Floyd Mayweather: Pugilist enemy No. 1
November 10th, 2009
By Jemique Harris: With the recent systematic annihilation of yet another opponent Juan Manuel Marquez (ranked as #2 pound for pound) Floyd Mayweather Junior has a life size target on his back. In light of what I have seen in terms of Mayweather’s fights, and what I have heard in barbershops, basketball courts, and blogs; I have found Mayweather junior to be somewhat of a conundrum. People seem to make up their mind about Mayweather pretty quickly and draw their line in the sand while doing so. It has come to my attention that Floyd Mayweather Junior is a truly interesting character which I have dubbed as “The Pugilist enemy No. 1”.
When Mayweather retired as the #1 pound for pound best fighter in the world, he gave up his title to Manny Pacquiao. Pacquiao destroyed Ricky Hatton in all of two rounds and made Oscar De La Hoya quit on his stool to earn his pound for pound moniker. However, Mayweather had already accomplished those feats two years prior. Mayweather knocked out Ricky Hatton when Hatton was undefeated (which is much harder to do since the specter of doubt has yet to creep into an undefeated fighter’s mind). Also, if De La Hoya was past his prime when he was dominated by the smaller Mayweather in 2007, then De La Hoya was a dinosaur by the time he fought Pacquiao in late 2008 and looked the part (old and withered.)
Boxing is the art of finding your opponents weakness and exploiting it without exposing yourself to danger in the process. Mayweather is a master at such. Since Mayweather is a boxer not a fighter who will stand toe to toe and be a human punching bag, Mayweather is not respected and revered as the late Arturo Gatti. Gatti was a fighter who seemed superhuman in terms of taking punishment and had an endless reservoir of resolve, heart, and will. Ironically, what made Gatti superhuman in resolve also made him very human and identifiable to the common person as you must be knocked down in order to dust yourself off and get up again. In this sense it seems like Floyd Mayweather Junior is his own worst enemy. Mayweather’s speed, defense, and precision, makes him seem superhuman as well, however, Mayweather’s weakness has not truly been discovered so he seems less vulnerable and therefore less identifiable to the general public. Nevertheless, when these two “superheroes” that had different powers/gifts at their disposal did collide, it was a lopsided defeat in which one had to throw in the towel. That super hero was Arturo Gatti. Interestingly enough, Mayweather is not known for being a power puncher and Gatti was known for his resilience and will, Mayweather was not only able to stop Gatti, but make him quit in the process.
Floyd Mayweather Junior or “The Pugilist enemy No. 1” as I call him seems to be the fighter that many people love to hate. It could possibly be his bravado and his lack of humility. However, his bravado can also be perceived as confidence, and intelligence. Boxers unlike other sports do not have agents to represent them, insurance/retirement funds, or a boxers union to protect them. All they have are shady promoters, critics and fans that either pay or get paid to see them bleed by the pint. Most likely Mayweather will be able to remember his accomplishments and his kid’s names when he retires because he doesn’t take a lot of punishment.
Some people claim that Mayweather runs around the ring and doesn’t stand and “fight like a man”. According to compubox, Mayweather is boxing’s most accurate puncher. Mayweather hits his opponent with almost every punch he throws and shoulder rolls away from danger while doing so. Mayweather usually holds his opponents to single digits in terms of punches landed per round. To hit and not be hit is the essential art of boxing otherwise the sport would be called “Brawling”.
Mayweather is held to a different standard than other fighters. Mayweather dominated Oscar De La Hoya. Although De La Hoya was past his prime, De La Hoya was the bigger man. (De La Hoya has fought as heavy as super-middle weight) De La Hoya also had a height, reach and weight advantage over Mayweather in their bout. In the end, Mayweather masterfully landed 57% of his power punches to De La Hoyas 24%. Interestingly enough, the general consensus after the fight was that it was a boring outing. De La Hoya looked old, and Mayweather was scrutinized for not taking chances and going for a knock out after thoroughly dominating De La Hoya in the later rounds. Not enough emphasis was made on how Mayweather outclassed De La Hoya and made him look like an old fighter. Why couldn’t De La Hoya, who was the bigger man bully Mayweather into the ropes and impose his will on him? That is a lingering question in my mind and one that I don’t hear being asked that often.
