Floyd Mayweather is arrogant and flash but he did not deserve cheap shot from 50 Cent

• Rapper 50 Cent attempted to humiliate former friend Floyd Mayweather
• He asked him to read a passage from a Harry Potter book in public
• 50 Cent was alleging that Mayweather is semi-literate
• His actions were reminiscent of Muhammad Ali's early reading difficulties
• Those were exposed on television and were equally shameful 
• Kell Brook's world title win proved how rewarding dedication can be
• Brook beat Shawn Porter to win the IBF welterweight title in Los Angeles
• Joe Frazier's statue is set to be ready by next April 

By Jeff Powell Follow @@jeffpowell_Mail

Published: 17:27 EST, 25 August 2014 | Updated: 07:57 EST, 26 August 2014

The malicious attempt by rapper 50 Cent to humiliate his ex-friend Floyd Mayweather as semi-literate is reminiscent of how Muhammad Ali’s early reading difficulties were once exposed on television.

And just as shameful.

Ali stalked off the set after being asked to read a passage about himself from a book handed to him – deliberately upside down.

How right he was to do so. 

VIDEO: Scroll down to watch 50 Cent call out Floyd Mayweather 

Feud: Floyd Mayweather (left) was asked to read a passage from Harry Potter by rapper 50 Cent (right)

A fuming 50 Cent calls out Floyd Mayweather in Ice Bucket...

Now Mr Cent – in a parody of the current celebrity ice-bucket challenge – has offered to donate $75,000 to charity if Mayweather is able to read a long passage from a Harry Potter book in public.

That followed an apparent struggle by the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world to articulate a few printed words for an advertisement.

Even rappers should know better.

A feud has been brewing since Mayweather ended his part-buddy, part-professional relationship with 50 Cent, who he had helped into the boxing promotion business.

But this latest barb is the lowest of low blows. 

The way it used to be: 50 Cent (left) and Mayweather used to be friends before their falling out 

50 Cent hits back at Mayweather: You're Oscar's b****!

Whatever anyone thinks of Mayweather – and there are times when his flash arrogance and vulgar displays of his wealth can grate on the best of us – he does not deserve a shot even cheaper than this particular rapper’s half-dollar name.

Mayweather’s contribution to boxing and the financial advancement of sportsmen generally will be remembered long after Mr Cent’s charmless recordings have been consigned to the studio waste-bin,

Mayweather has reacted by posting photographic images of the two cheques he has received for his most recent fights – against Canelo Alvarez and Marcos Maidana – totalling more than $72million.

Also, as he prepares to bank tens of millions more by defending his world titles and unbeaten record in next month’s Las Vegas re-match with Maidana, he says: ‘God has blessed me with an unbelievable talent, fast feet, fast hands, unbelievable defence and a very, very sharp mind. Hip-hop artists, they come and go. I’m still here.’

Not bad.

Under pressure: Mayweather was given a torrid time by Marcos Maidana when they first met last May

Let's do it again: Mayweather and Maidana will meet again in their rematch in Las Vegas next month

Floyd Mayweather humiliates beaten boxer during sparring

But may I suggest a way for the greatest of this time to deliver a rebuke as simple, dignified and damningly effective as when The Greatest Of All Time walked off camera.

Mayweather should challenge 50 Cent to sing Frank Sinatra’s My Way on television.

My informants in the music industry tell me the sound would be akin to that of a Rottweiler being strangled.

Kell Brook has proved to himself how rewarding dedication to boxing can be.

By all accounts Sheffield’s successor to Prince Naseem Hamed submitted to a rigorous training regime prior to winning his first world title.

The close, hard-fought and thoroughly deserved victory over tough welterweight champion Shawn Porter in America has opened up enriching possibilities for Brook.

Before he cashes in big-time against Amir Khan – perhaps at Wembley Stadium next spring – and maybe Juan Manuel Marquez in Mexico, let him not forget all the hard work which has made all this possible.

On top of the world: Kell Brook (right) outpointed Shawn Porter to win the IBF welterweight title in Los Angeles

Dedication: Brook has waited a long time for his chance to win a world title and he seized it with both hands

Brook himself is talking about the sacrifices he has made recently. The accolades which are following his gallant victory against the odds should serve as constant reminders that prize-fighting is too short a career for any of it to be wasted on nights out on the town.

The Steel City gave this likeable young man a hero’s homecoming from California and Sheffield is where he plans to make a voluntary defence of his title in December.

The opponent that celebratory night will not be as formidable as Porter last week – let alone Khan or Marquez next year – but there is too much at stake now for Brook to make the easy mistake of treating anyone lightly. 

The long-awaited statue of Joe Frazier is fast approaching completion.

The figure of Smokin’ Joe poised in the split second after landing the booming left with which he floored Muhammad Ali on his way to winning the Fight Of The Century stands nine-feet tall in the studio of sculptor Stephen Layne.

It is now beginning the five-month bronzing procedure prior to an unveiling in Frazier’s home city of Philadelphia next April

A campaign for the real former world heavyweight champion to be thus immortalised followed the erection in Philadelphia of a statue of celluloid boxer Sylvester Stallone.

Civil Rights leader Reverend Jesse Jackson said: ‘Tell them Rocky was fictitious. Joe was reality.’

VIDEO: Watch the Joe Frazier statue being sculpted ahead of its unveiling next year 

Mirror: A statue of Joe Frazier, showing him throwing a left hook against Muhammad Ali, is almost complete

Project: Sculptor Stephen Layne expects the Frazier statue to be ready in April and it will stand in Philadelphia

Several years of fund-raising and political manoeuvring later, that anomaly is about to be corrected.

The process was tragically interrupted when the original sculptor died suddenly. Layne, the runner-up in that selection process, took over, admitting that he feels ‘the artistic pressure to create the best piece I can put out there.’

So powerful and commanding is the result that one of Frazier’s daughters was moved to weep when invited to see that statue.

No doubt there will be more tears for the late Smokin’ Joe when he takes his eternal place on the site of the old Spectrum arena which he christened with his 1967 victory over Tony Doyle.

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