Why give Floyd credit for.........

'Pretty Boy' Floyd Mayweather Continues to Depress by Richard McManus 1/23 - Saturday Night "Pretty Boy" Floyd Mayweather improved his record to 33-0, 22 KO's with a 8th Round knockout against Henry Brusles. It was only Mayweather's second knockout win since 2001 and his second fight in 14 months. Now Floyd deserves some credit. He's managed to remain undefeated as a pro while earning some decent wins over good fighters like Diego Corrales, Jose Luis Castillo and Jesus Chavez. He's also had some pretty lackluster performances against the likes of Victoriano Sosa and Carlos Hernandez. There was also the fight most recently against Demarcus Corley. This was a fight which the boxing media hierarchy and the rulers over at HBO tried to persuade the boxing public that Floyd was "auditioning" for the Pound for Pound crown. In reality, Floyd did to Corley exactly what Zab Judah did to him a few months prior and nobody was ever foolish enough to suggest that Zab Judah even belonged in boxing's mythical Top 50. Now, with this said it has become painfully obvious that Mayweather is plainly one of the most overrated boxers in the game. His defining win was more than four years ago against Diego Corrales. Since then Floyd has done nothing to raise his stock. The best fighter he's faced has been Jose Luis Castillo, whom he faced twice, and most experts seem to think that the fighter's split their two meetings. The crew over at HBO, Jim Lampley and the rest of the guys continue to mention Floyd Mayweather as one of the best fighters in the game. They mention him in the same sentence as Bernard Hopkins. Lampley even referred to Bernard and Floyd as 1 and 1A in the Top 10 Pound for Pound. Based on what? Floyd Mayweather is probably one of the biggest underachievers in boxing right now. And I used to like Floyd and even pledged to root for him if he ever fought Naseem Hamed. Historical perspective now shows me that when compared to Floyd it can be said that at least The Prince brought something to the ring every time out. He gave every thing he had, he wasn't afraid to get hit, never crawled into a defensive shell and was never booed in his hometown. Floyd simply chooses to win ugly and/or sloppily every time out. Much of this can probably be explained with a simple application of the principles of Economics 101 and the idea that investors always look for a return on their investment. The fact of the matter is that HBO has invested millions of dollars trying to make Floyd a star and to no avail. Boxing fans don't even look forward to Mayweather fights. To get him to headline a Pay Per View card they're going to have to match him up against boxing mega-star Arturo Gatti. Ask yourself this: Who is really the headliner in that fight? To apply the economic criteria of the Mayweather situation to baseball you could say that the situation compares to the 1999 Los Angeles Dodgers and the mutually destructive relationship that existed between Starting Pitcher Carlos Perez, General Manager Kevin Malone and a the dugout Gatorade Cooler. Kevin Malone gave Perez a $6 Million a year contract and Perez promptly went out and put up a record of 2-10 with a 7.43 ERA. Watching the Dodgers trot Perez out to the mound every fifth day amounted to the infamous Chinese water torture being applied to diehard Dodger fans everywhere. But having given him such an enormous contract the Dodgers simply could not afford to take him out of the starting rotation no matter how many 8 earned run pitching lines showed up in the box score the day after he started. There was simply too much money invested to turn back. It's the same with Floyd. HBO has to get a return on their investment. Now you say, well at least he knocked out Henry Brusles on Saturday, that counts for something right? My response is this: What did you expect, it was a total mismatch going in. Besides, who the heck is Henry Brusles and did you know he was still fighting 6 and 8 rounders just over 2 years ago? The fact that HBO matched Mayweather with such a non-threat in the lead-up fight to the Gatti PPV may suggest that HBO may be privy to information about Mayweather that the general boxing public may not know. Why was he put in there against a guy that posed no threat? One interesting event that took place half way through the fight was an exchange between Jim Lampley and the Pretty Boy. And truth be told, it probably lends some credence in a strange way to what I'm saying on this page. Lampley took it upon himself to ask Floyd if the liked the Eagles or the Falcons to win the NFC Championship game. Now the fact that Floyd picked the Falcons was shocking enough. But the fact that this exchange was even able to take place says two things. One, it says that Floyd is only using about 3% of his natural talent at any given time. His mind always appears to be elsewhere. Maybe he's thinking about which club his posse is going to hit later that night or whether or not he needs a bigger plasma screen HDTV so his crew can play Knockout Kings 2005. To make another baseball analogy, if Floyd Mayweather were a baseball player he'd be Manny Ramirez tossing out number two into the crowd and jogging in while the runner on third tags up and jogs home. Another truth that this exchange reveals is that there is an unusual silence in the arena when Floyd fights, making it possible for him to carry on normal conversations with people in the crowd. In this writer's opinion Floyd still has lots of work to do to earn a place in the Top 5 of Boxing's mythical Pound for Pound. A win over Gatti would be a start, but let's see him win some legitimate fights against the likes of Kostya Tszyu, Miguel Cotto or Shane Mosley. More fights against fighters the caliber of Demarcus Corley, Phillip N'dou or Henry Brusles simply aren't enough. Stop hatin all the time. Nobody said anything when Hopkins dominated your boy for 12 rounds and dropped him in the 12th. It wouldve been worse if his dad didnt step in and save his life. No matter what you say about Floyd, that will never happened to him. He might lose but not in that fashion. He wont get brutally beaten for 12 rounds and not be able to finish :D

