Mayweather needs a reality check

[El Gamo]

http://www.eastsideboxing.com/news.php?p=7751&more=1


Mayweather Needs A Reality Check

28.07.06 - By Jon Beloff: Earlier this week, the news came out that following Floyd Mayweather’s reported refusal to face Antonio Margarito in a November 4 pay-per-view matchup, Bob Arum’s $8 million offer was now off the table. According to Mayweather, "He's not a household name. To get to where I'm at, I had to beat a lot of good fighters. I've proven myself over and over again. It's about business decisions and being smart. We need guys who are going to generate good numbers on pay-per-view, and Antonio Margarito is not known enough to bring in the non-boxing fans. We're trying to go to the next level."

An ironic statement, as reportedly the Mayweather camp are now looking at Cory Spinks as a potential opponent – hardly someone you’d associate with being a household name or a big pay-per-view draw. A more truthful response might be that, with a mega-money fight against superstar Oscar De La Hoya on the horizon, Floyd is reluctant to take a fight against arguably the toughest man out there at welterweight. Fair enough, some might say. From a business point of view, a match with De La Hoya is far too big a prize to risk. It could well be the biggest non-heavyweight fight is history, and the revenue it would generate for both men is mind-boggling.

This aside, I can’t help but feel Floyd has made a big mistake in turning down the Margarito fight – for me, the positive sides of the deal far outweigh the negatives. Mayweather might believe that a fighter as talented as himself deserves the right to call some of the shots. However, that isn’t the case and he needs to wake up and realise the reality of his situation. Despite being possibly the most naturally gifted fighter since the prime Roy Jones Jr, he lacks a significant fan base in the sport. He’s not a big ticket seller, and his two recent appearances on pay-per-view were marketed largely off the back of his opponents. The fact is, it is a while since he has appeared in an inspiring matchup which catches the imagination of the public. Since his two meetings with Jose Luis Castillo at lightweight back in 2002, he has fought a string of B-level opposition. A one sided destruction of Arturo Gatti last year did little to cement his status at light-welterweight, and he was largely derided for keeping his April date against Judah, despite Zab’s shock loss of the true welterweight championship to Carlos Baldomir in January. Floyd continued to argue that his fight with Judah would give him the chance to become a welterweight champion – the truth is, Judah only managed to keep hold of a belt on a technicality, after Baldomir decided he couldn’t afford all the sanctioning fees.

Boxing followers have now grown tired of seeing Mayweather chase the easy options, and it seems that his shunning of Margarito was the final straw. They don’t want him to play it safe until next year, when we’ll find out if a challenge against De La Hoya does materialise. Large sections of the fans and media have jumped on the Margarito bandwagon, and are dictating that he is the man Floyd needs to face to prove himself once again. Admittedly, Tony hasn’t done much to deserve this honour. His win over unbeaten prospect Kermit Cintron last year was impressive, but he has yet to show his ability at the highest levels of the sport. He hasn’t had much opportunity, given that just about everyone seems hell bent on avoiding him – he is viewed as a high risk, low reward option. However, the reward is most certainly there for Mayweather. Although you could imagine Margarito’s size and strength would make it a tough night for Floyd, he is undeniably levels above him in terms of talent. I wouldn’t bet against the ‘pretty boy’ overcoming any difficulties he is presented with, much like he did against Judah in his last outing.

For Mayweather, taking a risky fight with Margarito represents the chance to silence his critics and redeem his popularity in the sport. A good win would serve to get the fans on his side again and heighten the anticipation for a mega-showdown with boxing’s ‘golden boy’. In addition, it would be a career high payday, and give Floyd the pay-per-view star exposure that he craves. It is difficult to see why he feels this is one opportunity he can pass on.

