By Chris Williams: Photo credit: Naoki Fakuda – Floyd Mayweather Jr. was in the tell like it is mode during Wednesdays press conference to hype his upcoming fight against WBC welterweight champion Victor Ortiz on September 17th at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada.
However, someone made the mistake of mentioning Manny Pacquiao’s name, and it was if a dam had broke loose in Mayweather’s mouth, as he opened up on Pacquiao with both barrels, giving boxing fans his opinion about the Filipino fighter.
Here are some of the things that Mayweather had to say about Pacquiao’s habit of fighting guys that Mayweather Jr. has just beaten: “As long as he [Pacquiao] can keep fighting Floyd Mayweather’s leftovers, or a fighter that has already been beaten, then the media has to really pay attention to this.”
Mayweather went on to point out how Pacquiao fought Ricky Hatton and Shane Mosley after he had beaten them. And Pacquiao is about to fight Juan Manuel Marquez on November 12th, a fighter that Mayweather easily beat two years ago in a one-sided 12 round decision. Pacquiao did beat Marquez by a 12 round split decision in 2008, but a lot of boxing fans saw that as more of a loss than a win for Pacquiao.
The differences between what Mayweather Jr. did to Marquez and how badly Pacquiao struggled against Marquez seems to suggest that Pacquiao isn’t in the same league as Mayweather Jr. in terms of skills. But I do agree with Mayweather Jr. that Pacquiao seems to be fighting guys that Mayweather Jr. recently beaten, and when he’s not doing that, he’s facing guys that are coming off of a recent loss.
If you look at Pacquiao’s opposition in the past three you get this picture:
Oscar De La Hoya: Two losses out of his last four fights at the time he fought Pacquiao. De La Hoya had been recently beaten by Mayweather a year earlier and without a catch weight handicap.
Ricky Hatton: Mayweather beat Hatton two years earlier by a 10th round TKO. Hatton didn’t look like the same fighter he once was after the Mayweather loss, and was staggered by fringe contender Juan Lazcano in his next fight after the Mayweather loss. Pacquiao defeated Hatton in 2009.
Miguel Cotto: Beaten by Antonio Margarito in an 11th round knockout loss a year before Pacquiao fought him. Cotto didn’t look like the same fighter he once was by the time Pacquiao fought him.
Joshua Clottey: Beaten by Cotto in Clottey’s fight before facing Pacquiao in 2010. Boxing fans wondered why Clottey was given a title shot against Pacquiao when Clottey had lost his last fight.
Antonio Margarito: Was beaten by Shane Mosley in a 9th round stoppage in 2009, and then sat out an entire year after losing his boxing license due to the hand-wrap scandal. Margarito fought a little known fringe contender by the name of Roberto Garcia and then was given a shot against Pacquiao.
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