In closing, Mayweather has fought smaller men, but he has also fought larger men as well. I will admit that I skeptically raised an eyebrow at Mayweather’s refusal to be weighed on fight night vs. Marquez. I also would like to see Mayweather defeat the likes of Mosley, Cotto, and possibly Pacquiao, before he can say truly he’s one of the best ever. I think it’s only fair to judge him one a fight at a time until he retires for good.
And judging from what I have seen in terms of skill and accuracy, he’s a fighter on the edge of greatness.
Tags: 42 Responses to “Floyd Mayweather: Pugilist enemy No. 1”
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mayweather has no balls. period. boxing is defined by balls, whether you slickters like it or not. allow me to correct you. gatti did not quit, buddy mcgirt would not allow him to come out for the 7th round after gatti asked for “one more round” (watch the video). while i agree that boxing is the art of finding your opponent’s weakness, if a fighter did not take risks you would have 2 fighters standing in the ring waiting for the other to throw a punch, so as to not risk making a mistake. if i wanna see a someone winning by not making mistakes id watch a chess match.
mayweather and ellerby have made a career off of waiting for great fighters to get old to step into the ring with them and fighting safety first opponents in the meantime.
allow me to list the ages of the greats on the date mayweather stepped into the ring with them:
Juan Manuel Marquez: 36
Ricky Hatton: who gives a damn? he’s overrated, like every other boxer the english have ever produced. (look it up)
Oscar de la Hoya: 34
Zab Judah: another overrated front runner
Carlos Baldomir: 36
If mayweather wants to prove he is great, he’ll stop avoiding pacquiao and step into the ring with him. manny is great.
mayweather is a handsome black boxer boy
Manny Pac will eat Mayweather alive.
Mayweather is a coward fighter. He is an opportunist – won’t engage much to avoid injury and punches occasionally. He has fought only mediocre boxers.
Manny Pacq will knock him out in the second round (coz Manny will like to test him in the first round). Mayweather will never ne able to fight again after Manny fight.
heard an intresting fact on espn. pacman has only ever weighed less than his opponent and that was against diaz at LW. pacman has always …
—————————————— On Todd
Yup It doesn’t really matter if you come in 180 lbs. in fight night Todd as long as you reach you’re agreed weight on the weigh in…I think that’s what really matters..
heard an intresting fact on espn. pacman has only ever weighed less than his opponent and that was against diaz at LW. pacman has always …
Yup It doesn’t really matter if you come in 180 lbs. in fight night Todd as long as you reach you’re agreed weight on the weigh in…I think that’s what really matters..
Yup Mayweather is great, but seeing how Manny brutalize Cotto.. I wonder how great his defense is and how fast he could block Pacquiao’s fast punches..Perfect Match…
ancient silence you say he’s not intelligent out of the ring because he talks so much crap,and then you say you would like to see him go down,that shows me he’s intelligent,because people like you buy the fight to watch him go down and he makes a killing from it and you guys are always disappointed because Floyd can’t be beaten.
heard an intresting fact on espn. pacman has only ever weighed less than his opponent and that was against diaz at LW. pacman has always had a huge weight advantage on fight night, he outweighed ODLH and hatton and he will outweigh cotto come fight night also. Mayweather has given away up to 10lbs on fight night to his opponents pacman has never given more than 2lbs.
also apparently pacqiuo entered the ring a 140lbs on fight night when he was fighting at super feather! hes naturally a big guy all this talk about his size is madness!
so i ask you how is mayweather a coward for fighting oscar and giving oscar a 10lb weight advantage on fight night? when manny fought and older odlh at 147 lbs and pacman weighed in at 149.5 lbs and hes a hero?
