By Chris Williams: With Floyd Mayweather Jr. (39-0, 25 KOs) rumored to be soon coming out of his year-long retirement for potential fights against Ricky Hatton, Manny Pacquiao and who knows else, I think Mayweather has a good opportunity here to straighten out the welterweight division by beating the top fighters and showing who the real boss is in the division. As of now, the top fighters are Miguel Cotto, Antonio Margarito, Paul Williams and Joshua Clottey.
Who the top guy is pretty much depends on who you speak to, but most boxing experts would probably consider it a toss-up between Williams and Margarito. However, based on his impressive 11th round stoppage over WBA welterweight champion Cotto in July, I would probably have to lean in the direction of Margarito as being the current top welterweight in the division at this time.
That’s who Mayweather should be setting his sights on next rather than a dull 2nd fight with Hatton, which would probably interest a lot of fans, but in the end be just as one-sided as their previous fight was with Mayweather easily winning. The same holds true for against De La Hoya.
If there’s any question about whether Mayweather should fight De La Hoya, I think that was answered recently in Oscar’s humiliating eight round stoppage at the hands of Pacquiao. No one wants to see Oscar get beaten black and blue again, the least of me. Mayweather calls himself “Money” but he needs to go after the more serious fights against Margarito, Williams and Cotto rather than going after the big money in mismatches that will not serve the public’s interest.
I think Mayweather has the skills to beat Williams and Margarito, but if he’s going to face them, he’s going to have to do it soon before his skills start eroding. Mayweather is going to be 32 in February, and while that’s not an old age for a fighter, it is for a fighter in the lighter weight class.
The time off from boxing can’t be helping Mayweather, either, because presumably he’s not been training hard during this year off. When he does come back, if he waits too long, he won’t have the incredible power that someone like George Foreman had when he came back after a long retirement.
Most of all, I hope this isn’t just a money-making venture on Mayweather’s part in which he takes on relatively easy fights against Hatton, De La Hoya or a little tougher one against Pacquiao. I’m all for him fighting Pacquiao, because that would definitely be an exciting fight and one that is good for boxing, but it’s not the fights that I want to see Mayweather in.
If he’s serious about the sport, he needs to return to the welterweight division and prove himself against the best fighters in there, and not prospect for the biggest paying fights available out of his weight class. We already have De La Hoya and Hatton doing that, and we don’t need more of it.
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