Sharkie's Machine: Floyd Mayweather Jr. Neutralized Juan Manual Marquez on the Road to Pacquaio vs. Mayweather Jr.
By Frank Gonzalez Jr., Doghouse Boxing (Sept 20, 2009) Photo © German Villasenor  
Saturday night in Las Vegas , former WELTERWEIGHT titlist Floyd “Money” Mayweather Jr. (40-0, 25 KO’s) returned to the ring after a retirement that amounted to a nearly two year lay off. Instead of taking on the customary tomato can opponent in his own weight class, Floyd opted for extremely highly regarded LIGHTWEIGHT titlist, Juan Manual Marquez (50-5-1, 37 KO’s), who for some time now has become associated with Manny Pacquaio, for the two close fights they had. Everything about this Marquez vs. Mayweather fight was about promoting the dream come true, Pay-Per-View event HBO is salivating to make.

Honestly, Mayweather vs. Marquez was a fairly boring affair. If you passed on this PPV, you missed Katsidis vs. Escobedo, a fairly entertaining match. You also missed another boring fight, as Chris John getting his just due, as he soundly beat Rocky Juarez ten rounds to two. Marquez gave his best but didn’t have the speed or size to deal effectively with the larger, faster, heavier master boxer that is Floyd Mayweather Jr. Marquez best round was the first round, where he was more aggressive and landed possibly more punches than in any other round and that wasn’t much.

Interestingly, in spite of all the hype in the boxing press and episodes of 24/7 on HBO, promising a scintillating fight between Floyd and Marquez, it turned out to be as boring as watching paint dry. It was competitive for one round, the first round. After that, it was all Mayweather, jabbing, throwing left hooks and using his size and range to neutralize Marquez, who was too slow to keep up with Floyd’s mobility and speedy hands. And while it was with generosity that I found a round to give Marquez, this was basically a shut out for the man with everything in his favor coming in, Floyd Mayweather Jr., who scored a knockdown in the second round as the appetizer to the main course, which was a one sided affair that showed how great Floyd is against an overmatched opponent.

But this fight wasn’t even about this fight. It was about promoting what promises to be the biggest financial prize in boxing history by matching the enormous Philippine fan base of Pacquaio and their money with everyone else’s who follows boxing for this “event” that will make a small group of people very rich.

Hey, here’s an idea, since every fight that features Floyd is going to be on Pay-Per-View, why not match him with someone his own size and closer to his stature? Why is it that there’s hardly a word about Floyd facing Sugar Shane Mosley, Paul Williams or any of the other top Welters? And there’s not a peep about Pacman fighting anyone in his own division. I mean, these guys do have a division they fight in, no? And how can one be the best in boxing if one doesn’t at least clean out one’s own division?

Forget Mayweather vs. Pacman, I want to see Mayweather vs. Mosley! Why not? Mosley used to also enjoy the moniker of “best pound for pound” fighter too, so, why was it such a big deal at the end of the night, during the post fight interview when Shane Mosley pulled a Kanye West on Floyd, interrupting his interview with Max Kellerman by making noise about how he wants to fight Floyd and that’s the fight fans want to see. Floyd became agitated at the very notion. Tempers started to flair and things looked on the verge of chaos just before things cooled down a bit. As Kellerman again raised the question of guess who? Manny Pacquaio, Floyd took the microphone from Kellerman and decided to pull a Sarah Palin debate tactic and talk about what he wanted to talk about and never mind those other pesky questions that detract from the promotion of Mayweather vs. Pacquaio.

To Kellerman’s credit, he behaved like a professional and ended the interview right there, refusing to let Floyd sabotage his job. Mayweather was lucky it went that way too because the topic of Mosley vs. Mayweather was suddenly off the table, just like the interview was at that point.

A word to Shane Mosley: No Shane, the fans don’t want to see you fight Floyd. They only want to see fights where Floyd is guaranteed to win. No one wants to see him fight you, a man even bigger than him and possibly as fast and fit, if your performance against Margarito is any indication, I seriously doubt Lenard Ellerbee or even the Queen of England could make that fight happen. So why don’t you follow in Floyd’s footsteps and go south…like try and land a fight with Edwin Valero or maybe Yuriorkis Gamboa. You have major clout with Oscar, who has full clout with HBO. If you beat Gamboa, you’ll be heralded as the best P4P fighter again! If that sounds ridiculous, consider what Floyd just did.

It was interesting to watch Floyd become so threatened at the idea of a Mosley fight. There’s no way Floyd wants that fight. Hell, I always thought Floyd’s recent retirement was in part because he wanted to wait two years for guys like Shane to go away, Margarito to fade and Paul Williams to naturally get thicker and be unable to make 147. Hell, it nearly worked. Margarito got disgraced and suspended, Williams has campaigned at 154 but Mosley…seemed to get younger and stronger after his sloppy performance against Mayorga a year earlier and then becoming super strong and revitalized when he put that devastating whoopin’ on the “cheating” Margarito.

Pacman is perfect for Floyd. Pacman’s image has been carefully cultivated after wins over a way past it Oscar and a faded Hatton. Suddenly, Pacquaio is the best fighter in boxing…based on wins over two guys who were past their best days.

If Floyd’s performance against Marquez is any indication, Floyd would beat Pacman. He’s bigger, stronger, faster and longer, just like he was against Marquez. Actually, the way Manny comes in with punches, he might even get knocked out with that approach against Floyd, one of the best defensive fighters in boxing. Floyd knows this and as a businessman, seeks to exploit this to his advantage. As much as I’d love to see it, there’s no way Pacquaio beats Floyd Mayweather Jr. So, expect that contract to be signed soon.

One thing that bothered me about the Marquez fight was that even with all the advantages afforded Floyd in this fight, Floyd even failed to make the contracted weight and came two pounds over at the official weigh in and had to be at least 150 something pounds when he got into the ring with Marquez, who looked tiny in the ring with Floyd. Marquez got an extra 600,000 grand for Floyd’s arrogance but even so, Marquez said during the pre fight interview that he’d have preferred Mayweather had made the contracted weight.

As the show wound down after the attempt to interview Floyd, it was clear there was no intention to bother interviewing Marquez but after the Mayweather interview went south in the ring, HBO was wrapping it up with their comments committed to promoting Mayweather vs. Pacquaio when suddenly; Marquez appeared by Jim Lampley, wanting to say a few words. You’d think a man of Marquez stature would deserve a proper post fight interview, right?

Marquez said he did his best and that he worked hard and came into this fight intending to win it. He also mentioned that the extra weight on Floyd made a big difference for him and that he should have fought a few fights at 147 before electing to do so with no experience against a welterweight of Floyd’s caliber.

I hope Showtime’s Super Six tournament at Super Middleweight is successful and serves to remind boxing fans what this sport can be like when real competition is on the menu. Can you imagine HBO doing a Super Six Welterweight Tournament that included Floyd Mayweather Jr., Shane Mosley, Miguel Cotto, Josh Clottey, Paul Williams and Antonio Margarito? Who’d be left standing after that one? That would be one great question to bounce around as one of the most exciting divisions in boxing goes to war.

Comments, Questions, can be emailed to dshark87@hotmail.com.







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