If Mayweather Doesn’t Focus, It Won’t Look Pretty

Floyd Mayweather Jr. wants you to know he’s the baddest man on the earth, capable of busting up a 7-foot superheavyweight heel who calls himself The Big Show. Cutting him down to size was no sweat for a little guy who really knows how to put on a big show. In fact, go dig up Andre the Giant, and Pretty Boy Floyd will take him out too.

Floyd also wants to tell you “beer drinkers” out there what he thinks of those tattooed dudes who do battle in mixed martial arts: “You can’t take my shoes off and take my shirt off and just throw me in a cage. You do that with animals. You don’t do that with humans.” At least not some races of humans: “In boxing, we know who’s dominating. Black fighters and Hispanic fighters is dominating in this sport. And this is not a racial statement, but there’s no white fighters in boxing that’s dominating. So they had to go to something else and start something new.”

(Got that, Vitali and Wladimir Klitschko, Joe Calzaghe, Ricky Hatton, Kelly Pavlik, Mikkel Kessler, Arthur Abraham, Tomaz Adamek, and Carl Froch, you UFC wannabes? This goes for you too, Anderson Silva, Rashad Evans and Rampage Jackson, Miguel Torres, Lyoto Machida, and you other non-white MMAers. And don’t even think of looking up from your Coors Light, Brock Lesnar.)

Mayweather, in case you haven’t heard, is coming out of retirement a month from tonight against some guy he hardly ever mentions. Floyd has plenty to say about the WWE and UFC, and he’ll even talk boxing if the name of Manny Pacquiao, his successor as the world’s top pound-for-pound fighter, is brought up. But at the opening bell Sept. 19 in Las Vegas, it may be the first time Mayweather looks straight ahead at Juan Manuel Marquez.

This is a mistake. Sure, Mayweather is the favorite. He’s won all 39 of his professional fights, often in dominating displays of speedy defense and unpredictable punching angles. But Marquez is no pushover, no made-to-order tuneup opponent. He has 50 wins in 55 fights, and 37 have come by knockout. Those KOs were against featherweights and lightweights (126 to 135 pounds), not a welterweight (147) like Floyd. But he’s beaten top talent like Marco Antonio Barrera, Joel Casamayor and Juan Diaz, and got the better of Pacquiao for most of their first bout, a draw. He’s a tough guy who comes to fight. Mayweather had better be on his toes.

Will he? Floyd has had some distractions lately, not only the self-created ones cited above but also the arrest of his trainer uncle earlier this month. He also must contend with the dreaded pugilistic ailment known as ring rust, having not fought since 2007. Is that a recipe for success against “the second best fighter in boxing,” as Floyd Mayweather Sr. has called his son’s opponent?

Even if Floyd does win in the ring, he could end the night as a loser in the game he seems to be most concerned about: money. He’s made lots of it via pay-per-view fight telecasts over his career, a point he’s driven home in his dismissive critiques of MMA, a sport he sees as small-time. But UFC president Dana White has unloaded with a counterpunch, contending that Mayweather’s best PPV numbers have come not because of Floyd but because of his matchups (vs. Oscar De La Hoya, vs. Arturo Gatti, vs. Carlos Baldomir). “Floyd doesn’t sell fights, Floyd vs. a great opponent sells fights,” says White. “Not that I’m saying Marquez isn’t a good fighter, he’s a great fighter. But it’s just not a fight that people want to see right now.”

Those who agree with Dana White have another PPV option Sept. 19: UFC 103. That’s right, the sport that Floyd says can’t beat his PPV numbers is going to go head to head with him.

You’ve got to love that, even if you’re not an MMA fan. Why? Because to compete with a UFC card stacked with a dozen appealingly competitive fights, headed by a battle of ex-champions Rich Franklin and Vitor Belfort, Golden Boy Promotions has added luster to the Mayweather-Marquez undercard. Too often a boxing PPV has a great main event and not much more. But on the Sept. 19 card in Vegas, Chris Johns will defend his featherweight title in a rematch of his draw with Rocky Juarez, former welterweight champion Zab Judah will face Antonio Diaz and the always entertaining Michael Katsidis will fight ex-US Olympian Vicente Escobedo.

It’s shaping up as a great night of fights, with Floyd Mayweather Jr. taking on two formidable foes: Juan Manuel Marquez and the UFC. Can Floyd keep his focus on the guy across the ring?

Source: http://thefastertimes.com/boxing/2009/08/19/if-mayweather-doesnt-focus-it-wont-look-pretty/