By Frank Gonzalez Jr. – June 8, 2008 -As we’ve heard by now, Floyd Mayweather Jr. is retiring from boxing again. Most of us are sure he’ll be back. The question is when? The answer is simple; when it’s safe to come back. This is not about love or hate. This is about logically assessing the value of a fighter who was crowned the best in the business..
When it comes to the sweet science, Floyd is undeniably talented. He has fast hands, slick defensive skills and very accurate punching, which translates into power. But Floyd retiring now, in his prime, is no real mystery, considering the current reality.
Cotto and Margarito are going to fight. Williams is getting a gift rematch from Carlos Quintana, where I expect very favorable officiating in favor of Williams. In a few months, there will be clear definition at Welterweight.
If the promoters allow it, the winners of these fights will fight each other and produce a single, Undisputed Champion. Instead of being in the mix, Floyd is fixing to split. Its pretty clear what the real reason is. He don’t want to fight either Cotto or Margarito.
The time has come for Floyd to put up or shut up, now that its clear that no one cared about the rematch on Pay-Per-View against De La Hoya. Their last fight was forgettable and the decision could’ve gone either way as neither did anything spectacular in all of 12 rounds. Consider what DLH looked like after fighting blown up Lightweight Steve Forbes and what he looked like after the FMJ fight? Forbes clearly did more damage, so another sparring session between DLH vs. Forbes would be a more interesting fight than DLH vs. FMJ II, especially on PPV, which is killing boxing’s fan base more than bad decisions!
Floyd said, “It is with a heavy heart that I write you this message today. I have decided to permanently retire from boxing. This decision was not an easy one for me to make as boxing is all I have done since I was a child. However, these past few years have been extremely difficult for me to find the desire and joy to continue in the sport. I have said numerous times and after several of my fights over the past two years that I might not fight again. At the same time, I loved competing and winning and also wanted to continue my career for the fans, knowing they were there for me and enjoyed watching me fight. However, after many sleepless nights and intense soul-searching I realized I could no longer base my decision on anything but my own personal happiness, which I no longer could find. So I have finally made up my mind, spoken to my family, particularly my mother, and made my decision.”
Floyd sounds misguided, disingenuous and full of things you don’t want to step in. Boxing made him a millionaire and asked little in return. He was a pet project for HBO, who facilitated his rise to the mythical ‘Best Pound for Pound’ status without having to fight any of the best fighters in his weight classes.
Floyd lost the desire and the joy? Sounds like a very temporary state of mind. Where’s his mental discipline or his loyalty to his fans that were always so loyal to him?
I submit that Floyd was not the best fighter in boxing, just one of the most carefully managed fighters in the sport. If Floyd were to stay in boxing, there’d be no more patience for that line about how Cotto or Margarito are not marketable enough to fight him. He’d have to fight one of them and its clear that he don’t want to fight either of them.
The truth is that Floyd’s fights were rarely exciting, since they were too often mismatches against guys at the end of their careers or in the case of DLH, a blatant business arrangement, where neither guy showed any killer instinct, while raking in the big bucks. In 39 professional fights, only twice Floyd face top level, undefeated fighters. Diego Corrales way back in 2001 and Ricky Hatton last December.
Lets look at who his last ten fights were against:
Victoriano Sosa (35-2) a decent fighter, it took Floyd 12 rounds to win the decision. Miguel Cotto beat Sosa by KO in 4 the next year.
Philip N’Dou (31-1) a decent fighter that Floyd beat by TKO 7. After his next fight, a loss to Issac Hlatswayo by Split Decision in 2004, Philip N’Dou was never heard from again.
De Marcus Corley (28-2) Floyd wins by UD 12. Cotto beat Corley by controversial TKO 5 ten months later. Like most of Floyd’s opponents, Corley was on his way down when Floyd fought him. Corley has lost his last four fights in a row.
Henry Bruseles, (21-2) Floyd beats one of Cotto’s sparring partners by TKO 8. Bruseles is back to fighting guys with lousy records and hasn’t been heard from since.
