By Jorge Lugo: It seems I have become a marked man on BoxingNews! All Floyd Mayweather Jr. followers have bashed me in regards to my most recent article stating “Floyd Mayweather Jr. is overrated, period!” Now fortunately for me, I couldn’t care less what the next man thinks. Instead, I agreed to go one on one with a writer who called me out. It seems Mr. Arshaid feels confident that he can not only impose an article defending Mayweather’s career, but as well as denying Manny Pacquiao of his greatness in his regards to his abilities against Mayweather. Lucky for me though, I have all the tools needed to not only prove how wrong he is, but to discredit him and EVERY Mayweather Jr. fan, in every form possible.

Fight fans of all and every kind of fighter, let’s make one thing clear first. As a person, I LOVE Floyd Mayweather Jr. He talks slick, makes huge amounts of money, is confident (or tries to act confident), and is funny in his attempts of making fun of his opposing fighters. I love him in his truest form, not as a boxer but as an ENTERTAINER(something he HIMSELF admits to). Arshaid, please realize that his ego and extra curricular activities have no bearing on how I feel about him at all. It’s his given record in boxing and his claim to be the best that makes me laugh and discredit him, every single time. So please, Mayweather defenders, stop pulling Mayweather’s personal characteristics as to reasons why I dislike him cause in my case and that of real fans, it’s not true. Moving onward.

It is a true statement when people say, when we see Floyd’s fights we see him box smart, take his time, avoid any punishment, and stick to a game plan. That in every form is a true and agreeable statement. However, that was never my argument! When will people realize its not Floyd’s undefeated records, personal traits or the way he boxes that makes him overrated. It’s his lack of desire, pursuit and proven abilities against other good and great fighters that makes him overrated! Also note, I don’t think the general public has enough time in there day to care for or even say that they hate Mayweather Jr. What the simple and only truth is fans at the end of it all, probably would support him in every way possible, if he only went in there and fought reasonable and true opponents. I think that to say hate is too extreme, Mayweather is not even that close to importance in my life! I think if I was to describe it, fans are more annoyed with him then anything else.

Ironically, Arshaid feels that Mayweather’s personal characteristics are why he has achieved everything he has, this makes things ironic because I could not agree more. It’s what he HASN’T achieved in my eyes that makes him an AVERAGE fighter. His undefeated record argument is dead and tired. Julio Ceaser Chavez Jr is undefeated, does this make him the best P4P fighter out there? I think RA The Rugged Man said it best when he said, I would be 40-0 too if all I fought was girls(weaker opposition). His six world titles in five different weight classes argument looks great! But the fact is that they have 4 DIFFERENT belts in each weight class. Therefore, given his boxing record, that is a no value point as he has only fought and won those belts from weak opponents. This fact, also discredits the “16 time title defenses” argument.

This now brings us to the argument of Mayweather’s opposition. Nobody is debating the creditability of Mayweather’s opponents. Real boxing fans have all agreed that Mayweather’s opponents have either been past there prime, not good at all, or weak when they fought Mayweather. Again, we are not arguing Mayweather’s current record as it has already been proven to be weak and insufficient. De La Hoya was past his prime and ALMOST beat Mayweather Jr., Diego Corrales had heart but he was NEVER that good as he couldn’t match well against top performers, Judah who again is KNOWN for fading and losing in big fights, went the WHOLE 12 rounds with Mayweather Jr. and was in the fight till the 10th round! To argue that he has fought more higher ranked fighters than Pacquiao is silly because what history has proven is that the reputations of fighters is what made them great, not there ranking. Do you think people just love Manny Pacquiao because he is rated P4P fighter? I admit it has a nice ring to it, but the truth is, people LOVE Manny Pacquiao because he is ALWAYS involved in boxing fights that people don’t know if he can win. The fact that he does win just makes it an added bonus! Before the Cotto fight, no real fighting fan knew for sure who was going to win because of the given records and REPUTATIONS of both fighters being true warriors and fighting against the best. The fact that Pacquiao is pound for pound is because he FOUGHT the BEST and won when he wasn’t supposed to. Why can’t you guy’s see that?

This should also discredit your argument for Mayweather’s skills as anyone can look good when there fighting WEAKER opposition. Now if he was in the ring and was skillfully great with a Mosley, Cotto, Pacquiao, Williams, Berto or even Clottey then I am sure you would have a better time proving your point! You seriously need to realize that Mayweather Jr. has been in the welterweight division for a long time now and hasn’t fought ANY of the top fighters. Come on, man, seriously. Don’t be madd at me cause I speak the truth, this is what every REAL fight fan knows. O and for the record, when I say “Real fight fan” I am not saying Mayweather’s fans aren’t. I am saying real fight fans of boxing who want to see good fights where the best fight the best, that’s all! Again, if Mayweather fought and SHOWED his skills against true opposition he would get his respect. Ali is great cause he FOUGHT fighters like Foreman, as so with Leonard’s career and all the other fighters you mentioned, they ALL fought other great fighters! Don’t compare or mention Mayweather to them because you are simply just missing the point. To say Ali or Leonard ran from there opponents is false and sad, the fact is by Mayweather’s boxing RECORD we see that he and he alone has ran from top talent.

In closing I want to prove one more point, a point that I believe you are sincerely missing. If Pacquiao vs Mayweather happened tomorrow and Pacquiao lost, would that make Mayweather Jr. any greater or great at all? Or to reverse it, would Pacquiao still be considered one of the greatest? The truth here is simple, IF Mayweather fought Pacquiao and won he would have a STAKE in his claim as being the P4P fighter because he beat a man who beat the majority of the best out there, however, if Mayweather won would that give him the right to call it a career? Especially without fighting Mosley or any top fighter in his weight class? I am sorry but even then no one will give Mayweather credit because STYLES is what boxing is. This is why Cotto lost to Margarito only to have Mosley who lost to Cotto beat Margarito. To be the truest P4P fighter out there is not a title to say loosely. You have to go out there and fight the majority or all of the top fighters out there and win or lose in a close competitive manner. Why can’t you see that?

To answer my second question. If Pacquiao lost tomorrow he would still have a STAKE in claiming to be one of the greatest of all time because when he is long gone, REGARDLESS of his personal life, his RECORD would show that he has fought and given great competitive fighters with the top fighters out there. REGARDLESS of his win or lose record. Styles in the end is what boxing is, period. The key here is how to master and use your style to win OR give competitive fights to the other great fighters out there. That is the sole truth. So when you say “Manny Pacquiao is the greatest until he fought Mayweather” you are lying. Manny Pacquiao is already greater and one of the greatest fighters ever because he fought the best and even though it was always competitive for the majority of the time, he also won! Who really cares, how he doesn’t or does gets hurt, as long as you FIGHT the best.

As for the Olympics, more power to Mayweather, I am happy for him, :). But again that has NOTHING to do with his PROFESSIONAL contributions to his boxing record or boxing in general. This also negates your falsified praising of his Amateur record. Mayweather Jr is now a PROFESSIONAL boxer, meaning he gets PAID to fight other fighters. Now the average person would NEVER fight for a living as it takes very hard and long commitment and discipline. But, if you ARE a professional fighter, isn’t it your responsibility to prove yourself and fight nothing but the best? Regardless of how you rank yourself, or how you feel about the other top fighters, isn’t that what this is all about? I said it once and I will say it again. Floyd Mayweather Jr. is overrated, PERIOD!

-(I also am posting this the same day Arshaid posted his article… I know I agreed to wait 48hrs but the truth is I honestly could not wait any longer and had to get this off my chest. I hope you understand. As to the bashers, go right ahead, I said what needed to be said.)