Boxing: The talented Floyd Mayweather Jr.
November 11th, 2009
By Andrew Muldoon: A friend recently asked me what I think would be the outcome in a fight between Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Sugar Ray Leonard, my sarcastic reply was that there wouldn’t be an outcome because there wouldn’t be a fight. I don’t think Floyd would set foot in a ring with someone like Sugar Ray. Why? It pains me to say it but Floyd Mayweather has lost his heart, his desire for a supreme boxing legacy.
Fear is a strong emotion and it looks like it has it’s grip on “Money” Mayweather, fear of losing his unbeaten record and the financial implications that that first loss would bring or fear of just being beaten up, but fear can also be your best friend if you can control it, it can drive you to excel if used correctly. All boxers must feel it to a certain degree.
Heart, hunger, desire, guts, balls, whatever you wish to call it it’s the fire burning inside which drives us to achieve bigger and better things, the fighters of old had it by the shed load. Sadly I think Mayweather’s fire has burned out. Mayweather is all about the money and fame and has lost touch with what got him to where he is today.
In the now famous interview with R A the rugged man Mayweather was quoted as saying if he leaves, the sport dies. I found that particular outburst laughable. Mayweather has become obsessed with his status and his ego has now reached new levels. If only Mayweather had the heart to fight the best, Pacquiao, Cotto, Williams, Margarito, Shane Mosley even called him out to his face live on television straight after the mismatched Marquez fight and Mayweather still did not want any of Sugar Shane. Win, lose or draw if you give it your best shot I for one wouldn’t complain. In a close fight in which two fighters leave everything in the ring, the loser will always get credit. Even if it is a loss. So Floyd’s legacy which he likes to talk about so much would be enriched. Instead Mayweather likes to hide behind “I’ve done this, I’ve done that, who else has done what I’ve done?!?” Mayweather, we already know what you’ve done, we want to know what your GOING TO DO!!!
38 Responses to “Boxing: The talented Floyd Mayweather Jr.”
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good article and to get back to the real question iknow that it would be a good fight but sugar ray would win in a late round stoppage just like he did benitez. back then real fighters went 15 rounds and if floyed could beat all the fighters mentioned above thenhe could be mentioned in the same breath as the great ones. ray would beat him just like he did his father who was a ok fighter.
Floyd is a chicken. Anyway, time will come that he will be forgotten and more people will support other boxers. I wouldn’t spend any cash on Floyd. Cherry picking opponents is not true boxing. He is a disgrace to the sport.
Good fight but Ray would win a decision. Floyd would not stand and trade with Ray. Foot speed about the same.
Speed ,stamina, power, way above average boxing skills, and a good chin to boot. “Bad hands”. This describes two fighters that I think would have had a damn good chance at being “ALL TIME GREATS” if it hadn’t been for the bad hands. So those of you that want to hate on FM and JC be my guest. If you think that someone doesn’t have to be damn good to have the success they have had in this sport when their hands are shot to hell maybe you need to do a little more thinking.
supporters of this article act as if floyd has been a welterweight his whole career. the truth is he won his first title as a featherweight(same as manny). sure, floyd was younger(21), but he was won a world championship! At that age pacquiao got KNOCKED OUT by a junior featherweight.
I would like a photo of the writer & editor(whom enabled me to read this trash) to be sent to Websters and added to the description of a HATER!…$’MAy just whopped the #2 p4p fighter in the world and will have fought at least 2 of the fighters listed above by the end of the year. this writer says he already knows what floyd has done…so u know he had been calling out mosely from 2000-06! plus the only thing that could stop a pacman vs. pretty boy fight is manny’s greedy yet smart, promotor-who fears for his fighters popularity
matty, u hit the nail on the head!
HES ON TOP!
Why hunt ur food, when u got a 5-STAR chef in the kitchen??
(which I’m pretty sure he does, LOL)
i dont agree at all with this article at all. m.w been boxing since he was a little boy, i dont think he is scare of no body.if i was him i would be acting the same way. boxing is a dangerous sport one could be permanently domage physicly and emotionally, so, he has all the right to look for fight that would provide the most money, it is all business.
im a big floyd fan and his talent is undeniable. i agree with the article id love to see floyd in the ring with any of the top welters but i find it hard to believe that people can sit on forums criticising the best p4p boxer in the world for their heart and courage. floyd,like all the best fighters in the world fears no one…they fight for a living after all! its all about the money…mayweather is top dog therefore he chases no fighter. he’d step in the ring with any of the named fighters above its just all business! floyd isnt going to accept a 50/50 split with any one and no other fighter is willing to accept 40% or less on a purse to fight him…if the deals cant be done the fights dont happen and thats a simple fact.