"In reality, Floyd did to Corley exactly what Zab Judah did to him a few months prior and nobody was ever foolish enough to suggest that Zab Judah even belonged in boxing's mythical Top 50." This is a joke, right? "exactly what Zab Judah did to him"? Sorry, but whoever wrote this is sadly mistaken. Mayweather managed to entertain without losing more than a round or two versus Corley. Judah managed to look absurdly ordinary. "The best fighter he's faced has been Jose Luis Castillo, whom he faced twice, and most experts seem to think that the fighter's split their two meetings." Hardly an insult, or an indictement of Floyd's skill. Castillo had been champ at 135 for years, and would not have won a rubber match. "gave every thing he had, he wasn't afraid to get hit, never crawled into a defensive shell and was never booed in his hometown. Floyd simply chooses to win ugly and/or sloppily every time out. "gave everything he had" except against Calvo. And Hamed never broke his hands, did he? Besides, they played different games. To give you an idea of how stupid this comparison is, try comparing Ali's style to Dempsey's. Of course Ali failed to impress from time to time. That's just the way his style worked. The opposite is true of Dempsey. All he had to do was coming tearing out of his corner and he set pulses racing. It's not as if Dempsey had more heart. "Boxing fans don't even look forward to Mayweather fights." Questionable thesis with absolutely no ecvidence to back it up. He calls Gatti a "mega-star"? Last time I checked, the word mega-star was reserved for, how should I put this - mega-stars. Not just exciting fighters who made for fun fights. I think I should mention that just like everyone else, I love Gatti. That doesn't make him a mega-star. It makes him what I like to call popular. Mega-stars fight on PPV, which Gatti has not done. Mega-stars draw 45,000 customers, which Gatti hasn't done. Gatti is a star, he's not carrying the sport on his back. There's a difference. "Now you say, well at least he knocked out Henry Brusles on Saturday, that counts for something right? My response is this: What did you expect, it was a total mismatch going in. Besides, who the heck is Henry Brusles and did you know he was still fighting 6 and 8 rounders just over 2 years ago? The fact that HBO matched Mayweather with such a non-threat in the lead-up fight to the Gatti PPV may suggest that HBO may be privy to information about Mayweather that the general boxing public may not know." Or this guy may be a conspiracy theorist and a wolf-crier. Sure, we were disappointed when Floyd didn't take on say N'dou, or someone along those lines. But sometimes things don't work out the way we want them too. Did this guy attack Pacquiao for fighting Yeshmebagatov a year or two ago? At least Floyd didn't get dropped. (The Pacquiao fight is relevant because before he took on Barerra, people were questioning whether he would ever step up again. That's become his defining fight, much the way his drubbing of Ledwaba had defined him before. In other words, Floyd may surprise us yet. Get it?) "Lampley took it upon himself to ask Floyd if the liked the Eagles or the Falcons to win the NFC Championship game." Didn't happen. Lamps asked Roy Jones Jr. whether he liked the Patriots or the Steelers. Floyd took it upon himself to respond. "Now the fact that Floyd picked the Falcons was shocking enough. But the fact that this exchange was even able to take place says two things. One, it says that Floyd is only using about 3% of his natural talent at any given time. His mind always appears to be elsewhere. Maybe he's thinking about which club his posse is going to hit later that night or whether or not he needs a bigger plasma screen HDTV so his crew can play Knockout Kings 2005." Floyd picked the Patriots. "In this writer's opinion Floyd still has lots of work to do to earn a place in the Top 5 of Boxing's mythical Pound for Pound. A win over Gatti would be a start, but let's see him win some legitimate fights against the likes of Kostya Tszyu, Miguel Cotto or Shane Mosley. More fights against fighters the caliber of Demarcus Corley, Phillip N'dou or Henry Brusles simply aren't enough." N'dou, Corley and Bruseles are not on the same plane. Bruseles is much worse than either of the other two. Is this writer saying that Cotto is better than Floyd? Is that based upon the fact that Cotto is fighting Corley in a few months? Or is it something that escaped my notice? Yes, we would all love to see him against the guys he mentions. But Cotto's hardly proven enough to merit consideration, and Tzyu is otherwise engaged. Finally, Mosley has yet to fight at welterweight, and has not won in almost a year and a half. He's underselling Floyd's accomplishments and his ambition. The fact of the matter is that Floyd's had two fights at junior welterweight. The next one is likely to be against one of the best fighters in the division. Give him a break. One last thing. The writer I was quoting never once spelled Mayweather's opponent's name right. It's Bruseles, not Brusles.

