For a fighter that is considered to be the greatest fighter in boxing, Floyd Mayweather seems to really like to pick out small fighters to mix it up with. I know Mayweather seems himself as another Sugar Ray Robinson and all, but if I remember correctly, Robinson was about moving up in weight to take on fighters or at the minimum, he’d fight opponents his same size.
Robinson didn’t go looking for fighters from the lower weight classes to fight. This is why I wonder about Mayweather and his reasoning’s for selecting fighters that are much smaller than him. First it was little Ricky Hatton, who probably wasn’t even the best fighter in his division at the time that Mayweather selected him out of a pack of opponents to fight.
And now, we have Mayweather hand picking Juan Manuel Marquez, a fighter two divisions smaller than Mayweather. If Mayweather is supposed to be the greatest thing since sliced bread, how come he’s not fighting the best in the welterweight division?
At the very least, I would expect Mayweather to fight one of the best welterweights in the division, if he wasn’t interested in fighting the top guy. But, gosh, to be fighting pumped up smaller guys like Hatton and Marquez, it just makes me wonder about Mayweather. Is he high on talent and low on courage? What good is talent if you don’t use it?
It’s like having a race car that you never take out of the garage or if you do, you’re racing little Toyotas instead of other race cars. What good is that? I would be happy if Mayweather at least fought Miguel Cotto or Andre Berto. I could respect that a little.
It’s not facing the very best in the welterweight division, because that right now is Shane Mosley, but Cotto or Berto would still be a couple of talented fighters in the same division as Mayweather. However, Mayweather doesn’t seem interested in facing fighters his own size nowadays and is looking at only going after the small guys.
And to top it off, if Mayweather beats Marquez, then Mayweather will be facing another small fighter in Manny Pacquiao. I can’t respect a fighter that doesn’t fight opponents in his weight class. If Mayweather is afraid to fight welterweights, then he needs to drop 10 to 20 pounds and fight as super featherweight or lightweight.
Mayweather would be able to make a killing at that weight, because that’s pretty much where all his opponents are nowadays. Mayweather might have moved up in weight to beat Oscar De La Hoya a couple of years ago, but De La Hoya was well past his prime by the time that Mayweather fought him and vulnerable against anyone with a sliver of talent.
But Mayweather seems dialed in lately for little fighters who are much smaller than him. What is up with that? Come on, break the pattern, Mayweather, and fight someone your own size for a change. This isn’t interesting to see Mayweather cherry picking a bunch of teeny fighters all the time.
Source: boxingnews24.com
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