Steve Janoski: When I first heard that Manny Pacquiao’s next fight would be against Joshua Clottey, I have to admit that I was surprised. After the entire debacle with Floyd Mayweather, I was surprised the man even wanted to fight again— most would be so jaded by the entire affair, which was handled poorly on all sides (but the worst on Mayweather’s), that they’d want to be done with the grimy shadyness that is the boxing “business.”
But Pac came back, and is fighting a real welterweight even though he’s not actually one himself, something that its taken Mayweather oh, about two decades to do..
Regardless of that, Clottey is a tough opponent. He has an iron chin, and has taken the shots of some of the welterweight class’ heaviest hitters and waved them on. He went toe-to-toe with Cotto and was a good left hook away from beating him, and he stood in with Judah’s flashy hands and left him bloody by the end.
Clottey is a skilled infighter, digging his hooks and uppercuts and making fighters pay for overextending themselves. He has punishing power, and, although it isn’t that one-punch, hit-you-so-hard-your-teeth-hurt-power, it will wear a fighter down as it did Cotto and Judah.
He also skillfully executes his defense, picking off shots by holding his gloves high and leaving no opening between them (as Cotto tends to do). He also has good footwork against southpaws, and continually held the better position against Judah that allowed him to throw a stiff straight right without taking much damage himself.
The man is, without a doubt, a gutsy, tough fighter. But no one questions his heart; what they question is whether that heart and his two fists can really beat someone like Manny Pacquiao.
The difference in the two fighters’ styles is remarkable; while Clottey stalks and walks down his prey as a polar bear might, Pacquiao fights in the manner that writer A.P. Terhune said a collie attacks when enraged— he is everywhere and he is nowhere, he is vicious and brutal, bouncing in and out of range while sidestepping and striking with a power that he simply shouldn’t have carried up the weight classes.
He had Cotto turning ‘round as if he were fighting more than one man, and had the power to knock him down twice. His hands were blindingly fast, and he struck from every angle that a man’s fists can fly from. The little dynamo proved that his Hatton knockout was not a fluke, and that he can take the punches of a full welterweight.
Clottey is a bit faster than Cotto, but doesn’t throw better combinations and doesn’t seem to have the power that Cotto has. He leans forward when he stalks, and is prone to long stretches of punchless inactivity. He also has a habit of letting fighters steal rounds from him, and not jumping on them when he should. It is almost as if he lacks that killer instinct that a fighter must have, that fierce, murderous rage that rears its head only when they see an opponent’s bleeding face or swaying legs.
Pacquiao, as we all know, has this in spades. Although I see Clottey taking the fight to Pacquiao and trying to fight him in the phone booth, Pac’s footwork will nullify this. If Pacquaio dictates the range the fight is fought at, he could have Clottey put away in the early rounds via another spectacular stoppage.
There is a chance for Clottey though. Pacquiao does cut, and Clottey, if left to do his work on the inside, has a tendency to open up gashes above his opponent’s left eye. Clottey might realize that this is going to be both the defining moment and the greatest fight of his entire life, and that if he does not seize the world tonight by the lapels with his bloody fists and roar, “I have arrived!”…he never will.
Maybe he’ll let his hands go, and we’ll see an upset that we haven’t seen since Buster Douglas knocked Tyson’s mouthpiece across the ring.
But me? I wouldn’t bet on it.
This article orignally posted on Eastsideboxing.com on 3.13.2010
http://www.eastsideboxing.com/news.php?p=23097&more=1
Showing posts with label Zab Judah. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Zab Judah. Show all posts
Monday, November 15, 2010
Sunday, November 7, 2010
Judah claims narrow victory over Mattysse
BY STEVE JANOSKI
Originally posted on Eastsideboxing.com
If there’s one thing that Zab Judah (40-6, 27 KO’s) proved on Saturday night, it’s that he’s still got the heart and the skill to hang in during the toughest of fights.
The former undisputed welterweight champion defeated Argentinean Lucas Matthysse (27-1, 25 KO’s) in a controversial split decision on Saturday night at the Prudential Center in Newark, earning him the NABO belt and a #2 ranking by the IBF.
It was Judah’s first fight at 140 lbs. since 2003.
The night started slowly, with Matthysse reluctant to come inside and Judah willing to sit back and counterpunch as the two felt each other out.
