Floyd Mayweather Jr., the self-proclaimed Best Ever, is in the fight of his life. He’s an interesting character to say the least and to the layman, a very uninteresting fighter. You see, from the perspective of the casual witness, Mayweather is a little man with a big mouth who takes great pleasure in running from his opponents until that final bell rings: a sound that has become synonymous with his impending victory.
But Mayweather is more than that--much more. Mayweather doesn’t just run from his opponents, he dictates to them. When Floyd steps into that ring, he commands absolute authority over his opponents and his opponents always do as they're told. Mayweather accomplishes this not with words, but with a very specific gameplan: always fight cautiously, eliminate the risk, and never engage in a fight with someone in their prime.
It may seem as if I’m trying to undermine Floyd’s legacy, but I can assure you that this is not my intention. Floyd, without a doubt, will most definitely go down as one of the greatest defensive boxers of all time. Floyd will also go down as a brilliant strategist both inside and outside of the ring.
“Floyd is the greatest defensive boxer of all time.”
The thing is, Floyd has managed to earn a fortune by building hype around fights that really weren’t that interesting to begin with. Granted, his first mega-fight with De La Hoya was a semi-legitimate contest, although it could be argued that De La Hoya fell into that category of fighters Mayweather enjoys to fight: way past their prime and a half a step away from retirement. Let’s look at some of his fights post-De La Hoya and how they were presented to the general audience.
Floyd v Hatton: Finally, a brawler in his prime. Hatton will certainly get the better of Floyd with his aggression, speed, and power. He has the conviction to break through Floyd’s defense and still possesses the undefeated mindset necessary to compete with Floyd.
The truth: Hatton was severely overrated and any hopes of him defeating Floyd were completely unfounded. His biggest win was against an aging Jose Luis Castillo who at that point in time had been through so many battles his body had deteriorated so much that he had no business stepping inside the ring.
Floyd v Mosely: Finally, Floyd is fighting a true puncher: a dangerous man with skill and speed to match Floyd’s own power and speed.
The truth: Mosely, like De La Hoya, had been in so many battles at this point in his career that his age was finally getting the best of him. To say Floyd beat Mosley is a mistake: Floyd beat a man who was nothing more than a shadow of the fighter he once was.
I mean, I could go on and on, with Ortiz, Marquez, and Maidana, but I think you get the idea. We’ve all been had, sucked into the media machine that loves to build up fights in our heads to make us think something might actually happen.
Which brings us to Pacquiao.
We have to ask ourselves, is this fight really all that it’s made up to be? Will this fight truly be a contest and not another Mayweather sparring session? It’s hard to say, but I’ll say this: Pacquiao is closer to his prime than any fighter Mayweather has ever fought.
And I’ll say this as well: Mayweather is more prepared for this fight than Pacquiao is.
Mayweather has made a career out of fighting aggressive boxers who wanted to muscle their way inside and hurt him. Mayweather has also been in the tougher fights as of late, whereas Pacquiao has been sort of coasting for his past three fights, especially against the lackluster Algieri.
“Mayweather is more prepared than Pacquiao.”
Looking back at Mayweather-Maidan I, the way Maidana was able to pin Mayweather against the ropes was very peculiar. I propose that Mayweather wanted to get pinned against the ropes. I think Mayweather wanted to get roughed up and feel Maidana’s power as a way of preparing for his inevitable conflict with Pacquiao. Mayweather was more than capable of not getting caught on the ropes, as seen in Mayweather-Maidana II, but there he was, not rolling with the punches, holding onto dear life while Maidana threw those wild right hooks he has become known for.
I know, it sounds like a conspiracy theory, but that’s half the fun of talking about fights isn’t it? In his second fight with Maidana, things were different. Floyd danced; he floated; he countered, and he dominated the fight in the way we are used to seeing.
Truth be told, I think these fights with Maidana were pure preparation for Pacquiao because he is aware of a few things: he knows he is going to have to fight Pacquiao in the center of the ring; he knows he is going to have to rely on his footwork to frustrate and confuse Pacquiao, and he knows he is going to have to take a couple of good shots without being frazzled.
As I said, Mayweather knew from the beginning that he was going to fight Pacquiao at some point in his career. The only question was, when? When would be the best time to cash in and take on the most dangerous man in boxing? A man that could potentially blemish what might be a perfect 50-0 record; a man who seems so comfortable in his own skin, that no amount of trash talking can upset; a man who can only be defeated inside the ring.
Is now the best time for Mayweather to fight Pacquiao? I’m going to go with no, it’s not.
If these two fighters fought, say in the early years of their professional careers, it would be a much easier fight to call: Mayweather wins.
My gut tells me, that Mayweather might have thought Pacquiao far too dangerous of an opponent when he was knocking out guys like Hatton and Cotto. But I think this was a mistake. Floyd at this point in time was arguably at his best, despite the fact that some people say Floyd has never looked better than he has today. These people are wrong.
“Pacquiao is a man who can only be defeated inside the ring.”
Sure, in his second outing with Maidana, he showed he can still fight in the center of the ring and float away when he needed to. However, the Floyd of old who would smile at his opponents as he casually walked them down, daring them to throw a punch and then retaliate with a sharp counter right was nowhere to be found. Granted, his skills are still sharp, but to say they’re as sharp as ever is misleading.
In all honesty, Floyd didn’t look comfortable in the ring. His faced was stressed as if each trip to the corner proved to be more taxing than the last. He seemed almost bored at times and a little annoyed as the fight went on--perhaps the fatigue of over 20 years of fighting was finally starting to settle in. He seemed to will himself to fight as if his body no longer responded to Floyd’s insistent requests.
