Is Floyd A Fraud? How The Pretty Boy Rose To Stardom

Day 4 Is now a casualty and we find ourselves actually under 96 hours and counting from the fight that “THE WORLD AWAITS”. Typically not one to entertain negativity, I decided somewhere in the 20 day countdown that we’ve covered going back to April 15th, we needed to spark a little controversy for the ‘haters’, so here we are in the midst of a dual piece looking at the strong criticism relative to both fighters. Yesterday we heard the detractors argument that remains dominant in the world of the “Golden Boy”, and today we take a look at some of the criticism surrounding the “Pretty Boy” camp. Easy Street To The ‘Big’ Boulevard For years many have questioned the heart of Floyd Mayweather Jr. because his skills have been so superior to his competition that he rarely takes shots. Oscar De La Hoya will without doubt look to change that come May 5th, but it’s an opportunity he received only because he has a name grand enough to entice Floyd into the ring where many talented up and comer’s do not. Many fighters have talked about the fact that Floyd hand-picked his opponents and dodged the best out there, particularly over the last few years. In recent times, Antonio Margarito made the most compelling case as he continued to call out the “Pretty Boy” however, his case was later nullified by the fact that his last performance made him appear far from worthy. It’s hard to give true validity to this argument of Floyd side-stepping the tougher opposition of his weight classes because over the years he has actually stepped in the ‘Blue Abyss’ with some true movers and shakers. Somewhere lost in the conversation is the fact that he once offered a nice sum of money to fight one of the only men in the business who may be able to actually match his speed, (“Sugar” Shane Mosley), but this request came at what was later perceived as ‘bad timing’ when Shane declined due to the fact that he was just coming off a stretch of tough fights. Deep Resume’, Matching Talent Pool It’s a bit hard to really question the intentions of Floyd Mayweather Jr. because looking at his past, there really isn’t many fighters he hasn’t fought that would have made interesting matchups. He went toe to toe with Diego Corrales when both fighters were undefeated. He fought Carlos Baldomir who was a true cinderella story after he came from no where and soundly defeated a very quality fighter in Zab Judah. He dismantled an always ‘game’ Arturo Gatti, and serving as the proverbial icing on the cake, he fought and overcame some mid-fight drama to soundly defeat Zab Judah. These fighters represent only a portion of the good fighters Floyd defeated in his rise to fame. As the list of current welterweights assemble, alot of questions have began to emerge about Floyd’s possible retirement. The welterweight division is by far the deepest in the sport. Under the same weight division you have undefeated Puerto Rican star Miguel Cotto, the lanky freak-of-nature, undefeated and highly skilled Paul Williams, the powerful Joshua Clottey, as well as Antonio Margarito. This is only to name a few, which is why skeptics continue to loudly question Floyd’s plans. Answering this question for Floyd Mayweather Jr. is sort of easy. Although many of these fighters would love the challenge of teeing off against Floyd, simply put, at this point in his career, if it doesn’t make dollars, it doesn’t make sense. Golden Opportunity With Floyd financially set and understanding that developing a relationship with his kids that he never had with his father is paramount, the stars could have never aligned better than they have now. He’s fought the best that his team could put in front of him and now there’s only one true match out there that could define his legacy…That match being a highly anticipated showdown with boxings “Golden Boy”, Oscar De La Hoya. Oscar, (forever the businessman) , was more than willing to oblige as he realizes that he is in the twilight of his career and if he loses, this could be his final huge payday as well. After a loss to Bernard Hopkins a few years ago Oscar has reversed his fortunes by defeating a physically stronger challenger in ‘wildman’ Ricardo Mayorga and did so in such a fascinating fashion that he and the public believe that all he needs to do is try to seal his legacy too at this point. Fortunately for both men everything have lined up and now the day is pretty much upon us. As far as Floyd being a fraud, by text book definition, typically fraud occurs when trickery and deception comes into play to establish some unfair profit or gain. Considering that this ‘Golden opportunity’ has come about as a result of his skill level and not some charade of fortunate mishaps, it’s safe to say that what you see is what you get, and on May 5th, hopefully that won’t change. Therefore, CASE DISMISSED!!! Tomorrow’s installment of the countdown to Mayweather/De la Hoya will take a look at the two fighters and how their fight night killer instincts will determine the outcome of the fight in: ‘Survival Of The Fittest’: Only The Strong Will Survive? The countdown coverage will continue through the day after the fight as we exploit the following topics:

  • Thu/05-03 {What They Say: Talking Strategies With The Experts}
  • Fri/ 05-04 {What They Say…Volume 2 : Fan Poll From Fight Fans Around The Globe}
  • Sat/ 05-05 {Big Bang Theory: Fight Night Layout, Celebrity Predictions}
  • Sun/ 05-06 {The Aftermath: Fight Results, Breakdown}

About Tim Starks

Tim is the founder of The Queensberry Rules and co-founder of The Transnational Boxing Rankings Board (http://www.tbrb.org). He lives in Washington, D.C. He has written for the Guardian, Economist, New Republic, Chicago Tribune and more.

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