By John Hively
 
The best boxer in the world won a tight decision over a faded Oscar De La Hoya on Saturday, May 5th. So what? What if anything did it prove?
 
Floyd proved that he can give up four pounds and still squeak by a faded opponent, a once borderline great boxer, who only fought once in thirty-two months, hadn’t won a significant bout in five years, had lost two of his previous four bouts (three if you count the gift decision over Felix Sturm), and had mostly faded down the stretch in his big fights. Okay, yeah, Floyd can easily beat his opponents, but this time he barely did it in my book.
 
In fact, against Oscar and Zab Judah, Floyd and his team fully expected both to wilt as the rounds passed by. Both have a history of fading. Perhaps this is why Team Mayweather picked these battles. This suggests that the self-styled Pretty Boy is still being carefully matched.
 
I had Oscar up by two points at the end of the seventh round. Then he began the fade many of us expected, both from his inactivity as well as his history of wilting during stretch runs. Oscar abandoned his jab beginning in the eighth heat, perhaps because he was getting too tired to throw it.
 
Floyd swept the eighth through the eleventh rounds on my card. Compubox said he out hit Oscar by eighty-five punches during the fight, but much of the difference between the two occurred in those four rounds, exactly when Floyd and his team expected Oscar to wither.
 
Floyd looked like he had the twelfth round (barely) until Oscar made his head bounce back and forth like a ping pong ball in a high velocity duel between China’s two best players.
 
My final score was 115 Floyd to 114 Oscar.
 
After the bout, Max Kellerman ridiculously suggested that Floyd won eight or nine rounds. He also said that he had defeated a great fighter that still possessed much of his skills. Max was wrong on both counts. What's new?

The truth of the matter is that a prime De La Hoya was never as good as the peak Shane Mosely, nor was he as talented as Tito Trinidad. Both defeated Oscar, who at his best was a borderline great boxer, but that was about seven, maybe eight years ago.
 
Don’t get me wrong. Oscar is still a good fighter, a formidable boxer/puncher, but he’s not what he used to be. Nonetheless, he came extremely close to defeating Floyd, and that leaves us asking a lot of questions about the so-called greatness of the carefully managed Mayweather.
 
It’s difficult to believe the Mayweather gang would hazard a fight against dangerous battlers that don’t wilt as the rounds pass by, guys like Carmen Basilio, Mickey Walker and Roberto Duran. The type of warriors that put welts on your ribs. It’s hard to imagine Floyd taking on someone with the skills and fortitude of someone like a prime Basilio, especially considering that Sugar Ray Robinson ducked a third match with him at all costs.
 
That’s why it would be interesting to see Mayweather stick around the welterweight division. Antonio Margarito has been demanding a match with Floyd for years, but the guy we like to call the world’s best pound-for-pound fighter appears to prefer avoiding those that might be able to put the pressure on him for all twelve rounds.
 
The first seven rounds of the De La Hoya match may have signaled why Pretty Boy hasn’t been overly enthusiastic to take this fight. Margarito, as well as a number of other contenders, may not be as stamina-challenged as Oscar and Zab.
 
Floyd might want to stick around the welterweight division for a while, just to establish a legacy in a single division. It’s difficult to rate him as an all-time great when he spends so little time in each division he occupied.

We like to rate the top twenty fighters of each division. Four or five bouts at lightweight won’t get Pretty Boy into the top twenty there. No doubt, Floyd is a great boxer, despite my criticism. He is the undefeated welterweight champion. If he puts in eight to ten title defenses, plus takes on a couple of non-title over-the-weight matches against formidable opponents, he could establish his credentials as an all-time great in the welterweight division.

Four defenses of his lightweight alphabet title and a victory over a faded De La Hoya just doesn’t put him in the same league as Sugar Ray Robinson, Ray or Benny Leonard, Harry Greb, Willie Pep, Ali and dozens of other all-time greats.

So how about it Pretty Boy? Why don't cha' stick around a while and face off against those who are not so stamina-challenged?