24.11.05 – By Goran Dragosavac: I fully agree with some of the writers, who are starting to question reasoning of Mayweather’s decision to move up in the weight division yet again. It is hard to disagree with the fact that junior welter weight division has never been stronger than is right now. Mayweather, Hatton and Cotto are all unbeaten, and Kostya Tszyu is still a major draw, who could give Mayweather a tough bout. So, if Mayweather moves up the weight division before he cleans up junior welterweights, in my opinion, this will most definitely harm his future legacy of being one of the best of all times.
Surely, money cannot be the issue. Apart with a potential fight with De la Hoya, a fight with Cotto, Hatton or Tszyu, could have generated as much interest and money (if not more) as the fight with Judah, Margarito and Winky Wright.
So, why leave? Boxing commentators are unanimous in saying that his last five opponents (Mitchell, Gatti, Bruseles, Corley, Ndou) are not the ones that would really test his skills. He hasn’t lost single round during these fights. Even more indicative of how tested he was in these fights, he even manages to talk to his corner and journalists, while he is actually fighting!
To be honest, I very much doubt he would be able to do that with some of the best junior welter weights, such as Tszyu, or Hatton. Of course, unless he is boxing God, which is something he will not be able to sell to boxing public unless he starts facing the best fighters out there, and not moving away from them.
Let’s not forget, Tszyu scored an impressive knock out against both Zab Judah and Sharmba Mitchell, so Mayweather goes and fights Mitchell, wants to fight with Judah but is surprisingly silent with mentioning names Kostya Tszyu, and Ricky Hatton.
No wonder that boxing public is getting more and more irate with Mayweather’s choice of opponents. Just how many millions of dollars does he need to earn before he realizes that history doesn’t measure the boxer according to the boxer’s bank balance, but rather, according to who he fights and how well he performs. If next weekend goes as expected, and Hatton scores a convincing win against Maussa, boxing fans will have all the rights to demand the match between the Hatton and Mayweather.
There is growing realization where more and more boxers, their managers and promoters are recognizing how important is to listen to the boxing public. Fans are the ones that pay boxer’s wages, and without fans, there would be no boxing. So, the type of tough negotiating tactics brought to life by many of the most popular fighters, and now being prolonged by Mayweather – are being more, and more seen by boxing commentators as just a way of ducking out of the potentially career-harming fights.
Moreover, we are in boxing times, where heavyweight division is pale as a corpse, light heavy-weights and cruiser weights are equally dull and boxing is pretty much on a back of the light-weight warriors. So, for the sake of boxing future, fans should choose to ignore any potential mismatche, specifically those where boxer is able to commentate during his own fight, while he boxes. Such a fights are waste of time for everyone, and this only speaks about the “most money for the least effort” mentality, and boxers and promoters can get away with it only if the boxing public tolerates it.