You raised some great points. People hate on Mayweather. That’s all they can do is hate. Mosley will not beat Floyd. Cotto will not beat Floyd. Pacquiao will not beat Floyd. I agree with most of everything you said except for one thing… to say he is on the edge of greatness is an under statement. I’m sure most people even his critics and opponents… love him or hate him… Mayweather is indeed already a great fighter. If you find yourself in the Hall of Fame… that speaks for itself. Mayweather is elite of the elite… until someone proves otherwise in the ring… and not on some media outlet like a tv show, website, radio show, blog, or anything else of the sort.
about time someone made since terrific article
sounds good lol im always up for a good debate though.
@ AnthonyW
Looks like we are gonna have to agree to dissagree lol
Mr Rich – Your missing my whole point. Im not talking about the opposition a boxer has faced or wants to face. Im talking about the catchweight people continually use as an excuse. Marquez wanted to move up in weight to follow Pacman and called out Mayweather, Mayweather accepts – in turn leading to him being labelled as picking on the smaller fighter.
Whereas Mosley calls out Pacquiao, states he would fight him at 140lbs. This is a big welter/light middle calling out a boxer who is essentially a natural lightweight/light welter. He would clearly have the height, reach and power advantage over Pacman…and yet he’s not being labelled as trying to pick on smaller fighters?
Sounds like double standards.
Finally, after Mosley gave up his pursuit of Pacman, he goes on tv and calls out Mayweather for fighting smaller fighters…forgetting he spent months chasing Pacman…???
Mayweather tries too hard to be loved. He need do nothing with his mouth to be appreciated.
He is not disliked for his accomplishments in the ring, he is disliked because of his apathetic attitude. As tells his fans (Or haters of his own creation) FU, I got my money.
That target is exactly what he wants because he gets attention. So Mayweather needs no champion, Mayweather gets what he earns. Stop crying about it, people are not as stupid as you think.
great article! Mayweather is one of the most talented boxers in recent decades gone by.
Its not wrong to fight a smaller fighter, just dont expect to get credit for the win especially when you have broken an agreement to make a certain weight and you didnt even try. At welterweight who has Mayweather faught? Ricky Hatton and natural light welterweight. Marquez an natural lightweight. The only proper welterweights were Zab Judah, Carlos Baldamir and Sharmba Mitchell. Hardly the cream of the crop in the Welterweight division.
@ AnthonyW
Mosley wanted to fight Pacquiao at light welterweight 140 lbs.
Pacquiao faught Oscar de la hoya at welterweight, Pacquiao weighed 142 lbs for that fight. The last time Mosley fought at light welterweight was in 1999….. so Mosley would have been very weak for that fight anyway, i dont think anybody in there right mind would say mosley would have had the advantage. Mosley would have had to make weight for it to be considered a light welterweight fight. Unlike Mayweather who came in at his natuaral fighting weight even though he had more than enough time to lose the weight, while Marques was killing himself trying to put the weight on.
Dela Hoya only lost that fight by about 2 rounds max. Thats not a dominate performance. He Scrapped the win. Great boxer but no ticker. All the skills in the don’t make you the greatest if your not willing to prove it against the best. Pacman may or may not win against a super tough Cotto this weekend, but Mayweather never would cause there is no way in this world he would ever step in the ring with him. NO HEART!! You need to dare the be great.
Good article, one thing i must mention:
Floyd is excellent at dodging blows this is a fact i mean we see it every fight, even when he is on the ropes a la the bout with DLH . He is a accurate bastard this is also true and at times mighty impressive with his unorthodox countering technique.
but, this claim of intelligence … well it counts only for his boxing and match fixing skills, i mean seriously when he opens his mouth all i hear is a man that has no freakin idea how to deliver a legitimate sentence without adbreaks yeah sure they call him “Money” for a reason right?
He sounds like one of those kids on the playground
that is always bragging about something yet you never see any proof.
What kind of legacy does he think he will leave when he “chooses” not to fight Shane, Manny or Miguel?
IF he is this gift from above as he clearly thinks he is and a moneymaking machine then why has he not realized what he is doing is not earning him any respect with the fans?
i always like to see the arrogant fighters go down …
marquez was the 1 calling out 4 floyd. he had to take him on. i predict floyd 2 step up and fight mr mosley
Mr Rich – Agreeing to fight a boxer who has to move weight divisions is seen as picking on the smaller fighter. So Mosley wants to move down one or two weight divisions (based on his fight before last at light middleweight) to fight the smaller Pacquiao. Is this not seen as picking on the smaller fighter?
I don’t have a problem with boxers in different weight divisions agreeing to fight eachother. Whether one boxer has the advantage or not, if they agree to it then fair enough.
But, it’s ok for Mosley and not ok for Mayweather…???
@ AnthonyW
Shane Mosley said he would fight Manny Pacquiao at 140 lbs…. so i dont see the argument there…he wanted to fight him at light welterweight.
Good article.
I’m not going to defend Mayweather in his decision not to face any of the top welterweights.
However, concerning the Marquez fight. I don’t get how people can get so angry over this bout. It takes two fighters with there promoters in tow to set up a fight. Marquez wouldnt have taken the fight if he didnt believe he could win. He moved up two divisions (obviously he thought he could carry the weight) to chase Pacman and make him give him a third fight.
Yes Mayweather broke the contract and came in 2lbs heavier, however, it was also written in the contract that Mayweather would be fined if he came in over the catchweight. Marquez and his promoter understood this, agreed to it, and Marquez and his trainer prepared for it.
The only time you seen the weight difference was in the second round when he knocked Marquez down, although that punch could have knocked down a full blown welterweight with the speed of it.
Yes he had a slight height and reach advantage (I say slight after just watching the Haye Valuev fight over the weekend), but that would be no different if Marquez had decided to fight a different welterweight. Would any other welterweight be given so much grief and hate had they decided to fight and beat Marquez, the answer is no.
Mosley chased after Pacquiao for a couple of months trying to get him in the ring. Did anyone hate on him…no. This is a guy who has had a number of fights at light middleweight. Has, in my opinion a bigger size and power difference over Pacman than Mayweather had over Marquez, and no one seemed to be bothered about him persuing Pacman…???
Hopefully, Mayweather will face either Mosley or Cotto next.
Mayweather deserves a severe beating the day he decides to face one of the top welterweights.
I agree with Luis 100 percent!
Marquez moved up 2 weight divisions. Mayweather was only off for 18 months, not 2 years. Mayweather had plenty of time to make the weight but didnt bother. To be honest i dont think Mayweather name should be used in the same article as Gatti’s. Gatti was a true warrior, faught everyone, he wasnt just a blood and guts fighter… he could actually box a bit aswell. The only natural welterweight that Floyd has faught is Carlos Baldamir.
I would be much happier if Mayweather targeted more of the top guys in the division. The Marquez win was impressive, but I don’t put much stock behind it for a variety of reasons. It is true that the notion of him always “ducking and running” isn’t quite accurate either.
Mayweather could be the best boxer ever!! Nobody has the offensive and defensive skills this guy has.
Floyd is a cheater! He came 2 pounds over the agreed upon weight. Floyd needs to fight someone his own size and this article sucked!
a split decision against de la hoya is not “dominating”.
Well, JMM went up 2 division, right?
Then PB reschedules the fight due to a “RIB INJURY”,
then its a total of almost 5 months, which means Mayweather had months to loose a few lbs, which he did not(DISRESPECT), then he refused to get weighed the night of the fight, what is up with that…To be legal…what should have happened was for JMM to take the 600k, postponed the fight a month until u meet the weighed agreed on the CONTRACT, if not you forfit automatically, that is what should have happened legally, but since JMM has a huge heart & lots of HUEVOS, like any other MEXICAN BOXER he took him on..& still Mayweather was not ABLE to destroy JMM, & correct me if I am wrong but at the end the weight was aroung 147 JMM & 160 Mayweather, right? If Manny Paquiao was in JMM shoes, Manny would have taken the 600k, & postponed the fight…right? think about it guys….
how the f**k is mayweather bad for boxing paul u ar*e bandit he’s the best boxer around and there are always deals in boxing that fall through at negotiation stages so for all we know he could have tried fight the best he tried fight mosley years ago but got turned down.By the way great article. mayweather to beat the winner of manny v cotto
Mayweather dominated De La Hoya???? Oh come on?????? What fight were you watching? And why wasnt he quick to offer De La Hoya a rematch for that dubious split decision? This article is incredibly biased. Mayweather is bad for boxing. He talks too much about money, rather than going out there and taking on the best one by one. He has become so obsessed with his winning streak that he has become scared of it becoming tainted. He has become a coward!
