By Eric Thomas: Next month, it will have been exactly one year since Floyd Mayweather Jr. (39-0, 25 KOs) last fought in the boxing ring, and if he does ever have signs on staging a comeback in the sport, this would be the prime time for him to make his comeback. Oscar De La Hoya has been reduced to event status, taking on smaller fighters to prolong his career, Miguel Cotto has been destroyed by Antonio Margarito, Ricky Hatton hasn’t looked the same since being stopped by Mayweather in December 2007, Joe Calzaghe seems to be only interested in taking on faded 40-year-old fighters, Kelly Pavlik has been thrashed by Hopkins, Manny Pacquiao has been lured away into a carnival-like event fight with De La Hoya with no title, of course, on the line, and the Klitschko brothers are tripping over themselves deciding which one will destroy the over-hyped blown up cruiserweight David Haye.
With all of this going on, boring the average boxing fan and insulting the intelligence of the pure boxing fans, it seems as if the sport is badly in need of Mayweather coming back to save it from itself and to bring life back to the sport.
Through the past seven years, Mayweather was the one constant figure that many boxing fans looked at as a fixture of stability, greatness, a figure that you could count on year after year as being the best, fighting the best and looking superb in doing so.
With him gone, however, we see the stars of the division either getting beaten badly or taking on fighters that are either well above them or below them in weight, or way past their prime. Instead of young fighters being developed and showcased, you get senior circuit without end, getting stuffed in your face and portrayed as still being at the top of their games despite contrary evidence against this.
With Mayweather coming back, he could make short work of the welterweight and light middleweight division, easily beating the best stars like Margarito, Paul Williams, Vernon Forrest and Sergio Martinez. My hope one hope would be that he wouldn’t be attracted to wasted fights against old fighters like De La Hoya or fights against smaller fighters like Pacquiao and Hatton, because that seems to be turning boxing into wrestling and circus-like attraction rather than a serious sport that it used to be before this kind of thing started spurring up last year.
I realize that Mayweather took part in this kind of thing, too, having fought bouts against Hatton, De La Hoya and in a professional wrestling match, but I’m hoping that he got that business out of his system, made his bundle of money and is ready to take part in establishing himself once again as a serious star and committed to being the best fighter in whichever division he decides to fight in.
It’s only been a year since Mayweather last fought, so it shouldn’t be an issue for him to quickly get back in shape and pick up where he left off, setting up fights against Williams, Margarito or Cotto and beginning his cleaning up of the welterweight division.
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