'Pretty Boy' Floyd Mayweather Continues to Depress by Richard McManus 1/23 - Saturday Night "Pretty Boy" Floyd Mayweather improved his record to 33-0, 22 KO's with a 8th Round knockout against Henry Brusles. It was only Mayweather's second knockout win since 2001 and his second fight in 14 months. Now Floyd deserves some credit. He's managed to remain undefeated as a pro while earning some decent wins over good fighters like Diego Corrales, Jose Luis Castillo and Jesus Chavez. "In reality, Floyd did to Corley exactly what Zab Judah did to him a few months prior and nobody was ever foolish enough to suggest that Zab Judah even belonged in boxing's mythical Top 50." This is a joke, right? "exactly what Zab Judah did to him"? Sorry, but whoever wrote this is sadly mistaken. Mayweather managed to entertain without losing more than a round or two versus Corley. Judah managed to look absurdly ordinary. "The best fighter he's faced has been Jose Luis Castillo, whom he faced twice, and most experts seem to think that the fighter's split their two meetings." Hardly an insult. Castillo had been champ at 135 for years, and would not have won a rubber match. "gave every thing he had, he wasn't afraid to get hit, never crawled into a defensive shell and was never booed in his hometown. Floyd simply chooses to win ugly and/or sloppily every time out. "gave everything he had" except against Calvo. And Hamed never broke his hands, did he? Besides, they played different games. To give you an idea of how stupid this comparison is, try comparing Ali's style to Dempsey's. Of course Ali failed to impress from time to time. That's just the way his tyle worked. The opposite is true of Dempsey. All he had to do was coming tearing out of his corner and he set pulses racing. It's not as if Dempsey had more heart. "Boxing fans don't even look forward to Mayweather fights. To get him to headline a Pay Per View card they're going to have to match him up against boxing mega-star Arturo Gatti. Ask yourself this: Who is really the headliner in that fight?" "Boxing fans don't even look forward to Mayweather fights." Questionable thesis with absolutely no ecvidence to back it up. "mega-star"? Last time I checked, the word mega-star was reserved for, how should I put this, mega-stars. Not just exciting fighters who made for fun fights. "Now you say, well at least he knocked out Henry Brusles on Saturday, that counts for something right? My response is this: What did you expect, it was a total mismatch going in. Besides, who the heck is Henry Brusles and did you know he was still fighting 6 and 8 rounders just over 2 years ago? The fact that HBO matched Mayweather with such a non-threat in the lead-up fight to the Gatti PPV may suggest that HBO may be privy to information about Mayweather that the general boxing public may not know. Why was he put in there against a guy that posed no threat?" Or this guy may be a conspiracy theorist and a wolf-crier. Sure, we were disappointed when Floyd didn't take on say N'dou, or someone along those lines. But sometimes things don't work out the way we want them too. Did this guy attack Pacquiao fo fighting Yeshmebagatov a year or two ago? At least Floyd didn't get dropped. "Lampley took it upon himself to ask Floyd if the liked the Eagles or the Falcons to win the NFC Championship game." Didn't happen. Lamps asked Roy Jones Jr. whether he liked the Patriots or the Steelers. Floyd took it upon himself to respong. "Now the fact that Floyd picked the Falcons was shocking enough. But the fact that this exchange was even able to take place says two things. One, it says that Floyd is only using about 3% of his natural talent at any given time. His mind always appears to be elsewhere. Maybe he's thinking about which club his posse is going to hit later that night or whether or not he needs a bigger plasma screen HDTV so his crew can play Knockout Kings 2005." Floyd picked the Patriots. "In this writer's opinion Floyd still has lots of work to do to earn a place in the Top 5 of Boxing's mythical Pound for Pound. A win over Gatti would be a start, but let's see him win some legitimate fights against the likes of Kostya Tszyu, Miguel Cotto or Shane Mosley. More fights against fighters the caliber of Demarcus Corley, Phillip N'dou or Henry Brusles simply aren't enough." N'dou, Corley and Bruseles are not on the same plane. Is this writer saying that Cotto is better than Floyd? Is that based upon the fact that Cotto is fighting Corley in a few months? Or is it something that excaped my notice? Yes, we would all love to see him against the guys he mentions. But Cott's hardly proven enough to merit consideration, and Tzyu is otherwise engaged. Finally, Mosley has yet to fight at weleterweight, and has not won in almost a year and a half. He's underselling Floyd's accomplishments and his ambition. The fact of the matter is Floyd's had two fights at junior welterweight. The next one is likely to be against one of the best fighters in the division. Give him a break.

