By Dave Lahr: Since the economy took a recent nosedive not too long ago it seems that the cable networks have been trying harder to get the most value for their dollar, refusing to show fighters that don’t entertain and give boxing fans their money’s worth.
This obviously makes a lot of sense, because for so long a time fans have been forced to watch safety first defensive specialists take on a string of handpicked opponents. This is why it seems wrong that boring fighters like Floyd Mayweather Jr. seem to get more attention than more entertaining fighters like Shane Mosley and Miguel Cotto.
I’ve seen most of Mayweather’s fights in the past and I can’t say that I was impressed with many of. Earlier in Mayweather’s career he was much more entertaining when he would throw a lot of fast punches and score knockouts.
However, even then, Mayweather was incredibly boring to watch with his focus on defense. I know that some fans like to see that kind of thing because it’s appealing to a certain extent to watch a fighter landing shots without getting hit in return.
But I think it’s far more exciting when there’s a certain amount of give and take in a fight which seems to give a fight much more drama and excitement. Mayweather’s fights generally entirely one-sided with him landing pot shots from the outside and running a great deal depending on his opponent.
I don’t know about you, but I’d much rather see Cotto or Mosley exchanging big shots with their opponents. At least they come to fight and not just put their energies in avoiding getting hit like Mayweather does. Mosley can be a dull fighter at times in his own right, especially when he chooses to clinch a lot like in his fight with Antonio Margarito. But Mosley doesn’t try and avoid getting hit nearly as much as Mayweather, which makes him a much better fighter in my eyes.
I understand why the cable networks would want to show Mayweather’s fights, since he’s popular for some reason, but I think it’s not the best fighter to put the right face on boxing as far as I’m concerned. If cable networks wanted to help boxing, they would be much better off showing fights that leave the fans happy.
Sadly, I can’t remember the last Mayweather fight that was even halfway interesting to watch. The bout against Ricky Hatton was as dull as anything I’ve seen before with Mayweather leaning back and pot shotting the smaller Hatton for 10 rounds.
The same goes for Mayweather’s fight with Oscar De La Hoya. The bout had the makings of a good fight, and I think Mayweather could have destroyed De La Hoya back then if Floyd had opened up with his offense a little better, Instead we saw Mayweather playing it safe, doing the minimum to get the win.
In contrast, if you look at Mosley’s two fights with De La Hoya, both of them were much more exciting with a great deal of back and forth action between the two fighters. Now, if Cotto had been the one facing Hatton and De La Hoya, I think Miguel would have went out and tried to tear their heads off and probably would have succeeded at that knowing Cotto.
It seems like Mayweather gets more attention for things that he doesn’t do rather than what he does. I suspect that a great deal of Mayweather’s popularity is his trash talking rather than his actual fighting. As we’ve seen recently with heavyweight David Haye, a fighter can make himself much more entertaining with fans if they’re available to give a lot of interviews in the media, and if they say outrageous things.
Haye hasn’t beaten a fly to warrant the attention that he’s received, yet he’s become one of the most popular heavyweights in the division in the period of a couple of months due to his mouth alone. It could be that the entertainment aspect for fighters like Mayweather and Haye is much more appealing for boxing fans than what they do in the ring.
Sure, they have to perform up to a certain level, but what get’s the fans interested in them in the first place is their attitude and the things that they say rather than what they do. If you look at Mosley and Cotto, you’ll notice that both of them are quiet and somewhat reserved.
Neither of them like to make a lot boasts about themselves and tend to let their fists do the talking for them in their fights. As such, it seems to have a negative effect on their popularity as fighters.
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