12.06.08 – by James Slater: Now that he’s apparently retired for real and we’ve seen the last of his fine talents in the boxing ring, let’s take the time to reflect a little on the superb career of Floyd Mayweather Junior. His greatness is beyond doubt – just how great is another matter, but Floyd was great nonetheless.. But which fight of his was his greatest? On which night did he put on the number one finest display of his sublime skills? In this article, I give my opinion.
Going into his welterweight title fight with defending champion Carlos Baldomir, this writer was fortunate enough to have attended Barry’s boxing gym in Las Vegas – the place where “Pretty Boy” was training for the November 2006 bout. While there, Mayweather gave a short post-workout interview. Kevin Iole was present too and he asked Floyd if he regretted the fact that he hadn’t yet had a career defining fight in the way Sugar Ray Leonard, for one example, had, in his fight with Tommy Hearns – a fight that brought out the absolute best in Leonard. Mayweather didn’t hesitate in his answer.
“I’ve had my Hearns already,” Floyd said. “Diego Corrales was my Hearns.” What Mayweather meant was he’d boxed a guy who was comparable to Hearns in that he was tall and hit hard and was dangerous. And going into the fight with Corrales some writer’s did compare the Mayweather-Corrales fight to Leonard-Hearns. Both were undefeated and one guy (“Chico”) was considered the puncher of the two, while the other (” Pretty Boy”) was considered the boxer.
In my opinion, his fight with the recently deceased Corrales was Mayweather’s finest ever performance – a fight in which all of Floyd’s superb skills clicked in an effortless fashion. Yes, Mayweather’s dominating win may have been, at least partially, due to “styles making fights.” But the fact cannot be denied that Mayweather turned Corrales, an incredibly dangerous fighter, into a completely ineffective force over the course of their ten rounds of boxing.
The bout took place down at super-featherweight and contested Mayweather’s WBC title. The fight, hugely anticipated and heavily hyped going in, turned out to be a virtual mismatch. Knocking “Chico” down no less than five times on his way towards a 10th round TKO victory, Mayweather never lost a round. Supremely fast, an absolute master at avoiding practically every single one of Corrales’ blows, punching with genuine force and a joy to watch on this night, Floyd never looked better. Quite simply, he never put a foot wrong.
In hindsight, his crushingly one-sided win over the incredibly gutsy Corrales looks even better now than it did at the time. With what Diego was able to go on to do in his career, and with the nightmarish wars he was able to drag other great fighters into, it was a truly flawless display indeed that “Pretty Boy” dazzled us with that night back in January of 2001.
Was this Mayweather’s career DEFINING fight? The fight he will be best remembered for? Probably not. But as far as his finest performance – Mayweather’s hammering of Corrales was his number one.