Floyd Mayweather said he was ending a two-year retirement to face Juan Marquez in Las Vegas last Saturday night in order to confirm he is the greatest boxer ever. In that case, he failed.
Sure, Mayweather was faster, more accurate, certainly more defensively gifted than any other fighter of his era, and most others. No doubts, he could hardly have looked more impressive in the manner of his victory.
But Mayweather surely knows that in order to cement that all-time greatness, the right to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with Muhammad Ali and the Sugar Rays, he has a bit of unfinished business to attend to first.
Many had questioned whether Mayweather was too shrewd for his own good when he announced his intention to return against Marquez on the eve of Oscar De La Hoya’s blockbuster fight with Manny Pacquiao.
Pacquiao duly hammered De La Hoya in a manner which arguably lifted the Filipino to the pound-for-pound number one spot. The question was, why didn’t Mayweather wait 48 hours and tough-talk towards a Pacquiao fight instead?
Instead, Mayweather was lumbered with a showdown with Marquez. If it seems unfair to dismiss the Mexican, make no mistake this is done in the contexts of the Mayweathers and Pacquiaos of this world. Simply, Marquez does not belong.
Marquez is a great fighter, for sure. But he failed to beat Pacquiao in two bouts, and lost – despite what a battery of Golden Boy spin-doctors have had us believe ever since – to the current featherweight number one Chris John in March 2006.
He came to the ring significantly smaller than Mayweather, so much so as to almost render the fight a mis-match before it had even begun. To make matters worse, Mayweather arrogantly came in two pounds over the agreed 144lbs limit.
With an agreed tiny portion of Mayweather’s many millions 600,000 US dollars (300,000 per pound) heading Marquez’s way as a result, the issue, and with it the even greater size disparity, was swept under the canvas.
Now, it seems, Mayweather is ready to go to the other extreme in order to avoid the issue. In November, Manny Pacquiao and Miguel Cotto go head to head in a fight widely thought to give the victor the right to a break-all-records showdown with Mayweather.
Instead, the only name on Mayweather’s lips in the glow of victory on Saturday night was Shane Mosley, a Golden Boy fighter who supposedly staged an impromptu ring ambush of Pretty Boy during the post-fight interviews.
“I simply told Shane, when it’s his time to shine, I don’t get in the ring, grab the mic and get in the way,” said an apparently disgruntled Mayweather.
“When it’s his night, it’s his night. Tonight is not his night.”
Boxing cynics might suggest the entire contretemps was contrived in order to set internet message boards babbling and make the prospect of Mayweather versus Mosley number one on everyone’s lips.
Certainly, Mosley is no mug. He will no way be outweighed or outreached by Mayweather. A natural welterweight who has also won world titles at light-middle, the 38-year-old has resurrected his career since a points loss to Cotto in 2007.
Mosley is a popular, Golden Boy-backed guy. He will certainly get the pay-per-view channels talking. Perhaps more than Pacquiao; certainly more than Cotto, whose popularity certainly does not yet transcend his sport.
But the fact of the matter is this: Mayweather has an easier night against Mosley than he does against either one of Pacquiao or Cotto any day of the week. Less speed to contend with, less power to defend. Mayweather surely knows that.
Chances are Mayweather will do what he did prior to Pacquiao’s clash with De La Hoya, and sign for a fight with Mosley shortly before Pacquiao and Cotto tear the house down in the almost-guaranteed fight of the year in November.
Such a tactic would do Mayweather and his claims of all-time greatness a major disservice. Mayweather versus Cotto or Pacquiao is the ultimate fight for its era and little more than a 50-50 showdown whichever way it goes.
For what it is worth, this column favours Cotto to do a mid-rounds job on Pacquiao. Then Mayweather will have the choice: swat Mosley’s rubber bullets all night long, or use that famed defensive skill to repel some far more serious firepower.
Mayweather has every chance of realising his dream of going down in the history books alongside those true all-time greats. But it is a status only victory over Miguel Cotto or Manny Pacquiao can provide.