In the early rounds, Judah exhibited good movement and a consistent jab, although hard shots were few and far between. Judah clearly respected Matthysse’s power— even after landing solid punches, he refused to jump on his foe.
Judah landed a solid uppercut in the second, but Matthysse simply tapped his chin as if to say that he could take Judah’s best.
The lack of action had the crowd booing early, and it wasn’t until the sixth that Matthysse began to close the distance and open up with his hands.
It was later revealed in the post-fight press conference that this was part of his team’s strategy— stay away from Judah early on when he tends to be more dangerous, and then come hard when Judah starts to fade as the fight progresses.
“My team told me to be careful in the first three, four, five rounds, and that’s what I did,” he told the media after the fight.
But Matthysse was careful for too long, and by the time he decided it was time to fight, he had dug himself a hole on the scorecards that would prove difficult to overcome.
The Argentinean came on strong in the tenth, however, and began landing hard left hooks to the body and straight rights to the head, one of which floored the former champ.
A badly hurt Judah appeared to go into survival mode, clinching often and attempting to dodge Matthysse’s onslaught. Judah did manage to come back with a few of his own hard shots that backed Matthysse off, but it was clear that Zab was in trouble.
“When I went down, I had a deep conversation with the Lord,” Judah said with a laugh after the fight. “It was fast to y’all, but it was long to me.”
Matthysse continued to bring the fight to Judah in the eleventh, outworking and outpunching the older fighter throughout the round.
Judah was looking to land a big left to even the round but could not connect, and Matthysse, looking as fresh as he had in the first round, continued to walk him down and pound away.
With blood streaming down the side of his face as a result of a cut sustained earlier on, Judah attempted to use his footwork and angles to avoid Matthysse’s heavy punches.
Several times Matthysse, looking to end the fight, would catch Judah on the ropes, only to have the southpaw escape and slip away.
In the eyes of the judges, the performance was enough to give Judah a narrow victory.
Judge Waleska Poldan scored the fight 114-113 for Matthysse, while judges Hilton Whitaker and Joseph Pasquale scored the fight 114-113 for Judah.
This observer also scored the fight 114-113 for Judah.
During the post-fight press conference, Matthysse was convinced that he was robbed.
“In Argentina, definitely I would have won the fight,” he said through an interpreter. “I’d love to have a rematch and be sure that he beats me and not the judges…I was in his hometown and he got the home decision.”
Judah later appeared in a suit and sunglasses to address reporters, and commended Matthysse on his performance.
“In the future, you’ll see a lot of Lucas…but tonight was my night,” he said. “You can’t win four or five rounds of a fight and then say you won the whole fight.”
Judah later admitted that if the fight had been in Argentina, the scorecards might have read the other way.
“We probably would have got a different outcome,” he said.
He expressed little interest in a rematch with the hard-punching Matthysse, whom he called “the strongest fighter I’ve ever fought.”
“Nah…they got a couple gorillas at the Brooklyn Zoo he can go tangle with,” he quipped. “We’re going to move on, and see what’s out there next for us.”
Undoubtedly, at 33 years of age, Judah will be looking for fights with bigger names and bigger paydays, and might consider a rematch with the relatively unknown Matthysse a waste of time.
Although it was a good test for Judah, who did not tire in the late rounds as he has customarily done, it was far from the exciting, explosive battle that would leave the boxing world clamoring to watch him fight any of the top junior welterweights.
The division, undoubtedly one of the deepest and most talent-rich in boxing, features such names as Devon Alexander, Timothy Bradley, Amir Khan, Marcos Maidana, and Victor Ortiz; any one of these competitors would probably be too much for him at this stage of his career.
Judah, of course, sees it otherwise.
“(Matthysse) is probably the toughest, hardest hitter in the weight division…I think I got past the toughest guy already and the rest of the weight division will be piece of cake,” he said.
Those are big words indeed. Whether they can be backed up remains to be seen.
http://www.eastsideboxing.com/news.php?p=25682&more=1
Originally posted on Eastsideboxing.com
If there’s one thing that Zab Judah (40-6, 27 KO’s) proved on Saturday night, it’s that he’s still got the heart and the skill to hang in during the toughest of fights.
The former undisputed welterweight champion defeated Argentinean Lucas Matthysse (27-1, 25 KO’s) in a controversial split decision on Saturday night at the Prudential Center in Newark, earning him the NABO belt and a #2 ranking by the IBF.
