With the hypocrisy of the Floyd Mayweather haters remaining as ridiculous as ever, and the disrespect that Shane Mosley previously displayed, 411’s David M. Lee discusses their upcoming fight, and then shares thoughts on why Paulie Malignaggi is the perfect opponent for Amir Khan and much more!
Can The Mayweather Haters Please Shut Up
In the ever changing world we live, it’s nice to know that the hypocrisy of the Floyd Mayweather haters remains as ridiculous as ever. If you remember, back in September Shane Mosley disgracefully gate-crashed Floyd’s post-fight interview after his wonderful performance against Juan Manuel Marquez.
Shane disrespected Floyd that night by stealing his limelight and not even giving the man a chance to speak. It was unbecoming of a professional sportsman such as Mosley. Of course, this didn’t bother the Mayweather haters in the slightest. They were too busy creaming in their pants at the sight of Mayweather being hounded by Mosley.
That night, Sugar Shane became their new hero and for the next few weeks all we heard from these misguided fools was how Mayweather wanted no part of Shane and how he’ll do everything in his power to dodge him. Conveniently forgetting that Floyd has chased Mosley before, only for Shane to avoid the clash, citing everything from vacationing and a “loose tooth” as a reason for not wanting any part of Floyd.
Now fast forward five months later and fresh off the news that Floyd has signed to fight Mosley on May 1st, all we hear from these same Mayweather haters now is “well gee I don’t know, Shane is 39 and he hasn’t fought in over a year. Floyd’s catching Mosley at the right time.” Oh and this little doozy, “I wouldn’t be surprised to see Floyd pull out of this fight.” Yeah, because Mayweather has such a long rap sheet of pulling out of scheduled fights doesn’t he? Get real!
Seriously, there’s no reasoning with these kinds of people. They just don’t live in the real world. Those of us who do, however, realise that this is the biggest fight outside of Mayweather/Pacquiao and can look forward to an excellent contest between two future Hall of Famers. I honestly can’t wait for May 1st and I’ll go into further detail on this mouth-watering match in a future article. Meanwhile, the Mayweather haters are going to have find themselves a new bandwagon to jump on.
So its pretty much a done deal that Amir Khan will make his American debut against Paulie Malignaggi at Madison Square Garden on May 15th. This is a perfect fight for Khan to make his Stateside debut. Malignaggi is a big name and a ticket seller in his hometown of New York and he certainly knows how to sell a fight. If talk alone could make you a successful fighter, then Malignaggi would surely be P4P king.
But, more than anything else, what makes this the perfect fight for Khan is the fact that Malignaggi cannot exploit the one obvious weakness that Khan has – his chin. It’s a known fact that Paulie is not so “Magic” in the power department and that makes this a relatively safe assignment for Khan in my opinion. I’ve never had the highest opinion of Malignaggi to be perfectly honest. He has a leaky defence, minimal offense and while he does possess terrific hand speed, this is an area in which Khan trumps him.
The Briton is one of the fastest boxers in the world at the moment and I can see him catching Malignaggi on a regular basis. One thing I will say about the Brooklyn native is that he is one tough little S.O.B. and Khan will have to go some if he is to stop him. While this will be a good win on Khan’s record, I’m not sure if it will be enough to stave off his critics. Ever since Columbian Breidis Prescott blew him away in 2008, Khan has been accused of avoiding the big punchers and Malignaggi certainly can’t be described as a big puncher, having only had five wins inside the distance in thirty contests.
Paulie is no pushover, but he has been found wanting at the highest level, so if we are to believe that Khan is Britain’s next big superstar he must surely overcome the likes of a Malignaggi. I believe he will. I can see Malignaggi posing one or two problems for Khan with his awkward style, but I just don’t see how he beats him. Malignaggi has a nice jab, but he’ll need more than that to keep Khan off him, who will be looking to make a statement on his American debut.
Khan has already beaten the more accomplished Andreas Kotelnik and I think he’ll have too much in his locker for “The Magic Man.” Although I wouldn’t rule out a late stoppage, I think the safe bet is Khan on points.
Time To Give Chad His Due
So much for Glen Johnson being an “old man.” He looked as good as ever in dismantling Yusaf Mack a couple of weeks ago. Yet he was written off as “shot” when he was comprehensively defeated by Chad Dawson back in November. I knew this was nonsense at the time and I think Johnson’s recent victory proves it. Johnson wasn’t shot, he was simply outclassed by the highly talented and under-appreciated Dawson.
Unfortunately, Dawson isn’t a darling of the biased media and as of consequence has not yet received the plaudits he so richly deserves. If anything, Dawson is more maligned than celebrated. I just don’t get it. The guy’s got talent to burn, comes across as really likeable, ducks nobody and isn’t afraid to tell the sanctioning bodies to go jump. Jesus, we should be worshiping this man.
Top quality – Dawson
Instead the boxing media continues to worship Bernard Hopkins, who has avoided Dawson like the plague and has not faced a top contender in two years. Yet, B-Hop is ranked in the top five of most P4P rankings, whereas Dawson barely gets a look in. Ridiculous. By the way, you won’t find a bigger Hopkins fan than me, but I call it how I see it.
Goodbye Bernard
I was sad to hear Dublin Super-Bantamweight Bernard Dunne announce his retirement on Friday, but I believe he’s made the right decision. He’s achieved all he can in the sport and after winning the WBA title against Ricardo Cordoba in one of the best fights I’ve ever seen last March, it would have been hard for Dunne to get motivated for bouts at a lower level.
After winning the world title in that classic with Cordoba, most fighters would have went to their after-fight party and celebrated with their family and friends. Not Dunne though. Upon hearing the news that Cordoba was rushed to hospital immediately after he was stopped in the 11th, Dunne went to the Panamanian’s bedside to find out how he was feeling.
That tells you all you need to know about the man. A true class act. Boxing needs more men like Bernard Dunne and it is a shame there will be no more electric nights in Dublin’s 02 Arena (formally The Point). There was nothing like a Bernard Dunne fight in Dublin, trust me on that. You think Ricky Hatton’s fans are crazy? They are positively sane compared to Dunne’s legion of supporters. The night he beat Esham Pickering for the European title I couldn’t hear myself think. Never seen an atmosphere like it and I doubt I ever will again. And I was there for Pacquiao/Hatton by the way!
Whatever Dunne decides to do, I wish him nothing but the best in his future. Along with Brian Peters, he revived a flagging, almost dead sport in Ireland and that will be his lasting legacy. And what a legacy that is. Enjoy your retirement Bernard.
