Floyd Mayweather Jr.: Get off his back!

By Ron Widelec

22.04 - What more does a fighter need to do to earn a little respect? No matter what this guy does, there is always a stream of criticism. Lets take a look at Floyd Mayweather's recent activity and perhaps we can find what he has done so wrong.

We will start in 2000, with the fight right before Floyd Mayweather won his biggest victory. In October of 2000, Floyd took on a guy with a record of 22-16-4. This guy gave Mayweather fits for a while. Finally Mayweather scored a TKO win in unimpressive style. This seemingly weak performance in this fight, against an unheralded foe, led many to believe that Mayweather was going to be cannon fodder in his up-coming bout with Diego Corrales, a skillful power-puncher. What most people didn't know was that this guy with a 22-16 record was Emanuel Augustus. Augustus, who was fairly unknown at the time despite having faced excellent competition, has become quite well known recently. He has faced the likes of Antonio Diaz, Micky Ward, John John Molina, Hurtado, Ivan Robinson, Allen Vester, Leo Dorin, Levander Johnson, Carlos Vilches, and OmarWeis, and given excellent showings, and even winning of few of them.

Floyd then moved on to face fellow undefeated champion Diego Corrales. Corrales had a record of 33-0 with 27 KOs. "Pretty Boy" Floyd gave Corrales a boxing lesson, that ended with Corrales corner stopping the fighter after seeing Diego hit the canvas five times. It was one of the most one-sided fights I have ever seen, considering that both fighters were of such high quality of both fighters.

Floyd stayed at 130 pounds for two more fights. He faced two very tough contenders, Carlos Hernandez (33-2) and Jesus Chavez (35-1), in 2001, defeating both of them with little difficulty. He then moved up in weight and faced the best 135 pounder in the world at the time, Jose Luis Castillo. In a very close match up, Mayweather won a controversial decision. Mayweather gave Castillo an immediate rematch, beating him with room to spare the second time around.

This last weekend Floyd defended his title against Victoriano Sosa, a little know fighter with a record of 35-2 with 26 knockouts. Sosa had only one previous title shot, against Paul Spadafora. He lost a close decision to Spadafora despite having scored two knockdowns. Mayweather smoothly out boxed Sosa using fluid movement and his patented jab to the body.

So, what has Floyd Mayweather done wrong? He has faced high quality opposition, defended his titles, and given a rematch in the only fight in which is can be argued that he lost. He moved up in weigh to find better fights, and has even talked about moving up higher to 140 and 147. Ok, he doesn't score spectacular KOs, but he has brittle hands. So he chooses to box, rather than bang. He is a defensive fighter, doesn't take a punch to land a punch. Is this really a reason to cast doubt on a fighters greatness. What he has done is clear; he has defeated every single opponent put in front of him, and has done so against high levels of opposition. So, for all of you that have been asking if Floyd Mayweather is the real deal, if by "real deal" you mean an excellent champion, and probably an all-time great, than the answer is yes. He is not at good as De La Hoya and Shane Mosley were at 135, but he is certainly one of the best fighters in the world today and deserves a little more respect.

As far as Mayweathers future is concerned, he has been throwing around some serious challenges to one of boxing other big stars. Floyd has recently challenged Oscar De La Hoya, who is currently the champion at 154 pounds. As good as Mayweather is, he stands almost no chance of beating De La Hoya. However, I'd like to see Floyd at junior welterweight. I am convinced that he can not beat 140 pound king Kostya Tszyu, but could probably give him a very tough fight, and most likely beat everyone else at 140. In the very near future, I think Mayweather has two very good options; take on the winner of Dorin v. Spadafora, or face off against the winner of possible showdown between Lazcano and Stevie Johnston. Either one would be a fitting farewell fight to 135 pounds and a nice jumping board to the junior welterweight division.

Any questions or comments. Email me at Beowolf88@aol.com