There’s a brilliant new hand in the pound-for-pound shuffle with dynamic promise that could put pressure on Floyd Mayweather Jr. not to rest on the mythical crown as though it were an entitlement.
Manny Pacquiao’sstoppage of Erik Morales 10 days ago knocked out suspicions that he was too impatient and limited by tactical know-how to be around long enough to threaten Mayweather’s claim, which includes a challenge from Winky Wright.
In scoring a technical knockout over the tough and ring-wise Morales in a super-featherweight bout, trainer Freddie Roach’s lessons – a right hand and body punches – were applied by a fighter who was using them with deadly consistency for the first time.
Pacquiao’s victory, which put him at No. 3 in most pound-for-pound ratings, also turned him into a star. HBO is talking about televising his next bout from the Philippines, where his countrymen jammed the streets of Manila on Thursday to get a glimpse of him in a homecoming parade.
But the star is also a student.
“There are things he hasn’t even done and that you’re going to see in the future,” Pacquiao’s manager, Shelly Finkel, said not long after Roach talked about a need for more defense.
With 2006 only a month old, Pacquiao has emerged with perhaps the best chance at fulfilling acknowledged potential.
For Mayweather, only Jr. has been attached to his name as long as potential. His evident talent comes, and goes, in spellbinding flurries.
His dominant victory over Arturo Gatti didn’t prove a whole lot, and that much was proved all over again Saturday night in Gatti’s 11th-round stoppage of overmatched Thomas Damgaard in Atlantic City.
Gatti is entertaining and a terrific draw. But his name is absent from the pound-for-pound debate for a good reason: He doesn’t belong there.
Meanwhile, Mayweather will jump up in weight, from 140 pounds to 147, against Zab Judah in April. Judah is coming off a loss to Carlos Baldomir. Even if Mayweather fights brilliantly, Judah’s loss to an unknown will temper the praise.
The unbeaten Mayweather has choices. Instead of Judah, one could be Antonio Margarito.
Mayweather continues to dismiss Margarito, saying he isn’t a draw. He also says Bob Arum, who promotes both, is merely trying to build up Margarito as an opponent.
There might be some truth in both, but Margarito is also an accomplished, tough welterweight. Mayweather should beat him, but the victory could exact a painful price.
The guess is that Mayweather, like Roy Jones Jr. before him, simply wants to take the easiest path of resistance. If he can avoid bruises, he will.
A significant difference is that Pacquiao never seems to display reluctance at the prospect of harm’s way. He jumps into the middle of danger with an evident taste for the bloody pursuit.
“It’s just his nature,” Roach said of a student who might wind up teaching Mayweather that reluctance is only a way to fail.
Briefs
Ex-lightweight champ Joel Casamayor began training at Central Boxing near downtown Phoenix last week. Casamayor, a Cuban gold medalist at the 1992 Olympics, lost 14 months ago to Jose Luis Castillo, who faces Rolando Reyes on Saturday in El Paso. Casamayor is expected to be at Central for two more weeks.
• If 42-year-old Virgil Hill’s victory over Valery Brudov for a World Boxing Association cruiserweight title Friday night is a sign, Vassiliy Jirov of Fountain Hills has picked a good time to return to 190 pounds after an ill-fated attempt at heavyweight.
