Whether Justin Bieber is being chased by a pack of fans while riding a Segway or pretending to get shot and killed on a popular television show, he can is increasingly dispatched in any setting.
Your moment of certainty came this weekend, when Bieber and 50 Cent accompanied Floyd Mayweather, Jr., to the ring before his fight with Miguel Cotto. Mayweather also had Lil Wayne and WWE superstar Triple H in his posse, making for one of the weirdest entourages in modern history.
Bieber's cameo is merely the latest chapter in the longsanding relationship between boxing and music. Performers have often associated themselves with boxing and boxers to provide an aura of toughness, as evidenced by LL Cool J's "Mama Said Knock You Out." And some boxers have even teamed up with musicians, perhaps to broaden appeal. Now that Bieber is of age, he's obviously looking to start gaining older fans.
Here's a look at some more memorable moments where boxing and music intersected:
Mike Tyson vs. Francois Botha
Tyson was out of boxing for a couple of years after the, uh, incident with the ear. When he returned to squash Botha in 1999, he came to ring while the intro to DMX's It's Dark and Hell It's Hot was playing. The song turned out to foreshadow the fight for Botha, as Tyson dispatched the South African fighter in short order.
Tyson turned to DMX's music again when he faced off against Lennox Lewis, using the song "What's My Name" while walking to the ring Lewis obviously wasn't intimidated by DMX's verbiage, since he beat Tyson in that fight.
Mike Tyson vs. Snoop Dogg... kind of.
Bieber may have obtained his ubiquitous tendencies from Snoop Dogg, whose penchant for cross-promotion is legendary. The rapper edged into the boxing world back in 2009 when he teamed up with Tyson to promote EA Sports' Fight Night: Round Four.
After four rounds of button mashing inside a boxing ring, Snoop Dogg emerged victorious. The loss probably was not unfamiliar for Tyson, who went through a pitiful losing streak near the end of his career.
Micky Ward and the Dropkick Murphys
Long before his career was popularized by Mark Wahlberg in The Fighter, Micky Ward was given some positive publicity through a tribute from the Dropkick Murphys. Not only did the group write a song about the Lowell, Mass., native called "The Warrior's Code," but they also put Ward's picture on the cover of an album of the same name.
A live version of that song was featured in The Fighter, a film that won Christian Bale an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor.
