Floyd Mayweather recently criticized the naming of LeBron James as the Associated Press Male Athlete of the Decade.
The boxing legend expressed his displeasure during an interview on “Drink Champs” that he didn’t win the award despite his dominance of his sport.
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“I love LeBron James, but when we talking about athlete of the decade, that’s me,” Mayweather said. “That’s me. Hands down.”
With an unblemished 50-0 professional career record and multiple weight division titles, Mayweather was adamant that he should have won the award more than once.
“We talking about from 1996 to 2020 and I’ve never received Athlete of the Decade,” Mayweather added. “At the top of Forbes and I’m my own boss.”
Mayweather’s beef with the selection of the Los Angeles Lakers superstar is the fact that he feels he has been left off the discussion of many awards because of a lack of sponsorship deals from major American companies.
“No Gatorade behind me, no Sprite behind me, no Nike behind me,” Mayweather said. “You got to realize, these are billion-dollar companies. And we like to call it ‘placement.’ So if they paying—you get what you want if you paying enough. But if we going off just honestly, I’m the athlete of the decade, of the last two decades actually.”
As good as he has been over the past two decades and more, Mayweather and his controversial image may have also had a hand in his being snubbed for the Athlete of the Decade award.
Meanwhile, James has had a more pristine image than Mayweather both on and off the court the past decade.
Though the way he went about the decision to play for the Miami Heat in the summer of 2010 cost his image dearly, the 16-time All-Star has since made up for it with award-winning play on the court and various charitable acts off the court.
He won three MVP awards, three Finals MVP awards and three championships from 2010 to 2019 while playing in eight straight NBA Finals from 2011 to 2018. James has also been a three-time Athlete of the Year awardee this past decade.
Among James’ philanthropic works is the I Promise School, which opened in 2018. The public school helps at-risk children in his hometown of Akron, Ohio and is getting support from the LeBron James Family Foundation.
