Quote Originally Posted by ICE COLD BOXING
Im getting really bored of reading these threads about Mayweather because all it turns into is Mayweather hasn't fought threats above 135 blah blah.

Mayweather has still fought quality opposition above 135 people need to give him a break and let him fight Hatton first then see who he fights. It just seems to me anytime there is Mayweather thread on any boxing forum it turns into a debate about Mayweather's opposition and people slating his opposition when the fact is he has fought good opposition and fighting Hatton is for certain a step in the right direction so i don't really see why you guys are so harsh on Mayweather.

You may not like the guy and thats fair enough but it just seems every time there is Mayweather thread you guys can't wait to slate his opposition. When the fact is his record is probably one of the best in the last decade.
I've though a lot about this. This is my best objective look at Mayweather's post 135 career.

First, this is a thread where the title reads "Just read that Team Mayweather has no interest in Cotto." For the purposes of this thread, Mayweather's limited fights against TOP quality fights above 135 is completely relevant. Of course you are sick of hearing this, because it's true, and the best you and say in his defense is "cut him some slack." I'll cut him some slack for one fight. Maybe two, and mark me, I would have been all over Ricky Hatton if he had booked another soft defense. But I won't cut him slack for skipping a division and claiming credit for having held a paper belt in that division.

What happened in reality during that three year period that he didn't have a quality fight? He decided to pick up a belt at 140, but he didn't want the risk of going for the real title. He says that belts don't matter, yet he waisted his time in meaningless title eliminators to fight a meaningless paper champion - Gatti at 140 - to bolster his claim to be a GOAT and increase his cache. He does this instead of campaigning to face the real champ of that division - Kostya, or then Ricky. Why? Makes good business sense. Gatti is a good payday and a belt at ZERO risk, and he can claim for his "legacy" that he held a title at 140, but in reality, he never held the real title there. It would have been much more dangerous to campaign for the real 140 belt, and if he lost, his stock plummets. Eventual goal of De La Hoya Megafight gets spoiled.

So he spends 2 meaningless years to grabs his paper belt at 140 against 2nd tier competition- no attempt to unify - not a big enough fight at that point to be worth the risk. He knows if he can grab the WW title he can get his fight with ODLH. Fair enough. I can't blame him for the way things played out at WW. It wasn't his fault Zab lost, and once Zab lost, he needed to fight Baldy, too. I can't blame him for fighting Oscar, once he had the chance. From a business sense, it's logical. I can't even blame him for doing it.

Now he's doing the right thing fighting Ricky. In a way, he's cleaning up his leftover mess from 140, and if he beats Ricky he will find out if he is interested in being a real GOAT or not. If he is, he'll fight Cotto and unify welter. If he's not, he'll give ODLH a rematch or fight Mosley or come up with some other creative, profitable, and safe option.

If you want to tell me it was smart business to spend 2 years grab a meaningless belt and take a soft warmup at 147 to help set up bigger fights, I'll buy it and maybe even forgive the Pretty Boy, but please, I don't want to hear his fans buying into his company BS and parroting his propaganda. Take credit for the Oscar win. He deserves it. Even take credit for the Judah win...he deserves it. But don't try to tell me that Mitchell, Corley, Brussles and Gatti mean anything other than killing time and setting himself up for a bigger fights.