It was Judah’s first fight at 140 lbs. since 2003.
The night started slowly, with Matthysse reluctant to come inside and Judah willing to sit back and counterpunch as the two felt each other out.
In the early rounds, Judah exhibited good movement and a consistent jab, although hard shots were few and far between. Judah clearly respected Matthysse’s power— even after landing solid punches, he refused to jump on his foe.
Judah landed a solid uppercut in the second, but Matthysse simply tapped his chin as if to say that he could take Judah’s best.
The lack of action had the crowd booing early, and it wasn’t until the sixth that Matthysse began to close the distance and open up with his hands.
It was later revealed in the post-fight press conference that this was part of his team’s strategy— stay away from Judah early on when he tends to be more dangerous, and then come hard when Judah starts to fade as the fight progresses.
“My team told me to be careful in the first three, four, five rounds, and that’s what I did,” he told the media after the fight.
But Matthysse was careful for too long, and by the time he decided it was time to fight, he had dug himself a hole on the scorecards that would prove difficult to overcome.
The Argentinean came on strong in the tenth, however, and began landing hard left hooks to the body and straight rights to the head, one of which floored the former champ.
A badly hurt Judah appeared to go into survival mode, clinching often and attempting to dodge Matthysse’s onslaught. Judah did manage to come back with a few of his own hard shots that backed Matthysse off, but it was clear that Zab was in trouble.
“When I went down, I had a deep conversation with the Lord,” Judah said with a laugh after the fight. “It was fast to y’all, but it was long to me.”
Matthysse continued to bring the fight to Judah in the eleventh, outworking and outpunching the older fighter throughout the round.
Judah was looking to land a big left to even the round but could not connect, and Matthysse, looking as fresh as he had in the first round, continued to walk him down and pound away.
With blood streaming down the side of his face as a result of a cut sustained earlier on, Judah attempted to use his footwork and angles to avoid Matthysse’s heavy punches.
Several times Matthysse, looking to end the fight, would catch Judah on the ropes, only to have the southpaw escape and slip away.
In the eyes of the judges, the performance was enough to give Judah a narrow victory.
Judge Waleska Poldan scored the fight 114-113 for Matthysse, while judges Hilton Whitaker and Joseph Pasquale scored the fight 114-113 for Judah.
This observer also scored the fight 114-113 for Judah.
During the post-fight press conference, Matthysse was convinced that he was robbed.
“In Argentina, definitely I would have won the fight,” he said through an interpreter. “I’d love to have a rematch and be sure that he beats me and not the judges…I was in his hometown and he got the home decision.”
Judah later appeared in a suit and sunglasses to address reporters, and commended Matthysse on his performance.
“In the future, you’ll see a lot of Lucas…but tonight was my night,” he said. “You can’t win four or five rounds of a fight and then say you won the whole fight.”
Judah later admitted that if the fight had been in Argentina, the scorecards might have read the other way.
“We probably would have got a different outcome,” he said.
He expressed little interest in a rematch with the hard-punching Matthysse, whom he called “the strongest fighter I’ve ever fought.”
“Nah…they got a couple gorillas at the Brooklyn Zoo he can go tangle with,” he quipped. “We’re going to move on, and see what’s out there next for us.”
Undoubtedly, at 33 years of age, Judah will be looking for fights with bigger names and bigger paydays, and might consider a rematch with the relatively unknown Matthysse a waste of time.
Although it was a good test for Judah, who did not tire in the late rounds as he has customarily done, it was far from the exciting, explosive battle that would leave the boxing world clamoring to watch him fight any of the top junior welterweights.
The division, undoubtedly one of the deepest and most talent-rich in boxing, features such names as Devon Alexander, Timothy Bradley, Amir Khan, Marcos Maidana, and Victor Ortiz; any one of these competitors would probably be too much for him at this stage of his career.
Judah, of course, sees it otherwise.
“(Matthysse) is probably the toughest, hardest hitter in the weight division…I think I got past the toughest guy already and the rest of the weight division will be piece of cake,” he said.
Those are big words indeed. Whether they can be backed up remains to be seen.
http://www.eastsideboxing.com/news.php?p=25682&more=1
Monday, October 25, 2010
Cotto Will Shock the World
By Steve Janoski - Manny Pacquiao is not invincible, and will be beaten on Nov. 14. There, I said it.
