By Mark Vester
Floyd Mayweather, Jr. went on the attack during a recent interview with the Grand Rapids Press. Mayweather said that he is not focusing on the record of Carlos Baldomir, he is putting his focus on the fighter, and not taking the WBC champion lightly on November 4 in Las Vegas. Regardless of what the critics say, Mayweather feels Baldomir deserves the fight.
"You can never look at a guy's record," Mayweather. "I never underestimated Emanuel Augustus because I knew how good he was. And every time a guy loses, that's a learning experience. Baldomir has done some of the same things I've done. He knocked Gatti out, I knocked Gatti out. He beat Judah, I beat Judah. He deserved the fight."
Initially, IBF 154-pound champion Cory Spinks thought he was going to land the Mayweather bout in November, after the two sides agreed to terms and the IBF sanctioned the bout. Upon learning that Mayweather decided to go with Baldomir instead, Spinks and manager Kevin Cunningham were upset, and publicly said Mayweather was ducking the challenge.
"Cory knew what was going to happen," Mayweather said. "I was going to walk straight through him. The same thing is going to happen to Baldomir, but Cory should be able to enjoy his belt a little while. When Cory does fight me, it's going to be his biggest payday, and his last payday."
While fights against Oscar De La Hoya and Shane Mosley were out of his grasp for 2006, Mayweather said it was entirely his decision to decline an $8 million dollar offer to fight WBO welterweight champion Antonio Margarito. Mayweather feels Margarito did not do anything in his career to deserve a fight with him.
"To be pound-for-pound, to be mentioned in the same breath as Sugar Ray Robinson and Sugar Ray Leonard, you have to have done great things in boxing," Mayweather said. "For him, he held a title at 147, then went to 154, failed, came back down, fought a couple cab drivers, and now he's in line to fight Floyd Mayweather? It doesn't work that way."
