Society of North American Sports Historians & Researchers – HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA – May 5, 2013 – Boxing fans who are eager to witness the decline and fall of Floyd ?Money? Mayweather Jr. are going to have to wait a while longer to see their wish come true. His easy dismissal of challenger Robert ?The Ghost? Guerrero in a WBC welterweight title bout on Saturday is proof positive that Mayweather is still at the top not only of his own game, but also at the apex of the prizefighting game as a whole.
Although Mayweather was heavily favored going into his meeting with Guerrero, there was a whiff of an impending upset in the air. Mayweather is now 36, which is young only by Bernard Hopkins?s standards. As well, Mayweather had not fought in a year, and his showing in that bout ? a points win over Miguel Cotto ? was sub-par and suggested that some chinks were appearing in Floyd?s fistic armor.
A brief stint in jail last year over a domestic-violence conviction couldn?t have helped Mayweather?s state of mind. And he replaced his trainer, his uncle Roger Mayweather, with his dad, Floyd Sr. To call the Mayweather father-son relationship ?volatile? would be the understatement of the century. The fighting in the Mayweather corner could have proven to be more entertaining than the action in the ring.
Plus which, times have been tough for the pound-for-pound elite over the past several months. Manny Pacquiao ended up flat on his face in December, courtesy of long-time rival Juan Manuel Marquez. Nonito Donaire was embarrassed by Guillermo Rigondeaux. Sergio Martinez and Timothy Bradley had to climb off the canvas while enduring life-and-death struggles against opponents who were not expected to give them that much trouble.
If those missteps by the pound-for-pound elite constituted a trend, Mayweather was next in line for a stumble, if not a pratfall. Guerrero, after all, is no slouch, having recently entered the lower tier of the pound-for-pound Top 10. If a past-his-prime Cotto was able to push Floyd to the limit, then a young, hungry Guerrero just might have had the right stuff to hand Mayweather his first defeat as a professional.
As it turned out, Guerrero didn?t have the right stuff, and that whiff of an upset was just an illusion. Like nearly all of Mayweather?s opponents, Guerrero was battered, bloodied and bewildered by the time the final bell sounded.
Even though his loss was lop-sided, ?The Ghost? has nothing to be ashamed of. Mayweather?s blend of athletic talent and boxing skill remains unequalled by any contemporary fighter other than Andre Ward and, perhaps, Adrien Broner. Good as he is, Guerrero was simply no match for Mayweather, though the younger man could certainly hold his own against any other welterweight.
From his reaffirmed perch at the top of the pound-for-pound pyramid, Mayweather can call his own shots. At this point, it looks as though he is eyeing a fall date with WBC junior-middleweight champion Saul ?Canelo? Alvarez. Because Alvarez is the hottest box-office attraction in the sport right now, with a fan base that straddles the border between Mexico and the United States, a Mayweather-Alvarez match could prove to be even more lucrative than the ain?t-gonna-happen Mayweather-Pacquiao superfight might have been.
Love him (as many do regardless of what he does outside the ring) or hate him (as many do regardless of what he does inside the ring), Floyd Mayweather Jr. is still ?The Man? in boxing today, and will remain so until he retires or somebody beats him.
