Comments Thread For: Mayweather-Mosley Public Divide Explained in Cinema

[LeeGee1128]

I mean I must say that I like your style of writing in this piece because it allows the reader to follow it and visualize what you are saying. Yet, I can't help but feel that you left out too many important details (like the fact that one of the reasons Floyd didn't fight Margarito is because Arum and Floyd were involved in a lawsuit and Arum still hadn't paid Floyd all his money from the Gatti and Judah fights; he bought out his contract and no longer wanted to do business with Arum so the Margarito fight was a no-go; plus Arum wouldn't guarantee Floyd money fights with Oscar and Cotto because Floyd, according to Arum 'was not a star and couldn't ask for that type of money').

Also, the piece feels like one big back-handed compliment when it talks about Floyd's career path; it's like the article calls him a great/cowardly fighter (well which one is it he can't be both?). You say that Mosley took risks as an explanation to his losses and I say Mosley didn't have the right game plan, couldn't adapt, and in his loss to Forrest he probably took him lightly. Mosley's biggest win(s) comes against a guy he cheated against, and also a guy you say Floyd cherry-picked for money. You also left out the fact that Floyd tried in the past to make fights with Kasta, Cotto, Hatton, Oscar, even Casamayor, and multiple attempts at Mosley only to be ignored or turned down; so I ask you who is ducking who?

In the end, you tell a good story, but one without all the details, and one that is full of half-truths.

Floyd is a great fighter whose career path wasn't what it could have been, especially since he actually took on an aggressive schedule early in his career and fought in an aggressive, crowd-pleasing manner as well. As I stated in the article, Floyd set the bar very high for himself and raised expectations to almost stratospheric heights but by avoiding the most dangerous opponents in the end he hurt his legacy to the point that it can no longer be entirely repaired.

Of course, he does have the opportunity now to make up for some of the time and legacy lost by beating Mosley and Pacquiao, especially in grand style. He has the skill set to do that. In fact, he's always had the skills to beat anyone he meets in the ring, which makes his roster of opponents in recent years even more curious. He is a brilliant businessman, but in doing what he did he has done damage to the bottom line.

Whether he tried to make fights with so-and-so is really irrelevant...boxing legacy is about who one fights and how one does against them. Record books, eyewitnesses and video tape are the tools by which fighters are judged by historians while motives, circumstances and other peripheral issues are just that -- peripheral, subjective and difficult to prove. All we can go by is what actually happened inside the squared circle and what is fact. The fact is that Floyd didn't take full advantage of the deep talent pool he was given when he moved up to 147 and for that he will suffer demerits in the eyes of history.

Lee

[check hook]

Although Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Shane Mosley would be loathe to admit this given their current war of words, they are more alike than they care to admit.

Both are gym **** who boast a ferocious work ethic fueled by immense pride and single-minded focus.

Each is a future Hall of Famer who achieved success in multiple weight classes – Mosley in three and Mayweather in five – and though they apply it differently speed has always been their biggest asset. [Click Here To Read More]

long-winded is all i have to say.....................

[LeeGee1128]

Can't argue with you there...thank goodness the Internet has no space limitations.

[Skinnyez]

Glad to see that my article has generated so much feedback. What I was attempting to do was to present an article that is fair to both sides. To those who hate Floyd and call him a serial ducker, I point out that there was a time when Mayweather indeed took risks and was on the path to true greatness in the great traditions of the sport. To those who see Mosley as a hero for all time, I say that he is not the perfect hero in that he sometimes took chances that were too risky and that he failed as a result.

As I state in the article, Floyd should be congratulated for taking this fight. But when assessing his entire body of work, the fact that he bypassed the most challenging competition to take fights that would generated him the most money can't be ignored. The fact that he did so is a subject of profound disappointment to those of us who expected a whole lot more from him. It's obvious he has the skill set to achieve anything he sets his mind to, and his performances in certain fights raised our expectations to sky-high levels. The other piece of the puzzle is that we want to see our great champions put those wondrous skills to the ultimate test because that's what all the great champions of the past have done.

No matter what Mayweather does from here on in, that part of his career where he side-stepped the best at 147 will always be there. If he goes on to beat Mosley spectacularly and dominate Pacquiao to establish his pound-for-pound supremacy without question, then he deserves all the kudos that he gets. It will surely elevate his status in history, and deservedly so. At the same time, there will be this cloud of "what could have been."

There's no hate of Floyd here, and I went to great lengths (literally) to be fair to him. There is good and bad and I wanted to present a balanced picture. I think I've done that.

Thanks again for slogging through the 4,000-plus word article. I hope it was worth your time.

Lee

Name one other fighter in history who doesnt have the same cloud. I dont hear you complaining about sugar ray leonard not taking on Aaron Pryor. It doesnt matter who Ray Leonard fought, he didnt fight the one man who posed the biggest threat to his career and we all know it!!

[LeeGee1128]

Name one other fighter in history who doesnt have the same cloud. I dont hear you complaining about sugar ray leonard not taking on Aaron Pryor. It doesnt matter who Ray Leonard fought, he didnt fight the one man who posed the biggest threat to his career and we all know it!!

Actually, I wrote a piece last year for MaxBoxing comparing the career paths of Leonard and Mayweather in this regard. Both guys were bold in the beginning, cherry-picked in the middle and the late stages, then went bold again in the end. The same could be said of Roy Jones.

I don't think that Ali can ever be accused of cherry-picking his opposition....he had the greatest group of heavyweights in division history and he fought more significant guys than anyone could...sometimes multiple times.

Lee

[Thread Stealer]

Name one other fighter in history who doesnt have the same cloud. I dont hear you complaining about sugar ray leonard not taking on Aaron Pryor. It doesnt matter who Ray Leonard fought, he didnt fight the one man who posed the biggest threat to his career and we all know it!!

Hearns, Benitez, and Duran were bigger threats to Leonard than the smaller Pryor.

Pryor was offered a fight with Leonard. He declined, wanting more money than $500,000, which while being relatively low considering he was facing Leonard, was also ten times what he had just made for winning the title against Cervantes.