[TyBuff]

I think PBF would earn more fans by taking an extremely hard fight and losing. He isnt gaining anything by fighting the easiest options. But of course with PBF he is going to get ridiculed no matter which direction he decides to take. Until he starts taking the fights the fans want he isnt going to be gaining anything. I am losing a lot of respect for him. He has fought so many B/B+ fighters lately you can almost make an argument about his talents (not that I would). It is hard to judge a mans excellence when its against no hopers.

[outspoken]

No but he is making history and setting up a mega $$$$$ unification bout with Oscar

[Kev]

I think Floyd is doing exactly the right thing.

Ignore the fickle bayings of the unwashed masses who cry out for him to face a different champion every week,( Hatton, Oscar, Margarito, Mosely etc ), and methodically plan your way to becoming a 5 weight world champion and then beat whoever is the proven best, ie Oscar, Hatton or Margarito if they have proved themselves worthy etc.

[Bx730NY]

For me to believe that Floyd is P4P #1, is going to take alot more than him fighting guys that are not in the top level in boxing. This guy is trying to insult peoples intelligence by consistently saying he's #1 and he's should get all this money and things of that nature. I'm sick of him moving up and fighting the most vulnerable champ every time he moves up in weight. Then he says that belts mean nothing but he doesn't fight the Best and Real recognized champ at each weight but loves to brag about winning titles at all these weight classes. Don't be fooled people. If he wants his accolades then he should earn them and not just expect people to buy the crap he's selling.

[Wacko3205]

For me to believe that Floyd is P4P #1, is going to take alot more than him fighting guys that are not in the top level in boxing. This guy is trying to insult peoples intelligence by consistently saying he's #1 and he's should get all this money and things of that nature.

The funny thing about intelligence is this...most people & boxing fans have voted Floyd as the #1 P4P fighter...not just Floyd himself. He's not the one printing the #1 by his name & he doesn't have supernatural mind manipulating abilities.

An undefeated fighter of his caliber should get the money & accolades that he wants. Other fighters have in the past & Floyd has fought a much greater array of fighters than say...Margarito...who continues to hype himself as the most dangerous dodged man out there.

I'm sick of him moving up and fighting the most vulnerable champ every time he moves up in weight. Then he says that belts mean nothing but he doesn't fight the Best and Real recognized champ at each weight but loves to brag about winning titles at all these weight classes. Don't be fooled people. If he wants his accolades then he should earn them and not just expect people to buy the crap he's selling.

Again...check Floyd's record...he's earned his reputation.

If fighters such Judah, Corley, Mitchell, Corrales, Castillo, Gatti, Chaves, & Hernandez were worthy enough to gain other fighters praise...then they are worthy enough to garner the props Floyd deserves.

The funny thing is this...people rip Floyd for the fighters that he fights...but they applaude fighters such as Margarito, Oscar, & Hatton for fighting who they fight.

Kinda weak...especially considering that you can take the above mentioned champs opposition & break it down just as easy if not easier than you can Floyd's.

[El Gamo]

For me to believe that Floyd is P4P #1, is going to take alot more than him fighting guys that are not in the top level in boxing. This guy is trying to insult peoples intelligence by consistently saying he's #1 and he's should get all this money and things of that nature. I'm sick of him moving up and fighting the most vulnerable champ every time he moves up in weight. Then he says that belts mean nothing but he doesn't fight the Best and Real recognized champ at each weight but loves to brag about winning titles at all these weight classes. Don't be fooled people. If he wants his accolades then he should earn them and not just expect people to buy the crap he's selling.

Excellent points,CC.Wack,people rip who he fights because he calls himself the truth,P4P number 1 etc etc and I'd make a bet that although some places have him as P4P number 1,alot of places are starting to realise this and replace him with Winky/Pacman.

The fact is,and no-one has answered me...who has Floyd fought since JLC who we thought was a threat?Or was not coming off a loss?Or was not the weakest champ in the division?Heck when he beat JLC and Chico,where they even in people#s P4P lists?A bit of research will show you that they were not!Floyd will fight Baldo,win,get all the credit in the world...Margarito will fight Clottey who was beating Baldo easily even though he had point deductions and people will say..who has Tony beat... Ridiculous and hypocritical.

