Robert Jackson

Why Floyd Mayweather will win!

Why Floyd Mayweather will win!

Opinions are like…personalities, everybody has one. With the big fight on course for May 2, 2015, every soothsayer, naysayer, trainer, manager and critic is prognosticating the winner. Some have it a 50/50 fight, the rest are firmly on the Pacquiao bandwagon or the “Money” bandwagon. Freddie Roach has even injected some psychological warfare into the mix claiming that Roger Mayweather is a better trainer than Floyd Mayweather Sr. – causing a little discord in the Mayweather camp can’t hurt.

I’m now going to tell you why Floyd Mayweather will win and easier than most think he will.

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Mayweather/Pacquiao: Just the Facts!

Mayweather/Pacquiao: Just the Facts!

As a writer, I usually wait until right before a big fight to drop a few lines regarding the underlying mechanisms that make both fighters tick. As an electrical engineer in everyday life, facts that lead to successful systems and processes must be processed immediately for the sake of expediency. The fight that most if not all boxing fans have been waiting for being made has renewed this writers enthusiasm, so I write.

First of all hats off to both fighters for making this fight especially Floyd Mayweather. Mayweather must be congratulated for silencing the verbal misinformation, meeting with Pacquiao and making sure that all of the i’s dotted and t’s crossed during negotiations enabling BOTH fighters to earn the biggest paydays of their careers.

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Does Mayweather deserve an 80-20 purse split for Pacquiao fight?

Does Mayweather deserve an 80-20 purse split for Pacquiao fight?

As a long time Floyd Mayweahter fan and supporter I like the rest of the boxing public am on the edge of my seat awaiting the announcement that the fight is on! As of yesterday I’m concerned that this fight may once again not be made.

It’s true that Mayweather’s (the Canelo fight excluded) numbers have dropped off, and Pacquiao has verbally acquiesced to Mayweather’s drug testing terms. What is also a fact is, Mayweather’s out of court settlement of Pacquiao’s defamation suit a few years back. Both fighters in my humble opinion have seen better days in the ring especially Pacquiao who’s KO loss to 4-time opponent Juan Manuel Marquez has an exclamation point on it.

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Miguel Cotto: Leverage

Miguel Cotto: Leverage

Congratulations to Miguel Cotto the Lineal middleweight champion. Not too long ago Cotto turned down a cool $10M guarantee from Canelo Alvarez to instead fight Sergio Martinez then recognized as THE middleweight champion. Why Cotto turned down this offer was a calculated risk on the former 154lb champions part. Having previously lost to Mayweather and then losing again to Austin Trout in an upset, there was no way that Cotto would carry his skills and power up to 160lbs and beat Martinez, or could he?

Why then would Cotto embark on an endeavor that many even the odds makers saw as a ‘fool’s errand’? Cotto always saw himself as the A-side but against some of the elite fighters always came up short. Against Canelo, Cotto would’ve been the B-side, even with $10M in his pocket, and Alvarez would’ve made twice that. So what other’s saw as ‘fools gold’, Miguel Cotto and more importantly Freddie Roach saw as the ‘pot of gold’ and the end of the rainbow. Stepping up and beating the lineal middleweight champion would propel Miguel Cotto to the highest heights of his 14 year career and return him to the A-side status he always believed himself to be.

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Professional Boxing: Theatre of the Unexpected

Professional Boxing: Theatre of the Unexpected

As this past Saturday nights “The Moment” boxing show SLOWLY fades into history, I couldn’t help but notice how ironic the outcomes turned out to be. Redemption for a couple of main event fighters, upward mobility and the highest accolades for another. For the main guy, even though he won the fight (I scored it 115-113 for Mayweather), a lot of questions are being asked.

Has Mayweather’s defensive code been broken, is father time finally catching up with the P4P Picasso, will Mayweather RETIRE or give Marcos Maidana the rightful rematch he deserves? Will Mayweather even complete the final 3-fights on his Showtime deal?

