“If we were to fight again, I’d do a lot of things differently”…”I fight them first and then he gets my leftovers”…all recent comments made by some of the biggest names in the sport. Looking back at this week’s key quotes of note, Boxing Scribe Vivek Wallace offers his own unique perspective, giving fight fans “a little something to think about”. Check it out!
“I talked the big talk but on Saturday night I didn’t walk the walk. You can complain about a million and one thing but it doesn’t change what happened in the ring. My toe is not an excuse for what happened in the fight. If we were to fight again, I’d do a lot of things differently.” – David Haye speaking on his loss to Wladimir Klitschko
Perspective: Categorically, finding a boxer who’s willing to accept blame in defeat is a classic parallel of the proverbial “needle in a haystack” philosophy. After last Saturday night’s abysmal performance, seems David Haye is no different, somewhat validating the fan fave adopted name “David Hype”. While it was pleasant to see Haye come back to his senses and simply admit that it was his own poor performance which led to him losing the bout, his initial response to the loss where he immediately blamed a toe injury was a poor display of character at best.
Seeing Haye revert to the foot injury reminds me of recent losses by Mosley and Clottey. In the cases of Mosley and Haye, it’s very intriguing how both men stated that they couldn’t move forward due to foot injuries, yet they had no problem going backwards all night. In the case of Clottey, he sucked down that pre-fight native Ghanian soup a thousand times in the past, yet on the night of his biggest stage, it gave him a case of diarrhea. Some would call this a coincidence. Others may call it fate. I call it a blunt reality.
There’s no coincidence that these men worked their whole lives to reach an ultimate pinnacle, got there, and then had something go wrong on that big night that had never gone wrong before. This reality materialized because these men are what many felt they are: great in their own rights, better than many, rarely afraid of any, but on the highest level, little more than what I would refer to as “window shoppers”. They’ll make it to the big store, but they’ll never walk out with the bags.
When you look at the Mayweathers, the Pacquiaos, and the Hopkins of the world, these are all men who have the rare ability to stay driven. Every man wants to “eat”, but as the Dos Equis guy would say, only a few know how to “stay thirsty” in life. In the case of these three men (Mosley, Clottey and Haye), they have each done enough to “eat” better by way of reaching a point in their respective careers where they can earn top dollars. But in this desert called boxing, where the heat can be turned up with no advance notice, we continue to learn that you can lead a horse to the water, but he may not always drink. Stay thirsty my friends! Just something to think about.
“When I beat fighters, they say that they are too small, or too slow, or over the hill….but when he [Pacquiao] fights the guys, he gets praise for it. I fight them first and then he gets my leftovers. If you guys [in the media] want to write, just tell the truth. That’s all I ask.” – Floyd Mayweather on Pacquiao fighting the same opponents
Perspective: R-E-S-P-E-C-T? Of all the accolades Floyd Mayweather has found along the way to this near 15-year mark of his career, this remains the one thing that he simply hasn’t been able to locate. Respect. Maybe it’s the bad boy antics. Maybe it’s the flashy iced out watches and Gucci bags. Whatever it may be, one of the sports most prized possessions can’t quite get the one thing he has undoubtedly earned. When it comes to his sentiments on the Pacquiao perspective, it’s hard not to admit that he’s absolutely correct in this particular assessment.
When Mayweather faced Ricky Hatton, Hatton was undefeated and on a mental high. After suffering his first pro loss to Mayweather, Hatton openly stated that he “cried like a woman for months”, and followed that statement up with one far more revealing. When asked which of the two losses (Mayweather and Pacquiao) were more humbling, he stated, “the Pacquaio loss was simply a well-placed shot, but not an ego crusher.” That quote was evidenced by him goofing off at the MGM Grand pool the morning after.
He would follow that up by saying, “Mayweather was easily the toughest of my career because it was the only time I had ever gone almost the full distance in a fight and simply had no answer for the man in front of me no matter what I tried.” In this case, the man himself made it clear that one of the losses were far more impacting than the other, yet in the eyes of the media, not so. Against Oscar Dela Hoya, Mayweather conceded everything, from ring size, to glove size, to weight, and beyond. By the end of the night, despite spotting his opponent 106 extra punches, FMW still outlanded ODH by 85 in Oscar’s natural habitat as the smaller man. Still no props in comparison.
Shane Mosley came in the ring against Mayweather beaming in confidence after his biggest career victory in years. Against Pacquiao, he was coming off a loss and a very ugly draw that should have been a loss. Mayweather didn’t defeat him the way most critics said he would (by running); he defeated him the way his critics said he couldn’t, which was face to face, eye to eye, do or die. There were no mysterious blisters on the foot to serve as an excuse. But in the eyes of the media, despite the quickly fading crowd on the night Pacquiao faced Mosley, it was still Pacquiao’s victory that was most heralded.
Floyd Mayweather has many faults and should never be let off the hook for any of them, but this is simply a case where we need to call an ace and ace. Against like competition, Mayweather has outdone Pacquiao in every visible statistic measured, yet because of his image, most media would rather overlook what appears to be a blinding truth. Pay-per-view numbers, box office gate numbers, numerical statistical numbers and beyond; when you see such a visible injustice, it brings the ongoing debate between the two to a complete halt, as there’s no two sides to such a one-sided truth.
He may not be the poster boy image we’re used to, but in the ring, the man is the truth, and that’s no lie. For those who feel compelled to say otherwise, that’s fine in theory, but I’d love to see what stats one would attempt to present to overturn this reality. A fight inside the ring between these two men would be a clear toss up, but outside of it, I think the scorecard clearly favors Mayweather when we look at the “facts”, and not the “acts”. Just a little something else to think about.
(Vivek “Vito” Wallace can also be reached at [email protected], Youtube (VIVEK1251), Twitter (VIVEKWALLACE747), Skype (VITO-BOXING), Facbook, and Myspace)