I have been accused of “hating” Pac for my views, which is laughable because I’ve never met him. He is simply another sportsmen to me, a very good fighter in an era filled with them. His place in the history of boxing is neither assured nor agreed upon at present; how History judges him will undoubtedly be a result of the next five or so years..
There are, of course, certain things that the attentive observer cannot deny about Pac. He’s got a terrific left hand, and he has developed, under the guidance of trainer Freddie Roach, into a complete fighter that uses all the weapons at his disposal effectively. He has been outsized in a number of his fights in the past two years, and has come up on the winning end against fighters far more accustomed to the heavier classes. But does that mean that he can really move up to welterweight, and expect to win this Saturday?
The answer, in short, is no. Though very evenly matched, Pacquiao lost both fights to Marquez. He defeated David Diaz (who?), and then beat De La Hoya’s trembling ghost into submission. He also beat Ricky Hatton, and because I am not one that subscribes to the “Hatton is a club fighter” theory, Pac gets credit for this- he beat a very good fighter by dismantling him with hand speed and power. Fair enough.
Since that May night, the message boards have been alight with praise of Pacquiao. With the accolades heaped upon him, one might think that the little Filipino could kill Sampson if only given the chance, or slay a Klitschko or two if he had the opportunity (maybe both at the same time). His singing career, his movie, his profile in general, has risen off the charts, and rightly so. He’s worked hard, and deserves the fruits.
But there are holes in this story, and the hero is not actually invincible. Upon a closer look at his lightweight fight, Diaz, bleeding and shocked in the ninth round, was still landing flush shots on Pacquiao’s face. They didn’t do much because it was David Diaz throwing them… but what will happen when it’s Miguel Cotto who’s throwing them?
And since the Diaz fight, Pac has barely been hit by a punch. De La Hoya looked as if he’d stopped breathing sometime in late November but someone put him in the ring anyway, and Hatton barely landed a shot before being viciously Anquan Boldin‘d by Pacquiao’s fist.
This means that Pacquiao’s chin (and, more importantly, his liver) remain untested against a hard hitting welterweight. While Cotto is not the one-punch knockout type, he certainly has power- enough power that when he hits Pacquiao, he’s going to know that he got hit. What does this mean for a guy who twice got knocked out at 112 lbs.?
If the Puerto Rican lands that straight right on the chin in the eighth or ninth round, will Pacquiao be able to stand and trade? Will he be so quick to come in on a guy who has stood with, and defeated, the likes of Sugar Shane Mosely, Joshua Clottey, Ricardo Torres, and Zab Judah? The man who took 11 rounds of a beating from Margarito. That left hand will not likely be so potent against one who has stood in against bigger sluggers for the last three years, and has seen all those fighters had to offer.
On top of that, there are distractions galore. There is blatant discord in the Pacquiao camp as evidenced by HBO’s 24/7’s, as Roach seems to be going toe to toe with Pacquiao’s leaching, Rasputin-like “advisor” Michael Koncz. Koncz, who seems to ooze the kind of vile that you see only in the villains in Disney cartoons, looks like the sort that can drive a man’s career into the ground with the weight of his silver tongue. Who else would have Pacquiao spar with Jose Luis Castillo, who won his last fight in 1932? Not Roach, to be sure.
The flood-addled training in the Philippines, the meetings with politicians, the celebrity status…these things take away a boxer’s focus, and training when one’s mind is wandering is not the road to victory. Maybe Pacquiao doesn’t have problems concentrating… but it would certainly make him different than the rest of us.
Meanwhile, waiting in the wings with heavy, serious eyes, is Cotto, training, training, and training. He has ferocity carved in his face, with the drawn look of a man who knows that his time is now or never. He is not a brash young fighter with little experience, and he is not a worn-out, drained-down old man. He is, at 29, in the prime of his career, at that peaking point when a fighter has been through enough wars that he is always comfortable in the ring, but young enough that those wars have not yet caught up with him. With his jab, his straight right, and his left hook to the ribcage, he seeks to end Pacquiao’s seven-title dream run, his Cinderella story that has gone on just a little too long.
Don’t be surprised if, on the night of Nov. 14, Cotto ends this story, and shows Pacquiao that not all fairy tales have happy endings.