Gatti couldn't carry Floyd's Jockstrap. That's cute lol

I'm with you that this Brussels guy is not a high calibur fighter and PBF should be fighting better opposition but to say he has fought no one is a far stretch. When he was at 130 he took on the very best in the division to include destroying Diego in one of the worst beatings ever dished out in a big fight. Then he went to 135 and took on the champ Castillo and beat him not once but twice. Now he is in search of even greater conquests at 140. Precisely. One fight does not a pussy make.

I disagree with you. Brusseles had a tigh D and wouldnt open up that much. Gatti and Zoo will be more offensive which would also give Floyd more shots to counter. It's hard to stop someone who keeps his D tight and doesnt let his hands go. He also did alot of sparring against Cotto so the guy can take a good punch, plus he was in the best shape of his life which makes you last longer. Zoo had a similar fight with Tackie which he never hurt and it went the distance. Did you say the samething about Zoo? Every fight is different and he will sitdown and trade agaisnt Gatti and stop him It's all very well to say that Bruseles sparred with Cotto, therefore he can take a punch. If Cotto had hit him with intent, Henry would have missed fight night! PBF will meet his match when he fights Cotto. Cotto will bust his ribs and then KO him! PBF only starts to fight in close from the 5th round or so.......That's when he will wilt under the power of Cotto's shots. Those fancy side on weaves from Floyd, when on the ropes and avoiding punches, will expose his liver & ribcage to a fighter who knows how to take advantage of that. That will be his greatest error! Remember, PBF has gone UP a few divisions....He faces Cotto, who at 140 is naturally strong. Cotto will probably move up soon as well. Bruseles is not in the same class as Cotto. Cotto would have taken Bruseles out in 2 or 3 rounds! Look at how long it took PBF!

Gatti couldn't carry Floyd's Jockstrap.

I actually give PBF credit for doing exactly what was expected of him - no more, no less. That's all he deserves from this last fight.

Chop will ko PBF ha ha ha.

don't blame PBF blame Gatti for ducking him to fight Leija. I bet Gatti gives up his belt rather than even face Floyd. That would be a wise career move.

btw gatti is nowhere near the caliber fighter of pbf. this is a fight i'm not looking forward to but will still watch if it happens.

have to say floyd has all the skills in the world to be a great fighter...however w/his choice of opposition since moving to 140 is a little suspect. maybe one gimme fight to acclimate to the weight but he's considered a p4p fighter. i don't see any reason for him to waste anybodys time fighting fighters who are better suited for young contenders. pbf is already established he should fight the best and nothing less.

don't blame PBF blame Gatti for ducking him to fight Leija. I bet Gatti gives up his belt rather than even face Floyd.

i agree that the fight this weekend was a joke.... 140 is the deepest division in boxing and floyd took the easy way by fighting this bum.... allen and oscar were both more of a threat to nard than this bum was to floyd... even merchant had to criticize floyd for taking a gimme... i didnt know floyd could of fought abduhlev instead, that would have been interesting... still i have to rate floyd #2 P4P....

I am not a big pbf fan. but he has fought fighters that were highly ranked when he fought them. he has never really avoided anyone, but people still dont give him credit for what he has accomplished. i would like to see him and chico go at it again. i think coralles has his head on straight this time and he would probably knock pbf out!

Please people, Floyd may have problems, but fighting top notch comp is not one of them. He's fought Chico, Hernandez, Castillo twice. Corley. N'dou. He'll show his class if Gatti gets in the ring with him.

re a massive and highly anticipated fight Everyone knew that fight was a payday for DLH and HOps. DLH had abosolutely no chance at all. Allen gave HOps a harder time than DLH. Shit I would go as far as to say that Hops was taking it easy on DLH. Hops could've ended the DLH fight under 5!!! Hops opponents since the Tito fight have all been average!!! And we have this guy as p4p #1. OKAY!!!????

Floyd gets credit for taking care of business in the ring. He peppereed a scrub into oblivion, look great doing it, and did it w/ ease. The Hops/Allen fight wasn't nearly as entertaining, but everyone's got Hops as p4p #1!!! There's a difference in taking ONE tune up fight before a massive and highly anticipated fight (obviously his bout with Oscar) and claiming to be the fucking man talking about yourself in third person while fighting average fighters for the past couple years.

re Floyd gets credit for taking care of business in the ring. He peppereed a scrub into oblivion, look great doing it, and did it w/ ease. The Hops/Allen fight wasn't nearly as entertaining, but everyone's got Hops as p4p #1!!!

Floyd is a very gifted boxer. but i'd pick kostya over him because mayweather has not fought a thinker like tszyu