On Fight Night, An Insult Packs a Punch
SAN DIEGO -- The people who put together the mega-fight between Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Manny Pacquiao had a special Cinco de Mayo gift for Latino boxing fans: a finger in their eye.
I can't believe the organizers and promoters -- which included Top Rank Inc., Mayweather Promotions, Showtime and HBO -- arranged to have someone sing the Mexican national anthem before the May 2 bout. At least there was no sombrero.
Translated, the anthem begins:
Mexicans, at the cry of war
Make ready the steel and the bridle
And let the earth shake to the core
At the roar of the cannon ...
The roar of the cannon sounded more like the cha-ching of the cash register. Even though the announcers tried to tie the gesture to the fact that Cinco de Mayo was just around the corner, it struck me as insulting and inappropriate.
Three reasons.
First, as a lifelong boxing fan, I've seen the Mexican national anthem sung before a fight dozens of times. Yet, I've never seen it done when there isn't a Mexican fighter in the ring. Mayweather is African-American, and Pacquiao is Filipino. Think of it this way: What if the organizers had played the Mexican national anthem because there was a Latino fighter in the ring but the fighter wasn't Mexican? That would be silly. So is this.
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