By Klaas Mabetlela: Great fighters have to go through a defining fight that illustrates the tone of their careers. It does not necessarily have to be the boxer’s best fight, but it is a kind of fight that can be looked upon as the one that told the world that the boxer is great or has potential to be great. For this installment, I shall look at Manny Pacquiao, Floyd Mayweather and Sugar Shane Mosley. They are without a shadow of doubt proven great fighters.
Manny Pacquiao’s credentials are well documented unless if one has been in hibernation in the past 3 years. I was brutally introduced to Manny when as an underdog and late replacement, mauled my homeboy Lehlohonolo Ledwaba for the IBF Jr back in 2001. His defining fight in my books has to be his master-class against Marco Antonio Barrera. The fight took place on November 15, 2003.
Manny was fighting for the first time as a Featherweight and he brought his power, speed and dexterity with him to beat one of the best boxers of his era in Barrera. It was an awe-inspiring performance and one of the best performances I have ever seen in the ring. He went on to beat the likes of Hatton, De La Hoya and Miguel Cotto in megafights, but when the dust settles, his fight with Barrera told us that we had an all-time great at our midst.
Floyd Mayweather Jr. has always divided boxing fans and that resulted in some of his best wins being disputed unnecessarily. He earned respect from those who did not like him before after his performance with Sugar Shane Mosley. Most casual fans will think that his fight with Mosley will be his defining bout. For me, the most important win of his career was his 2007 win over Oscar De La Hoya and I think history will put that win in proper perspective.
In my opinion, Mayweather’s defining fight has to be his annihilation of Diego ‘Chico’ Corrales that took place in 2001. Both Mayweather and Corrales were undefeated, never been knocked down and rated on top 3 pound for pound with Chico being rated above Floyd. Diego was the most lethal puncher in all of boxing at the time, but was dropped by a clinical Mayweather a total of 5 times after receiving a brutal beating round after round for 10 rounds. That night Mayweather displayed a full arsenal – speed, panache, power and brutality of the highest order. Mayweather matched this kind of brutality when he fought Arturo Gatti 2 years later with another masterful and brutal beating.
Sugar Shane Mosley is one of the true warriors of the sport and his hall of fame status is guaranteed. He started his career extremely well as a blistering fast lightweight with a killer punch. It is very rare to have a fast boxer who happens to be one of the hardest punchers in business. At one stage, he had a record of 34 fights with 32 knockouts including 9 lightweight title defenses(all by knockout) For me, what happened in the second round of his recent fight with Floyd Mayweather was not a shock at all; that is what a man is made of.
In 2000, Mosley jumped Jr. Welterweight to face the pound-for- pound king; Oscar De La Hoya and won. His win over De La Hoya stands as one of the most amazing feats in all my years in boxing and undisputedly his defining fight. They were two boxers in prime, unbeaten and on top of pound for pound lists fighting for at least $50m between them. There is no better defining fight and this time around, good small man beat a good big man. He later beat Oscar again in a forgettable controversial fight for the Jr Middleweight titles.
Comments are closed.