Floyd Mayweather, John Gotti III ‘Brawl’ felt WWE-ish
Staged. Scripted. Planned.
Those words came to mind when I saw the Internet (over)reacting to Floyd Mayweather and John Gotti III, the grandson of American gangster John Gotti, coming to blows in the middle of the ring Sunday night after both fighters got disqualified in their exhibition match.
These days, it’s hard to decipher what’s real from what’s fake. But I’m lived through enough viral moments to know when someone is trying to create one before my very eyes.
Admittedly, the fight, which was being billed as a clash of their family’s famous last names, wasn’t on my radar until I saw Mayweather was trending and wondered why. Let’s be clear, Mayweather only chooses opponents to fight in exhibitions he knows he can easily defeat. We all know this. It’s an obvious money grab. That’s what all of his exhibition fights have been about.
He fights fighters who have no chance of beating him. Both fighters get paid, and everyone involved goes about their lives richer than they were before the fight. It’s a win-win situation for all parties.
Wash. Rinse. Repeat.
Mayweather, who finished his career with a perfect 50-0 record, has been running this play since he retired from boxing. Yet, you’ll still get played. When I saw the video of Gotti trying to fight Mayweather even after veteran referee Kenny Bayless stopped the fight, albeit in a controversial fashion, in Round 6, I thought something looked fishy.
It’s almost as if Mayweather was waiting on Gotti to make a move—as if the two rehearsed the ending of that spectacle they called a boxing exhibition. The response from both fighters’ respective camps as they hurried into the ring felt delayed.
To the individual who doesn’t think critically, the scene was chaotic and resembled a WWE Royal Rumble match.
Now I’ve been following the WWE since it used to be called the WWF, and one of the things I’ve always respected about their brand is they tell their audience it’s scripted. The outcomes of the matches are predetermined under the umbrella of sports entertainment.
Do these two facts make the product any less entertaining to consumers? No. But it allows fans to contextualize what they’re seeing. The stunts performed in the ring are real, hence why the WWE had a “Do not try this at home” campaign, but they are rehearsed and choreographed in a way to give the impression it’s authentic while promoting safety.
My issue with the Mayweather and Gotti debacle is it felt like something out of WWE’s playbook—a moment to set up a future fight or hijack social media. And obviously, it worked because I’m sitting here opining about it the day after.
But don’t present something to me as if it’s real when it’s been devised as a plan behind-the-scenes to manipulate the viewer’s emotions.
I accused Mayweather of engaging in this WWE-like behavior when he and Conor McGregor promoted their mega-fight in 2017. The mainstream media fell for the race narrative both men were leaning into at their press conferences and tried to convince people there was animosity between the fighters.
But we’re smart enough to know now that wasn’t the case. At least, I hope so.
Mayweather and McGregor reportedly made $300 million and $100 million, respectively, because of society’s insatiable appetite to see a boisterous Black guy and a white guy go to war.
It was a calculated, premeditated scheme, and it worked.
It’s the same tactics politicians use. On camera, Democrats and Republicans give the illusion they dislike each other based on their rhetoric and actions. But when the cameras stop rolling, they’re more like professional wrestlers. They’re friends. Golf buddies even who believe in getting money together.
It’s all for theatre. The world is a stage.
And in this era of content creation, where views, clicks, engagement, and reactions govern people’s behavior and actions, people in all industries think of how to get the most eyes on what they’re selling by any means necessary, even if that means deceiving the people they’re selling to.
My question is, how long will you continue to fall for it?
