Following Floyd Mayweather?s victory over Shane Mosley, 411?s A. Shakoor discusses his anger and frustration over Mayweather?s attitude, admits to his brilliance, looks at the potential fight with Manny Pacquiao and then discusses Mayweather?s legacy?
I can’t stand Floyd Mayweather Jr., but he’s on his way to establishing himself as the greatest fighter of all-time. He was criticized by me, and many others for not fighting an elite welterweight. Not only that, he made up bogus reasons for avoiding them, like claiming how their records were unworthy, or they weren’t in his league. Basically, Mayweather was acting like a raging bitch for the past few years of his professional career. I called him a bitch during the roundtable prediction column, and I stand by it: he cried when he was criticized for his boring performance against Baldomir, like a bitch; he’s obsessed with money and jewelry, like a bitch; he takes a catty interest in Shane Mosley’s hairstyle and body art, like a bitch; he makes false claims of racism, like a bitch; he possibly had his homie shoot at a car carrying a guy he had a petty beef with(my opinion), like a bitch; and he generally just gives me bitch vibes to the point where I can’t wait to see his bitch ass knocked the hell out.
Too strong? Offended? Go read another column. I’m not auditioning for ESPN, and yes, I have a day job. Plus, last I checked, this site is more PG-13/R. Also, I do have a personal bias against Floyd. I don’t like anything about him, and as Brother Naazim Richardson alluded to on HBO’s 24/7, he’s an embarrassment to his race. No, I don’t think Floyd is a stereotypical, coon-like, ass-clown purely for promotional purposes. He wasn’t promoting a fight when he accused HBO of being racist, and called Emanuel Steward an “Uncle Tom”. That’s the same network that has made Floyd a wealthy stash of money to blow through, and the same announcer who gushes over him with compliments. To hell, with Mayweather. I bought a dying, diseased dog from a pound, named it Mayweather, and shot it in my backyard.
Despite my utter contempt for him, I’ve evaluated him fairly as a fighter. I’ve previously written that only Shane Mosley and Manny Pacquiao could beat him. Of course I turned out to be dead wrong about Mosley. And no, Floyd certainly doesn’t box like a bitch.
Prior to their bout, I wrote about how neither of the two was the type who traditionally gave the other problems, but Shane’s speed and power would do Floyd in. In the second round, I was all stoked and full of smack talk-wolfing and patting myself on the back. “Told all those clowns”, I boasted.
Well, Floyd proved me wrong from the third round on. He transformed himself into the type of fighter who bothers Shane, by being aggressive, working the jab, and keeping Shane at the end of the punches, and on the defensive. Floyd also surprised me with his size, strength, and mean-streak. Floyd won, because he fought an atypical Floyd Mayweather fight. Atypical, but for his brilliance in making adjustments and dealing with stressful situations. Floyd is a boxing savant. He’s just a brilliant technician-perhaps the best I’ve ever seen.
Only one fighter has a chance of beating Floyd, and that’s Manny Pacquiao. Manny has the speed and tenacity to keep firing, as opposed to going into a confused shell like Mosley did.
Can Floyd beat Manny? Hell yes!. Floyd is stronger, and may be able to figure Manny out, like he’s figure out 41 other fighters. However, considering how both fighters look unstoppable, I’m going with the younger, faster, more powerful Pacquiao.
I just engaged in a fantasy boxing prediction. I may as well have picked Henry Armstrong to beat Floyd, because Zombie Armstrong has just as good of a chance of fighting Floyd.
I predicted back after Christmas that blood-testing issues would kill the fight forever. Floyd never cared about the issue, until Manny started looking like a beast. Then, he and his team couched their demands in smears and accusations. That was stupid.
For those of you who have issues with Manny rejecting the tests, get over it. The little bastard says that he feels weakened, and admits that it may be psychological. Countless athletes have phobias and rituals that make sense only to them. That’s just the way it is. Factor that in with pride, and I see Manny’s point clearly.
Manny is willing to do a test immediately after the fight. Floyd’s groupies talk about how Manny will inject his body with some freaky “masking agents” to hide the PED’s in his blood, days if not hours, before the fight. Yeah, that sounds really safe for Manny, real safe indeed; before the biggest fight of his life. Laugh out loud. What’s the success rate of these freaky “masking agents” anyway? Manny haters watch too many science fiction movies. The fight is dead, and I’m ready to move on. But to where?
Manny can beat everybody between 140-147 with ease. Floyd can beat everybody between 147-154 with ease. Paul Williams could give Floyd an interesting look, but he get’s hit too easily, and Floyd would counter-punch the crap out of him all night. There is no serious competition for either of them
Both fighters will likely retire within the next couple years. Of course, don’t for a second think both fighter will stay away permanently. Countless fighters have talked about getting out in there early 30’s or sooner, while on top. It doesn’t happen. Great fighters only retire, and stay retired, in their early 30’s, due to diminishing skills, injury or drug abuse. Ricardo Lopez may be a lone exception, but he didn’t have bright lights and enormous paydays calling him back to action, like the larger fighters. Floyd and Manny will come back in their mid to late 30’s, as shells of their former selves, and then they will be beatable. Some things in boxing are automatic.
I can’t stand Mayweather to the point of utter, pure disgust, but his legacy is tight. As a matter of fact, I feel it’s all about legacy. Floyd and Manny are the two greatest fighters of their generation, and they are far and away the two best in the sport now. And they’re somewhere among the top 20 best of all-time. This is rare. Oscar, Tito, Holyfield, Lewis, none of the other greats in the past two decades demand such high praise. Hopkins and Jones are close, but not near Floyd and Manny. I rank Manny higher due to his number of Hall-of-Fame opponents and 7 in 7, but if Floyd were to dominate him in the fight that’ll likely never happen, Floyd has to go in the top-10. Yeah, he’s that special. Most “experts” have Leonard in the top 25, and he did nothing big after 1981, other than his disputed win over the aging Hagler. It was ugly after that.
Frankly, many of the “greats” are ranked too highly in my opinion. There is a bias where many experts feel like some fighters from the 80’s and prior are untouchable. Ray Robinson, Henry Armstrong, and many others lost their large share of fights, so I have to give that raging a-hole Mayweather credit when he says he should go number one due to his 0. Fuck it, why not? It’s all subjective, and you know what? If Floyd did beat Manny some day soon, and particularly beat him up bad, he can lay claim to G.O.A.T, as much as any other fighter can make that claim.
See how it goes? Floyd finally fought a legacy building, elite welterweight, dominated him, and even his haters give him props. And believe me, I can’t stand the guy.
