Remember this post the other day about how Juan Manuel Marquez had agreed to fight Floyd Mayweather Jr. at 147 lbs. on July 18, thereby making the fight even harder on himself? Well (h/t johnpaulfutbol), ESPN’s Dan Rafael reports, contrary to what Ring reported to prompt my post, that the fight will be at no more than 144 lbs. I don’t know what’s so hard about reporting this definitively. I’m making calls myself; we’ll see what I can find out, but I admittedly don’t have half the clout of the Bible of Boxing or the Worldwide News Leader, so if I find out before they do — LAME. [And since I posted this originally, a THIRD report says the weight isn’t settled yet. So, three news outlets, three different stories.]
In the meantime, enjoy two clips of Mayweather on ESPN. The first clip, from ESPN News, is a tad less adversarial, but Mayweather ends up getting all ticked off at the host. The second clip, from SportsCenter, is just an argument from start to finish between Mayweather and Brian Kenny. Kenny pwns him totally. My commentary follows.
What’s remarkable to me, again, is just how wrong-headed Mayweather is about the sport. For example: Over and over again, he claims he’s the best because no one had beaten him. So he puts down Shane Mosley for having five losses, or he criticizes Manny Pacquiao for having lost some fights. In 2007, the same year Mayweather was the pound-for-pound king, heavyweight Nicolay Valuev had 45 wins and no losses, which is more than the 39 wins the undefeated Mayweather has now. In 2007, who was the better fighter — Valuev, or Mayweather? Was Valuev, a lumbering, quasi-good heavyweight, on anyone’s pound-for-pound top ONE HUNDRED list at the time? It’s not whether you’re undefeated, Floyd. It’s whether you are beating the top guys, and if you spend four years of your career avoiding the best competition in your division, it’s going to be easier to win.
Mayweather says Manny Pacquiao got knocked out twice 10 years ago. He’s a totally different fighter now. Mayweather says Pacquiao lost once to Erik Morales, when Morales outboxed him. Pacquiao then beat him twice more, and he’s even better now than then. When has Mayweather fought one fighter as good as Morales? Never. If he’s counting on that stuff as the key to beating Pacquiao, he’s got another thing coming. Mayweather says he doesn’t care whether he’s called the pound-for-pound king as long as he’s called the cash king; but he gets irritated when he gets called the “former” pound-for-pound king; and he’s not the “cash king,” anyway, since Oscar De La Hoya was for Mayweather’s entire career prior to Mayweather’s unretirement; and it’s all irrelevant because boxing fans for the most part don’t follow fighters based on the size of their bank accounts, but on how exciting or good they are.
The guy is so stupefyingly lame, this Mayweather, and every time he opens his mouth I wish he’d go away. At least Brian Kenny tied him in knot upon knot.
(h/t on the SportsCenter to a couple people on Twitter, like @unsilent)
