If things had gone slightly differently for Michael Jordan on Saturday night after the Floyd Mayweather/Manny Pacquiao fight at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, we might be having a much different conversation about MJ today.
As we told you earlier this afternoon, one of MJ's bodyguards was involved in an altercation with a man who yelled, "I'm a Piru," in his direction outside of the MGM Grand after the bodyguard pushed him. MJ stepped in between the two men, said something to the alleged Bloods gang member, and, eventually, cooler heads prevailed. But if the guy had decided to settle the score with the bodyguard by getting physical with MJ or if MJ had simply ignored the guy and kept on walking, the story could have had a much different ending—the kind that ends up splashed across the front page of TMZ Sports for the next week.
So how was MJ able to calm things down? That's what we wondered. So to get the scoop on what really happened on Saturday night, we reached out to YouTube user delfunkboy, who captured the video that you see above.
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He's actually an R&B singer/songwriter named Delray Richardson who claims that he's worked with artists like Game, 50 Cent, and Dr. Dre in the past. Here, he explains how Michael Jordan prevented a gang member from beating up his bodyguard over the weekend.
Interview by Chris Yuscavage (@CYuscavage).
At the beginning of your video, we see a guy yelling at one of Michael Jordan's bodyguards. What happened that made the guy so upset?
When we first came outside of the MGM Grand after the fight, the dude actually got pushed twice. A security guard that was escorting Mary J. Blige to her car had his arm around her waist and was pushing through the crowd. And the guy was like, "Don't be pushing me!" It was real physical. A few minutes later, the same thing happened with one of Michael Jordan's security guards. The guy and his girlfriend were walking down the sidewalk together. The guy didn't see Mike coming, and Mike's bodyguard pushed him out of the way. So the guy was like, "Don't push me, man. You ain't gotta push me!" He didn't even see Michael Jordan. He just saw some guy pushing him.
Oh, so he didn't even realize that Michael Jordan was behind him? In the video, it kind of looked like he was waiting for an autograph or something.
He didn't even know Michael Jordan was behind him. He was just walking down the sidewalk, holding hands with his girl, and the security guard pushed him like, "Get out the way." He wasn't trying to get no autograph. He didn't even know Michael Jordan was there until he turned around. So he was like, "I don't give a fuck about none of that. Don't be putting your hands on me. Stop pushing me."
Do you know who the guy was?
I didn't know him from a can of spray paint. We were walking next to each other on the way out of the MGM Grand. I heard a few things that he said, and I thought, "OK, this is a major dude." But I had never seen him before that night. I just decided to film Michael Jordan because, you know, it's Michael Jordan.
I thought this was a powerful example of the influence Mike has. He told the guy, "You alright," and the situation was over. He didn't have to do that. He could have just kept walking. It was powerful.
It sounded like the guy yelled, "I'm a Piru," at MJ's bodyguard and identified himself as a gang member. When you say he's a "major dude," is that what you mean? That he's in a gang?
You heard that? [Laughs.] If you heard that, then that's what you heard.
You can neither confirm nor deny that?
[Laughs.] I can neither confirm nor deny that. But if you heard that, then that's what you heard.
In the video, it appears as though MJ is the one who does his bodyguard's work and keeps everyone calm. How was he able to do that?
After he pushed him once, the bodyguard actually pushed the guy again. So the guy got kind of irate and was like, "Don't push me! You ain't gotta push me." Like I said, him and his girl was holding hands, so it wasn't like he was trying to start trouble. But you could tell this dude was major. You could tell by the situation. So Mike stopped and was like, "Chill out, chill out, chill out." He let the dude know that everything was cool, and just out of respect for Mike, the guy toned it down a little bit. Then, Mike went to his car. Mike's wife pulled him to the car. So really, it wasn't nothing.
It definitely could have been something, though. It's a good thing that the video ended the way it did, but this could have turned into a bad situation for everyone.
Oh, it was going to be something different. [Laughs.] The guy was about to get at the bodyguard. It was going to get ugly. I'm telling you. It could have escalated real fast. The guy was walking with his girl, but he had some people with him, you know what I mean?
What do you think would have happened if MJ hadn't stopped?
It definitely would have turned up. But Mike calmed that down. It was powerful how he did that. A lot of times, people say that, with all the power and influence that Michael Jordan has, he hasn't done enough as far as gang violence and being in Chicago and all that. But I thought this was a powerful example of the influence Mike has. He told the guy, "You alright," and the situation was over. He didn't have to do that. He could have just kept walking. It was powerful.
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