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Floyd Mayweather Jr - Is He Fighting On Borrowed Time?
By Tim Neilson:
They say that all good things must come to an end. For Floyd Mayweather Jr (38-0, 24 KOs), I think his time as the pound for pound king is about to run it's course shortly after his bout with Ricky Hatton 43-0, 31 KOs) on December 8th at the MGM Grand, in Las Vegas, Nevada. I, however, fully expect him to beat Hatton, there's no question about that. Mayweather wouldn't have chosen him as an opponent if he wasn't certain that he could beat them. No, I'm referring to him being thought of as the best welterweight in the division. That I believe is coming to an end.
In fact, it already has for many boxing fans, but the rest of the others will soon likely come following along slowly and coming to the same conclusion them self shortly thereafter. Indeed, for many of the boxing experts, Mayweather is already considered obsolete in the welterweight division with boxers Antonio Margarito, Paul Williams, Miguel Cotto and possibly Kermit Cintron being now better than him.
That's not to say that he's over-the-hill or anything. No, he's still a very good boxer, certainly capable of beating most of the lower half of the top 10 in the welterweight division, for example, Andre Berto, Carlos Quintana, Joel Julio, Zab Judah and maybe Joshua Clottey. The top half, however, would likely give Mayweather a tremendous beating and be far too dangerous for him at this stage in his career. Mayweather's just too small, too old, and doesn't take well to getting hit, something that would be a prerequisite for him beating the top talent in the welterweight division.
All what Mayweather is doing now by beating smaller non-welterweight fighters like Ricky Hatton or older fighters such as Oscar De La Hoya, is avoiding the fact that he can't beat the top welterweights in the division any longer.
Mayweather simply doesn't appear to have the fire power to beat the giants in the welterweight division, hence his complete avoidance of them. Most fans unfortunately at this point are none too keen on this fact, mostly because of the casual nature that they follow boxing. Other fans choose to ignore Mayweather's fall from the top out of blind allegiance to him, the type of fan that would likely see no wrong in him no matter how long he avoids fighting the best welterweights in the division. Those are what I consider his enablers. They help him give him cover by suggesting that he's only fighting opponents that bring in the most money for him, ignoring the obvious fact he's avoiding the best opponents in doing so, not to mention giving the fans a raw deal in the process because we have to settle for mismatches against old or smaller opponents.
I certainly wouldn't have minded seeing Mayweather fight someone like De la Hoya eight years ago, when he was in his prime, but not now, not after all those losses. Just terrible to watch. I also wouldn't have minded watching Mayweather fight Hatton in 2005, a time when Mayweather was at a similar weight than Hatton. Since then, however, Mayweather has grown out of the division and appears much larger than Hatton now, which makes the fight much less appealing.
It has been thought that Mayweather would be able to rule the welterweight division for much more than a year. However, after a year of being considered the best welterweight in the division, few people would consider him the best at the now except, perhaps, die-hard fans of his or out of touch fans that don't closely follow boxing. This was made even more apparent in watching Mayweather struggle with De La Hoya in May, a fighter that has now lost five out of his last twelve fights.
At this point, what we're likely to see more of from Mayweather in the future is similar fights against people like De la Hoya or Hatton, rather than tough bouts against Cotto, Williams, Cintron or Margarito. In other words, staying far away from fighters that would likely be able to beat Mayweather and destroy his unbeatable reputation. It's a regrettable truth, which will probably play out as he avoids the top guys and give all kinds of excuses for doing so. His sycophants, of course, will buy into it every step of the way and defend his actions.
My one hope is that Mayweather will stick around long enough to the point where the fans will get a clue and demand that he fight a talented welterweight, instead of the mismatches against fighters that are well below him in skill or size. I'm guessing that once Mayweather takes a beating at welterweight, his natural inclination will be to move up to the super welterweight division in an effort to prolong his career. However, I seriously doubt that he could be the top fighters in that division, such as Vernon Forrest, Cory Spinks or Sergeii Dzindziruk, who would be too large and tough for Mayweather to physically handle. At that point, I see him likely retiring because he won't be able to take being pummeled by younger, more stronger opponents.
www.********boxing.com/news.php?p=12492&more=1
By Tim Neilson:
They say that all good things must come to an end. For Floyd Mayweather Jr (38-0, 24 KOs), I think his time as the pound for pound king is about to run it's course shortly after his bout with Ricky Hatton 43-0, 31 KOs) on December 8th at the MGM Grand, in Las Vegas, Nevada. I, however, fully expect him to beat Hatton, there's no question about that. Mayweather wouldn't have chosen him as an opponent if he wasn't certain that he could beat them. No, I'm referring to him being thought of as the best welterweight in the division. That I believe is coming to an end.
