Mayweather Jr. Defends Choice of De La Hoya Over Cotto

[-EX-]

Floyd shouldn't even be mentioning SRR's name but I understand his logic. He should fight Cotto or Margarito to silence the critics and beat the best at 147. On the other hand he can fight Oscar and get a boatload of $.

I refuse to believe Floyd is scared of any1 though. He's not hungry anymore. I think he'd fight again after the 2nd fight with Oscar though.

[Allucard]

And that why people still remember Robbinson and he'll probably stand with Ali alone for decades to come.
But don't take MW seriously when he says that.

[RodBarker]

The thing is that I've actually seen the great fighters at the very time that they fought. And I have the top boxing magazines from the 1940's on for about 16 or more years. I've read all the articless by ther great boxing writers. So i have a little background, apart from also having boxed for years. And I've seen Mayweather, all his "big" fights since and including Corrales. I'm telling you that they'd chase him out of the ring for sure.

But it's just my opinion, He's a good, slick danger-avoiding fighter, wwhom I'm not sure would "step up to the plate" if he was behind in a fight and needed a brawling ending to win. I have nothing against him, other than I think his behaviour, scattering $100 bills around, is very bad, considering how many poor and hungry people there are in this world.

And with due respect that doesnt mean your a good judge in respect to comparing vastly different time frames , I hope you dont take that the wrong way , colorful writers and the passing of time have a way of romancing the stone making thing grander they they really were , and most of the good old days is often larger than life in peoples memory ,, the point Im making is today is somebodys good ol days .

That little bit of wisdom is saying the greats of any era in any sport you care to debate including boxing are really not that far apart ability wise , in all sports that have absolute measurable variables there is only milliseconds and millimeters betweens historys best , Ive said it many times on the board , who turned up in the zone on the night would decide more fights between ATGs than anything else , if you could somehow microscope such a dynamic contest like boxing with an army of scientific gadgets and scientists measuring reaction time , speed around a ring , punch speed , eye hand speed on a neural level , power to weight etc etc you could then get some reasonable assumptions on who are the better fighters from different eras , until then its all just speculation and opinion .

You said you can name 12 or more Welters that fought Robinson that could slaughter Floyd , I was very interested on seeing you name them , you have not so I take it that comment was just a bravado statement .
Alone that line I will make the statement that Floyd would beat all the Welters Ray beat with only one making a real fight of it , Henry Armstrong .

I said earlier Ray fought a huge amount of tomato cans , and had about 40 meaningful fights , thats comparable to the modern Champions that only fight cans in 5 -10 fights , if you care to debate on it we can as its all there in recorded history .

Where Floyd sits in history I have no idea , what I do know in my 45 yrs of being a fight fanatic is that Floyd is a great fighter a freak of nature as is all the great champions from the past and present , they were all freaks in their own way , if he fought in the 40s he would be talked off today like a great legend but in todays environment champions are taken for granted and diminished or praised by the whim of public acceptance more so than their ability to perform ., that wasnt the case back in the day before the internet and PPV , today is a mob culture like sheep on a bus and general opinion is more fancy than based on facts .

PS
I just noticed you answered about Ray and welterweights ,, but now I see you ment the middleweights and upwards would beat Floyd , man Floyd is a 5'8" Jnr welter and you make a comment as silly as that , in a discussion about different era fighters you need to try and equalize the weight differences , in saying that , in my opinion Floyd could beat any of Robinsons opponents if they weighed the same and kept their best ability's intact .

[edgarg]

So wait a minute... how did it suddenly become easier to make 130 after he was in jail, considering he blew up to 180, than it was for the Mayweather bout?

Seriously... help me make sense of it, because this isn't making a lick of sense to me.

Now that I think about it I believe I was wrong to say he fought at Welter. He was going to fight at welter thinking he couldn't take it all off, and I think a fight was talked about. Because his weight came off very quickly his first fight was somewhere between 135 and 140. Then lightweight for a few fights. I remember one was against Damien Fuller,then a Gary someone.

His extra weight was from eating and NO exercise, so it was all fat. In between fights he probably walked around at 150, even with gym "upkeep" . He got down so fast that I became concerned, and that's what I was writing to Gottlieb about. Corrales had dinner in Gottlieb's home 3-4 times a week, and we exchanged many letters.

True muscle can disappear very quickly from inactivity, and that's what happened to Corrales, he was out of boxing for over 2 years. In his first fight with Casamayor I was very concerned he was so light. I'd been keeping an eye on his career.

[edgarg]

JK4REAL no dispute about your claim.

JK4REAL- Yes we know that you can't compare a fighter from one period with one from another.......BUT......the point of this whole discussion, and many hundreds and thousands of similiar discussions, and articles by the ton, is .....
THAT YOU CAN.

One of the biggest tennis discussions has been whether Navratilova would have beaten either Helen Wills or Suzanne Lenglen. Ot whether Sampras could beat Laver or Bill Tilden. It's NORMAL............ and contageous.

In John L. Sullivan's day they were discussing whether he could beat Daniel Mendoza, or Molineaux, for example.

That's the whole enjoyment from even becoming involved in such a discussion in the first (and last) place.

As for Robinson being a "dog' yes it's also true, but nothing like Mayweather, so I'm sorry you can't compare them in THAT respect.

I remember we were all waiting breathlessly for the Basilio return fight, and at the last moment, before the deal was complete, Robinson balked and wanted more money $500,000 -if I'm correct. Basilio was LIVID and swore he'd never fight Robinson again no matter what.

