The Travelling Testosterone Show: Why won’t the media mention Floyd Mayweather’s history of hitting women?

Is it just me, or does anyone else find the fawning over two of the most vulgar men in sports offensive, with gusts up to repugnant?

I mean, Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Conor McGregor have taken their vaudeville act—with its faux fury, in-your-face swagger and gratuitous F-bombing—from Los Angeles to the Republic of Tranna and the rabble, forever primed and prepared to be flim-flammed by any carnival barker with a bottle of snake oil and a bearded lady, adopts a mob mentality and the mainstream media plays along by looking the other way.

I have no issue with fight fans and their blood lust. It’s that whole Christians-vs.-Lions thing. People are easily duped (for evidence, see: Trump, Donald).

Floyd Mayweather, left, and Conor McGregor.

The media, on the other hand…shame, shame.

Steve Simmons of Postmedia, for example, described the preening, posturing and profanity at the Toronto stop of the Mayweather-McGregor Travelling Testosterone Show as “fun, fascinating, funny.” And “amusing.”

I suppose the circus act would be giggle-worthy if you’re not a woman. Especially a woman who has been on the receiving end of Mayweather’s bare knuckles. That’s right, the undefeated and champion fist-fighter is a man who beats up women. In front of children. His own children. He has been charged with domestic violence on numerous occasions. He has been placed under house arrest for beating women. He has spent 60 days behind bars for beating the mother of his children. Other times, he has “negotiated” his way out of room and board at government expense.

This is what mainstream media has chosen to ignore now that the blah-blah-blah engine for the Mayweather-McGregor boxing match is at full throttle. And these, keep in mind, would be the same people who roasted National Football League commissioner Roger Goodell like a pig on a spit for botching disciplinary action in the Ray Rice-whack-a-woman case.

All that righteousness after Rice punched out his soon-to-be bride and dragged her limp body off an elevator, where is it today?

We have a serial woman-abuser peacocking himself on stage to promote a boxing match that will earn him in excess of $100 million, and it’s all nyuk-nyuks and knee-slapping. Nary a discouraging word from scribes and talking heads, except perhaps a whisper or two about Mayweather’s difficulties with the U.S. Internal Revenue Service. Apparently, he can give a woman the back of his hand, but the IRS is a different head of lettuce. The taxman fights back.

At any rate, I won’t presume to tell people how to spend their money. If someone chooses to shell out the pay-per-view sticker price of $99.95 to watch a wife-beater and a foul-mouthed Irishman scramble each other’s brains on Aug. 26, go for it. Same for those who spend anywhere from $500 to $10,000 to be on site at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. Their choice.

Conor McGregor’s Fuck You suit.

The media has a choice as well, though. The very people who used Ray Rice and Roger Goodell as pinatas can stop giving Mayweather a free pass and call him on his history of domestic violence.

But, hey, why go to the dark side when McGregor is filling notebooks and air time with all that colorful Dublin blarney, right?

It’s quite clear that the wee Irishman has captivated the masses and news scavengers, and it doesn’t matter that he is the crudest man in the fight game (he will relinquish that crown the moment former heavyweight champion Tyson Fury returns from a spell in drydock while sorting out personal issues). McGregor can’t put two sentences together without dropping an F-bomb or calling someone a bitch, and he even allows his clothes do his talking.

In the first gum-flapper on the Travelling Testosterone Show, in L.A., the mixed martial arts scrapper was snappily decked out in a dark blue, pinstripe suit that drew the attention of a female reporter who asked, “Can you please tell me about the suit?”

“It’s nice, isn’t it?” replied McGregor, running a finger along the left sleeve. “It says ‘Fuck Off’ on the pinstripes. That’s a cracker!”

I must confess that I giggled at that, in part because it’s clear that McGregor is a showman of the Gorgeous George ilk, albeit much more profane. He knows he’s pulling one over on the rabble.

There’s nothing funny about Floyd Mayweather Jr., though. Support him and your money goes to a man who beats women.

Patti Dawn Swansson has been scribbling mostly about Winnipeg sports for 47 years, which means she’s old and probably should think about getting a life.