Even though 50 Cent and Floyd Mayweather Jr. are no longer as close as they used to be, 50 still has his former best friend’s back when it comes to boxing debates.
The rapper joined ESPN’s “First Take” Thursday and was asked about the elusive Mayweather-Manny Pacquiao dream fight that never happened. Though host Skip Bayless tried to put words in 50’s mouth by asking a loaded question, the rapper said Mayweather is not scared of Pacquiao.
“He’s not afraid of Pacquiao or any fighter,” 50 answered in response to a question about how afraid Mayweather was of losing to Pac-Man.
50 explained that Mayweather looks at his fights as a businessman and takes a measured approach when selecting opponents.
“It’s more of him saying who I have to fight. At this point, it’s more him sorting out who’s the perfect opponent than him fighting the toughest fighter to fight.”
50 Cent confirmed what most boxing fans already knew — Mayweather doesn’t pick what will be the most thrilling fight, but the one where he can maximize revenue while minimizing his risks.
He further elaborated on Mayweather’s mentality, explaining that the biggest impediment to the superfight was Mayweather’s stubbornness.
“He concentrates on how much someone else is getting paid opposed to how much he is actually getting paid,” said 50. “He sees himself in a space that nobody else sees himself in, and that he’s so high on top of it that he shouldn’t actually give some of the other great fighters at this point.
“That’s $100 million and he just left it.”
50 also said he would have picked Mayweather to win had the two fought.
Most people have picked up on ESPN’s promotional tag line and spun this interview as 50 saying Mayweather “ducked” Pacquiao, but that’s not exactly how I see it. 50 is saying that Mayweather is not scared of Pacquiao or any fighter. The term “ducked” only was brought up because of Bayless. According to 50, the biggest reason the fight didn’t happen is because Mayweather didn’t want Pacquiao to get filthy rich off of it, which was evident based on Floyd refusing to give Manny a cut of the pay-per-view or split the purse 50-50. To use a cliche, Floyd cut off his nose to spite his face, which is why fans have been so frustrated with him.
You can watch the interview below:
