By Kristofer Williams Sr. After witnessing Victor Ortiz quit on his stool against Josesito Lopez on Saturday night at Staples Center, it suddenly became obvious as to why Floyd Mayweather Jr. cherry-picked Ortiz last September. Floyd knew exactly what he was doing when choosing Ortiz as an opponent and boy did he do it at the right time.

Ortiz’ embarrassing loss certainly didn’t help Floyd’s reputation as the number one cherry picker in the history of the sport, pound-for-pound. By picking Ortiz and the way-past-his-prime Miguel Cotto, and considering how Floyd underperformed in both of these fights, it’s night and day when you compare the Floyd Mayweather of today with the Floyd Mayweather of yesteryear.

If Al Haymon wants to keep his cash cow from turning into condensed milk, and if Al Haymon wants to continue making dollars and sense for his 35-year old client, he is going to have to advise Floyd into becoming even more of a handcrafter picker when it comes to carefully manipulating his choice of opponents.

Floyd certainly doesn’t want a piece of Josesito Lopez, because of Lopez’ fighting style and power. So Floyd will say that Lopez isn’t a big enough draw, a tactic in order to avoid him. And we all know Haymon wouldn’t dare risk putting Mayweather against Sergio Martinez because, well, he’s Sergio Martinez. Haymon is going to have to go easy on Floyd like Arum did with Cotto as Cotto got older because after all, Floyd has been adamant about preserving his health. Indeed, Floyd Sr. himself said that his son isn’t looking as great and his son isn’t throwing punches – all signs that Floyd is slowing down and is surely concerned about tasting blood this late in his precious career.

The following is a rundown of fighters that Haymon should match Floyd with if he is to preserve his client’s health and preserve his client’s undefeated record, which of course we all know is Floyd’s only claim to everlasting fame. In other words, the safer fights:

– Victor Ortiz
– Paul Spadafora
– Zab Judah
– Mike Jones
– Devon Alexander
– Marcos Maidana
– Erislandy Lara
– Robert Guerrero
– Alfred Angulo
– Andre Berto
– Lamont Peterson
– Paulie Malignaggi

Now here are the fighters that Floyd should completely stay away from:

– Manny Pacquiao
– Sergio Martinez
– Canelo Alvarez
– Julio Cesar Chavez Jr.
– Kell Brook
– Timothy “Desert Storm” Bradley
– Amir Khan
– Miguel Cotto
– Josesito Lopez
– Bobby Pacquiao (just kidding)

Floyd is fortunate that Golden Boy stablemates such as Ortiz, Guerrero, Lara, Malignaggi and Alexander are all available and willing to take a payday. After all, Floyd has been fighting Golden Boy in-house fighters for a very very long time, even longer than Pacquiao has been fighting in-house Top Rank opponents. At least Pacquiao twice fought non-Top Rank fighters within the last five years (Ricky Hatton and Oscar Delahoya).

I’ve included a couple recent 140 lb fighters among Floyd’s safe list because if Floyd wants to preserve his health, he should be fighting smaller guys who have recently expressed interest in moving up one or two weight divisions. It will keep Floyd fresh for the next three years, and Floyd won’t have to worry about getting all banged up in the ring. Floyd moving up to 154 to fight Cotto was nothing but an illusion because real fight fans know that Cotto’s best days were at 140 and 147. If Floyd were a true junior middleweight, he would have stayed in the 154 lb. division in 2007-‘08 when a prime Antonio Margarito, a prime Paul Williams, a prime Kermit Cintron, and a prime Shane Mosley were all headlining in that division.

It’s not a secret that Golden Boy and Al Haymon continue to use the strategy of having their fighters drain themselves in order to capitalize on smaller foes. Take a look at Adrien Broner and Gary Russell Jr. These two are fighting at 130 and 126 respectively, and it’s no secret Broner “walks around” at 147. Fighting smaller guys has obviously aided Broner in building his name brand.