Floyd Mayweather Jr: Master of Space and Time?

by Paul Magno

For the critics of Floyd Mayweather Jr., there seems to be no middle-ground; No possibility whatsoever that what they say and what they’ve heard is not the absolute gospel.

Mayweather ducked all the best fighters at Welterweight…and that’s the end of the conversation for them.

They point to names like Cotto, Mosley and Margarito and then point to Mayweather’s ring record. “He fought none of them! None of the best Welterweights of today!”

But when we look deeper and dig a little further we begin to see the holes in their arguments.

The timelines don’t match up and for Mayweather to have truly fought the list of fighters he allegedly ducked, it would’ve required him to do some time-bending that would put to shame anything ever written by H.G. Wells.

Floyd Mayweather is an outstanding fighter, but he is most definitely no match for the space-time continuum.

So, timeline and ring records in hand, I’m going to run through the list of fighters that Mayweather is accused of ducking and demonstrate how things aren’t always as they appear to be and that perception sometimes overrides reality.

I intend to show that the fighters in question were, for the most part, fringe players when Mayweather was active and, therefore, not even worthy of a fight, much less fearsome enough to be ducked.

I’ll cover the portion of his career from April of 2006, as Mayweather prepared to fight Zab Judah in his first major bout at Welterweight until his official retirement after the Ricky Hatton bout in December of 2007.

Antonio Margarito

 The tale of Mayweather ducking Margarito has been passed down from message board to message board and from blog to blog, but it has very little validity when examined.

When Mayweather was about to fight Judah, Margarito was just coming off a fourteen month layoff and had just defended his WBO title against dubious challenger, Manuel Gomez.

Margarito would go on to take another ten month hiatus before fighting an, at the time, unknown Joshua Clottey. Margarito was being outclassed early on until Clottey suffered injuries to his hands and had to spend the last two-thirds of the bout just surviving. It was hardly a star-making performance by “The Tijuana Tornado.”

Margarito would follow the Clottey win with a loss to Paul Williams followed by a comeback blow-out against journeyman Golden Johnson.

Margarito’s popularity and credibility as a top challenger wouldn’t spike until his win over Miguel Cotto- about 8 months after Mayweather’s retirement.

While Mayweather was chasing the lineal 147 lb. championship and beating Ring Magazine’s #1 and #2 ranked Welterweights at the time, Margarito was well in the background as an inactive fringe champion who was only known among a relative few hardcore fans and had yet to set himself apart.

Shane Mosley

The ducking of “Sugar Shane” accusation is a relative new one, but let’s examine the time line of this one as well.

When Mayweather was staking his claim in the division, Mosley was one division to the North at 154 going toe-to-toe with Fernando Vargas in a pair of bouts.

Mosley then came down to 147 where he had a very impressive performance against Luis Collazo.

However, a month before Mayweather’s retirement, Mosley would lose a close unanimous decision to Miguel Cotto.

In reality, Mayweather and Mosley only shared the division for about ten months- a period of time that saw Mosley win one and lose one.

This hardly established a burning case for a Mayweather-Mosley showdown.

Paul Williams

Frankly put, Williams and Mayweather only shared a prominent role in the Welterweight division for about five months, between his win over Margarito and his stunning upset loss to Carlos Quintana.

Mayweather could’ve rushed in and forced a fight with the tall, awkward southpaw, but nobody was rushing to fight Williams and the upset loss effectively cut him from the picture for the time being.

Miguel Cotto

Cotto wasn’t even in the same division as Mayweather until a month after Mayweather became the lineal world champ by outclassing Baldomir. That adds up to about a year where both fighters were even in the same division.

Cotto earned his spot at the top of 147 by beating Judah and Mosley in exciting, well-attended, but ultimately disappointing PPV shows.

Mayweather, in almost direct point/counterpoint was busy taking part in the biggest PPV of all-time (vs. Oscar de la Hoya) and a near-million seller (vs. Hatton).

By the time Cotto had established himself as a player at Welterweight, Mayweather already had plans to get out while still young.

Could Mayweather have turned down the Oscar and Hatton fights to have it out with Cotto? Of course…but what fighters in history would turn down 20 million dollar checks and mega-events in favor of a third of the money and one-eighth the publicity?

Final Analysis

When looking back on Mayweather’s recent career, we have to be careful to put things into their proper perspective and clearly analyze what went down- not with the negative benefit of hindsight, but with the ability to fairly see things as they were.

When Mayweather first moved up to Welterweight, he called out a Zab Judah who had just ripped Cory Spinks to shreds and was ranked on many pound-for-pound lists. Judah was, far and away, the consensus #1 Welterweight in the world.

Judah ended up being upset by Carlos Baldomir and the the Argentinian became lineal champ.

Mayweather beat Judah first and then went after Baldomir to complete his sweep of Ring Magazine’s top two rated Welters- Regardless of what would later on happen to the careers of the two Mayweather victims, they were considered the top 2 at the time.

Then, the real public relations problems began for Mayweather.

