Mayweather: Is the Hype Justified or is it Just Hype?
June 19th, 2009
By Eric Torres: How will Floyd Mayweather Jr. be remembered? I ask you this question openly and without any bias. I ask you to ask yourself the question: Is Floyd Mayweather Jr. as good as he claims he is, or is his image as an invincible fighter and one that cannot be beat, a product of our imaginations due to his own hype machine? I can’t answers this question for you, but I can tell you my opinion.
Greatness is measured by the willingness to test your abilities against the best of the best and not being afraid to lose. In my honest opinion Floyd has not done this to date. How can I justifiably say that he is the best when he has not FOUGHT THE BEST!
When I look at Floyd Mayweather JR I see someone that has self doubt, but speaks loudly & is very animated, to not only convince himself he is the so called greatest, but to also fool us into believing that he is as well. I ask you to ask yourself, who has Floyd fought who is as tough as Cotto, as tough as Mosley, as tough as Margarito, as tough as a Clottey or as tough as Williams? No one! Floyd is the master of fooling us into believing he has fought the best when deep down inside I believe we all know he has not done that yet, not even close!
Let’s go through some of Floyds last few fighters he has faced starting from the most recent going down the list. Ricky Hatton who was a junior welterweight Floyd made come up to face him. Oscar De La Hoya who in my opinion was past his prime when he fought Mayweather and always came up short in his big fights, for example, Mosley, Hopkins and Trinidad.
Carlos Baldomir who’s fame came off of beating a past his prime Arturo Gatti. Baldomir who was slower than a turtle and Mayweather knew he could out run him for twelve rounds and not engage in combat. Lastly, Zab Judah, who was always hype and quite frankly an undisciplined, loose cannon type of a fighter.
As a fight fan, Can you say any of these fighters I have mentioned Floyd has fought, are on the same level of a Cotto, Margarito, Clottey, Mosley and I’ll even throw Berto in the mix? Ask yourself are any of those opponent’s Floyd has faced better than any of these TRUE WELTERWEIGHTS in Floyd’s division that he should be fighting not ducking? This is the point I am making with this article boxing fans!
It’s to open the eyes of the many Mayweather disciples, who have been fooled by him, his record and his claims of greatness. I would entertain his claims of greatness, if he fought any of these true superstars in HIS division. The reality is that I can’t because he has not fought any of them, not one single fighter on my list or in his division.
Floyd’s Greatness is a product of his imagination and does not need to be ours! As long as he keeps telling himself he has faced the best and letting his words effect our decisions as rational human beings into believing this, then he will never face the best boxing has had to offer and that would be a shame.
How can we as boxing fans allow this to happen? How can we as boxing fans allow Floyd to be considered the best if he has not fought the best? If we allow ourselves NOT to be manipulated by Floyd claims, then there will be an outcry for him to fight the best. Then and only then will we be able to measure his so called greatness. I am not here to change your opinion about Floyd, but only to ask yourself is Floyd Mayweather Jr’s Hype Justified or is it what it appears to be Just HYPE? You be the judge!
Tags: 19 Responses to “Mayweather: Is the Hype Justified or is it Just Hype?”
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Liam Santiago, you are a typical PBF fan. Instead of questioning why he is fighting a guy who is 35 & as has been at 126-130 all his life. A man who only recently moved to 135 and has only 2 fights at that weight. You are saying by fighting the No 2 P4P he is taking on a tough challenge.
If Calderon (106) was No 1, would that be fair? I just don’t get it. I would have accepted him fighting a top 10 welter as a tune up more easily than an old blown up 130 lber. That is the issue. I am not asking him to do like Ray Leonard who came right back and fought Hagler, an all time great.
Ray fought Hagler at 160 when was a natuarl 147 lber. That was supreme confidence and took guts, but no one is asking that of Floyd. Just stay in the 147 lb area code. Why not fight Hopkins who is rated below Marquez? That would not make any sense either but Oscar, who was never one of my favs, (but always had my respect), tried to copy Sugar Ray & took on Hopkins. It was dumb cuz if he could not handle T-Dad’s power, what about Hopkins’?
