Former IBF Lightweight Champion Mickey Bey is Furious With Floyd Mayweather and Has Left His Camp…
All is not well in Mayweather Promotions. The world’s richest athlete is coming under fire from his own fighters – again – for what they see as a lack of promotion and basic respect, as they either get forced into fights they don’t want or don’t get fights at all.
Former IBF lightweight champion Mickey Bey has become the latest high-profile boxer to come out and make his feelings clear about the man they call ‘Money’. Bey is so enraged and frustrated that the former IBF lightweight champion has cut ties with the promotion and is searching for pastures new.
He isn’t the first fighter in recent months to have had a massive falling out with Mayweather either. The company’s biggest prospect, Gervonta Davis, has also been making his feelings very clear, while Josue Vargas has also slated his boss.
Furious
Bey hasn’t fought since 2016 when he lost a 12-round split decision to Rances Barthelemy. Since then he’s been inactive – much to his displeasure. He is not impressed by the manner in which Mayweather handles business and the favoritism he shows towards certain fighters, whom he did not name.
“I need a promoter. I need to fight,” said Bey to Boxing News. “How can you go from being a world champion to sitting on your ass for two years not doing a thing when the people looking after you are some of the biggest names in the sport of boxing? I want to fight, but I’ve been so badly managed over these last two years so I’m at the point now where I have to find another direction because this is a short career.”
Roadblocked
The political in-fighting within the company has created a toxic environment which Bey feels just isn’t cohesive with fighting. It really doesn’t paint a pretty picture of the company, which isn’t good for business at all. The world of boxing is cutthroat. Bey said:
“Underneath him is people with false roles but they have Floyd’s ear and if you ain’t cool with them then you ain’t cool with Floyd. One of them has caused so much s**t for myself when he was managing my career and this has got back to Floyd leaving me essentially blackballed. They won’t let me fight, they won’t put me on no-shows, my career was going nowhere. You stay quiet and play along hoping it’ll sort itself out, but two years on and where the f**k am I heading.”
Too Successful?
A couple of weeks ago, Mayweather once again topped the Forbes Athlete Rich List. Maybe, he’s been too successful for his own fighter’s good? It’s hard to motivate yourself to care about the career of someone you don’t like when you’re already the wealthiest athlete on the planet.
He’s certainly a few steps behind Oscar de la Hoya in terms of promotion. The Mexican has a massive rematch between Gennady Golovkin and Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez booked for September 15, in Las Vegas. Meanwhile, he’s also entering the world of MMA, with Chuck Liddell and Tito Ortiz being lined up for a geriatric trilogy fight. That’s how you do it, Floyd.
