KIDWCKED
02-15-2011, 11:30 PM
c/p from boxing news24 by
February 15th, 2011
By Rod Bautista: Floyd Mayweather is the most skilled fighter of our generation. His defensive prowess is second to none, and his undefeated record speaks for himself. Unfortunately for Mayweather and for boxing his actions both inside and outside the squared circle have marred his career and put question marks on his legacy.
The most glaring criticism of Mayweather is his penchant for side stepping the best or most deserving competition. Boxing experts and writers have written at length about this very subject. Chris Mannix of Sports Illustrated wrote, “History will not remember him (Floyd Mayweather) as an all-time great. It won’t put him on a pedestal with Muhammad Ali, Sugar Ray Leonard or Julio Cesar Chavez. Because to be great, you have to fight the great, and for most of his career Mayweather has staunchly refused to do that.”
Carlo Rotella wrote in The New York Times, “There are good welterweight boxers to fight, and Mayweather isn’t fighting them. Even when he does deign to box, he has been taking big money fights against relatively easy opponents. At some point, his refusal to fight other top welterweights begins to undercut his claim to superlative greatness as a boxer, and the cachet of Mayweather’s brand rests on that claim.”
When Floyd Mayweather retired after beating Ricky Hatton he effectively left boxing before fighting a rematch with Oscar Dela Hoya which by all accounts would have been a record PPV and purse. In 2006 Mayweather also turned away from an $8million pay offered to him to fight Antonio Margarito who was considered a major threat to his welterweight titles. Aside from those two fights Mayweather effectively retired without facing Miguel Cotto, and a prime Shane Mosley who were also at the top of the welterweight division. In spite of Mayweather’s reluctance to fight them, Margarito, Cotto and Mosley all fought each other adding more questions as to why the best welterweight in the world wouldn’t fight the best fighters in the division.
Fortunately for boxing, and unfortunately for Floyd Mayweather his retirement left a big opening for Manny Pacquiao to hit the world stage. Mayweather’s retirement left Oscar Dela Hoya without an opponent and Oscar replaced Mayweather with Pacquiao. The rest as we all know is history. The Manny Pacquiao juggernaut was created and the man that is the polar opposite of Floyd Mayweather took the center of the boxing stage.
February 15th, 2011
By Rod Bautista: Floyd Mayweather is the most skilled fighter of our generation. His defensive prowess is second to none, and his undefeated record speaks for himself. Unfortunately for Mayweather and for boxing his actions both inside and outside the squared circle have marred his career and put question marks on his legacy.
The most glaring criticism of Mayweather is his penchant for side stepping the best or most deserving competition. Boxing experts and writers have written at length about this very subject. Chris Mannix of Sports Illustrated wrote, “History will not remember him (Floyd Mayweather) as an all-time great. It won’t put him on a pedestal with Muhammad Ali, Sugar Ray Leonard or Julio Cesar Chavez. Because to be great, you have to fight the great, and for most of his career Mayweather has staunchly refused to do that.”
Carlo Rotella wrote in The New York Times, “There are good welterweight boxers to fight, and Mayweather isn’t fighting them. Even when he does deign to box, he has been taking big money fights against relatively easy opponents. At some point, his refusal to fight other top welterweights begins to undercut his claim to superlative greatness as a boxer, and the cachet of Mayweather’s brand rests on that claim.”
When Floyd Mayweather retired after beating Ricky Hatton he effectively left boxing before fighting a rematch with Oscar Dela Hoya which by all accounts would have been a record PPV and purse. In 2006 Mayweather also turned away from an $8million pay offered to him to fight Antonio Margarito who was considered a major threat to his welterweight titles. Aside from those two fights Mayweather effectively retired without facing Miguel Cotto, and a prime Shane Mosley who were also at the top of the welterweight division. In spite of Mayweather’s reluctance to fight them, Margarito, Cotto and Mosley all fought each other adding more questions as to why the best welterweight in the world wouldn’t fight the best fighters in the division.
Fortunately for boxing, and unfortunately for Floyd Mayweather his retirement left a big opening for Manny Pacquiao to hit the world stage. Mayweather’s retirement left Oscar Dela Hoya without an opponent and Oscar replaced Mayweather with Pacquiao. The rest as we all know is history. The Manny Pacquiao juggernaut was created and the man that is the polar opposite of Floyd Mayweather took the center of the boxing stage.