[Bx730NY]

For me to believe that Floyd is P4P #1, is going to take alot more than him fighting guys that are not in the top level in boxing. This guy is trying to insult peoples intelligence by consistently saying he's #1 and he's should get all this money and things of that nature.

The funny thing about intelligence is this...most people & boxing fans have voted Floyd as the #1 P4P fighter...not just Floyd himself. He's not the one printing the #1 by his name & he doesn't have supernatural mind manipulating abilities.

An undefeated fighter of his caliber should get the money & accolades that he wants. Other fighters have in the past & Floyd has fought a much greater array of fighters than say...Margarito...who continues to hype himself as the most dangerous dodged man out there.

I'm sick of him moving up and fighting the most vulnerable champ every time he moves up in weight. Then he says that belts mean nothing but he doesn't fight the Best and Real recognized champ at each weight but loves to brag about winning titles at all these weight classes. Don't be fooled people. If he wants his accolades then he should earn them and not just expect people to buy the crap he's selling.

Again...check Floyd's record...he's earned his reputation.

If fighters such Judah, Corley, Mitchell, Corrales, Castillo, Gatti, Chaves, & Hernandez were worthy enough to gain other fighters praise...then they are worthy enough to garner the props Floyd deserves.

The funny thing is this...people rip Floyd for the fighters that he fights...but they applaude fighters such as Margarito, Oscar, & Hatton for fighting who they fight.

Kinda weak...especially considering that you can take the above mentioned champs opposition & break it down just as easy if not easier than you can Floyd's.

The other guys' opposition doesn't matter when you consider that they are not the ones being hailed as p4p kings. Judah was his only good opponent in the last 3 or 4 years despite everyone ripping him. And I think that anyone in their right mind knows what would have happened had Zab not ran out of steam so fast. The public, for the most part, believes what they hear from the so called experts and not what they see. If a lie floats around long enough, it almost becomes true. The fans didn't initially vote him in by the way. They just bought into the hype. I think he is a great boxer but, he can't get p4p status in my book with his level of competition. Don't try to act like those guys weren't the most vulnerable champs he fought moving up in weight either cause you or Fraud ain't fooling ME!!!

[bigragu]

I think Floyd is doing exactly the right thing.

Ignore the fickle bayings of the unwashed masses who cry out for him to face a different champion every week,( Hatton, Oscar, Margarito, Mosely etc ), and methodically plan your way to becoming a 5 weight world champion and then beat whoever is the proven best, ie Oscar, Hatton or Margarito if they have proved themselves worthy etc.

yes and no....yes in the aspect that he is setting up the ultimate payday against ODLH and no in the fact that PBF has taken too much time between fights...he had an opportunity to really solidify himself after the Gatti destruction but he has been idle far too long.....people are forgetting him.....he is losing out big time!!!!

[Kev]

I think Floyd is doing exactly the right thing.

Ignore the fickle bayings of the unwashed masses who cry out for him to face a different champion every week,( Hatton, Oscar, Margarito, Mosely etc ), and methodically plan your way to becoming a 5 weight world champion and then beat whoever is the proven best, ie Oscar, Hatton or Margarito if they have proved themselves worthy etc.

yes and no....yes in the aspect that he is setting up the ultimate payday against ODLH and no in the fact that PBF has taken too much time between fights...he had an opportunity to really solidify himself after the Gatti destruction but he has been idle far too long.....people are forgetting him.....he is losing out big time!!!!

What do you mean? He's beaten Sharmba Mitchell and Zab Judah since then, he's just as active as any other world champion out there and continues to fight big name fighters.

People are now giving Baldomir loads of credit saying he would beat Hatton, whilst completely ignoring the fact that Mayweather has faced the same two opponents as Baldomir, Gatti and Judah and won more decisively in both instances.

