As I've said, if the boxers agree to fight in a "weight-drained weight" then it's their sole responsibility to perform at that agreed "weight"... I think most of them agree to that "weight" and at the same time believed they can win the fight at that "weight"...
Some maybe are forced to agree to a certain "weight" but still accepted the fight because of other factors like money, moolah, dinero, fame, glory, legacy, etc.
If they (or their fans??) are really not comfortable of that certain "weight" then they should not accept the fight... Simple as that...
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You're right the fighters should not accept the fight at these weights. But call it what it is though. This is a tactful way of not fighting someone unless you can almost guarantee they are ineffective. I won't fight this fighter unless they come down to a weight they haven't seen in many years. And that was in their youth. This is worse than pricing yourself out of a fight. PBF is getting all kinds of criticism for fighting JMM at a catchweight. And thats a real catchweight. JMM will be the smaller fighter but neither will be drained. I do agree with Roach that JMM's power has seemed to step up with his weight developing.
He mentioned fighting Mosley before the Hatton fight.
If there is no need for Pac to fight him why say it's an option? If it's not an option say there is no way they'll fight not talk up some crap about a stupid 'catchweight'. Another thing if Roach gave a shit about other boxers he wouldn't insist on them dropping weight to fight Pac.
By rabbiting on in the public eye about it he is putting pressure on fighters to sign.
They should stick together and go tell Roach/Pac to screw themselves. If the other big names refuse these conditions Pas gets frozen out at true world level. They need to realise it takes two big names to make a fight legit.
Wanna play hardball? Come sign with Missy. I'll look after a fighter![]()
Mosley still an option for PAC if he will agree to come down at 142 but it seems Mosley can't do it then I think Mosley is now excluded as a possible PAC opponent...
Cotto already declared that he can go down to 144 to fight PAC so maybe Team PAC can consider that catchweight instead of having Cotto go down to 140 as what Roach was originally asking...
PBF and JMM will be fighting at 143 so it's a no brainer that the winner of PBF-JMM can also fight PAC at 143...
Still lots of options for PAC...
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Floyd is getting the criticism because there are a ton of elite, tough welterweights out there and he chose to fight Marquez, whose last fight was at 135, and has made a career at 130 and below. Floyd has five fights where he could fight boxers who won't be smaller and won't be weight drained. And on that note, other than Oscar, when has Floyd fought a bigger fighter?
It is more that from a fan's perspective, I want to see Floyd challenged. I'm bored seeing him fight smaller men so he can showcase his skills.
Last edited by Rantcatrat; 05-19-2009 at 02:02 PM.
You're making it seem like Floyd is a monster puncher who keeps KO'ing smaller guys.. Floyd has fought PLENTY of guys his size throughout his career, and several guys that are bigger.. besides DLH.. Diego Corrales was undefeated and had tons of power at 135 and floyd took him out..
i will agree that there are "bigger" guys to fight at WW, but if he lost to a margarito or a clottey or a paul williams couldn't you play devils advocate and say that they beat a guy who moved up in weight and only fought "smaller" guys at 147 while he was in the weight class?
bigger and smaller are relative terms..
as far as manny saying he'd fight shane at 142 and not 147, does that mean he wouldn't fight floyd at 147 either? Interesting concept..
It comes down to is roach worried that 147 is too high for manny? or does he just not want moseley at his best weight.. if you asked him, i'm sure he would say that it's too high a weight for manny but we all know that it's really because he wants moseley to be drained.
Roach must really lack faith in Manny if he feels the other guy has to be a walking corpse before he lets Manny share the ring with them
Shane was boxing at 154 several years ago and now aged 38 he wants him to boil down to 142? We saw with Oscar he had nothing to offer even b4 the first punch had been thrown . Shane isnt that stupid to give away those kind of advantages. If it was a 147 like a normal welterweight fight Shane would KO pac easily. Roac must feel he is above boxing rules and cant dicate whatever he wants.
First, take into consideration that I give Floyd total credit as a boxer. He isn't my favorite boxer, but I am by no means a hater. But even if I were a Floyd fan boy, he hasn't had a career defining win in five years. Think about it, what were Floyd's biggest wins? I'd go as far as to say that he hasn't had a career defining win since the second Castillo fight. Not that he didn't remain undefeated and didn't dominate good boxers, but he hasn't had a career defining win in quite a while. My memory may be fading me here, but on average, I think I'm right. Beating Hatton and Marquez won't do it for me either. But, what if he beat Paul Williams or Miguel Cotto or Shane Mosley? Or two of the three?
I've wanted to see him to test his skills against welterweights. Yet since he fought ODLH at 154 and appeared fine at that weight, he has fought blown up light weights and junior middle weights.
I'll try and respond to your post, point-by-point.
- Floyd is not a monster puncher, if anything in his arsenal is below par, it is his punching power.
- Who has Floyd fought that was bigger?
- Who has Floyd fought that at their natural weight was bigger?
