(Photo credit: Esther Lin: By Tom Drury: By the time Floyd Mayweather steps into the ring on Saturday, May 4, in Las Vegas, Nevada, it will have been 364 days since he last boxed. There are two reasons for the enormous intrigue surrounding his reappearance, one of which is around 30 of those 364 days were spent in Las Vegas’ Clark County Detention Center on a domestic violence charge and the other.
This is Mayweather’s first bout under the contract of a history making TV deal.
Mayweather has a phenomenal contract with the Showtime Sports network. Floyd, of course, does not need the money. It will, however, serve to further furnish his lavish lifestyle and allow him to live in the extravagant manner one might expect of the man who can charge more for a nights work in his chosen profession than any other athlete in the world today, be they David Beckham, Lionel Messi, Tiger Woods or Kobe Bryant. It is why Floyd Mayweather is more commonly known as “Money”.
When Mayweather entered the ring against Miguel Cotto last year it was easy to question whether the battle-worn warrior would be able to stand Mayweather’s fast, damaging attacks. Cotto’s face was bust up but he hung tough and provided Floyd with his hardest fight in years. Critics and fans alike were quick to assume that Mayweather’s career was drawing to a close. Personally I don’t agree and that philosophy is not widely accepted. However, there is one number Mayweather does not have control over and that number being 36. No matter how much money you have, stopping time is an impossible task, regardless of how long you go undefeated or how many opponents you knock out, you cannot fight on indefinitely. That said Floyd’s supreme technique, jab, ring generalship and footwork is strong enough for him not to be solely reliant on beating his opponent to the punch or picking off there bull rushes with typically exact counters. Mayweather can turn his hand to anything.
Floyd is not to everyone’s taste, yet his relevance in the sport of boxing is outstanding. Nearly four million twitter followers shows that as does the vast crossover audience that follows him. In the recent and final press conference Floyd displayed composure and a touch of class in the way he handled the loud-mouthed tirade coming from the direction of Ruben Guerrero, Guerrero’s father. Floyd stayed focused and continued to sell the fight in front of the Showtime cameras. “Robert Guerrero is a tough fighter, a solid, busy fighter” Floyd said trying to sell his opponent. He only has one loss, and is a champion in multiple weight classes. Lets see what he can do in there”. He continued to say “I am willing to do whatever it takes to get the victory. If I have to mix it up or box, I am going to bring it. Guerrero will be number 44.”
Robert Guerrero sees things in a different light: “I’m excited I’ve worked hard for this. I’ve had the right fights to get here and been built up the right way. You have to be able to execute a game plan a lot of these guys no what they need to do but they don’t have the ability to do it”.
I personally think Guerrero is deluded. Oscar De la Hoya didn’t have the ability? Emmanuel Augustus? Juan Manuel Marquez? Guerrero is a southpaw, busy and has packed a punch in every weight class he has been in from featherweight to welterweight. Guerrero’s most recent bout was against welter Andre Berto in an engaging fight that saw Berto hit the canvass in the first and second round, that victory was the biggest of Guerrero’s career although it wasn’t so much about what Guerrero did right but how Berto screwed up. For some reason Berto tried a ridiculous shoulder roll method that just didn’t work, failing to stop Guerrero landing heavy blows to the face and body.
The problem is none of Guerrero’s opponents fall into a bracket with Mayweather and don’t think for a minute any of them would come close to pushing Floyd. Another point not to forget is Guerrero has not stopped anyone in three years since beating Argentine Roberto David Arrieta in eight rounds. Worse still, Guerreros commitment to the cause was questioned back in 2009 when he didnt look keen on continuing against tough Daud Cino Yordan following a second round clash of heads before a technical decision was rendered, in the ring with a confident, cocksure and flying Mayweather is nowhere for a mentally fragile fighter to be.
Opponents for some reason think the best way to beat Floyd is apply pressure this is mainly due to the success Jose Luis Castillo had implementing that game plan. However, Castillo came up short twice, so did Hatton, Gatti and Cotto. The style that Mayweather might struggle with someday providing his peak powers remain is someone who can do what he does (albeit not on the same level) like an Adrien Broner. I will wrap part 1 up by saying I believe Floyd Mayweather will stop Guerrero by the tenth round and I’ll be back on (May 5) to conclude with part 2.
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