Floyd "Money" Mayweather — 50-0, the greatest defensive boxer who ever lived — stood on a stage in Bullhead City, Arizona on Wednesday night and told the crowd, "We couldn't have chosen a better president twice than Donald Trump. So it's all about keeping this country strong, and it's all about us sticking together and believing in one another."
Twenty days before the midterms, that's the kind of endorsement money can't buy.
The rally was part of President Trump's midterm blitz for Rep. Andy Biggs, the Republican running for governor against Democratic incumbent Katie Hobbs. Mayweather, who represented the United States in the 1996 Olympic Games, wasn't there to talk boxing. He was there to talk country. "If I died and came back a million times, I will always choose America," Mayweather told the crowd.
The image of the most undefeated fighter in boxing history standing shoulder to shoulder with Trump 3 weeks before the midterm elections — while Democrats struggle to fill community college gymnasiums — wasn't subtle. It didn't need to be.
Trump's rally circuit has turned into a who's-who of athletes and cultural heavyweights. Roger Clemens showed up in San Antonio. Mike Tyson appeared in Syracuse. John Gruden and Jake Paul joined him in Youngstown, Ohio. These aren't political operatives. They're guys who built their reputations on winning, and they keep ending up in the same place.
Trump used the Arizona stage to lay into Arizona’s governor, Katie Hobbs — and he didn't bother being diplomatic about it. "She's horrible. First of all, she's a dumb person," Trump said, before ticking off the policy failures. Hobbs vetoed 18 bills cracking down on crime. She killed legislation designed to crush drug cartels operating across the border. "Something has to be between her and the cartels because she's causing tremendous death," Trump added.
On Biggs, the contrast was simple. Trump called him "a true American patriot" and "a conservative guy" with "common sense." Arizona's governor has been vetoing crime bills while fentanyl pours across the southern border and kills Americans, and the guy running to replace her has been fighting that exact problem in Congress.
The Hobbs campaign's defense has been to frame her vetoes as protecting civil liberties and preventing government overreach — the same argument California makes every time a court slaps down one of its sanctuary policies. Except Arizona voters aren't watching their governor veto crime bills and thinking about constitutional nuance. They're watching the body count from fentanyl and wondering whose side she's on.
There's a reason Trump keeps pulling in athletes instead of Hollywood actors. Athletes understand something performers don't — you're judged on results, not applause.
Twenty days out from the midterms, and the man with the most perfect record in combat sports history picked his side.
The 50-0 record speaks for itself.