Floyd you’re some operator, love your work, but please fight the big names out there. 3 fights, winner of Pac/Cotto, Hatton and either Williams or Sugar Shane….
I remember when Pernell Whitaker was the welter weight champion and he had 2 undefeated belt holders (Trinidad and Quartey) just waiting for a super fight with him that never materialized. When he finally fought Trinidad he had already lost to DLH and was soundly beaten by Trinidad. He, like Mayweather, is waiting to long to fight some of the best and ended up losing because his skills were in decline. Roy Jones also comes to mind, DeLaHoya my have lost some of his fights, but you could never say it was for a lack of trying, he fought almost all of the big names. If Mayweather starts to lose his speed, he doesn’t have the power to be able to beat the top fighters. All older fighters on top are usually there because of their power. I hope Floyd wises up and starts fighting the best boxing has to offer and not just the ones that make the most money. Fans will recognize this and appreciate him more as a fighter for it. And like Leftie said, he is only a few fights away from greatness.
floyd fight hatton then reitre
if fm beat every one on that list in the next few years , then most people would find another crop of people to ” beat ” floyd !! some people by nature are just never happy with results as they are ..thats the honest to god truth..
6 titles in 5 divisions? whew!!! that was great!!! then… maybe pacquiao’s 6 TITLES IN 6 DIVISIONS (the 7th title in the 7th division coming up soon) would really be something huh?
Mayweather has amazin NATURAL TALENT…The word is NATURAL, if u watch his training methods..he does NOT watch tapes, all he does is keep himself sharp before fights, because he is that Naturally talented he knows exactly how to adjust to beat any fighter. If u watch his fights when it goes 2 his corner…Roger is always saying “keep doin what your doing” and thats because Mayweather does everything exactly right even without advice and thats because he doesen’t need it. His defence and speed is on another level.
He is the best boxer on the planet and will beat anyone I don’t care who it is..Pacquiao, Mosley, Williams etc… He could easily be the best ever and if he wins a few more fights it will be official.
People who say he ducks fighters your just a joke and don’t know your boxing..He’s beat Ricky Hatton (Undefeated at the time), Oscar De La Hoya (at middleweight), Juan Manuel Marquez, Aturo Gatti, Zab Judah, Jose Luis Castillo (as soon as he went up to lightweight), Diego Corrales, N’Dou, Baldomir etc…
6 Titles in 5 Divisions. He’s the best just admit it.
Floyd has the talent to beat all of the fighters that you mentioned. However, each one of those fighters have the skill and talent to beat him as well!! That’s why he won’t fight them. Floyd doesn’t want to be pushed. He capitalizes off of the pay-per view buys of his opponents followers and he thinks that it is becaue of him. Smart move for
Floyd but bad for the real boxing fans.
I don’t think mayweather any of these fighters i think deep deep down he as real respect for how good these fighters are and doubts his own ability even though i believe he’d whipe the floor with all of them apart from cotto which i feel would be a close unanimous decision.
@Mike
Those are typical defenses for mayweather however, you have your facts mixed up. Mayweather was offered 8 million to fight Margarito, as seen here.
http://sports.espn.go.com/sports/boxing/news/story?id=2420382
Instead, he ducked to fight Carlos Baldomir, for ’8 million’. No one actually believes that is what he was paid for the Baldomir fight though, as the promoters basically just said 8 mil so that it would make Mayweather look like he was doing it for the money and not ducking margarito.
No fighter has ever fought the best out there? Try the Klitschko brothers, or Sugar Ray Robinson. But that is not even the point. The point is that he is considered the top welterweight but hasn’t beaten ANY of the recognized top welterweights. I’m not saying he has to beat everybody in the world up, he just has to fight SOME LEVEL OF COMPETITION. P4P Champion, to me, means that your skills should allow you to beat top contenders at numerous weights. Pacquiao shows this by beating Morales, Barrera, Marquez, and Hatton, all at different weights. Diaz wasn’t that great and Oscar was admittedly drained (although you can’t blame pacquiao, ODLH took the fight, he knew what it meant). And now Pac fights Cotto instead of some welterweight chump. Why? Because Cotto is arguably the best welterweight, and to cement your status, you have to beat, or at least try to beat, the best.