This is a great article i have a feeling by the end of Floyd’s career he is going to be one of the GOAT and to some is right now
I THINK U COULD’VE WRITTEN A BETTER ARTICLE THAN THAT BUDDY.MAYWEATHER FOUGHT A MAN WHO WAS NOT ONLY MUCH SMALLER BUT COULD NOT ADJUST TO THE WEIGHT LIKE THE PACMAN DID.HE ALSO FOUGHT HATTON AT 147 HATTON IS UNDEFEATED AT LIGHT WELTERWEIGHT UNTIL PACQUAIO DESTROYED HIM,147 IS NOT HIS NATURAL WEIGHT AND IT TOOK SCARY MAYWEATHER 10 ROUNDS TO KNOCK HIM OUT WHEN IT ONLY TOOK THE PACMAN 2 ROUNDS AT HATTONS PRIME WEIGHT OF 140.MAYWEATHER COULDVE FOUGHT MOSLEY,BERTO,OR COTTO BUT DECIDED TO FIGHT A LIGHT WEIGHT IN MARQUEZ.HE MUST PROVE HIMSELF BY FIGHTING THE ELIT FIGHTERS AT WELTERWEIGHT.
The reality is nobody cares about Mayweather until he fights are live dog. I won’t ever pay to see him fight unless fights he gets a real challenge. ‘Till then I could careless how good he is.
Poetry Corner nice poem!
You should consider that Marquez arm length was shorter than Mayweather and he was the one moving forward naturally Mayweather would hit him with his job and it should be almost 100% but it was’nt so I’m not impressed.Mayweather is scared to be hit you can see it through his face in his fights with Castillo and Judah.Almost all his opponents were slow only Judah was faster and he was losing the early rounds until Judah got careless,I think Mosely and Pacquiao will beat Mayweather because they are real warriors,Mayweather is a coward he picks his opponent so that the results will be pleasing to the eyes of the viewing public who does’nt consider the intangibles but just seeing the results and give high praises to Mayweather without any reservations that they are being sucked into believing that he is the best but in reality he is a fraud.
Great unbiased article. I’ll be looking for your new articles. Please write more.
Oh a poem perhaps.
Mayweather has the skills,
Hes so slippery i think he has gills,
his talents give us many thrills,
and he sure can afford to pay the bills.
But at this weight he has no spine,
at this weight hes had the time,
but he wont face the very best,
He seems scared to take that test.
He takes his opponants to boxing school,
He makes them look like silly fools,
but lets be honest we dont care
I just think hes a dumb a55 tool
Mayweather is one of the most skillfull boxers in the world if not THE most gifted of all.
Moving up the weights he did this that and the other and he got the reputation and P4P crown, and deservedly so.
But since hes been at Welterweight hes not pitted himself against the best. People like Mosley, Cotto, Williams and the likes are the divisions big names. Why wont he show any interest in them?
When you ignore the divisions best boxers you get marked, just like Amir Khan has. But the thing with Mayweather, he really is that good and believe hed beat any of the divisions big boys.
All hes gotta do is fight them. Hes scared of looking anything less than brilliant, hes scared of losing his 0 loss record and hes scared of not being loved.
So he avoids bouts that could do any damage to that and we dont like it.
Jemique all I hear is blah, blah, blah. Mayweather this and Mayweather that. Marquez was a lightweight that went up to fight Floyd. For god’s sake Marquez carried the extra weight around his waist. And then Floyd had the audacity to come in 2 pounds over weight. Mayweather needs to fight a top welterweight. That’s it. Then and only then can we judge we he is at. RA Rugged Man had Mayweather stumbling over his own words. All you heard from Floyd was excuse, excuse, excuse. Come on be real!
Superb article this is what jounalism is all about, not those biased rants Scott Guildford and Perez keep posting. Well done makes a change for this site