Robinson beat him handily giving him the most gruesome eye I've ever seen. It may have been all "gamesmanship" who knows. But I've never heard anyone ELSE say things like that about Robinson. The business about insisting on a larger ring, was, I believe, because in the contract it was STIPULATED to be a 24ft. ring. Robinson measured it and it was quite a bit less.

All sorts of tricks like that were, and are played. I recall some fight that although a ring looked a bit small, it measured correctly on the tape. Then they found out AFTER the fight that it was a "trick" tape with a couple of feet cut out of it and rejoined. So I've never been concerned about Robinson's shenanigans. They were all within reason, as far as I recall. ONLY Basilio, being Basilio, bore such a grudge. I think he'd backed himself for big money to win again or something.

Even at a Hall of Fame gathering just a year or two ago, he was vehemently denouncing Robinson....that's over 50 YEARS LATER.........so....??

[edgarg]

Cotto-Margarito puts Oscar-Floyd 2 completely in the shade among genuine boxing fans. That is a fight. Oscar-Floyd 2 is not a fight, it's a promotion.

This is a smart and true comment.

[edgarg]

Floyd has 39...u d-bag.

Yes as you say...no doubt....of course Floyd has had 39 fights...but how many of thim as REAL fights... 1? 2? 3? How many.

And for everyones' information, Mayweather has ALWAYS said, the last time about a year ago, that his toughest fight was against Emanuel Burton (Augustus).

To give my opinion on your pointed question, about people ducking your post, I suspect that the reason people are ignoring your long letter in which you bring up many points in a very forceful way, is ............that they may not want to get into a ******-language threat-scattering unfriendly dispute, and be pinned to the wall in the process. Just a thought.

[edgarg]

And with due respect that doesnt mean your a good judge in respect to comparing vastly different time frames , I hope you dont take that the wrong way , colorful writers and the passing of time have a way of romancing the stone making thing grander they they really were , and most of the good old days is often larger than life in peoples memory ,, the point Im making is today is somebodys good ol days .

That little bit of wisdom is saying the greats of any era in any sport you care to debate including boxing are really not that far apart ability wise , in all sports that have absolute measurable variables there is only milliseconds and millimeters betweens historys best , Ive said it many times on the board , who turned up in the zone on the night would decide more fights between ATGs than anything else , if you could somehow microscope such a dynamic contest like boxing with an army of scientific gadgets and scientists measuring reaction time , speed around a ring , punch speed , eye hand speed on a neural level , power to weight etc etc you could then get some reasonable assumptions on who are the better fighters from different eras , until then its all just speculation and opinion .

You said you can name 12 or more Welters that fought Robinson that could slaughter Floyd , I was very interested on seeing you name them , you have not so I take it that comment was just a bravado statement .
Alone that line I will make the statement that Floyd would beat all the Welters Ray beat with only one making a real fight of it , Henry Armstrong .

I said earlier Ray fought a huge amount of tomato cans , and had about 40 meaningful fights , thats comparable to the modern Champions that only fight cans in 5 -10 fights , if you care to debate on it we can as its all there in recorded history .

Where Floyd sits in history I have no idea , what I do know in my 45 yrs of being a fight fanatic is that Floyd is a great fighter a freak of nature as is all the great champions from the past and present , they were all freaks in their own way , if he fought in the 40s he would be talked off today like a great legend but in todays environment champions are taken for granted and diminished or praised by the whim of public acceptance more so than their ability to perform ., that wasnt the case back in the day before the internet and PPV , today is a mob culture like sheep on a bus and general opinion is more fancy than based on facts .

PS
I just noticed you answered about Ray and welterweights ,, but now I see you ment the middleweights and upwards would beat Floyd , man Floyd is a 5'8" Jnr welter and you make a comment as silly as that , in a discussion about different era fighters you need to try and equalize the weight differences , in saying that , in my opinion Floyd could beat any of Robinsons opponents if they weighed the same and kept their best ability's intact .

I didn't say any such thing, I said "opponents", Didn't say anything about "welters" except that Robinson was below welter limit when he had many of his middleweight wins. The unusual thing about Robinson's career is that he really made his name as a middleweight, when already past his peak including (after 130 fights) a 2-3 year retirement, when he figured he could make a better living as a dancer.

Your comment about "romancing the stone" is well and legitimately put, and I agree that there are many writers who do. I get tired writing to them sometimes, and you should see some of the vituperative replies. When I get a reaction like that I write the guy off. I have much correspondence with many good writers, and with some we've sort of become internet friends.

I think exaggerated praise happens more these days because it doesn't take much to become a "writer" and there ARE masqueraders. To be a boxing writer and also a genuine student of the game is required as a C.V., I suspect. I'm talking about (for example) articles by famous boxing writers and historians. In the days when Nat Fleischer was publisher of Ring, an article of the type you mention would rarely if ever get by him. These articles I'M talking about were well researched, I'd bet.

[edgarg]

ROD BARKER apologies

ROD BARKER- Sorry I also meant to say that all you have to do is look u[p Robinson's record and pick them yourself. in MY opinion, for example, if mayweather wcould be transported back to Robinson's time period, and fought Fritzie Zivic, he wouldn't be able to stand the heat, and he'd be picking his teeth up for a week afterwards.

That doesn't mean Zivic was more skilled, it just means that Zivic knew how to "take him to the cleaners". And fritzie was by no means one of Robinson's better opponents. Just my opinion.

[ReadyUp]

Floyd doesn't have to defend fighting Oscar.....as much as I might not want to see it, it does still make the most $ense for Floyd.

I mean, think about it, if the same offer was on the table for Cotto don't you think he would take an Oscar fight over a fight with Floyd??? YES.