Hatton has only fought Maussa and Collazo. Collazo was supposed to be an easy fight, it just went wrong for Ricky. Margarito has only fought Michael Gomez this year.

The fact is Mayweather is judged by an entirely different standard to other fighters out there. If Ricky Hatton or Maragrito signed to fight Zab Judah or Carlos Baldomir they would be considered huge fights and everyone would get excited. If Mayweather signs to fight them he's taking the easy option and being a coward.

Double standards.

[Kev]

For me to believe that Floyd is P4P #1, is going to take alot more than him fighting guys that are not in the top level in boxing. This guy is trying to insult peoples intelligence by consistently saying he's #1 and he's should get all this money and things of that nature. I'm sick of him moving up and fighting the most vulnerable champ every time he moves up in weight. Then he says that belts mean nothing but he doesn't fight the Best and Real recognized champ at each weight but loves to brag about winning titles at all these weight classes. Don't be fooled people. If he wants his accolades then he should earn them and not just expect people to buy the crap he's selling.

Excellent points,CC.Wack,people rip who he fights because he calls himself the truth,P4P number 1 etc etc and I'd make a bet that although some places have him as P4P number 1,alot of places are starting to realise this and replace him with Winky/Pacman.

The fact is,and no-one has answered me...who has Floyd fought since JLC who we thought was a threat?Or was not coming off a loss?Or was not the weakest champ in the division?Heck when he beat JLC and Chico,where they even in people#s P4P lists?A bit of research will show you that they were not!Floyd will fight Baldo,win,get all the credit in the world...Margarito will fight Clottey who was beating Baldo easily even though he had point deductions and people will say..who has Tony beat... Ridiculous and hypocritical.

Why do you keep going on about Clottey game? It was 7 years ago for fucks sake, hardly relevent. Baldomir was not the fighter then that he is now.

[bigragu]

I think Floyd is doing exactly the right thing.

Ignore the fickle bayings of the unwashed masses who cry out for him to face a different champion every week,( Hatton, Oscar, Margarito, Mosely etc ), and methodically plan your way to becoming a 5 weight world champion and then beat whoever is the proven best, ie Oscar, Hatton or Margarito if they have proved themselves worthy etc.

yes and no....yes in the aspect that he is setting up the ultimate payday against ODLH and no in the fact that PBF has taken too much time between fights...he had an opportunity to really solidify himself after the Gatti destruction but he has been idle far too long.....people are forgetting him.....he is losing out big time!!!!

What do you mean? He's beaten Sharmba Mitchell and Zab Judah since then, he's just as active as any other world champion out there and continues to fight big name fighters.

People are now giving Baldomir loads of credit saying he would beat Hatton, whilst completely ignoring the fact that Mayweather has faced the same two opponents as Baldomir, Gatti and Judah and won more decisively in both instances.

Hatton has only fought Maussa and Collazo. Collazo was supposed to be an easy fight, it just went wrong for Ricky. Margarito has only fought Michael Gomez this year.

The fact is Mayweather is judged by an entirely different standard to other fighters out there. If Ricky Hatton or Maragrito signed to fight Zab Judah or Carlos Baldomir they would be considered huge fights and everyone would get excited. If Mayweather signs to fight them he's taking the easy option and being a coward.

Double standards.

I know....when you're the best you always get hit with double standards....I think PBF is fine in waiting for ODLH and "THE PAYDAY of all paydays" but for the average fan PBF is falling off the pedastal he created with the Gatti fight....the laypeople hardly know of Judah or Mitchell.....but Gatti? every one even those not in the fight game know or have heard of him...I was just stating that he needed to capatalize on his national exposure more than what he did by doing commercials or appearances on the big networks by going on Leno, Letterman or even O'Brien or Live with Regis/Kelly(Quite Frankly doesn't count)....he's not at the household name status yet.... ala ALI, Foreman, Tyson.....I still think he's the best P4P out there......