Mayweather needs to realize that there is nothing bad about losing honorably, and that you will actually GAIN respect by challenging yourself and putting on fights that the public wants to see. He has his fans convinced that he is ‘so smart’ by taking fights to make money, but can you imagine how much MORE money he would have if he was beating up all of the top dogs in the welterweight division? Here’s a hint, its much more.
Mayweather will end up the likes of Calzaghe, a champion who never challenged himself and retired with a meaningless undefeated record.
His resume at 135 below is great…but he can’t say s**t like “legacy dont’ pay my bills” then whine about not getting any credit. He always says s**t about not fighting so and so because he’s lost to him, or he lost to this fighter, but that’s because they’ve challenged the best…and that didn’t stop him before when he faced Gatti (6 losses) Baldomir (9 losses), Judah (3 losses), ODLH (5 losses), and Marquez (4 losses)…the list could go on and on.
Yep Mayweather has managed to turn into the real deal and a fraud at the same time. Hes got the beating of the whole Welterweight division as far as im concerned but hes a chicken.
Im sure he fancys his chances against the Mosleys, Cottos and the rest but unless its a nailed on win in his head he wont go near it.
He aint scared of the men, its not what they can do to his body, its what they can do to his popularity, image and reputation.
The reality is floyd is no sugar ray who went to the extent of tearing up his retina just to fight the best of the best.And sugar ray never fears for his legacy even if he losses a bout.He gave his best that every bout was a sell out for sugar ray.Name them all,duran’manos de piedras”,thommy”hitman”hearns,marvin”marvelous”hagler and the list goes on and on.That’s why it is not even worth comparing pretty boy floyd to the greatest battle scarred suray ray leonard.
Well, he must be that great if we all keep talking about him.
He’s not going to be able to fight everyone and he doesn’t have to. He has a strong resume already. About the fighters mentioned:
Paul Williams – was out boxed by Carlos Quintana easily. Yes, he destroyed Quintana in the rematch, but will he ever fight at 147 again? I doubt it when he was going to fight Pavlik at 160 lbs. Probably won’t happen right now because Floyd would make more money against another fighter.
Margarito – Floyd turned down a fight with him for bigger money fights. So what? Floyd has an impressive resume anyway. If you want to get on Floyd about this, get on Ray Leonard about ducking Aaron Pryor too. We’re really reaching on the criticism now. No fighter in the history of boxing has ever fought everyone. It’s not possible. Someone is always going to be left out. This fight won’t happen after Mosley destroyed him.
Mosley, Cotto – If Cotto beats Pacquiao and Mosley beats Berto, most likely Floyd would face Cotto because Cotto beat Mosley and it’s a bigger money fight for Floyd especially at Madison Square Garden. If Mosley didn’t get beat by Forrest, we probably would have seen this happen already. Plus, Mosley was at 147 when Floyd was at 130-135 lbs. Now, Mosley wants him because his career is coming to an end. Well, if he would have beat Cotto and Forrest, he may have had the fight happen already. How bout when Floyd wanted to fight Shane and Shane wanted time off after he just fought???
Pacquiao – If he beats Cotto, he is the biggest fight for Floyd. Negotiations would be tough, but there is too much money to be made for either guy to walk away from it.
Team J&J – it’s nice of you to comment on how Cotto’s going to beat Pac on an article regarding how Mayweather’s a cherry picker.
Anonymous – if Floyd is the best, how is saying we want to see him fight all those guys saying we want to see him lose? If he’s the best, then he won’t lose. IMO he can probably beat all those guys, but he won’t challenge himself.
DQ- Yes, Mayweather IS his own man…Yes, he admist he does everything for the money, but he’s also said he doesn’t fight for legacy. That’s fine as well…but don’t whine like a 18 year old college girl who lost her virginity to the campus player when people don’t give you any credit for your opposition. He OBVIOUSLY does care about his legacy if he’s going to whine about not getting any credit.
If anyone thinks mayweather doesnt have heart as well as great skills they need to watch his fights against Philip timebomb ndou, Oscar da la hoya and even Ricky hatton. He showed when hes in the trenches he can pull it out. Some would argue that he has taken the easy route(not fighting Margarito,Cotto,Williams or even mosely) which I would have to agree with, but I do think if Mayweather were to fight these guys at that particular time he would have beat them. I agree with the writer that now hes fire has burned out and hes to afraid to loose that unbeaten record, also as he keeps mentioning hes team AL and LEANORD they will not put him in risky fights, so basically hes comeback to fight smaller men and make as much money as he can and keep claiming hes the best of all time cos hes undefeated.