In fact, it already has for many boxing fans, but the rest of the others will soon likely come following along slowly and coming to the same conclusion them self shortly thereafter. Indeed, for many of the boxing experts, Mayweather is already considered obsolete in the welterweight division with boxers Antonio Margarito, Paul Williams, Miguel Cotto and possibly Kermit Cintron being now better than him.
That's not to say that he's over-the-hill or anything. No, he's still a very good boxer, certainly capable of beating most of the lower half of the top 10 in the welterweight division, for example, Andre Berto, Carlos Quintana, Joel Julio, Zab Judah and maybe Joshua Clottey. The top half, however, would likely give Mayweather a tremendous beating and be far too dangerous for him at this stage in his career. Mayweather's just too small, too old, and doesn't take well to getting hit, something that would be a prerequisite for him beating the top talent in the welterweight division.
All what Mayweather is doing now by beating smaller non-welterweight fighters like Ricky Hatton or older fighters such as Oscar De La Hoya, is avoiding the fact that he can't beat the top welterweights in the division any longer.
Mayweather simply doesn't appear to have the fire power to beat the giants in the welterweight division, hence his complete avoidance of them. Most fans unfortunately at this point are none too keen on this fact, mostly because of the casual nature that they follow boxing. Other fans choose to ignore Mayweather's fall from the top out of blind allegiance to him, the type of fan that would likely see no wrong in him no matter how long he avoids fighting the best welterweights in the division. Those are what I consider his enablers. They help him give him cover by suggesting that he's only fighting opponents that bring in the most money for him, ignoring the obvious fact he's avoiding the best opponents in doing so, not to mention giving the fans a raw deal in the process because we have to settle for mismatches against old or smaller opponents.
I certainly wouldn't have minded seeing Mayweather fight someone like De la Hoya eight years ago, when he was in his prime, but not now, not after all those losses. Just terrible to watch. I also wouldn't have minded watching Mayweather fight Hatton in 2005, a time when Mayweather was at a similar weight than Hatton. Since then, however, Mayweather has grown out of the division and appears much larger than Hatton now, which makes the fight much less appealing.
It has been thought that Mayweather would be able to rule the welterweight division for much more than a year. However, after a year of being considered the best welterweight in the division, few people would consider him the best at the now except, perhaps, die-hard fans of his or out of touch fans that don't closely follow boxing. This was made even more apparent in watching Mayweather struggle with De La Hoya in May, a fighter that has now lost five out of his last twelve fights.
At this point, what we're likely to see more of from Mayweather in the future is similar fights against people like De la Hoya or Hatton, rather than tough bouts against Cotto, Williams, Cintron or Margarito. In other words, staying far away from fighters that would likely be able to beat Mayweather and destroy his unbeatable reputation. It's a regrettable truth, which will probably play out as he avoids the top guys and give all kinds of excuses for doing so. His sycophants, of course, will buy into it every step of the way and defend his actions.
My one hope is that Mayweather will stick around long enough to the point where the fans will get a clue and demand that he fight a talented welterweight, instead of the mismatches against fighters that are well below him in skill or size. I'm guessing that once Mayweather takes a beating at welterweight, his natural inclination will be to move up to the super welterweight division in an effort to prolong his career. However, I seriously doubt that he could be the top fighters in that division, such as Vernon Forrest, Cory Spinks or Sergeii Dzindziruk, who would be too large and tough for Mayweather to physically handle. At that point, I see him likely retiring because he won't be able to take being pummeled by younger, more stronger opponents.
www.********boxing.com/news.php?p=12492&more=1
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