Article posted on 10.11.2009
http://www.eastsideboxing.com/news.php?p=21838&more=1
I have been accused of “hating” Pac for my views, which is laughable because I’ve never met him. He is simply another sportsmen to me, a very good fighter in an era filled with them. His place in the history of boxing is neither assured nor agreed upon at present; how History judges him will undoubtedly be a result of the next five or so years..
There are, of course, certain things that the attentive observer cannot deny about Pac. He’s got a terrific left hand, and he has developed, under the guidance of trainer Freddie Roach, into a complete fighter that uses all the weapons at his disposal effectively. He has been outsized in a number of his fights in the past two years, and has come up on the winning end against fighters far more accustomed to the heavier classes. But does that mean that he can really move up to welterweight, and expect to win this Saturday?
The answer, in short, is no. Though very evenly matched, Pacquiao lost both fights to Marquez. He defeated David Diaz (who?), and then beat De La Hoya’s trembling ghost into submission. He also beat Ricky Hatton, and because I am not one that subscribes to the “Hatton is a club fighter” theory, Pac gets credit for this- he beat a very good fighter by dismantling him with hand speed and power. Fair enough.
Since that May night, the message boards have been alight with praise of Pacquiao. With the accolades heaped upon him, one might think that the little Filipino could kill Sampson if only given the chance, or slay a Klitschko or two if he had the opportunity (maybe both at the same time). His singing career, his movie, his profile in general, has risen off the charts, and rightly so. He’s worked hard, and deserves the fruits.
But there are holes in this story, and the hero is not actually invincible. Upon a closer look at his lightweight fight, Diaz, bleeding and shocked in the ninth round, was still landing flush shots on Pacquiao’s face. They didn’t do much because it was David Diaz throwing them… but what will happen when it’s Miguel Cotto who’s throwing them?
And since the Diaz fight, Pac has barely been hit by a punch. De La Hoya looked as if he’d stopped breathing sometime in late November but someone put him in the ring anyway, and Hatton barely landed a shot before being viciously Anquan Boldin‘d by Pacquiao’s fist.
This means that Pacquiao’s chin (and, more importantly, his liver) remain untested against a hard hitting welterweight. While Cotto is not the one-punch knockout type, he certainly has power- enough power that when he hits Pacquiao, he’s going to know that he got hit. What does this mean for a guy who twice got knocked out at 112 lbs.?
If the Puerto Rican lands that straight right on the chin in the eighth or ninth round, will Pacquiao be able to stand and trade? Will he be so quick to come in on a guy who has stood with, and defeated, the likes of Sugar Shane Mosely, Joshua Clottey, Ricardo Torres, and Zab Judah? The man who took 11 rounds of a beating from Margarito. That left hand will not likely be so potent against one who has stood in against bigger sluggers for the last three years, and has seen all those fighters had to offer.
On top of that, there are distractions galore. There is blatant discord in the Pacquiao camp as evidenced by HBO’s 24/7’s, as Roach seems to be going toe to toe with Pacquiao’s leaching, Rasputin-like “advisor” Michael Koncz. Koncz, who seems to ooze the kind of vile that you see only in the villains in Disney cartoons, looks like the sort that can drive a man’s career into the ground with the weight of his silver tongue. Who else would have Pacquiao spar with Jose Luis Castillo, who won his last fight in 1932? Not Roach, to be sure.
The flood-addled training in the Philippines, the meetings with politicians, the celebrity status…these things take away a boxer’s focus, and training when one’s mind is wandering is not the road to victory. Maybe Pacquiao doesn’t have problems concentrating… but it would certainly make him different than the rest of us.
Meanwhile, waiting in the wings with heavy, serious eyes, is Cotto, training, training, and training. He has ferocity carved in his face, with the drawn look of a man who knows that his time is now or never. He is not a brash young fighter with little experience, and he is not a worn-out, drained-down old man. He is, at 29, in the prime of his career, at that peaking point when a fighter has been through enough wars that he is always comfortable in the ring, but young enough that those wars have not yet caught up with him. With his jab, his straight right, and his left hook to the ribcage, he seeks to end Pacquiao’s seven-title dream run, his Cinderella story that has gone on just a little too long.
Don’t be surprised if, on the night of Nov. 14, Cotto ends this story, and shows Pacquiao that not all fairy tales have happy endings.
Article posted on 10.11.2009
http://www.eastsideboxing.com/news.php?p=21838&more=1
Where is Floyd's Fighter's Heart?
