Larry Brown Sports

When it comes to fan tribute tattoos to an athlete, it doesn’t get much more elaborate than this.

Floyd Mayweather Jr. shared this picture on his Instagram account on Tuesday, and it’s clear this fan went all out with the tattoo dedicated to the boxer. You have Floyd in the middle with a boxing glove on one hand and his championship belt hanging over his shoulder. What looks like Floyd’s white Bentley is in the foreground, and the MGM Grand where Mayweather fights is in the background.

The back tattoo is an entire tribute to Las Vegas as well as Floyd. The famous “Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas” sign is on the top left, “Sin City” is inscribed at the top, as is a Route 66 highway sign. The Hard Rock Hotel guitar is in the middle, the Bellagio with the fountain spraying water is below that, and to the right is the Paris hotel’s balloon and what appears to be the Excalibur’s castle behind that. Also in the foreground is a roulette wheel, hand of cards showing a royal flush, dice, and some gambling chips.

This guy really didn’t leave anything out. How does it compare to all the other fan tribute tattoos we’ve shared here at LBS?

When it comes to crazy fans and athlete tribute tattoos, you never know what — or who — you might find. If social media has taught us anything, it’s that there’s a big enough fan out there for almost every professional athlete. Charlie Villanueva may not be one of the best players in the NBA, but that didn’t stop one Detroit Pistons fan from getting an incredibly-detailed portrait of the former UConn Husky on his upper arm.

As you can see from the photo above that SB Nation’s Detroit Bad Boys passed along, a commenter shared his tattoo during a comment thread in the middle of a recent Pistons game. Villanueva found out about the ink and was flattered enough to share it on his Instagram account.

Frightening? Yes, but aren’t they all? It doesn’t matter if it’s Stephon Marbury in China, James Harden’s beard or Dirk Nowitzki’s face on a dude’s ass, all of these tribute tattoos are over the top in their own way.

H/T SI Hot Clicks

People love a sixth man with a beard. If you didn’t know that prior to the 2011-2012 NBA season, you know it now. During Oklahoma City’s run to the NBA Finals, James Harden became the most popular bench player in the league. Part of it was the 16.8 points per game and the clutch shooting, but most of it was the beard. We have seen a lot of Harden tributes over the past several months, but the one you see above that Black Sports Online shared with us is by far the most frightening.

We were fine with Harden’s beard made into a cake, arranged out of fruits or plastered on the entrance of a building. Now, it has gone too far. We’ve shown you some scary athlete tribute tattoos over the years here at LBS, but this is easily one of the most disturbing. Are those bits of toilet paper in his beard? Did the artist quit before it was finished? These are the questions.

H/T SI Hot Clicks

Believe it or not, Stephon Marbury has actually captured the hearts of a number of people in China. His Beijing Ducks currently hold a 3-1 series lead over Guangdong and are one win away from their first CBA title in franchise history. Yes, Stephon has even led the way. As shocking as it may be to those of us who remember NBA Stephon, he is loved enough in China that a fan actually has a tattoo of Starbury’s face on his leg. That’s what you’re looking at in the disturbing image above that I Am A GM discovered on Weibo, which is the Chinese version of Twitter.

If you thought athlete face tattoos like this one, this one, or this one were frightening, this may have just rocked your world. The “Love is Love” was the icing on the cake for me. When someone in a foreign country gets a tattoo of your face on their leg, it’s probably safe to say you’ve resurrected your career.

Just when it felt like everyone in America hated LeBron James, we’ve learned that is not the case. As Black Sports Online pointed out, fan Nathan Blackhall got a portrait of LeBron James tattooed on his leg:

Blackhall tweeted the picture to James who said in response “Oh damn! That’s how u feel. I appreciate the love.” With all the hate LeBron’s received, it’s no surprise he was stunned to get the Brett Keisel treatment from the fan.

Blackhall got plenty of ridicule on twitter but remained confident he made the right move. He kept saying that he’s a big fan and that LeBron is a future Hall of Famer. Hey, good for Blackhall — he better be confident he made the right decision because he now has a permanent portrait of Josh Smith on his leg for the rest of his life. Hope he’s satisfied. On the bright side, it could have been much worse.

Remember that time we showed you the Oakland Raiders fan who had tattoos all over his face?  L.B. referred to that artwork as a “commitment to ugliness,” and if you look at the pictures of the crazed fan I’m sure you’ll agree.  On Wednesday, SI Hot Clicks passed along a story about a fan who also committed to ugliness using a tattoo, only his is a little less noticeable.  The wearer of the ink, a Steelers fan named Johnny Manesini, thought it would be a good idea to get an extremely detailed Brett Keisel tattoo across his forearm.  Check out this picture from Clutch Blog:

From an artistry standpoint, that is top-notch work.  The tattoo looks exactly like Keisel and the detail is amazing.  But like our friend Jimmy Traina noted, would you really want to commit to a picture of Brett Keisel’s mug on your arm for the rest of your life?  Keisel is one scary looking dude.  At least the Steelers are good and Manesini isn’t stuck with a tattoo of a crummy team’s logo on his head like this guy.  For the record, we aren’t sure if the tattoo is one of Billy Hilly’s freebies he was dishing out leading up to the Super Bowl, but I doubt it.