By Dave Lahr: On September 19th, I’m wondering which Floyd Mayweather Jr. (39-0, 25 KO’s) will show up – sharp shooting welterweight or the painfully boring safety first runner. If history is any guide, we’ll be seeing Mayweather at his worse as he bores the pay-per-view audience to tears by avoiding any meaningful exchanges with Juan Manuel Marquez (50-4, 37 KO’s) and looks to win by the fight with a hunt and peck offensive style.

For me, paying out $49.95 isn’t something I look forward to doing for a fight that I’m not sure will be all that pleasing. I might feel a little bit different about it if Mayweather had selected a bigger opponent to fight instead of Marquez. However, the choice of Marquez was a classic Mayweather move.

Instead of going after the fighter that people want him to see him fight, Mayweather decides to fight a pumped up lightweight. If the fight ends up boring boxing fans, it won’t be on the count of Marquez, because he always seems to make sure that he gives the fans their monies worth when he fights.

Marquez may be a counter puncher like Mayweather, but Marquez isn’t shy about taking the fight against his opponents. Marquez doesn’t circle the ring like Mayweather does at a gallop. Marquez will stand his ground and be looking to make the most of every opportunity that is given to him.

With Mayweather, it’s really hard to tell what we’re going to get. To be sure, Mayweather looked great in his last fight two years ago against Ricky Hatton, taking advantage of the British fighter’s lack of defense by punishing Hatton when he would attempt to throw his big hooks.

However, Hatton was a tailor made opponent for Mayweather and someone that was designed for Mayweather to look good against. Mayweather looked mediocre and boring against Oscar De La Hoya in May 2007, beating De La Hoya by a listless 12-round split decision. The same goes for Mayweather’s bout against Carlos Baldomir in November 2006, a fight in which Mayweather sprinted around the ring in the later rounds trying to avoid getting hit by Baldomir.

Before that, Mayweather looked bad in his 12 round decision victory over Zab Judah in April 2006. Mayweather showed a limited work rate in that fight and had me wanting to walk out of the fight. In each case, Mayweather won but it was really boring to watch. Earlier in Mayweather’s career, he was exciting to watch and unafraid to open up with his offense.

Mayweather looked great against Sharmba Mitchell, Arturo Gatti, Henry Bruseles, DeMarcus Corley and Phillip N’dou. Back then, Mayweather was an offensive machine throwing lots of blazing fast punches in every round. Something changed with Mayweather three years ago starting in 2006.

Mayweather became suddenly a safety first, timid, dull fighter to watch all of a sudden. The Hatton fight was a brief interruption in a pattern of dull fights for Mayweather. I’m really hoping that Mayweather can continue to look good in his fight with Marquez next month, but I’m really not counting on it.