Now with Floyd admitting that he is losing his will to train as hard as he once did, it’s clear that Floyd’s days are finally numbered. I tell you, it’s a dangerous situation to be inthe fight of your life with a man who believes God will smite you from this earth with his holy fists.
Floyd, of course, will shrug off any significance of this fight, win or lose, with his usual mantra of “it’s just another pay day.” But there is something different in Floyd’s face these days. He seems distant, despite his claim that he is greater than Muhammad Ali. I mean, he has a whole line of merchandise now with the letters TBE strewn all across them and in case you didn’t know, it stands for The Best Ever.
Or maybe he knows he's about to risk it all...
But I don’t buy it. Deep down, I think Mike Tyson was right when he said Floyd was a “very small scared man” in a recent interview.
Whenever Floyd has a quiet moment, he really does seem to have a bit of fear in his eyes and if not fear, maybe a bit of indifference, which might be worse. His dark eyes are almost mouse like and like a mouse, he seems skittish, like the slightest amount of noise could cause him to sprint off into a little hole in the wall until the coast is clear.
He talks big; he walks tall, but it should be obvious to everyone by now that it’s just an act. Floyd is the product of a perilous home--where family members were often in and out of prison when they weren’t training and fighting. I mean, that’s just it isn’t i? He's supposed to be the bad guy, because maybe he thinks no one will accept him as the hero. I cannot imagine the difficulties Floyd has had to face to get to where he is today.
Floyd comes from a family of professional boxers who have served time. So it goes, Floyd is a professional boxer who, unsurprisingly, has served time. He has to be acutely aware of this and maybe even a bit self-conscious about it.
“‘Money’ Mayweather is just an act.”
I don’t believe for a second the circumstances surrounding his life don’t bother him. In fact, it might contribute to my other assertion: that Mayweather, despite being the highest paid athlete in the world, is a little jealous of Pacquiao. You see, Pacquiao, gets all the love.
It’s Pacquiao’s name in the Guinness World Records; it’s Pacquiao who was named fighter of the decade; it’s Pacquiao’s trainer, Freddie Roach, who has been named trainer of the year seven times; it’s Pacquiao who carries the hopes and dreams of the fans on his shoulders; and it’s Pacquiao who has nothing to lose come May 2nd.
This is all of course only the opinion of an armchair critic, but I digress.
I try to think of the people who the public revered as truly great at their specific sport: Muhammad Ali, Sugar Ray Robinson, and Michael Jordan.
And I think about what they all have in common: they had the people on their side because, well, they were inspiring.
Floyd’s past antics has certainly garnered attention, but it’s the kind of attention that will quickly fade once he retires. Interestingly enough, Floyd seems to surround himself with people in a similar situation: Bieber, Fifty-Cent, and that other rapper whose name escapes me at this moment.
When their time in the spotlight is over, it’s going to be over for real. Why? Because no one is going to care about them when they’re gone.
It’s a rather sad state of affairs, to be in such a position as Floyd: possibly one of the greatest fighters to have ever lived, and in a few years no one will care.
The thing is, when people look back at Mayweather’s career if it indeed remains untarnished, people will say his greatness is owed to circumstance more so than anything else. There’s some truth in the statement: that after 20 years of fighting, Mayweather now for the first time is fighting a legitimate champion who is at least close to their prime, but this is also to no fault of Floyd’s. Floyd has no control over the level of talent in the field and it’s not his fault he is the most talented fighter in recent memory.
And then people ask, in Mayweather-Pacquiao, who carries the pressure of winning? People say Pacquiao because he is the underdog who must figure out what no other fighter before him has been able to do: how to beat Floyd's defense.
I disagree, simply because, as said previously, Pacquiao has less to lose. Pacquiao has already lost a few times, but people still love him. He has never been more popular than he is now despite being knocked out cold in his fourth fight with Marquez. If Floyd was knocked out in the same fashion as Pacquiao, I seriously think his fanbase would drop by a considerable percentage. Pacquiao's fight with Mayweather will be his biggest payday and afterward, supposing he loses, he will still be a hero to all those who support him. He will be remembered as the man who fought proudly for his country against all odds, lost, and came out smiling on the other side.
If Floyd loses, it all comes undone. The years of planning, picking opponents, picking the right time to fight Pacquiao--it would have all been for nothing. If Floyd loses, the entire design of his legacy falls apart.
People will say “See, I told you Floyd wasn’t that great.” People will say “See, Floyd was just another chump who never fought a fighter in their prime, and when he did, he lost.”
“If Floyd loses, it all comes undone. ”
TBE would slip into obscurity, and he will be sitting there will his millions of dollars, surrounded by people reassuring him of his greatness at 47-1, but I doubt he would believe them. And how could he? The one man he had to beat to secure his legacy, instead, beats him. Even if he wins in a rematch, it would have been too late by then: Floyd will just be another fighter with an impressive record. Floyd, of course, brought this upon himself by calling himself The Best Ever. This would be different, you know, if Floyd attempted to be the hero, but I think it's too late for that.
And if he wins? Well, like I said, people will still rain on his parade. People will say “Pacquiao was too small for him.” People will say “Of course Floyd won, he is a defensive mastermind and Pacquiao is just a mindless slugger.”
So it goes, that even if Mayweather wins, I don’t believe anyone will really believe he is the best ever, just the best of this lackluster generation of fighters: where the greats are aging, and the competition is lacking in talent.
Again, this is no fault of Floyd’s.
Floyd is doing the best with what he has, and he’s doing a fine job of it.