Fighters have to worry about me. I can adjust and I can adapt.

"People seem to forget, I fought Ricky Hatton when he was undefeated and I laid down the blueprint for how to beat him.

"And again, when you look at the tape of when Hatton fought Manny Pacquiao, when Pacquiao hit him he wasn't even looking when he threw the punch. He threw a Hail Mary punch.

"I'm not saying Pacquiao's not a good fighter. I'm not saying that I'm the only star in boxing. There are other stars in boxing. But there's only one mega-superstar."--FLOYD MAYWEATHER JR, DELUSIONAL FIGHTER.

A “B” movie is one with no proven film stars and a smaller budget.

The “B’ team is composed of second stringer, non starters.

“B” List celebrities are decidedly lower case, the ones who can’t make the cut for the “A” List.

At the end of the day, that’s all that Juan Manuel Marquez-Floyd Mayweather Jr. fight Saturday night really is, one Side “B” fighter against another Side “B” fighter.

Mayweather shouts from the rooftops that he is boxing’s one and only “mega star.”

Now L’il Floyd is, I suppose, entitled to his illusions of grandeur but it’s easy to puncture his balloon by pointing out some relevant facts:

Fact 1: On the down low, promoter Golden Boy is dishing out free tickets to the MGM Grand Arena, looking to put more asses in the seats when the cameras roll.

Fact 2: Mexicans have never embraced Juan Ma, the chilango from the nation’s capital, as a fistic icon the same way they did Erik Morales and Marco Antonio Barrera.

Fact 3: Mexican Independence Day was last night (Tuesday). I enjoyed some mariachi music, a snort of Don Julio anejo and some cecina steak tacos at Mama Mexico’s here in White Harlem but how many people can afford to extend the celebration all the way to Saturday? Weekend jaunts to Vegas are way down from both Mexico and Los Angeles which is another reason the live gate receipts are anemic for this show. All this with room rates at record lows even at the fanciest hotel-casinos.

Fact 4: Where is it written that, without Manny Pacquiao, Barrera or Morales attached to his name, that Juan Ma is a PPV fighter anyway? He looked sharp in toying with overrated and underachieving Juan Diaz, yes, but that was on regular HBO. If anyone thought that could’ve been peddled on PPV, it would have been.

Fact 5: Mayweather as the devil you know and love to hate may be an act that is wearing thin with the public. PBF sees himself as the ring hero of the Hip Hop thimble world, good for him although Rick Ross begs to differ. Let’s see how many black faces will be paying customers in the arena Saturday night because it won’t be many. It may be unverifiable but I don’t think PBF gets broad support on PPV from black Americans either.

Fact 6: What proves that Mayweather remains a “B” side guy is the PPV numbers he and GBP like to brag about came because he was attached to proven PPV commodities named de la Hoya and Hatton.

Fact 7: Where are the boxing heroes who are out there in public touting Marquez’s chances to win? New School promoter GBP doesn’t get it. Warhorse Bob Arum would’ve trotted out someone like El Gran Campeon Julio Cesar Chavez to tout Juan Ma. Instead, we get hoary clichés from Oscar whose credibility in Mexico is not great.

In an age of diminished expectations, I still hope this is an entertaining fight. From Mayweather’s viewpoint, he needs to rock the house and then mount the rostrum and call out the Pacquiao-Miguel Cotto winner.

The feeling persists that the creaking as he nears age 37 Juan Ma is collecting his final big payday, nothing more, nothing less.

Marquez will never surrender but his handler, Nacho Beristain, might do so for him.

You remember Manny and Miguel, right?

They’re “A” Listers. They’ve got a nearly sold out live gate for Nov. 14. No ducats will be given away.

Only “B” Listers have to give their product away.

Source: http://www.examiner.com/x-5699-NY-Boxing-Examiner~y2009m9d16-No-lion-apathy-free-tickets--MarquezMayweather-is-strictly-B-List