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An Aging Fighter

An Aging Fighter

We’ve all seen our aging hero lose one they shouldn’t have lost or wouldn’t have lost 2 or 3 years earlier. We’ve seen that same guy taking punches that he would’ve eluded 5 or 6 years ago. And we’ve heard all of the pundits comment on whether our guy might’ve gotten old over night, and today is not the fighter he was since his last fight.

But I’m here to tell you no fighter gets old overnight, the signs were there but were ignored. As a man over 40 I’m here to tell all of you young pipsqueaks, that age creeps in between 35 and 40. At 35 you can still do pretty much 75% – 85% of what you could do at age 20 if you try real hard (maybe even 90% if you’ve really taken care of yourself). At age 40 you wonder where your youth went, those tired legs, sore muscles and aching back never seem to get better, it’s like you’re always tired for no explainable reason especially when it comes to sports and activity.

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Offense wins games but Defense Wins Championships!

Offense wins games but Defense Wins Championships!

The old saying ‘offense wins games and defense wins championships’ sure applied to America’s Super Bowl this year. The underdog Seattle team shutdown the favorite Denver team and their Quarterback Peyton Manning to secure the win! Before the game the Denver team was a 4 to 1, favorite with most believing that they would dominate and easily walk away with the Championship.

Parallels to this idiom exist in boxing, for example as a young fighter works his way up the boxing totem pole, it is quite common for him to have a lot of KO’s putting on an offensive show, neglecting defense providing entertainment value for the fans. As the fighter moves from prospect to fringe contender protecting that status becomes a priority because of the risk involved and the paychecks earned, so fighting with more defense takes place. Also at this level of development that same young fighter is fighting more skillful opponents who they can’t just blow out, there’s more give and take and taking less/giving more is the game.

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Khan gets a miracle

Khan gets a miracle

Taking a look at the fighters who seem to have nine lives – Zab Judah, Shane Mosley, you can now add Amir Khan to that list. Having gone 2-2 in his last four fights, Khan is on the verge of cashing in a lottery ticket, by fighting P4P best Floyd Mayweather Jr. Having stuffed the Floyd Mayweather.com website ballot box Khan’s come from behind win over Marcos Maidana tells us just how badly Khan wants to fight Mayweather. And on top of it all Khan thinks he can win!

I am not one for listening to all of Khan’s talk, he’s a good fighter but not an elite fighter in my view, he reminds me a little bit of Victor Ortiz. While he’s training to face one fighter, he’s always talking about another fighter that he’d like to face down the road, leaving room to underestimate the guy he’s about to fight.

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There’s Only One Floyd Mayweather Jr.

floyd#23Saturday nights Maidana/Broner fight sure wasn’t a shocker to most, many believed that Maidana would give Broner a dose of humility. Many claimed that Broner was a Mayweather ‘wannabe’. Paulie Malignaggi’s crying of fowl after losing a close decision to Broner last June turned out to be closer to reality than previously thought. As a Broner fan I expected Broner to BEAT Maidana, but Saturday night Maidana was not to be denied!

Reading (and believing) too many of your own press-clippings is a BAD sign, and all of the indicators pointed in that direction for Broner. Broner said on an earlier occasion when asked about fighting his mentor Mayweather, that he didn’t want to give Floyd his first loss. Broner also said he was taking over boxing after Mayweather’s exit. On another occasion Broner put himself in 3rd place behind Andre Ward and Mayweather on the P4P list.

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How a Mayweather/Hopkins fight will go down…

hopkins-vs-murat-resultsNow before you all think I’m crazy or some rhetorical shill, hear me out. I’m not saying that Mayweather/Hopkins will be made…I still think GGG will be the GUY should he KO Curtis Stevens.

But…if Hopkins does get to fight Mayweather, and he says he can get down to 160lbs for this fight, he’ll regret losing the weight and will be severely drained most likely losing to Mayweather and maybe even stopped considering his age along with the weight loss. A hypothetical account follows.

Round 1:
Hopkins weighing in at 165lbs (as contracted) on fight night comes out on a mission to impose his will on the much smaller Mayweather who weighs 152lbs.

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