By Gregory Shaw: Like the large majority of boxing fans I blame Floyd Mayweather for killing the fight that everyone wants. The most cited reason from fans, and something that has followed Mayweather for years, is that Mayweather picks and chooses his opponents carefully as to not risk losing his “O”. Let’s take a look at Money’s last 5 fights and see if an edge existed and if he would have that edge against Pac-Man.
4/8/2006 v. Zab Judah
Zab is among the fastest fighters there is. Leading up to the fight there were many boxing experts that believed Judah had a chance to match the speed of Floyd and could in fact win, although it would have been an upset. That being said, Judah was coming fresh off an upset loss to Carlos Baldomir and was 4-2 in his last 6. My hunch is that Floyd would have avoided Zab if he hadn’t been bested by Baldomir. Call it picking a good opponent at the perfect time to minimize risk. Pac-Man hasn’t lost a fight since 2005.
11/4/06 v. Carlos Baldomir
While the boxing world was clamoring for Floyd to fight the tough and game Antonio Margarito, he decided to take on the overrated, old and slow Baldomir. The only reason this fight passed the smell test at all is because Baldomir managed to upset Zab Judah and beat up a smaller and shot Arturo Gatti. This one is a no-brainer, Floyd wanted to add the WBC Welterweight Title to his collection against a fighter that he could beat with one hand tied behind his back – and I mean that literally. Pac-Man is, by all accounts, the #1 or at worst the #2 pound for pound fighter in the world.
5/5/07 v. Oscar De La Hoya
Floyd has to get some credit here. De La Hoya was bigger, stronger and more skilled than a lot of fighters Floyd could have fought at Welterweight yet he came up in weight (which flies in the face of what he has been accused of lately, namely fighting only smaller fighters) and took on Oscar. The argument here is that Oscar was too old and too far past his prime to manage Floyd’s speed. Pac-Man is 31 and clearly at the height of his prime right now.
12/8/07 v. Ricky Hatton
Boxing fans with clear heads knew going into this fight that Hatton was somewhat overrated and not as effective at 147lbs. since he was champion at 140lbs. Hatton, however, was undefeated, powerful and aggressive and it made for the classic boxer vs. puncher matchup. Pac-Man has already proven by pounding Miguel Cotto into submission that he is extremely effective and powerful at 147lbs.
9/19/09 v. Juan Manual Marquez
You will not find a bigger Marquez fan than me but in this case Floyd was taking on an older, slower and smaller fighter. Even assuming that Floyd and Marquez were at the same skill level, the age and size differences were not going to be overcome here. Pac-Man is smaller than Floyd, but as stated above he carries his big punch to 147lbs. Marquez was fighting for the first time at 147lbs. and he didn’t carry a big punch with him (at least it seems that way, he was too slow to land anything significant against Mayweather).
I see your game Floyd. You don’t take a fight unless you feel safe that you’re going to win. Pacquiao’s odds of winning a fight against you are too close to 50/50 for your liking and you can’t have it. Money is not your motivation. You could make $40 million for this fight and another $40 million or more should you happen to lose. Your motivation is protecting your undefeated record. No matter what criticism anyone throws your way you always have that as your emergency answer. No one can say that you aren’t the best if you have never lost, right? Wrong Floyd, dead wrong. You have ducked Miguel Cotto, Shane Mosley, Antonio Margarito, Paul Williams and now Pacquiao. How can you call your O legitimate if you won’t put it up against any of the top guys of your era? You’ll probably end up fighting Pacquiao before you retire, but you’re going to wait until he fights Mosley and they rip each other apart. If Pacquiao survives that, then maybe you’ll fight him after you come off your farce of a fight against Matthew Hatton or Paulie Malinaggi – two guys that would have a hard time knocking out a lightweight. You tried to create an edge by making Pacquiao take blood tests when you know full well that he feels he lost the Erik Morales fight because having blood drawn so close to fight night weakened him. Realistic or not, you would have had the psychological edge you needed. Floyd as a boxing fan I implore you to change your mind and take the fight. Your fans know that the only edge you need is your boxing ability. When you realize that, maybe you’ll start taking on fighters that will help you cement your legacy. 20 years from now people will be debating how good you were and the issue of cherry picking will come up in every conversation. It will be too late to do anything about it then. Give the fans what they want – whether you realize or not, it’s what you need.
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