Floyd Mayweather, pictured here with 50 Cent, seems to be everyone’s favorite villain these days (Photo: WarmJello.com)

By Vitali Shaposhnikov

With every hero, comes a villain. And if there are no true villains available, one of the heroes will have to become the antagonist to all that is good.

While there is sufficient proof that Mayweather is far from being the sinner that part of the boxing community believes him to be, due to his questionable behavior and career choices, many boxing fans crave his loss. Being the businessman that he is, Mayweather takes full advantage of the situation, making people pay a premium for the hope to see the villain fall.

In a recent interview with the Huffington Post, 50 Cent explained how Mayweather arrived at his image, and why it makes him the highest paid athlete in the world:

“The route we went with marketing made some people not like Floyd,” 50 stated. “Because we decided to be The Money Team in the middle of a recession, and not being conscious of everyone else’s financial struggle at that point is a complete disconnect.”

Setting money on fire, the ludicrous spending, and the unquenchable lavish lifestyle cause not only media frenzy, but also a dislike of the arrogant character that is Floyd Mayweather.

With all that being said, isn’t that what the majority of popular entertainment consists of?

“What does a prize fighter fight for?” asked 50 Cent. “You fight for prize. The reason why they’re taking note and the pay-per-view numbers are going up at the same time is because people want to see him lose.”

Mayweather has made the sport of boxing richer, and undoubtedly more popular. When someone claims that the sport of boxing is dead, all it takes is The Money Team to prove them wrong.

Vitali Shaposhnikov can be reached at vitalifightpress@gmail.com