Not sickening or wrong, just ill.

Boxing's promoters and 'governing' bodies have virtually destroyed the sport over the past few decades, and Mayweather is the logical culmination of their efforts.

Boxing sees fighters as branded products to be marketed to gullible customers. So boxing matches are often boring affairs where one favored fighter competes cautiously against a lesser opponent, trying to get a safe win without career-shortening physical wear. In this silly world a boxer with 30 pro fights may lose half his value if he loses two or three times (Erik Morales notwithstanding).

The WWE, of course, was always vaudeville, not sports. So when a boxer shows up int the ring with a 'wrestler', the two actors may get paid, but only at the expense of boxing's diminishing credibility.

Recent evidence shows the fans to be getting wise to boxing's cynical mismanagement. While Mayweather puts on mediocre fights and an idiotic act outside the ring, and while the WWE keeps putting on its trailer-park soap opera, mixed martial arts (MMA) broadcasts appear to be taking fans from both with a blend of real competition, good sportsmanship and shorter (if bloodier) events.

Competition from MMA has encouraged broadcasters like Teddy Atlas (ESPN) to publicly advocate changes to the sports governance. But boxing probably won't clean up its act while sleazy promoters like Don King and Bob Arum exert their huge influence.