By Matt Plumridge: So we are here for the umpteenth time in as many days. Tomorrow we will find out. Yesterday it was today and the day before it was yesterday. The fires have been lit and the debates rage across the web. Floyd Mayweather Jr. has had his poll and declared Khan the winner; fixed for those who fantasize about a non-stop slugging machine finally wearing down the Mayweather battery; flawless for those who trust that the Sweet Science will ultimately deliver unto the Mayweather party the blurring hands and movement of Amir Khan and prove that boxing is indeed more brain than brawn.
And there is simply no consensus. Post after post trade wild swinging retaliatory hooks of equally landed leather, decrying both fighters ability as much as it extols them. Marcos Maidana is by one hand powerful, durable and capable of a work rate that the soon-to-be 37 year old Mayweather will not match; by the other he is slow, flat footed and unable to stop even a ‘good’ boxer (think Devon Alexander and Andriy Kotelnik) from getting the better of him.
Khan is treated with similar indifference. Those who think he ‘Khan’ do it show off a silver Olympic medal, undeniably fast and flashy hands and fight results that prove top level ability – most notably the scalp of Maidana himself. Those that think he ‘Khan’t’ only have to slip on a highlights reel of his losses to Prescott and Garcia to show both his weak chin and lack of ability to keep out of the way of a good left hook. Even I’d catch him.
And the truth? It really doesn’t matter who we have in the ring opposite Mayweather come the 3rd May. The result for either fight is a foregone conclusion. By examining the annals of Floyd’s fight history, we wouldn’t even consider a choice between Maidana or Khan – both with a blotted copy book before they even sit the Floyd Finals’ – as we are talking unbeaten superstars in Diego Corralles, Ricky Hatton and Saul Alvarez; Multiple World Champions, in Miguel Cotto, Zab Judah and Shane Mosley; and bona fide one off legends of the ring in Oscar de La Hoya and Juan Manuel Marquez. How much did it matter when these were the chosen one? How certain were so many that some or even all of these would finally make Floyd pay for his arrogance and swagger? Many as I recall and yet every single fighter who shared the ring found themselves staring at the door marked L come the end of the fight.
That’s why it is doesn’t matter who gets picked to sit – at some point – dumbfounded across the ring from Him. Rather than focus on who he is going to face, maybe we should focus on how good he is at what we all love. Check him out while we still can. Because as history will show and time will tell, when it comes to Floyd Mayweather Jr, the only person that really needs to be in the ring is the man himself.
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