The newly-crowned lineal champ cashed in on his growing fame by opting for a huge money fight against De la Hoya; A fight that everyone from 140 to 154 would gladly have taken instead of a mandatory defense for a fraction of the money.

The Hatton fight followed. Another blockbuster payday for a fighter just starting to make the mega-bucks of some of the other stars of the sport.

If Mayweather’s guilty of anything it’s trying to cash in on a lifetime of hard work in order to secure his financial future after retirement.

This is a crime that, in my opinion, is 100% forgivable in a sport that is famous for not taking care of its own after they cease to be vital.

Mayweather could’ve insisted on fighting relative unknowns for fractions of what he could’ve made elsewhere, but what fighter given the same circumstances would do that? Right…none.

So, while the name Floyd Mayweather may have a visceral effect in your belly and cause you to explode in a rage of self-righteous condemnation, I ask you to think.

Are the timelines matched-up properly?

Is it fair to ask a fighter to give up his biggest paydays in favor of bouts with your personal favorites?

Is it intellectually honest to expect a 2006 Floyd Mayweather to beat 2009’s best Welterweights?

Step aside from the hyperbole and mob mentality when it comes to Floyd and put some serious analysis behind the rhetoric.

We are unfairly putting Mayweather into the no-win situation of having to defend himself against allegations of ducking the best; Not the best fighters of his time, because he did beat them, but the fighters that would eventually go on to be the best welterweights nearly three years later.

Mayweather can do a lot of things, but time travel is not one of them.

Being Paul Williams

by Paul Magno

Paul Williams’ ring nickname is “The Punisher,” but it very well could be “The Dalai Lama” since everywhere Williams’ goes he brings peace and tranquility. His very presence causes aggressive tough guys like Antonio Margarito, Miguel Cotto and even Kelly Pavlik to suddenly become peace-loving pacifists while veteran warriors like Shane Mosley turn into gentle creatures looking to live a peacful co-existence with the lanky kid from Augusta, Georgia. Nobody, not even in the bloody sport of Boxing, seems to be in the mood to fight when the name Paul Williams is mentioned.

The sad truth for Williams is that fight managers will never be too eager to match their guys up with a 6’1″ southpaw Welterweight with an odd style and an 82 inch reach. There’s too much of a chance that their fighters will look horrible and, frankly, there’s simply not enough money in fighting Williams to make the risk worthwhile.

So, Paul Williams finds himself in a Catch 22 situation- He can only get the big fights by becoming a big enough draw, but he can only make himself a draw by getting the big fights. What’s a fighter to do?

If this were a couple of decades ago, his people would say to just stay busy and beat everyone available in his division until eliminating all competition for the guys avoiding him. In other words, turn himself into their only real opponent by beating the snot out of all the others. And, certainly, while the top 3 or 4 guys pretend that Williams doesn’t exist, there are credible, ranked opponents who would be willing to take the risk of fighting a guy like Williams. Just looking at the BTBC Welterweight rankings (http://www.btbc.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=rankings&action=display&thread=48), names like Cintron, Baldomir and Bonsu stand out as solid fights to help make Williams unavoidable.

However, this is 2008 and things are very different. This is an era where auto industry CEO’s take private jets to meetings where they’re asking for a government bail out. This is an era where people take out mortgages they know they can’t pay, given to them by banks that don’t expect them to be able to. The current atmosphere is one of entitlement, so why should the world of Boxing be any different?

Williams has only been in the ring with 2 fighters who could be classified “world class,” but this doesn’t stop him from feeling that his dues have been paid and that he’s entitled to the big paydays against the top dogs. That’s why him and his people have been testing the waters in other divisions and, maybe, toying with the idea of being simultaneously active in 3 weight divisions: Welter, Jr Middle and Middleweight.

So far this year, he has 2 fights at 147, one at 160 and coming this Saturday, an interim title fight for the 154 lb. crown against veteran Verno Phillips. And, while it’s impressive to have 3 solid wins in 3 seperate weight classes in one year (Carlos Quintana, Andy Kolle and , possibly, Phillips), you can’t help but see the word “gimmick” written all over this approach. Actually, in the long-run, by jumping around so much, he may be making it easier for fighters to avoid him. After all, he’s bound to slip in the rankings as he divides himself in 3 and has already been forced to vacate his WBO Welterweight crown.

Williams is young (27) and has the frame to handle the weight changes, but what about in 3 or 4 years? Will Williams eventually settle into just one weight class and begin take it apart the hard way, or will he always be destined to wander Boxing’s proverbial roadside, looking for whatever decent fight that comes his way?

Win, lose or draw on Saturday, we won’t have that answer, but Williams will have a decent payday and an HBO main event. For now, that’s the best a world class fighter without a world class name can hope for.

Will The Hopkins Win Bring Floyd Mayweather Back?

by Paul Magno

There’s nothing better than an “F-You” moment.

The “F-You” moment is where you can face your critics, look them straight in the eye and let out a big “F-You.” If we’re lucky, we get one good “F-You” moment in our lives where we achieve something despite the doubts and negative comments from people who presume to judge us. Bernard Hopkins has had several such moments.

