By Liam Fitzgerald: Floyd Mayweather’s recent unanimous points victory over Shane Mosley was as impressive a performance as there has been in the last few years in boxing. Taking into consideration that this was against a man many felt would be too good for him, as well as someone who was ranked p4p *3 by many pundits, the victory has even more significance. And for me it has shown that Mayweather and Pacquiao are simply on another level to any other fighter out there today.
Let’s look at the evidence. Recent opponents of the duo include Miguel Cotto, Juan Manuel Marquez and Mosley. All of these men were widely thought to be in the top 5 p4p when they stepped into the ring with Pacquiao or Mayweather but all were completely dominated. Ok to an extent you can argue that none of them were at their complete peak but they were all made to look average in these fights. Mosley had campaigned at 147 far longer than Mayweather but was outworked and outclassed from the second round onwards. I was one of the people who felt Cotto would be too strong for Pacquiao and would wear him down but it was the complete opposite and Pacquiao’s hard shots ended up stopping the Puerto Rican late on. Even though Marquez was far from comfortable at welterweight, you would still expect him to cause Floyd one or two problems but as it was he hardly landed a punch on him all night.
And even though their opponents in general recently have been world class operators, there has always been the overwhelming sense that they would come out on top. This isn’t the case in other weight classes as we saw the middleweight king Kelly Pavlik dethroned the other week by Sergio Martinez whilst the p4p ranked Hozumi Hazegawa was KO’d last Friday by Fernando Montiel. Perhaps only the Klitschko brothers are as dominant as these two in their weight class nowadays but their opponents have been very soft and their true test, in the form of David Haye, is still to come. The difference with Pacquiao and Mayweather is that in general they do fight the best fighters out there. Even against Joshua Clottey, Pacquiao seemed to use the bout as a warm up when in fact he was facing a tough opponent who had previously been a world champion.
What makes these two so intimidating is that they are able to prey on opponent’s offence and use it to launch their own. Pacquiao was so comfortable against Clottey that he abandoned defence in the hope that it would entice Clottey out of his shell so that he could launch one of his rapid attacks. The Cotto fight illustrated how even a slight defensive deficiency is catastrophic against the little Filipino as he will exploit it and cause a lot of damage with his explosive, dynamic combinations. In contrast, Mayweather is a fighter that is so comfortable on the back foot and counter punches to great effect. Some think he is boring but he demonstrated on Saturday how he waits for an opponent to show weakness and then pounces. He wore Hatton down to a dramatic conclusion expertly and when he saw Mosley tire on Saturday, stepped up his offence to rip him to shreds.
I don’t see anybody beating either man now which means they have to fight each other next. My only doubt about Mayweather was to how he would react if truly hurt but he showed the heart and chin he has in that 2nd round on Saturday to overcome difficulty. They are both true fighters, silky in offence and resolute in defence. The only thing either man needs now is a victory over the other to complete their legacies. Floyd has more to lose as for him the ‘0’ is all important but a win could back up his claims of being one of the vest that ever lived. I like his idea of possibly moving up to 160lbs to challenge Martinez as world titles in this prestigious weight class would be very impressive. However, it would mean little had he done this without proving who out of him and Manny is the best out there. Pacquiao has done wonders in his career and proved to be one of the best at featherweight when beating the Mexican trio of Barrera, Morales and Marquez. Since he moved up to 135 and beyond though he has been phenomenal and rightly won fighter of the decade. A Mayweather fight is all he needs now and even a defeat wouldn’t wreck his reputation because of the vast scale of his previous achievements. A win though and he will stand alone as the fighter of his generation.
As regards to the fight, I am undecided on how it could go. Both have many strengths and few weaknesses and the split view amongst fans shows how it could go either way. I would favour Pacquiao on points but in truth nobody really knows, which is probably something you could not say about any other potential match up. Please let this fight happen this year!
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