Floyd Mayweather Jr. was courtside Tuesday night when the Los Angeles Lakers opened their season. It was not reported, however, whether he actually said anything.
You see, Mayweather has been very quiet as of late. Eerily quiet even, especially when it comes to his boxing career. With that being the subject that most people care about and not how much money he put on Utah State in the first half, his silence has been troubling.
In fact, Mayweather himself has said nothing about his future boxing plans since being released from a Las Vegas jail in August.
But that hasn't stopped Mayweather's rivals and former friends from throwing shots, which thus far have not been answered.
Let's start with 50 Cent, the rapper who earlier this year made boxing news by joining with Mayweather to form The Money Team Promotions, TMT, and just as quickly had a highly publicized split with the fighter.
50 Cent took to his Twitter account on Thursday:
TMT IS OVER the money team is no longer a team. So it SMS promotions that's it thats all.SMSaudio
— 50cent (@50cent) November 1, 2012
50 Cent took it one step further, accusing Mayweather of not doing his share to keep the company alive:
I move the fighters to SMSpromotion cause the other half of the money team .Didnt put up there $MONEY$.SMSaudio
— 50cent (@50cent) November 1, 2012
It'll be hard to imagine Mayweather, who if nothing else cares about his money interests, not responding to these comments. Though who knows when his self-imposed gag order will be lifted.
Maybe it'll be lifted due to comments from his chief boxing rival, though they have sadly never met in the ring, Manny Pacquiao.
In comments to USA Today, both Pacquiao and his trainer Freddie Roach had interesting things to say about both Mayweather and the possibility of a fight between the two sometime in 2013.
First Roach, the iconic Hall of Fame trainer, who said something that most boxing fans have known for a long time and would agree with—time is running out.
I think if the fight doesn't happen next year, it never will happen. People are getting bored and tired of (talking about it). We're chasing a rabbit we can't catch
While Roach is certainly correct, his timeline might be off. Fans are not getting bored. They are bored. Most would agree that this is a fight that should've taken place at least two years ago. The longer we wait, the further each guy gets from his prime.
That, combined with the rise of impressive young stars, including Saul "Canelo" Alvarez, Adrien Broner and Danny Garcia, has some boxing fans shrugging their shoulders and saying, "Who cares?"
They've moved on from discussing this fight, which most feel will never happen, and would rather discuss the great fights that are happening. And who can blame them?
Pacquiao himself, who is locked in deep preparations at Roach's Wild Card Boxing Gym in Hollywood, was more diplomatic, but still couldn't help getting in a dig of his own.
If the fight doesn't happen, it's not my fault. I'm not going to accuse him of being greedy or judge him. It's hard to judge. It's his title, it's his life, (but) I believe he is avoiding me
Mayweather doesn't seem to be specifically avoiding Pacquiao at this point, he seems to be avoiding all questions about his boxing future.
Seriously, when was the last time you saw this type of media blackout from the Mayweather camp? This is a guy who loves running his mouth—and, to his credit, has always backed it up—as much as he loves money. And he's been stunningly quiet.
Perhaps he's awaiting the result of Pacquiao's clash with Marquez. Or maybe he's honestly just not that interested in boxing at this point.
Who knows? Nobody but Mayweather. But as long as he remains silent, his rivals will continue to score points.
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