TV Recommendation: 24/7 Mayweather/Ortiz on HBO

I'm a huge fan of the 24/7 series on HBO. It's a documentary style show where they follow two fighters in their training camp leading up to a big fight. The amazing part of it is that they are able to produce an episode every week, almost in real time. It airs on Saturday nights, and if something big happens on the day before, it will somehow be in that episode.



Even more amazing: the quality is ridiculous. The camera work and stuff they do is better than documentaries that take a year to produce. It's top quality shit.



Now normally, you'd think that this show would be just for people who like boxing. And it probably is. But the first episode of the Floyd Mayweather/Victor Ortiz was on last night and I think everyone would like it. It re-airs all this week so check it out.



Three things:



1) Floyd Mayweather is great television. He is a Vienna level reality TV star. You don't have to love boxing to love watching Floyd act crazy. There's a great sequence with Floyd and 50 Cent. Apparently, they are "best friends". And there's a funny moment where Floyd is talking about how much he loves 50 while 50 sits in front of him eating popcorn and not paying attention. You kind of have to see it.



2) Miss Jackson. She is going to be the breakout star of this edition. Who is Miss Jackson? Well, she is Floyd's fiance, and a possible clone of Robin Givens circa 1989.



You have to see this girl. As soon as she came on screen I said out loud "where do women like this come from?!"



She's beautiful, in a weird, perfect way. She also seems highly intelligent. Oh, and she's wearing a million dollar diamond ring given to her by a guy who punches people in the face for a living and can't stop getting arrested.



There is no way these two can be a couple, and yet, they are. Or they say they are.



Miss Jackson. I'm fascinated by her, and hope she gets a lot more screen time.



3) A big reason Floyd is so compelling is because of his dad, Floyd Sr., and there's a huge, awkward fight between them at the end of this first show.



Sr. is certifiably nuts, but he's a pretty great boxing trainer. He trained Floyd when he was little, but then Sr. went to jail. So Floyd's uncle Roger (who was also a great boxer) became his trainer and is still his trainer. Floyd has never lost a fight.



Now Sr. is out of jail, and he's trained Oscar De La Hoya among others, but Floyd Jr. won't take him back. He's sticking with Roger, and there's a three way love/hate triangle between them.



If Floyd is Vienna, Floyd Sr. is Kasey, but only because like Kasey, he has to be subtitled for us to know what the hell he's saying.