By Dave Lahr: Due to the contract difficulties between Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Manny Pacquiao, it’s looking like their March 13th bout won’t be happening now. Although there is still work being done behind the scenes to try and save the mega fight, it won’t be possible without either Mayweather or Pacquiao giving in about the random blood tests. Barring one of the sides giving in, Pacquiao could be facing WBA light middleweight champion Yuri Foreman next instead of Mayweather.
However, that still would leave Mayweather in search of a replacement opponent. There has been talk of fringe contender Matthew Hatton as an opponent for Mayweather. However, boxing fans have been mostly negative towards that fight, criticizing Hatton as being too inexperienced and limited for Mayweather to fight at this point. The fighter that Mayweather needs to be going after is Paul Williams.
That’s a fight that would be a real interest for boxing fans, and it would help Mayweather’s legacy in a big way. Mayweather, 32, has slowed down in taking on tougher fighters in his own weight class since beating Zab Judah and Carlos Baldomir in 2006. Mayweather has fought Oscar De La Hoya, Ricky Hatton, and Juan Manuel Marquez since then. Those are all good fighters, but the ones that many boxing fans wanted to see Mayweather fight – Paul Williams, Miguel Cotto, Shane Mosley and Antonio Margarito – have gone largely ignored by Mayweather.
But by taking on the 6’1” Williams, Mayweather would make a real impact on quieting his critics and creating a nice fight to replace the Pacquiao bout. For those who say that Williams isn’t a welterweight, I would remind them that Williams only recently moved up to the light middleweight division to seek out bigger fights because he wasn’t getting the bout at welterweight. Williams has said recently that he plans on moving back down to the welterweight division after beating light middleweight Sergio Martinez by a 12 round decision on December 5th.
Williams would be a tough opponent for Mayweather, because of his punch output and long arms. But I think Mayweather could beat Williams if he was willing to work hard in the fight and throw enough punches. It wouldn’t be a cake walk like his fight against lightweight Juan Manuel Marquez, though. Mayweather would most certainly take a lot of punishment in the fight and would have to fight his heart out to get the win.
He wouldn’t be able to just pot shot and run all night long and expect to win with ease like he did against the smaller, slower Marquez. Williams would be on Mayweather and would cause him a lot of problems with his reach and nonstop punches. But this is a fight that would really enhance Mayweather’s resume, because he hasn’t really done much in the past three years aside from fighting smaller fighters.
Do I think that Mayweather would fight Williams? No, I don’t. I wish he would, but given his recent history of fighting bouts against smaller opponents, I think he wouldn’t get anywhere near Williams. That’s too bad, because it would be a great fight and well worth watching if he can’t work out his differences with Pacquiao.
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