Floyd\’s Folly.

Floyd Mayweather steps into the ring this Saturday night to face future IBHOF boxer Arturo Gatti (39-6, 30KOs) to determine if he is really the type of fighter that he wants to prove to the public he is. Sure, he is undefeated. He sports a 33-0 record with 22 KOs, but the one thing that concerns me about him is his arrogance and the resentment he shows. It is evident by his press conferences that he is not mature enough for his great fame and that could be his undoing. I offer this for Floyd as a sign of bringing him back to earth on his so-called god-like proclamations. Flashback to April 20, 2002 and his fight against Jose Luis Castillo who, coming into that fight was not expected to win or even mount a successful defense. I saw Floyd bullied around the ring and get outworked, out-jabbed, and outclassed, but the funny thing was that the scorecard read reversely, 116-111, 115-111, and 115-111, all for “Pretty Boy.” It was clearly evident that it was the right score but not for the right fighter. Jose Luis Castillo clearly won seven of the twelve rounds and landed the harder shots. The second fight for the cocky twenty-five-year-old Mayweather saw him win this one more convincingly against Castillo, hushing all doubters, but what was lost is the fact that Castillo, a slow Mexican brawler, almost dominated the champion.

Floyd increasingly began to pile up dominating victories after those fights against Phillip N’Dou, Victoriano Sosa, DeMarcus Corley, and Henry Bruseles. It can be argued that he has not lost a round in three years. He seems to be on the hall-of-fame track, but what he does not realize is that he is not the face of boxing and probably never will be. I heard him say in an interview with ESPN’s Brian Kenny that he was the best fighter ever. He can say that all he wants but he most certainly did not fight all of the best fighters in his respective divisions.

What about Acelino Freitas? You know, when he was undefeated and arguably the hardest hitting lightweight this decade. Let’s not forget why he did not face Joel Casamayor either. To be considered the greatest you have to beat all the great fighters, which Mayweather has not done and can use this as a benchmark for his doldrums. Nobody likes to see twelve round shutouts against second-tier fighters.

When he steps in the ring this Saturday he will be up against an opponent the like of which he has never faced, which is one who has more heart than any of Mayweather’s last four opponents combined. If Floyd can survive the junior welterweight division without a loss, then I will say he is the greatest lightweight ever. If he loses on Saturday, he will just be another Olympic fighter who always let his ego get the best of him. The jury is still out on Floyd. The reason he is so cocky about this fight is because he knows he is in for war.