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By Sean Crose
Floyd Mayweather was trending on Twitter Sunday morning. But it wasn’t because of a recent fight – at least not exactly. For the pound for pound king had apparently been involved in a bit of chaos at the Fatburger restaurant in Vegas in the early hours of Sunday morning.
According to TMZ, the rapper T.I. approached Mayweather and started verbally laying into the pound for pound king. Then T.I. went ahead and did what at least 46 other men have done before – he took a swing at Money. Bodyguards for both guys then apparently jumped in and separated the two.
That didn’t keep things from getting further out of hand, though. If TMZ is to be believed, a mini-riot of sorts subsequently broke out within the establishment. Chairs were thrown, people screamed, and an employee was hurt. The employee, for the record, wouldn’t talk. Omerta may no longer be present in the current ranks of the mafia, but it’s apparently still practiced in other circles.
As for TMZ: say what you will about an outlet which is known to break gossip news faster than FOX and CNN can break a special report, the people there often have solid evidence to back their stories up. And, true to form, TMZ presented video of the Fatburger instanity on it’s site Sunday.
It’s hard to tell what’s going on, really. Truth be told, it’s a pretty wild and dangerous scene to be getting a view of. You can catch a glimpse of Floyd and even hear his voice. Those who would suspect, or hope to see, the man fall apart under such frightening circumstances will be sadly disappointed…the guy is cool as ice. As always.
Sure, his gander is up, as they used to say, but Floyd appears well in control of his faculties. In other words, the dude’s not falling to pieces. That doesn’t mean he doesn’t appear angry, though. He can be clearly seen – and heard – yelling at an unidentified person amidst the whirlwind of chaos. “You control your bitch, motherf—-r!” is the phrase he employs.
It’s difficult to say what started this idiocy. T.I. has at least a small history of being involved in public disturbances. Last month he confronted the LAPD outside a club in California because he thought they had beaten up members of his entourage.
They hadn’t.
As has been widely reported, however, Mayweather is known to have intentionally marketed himself to America’s (and the world’s) hip hop culture. Bob Arum, if reports are to be believed, wanted to make Mayweather into an all American hero years ago. Mayweather, however, chose to go another route.
It’s good to keep in mind, though, that men like Muhammad Ali, Sugar Ray Leonard, and Evander Holyfield never seemed to find themselves in such situations during their respective heydays. Nor do you hear of fighters like Shawn Porter, Timothy Bradley or Bernard Hopkins find themselves in such situations today (Hopkins’ troubled past is long behind him).
Of course Floyd’s choice of association may have had nothing to do with Sunday’s events. Famous people are often targets, after all. It’s good to keep in mind, too, that no one’s reporting that Floyd himself did anything violent or illegal. Boxing’s current king might want to take what transpired at Fatburger as a lesson, however, as his eventual departure from boxing grows near. Trouble, after all, should often be avoided – if it can be avoided at all.