You guys dont get it, The guy that Mayweather dont want to fight is not Pacquiao, His name is Miguel Cotto. Mayweather know about boxing and he know pacquiao wont last 8 round with him, He know he will beat mosley just like cotto did by points. Now, He knows that Cotto have what it take to at least give him a lot of trouble just because Cotto’s by mother of nature have the skill of a real fighter. Thats why pac cant not beat cotto, You just cannot beat somebody who by nature is better than you, You cant.
Let’s get one thing straight. Floyd CAN beat all those welters, but he just doesn’t have the stomach to do it because it won’t be easy. Don’t get it twisted, he’s got the talent and skill to do it. I think his strugles he had with Zab Judah shook his confidence about fighting at welter. He had to work a lil more in that fight, and he actually got knocked down by a welter that ust came off a loss.
Floyd is most talented? Hahaha.. he has not proven this in front of a great welter. DQ, chill man. Mayweather will boar us to death with his dancing with little guys. And I him him for that.
He won’t fight these great welterweights because he is scared. He is even afraid of Marquez that he cheated on agreed weight on weigh-in day. Pretty boy cannot handle a defeat. What kind of boxer is that?
Floyd is the best he doesn’t have to fight Cotto Margarito Mosley Pacquiao and Williams how can you say he has to fight all of them thats just saying i really want to see him lose
DQ…no one is hating. Only stating the obvious. It wouldn’t be so bad if he stopped running his mouth about how great he is. He just contradicts himself, that’s all. I don’t know what world he lives in where he can duck the best and still expect to be considered the best, ya know? He could be the best and i don’t think people would mind seeing him rise up to it. Furthermore, boxing will be fine without him. The biggest fight this year is one he’s not even in. Hell, his own uncle is more interested in this coming fight than Floyds last one. The things that WILL kill boxing are the sanctioning bodies, but thats another can of worms.
Mayweather hasn’t lost “heart” because he never had it.
Spot on article. Dq: it’s not about ‘haters’, it’s about one man being blind to his own shortcomings.
haters galore mayweather is the best u pray and pray for the cats downfall just because he aint giving u wat u want its bout him he do for himself hes his own man and you r urs (i believe) … please stop the madness all the hate is terrible
THis guy’s ego is absolutely ridiculous…last time I checked, boxing was doing just fine without him and I”m glad Rugged Man put him in his place. If he’s not fighting Mosley or the winner of Pac-Cotto, who’s he going to fight? This guy should just go back into retirement if he’s not willing to make fights the fans want to see. He thinks that his “0″ defines him, when in reality, his cherry picking is what defines him.
I agree with this article 100%…however I do think that it left a very important point out. While I more than understand the most important aspect of boxing (hit without getting hit) I have to say that if Mayweather wants an incredible legacy he has to engage more. The most famous legends of boxing (even the not-so-mainstream fighters) have gained more by giving the fans the fights they want to see and by engaging their opponents. Even the G.O.A.T. (Ali, Tyson) have blemishes on their records, but it in no way takes away from their greatness. No one buys Floyd’s fights to see a great fight, they just buy it to see him lose. Is that what he wants?…I think so.
Interesting article but the writer states Floyd would defeat the fighters mentioned if he were actually to fight them. No he wouldn’t!
The fact that he will not fight them means that he INSTINCTIVELY knows he would lose.
There are no end of fighters past and present who may have had only a fractions of Floyd’s talent but have 10 times more heart.
Bottom line is:- Floyd is a dog.
Yours in sport, Reptile.
yours in sport, Reptile
You nailed it! I personally don’t care for Mayweather, but I respect his undeniable talent. He refuses to fight the best out there, with the excuse of making more money to fight less-dangerous, but higher-profile ($$$) fighters. I’d love to see him fight Mosely, Williams, Margarito, Cotto, even Kermit Cintron. He just won’t do it! It is frustrating!!!
I love Floyd. He is his trades personification of poetry in motion. But every point made here is a valid one. On the flip-side, though, the article shows that he is just four or five fights from true, all-time, greatness. And let us hope that Floyd can see that.
Andrew I hear you man. A big problem is that the Floyd fan base doesn’t see it as we do. They say he is great regardless of being away from the sport for nearly 2 years and regardless of the fact that he hasn’t fought a top fighter from his own division in some time. I am honestly starting to question his heart.