- If he lost to Margarito or Williams, I would say Floyd wasn't a great at welterweight. That he picked on smaller guys. And also that Floyd has fought at 147 for the last two-three years so it isn't a situation of bigger guys picking on a little guy, Floyd has made a living for two years fighting in their weight class, so I wouldn't put down their victory.
- The thing is each of the people you mentioned have fought each other. Cotto has fought Mosley and Margarito, Mosley has fought Cotto and Margarito, Margarito same, Williams has fought Margarito. Meanwhile, the number one of that weight class hasn't fought one of them. If he is too small to fight welters, he shouldn't be fighting at welterweight against smaller fighters (Now, personally, I'd never bet against Floyd against any of those guys, but you posed the hypothetical).
- Bigger and Smaller are relative. Being a "natural" welterweight is relative. However, there is a case to be made that Margarito, Cotto, Mosely, and Clottey are all natural welterweights. Shane has fought around 147 for a long time. He has fought as high as 154 and as low as 135. He is a natural welterweight. Antonio Margarito has fought as high as 154 and as low as 135. He is a natural welterweight. Cotto has never fought above 147 - he is a natural welterweight. Paul Williams has fought as low as 147 and as high as 160 atlthough he may be a natural junior middleweight who can fight at 147. Floyd. Floyd has fought as high as 154 and as low as 130. He too may be a natural welterweight or maybe not...but, either way he fights at 147.
- 147 may be too high for Manny. Would you bet on Manny against Mosely or Mayweather at 147? I wouldn't. Would you bet on Manny against Mosely or Mayweather at 142? Maybe - I still wouldn't. But, maybe.
Last edited by Rantcatrat; 05-19-2009 at 04:14 PM.
Cotto at 144. Is that a true catchweight?
Miguel Cotto Willing To Face Pacquiao at 144-Pounds - Boxing News
Let's assume Roach feels Manny isn't big enough to fight the big guys at 147. The question I have is rather than fight Mosely or Cotto at catchweights, would you prefer Manny fight Juan Diaz or Nate Campbell or other fighters at 135-140? Obviously, if Juan Manual Marquez wins, it is logical that he should be the next fight. But, that ain't happening.
I feel the same way, generally about mayweather from what you've described, except he's my fav fighter to watch.. but i will not give him any more credit than he deserves, so don't think im coming from there..
as far as #1 in your post, you just reiterated what i said, so, not sure the point there..
#2 - #3.. corralles wasn't naturally bigger? DLH wasn't naturally bigger? It's not like he asked them to drain weight to fight them, so still not sure how you can discredit that.
#4.. a bit of a contradiction here.. you're putting down floyd for fighting smaller guys while he is at 147 (meaning he hasn't fought any true welterweights) but you wouldn't put down THEIR victory (meaning cotto/clottey/margarito) if they beat him? This was EXACTLY my point. If Floyd wasn't such a big mouth and constantly proclaimed himself as the best fighter then it would be REAL easy to say, "well floyd hasn't fought anyone his size, of course Clotty/Cotto/Margarito beat him.. big deal".. Except it would be a big deal because of his P4P status.. just like it would be a big deal if floyd beat JMM/Manny and that he beat Hatton..
I think we sometimes, as boxing fanatics, get too caught up in technicalities.. i'm not saying that weight classes should be overlooked completely, but Floyd could careless what his weight class is considered. He's fighting at or around 147, and he wants the biggest and best pay days from the most popular fighters.
#5.. again, i feel the weight class bit is trivial, but i do agree that TECHNICALLY speaking, if he is going to stay at 147, then he should fight true welterweights.. but with that said, the JMM fight is at a catch weight i believe, so that throws the whole "if he is going to consider himself a welterweight" nonsense out the window..
#6.. again, i agree with your assessments on the fighters you mentioned except floyd.. Floyd fought the majority of his career at 130, fought a few fights at 135, a few at 140, a few at 147 and for his fight at 154 he weighed in at 150.. remember that the weight classes are weight limits.. in a discussion such as this sort, where every pound counts, this makes a difference.
point of the matter is that just because floyd may have fought a fighter who came up in weight, that doesn't mean he is automatically the bigger man. DLH/Pacman was quite a weight difference, but mayweather was never involved in anything that drastic, it's just that his status as a "welterweight" seems to get in the way of the truth behind the technicalities of weight classes..
when discussing PBF it's more P4P status than weight classes.. ask a casual fan, meaning one of the millions of fans watching his fights, if they knew hatton came up in weight to fight floyd.. in fact, i can't think of a time watching a floyd fight where someone in the room said, "floyd is just too big for him".. he was just better.. he would do the same to cotto/moseley etc.. but those fights won't make as much money as other he has to choose from, which is why we probably won't see them.. i HOPE we do, but we probably won't.. Paul williams would be a stretch, i'd be the first to admit that.. but in the same respect, williams went up to 160 in weight and it would almost be a david/goliath matchup.
Diego Corrales? Really? He was taller, but bigger? I'm not so sure. Either way, the Corrales fight occurred 8 years ago. So, in his career, Floyd has fought two bigger men. One of which is arguable. I'm sorry but there is a point there. Hopefully, we'll see him fight more.
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