Manny Pacquiao And Floyd Mayweather Careers Above 140lbs – Part 1 Mayweather

By Tommy Allan With it looking increasingly more likely that superstar fighters Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather Jr will be squaring off in the early part of 2012, I have decided to take a look at both fighters careers above the 140lb limit. Mayweather moved into the Welterweight Division first back at the tail end of 2005 with a complete domination of former 140lb title holder Sharmba Mitchell. Mitchell was the southpaw tune up fight before Mayweather took on Lineal title holder Zab Judah, who had earned his titles by knocking out Cory Spinks in nine rounds in St. Louis. A few weeks after Mayweather had beaten Mitchell, Judah took on the unheralded journeyman Carlos Baldomir. Baldomir went into the fight billed by fans and scribes alike as cannon fodder for Judah who was supposed to get some rounds while not exerting himself too much – or so we thought. What unfolded was both shocking and to some degree amusing as the brash talking Judah was upset over twelve surprising rounds at New Yorks, Madison Square Garden. Going into the Baldomir fight it was no secret Judah had been burning the candles at both ends, The Showtime announcers were vocal on this before a punch had even been landed. Things seemed up in the air for a couple of weeks after this but eventually things were settled and the already agreed upon Mayweather vs. Judah clash was going to go ahead as planned and Judah’s remaining IBF title (Baldomir hadn’t paid Sanctioning fee’s) would be on the line. This was not a popular fight with the fans. Message boards were ablaze with fury calling for Mayweather to boycott the fight with Judah and take on Baldomir or Welterweight standout and recently crowned WBO champion, Antonio Margarito. What we got from Mayweather-Judah was actually a fan friendly fight for what it’s worth. We saw big shots landed from both fighters, both guys were rocked and we got some good old controversy that so nearly escalated into something similar to the riot at Bowe vs. Golota, before Mayweather took a competitive decision where he dominated the fight late. After Mayweather got through with Judah – Oscar De La Hoya was very much the fighter on his mind. De La Hoya had recently came out from a sort of Semi-Retirement to thrash WBC 154lb champion and mouth extraordinaire, Ricardo “El Matador” Mayorga. With De La Hoya looking sensational against the over-matched Mayorga the scene was set for the richest fight in boxing history to take place, all Mayweather had to do was get through his November date on HBO. The november date had a lot of back and forth negotiations with different fighters. Mayweathers prefered fight was with newly crowned IBF 154 title holder Cory Spinks but just as things looked to be done – Dan Goossen came in with an $8 Million offer for Floyd to take on Baldomir which matched Bob Arums offer that had been on the table for Floyd to take on his man, Margarito. The Mayweather vs. Baldomir fight was not as fan friendly as the Judah fight had been mainly because Mayweather was at his brilliant defensive best and who could blame him with the De La Hoya zillions waiting? Floyd was a half step out of range all night for Baldomir and would catch the Argentine champion with beautiful lead right hands on the way in before quickly darting back out of range. In the end Mayweather would claim a complete one-sided shutout much to the dismay of HBO stalwart, Larry Merchant. Now the scene was set – The Mexican American legend and boxings cashcow, Oscar De La Hoya, was going to take on the then unrivaled Pound For Pound King and unbeaten Floyd Mayweather Jr. The promotion of this fight is like nothing the sport had ever seen before, not even Lewis-Tyson came close to the time or millions put into selling this to the fans. What we got in the end though did not live up to near the billing or the trash talking we had seen in the run up – what the fighters got was 2.4 million pay per view buys to divide up between them. Oscar started well behind his jab and Mayweather made the necessary adjustments to take over the fight through six. In the end a split decision was scored in favour of Mayweather with Oscar and some fans claiming it should have been awarded the other way. All in all a close decision either way could not be argued too much and a rematch was all but nailed on to happen somewhere down the road. A month after the Mayweather vs. De La Hoya superfight had taken place we had a battle between two other pound for pound stars in Manchester’s Ricky “Hitman” Hatton and Mexican former Lightweight champion Jose Luis Castillo, for Light Welterweight supremacy. Hatton would win by forth round knockout breaking Castillo’s ribs when putting him down for the first time in his long distinguished career. After the fight while being interviewed by HBO’s Max Kellerman, Hatton when pressed by the HBO analyst would say “I think you got more value for money in those four rounds than you got value for money in Floyd’s whole career”. Mayweather while watching at home in Las Vegas with associate Leonard Ellerbe became incensed by Hatton’s comments and turned to Ellerbe saying “make the f*cking fight”. Mayweather and Hatton would meet in Las Vegas at the begining of December 2007. The always aggressive Hatton started well in the fight with his constant pressure and the fight looked to be close through six rounds before Hatton started to become frustrated and more and more reckless. Mayweather would turn on the style late in the fight to force the stoppage of the game Hatton – first dropping him with a check left hook that sent The Manc face first into the ring post before finishing the job in brutal fashion when a groggy Hatton got back to his feet. During the press tours for the De La Hoya and Hatton fights, Mayweather had flirted with taking time away from the sport, after the Hatton fight Mayweather would go into negotiations for a rematch with De La Hoya at 147lbs though. Mayweather vs. De La Hoya II would not happen, Mayweather claimed his body was ravaged by injury and he decided then that it was time to have a vacation from the sport. 21 months would pass before we saw Floyd Mayweather back in the ring and the opponent would be none other than Pacquiao foe, Juan Manuel Marquez. Marquez rightly went into the fight as a heavy underdog as he’d spent the bulk of his career at 126lbs and 130lbs before claiming the Lineal 135lb title from Joel Casamayor. A catchweight of 144lbs was agreed between the camps of both fighters and things were set. When it came time to weigh-in for the fight Marquez came in comfortable at 142lbs while Mayweather sensationally missed the weight by two pounds which prompted some sections of the media to claim it was pre-meditated to gain an advantage. Things would be ironed out and the fight would take place with Mayweather incuring a financial penalty. As predicted beforehand Mayweather would dominate the smaller, slower Marquez for the full twelve rounds, dropping him early before pitching another shutout win. Although Marquez was smaller, Mayweather still looked the formidable fighter who had left the sport 21 months earlier and had not lost a step. After Marquez came Mosley. Shane Mosley was coming off a nine round demolition job of Antonio Margarito when he faced Mayweather. Even though that fight had taken place 17 months earlier and Shane had been inactive in that time, Shane was still thee Welterweight Champion, numero uno. Mayweather would dominate an aged Mosley like he’d done with so many others using his speed and timing to catch the opponent with right hand after right hand, time and time again. This fight was not without it’s scares for Mayweather early though as Shane landed two big right hands that had Mayweather hurt and clinging on. By the tenth round Mosley trainer Naseem Richardson was talking about pulling Mosley out but in the end he saw the final bell. Next up for Mayweather will be reigning WBC Champion and all round cool dude, Victor Ortiz. After Manny Pacquiao, Ortiz is the next best guy at the weight after decisioning previously unbeaten Andre Berto. Part 2 on Manny Pacquiao – Coming Saturday