I am not a sports fan but somehow I found myself arguing about Floyd Mayweather recently. The Conor McGregor vs Floyd Mayweather fight was hyped, discussed, and talked about forever. People of all kinds, sports lovers or not, tuned into watch the big spectacle. I was not of those people. As far as I was concerned, McGregor vs Mayweather was ancient history. At least I thought, until a casual conversation with a boxing fan lead to Mayweather’s history of domestic violence. A disagreement was inevitable.

This discussion with this individual started innocently enough. They gushed about how entertaining the fight was, how McGregor surprised them and how good Mayweather looked. My argument was a common criticism: an MMA fighter versus an undefeated boxing champ is a bad idea. Yes I understand McGregor was surprising and has his youth going for him. It doesn’t take a boxing fan to know that Mayweather has more experience overall and boxing is his playing field. McGregor losing was a forgone conclusion from the start. After making my point I added that Mayweather isn’t exactly the nicest guy around because of his history of domestic abuse. That’s when things got heated.

This person quickly rushed to defend Mayweather’s credibility, citing his impressive boxing record, age, fighting skills, and net worth. I remained defiant, sticking to my aversion to domestic violence and how I didn’t care for anyone like that. That’s when this individual threw me a curveball. They said that they bet that there is someone famous out there that I like that has some undesirable traits. They also said that if this argument were the reverse that I would be defensive, same as them. This individual then ended the argument with this stinger, “It doesn’t matter what a person does in their personal life or not. The only thing that matters is their accomplishments.”

At that time I decided not to keep arguing. While this individual smugly enjoyed winning that little battle, I decided to think harder about their views. As a person I often will quit or deflect an argument in most cases. It’s not that I can’t make a valid argument in the heat of the moment; I’m often too neutral for my own good and I really don’t care about being “right” or proving a point. I was really curious about at least trying to understand this individual’s viewpoint. I stand by my argument, but after thinking about their views, I realized where they coming from.

In a sense this individual’s views are absolutely right. A celebrity doing something unfavorable is more common than one thinks. I asked myself if I knew of any celebrities whose work I liked who had done anything morally questionable. It wasn’t easy (I had to really try here) until I came up with the only two I could think of; director Roman Polanski and author Orson Scott Card. I’m a fan of a few of Polanski’s movies (mostly Chinatown) and I did enjoy Ender’s Game from Card. However Polanski is a known sexual predator and Card is an unapologetic bigoted homophobe. I can’t say I’m fans of either of these celebrities, their viewpoints or the many atrocities that are attributed to them. I did however enjoy their work for what it was. I do realize by admitting that I only furthered proved that individual’s argument.

If this was just a simple argument rooted solely in philosophy and political correctness I would have no business even writing this article. As it turns out, I have a curveball of my own, and it involves scrutiny. Polanski has faced criticism for his sexual abuse ever since he has fled to France. There is also the possibility that he may be extradited back to the United States, 40 years after his crimes, to face justice. Card might be an extremist but people are still calling him out on it, both in articles and just from word of mouth. Even if you talk to a casual fan, any praises for his work is always followed by criticism for his beliefs (it seems to be some unwritten rule or expectation). Then we go back to Mayweather, who’s had several incidents of domestic abuse since 2005. The worst of these incidents involve him beating his ex-girlfriend Josie Harris in front of his children, who were just 10 years old at the time. Nobody is calling him out and that disturbs me.

The only thing more disturbing than that is the same argument that was used to crush mine earlier. To requote those words, “It doesn’t matter what a person does in their personal life or not. The only thing that matters is their accomplishments.” This fancy lip service might shut an argument down but it can fuel a more skewed point of view. That line of thinking can be interpreted as accomplishments giving anyone free reign to exploit, hurt, and just be a scumbag. That’s just another perspective, an extreme one at that, but its fair game because someone out there will use it to justify terrible behavior. Mayweather certainty isn’t bothered by his crimes; his love of the spotlight, his lavishing spending sprees, and his arrogance isn’t helping his case either.

This shouldn’t be a surprise though. Mayweather’s behavior is only a portion of a larger problem known as sport culture. Millions of people, from those who love sports to those that control it with money will often ignore any negative attention associated with popular players. This parasitic bystander behavior doesn’t just protect the biggest of stars; this epidemic was born in college sports. College sports players are free to partake in a broken culture where poisonous behavior, most commonly sexual assault, is encouraged. There are almost always little or no repercussions. It goes to show you how much society values sports, no matter how filthy or problematic it can be. Mayweather is a more extreme example because of his money, status and popularity. If people look up to college sports stars as kings, then Mayweather must be a god.

I’m not here to doubt Mayweather’s talent or ability. I understand that the arrogant attitude and the wealthy lifestyle is all a part of the image. But that doesn’t give this guy, or any for that matter, the right to be abusive and violent. Even in the face of great success people need to talk about these issues, no matter how ugly or undesirable it is. Domestic abuse is a deceptively dangerous problem, one that is criminally underreported and one that needs to be treated with the seriousness it deserves. It shouldn’t be reduced to insults on social media to hype a boxing match (that was in poor taste for McGregor and his camp).

I understand as a man I possibly don’t have the agency or the right to make this argument about domestic abuse. That is a fair criticism I gladly accept. Maybe this is just a cautionary tale about being careful to those you look up to. I can say with confidence that I do not look up to somebody like Mayweather. Mayweather may be one of the greatest fighters of all time but domestic abuse isn’t a spectator sport. Unfortunately almost everyone is only concerned with Mayweather’s success, so that individual’s point of view isn’t so far off. Perhaps my argument is just a moot point, but that won’t stop me from trying.