By Kevin Pasquale: You can laugh at the incomprehensible utterances by his Uncle Roger, with everything he slurs including “F Bombs” every other word, and his brilliant advice in the corner between rounds, such as “You got this Motha Fu*** hurt, he’s lookin’ to get knocked out”; you can laugh at his father, who will turn 57 in a couple weeks, and has become a cartoon himself, dropping pre-meditated rap-lyrics for no apparent reason, always referring to himself as the best of all time. At what? And, then there’s his relationship with his son, that, until recently, was almost comically, and disturbingly, dysfunctional, but there’s one man you can’t laugh at. The middle of this triangle, the man they once called “Pretty Boy”, and the man now known as “Money”.

We all know by now what Floyd Mayweather did to Juan Manuel Marquez September 19th, it’s old news at this point. But one must reflect back on that work of art to fully appreciate the magnificence of this truculent, arrogant, brilliant, poetic fighter.

First the obvious: Floyd hand-picked JMM. Floyd seemingly stood 6 inches taller, and outweighed JMM by 20 pounds (exaggerations, of course) on fight night. Floyd came into the weigh-in at 146, NEVER intending to meet the 144-lb weight limit he agreed to previously. It earned JMM $600k, but that’s the disagreeable, petulant Floyd we have become familiar with. Now, for the other side of this coin.

Yes, Floyd knew what he was doing when selecting Marquez, and no one who knows boxing really gave JMM a chance in the fight. BUT, not many thought that JMM would resemble Carlos Baldomir against Floyd, either. JMM, as is characteristic with him, is vulnerable in the early rounds of fights. He showed this by flailing onto his backside after a blunt left hook from Mayweather in the 2nd round. Then, he characteristically shakes off the cobwebs, and gets himself back in the fight, most times forcibly, and effectively. Not this time.

Though JMM DID shake off those cobwebs after taking the 8 count, and was never seriously hurt again in the fight, he served as a punching bag for Mayweather for the duration of the fight, while Floyd continually and consistently threw lightning-fast left hooks, the occasional sharp, punishing straight right, with alarming speed and force, and of course, flicked his left jab, knocking JMM’s head back with literally every jab thrown.

In the late rounds, Floyd did step on the accelerator, and attempt to put JMM away with everything in his arsenal, but Marquez valiantly took the beating, while clumsily charging toward Mayweather in retort, to ineffectively land weak and slow combinations that Mayweather deflected with his shoulders. A couple select shots got through by Marquez, landing squarely on Mayweather’s jaw, which, of course, prompted the young superstar to smile his million-dollar smile, and initiate another flurry of furious, jaw-dropping, combinations, with the speed and accuracy that no one in the sport can match today.

The striking, and utterly remarkable achievement by Floyd was this: JMM was reduced to a slow, frustrated fighter, who looked every bit as inept as Baldomir, as Gatti (RIP), as Hatton, and many others who thought they might have the antidote to slow this man down. JMM is a world class fighter who has taken the now seemingly “indestructible” Manny Pacquiao to the limit in both of their fights, giving every ounce of punishment back to the Pac-Man that Manny gave to him. And, although I knew he wouldn’t beat Floyd, I thought he might test him. Shame on me. JMM, the renowned counter-puncher, clumsily counter punched at shoulders and gloves, landing a pitiful 69 punches in the fight to Floyd’s 290. Double shame on me.

JMM DID earn himself the following: a well-deserved payday after an illustrious career where he has been underpaid, the knowledge that he has still never been knocked out, not even by Money Mayweather, although he was the much smaller man, and the continued reputation of a fighter who has as much heart as Floyd has skill.

Floyd earned himself the following: another huge payday, with 1 million pay-per-view buys, a statement that he is all the way back, and ready to claim his mythical P4P title back, and a shot at the winner of Pacquiao-Cotto. Once that fight happens, the man they call “Money”, whether you or I like it or not, will be back where he belongs. On top of the world. And, he will not let us forget it.