By Steve Janoski - When I heard that Floyd Mayweather was returning to the ring, my first thought was, “This will be it.”
I had envisioned him returning to the sport like a conquering hero, a modern day Hernan Cortes, crushing those welterweights who he had been accused of ducking over the years with sharp left hooks and stiff straight rights. After these brawls, he would join the pantheon of boxing heroes and be called one of the Greatest Of All Time, alongside the Alis and Fraziers, the Durans and Lenoards, the Haglers and Hearns..
Yes, I thought. This must be it.
And then…I heard that he was fighting Juan Manuel Marquez… and I knew that this year‘s “Money” wasn’t any different than the last one.
Not that Marquez isn’t a great fighter, mind you- he most certainly is. However, he’s a small great fighter, one that is two weight classes lighter and five inches shorter in reach. On top of this, Floyd Mayweather is an incredible fighter, a once-in-a-lifetime talent with superb reflexes, impeccable ring generalship, and yet-unmatched hand speed.
Floyd has been blessed with that we mortals could only dream of having; even more remarkable, his skills, which for most men fade with age, have seemed to have only been enhanced, more defined in their perfection.
And that may be the real reason why Floyd is a rarity amongst fighters- unlike most warriors, whose hearts and wills outlive their skills, Floyd is the opposite- a fighter whose skills have outlasted what his heart, and maybe his head, tell him he can do.
Once upon we had a Floyd Mayweather Jr. who truly fought. We watched him embarrass the indomitable Chico Corrales, knocking him down five times in 10 rounds. We saw him in 24-rounds of war with Jose Luis Castillo, winning both times, the first by the narrowest of narrow margins.
Later, he battered the heroic Arturo Gatti into submission, raked Zab Judah (after Judah’s pre-requisite “Four Good Rounds” were over), and out-brawled Baldomir. He out-thought De La Hoya, and out-slugged Hatton. Two weeks ago, we saw him “come back” to the sport we all knew he never left against a determined, but outclassed, Juan Manuel Marquez in a decidedly one-sided fight that featured Mayweather at his finest.
Those last names are big ones to be sure; Hatton and De La Hoya are amongst the most popular fighters in this generation. Unfortunately for Floyd, that’s all they are- just names.
The Mayweather-De La Hoya fight was done plainly for the money. It was not the finest matchup that could be made- a 154 lb. Mayweather fighting out of his weight class, and being more conservative than normal against the quickly-aging De La Hoya who had always performed less than brilliantly in his biggest fights. Ricky Hatton was another one of those odd mismatches, with the tough Englishman who always struggled at welterweight stepping up for only the second time, and ending up way above his head. And since then, there was… well, silence.
Not from boxing fans, mind you. Since “Money” decided to move up to welter, we’ve all wanted to see him fight the big dogs; no more old warriors or blown up 140-pounders or 8-loss brawlers. No, we’ve wanted to see him get in with the lethal fighters, the Sugar Shanes, the Killer Cottos, the Clotteys. I would love to see him fight the Paul William, Andre Berto, hell, even the Collazo or Quintana. Just fight full size welterweights, the guys that he knows (and they know) could actually hurt him, the guys aren’t going to get in the ring with their hands down or forget to jab.
But that won’t happen. On Sept. 19, we saw that Mayweather knew full well that his smaller, slower opponent could hurt him no more than a puppy can hurt a pitbull. Unfortunately it seems that this is how Floyd likes things, and it is beginning to appear that this pitbull is silently fearful about facing dogs his size.
The look on Mayweather’s face when Sugar Shane Mosley got in the ring after the fight showed us all we needed to know- Floyd, looking more shook than Max Kellerman, didn’t react with his typical bravado. While not one man in the boxing world questions whether Sugar Shane would fight him, we all question whether Floyd is so willing. The “banter” after the fight did little to dispel that belief in those of us who hold it.
Regardless, Floyd will go on his way. He will beat Pacquiao in similar fashion as he dispatched Marquez, and probably go on to fight another fighter that he is sure he could beat before he retires again. He will make loud noises about how he is the greatest, but no one will listen. Why? Because for most fighters, it’s the names in the win-and-loss column that that defines their legacy; for Floyd, it appears that it will be the names not in any column that define his.
And that is not only a waste of God given talent, but also a God damn shame.
