part one of an artical in the new boxing almanac! more to come tomorrow!

PRETTY BOY FLOYD just as great as he says he is maybe even better by david mayo from "the ring double vol 5 05" The baffling thing that makes an all-in wager agianst floyd mayweather such a fool's errand is his innate ability to exploit even the slightest opponet miscue in painfully humiliating fashion .Any habitual tic , jerk , scratch , or flinch that betrays strength or weakness, and mayweather picks on it like phil lvey picks on weekend card players flashing fat bankrolls poker jargon for self-exposure is a "tell" and on he evenning of June 25, aurturo gatti might as well have screamed his into a megaphone from atop atlantic city's boardwalk hall. Perhaps gatti can use videotape to quit tipping his pitches before makeing a run seven pounds north , but on the night he shoved every chip into the pot for his final 140-pound appearance,gatti's hands betrayd his hand. while being honest, since this seems the ideal place for it , we're really just talking degrees of deafeat here, arent we? The winning hand always rests beneath mayweather's winning gloves anyway. At this peak stage of his hall of fame career,it seems the only variable is how much each opponet risks in pursuit of becoming the next buster douglas or frankie randall.One or more of three things will spoil mayweathers nine-year unbeaten streak someday a fortuitous puncher, an over-ambitious weight jump,and/or father time -but those circumstances seem distant for now Gatti had a puncher's chance but no chance to land a punch. mayweather closed the gap so quickly that he hooked off the jab barely half-minute into the fight. The execution over the next six rounds, until trainer buddy mcgirt saved gatti from additional abuse already being planned in mayweathers corner, was disturbingly efficient and excruciating for gatti's home crowd to witness. mayweather , who claims never to watch videotape of his opponet,spotted gatti's tell in that very first round . Gatti keeps his right hand in a tighter defensive position until he plans to use it, when it leaves his face and retreats to his shoulder. mayweather seemed to see it frame by frame. for him, gatti's tiny hitch unfolded as deliberately as a pitcher in wind=up. And not only did mayweather know exactly what pitchw as coming , but alson where to look in the strike zone , since gatti inexplicably abandoned his bodypunching fight plan. "i knew when gatti was going to throw just a regular jab because he just flicks it out there, with his right hand by his chin," mayweather said. "but if he's throwing a right hand behind the jab, he cocks it back. I saw a lot of his punches coming. So i was just the same old floyd , I just rolled under and stayed focused." Like matt damon's character in rounders. the 28-yearold mayweather figures he isn't playing the cards anyway. He's playing the opponet . And if he plays it straight, he can grind into powder every opponet's pursuit of fame and riches at the exspense of his 34-0 "23" record The operative questions harkened by mayweather's one-way dismantling of gatti, and asked aloud by jim lampley on HBO pay-per-view's telecast, are these: who can beat mayweather? and why would anyone even try ?