Gatti-Mayweather: The Byrd factor

[theironone]

If mayweather wins easy/well but respectfully then i think he can win a few fans from this fight, it's his attitude thats ****ing things up, he has in his last few fights stood more in range and boxed then traded rather than boxed, moved, defended, (which is more eye pleasing to some) if he destroys gatti then ****s about and shows him up in a bad way not many people will like it for gatti and turn off jr even more.
Personally i think he's talking slightly out of his arse and will box strong early to get respect then try to turn it on in the mid to late rounds to force a stoppage with speed and pot shots, people know gatti is limited but has so much heart that can break another man late on when he's had his ass handed to him for a number of rounds and is still there throwing bombs, i think if he connects he could take jr clean out but i just can't see him landing anything significant.
Allanglez makes a good point but i don't think it would take mayweather to be ko'd just rocked a little or alot and admit and show respect to gather much needed new fans

[allanglez]

No ... he would need to egt knocked out. Just getting rocked and showing heart won't be enough because after the fight he'll claim he's got Micky Wards heart and demand that the entire world loves him. It will just be a device used to ahte him even more.

But if he gets knocked out and shows humility, it will have a greater effect on the fans.

Roy Jones had that same chance. Did you see the ovation he got during his ring walk in the Johnson fight? The whole world was on his side, looking for a return to prominance.

But then his bash ******* ego shined through (Again) and ruined it all.

[urdaddyinAZ]

Roy Jones was never a major PPV draw despite his dominance. And he wasn't the cross over athlete that he wanted to be no matter how hard he tried to work co-branding themes with Jordan. Thats a major misconception people have about Jones. They assume because of his ability that he was some sort of cash cow which is not at all the case.

Leonard was paid well because the media painted a pretty face on him and groomed him for stardom right out of the olympics. He was doing 7up commercials when he was 19 years old because he had that sort of appeal. Mayweather never had that appeal, by his own admission and likely never will.

Just winning fights isnt good enough. In fact, the easier he makes it look, the LESS popular he will become. The best thing that could happen to his bank account would be for him to get knocked out and show humility. He'll catch a fan base and if he can return to dominance, it will actually be appreciated.

I agree 100% with everything you said.

[BoxingPrincess]

I think that Mayweather will go into this fight frustrated and jealous from Gatti's undeniable popularity. This is an opportunity for Mayweather to gain tremendous popularity and the only way that he can do that is to give the crowd a fight that they want to see. Mayweather talks consistently about how his fights are always exciting and I think that perhaps in this fight he may do what Byrd has done recently and abandon a little bit of the boxing in order to slug a little bit and garner some popularity and ensure future pay per views. This is the factor that made me bet on Gatti more than anything else. I am taking a big risk with my bet but somehow my intuition tells me that Mayweather is suffering from the very same affliction that ailed Byrd in his last few fights. This fight is not about boxing skill, its about respect and Gatti wins a fight about that in my oppinion.

i find this theory very interesting

[theironone]

No ... he would need to egt knocked out. Just getting rocked and showing heart won't be enough because after the fight he'll claim he's got Micky Wards heart and demand that the entire world loves him. It will just be a device used to ahte him even more.

But if he gets knocked out and shows humility, it will have a greater effect on the fans.

Roy Jones had that same chance. Did you see the ovation he got during his ring walk in the Johnson fight? The whole world was on his side, looking for a return to prominance.

But then his bash ******* ego shined through (Again) and ruined it all.

Yeh but he could get chinned and still talk ****, saying a lucky punch or he didn't train right for a bum blah blah blah.
I don't think he needs to get ko'd, if he pulls through a tough one and shows respect and doesn't start talking **** then i think he gets more fans, but of course he could pull through a tough one and play it down (from gatti's side) and be even more hated.
We'll just have to agree to disagree

[GeneralCappy]

Floyd's attitude rubs a lot of people the wrong way. This could be an entertaining slug fest with him pulling it out with his heart ala Mickey Ward, but Floyd would **** up the opportunity after by saying something ******. H*ll, his family doesn't even like him.

[Dyl-G]

i find this theory very interesting

i think its actually pretty believable, mayweather is obviously someone that sounds like he needs to prove something to everyone and wants to showboat to show his dominance over the boxing world. so its likely he will be overconfident and underestimate gatti on the inside and get taken out. its kind of like hunting. mayweather can easily win with a high caliber rifle from 500 yards away. but if he tries to kill the bear with a bowie knife... well the bear is gunna win

[boxing scribe]

Mayweather inside...

I think some other people hit on it. Floyd has so much to prove for all this attention over Gatti that he will definately fight him inside. Bad for Gatti. Why? The guy gets dropped, plain and simple. Manfredy dropped him, DeLa Hoya dropped him, Ivan Robinson? Dropped him. Micky Ward dropped him, so why would you pick against a champion in the prime of his career who has not only never been knocked out, but never off his feet?

Not only that, Floyd is probably the "best" inside, shoulder to shoulder fighter in the sport. Gatti can't beat this guy inside or outside...people can wish and dream about Gatti's power but his power has only emerged from beating guys beyond their prime, including Micky Ward...when he tried to step it up against the DeLa Hoya's and other world class guys..he gets knocked out.

[bobbyjones]

I think some other people hit on it. Floyd has so much to prove for all this attention over Gatti that he will definately fight him inside. Bad for Gatti. Why? The guy gets dropped, plain and simple. Manfredy dropped him, DeLa Hoya dropped him, Ivan Robinson? Dropped him. Micky Ward dropped him, so why would you pick against a champion in the prime of his career who has not only never been knocked out, but never off his feet?

Not only that, Floyd is probably the "best" inside, shoulder to shoulder fighter in the sport. Gatti can't beat this guy inside or outside...people can wish and dream about Gatti's power but his power has only emerged from beating guys beyond their prime, including Micky Ward...when he tried to step it up against the DeLa Hoya's and other world class guys..he gets knocked out.

I think you are right that he will ahve to fight inside, but I also think that Gatti's side advantage has to be taken into account in this fight and I think he wins on the inside. You mentioned De La Hoya's win against Gatti and how DLH Ko'd him so easily. To me this is the same kind of fight...Mayweather is the smaller, more inexperienced, up and coming fighter and Gatti is the bigger, more experienced aging champion. I think that Gatti will KO PBF if he tries to fight on the inside because of the body punching power that he learned after his 3 fights with Micky Ward and the subsequent two fights in which Ward helped coach his body punching skills.

[allanglez]

You mentioned De La Hoya's win against Gatti and how DLH Ko'd him so easily. To me this is the same kind of fight...Mayweather is the smaller, more inexperienced, up and coming fighter and Gatti is the bigger, more experienced aging champion.

You just completely contradicted yourself. This fight and the Oscar fight have nothing in common.