[bcollins]

PBF is judged by a higher standard - partially of his own choosing in his claims to be not only one of the best today, but of all time. We as fans judge him by a higher standard simply because of the talent he has. It's hard to see someone with that much ability not demonstrate it by fighting the difficult fights! Someone mentioned it earlier - PBF might gain more in the fans' eyes if he fought the toughest fight he could find and lost. I'd like to see what he really has, instead of watching him target practice on the lesser challenges he always seems to choose. His last few fights have been against good names, but do they represent the biggest challenges in the division?

It's easy to say that he should act like every other top fighter out there and take the easier fights, but the fact is - he's so good, we can't let him. When someone has that much ability, we naturally crave to see how good he actually is - and we can't do that with the level of opposition he faces nowadays.

[Kev]

I think Floyd is doing exactly the right thing.

Ignore the fickle bayings of the unwashed masses who cry out for him to face a different champion every week,( Hatton, Oscar, Margarito, Mosely etc ), and methodically plan your way to becoming a 5 weight world champion and then beat whoever is the proven best, ie Oscar, Hatton or Margarito if they have proved themselves worthy etc.

yes and no....yes in the aspect that he is setting up the ultimate payday against ODLH and no in the fact that PBF has taken too much time between fights...he had an opportunity to really solidify himself after the Gatti destruction but he has been idle far too long.....people are forgetting him.....he is losing out big time!!!!

What do you mean? He's beaten Sharmba Mitchell and Zab Judah since then, he's just as active as any other world champion out there and continues to fight big name fighters.

People are now giving Baldomir loads of credit saying he would beat Hatton, whilst completely ignoring the fact that Mayweather has faced the same two opponents as Baldomir, Gatti and Judah and won more decisively in both instances.

Hatton has only fought Maussa and Collazo. Collazo was supposed to be an easy fight, it just went wrong for Ricky. Margarito has only fought Michael Gomez this year.

The fact is Mayweather is judged by an entirely different standard to other fighters out there. If Ricky Hatton or Maragrito signed to fight Zab Judah or Carlos Baldomir they would be considered huge fights and everyone would get excited. If Mayweather signs to fight them he's taking the easy option and being a coward.

Double standards.

I know....when you're the best you always get hit with double standards....I think PBF is fine in waiting for ODLH and "THE PAYDAY of all paydays" but for the average fan PBF is falling off the pedastal he created with the Gatti fight....the laypeople hardly know of Judah or Mitchell.....but Gatti? every one even those not in the fight game know or have heard of him...I was just stating that he needed to capatalize on his national exposure more than what he did by doing commercials or appearances on the big networks by going on Leno, Letterman or even O'Brien or Live with Regis/Kelly(Quite Frankly doesn't count)....he's not at the household name status yet.... ala ALI, Foreman, Tyson.....I still think he's the best P4P out there......

Yes it is a mystery why he's not so well known. But I guess he is earning enough money not to be bothered. He probably knows his big paydays will come soon and is content to wait. From his point of view it would be pointless to risk it all taking a potentially dangerous opponent whe mega paydays are just around the corner.

[Kev]

PBF is judged by a higher standard - partially of his own choosing in his claims to be not only one of the best today, but of all time. We as fans judge him by a higher standard simply because of the talent he has. It's hard to see someone with that much ability not demonstrate it by fighting the difficult fights! Someone mentioned it earlier - PBF might gain more in the fans' eyes if he fought the toughest fight he could find and lost. I'd like to see what he really has, instead of watching him target practice on the lesser challenges he always seems to choose. His last few fights have been against good names, but do they represent the biggest challenges in the division?

It's easy to say that he should act like every other top fighter out there and take the easier fights, but the fact is - he's so good, we can't let him. When someone has that much ability, we naturally crave to see how good he actually is - and we can't do that with the level of opposition he faces nowadays.

Patience bcollins they will come soon enough....