The truth about Mayweather and ducking

By Boxing News - 04/17/2014 - Comments

mayweather2By Thomas Greengrass: Having been an avid reader on this website for a number of months, it has come to my attention on the forums connected to this site that many fans are almost clueless when it comes to the economics and politics of boxing. One of the main topics in the last years has been the Manny Pacquiao vs Floyd Mayweather Jr, will they or wont they and why?

Before I move any further with this article I would like to categorically state that I am a Boxing fan primarily and I have few modern day favorites, if any. I certainly don’t favor PAC over Floyd or Floyd over PAC, however I fully appreciate the skills and achievements of both fighters in the past decade. There is little doubt in most people’s minds that these two have been at the pound for pound pinnacle of the sport for a number of years.

One of the most common lines one can read on online boxing forums goes something a little like this – ‘Floyd is scared of Manny and that is why he wont fight him’. Every time I read this it makes me feel angry at the ill education and bias shown by some people concerning the official number one pound for pound fighter of his generation. This is a guy who has won 8 world titles in 5 different weight classes over a period of 16 years. Further to that, he has defeated no less than 15 world champions in less than 50 fights. He won his first world title at the age of barely 22 years and in a few weeks he will be fighting for another world title at the age of 37.

Further more, having boxed at amateur level myself I feel obliged to describe how dangerous this sport really is. The main goal of most boxers is to render the other guy unconscious or to leave him in a position where he is unable to fight back and/or defend himself. This brutality however is also the thing that attracts men and women world wide to the fight game either to be a witness or participate. I grew up in the 80s in the UK and my real boxing heroes are the likes of Nigel Benn and Michael Watson. When I was teenager these guys were both in epic matchups, which involved crippling injuries to both Watson (against Eubank) and Gerald McClellan (in possibly the greatest hard hitting fight I have ever witnessed). If you haven’t seen these fights, there are many others that have involved serious life threatening injuries and in many cases death. Even to get in a ring and spar with protective gear on like I did myself for many years comes with risks attached no matter who you are fighting and what level of ability they have. In fact, Michael Watson’s awful brain injuries were caused not by a punch but by his head making contact with the bottom rope as he fell. To get in the ring at world level like Mayweather and many others have done for the most part of their careers takes a level of courage that most of us cannot even imagine.

Now I would like to have a look at who pretty boy Floyd has fought in his career so we can assess if he is likely the type of guy who would be running scared. Probably the definitive fights of Floyd’s career came early against the likes of unbeaten Diego Corrales, who at the time was 33-0 with 27 KOs, scary looking record on paper right. However, as I remember it Floyd was the one calling out Diego and further to that Mayweather was giving the hard hitting Corrales two inches in height and reach and around 10 pounds in weight come fight night (obviously not at the weigh in). In this fight Mayweather displayed the most perfect exhibition of defense and particularly footwork that I have seen definitely in my lifetime and arguably in the history of this great sport.

His second defining fight in my opinion was against Carlos Baldomir who was at the time unbeaten in over 7 years. In order to get this fight Floyd was forced to buy out of his promotional contract as his advisers were against such a dangerous match up and wanted to pursue less prestigious but more lucrative options. If you have never seen this fight I would highly recommend it as an unbelievable destruction of a top level world champion. It was like watching the bull v the matador as Baldomir marched forward throwing shots and missing whilst being countered at will by the almost faultless Mayweather. Baldomir threw 670 punches and connected with just 79 and few of these were true power shots. Following this victory he became the first boxer in nearly 50 years to hold three lineal title at different weight classes.
Floyd then took on a perhaps ageing but still much bigger and perhaps stronger Oscar De La Hoya, in a fight that America had been calling for, he won.
The third defining fight of Floyd’s career (again in my opinion) was against the unbeaten Ricky Hatton. This was a scary fight against a brutal stalking body puncher who had forced an unbelievable champion in Kosta Tzu to retire on his stool at the end of the 11th round due to the incredible pain and punishment he took to the body and due to the ferocious pace that Ricky was famous for fighting at. Floyd wasn’t scared though and he won. I believe this is the closest Floyd has come to being beat to date in his career. Although Mayweather dominated the early rounds, I thought through the middle of the fight Hatton began to walk through his counter punching flurries at such a pace that it had Floyd very confused, this is the only fight in which I thought Floyd struggled with his footwork maybe due to the pace that Ricky kept coming in at. Even though Mayweather has possibly the greatest footwork and balance perhaps of all time if not the certainly in the modern era, He began to looked rushed as he was pressed in to the ropes a number of times. However, like all great champions Mayweather found a way to hurt Ricky and from that moment on the fight was over.

Now, having thoroughly summarized this man’s career highlights (there are many more unmentioned) are you guys on the forums still going to try and tell me Floyd Mayweather Jr is running scared from Pacquiao, no chance.

The reasons that Mayweather hasn’t fought Pacquiao yet are twofold, simple and are little fault of his own, politics and economics.
Firstly, as stated on many occasions since they split Floyds team is not really willing to do business with Bob Arum, unless they get full control of the details of any match up. Now whatever you think about the Top Rank v Golden boy rivalry its clearly there and clearly its affecting the fight. Recent comments by Bob Arum have done little to help resolve the animosity and I believe if Manny Pacquiao fans want to see their man fight Mayweather. They should be looking closer to home rather than pointing the finger at the myth of fear. They should be saying to Manny he needs to buy out of his contract or at the least he shouldn’t be signing another one.

Secondly and probably the biggest stumbling block and the root of all evil, money. As I have stated previously, Mayweather has been fighting in world title fights for the best part of two decades and he has his career defining wins, in the twilight of his career and quite sensibly Floyd and his camp are keen on making as much money as possible before he is forced through age or injury to retire. Now some might say that he would make more money facing Pacquiao than any other name, however they are failing to understand the economics behind it. Mayweather can keep fighting world champions and elite level fighters and expect to receive his share of the 1 million or so pay per view figures, safe in the knowledge that if he loses he will still have one great payday left against Pacquiao. If he fights and loses to Manny there will be very little money left to make other than a rematch which I assume would be on unfavorable terms.



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