by Sam Baldwin: After witnessing the Mayweather Mosley fight, we were treated to a truly great boxing spectacle. Floyd Mayweather, coming in to the fight, had more then his fair share of critics, and partly rightly so, as there have been a few fighters at 147 who for one reason or another, he had not touched gloves with.
What we witnessed on May 1st was a boxing performance that had not been witnessed for many a year, after a tentative first round, the first point to note was a rejuvenated Floyd Mayweather who brother Naazim Richardson had predicted would turn in to a “dragon” and spit flames..
I think we can take Richardsons “Flames” analogy as meaning that we would witness Floyd Mayweathers box of tricks, or at least, a trick from his magic box we had not already witnessed, and in that respect, he was correct.
The first point to note is I have never never seen a Floyd Mayweather with such confidence who stood his ground in the middle of the ring, and for almost the entire fight, took full control and dominated the fight. This demonstrates Floyds best asset, his ring generalship, savviness and boxing intelligence, the ability to understand his opponent and react accordingly to it.
Although Freddy Roach has been quoted as saying he thought “Mayweather doesn’t have his legs any more”
Quite frankly, this is a bit of a harsh criticism, but I think Roach has a point, or at least Mayweathers tactics would concur with the way in which he (Mayweather) executed his dominant display over Shane Mosley.
Although the Shane Mosley that turnt up on May 1st was not the one we had witnessed demolish Anntonio Margarito, Mayweather took the challenge and defeated a man, widely considered to be among, if not the best 147 guy out there.
It was not long ago that Mosley was offering to fight Pacquaio at a weight as low as 140lbs, and reports suggest Roach wanted nothing to do with it.
Pacquaio has been quoted as saying if he hit Mayweather with those two big right hands Mosley caught Mayweather in in the second round, he would “Finish him off.” Whilst I agree, he would sustain the attack and cause Mayweather problems, I would have to disagree with Pacquaio. Mayweather, if on the recieving end of a sustained attack, would more then likely go in to his shell, use the shoulder roll and lateral movement and go in to his elusive boxing persona.
The age old saying “Styles make fights” Would suggest that Pacquaios heroic, and admirable fighting style, would play in to Mayweathers awkward, and skillful counter punching abilities, and his ability to be just out of range to make his opponent to miss and time his counters to perfection.
We can only salivate at this impending boxing show, which for the sake of the sport, has to be shown soon. One thing is for sure, we can only admire the blood sweat and tears that are required to make it in to the elite upper echelons of the sport of boxing and truly remembered as great.