By Dan Ambrose: Dan Rafael believes that Floyd Mayweather Jr. (48-0, 26 KOs) really dropped the ball and wasted what was a perfect opportunity for him to show his greatness by electing to face the middleweight division’s biggest star Gennady Golovkin (33-0 30 KOs) for his September 12th fight at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Rafael believes by Mayweather taking on the hard hitting Golovkin, he would be daring himself to be great by taking on a guy that is every bit as good in 160lb division as Mayweather is at 147 and 154.
Mayweather rules those divisions with an iron fist. But by facing Golovkin, even at 154, Mayweather would have had a real chance to put himself in the same class as greats like Sugar Ray Robinson, who Mayweather believes he was better than. Instead of daring himself to be great like Sugar Ray Robinson, Mayweather reduced himself in the eyes of many boxing fans as just another fighter looking to milk his WBA/WBC 147lb titles by facing Andre Berto (30-3, 23 KOs) this September.
The appreciation and the respect that Maweather would have received had he agreed to face Golovkin would have been huge. Unfortunately, instead of Mayweather getting respect from the fans for his next fight, he’s receiving their scorn for him choosing Berto. It’s not that Berto isn’t a decent fighter, because he’s surely a good fighter, but with a record of 3-3 in his six fights, he doesn’t rate to be fighting for a world title against someone in Mayweather’s class.
Even other welterweight world champions Kell Brook, Keith Thurman and Timothy Bradley would be receiving tons of criticism if they too agreed to fight Berto rather than relevant contender, because Berto is seen too munch as an easy mark after his losses to Robert Guerrero, Victor Ortiz and Jesus Soto Karass.
“Had Mayweather declined to fight Khan in order to dare to be great by fighting a top middleweight — Gennady Golovkin, even at a catch-weight, anyone? — That would be applauded.” Rafael said via ESPN.com.
It’s very true that Mayweather would have received a lot of applause by fans if he agreed to fight Golovkin. Even if Mayweather lost that fight, he’d still be well-respected by fans. You’re not even seeing the guys Golovkin’s own size, Miguel Cotto, Saul “Canelo” Alvarez, Peter Quillin, Daniel Jacobs and Andy Lee, agreeing to fight him. If Mayweather took the fight with Golovkin, he would be seen as a brave person for being willing to face the most dangerous puncher in the middleweight division.
Choosing Berto to fight next has really hurt Mayweather’s standing in the boxing community much in the same way that a defeat would. Mayweather was already looking bad for taking two fights against Marcos Maidana and a fight against Robert Guerrero in recent years. Mayweather should have never fought those guys if he wanted to follow after fighters like Sugar Ray Robinson. If Mayweather truly feels that he’s better than Robinson, then he should have fought Golovkin, Thurman, Brook, Khan and Shawn Porter already.
Those should have been priority names for Mayweather to fight instead of wasting four fights of his Showtime/CBS six –fight contract facing Guerrero, Maidana [twice] and Berto. Showtime only got quality in two of the fights of Mayweather’s six-fight contract with them with him facing Manny Pacquiao and Canelo. The other four fights were basically milking jobs with Mayweather facing lesser guys that few boxing fans cared about.
It would be nice for Mayweather to come back in 2016 to fight Golovkin rather than someone he already beat before like Pacquiao, Cotto or Canelo. There’s nothing for Mayweather to gain from fighting those guys again other than another paycheck. Boxing fans won’t get excited at the thought of seeing Mayweather fight those guys in rematches, because there’s no new ground to cover. It would be like the fans going to see the same movie they’ve already seen before.
Fans don’t want to see rematches when there’s no point in them. Mayweather beat those guys convincingly. He didn’t fight Golovkin yet, and that’s who he needs to face next year if he wants to end his career on a positive note. Unfortunately, the odds of Mayweather fighting Golovkin in 2016 are so slim that they’re not worth even mentioning. If Mayweather does return next year, he’ll likely go for another easy fight by fighting the likes of Cotto, Canelo or Pacquiao instead of daring to be great by fighting Golovkin.
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