Floyd Mayweather Jr.: Pound-for-pound Pretender?
By Brandon Desmond - He’s brash, he’s talented, he’s flamboyant, and he is undefeated. His boxing skills are the stuff of legend, and he’ll tell you himself that he’s the best boxer in the world. In fact, he’ll tell you he’s one of the greatest of all time if you keep listening. And I will admit that there was a time when this writer bought into it. And now, in the wake of broken down negotiations for what would have potentially been the richest and most anticipated bout in Boxing history (against Manny Pacquiao), Floyd Mayweather Jr. will still claim that he is the number 1 pound-for-pound fighter on Earth, despite blowing yet another opportunity to prove it beyond a doubt. At this point, even Floyd’s loudest and most loyal supporters should be able to deduce what I have: He has absolutely no legitimate claim to that title.
Before I really make my case, I want to make sure we are all clear on the definition of “Pound-for-pound.” If a fighter is on the pound-for-pound list at all, he has proved that he has the heart, determination, and skills that it takes to defeat top fighters within reasonable (in some cases, beyond reasonable) vicinity of his own comfortable weight class. This means that the fighter has to be willing to move up and/or down, sometimes two or three divisions, to take on and defeat those divisions’ top fighters.. Furthermore, to be considered number 1 on the pound-for-pound list, that fighter must prove that he can do this better than anyone else in the world. Of course, everyone’s list is subjective as there is no true scientific measure of heart, determination, and skills. So any p4p list must be accompanied by solid arguments and explanations as to why each fighter made it on. In stead of giving you my list, I will present to you why I think Floyd Mayweather Jr. has a lot to accomplish before he can really call himself the true pound-for-pound king.
The Pacquiao fiasco is only the most recent and egregious example. Mayweather will tell you himself that in order to be the best, you must fight and beat the best. He has done nothing of the sort. What he has done is cherry-pick opponents who he knows would be overmatched in one way or another. To back up my point, here is a look at Floyd Mayweather Jr.’s last seven fights.
In 2005 he fought Arturo Gatti for the WBC Junior Welterweight title. I have the utmost respect for Arturo Gatti for the true warrior and ambassador for Boxing that he was. That being said, not only was he a shot fighter who was blown up from his strongest weight classes (junior lightweight and lightweight), pound-for-pound material he clearly has never been, and I think most would agree with me on that. Also, I just have to mention that Floyd broke down in an uncomfortable “emotional” scene and pretended to cry as if he’d won the Super bowl after this easy victory. “I’m going to Disneyland!”
In his next fight, it was Sharmba Mitchell. Now Mitchell was, at one time, a great fighter. At the time he fought Mayweather however, he was a blown up, old shell of his former self, and quite clearly not a pound-for-pounder. Mayweather demonstrated this by easily knocking him out with a straight right to the body.
Then comes the Zab Judah fight. Judah, it may be argued, is the best name on Mayweather’s resume after 2005. Zab showed this by handling himself very well in the early rounds of the fight. But still, at that point in Zab’s career, he was clearly on the downslide, and was coming off of a loss to journeyman Carlos Baldomir. Having beat only top fighters (and having lost to B-class fighters) at 140 and 147, if he was on your pound-for-pound list at the time, you were obviously trippin’.
Speaking of Baldomir, Mayweather easily outpointed him in November of 2006. Baldomir, who’s only notable victories since 1999 were, *uhem* Arturo Gatti and Zab Judah, was listed on zero pound-for-pound lists that this writer was aware of.
Then comes Oscar De La Hoya in May of ‘07. Mayweather had his most recent trouble in this fight. Held at the junior middleweight limit of 154, the deck was clearly stacked against Floyd in the contract for the bout. Oscar was given his choice of glove brand and size, ring size, and money split, among other things (which apparently Floyd learned a great deal from, more on that later). Despite this, Floyd eked out the close split decision in a fight that could easily have been scored a draw. With all that said, Oscar was clearly past his prime and hadn’t been anywhere near a pound-for-pound list since his gift decision win against Felix Sturm, followed by his embarrassing body-shot KO loss to Bernard Hopkins.
