The Winners and Losers of the Mayweather/Paul Event

By Spencer Washington

Floyd Mayweather is undefeated; both in his literal boxing record and his position as the highest paid boxer of his generation. Last Sunday, he faced one of the two emerging YouTuber turned boxer Paul brothers in Logan Paul. This main event was an exhibition match, so no formal winner was announced. Still, despite the lack of a formal announcement, there were many that walked away feeling triumphant, defeated, and outright robbed by the experience.

The night opened similarly to most Paul brothers & boxing events with a heavyweight hip hop performance. The Migos came out ahead of their Friday release of the long awaited album, Culture 3, with probably the most eyes they could have attracted for promotion. With several thousands of pay per-views sold, this was easily a good look for them to gain some momentum for their forthcoming project. Moneybagg Yo also got some shine as he

walked Floyd out to a song off of his latest album release. These performances seem to be indicative of the heavy cultural presence of hip hop at these celebrity boxing events.

A star-studded (yet oddly minimal) crowd was also in attendance for this event held in the Hard Rock Stadium in Miami. Rappers Lil Baby, G-Eazy, and Busta Rhymes were among those in the building. Former athletes like Matt Barnes, Terrell Owens, Zab Judah and Evander Holyfield were there, as well as movie stars like Rosie Perez and Cuba Gooding Jr. The stars in the crowd were amongst the many spectacles of the night to keep those that are not hardcore boxing fans entertained at home. Unfortunately, this is where most of the entertainment stopped for many viewers...…except for us here at the Freshmix Magazine. We must give much love and thanks to Dominique and her team at CMPR, Inc (https://www.cmpr-inc.com/) for inviting us to witness chutzpah in the flesh, because that was truly dope! And a special S/O goes to I Am Phreshy (https://iamphreshybrand.com/) for being the PLUG to the PLUG...….many thanks, man!

In the first fight of the night, we saw retired NFL wide receiver, Chad “Ochocinco”

Johnson against former MMA fighter, Brian Maxwell. This fight was a coming out party for another former team sport athlete to venture into celebrity boxing. Just like his

predecessor, former NBA star Nate Robinson; he tasted the canvas, getting knocked down in the fourth and last round of the exhibition. Still, despite the sloppy flow of the fight and the quick chin check in the fourth round, Johnson fared better than Nate by showing some clear boxing IQ in the ring. While this felt like a nice one-time bucket list experiment for the retired athlete, it ended in the begrudging callout of another crossover spectacle star in Conor McGregor. While this fight would be another money maker for both combatants, it is a far fetched idea to think this would be the competitive next match up for McGregor who is pursuing a bonafide UFC title after his upcoming fight with #1 lightweight contender, Dustin Poirier.

The next two boxing matches were different from the others in that they were actual professional matches. The most excitement came from the Jarrett Hurd vs Luis Arias fight where the latter was able to land a consistent overhand right over the ironically coined “Mayweather shoulder roll” defense of the former. The next pro fight was Badou Jack vs Dervin Colina where the latter was coming in as a last minute replacement. Unfortunately, this fight was a very one sided affair as Colina could have benefited from more of a heads up based on his lackluster performance.

Finally, the main event comes! The excitement is in the air as the outclassed former Disney child star and current YouTube personality will face the greatest boxer of our time, Floyd Mayweather Jr. Despite Paul having the youth, height, and twenty plus pound weight advantage, this was supposed to be a walk in the park win for seasoned veteran Mayweather. It was every expert’s prediction that Floyd would make easy work of Paul and knock him out much to the delight of all those that spent their money to see this spectacle right? Wrong. While Mayweather had his way according to the compubox punch stats,

people did not show up to count infrequent punches being landed within a hugging match. To say the outcome of this fight was disappointing would be an understatement. We were actually confused for a moment because the fight ended abruptly with no winner announced!

Despite the vocal dissatisfaction with the event by viewers on social media, most of the participants in Sunday night’s event walked away triumphant. We walked away dumbfounded, yet rightfully entertained. A special S/O goes out to DJ Irie (http://djirie.com/) for keeping the crowd alive and full of energy! The Migos walked away with great album promotion ahead of their Friday release, Chad Johnson faired better than most thought he would after getting up from a knock down, Moneybagg Yo continued to promote his project via walking Mayweather out to one of his new songs and underrated vocalist Avery Wilson shined with his bright voice and even brighter gold suit jacket singing the national anthem.

The biggest of winners included Logan Paul, who got to fight one of the best boxers of all time without actually having deserved it in the eyes of most hardcore boxing fans. While he won a moral victory going the distance, I can understand critics being upset seeing a former Disney child star with limited boxing experience get this once in a lifetime shot. And of course, what would a boxing main event be without Floyd “Money” Mayweather getting paid more than most athletes can even imagine.

In a self described “legal heist,” Floyd showed us that he is a true prize fighter with a big emphasis on getting his monetary prize…..without necessarily providing a crowd pleasing performance. While most casual fans walked away feeling like they lost money, the stock of celebrity boxing had undoubtedly risen that night. The integrity of boxing to real boxers and fanatics alike took a slight hit, but we can all agree that the sport has been put on a higher pedestal through events like these.

Since boxing promoters cannot give us our dream fights, we may as well enjoy these

celebrity fantasy matchups. The magic is up close and personal, though.........