The point is fans, say he has sublime skills. Say he has the best skills today but please, do not say he is the best. You must prove it first and he does not want to take the risk to prove it. Oh, go ahead and say he fights for money too. That is correct but he won’t get paid much to fight Calderon, Juan Manuel Lopez & those little guys. BUT he can go back to Dancing With Stars or on WWE where he can satisfy his ego by beating very large men (hee,hee, hee, nudge & a wink), to satisfy his enormous ego, in staged fights! Goodbye Fraud! Go beat up your sister and old aunts. It’s the same as the guys you are fighting now!!!!!!
Mayweather might be under estimating Marquez a bit. He give Pacman a tough test and has drew with him. If he retires after one or 2 more fights he cant be considerd an all time great. Not without fighting Mosley , Cotto or Margarito. He is in his prime so why retire unless he is scared of not being able to stand up to what these fighters can throw at him.
i honestly dont look at it as mayweather comin back an dodgin top opponents i look at it as him coming back an fightin the number 2 fighter in the world! if he wud of come back an fought pacman there wouldnt have bin as much hate towards him an marquez an pacman have bin comin up weights at practically the same rate!
I am the biggest Floyd Mayweather fan he is supremely talented and the the most natural, pure boxer alive. The most annoying thing is im am 100% confident he could negate the speed of pacquiao, reach and work rate of williams and size of Mosley. However I think alot of people don’t understand Floyd fights for money. I believe he values this more than a lot of things including fighting the most dangerous welterweights. However he does need to eliminate at least 2 from, cotto, pacquiao, mosley and williams to be classed as a all time great. after 18 months out, marquez is no easy tune up fight for anyone even floyd. Wether he fights Marquez or not theres no excuses for Floyd not to fight the above in the next 2 years. I will be the first to praise him when he does and wins.
Wow……. Mayweather has won six world boxing championships in five different weight classes give him the respect he deserve. He is that good 39-0 even with his loud mouth, now let see how he does against big name fighters.
You’re absolutely right on. Great ones always face up to the challenge. Leaonard, Hearns, Duran, to name a few never cherry picked their opponents. They always fought the best. This guy just wants to fight boxers he can beat for sure and he thinks he’s the draw in boxing. His greatness is only a pigment of his imagination.
Mike,
It doesn’t really make sense when you say that Mayweather has fought the top guys that they’ve put in front of him. If you think about it, Valero should be the best because he’s fought the top guys that they’ve put in front of him and he’s knocked all of them out.
“the top guys that they’ve put in front of him” doesn’t make sense at all. Top guys? Put in front of him? What does that mean? So, you mean that out of all the fighters he’s fought, the best out of all of them were beaten by Mayweather.
That means that out of all the boxers Valero has faced, the best ones out of all of them are the top guys.
What if I become a boxer and I boxed 100 others with no defeats. That means I beat the best out of those 100 boxers. Then that means I should be the best ever. But, what if all of them sucked. What if the best of all those 100 fighters are just as good as Glass Joe from Mike Tyson’s Punchout. Does that really mean something?
Don’t get me wrong. Mayweather is great but against mediocre fighters. He’s good against great fighters. Pacquiao, Cotto, Marquez, are proving themselves because they want to be great against great fighters. That’s why they’re going for the big names. I believe he should go against the big names as well.
All hype. He’s gifted with so much talent but with a heart the size of a pea. The 0 on his record is a protected spieces. How can he be one of the greats when he’s clearly scared to take a risk by stepping into the ring with one of the top welterweights? He’s fans rate him higher than cotto, mosley, margarito and williams when he rufuses to fight them, but they have proved their greatness by having the guts to step in the ring against each other. Yeah they each have so loses on their record but their can only be one winner. If floyd was as good as he says he is than he shouldn’t beleive that he will lose he finally step up for a defining fight and prove us all wrong. Until he does he will just be remembered as a good fighter that never had the heart to step it up the the big time. A waste of potental all to protect that precious 0 on is record.
How many fights has Floyd had that you can say were classics? Ok, if that does not say anything how many fighters that Floyd has fought can you say is/was great? I am waiting….still waiting! I rest my case.