Of course, then he fought Ricky Hatton. On paper, this fight looked like it should have been more competitive. But if you looked a little deeper, Hatton struggled severely in his only previous 147 pound fight with Luis Collazo. Besides the weight class issue, Hatton’s face first style was tailor-made for Mayweather’s slick counterpunching style. Furthermore, I think many would agree that Ricky, although lovable and highly marketable, was a bit over-rated. Due to his inability to win convincingly at any weight class other than 140, his exclusion from pound-for-pound lists is a no-brainer.
Ah yes, the fight with Marquez. Juan Manuel was picked as an opponent for Floyd’s “comeback fight” for two reasons. 1)Not only was Marquez clearly way out of his wheelhouse (130-135 pounds), 2)but he also was in the unique position of having a claim that he won at least one of his fights with Manny Pacquiao, who at the time (and is currently) considered by most as the number 1 pound-for-pound fighter in the world. By this time, though, Floyd had mastered the art of winning a fight during the contract negotiations. Something he learned from Oscar De La Hoya. Marquez, in order to get the fight, had to come up two weight classes. In an attempt to counter Mayweather’s forcing him to come up, he requested that Floyd come down a whole three pounds to 144. Floyd agreed, promising to pay Marquez $300,000.00 for each pound over 144 if he came in above that weight. We all know now that Mayweather basically ignored the contract weight, coming in at a comfortable 146 pounds, effectively buying himself an even more intense weight advantage. Yes, Marquez was thoroughly dominated in a jaw-dropping performance by Mayweather, and yes, Floyd probably would have won the fight anyway. But the fact that he had to result to dirty tricks outside the ring means we will never know.
Back to the present. Regarding the Pacquiao/Mayweather negotiations, a couple of very important things need to be pointed out. From the beginning of “Blood testgate” Mayweather and his camp insisted that their motivation for such a demand (Olympic-style blood testing administered by the USADA) was to “level the playing field.” In this writer’s opinion, it is mind-numbingly obvious that their intention was, in fact, the exact opposite. In my opinion, Camp Mayweather never really wanted to make the fight. This is just the latest in a series of blunders on Mayweather’s part. While “Money May” has been loudly proclaiming his superiority, he has refused to fight any of the top fighters in his own division. He previously blew a perfectly good opportunity to prove his greatness when he turned down what would have been a career best payday of $8 million to fight a prime Antonio Margarito. Considering Margarito may have literally had “manos de piedra,” a decisive victory would have done more than enough to solidify Mayweather’s number 1 status. Shane Mosley has been calling Floyd out for years, another fight that would have at least justified Mayweather’s presence on a pound-for-pound list. Miguel Cotto, at any point in the last four years, would have been a tremendously anticipated event, and had the Pretty Boy made the fight and won, without iffy contract shenanigans, I would be singing his praises right now. But the fact is, all those guys have grown frustrated with Floyd and have been fighting each other for our entertainment.
With the most recent failure to make the fight with Manny Pacquiao, claiming that Manny should prove he’s clean by agreeing to more stringent tests than have ever been agreed to in a boxing contract. I find myself extremely angry with Floyd Mayweather, and the entire business side of boxing. Floyd hasn’t proved that he has a right to be making these types of demands. As a fight fan, I’m finding it increasingly difficult to understand how this was allowed to happen. We just got robbed of one of the most important fights in history, and we all should be mad about it. Floyd’s fans included.
Floyd Mayweather Jr. has been quoted saying “Legacy don’t pay the bills.” To that, Floyd, I say you are absolutely right. Real fights with real opponents are what pay the bills. Win or lose, if you fight the best, your bills will be paid. Legacy is just the icing on the cake. But the Pretty Boy’s cake has officially gone flat in the eyes of this fan of the fights.
