The May 1st Floyd Mayweather, Jr.- Shane Mosley fight is drawing near and talks about the big fight amongst boxing aficionados in Michigan is becoming more heated day-by-day. Many people are divided about their predictions as well as on the other issues raised concerning the said fight– Olympic- style drug testing and pound- for- pound rankings.
Samuel D. of Lincoln Park, a known Mosley fan to his friends,in an email to this writer raised the possibility of Floyd Mayweather?s chance to be the no.1 pound-for-pound fighter in the world if and when he beats his fighter Shane Mosley in their Las Vegas fight on May 1st.
The issue of boxing?s mythical pound-for- pound ranking is always a source of contention among boxing fans for years, and the supporters of every fighter deemed worthy to be named in the ranking have always manage to point out the pros and cons in the inclusion and exclusion of each and every name worthy to be on the list. Thus, the proliferation among websites and sports entities, each with its own list and ranking, is a testament of how popular this mythical list is.
Manny Pacquiao, who was the consensus number one in Ring Magazine?s P4P list for more than 333 weeks now is on the verge of being toppled from his throne by Floyd Mayweather, Jr. if the latter gets by Shane Mosley on May 1st.
There is a big possibility that the Filipino?s stranglehold on the no. 1 pound-for- pound title will end the moment the referee raises Floyd Mayweather, Jr?s hand in victory in Las Vegas. This possibility is real and not imagined because of the fact that when Floyd Mayweather, Jr. managed a 12- round shut out win against a bloated Juan Manuel Marquez in his return fight last September 2009, it did not take long for Yahoo Sports to dislodge Manny Pacquiao from its top list and declared Mayweather as the no.1 pound-for-pound boxer in the world. Yahoo Sports justified the vile act, even though Mayweather cheated his way to the scales and paid a hefty fine for the weight transgression of coming in over the catch weight limit of 144.
In retrospect, that declaration by Yahoo Sports, even thought it just lasted for a month, was not only an aberration, but was also laughable, if not absurd. That declaration did not sit well with the boxing community as a whole considering the amount of flak that Yahoo Sports got in various boxing chat rooms and online forums after the publication of the said list.
Manny Pacquiao?s March 13th fight with Joshua Clottey at the Dallas Cowboys Stadium in front of a live attendance of more than 55,000 was an ugly one, even with the Filipino?s spirited effort to make it a fight. Manny Pacquiao, despite Joshua Clottey?s reluctance to engage, still gave it his all and in the end, impressed a lot of people by being all business inside the ring. The Event was highlighted by the volume of punches thrown (an average of more than a 100 per round) by Manny Pacquiao against an scared opponent whose only motivation is not to get knocked out and survive the fight on his feet.
On the other hand, Floyd Mayweather, Jr. is the clear- cute favorite against Shane Mosley and may end up winning their May 1st fight. Yes, the chances are high that Floyd Mayweather, Jr. will indeed cruise to victory by using his bicycle and employing his patented hit and run tactics against Shane Mosley.
Does this mean that Floyd Mayweather, Jr. deserves to be rank ahead of Manny Pacquiao if he wins over Mosley? Or let?s flip the other side of the coin, does Shane Mosley, being the number 3 fighter on the P4P list, be the number one if he edges Floyd Mayweather, Jr. come May 1st?
These scenarios will weigh heavily on the people who will determine the composition and ranking of the updated pound-for- pound list after the fight. But only one question deserved to be asked to the people who will be voting for the number one fighter in the world–
Who do we think deserves best the mythical pound-for-pound King title–
— the exciting, no- nonsense, all action fighter or the more technical but boring one?
