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Floyd Mayweather Jr., a boxer with tremendous skills in the areas of speed and effective punching. Add that to his skyscraper height of self-confidence and agile defense and you have a high-toned fighter who can take over the light welterweight/welterweight divisions with an iron fist. From the super featherweight title fight on December 19, 1998, a beat down of the durable Angel Manfredy who eventually went down to a TKO in the second round, to the fine display of the art of boxing against Diego Corrales making Corrales feel the mat five times before taking home the WBC super featherweight title on January 20 , 2001. If you need recent evidence of his boxing mastery, just look at his unselfish workout on DeMarcus Corley. In this fight he offered his skills but not to the fullest potential that were witnessed in the past. A mighty talent in boxing, Mr. Mayweather does indeed hold within his heart.
In the majority of the meaningful pound-for-pound lists , Floyd is within the top five. December being the final round of the year in boxing, a man must look forward to the New Year. Floyd tops my list of concernment. Not to get too much into his personal life, but Floyd has had and still is maintaining court dates and dealing with outside the ring distractions. The innocent until proven guilty concept is something for which I hold a lot of respect. Aside from that, you have to wonder how he can concentrate on holding his status as a top pound-for-pound slot holder. Not to say one loss will detour his mentality into becoming a great boxer in the future, but I want to address this thought of mine while Mr. Mayweather is still in the undefeated stage of his career.
Maybe Floyd himself may read this, or someone close to him may toss this article into his eyesight. The year of 2005 holds the idea of a new horizon for Mr. Mayweather who is in the middle of the toughest and most talented division out there with fighters such as Kostya Tszyu, Vivian Harris, Ricky Hatton, Arturo Gatti and Miguel Cotto. Not to mention if he decides to move up to welterweight where he could meet quality forces. In his thirty-two professional fight career, only one fighter, Jose Luis Castillo posed any argument to Floyd falling behind in a fight. I think Mr. Mayweather is slipping into becoming too bold beyond his own talent of boxing. It seems as if the atmosphere outside the ring has pushed him into not wanting to dominate the light welterweight division. This sort of decreased determination is not unique or original. Felix “Tito” Trinidad pre-retirement, Vernon Forrest and more recently Roy Jones Jr. have all had this “beyond boxing” overconfidence.
This overconfidence pushes a boxer into not wanting to train hard for a fight, partying into the wee-hours of the night, having many women at their disposal and problems within the camp. The drive is secondary and the ability to stay in competitive spirit is a forgotten memory. The people around you are not going to inform you, “Hey man, you need to focus back on boxing.” You are signing their paychecks. So all criticisms are favorably in his best interest. Floyd is going through this right now. He has a mediocre next opponent in Henry Bruseles whose record carries no breathtaking results. I see Floyd being stubborn and continuing on this quest of doing things his way.
I wish him the best in all future fights. However sometimes it takes a loss to push a boxer back into the realm of understanding that boxing can exist without you. The whole notion of realizing boxing always starts with training and training hard is the essential ingredient in controlling your position at the top. Just ask Bernard Hopkins. Really Floyd, just ask Bernard Hopkins about balancing training with confidence and understanding that boxing is a gift, not a right.
Shaun Rico LaWhorn can be reached at filmmakers_revolution@msn.com
