Another convincing win by Floyd “Money” Mayweather. It was definitely a mismatch on all levels. Floyd was too big, too strong and too fast for Juan Marquez. Not only was Floyd the better physical fighter but as usual he also came in with a great game plan. He kept the jab in Marquez face all fight and there wasn’t anything Marquez could do. There was never a moment in the fight were Floyd ever really seemed to be in danger. Most of that is his skill, but he needs to put himself in danger in picking his next opponent if he really wants to go down as one of the best of all time.
Floyd can fight either Shane Mosley or Manny Pacquiao next. Both of those fights would help to make sure Floyd’s name rings out with the greats. In order to be one of the best you have to have beaten some of the best. Part of it isn’t Floyd’s fault. Early in his career when he was fighting at a lighter weight the Welterweight division was great. You had great fighters like Oscar De La Hoya, Felix Trinidad, Mosely, and other quality fighters like Fernado Vargas and Vernon Forrest . And all of those guys fought each other and had some pretty good to great fights. They all faced each other while they were in their primes.
By the time Mayweather moved up a lot of those guys had moved on or in the case of De La Hoya had moved past their prime. Clearly Mayweather fought and beat De La Hoya, but realistically this was towards the end of De La Hoya’s prime. De La Hoya had a losing record his last 5 fights and hasn’t been the top level fighter in years. De La Hoya has lost all of his last fights against comparable talent. So Floyd gets credit for beating De La Hoya but not the proper credit because of where De La Hoya stood. Floyd has beaten a number of fighters who through no fault of his own aren’t in the upper echelon.
This is part of the reason that Mike Tyson will never be listed as one of the greatest fighters of all time. Yes, he’s probably the most dominant fighter, but he has no one that he beat that you can point to as a signature win. He beat Larry Holmes when he was at the end in the same way Floyd beat De La Hoya. At the end De La Hoya wasn’t even fighting to win, he was fighting for the pay days and to build up his promotion business.
But right now Floyd has two fighters in front of him that will give him the place he wants in fighting history. Shane Mosely has had an amazing late career resurrection. Some whispers give credit to the steroids, but whatever it is Mosely has somehow reached the prime of his career at this late point in his career. Shane and Mayweather have been dancing around each other for years. And we will never actually know who was the lead dance partner. But Shane called Mayweather out last night after the fight. Floyd should fight Shane next and setup the mega fight.
Manny Pacquiao is the darling of the sport and considered the best pound for pound right now. So if Floyd was to fight and beat him there would be no argument as to whether Floyd beat Pacquiao in his prime. There is no way a Floyd victory over Pacquiao could be lessened. There are clearly the two best fighters in the World and the winner would claim the title of best fighter of this era.
Floyd doesn’t have a signature win in his career. Part of it is that he doesn’t fight in a way that leads to a memorable battle in the ring. The point of boxing as much as hitting is also not getting hit. And Floyd is clearly the best of his era at not getting hit. Some of the greatest fighters also have memorable losses on their resume. A loss doesn’t hurt your legendary status as long as it is against another legendary figher. Floyd can’t be worried about losing to either Mosley or Pacquiao. A loss in a memorable fight and then a rematch win will do way more for his status than fighting De La Hoya again or another Marquez type opponent.
But when it comes to becoming a legend and going down as one of the greatest he is going to have to have a signature fight. And fights with Mosely and Pacquiao, even if one is a loss will still give him the legendary status that he so tries to talk himself into.
