A friend who does work for Floyd Mayweather Jr. was telling a story earlier this week, to fill out a picture of his client that even ardent boxing fans hadn’t seen ? at least until Saturday night.
Heading into his fight with Shane Mosley at the MGM Grand Garden, Mayweather was undefeated in 40 professional fights, a champion several times over, but also a guy for whom it seemed to come too easily, who played this most dangerous of games way too safely, at least for the fans’ liking.
He valued not getting hit over scoring a knockout. He charted the safest path to victory. His remarkable skills were undeniable ? has there ever been a boxer with faster hands? ? but many were dying to see him knocked off his comfortable perch atop the sport, dying to see him forced to fight for a change.
Oh it happens, the friend said. It’s there. There was the time in the gym, during training, when a sparring partner caught Mayweather during a bad moment, and nailed him with a punch, then another, rocked him right through the headgear, and seemed just a little too satisfied with what he’d accomplished.
The next day, Mayweather arrived for training, and told four of the five sparring partners lined up to work that they could go home. The one left behind was the one who’d shown him up. It was going to be just the two of them, for 10 rounds.
And then, the slick, defensive master turned into a street fighter, and laid on a beating, for the amusement of no one but himself.
That image flashed back during the second round on Saturday night. Following a tentative opening three minutes, Mosley ? terrifically skilled in his own right, and a veteran of so many big fights ? pushed a left jab into Mayweather’s chest, and followed with a right hand that hit Mayweather flush on the chin.
Mayweather was rocked, and he would be rocked again before the round was out.
?He was hurt,? Mosley said afterward. ?He was hurt real bad. I think it’s the most he’s ever been hurt in his entire career.?
It was arguably Mayweather’s toughest, most humbling round as a pro. Mosley’s confidence soared, the sellout crowd in the arena seemed foursquare behind him. Nearly everyone expected Mayweather to run, to try to stay out of harm’s way, and imagined the real possibility that Mosley could pull the momentous upset, could knock him out.
Instead, in the opening seconds of the third round, Mayweather stood his ground, he fired back, he became the aggressor, he took the fight to Mosley and didn’t give an inch.
And he didn’t lose another round, didn’t lose another minute, he outpunched Mosley, he hurt him and a couple of times seemed on the verge of stopping him on the way to winning a lopsided decision.
?I think he tried,? Mayweather said later. ?But it’s just me being able to show my ability to adjust to any opponent. I’d turn it into a dog fight if that was what was needed.?
A statement then, erasing any doubts that he is also a fighter when the occasion demands, that he can dig deep, that he can overcome adversity, that he can stand toe to toe with someone nearly as fast, nearly as skilled, almost certainly more powerful, and not just survive, but dominate.
And so what’s left? Manny Pacquiao is left. And that fight, and the dispute over drug testing that scuttled it this spring, takes on an entirely different hue given what’s just taken place.
The easy interpretation when Mayweather insisted on random blood and urine testing and Pacquiao refused, was that he was creating an excuse, creating a reason to duck an opponent he didn’t want to face. It all went back to the stuff about being unwilling really to do battle against a fighter who so obviously finds joy in an all-out brawl.
A little difficult to put that spin on things this morning. And also a little difficult to make the case that in meeting Pacquiao, Mayweather would certainly reach his Waterloo. It would be exciting while is lasted, it would take Mayweather a little while to decode Pacquiao’s unorthodox style, but who could say now that he’d be intimidated by the prospect of having to scrap to victory, who couldn’t imagine him finding a way to hit a guy whose defence is hardly impregnable, while still managing to avoid the Filipino’s Sunday punch?
Floyd Mayweather Jr. may be absolutely as good as he says he is. He may be able to win fights in all sorts of ways, including by going toe to toe. For all of the ridiculous trappings ? he was led into the ring on Saturday by stilt walkers tossing fake hundred-dollar bills to the crowd ? he is a serious practitioner of his art, steeped in it like a third-generation jazz musician, to the point where it permeates every cell.
?Tonight convinced me that he is the best,? Oscar De la Hoya, who has fought Mayweather, and Mosley twice, and Pacquiao, said Saturday. ?Possibly of all time.?
That last part is a question of history, and history isn’t written in the moment. But as for the here and now, he’s not the only one who experienced that epiphany.
