The brazen outlook that has landed Floyd Mayweather an extravagantly lucrative fight with Logan Paul formed “a lot” of Donald Trump’s “playbook”, according to a report claiming that Trump might not have emerged without the boxer.
Money-obsessed Mayweather fights social media sensation Paul in a farce fight in the US in the early hours of Monday morning European time, taking on his latest novelty opponent in a strange sporting spectacle that makes ample financial sense.
The man who once bought himself out of contracts in daring business moves could be part of an event worth around $100 million, according to some reports – and Mayweather’s singular approach, from fearsomely fractious press conferences against Britain’s Ricky Hatton to an ultra-provocative, giant payday against ex-UFC champion Conor McGregor, are now said to have been more influential on former president Trump than many might have imagined.
“I would go so far as to say that if you did not have Mayweather and the success that he created for himself in this arena, you might not have seen Trump,” argued HBO broadcaster Jim Lampley, making the extraordinary claim about two of the most recognizable figures in the sporting and celebrity worlds to The Athletic.
“Trump was in the boxing world. He took some of his lessons from Mayweather — most particularly, the notion that you can be as outrageous and offensive as you want to be and a lot of the people will like it, not dislike it.
“A lot of the Trump playbook came from Mayweather and seeing how he got over. Floyd is a product, creature and master of social media.”
Mayweather was an early adopter of Twitter and now owns some of the most followed social media accounts in the world under his name, showing off his lavish lifestyle, in particular, on Instagram.
His typically forthright moves on his platforms have encompassed trading threats and insults with novice boxer Paul and his equally heavily-followed brother, Jake.
While weary cynics have grown increasingly disillusioned at watching arguably the greatest modern boxer engage in exchanges that appear hellbent on enhancing his audience rather than his legacy, Mayweather stands to make far more money than he would have had he retired for good or fought established boxers.
“Who knows whether he sat down and cognitively [thought] it out or had an innate, kinetic understanding of what was going on?” asked Lampley.
“But he’s an instinctive genius with regard to the effect of social media. More than anybody of his generation or time in the spotlight, he understood the way social media would distort and broaden the impact of personality.”
Mayweather visited Trump after his election to the White House in 2016 and appeared to reportedly defend the Republican’s infamous comments about women that were caught on tape.
After being quoted as crediting Trump with “realness” and telling people that they should have voted against him if they had not wanted him elected, Mayweather then seemed to distance himself from the head of state when he was asked about Trump's row with the NFL over players kneeling in support of Black Lives Matter.
“Friends is a strong word,” Mayweather told TMZ at the time, speaking about the sports fan who attended his 2015 win over Manny Pacquiao with his wife, Melania.
"I know a lot of people. I knew Barack Obama. I know Donald Trump. I know a lot of people. I don't want my name in no bullsh*t. I'm out of it."
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