Article posted on 02.10.2009
http://www.eastsideboxing.com/news.php?p=21388&more=1
I had envisioned him returning to the sport like a conquering hero, a modern day Hernan Cortes, crushing those welterweights who he had been accused of ducking over the years with sharp left hooks and stiff straight rights. After these brawls, he would join the pantheon of boxing heroes and be called one of the Greatest Of All Time, alongside the Alis and Fraziers, the Durans and Lenoards, the Haglers and Hearns..
Yes, I thought. This must be it.
And then…I heard that he was fighting Juan Manuel Marquez… and I knew that this year‘s “Money” wasn’t any different than the last one.
Not that Marquez isn’t a great fighter, mind you- he most certainly is. However, he’s a small great fighter, one that is two weight classes lighter and five inches shorter in reach. On top of this, Floyd Mayweather is an incredible fighter, a once-in-a-lifetime talent with superb reflexes, impeccable ring generalship, and yet-unmatched hand speed.
Floyd has been blessed with that we mortals could only dream of having; even more remarkable, his skills, which for most men fade with age, have seemed to have only been enhanced, more defined in their perfection.
And that may be the real reason why Floyd is a rarity amongst fighters- unlike most warriors, whose hearts and wills outlive their skills, Floyd is the opposite- a fighter whose skills have outlasted what his heart, and maybe his head, tell him he can do.
Once upon we had a Floyd Mayweather Jr. who truly fought. We watched him embarrass the indomitable Chico Corrales, knocking him down five times in 10 rounds. We saw him in 24-rounds of war with Jose Luis Castillo, winning both times, the first by the narrowest of narrow margins.
Later, he battered the heroic Arturo Gatti into submission, raked Zab Judah (after Judah’s pre-requisite “Four Good Rounds” were over), and out-brawled Baldomir. He out-thought De La Hoya, and out-slugged Hatton. Two weeks ago, we saw him “come back” to the sport we all knew he never left against a determined, but outclassed, Juan Manuel Marquez in a decidedly one-sided fight that featured Mayweather at his finest.
Those last names are big ones to be sure; Hatton and De La Hoya are amongst the most popular fighters in this generation. Unfortunately for Floyd, that’s all they are- just names.
The Mayweather-De La Hoya fight was done plainly for the money. It was not the finest matchup that could be made- a 154 lb. Mayweather fighting out of his weight class, and being more conservative than normal against the quickly-aging De La Hoya who had always performed less than brilliantly in his biggest fights. Ricky Hatton was another one of those odd mismatches, with the tough Englishman who always struggled at welterweight stepping up for only the second time, and ending up way above his head. And since then, there was… well, silence.
Not from boxing fans, mind you. Since “Money” decided to move up to welter, we’ve all wanted to see him fight the big dogs; no more old warriors or blown up 140-pounders or 8-loss brawlers. No, we’ve wanted to see him get in with the lethal fighters, the Sugar Shanes, the Killer Cottos, the Clotteys. I would love to see him fight the Paul William, Andre Berto, hell, even the Collazo or Quintana. Just fight full size welterweights, the guys that he knows (and they know) could actually hurt him, the guys aren’t going to get in the ring with their hands down or forget to jab.
But that won’t happen. On Sept. 19, we saw that Mayweather knew full well that his smaller, slower opponent could hurt him no more than a puppy can hurt a pitbull. Unfortunately it seems that this is how Floyd likes things, and it is beginning to appear that this pitbull is silently fearful about facing dogs his size.
The look on Mayweather’s face when Sugar Shane Mosley got in the ring after the fight showed us all we needed to know- Floyd, looking more shook than Max Kellerman, didn’t react with his typical bravado. While not one man in the boxing world questions whether Sugar Shane would fight him, we all question whether Floyd is so willing. The “banter” after the fight did little to dispel that belief in those of us who hold it.
Regardless, Floyd will go on his way. He will beat Pacquiao in similar fashion as he dispatched Marquez, and probably go on to fight another fighter that he is sure he could beat before he retires again. He will make loud noises about how he is the greatest, but no one will listen. Why? Because for most fighters, it’s the names in the win-and-loss column that that defines their legacy; for Floyd, it appears that it will be the names not in any column that define his.
And that is not only a waste of God given talent, but also a God damn shame.
Article posted on 02.10.2009
http://www.eastsideboxing.com/news.php?p=21388&more=1
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