Of course Floyd has great talent. I know he was robbed in the Olympics and he felt that deprived him of hgetting immediate stardom like Oscar. I also know he despised Oscar for that and wanted badly to beat him to prove himself. Then why not do it decisvely when the cahnce came?
I was never an Oscar fan but when he had lesser or older, faded fighters, he tracked them down & killed them. Can you imagine the reverse roles if Floyd was the smaller, older man vs Oscar.
I can guarantee he would have been KTFO quickly.
Sugar Ray Robinson, Leonard & Ali were slick but they were exciting. They did not pot shot 1 punch at a time. They threw explosive & quick combinations.
They danced but they also came down off their toes and punished opponents. I am not talking about soft touches, I mean very tough guys. I no longer watched Floyd’s matches cuz I knew what would happen. He would pick a Gatti, Baldomir, Sharmba Mitchell or a faded Judah, pot shot them 1 punch at a time until they got tired or cut & then stop them after 9-10 boring rds. From the time the fight was signed you knew it was a man vs a baby qand this was confirmed from the 1st bell. How can fans get excited about such a matchup.
I love Manny but I do not want to see him in fights where I know he can’t possibly lose. Did you think his fights vs Morales, Marquez, Oscar, Barrera, Hatton & Diaz would be one-sided. No! People thought he could lose and against hatton & Oscar, many tthought they might be too big.
Some one mentioned that Floyd started at 130 & that’s a fact but he was very young & skinny. Most fighters move up a bit especially if they start very young and their frame is growing. It is either move up or starve to make weight & that is very obvious. Floyd wanted to win many titles so he fought at the low weight and he showed great skills very early, although he did appear to hand pick the easier champs. Sorry, the names he beat at vthose lower weights are not great fighters.
Anyhow, I had no problem with those guys because I expected he was going to have to settle at welter and face the very best there &, cement his lagacy. I am still waiting for the action. Just like vs Oscar.
I will conclude by saying again, this extremely talented man is wasting his chance at being an alltime great. Shut your mouth and fight. That’s all we fans want. Let us talk about those great fights not about beating blown up old guys!
diego corrales,jesus chavez,jose luis costillo. he went through the weights from superfeather to welter winning the wbc at each, that is what makes him one of the greats.
Mike how can you honestly say floyd is the best? Who has he fought? Has he fought the top elite welterwieghts in his own division? No he has not! He continues to fight small fighter or washed up fighter! that is a fact! You can not name anyone from this article he has fought that is better than any of the top welterweights in the division. JMM is a 135 pound boxer he has coming up to fight him. How does this make him great?
Money Mays is one of the best ever; He has fought all the top guys that they put in front of him and his record speaks for itself
hate it or love it the underdog is on top!
Someone remarked we won’t see how great he is until he fights Paqcuiao, Mosely and Marquez. If my memory serves me right JMM last fought at 130lbs?
Also Paqcuiao is by far the smaller man should they meet and Mosely will be probably knocking on 40 by the time they meet.
No this proves nothing after JMM Mayweather should be going after Mosely straight away then Cotto then Williams.
If he is still standing why not try jumping up another weight Floyd and take on Arthur Abraham, then i’ll call you great.
great analysis!!!! he is just fooling people, he is good but not that good!!! always on a boring fight
thats so true, none of his oponents was as tough as cotto, mosley, margarito and pacman, pacman will whoop his ass, cant will till the fight happen
agree mayweather is a fraud, he is good but he is not great unless he fights great fighters! He is also boring to watch id rather see pacquiao duke it out than mayweather counter punch!
I can’t see the Mayweather/Pacquiao fight ever happening. They’ll never agree on money. But if Mayweather wants to be considered the best he has to fight the best. If he had not come out of retirement he would never be considered an all time great.
100% agree. I don’t claim he’s not a great boxer with significant talent, but maybe one day, once he fights Cotto, Mosley, Pacquiao, Berto, Clottey, etc., he won’t have to keep telling us he’s the best because we wouldn’t have to be told.
I think we will only see how good he really is after he has faced the likes of Pacquiao,Mosley and Marquez.