Arturo Gatti (39-6) Floyd beats Gatti by TKO in 6. Gatti was also past his prime. In the sixth round, the ref instructed the fighters to break and Floyd sucker punched Gatti who was looking to the referee. Floyd should have been disqualified for that unsportsmanlike conduct but the ref allowed it. Gatti learned real late in his career that you have to protect yourself at all times! After Mayweather, Gatti beat a past it Thomas Damgaard by TKO 11 and then lost by KO to both Carlos Baldomir and Alphonso Gomez, who saw Gatti retire after that fight.
Sharmba Mitchell (54-6) Floyd wins by TKO 6. Two fights later, Mitchell loses to Paul Williams. Imagine six foot tall Williams in against tiny 5’4” Sharmba Mitchell? Mitchell is probably retired now.
Zab Judah (34-3) who after showing how past his prime he was in losing to Carlos Baldomir, the next stop was a big money fight against the money man, Floyd, who beats Judah by UD 12 in a fight that would have been ended by technical disqualification after Judah’s father and Floyd’s uncle jumped into the ring after a low blow and had to be separated by security. Two fights later, Judah went on to be TKO’d by Miguel Cotto in 11 and at this time is a shell of the “good fighter” he once was.
Carlos Baldomir (49-9) fresh off his win over Gatti and Judah, Floyd took Baldomir to school for a UD 12 win. Now, Baldomir has lost two out of his last three, including a loss to Vernon Forrest by UD 12 and a SD 12 win over a tune up opponent last year.
Oscar De La Hoya (38-4) Floyd wins a decision that could have gone either way in a fight so forgettable they wanted to do it again and milk their big names for another huge PPV that only they were excited about.
For his last fight, Ricky Hatton (43-0) Floyd was too fast and technically skillful for Hatton, who got knocked out by a check hook and banged his head into the ring post before going down and being TKO’d in the tenth round. In his comeback fight against Juan Lazcano, Hatton took a good walloping and was saved from being KO’d when after landing a pair of big rights cleanly to the face and Hatton was wobbly, the ref gave Lazcano a warning and gave Hatton an extra 30 seconds recovery time, while his corner tied his shoelaces, which were suddenly in need of tying while Ricky’s legs were good and rubbery.
Those are the last ten opponents of Floyd Mayweather Jr. Not a very impressive resume for a man touted as the best fighter in boxing. There’s not one guy on that list that was in his prime when Floyd fought them.
Floyd Mayweather Jr. was ranked number one in the Welterweight division, even though he hadn’t beaten any of the best champions in that division.
If he really is retiring for good, he will be remembered two ways. One side will think he was the greatest fighter since Sugar Ray Robinson (even if Floyd only achieved a fraction of what Robinson did) and the other side will remember him as a guy who only fought guys he knew he could beat, while calling himself the best.
Floyd played leap frog, jumping from division to division, wherever the money was best against the easiest “champion” opponent. He didn’t even have to work his way up to a championship fight when he moved up, it was the red carpet treatment all the way.
Anyone with common sense knows that the only way to be the best is to beat the best. Floyd simply didn’t fight the best fighters so, how could he qualify?
Floyd’s departure will be good for boxing. We can use more warriors and fewer businessmen in this sport. Let businessmen be promoters, not fighters. Most fans want to see fighters fight the best fighters of their era, for pride and the spirit of competition—not just for the money, which comes with the territory.
Maybe he believed that Oscar De La Hoya would beat him in their Pay-Per-View rematch that nobody seemed to give a damn about? Maybe he realized that he’d have to fight Margarito, (who he ducked after being offered eight million to fight him not too long ago) or Miguel Cotto, who has evolved into a dynamic fighter with great ring presence and command. If Floyd ever wanted to fight either of those guys, it would have been on schedule or happened already. We all know Floyd picks and chooses who he wants to fight. He got it like that.
The most likely scenario is that Floyd ‘retires’ for a year or two, then comes back after the top guys in his division are battle-worn and ripe for the taking. He’ll fight a couple of big money fights against the usual suspects and then retire for real.
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