Why hate Floyd Mayweather Jr on his choice of opponents?

By Boxing News - 06/08/2013 - Comments

floyd32By Juan dela Cruz: Floyd Mayweather Jr will be facing Saul Canelo Alvarez on September 14, 2013 in a 152-pound catchweight fight. Again, Floyd is being criticized on his choice of opponent despite the fact that the world wants him to face Canelo (aside from Manny Pacquiao of course). With that, why is it that many still hate Floyd Mayweather Jr on his choice of opponent?

Not only once, but many times Floyd was criticized whenever he is about to face an opponent. To answer this question, we have to look at Floyd’s opponents and analyze why, despite the fact that he faced those fighters, still, he was being criticized.

Let’s start with Oscar dela Hoya. In that fight, many people think that Oscar won that bout and they believed that Floyd was only given a gift decision. But in this fight, I believe the reason Floyd was criticized was not because he faced Oscar but mainly because their fight was being compared to how Manny Pacquiao dealt with Oscar. Although dela Hoya was already shot when he faced both, still, their fights were being compared. And it was clear the Pacquiao was the better performer in those fights that’s why Floyd got all the bashing.

Came Ricky Hatton. As what we all knew, Floyd had a hard time defeating Hatton which took him ten rounds to dispose of The Hitman. The fight was at welterweight where Ricky was not comfortable. Hatton was a natural junior welterweight and he has to bloat himself up just to face Floyd. It was clear that the fight was not an even playing field. Again, the fight was compared to how Manny Pacquiao dealt with Hatton, who took him only two easy rounds to knock out cold Ricky in Hatton’s natural fighting weight (junior welter) where he is also undefeated.

After the Hatton fight, Juan Manuel Marquez was next. Well, this does not need an explanation why Floyd was being criticized in this fight. JMM was a lightweight who was bloated when he faced Floyd at welterweight. And worst, he was cheated by Floyd by coming in two pounds heavier than the agreed weight. And what the world had seen was a Mexican fighter who can’t move an inch during the fight. And his blinded fans were all amazed at Floyd’s “blinding speed”, where in fact, even a snail could run faster than Juan Manuel Marquez at that time.

Shane Mosley. People want Floyd to face Shane Mosley, but when Floyd finally fought Sugar Shane, why still hate him? The answer is simple. People want a prime Mosley against Floyd, but what happened? Floyd avoided a prime Mosley. Shane was clearly shot and washed up when he faced Floyd. The same thing might be said of Many Pacquiao, but why the hate was on Floyd only? It is simply because, and again, Pacquiao performed better than Floyd. As what we all witnessed, Floyd’s knees buckled in the second round of that fight and had Mosley up on that round while against Pac, Mosley was always backpedalling and doesn’t want to slug it out with the Pacman for fear of Pac’s power. In short, Pac did it better and more convincingly.

Against Victor Ortiz, again Floyd was criticized, but why? Ortiz was not a welterweight and has to bloat himself up just to face Floyd. What made it worse was that Victor was knocked out cold by Floyd’s sucker punch which was despised by the world as a cowardly act. Despite of that, Floyd had his hands up after the fight.

Then came Miguel Cotto. People want Floyd to face Miguel but why still criticized him when he finally faced Cotto? Just like Mosley, Cotto was shot and washed up when Floyd finally decided to face him. The fight was at 154 despite Cotto not doing well at that division. The only things Cotto had at junior middleweight were wins against an old Ricardo Mayorga, one-legged Yuri Foreman, and old and washed up Antonio Margarito. People criticized Floyd for not facing a prime Cotto but rather a washed up Miguel.

On his last fight, Robert Guerrero fell short of his plan to defeat Floyd. Again, Robert was not at his natural fighting weight when he faced Floyd. He needed to bloat himself up to be able to fight Mayweather Jr, or else, the fight won’t have been made. Guerrero has only two fights at welter before he faced Floyd, clearly, it was not his game.

Saul Canelo Alvarez was next in line. After deciding to face Canelo, still, Floyd got all the criticism. But why is that? Despite the fact that Floyd had already fought and make it easy to climb at junior middle, Floyd demanded, at first, the fight to be at 147, thanks to Richard Schaeffer who helped make the fight at a catch-weight of 152 pounds. But why still the hate? It is simply because Canelo, just like any other fighters that Floyd faced, will not be in his natural fighting weight in this fight. And even in this time, we already knew the result, a boring fight with unanimous decision going to Floyd.

Floyd got all the criticism because he had been fighting opponents not in their natural fighting weight. Before the Cotto fight, Floyd said he wants to face his opponents in their respective weights so that after the fight, there will be no excuses. But as what we have seen, Floyd still has to fight a fighter in his natural fighting weight. As you can see, this is in total contrast to Manny Pacquiao who usually meets bigger opponent halfway to make the fight an even playing field.



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