Hopkins’ second fight with Segundo Mercado for the IBF Middleweight title was a solid example of one of those supremely satisfying moments. He was coming off a draw with Mercado in the Rainforest swelter of Quito, Ecuador and, more shockingly, had suffered two knockdowns in the bout. However, Hopkins rose to the occasion in the rematch and soundly won to begin his reign as King of the 160 pounders.

Other “F-You” moments were when he first unified his IBF and the WBC title against slick southpaw, Keith Holmes. Then, his unification with Felix Trinidad, where despite being a champ with 14 defenses, he came in as the 2 to 1 underdog. Also, there was the fight with Antonio Tarver, where Hopkins moved up in weight to dominate the consensus #1 Light Heavyweight in the world following two straight losses to Jermain Taylor.

But the biggest such moment came Saturday, the 18^th, when he battered and dominated the 26 year old Kelly Pavlik in a one-sided Boxing clinic. After his loss to Joe Calzaghe, the Hopkins haters were out in force, gleefully predicting a blow-out KO loss to the power-punching Pound 4 Pound fighter from Youngstown, Ohio. As we now all know, Hopkins proved his critics wrong and was eager to point that out.

After the one-sided decision was announced, Hopkins walked over to the side of the ring and stared down the collected Boxing press and front row big shots for a long, awkward amount of time. It was, without a doubt, the king of all “F-You” moments.

Cut to Floyd “Money” Mayweather…

Mayweather was probably watching B-Hop’s dominance from the comfort of his rapidly devaluing, million dollar estate in Las Vegas. A smile had to be plastered all over his face as he watched another real professional fighter buck the system and shove mad skills right down the critics’ throats.

The rush of the “F-You” moment is not lost on Mayweather. In a lot of ways, his entire career has been built around generating them. However, whereas Hopkins’ triumphs were heartfelt and honest displays of his rough past, Mayweather’s attempts at flipping off the establishment have been forced, almost staged.

Sure, there are a couple of moments in his career where he could’ve given a legit “F-You” to his nay-sayers. One would be when a 21 year old Mayweather beat 2 time and 11-defense world champ Genaro Hernandez for his first world title. Another was when he solidly handled Jose Luis Castillo in the rematch of a much tougher than expected first bout.

But, for a good part of his career as a top fighter, Mayweather has seemed to be forcing those “F-You” moments and trying to convince us that what we just saw was the fight that made his legacy complete; The fight that would finally silence the critics.

The Gatti and Baldomir fights were designed to generate “F-You” moments. Mayweather was moving up in weight for both fights, taking on much larger men for world titles at 140 and 147 respectively. The only problem was that Mayweather was so much more skilled, so much more talented, that he made the fights look too easy and both Gatti and Baldomir seemed sickly in comparison.

Then there were the Hatton and De La Hoya fights which were signed in an attempt to fabricate “F-You” moments. However, Mayweather, the favorite, did exactly what was expected of him in both fights and he came out on top. After both victories, tears were shed and the patented “look up to heaven” posture was assumed, but they were hollow celebrations. It’s hard to feel vindicated when a fighter is the favorite coming into the fight and does exactly what most experts expect him to do. In a lot of ways, Mayweather’s own abilities and skills have made it virtually impossible to have that feeling of an underdog winning against all odds that Hopkins surely enjoyed when he mopped the floor with Pavlik.

There’s little doubt that the only thing greater than Mayweather’s skill-set is his ego and for someone with such a sense of the melodramatic, seeing Hopkins stare down the world had to bring about pangs of envy. That was the type of moment “Money“ had been trying to stage for his last 5 or 6 fights, but he was always denied. So, as a result, he would resort to his back up plan to retire over and over again. In the mind of Mayweather, pound 4 pound Boxing‘s talent and ego, he would show his critics off by simply taking his ball and going home.

Now, in his latest (and most serious) retirement, things have changed a bit. Rumors are rampant that Mayweather‘s financial situation may not be as rock solid as previously thought and that he may be taking a beating with some of his investments, not to mention the theft of nearly 7 million dollars in jewelry and other possessions from his home awhile back.

Combine the financial stuff with the feeling among many critics that Mayweather retired just to avoid his biggest ring tests in Miguel Cotto and Antonio Margarito and you’ve got a real, virtual beat down coming Pretty Boy’s way.

Mayweather has felt the blunt attacks of his critics before and has never let it affect him, but when you take his recent string of bad luck, mix it in with the bad publicity and then add in the high-drama satisfaction of Hopkins‘ victory and post-fight vindication- You get the perfect recipe for a true Mayweather comeback. The difference is that now, if Mayweather decides to come back, he really would be considered an underdog by many. He has to know this and he has to be, at the very least, intrigued by the idea of finally getting that career-defining “F-You” moment.

Will Hopkins’ “F-You” moment pull Boxing’s biggest temperamental prodigy out of a premature retirement? Only time will tell. My guess is that Mayweather’s ego will bring him back long before his bank account does.