Unbeaten US boxer Floyd Mayweather says the attention surrounding Asian-American NBA guard Jeremy Lin is based on his racial heritage rather than his basketball exploits.
Lin is the first US-born NBA player of Taiwanese or Chinese heritage. His parents moved to the United States from Taiwan in the 1970s while one of his grandmothers remained in China.
Mayweather commented on the "Lin-sanity" buzz around the New York Knicks guard who came off the bench from obscurity a week ago to spark a five-game win streak in the absence of stars Amare Stoudemire and Carmelo Anthony.
"Jeremy Lin is a good player but all the hype is because he's Asian. Black players do what he does every night and don't get the same praise," Mayweather said in a posting on Monday on his Twitter microblogging website.
After criticism was heaped upon him from other tweeters, Mayweather posted a response late Monday saying his comments were meant as support for black athletes.
"Other countries get to support/cheer their athletes and everything is fine. As soon as I support Black American athletes, I get criticized," Mayweather posted on Twitter, adding a moment later, "Wow what a country."
Lin's unlikely rise to fame has captivated NBA fans worldwide, the Harvard economics graduate going undrafted by NBA teams and being cut in December by Golden State and Houston before landing a spot with the Knicks.
Lin, a 23-year-old playmaker who is making only $762,195 this season, has made the most of his chance and become a leader on a team in search of a spark with his drives to the basket, his accurate passes and his defensive effort.
The first player in NBA history with at least 20 points and seven assists in his first four starts, Lin has scored 109 points in those appearances, the most of any player since 1976, and is averaging 26.8 points and 8.0 assists a game.
Mayweather is set to fight Puerto Rico's Miguel Cotto on May 5 in Las Vegas before starting a 90-day jail sentence in June on a domestic abuse conviction involving a former girlfriend with whom Mayweather has fathered two children.
But the fight that boxing fans long to see is Mayweather against an Asian superstar, Filipino icon Manny Pacquiao, in what would have been for the undisputed pound-for-pound world crown had it come off two years ago as hoped.
Pacquiao is planning to face another unbeaten US fighter, Tim Bradley, in June at Las Vegas.
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