By Kelsey McCarson, theboxingstop.com – Oh, just admit it, boxing fans, you missed him. Whether you love, like, hate or despise the guy, Floyd Mayweather is back for another PPV showdown and you absolutely cannot get enough of it.
I feel you.
Sure, he’s a strange cat. In fact, Mayweather is one of the very few people in the world that can come off as the less normal of the two guys on a program with a guy that drinks his own urine..
But isn’t that what makes him special?
Actually, no, it’s his tremendous gifts inside the ring that make him special. But still, if he had the personality of someone like Shane Mosley, would he be as big of a draw as he is right now? I’d argue no. Floyd Mayweather is the scuttlebutt vagabond of the boxing world: he’s Dana White, Roberto Duran and the WWE rolled into one. That’s what makes him really special.
Boxing needs him and so do you.
Still, if he wasn’t such a brilliant fighter, none of his antics would really matter anyway. He’d be like former Eagles receiver Freddie Mitchell who talked the talk but never, ever walked the walk. We’d care for a week or a weekend, but we’d soon lose interest and he’d slip into obscurity.
Floyd Mayweather is a lot of things, both good and bad, but he will never be obscure, at least not to boxing fans. He’s a sure fire hall-of-famer and the best fighter of his era.
Mayweather returns to the ring Saturday night against one of the other best fighters of his generation, and really any generation, Juan Manuel Marquez. Marquez has been in the ring with the best. He’s gone toe-to-toe twice with current superman Manny Pacquiao, outdueled fellow Mexican legend Marco Antonio Barrera and consistently fought the best fighters he could get in the ring throughout a remarkable career that has seen him rack up world titles from featherweight all the way to lightweight.
He’s tough, determined and skillful, but he’s completely out of his league.
I see and hear a lot of talk about the upcoming fight, and it completely amazes my how underrated Mayweather seems to be. It may seem strange to you that I call him underrated, but let me finish before you get all riled up and begin with the hate mail. I get enough of that.
Am I the only person that remembers what Floyd Mayweather does in the ring against people that aren’t just flat out bigger than him? He makes even the most dangerous of fighters look like amateurs.
Diego Corrales anyone?
Look, Marquez is a great fighter, but it is going to take more than a great fighter to beat Floyd Mayweather. It’s going to take a fighter that is also great, but is also bigger or just plain stronger enough for it to matter. It’s going to take someone that is something Juan Manuel Marquez is not.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, just to remind you: Juan Manuel Marquez has no chance against Floyd Mayweather.
So live it up, boxing fans. Mayweather is back and on center stage again. You should enjoy it. A Mayweather fight is the best thing boxing has going for it right now and even if Marquez doesn’t have a real shot at dethroning the real P4P king (sorry Pac-Nation), it should be enough for all of you to see a true master at his craft. Fighters like Mayweather come along once in a generation, so enjoy it while you can.
Prediction: Floyd Mayweather wins 9th round TKO.