Unlike most boxing fans, I idealize a fighter who can hit without getting hit back, just as I like a football team that racks up first downs. Only two really shining examples have come along in the past 20 years, Roy Jones Jr. and Floyd Mayweather Jr.
Manny Pacquiao has other virtues and may be one of the 10 best fighters of all time, but what we mostly like about Manny are the intangibles, such as humility and wisdom. He’s always the good guy.
Mayweather is on the margins of the 10 best fighters of the 50 years I’ve been following boxing. That’s why I’m amazed by how widely admired he isn’t. He’s always the bad guy.
I wish he would jab more and I wish he would take more chances, but I always feel Mayweather is utterly in charge in the ring, one of the best ring generals ever. He is the most complete fighter in boxing and has been since his junior lightweight days. Unlike the nearly-as-gifted Shane Mosley, Mayweather has avoided taking on larger fighters with a shot at beating him, so he hasn’t faced much adversity. That means he’s well preserved, which may offset whatever rust has been caused by his 21-month absence from the ring. He’s also tough, as he seems determined to remind everyone at every turn.
That kind of stuff becomes ugly. But inside the ring, where he figures Saturday to maul Juan Manuel Marquez, he’s still beautiful.
Unless Mayweather has lost one-third of his skills or more since December 2007, he should be superior to Marquez in size, speed and probably power. The only argument against Mayweather is the 21-month layoff. Marquez’s two standoffs with Pacquiao are the best argument in his favor, but JuanMa had best not stand in with Manny at 144 pounds. Marquez is warrior enough to last 12 rounds, but Mayweather will be a clear-cut winner.
It’s too bad someone so good will be the clear-cut villain in the coming matchup with Pacquiao.
