6 reasons Floyd Mayweather Jr should fight Jermain Taylor: An Open Letter
 By Martin Wade (June 9, 2007) Doghouse Boxing
Hey Floyd, it’s me Martin! Don’t squint and give me one of those looks like you don’t know a brotha. Just call me one of those “writers” who don’t know a damn thing about boxing. Listen, I’ve seen your goodwill media blitz and I understand that your probably busy trying to distance yourself from the shooting outside your party so I won’t take a lot of your time. Unlike most, I completely buy what you say to the kids (how it’s about being the best you can be) and I also buy your Friday Night Fights assertion that it’s about the money. I can’t judge (right?) and if I ever want to invite abundance into my life I can’t take offense to abundance in yours.
Now with all of the small talk out of the way I have an interesting proposal for you. One that will elevate you to the stratosphere we both know you want and at the same time remove the sour taste from the mouths of purist and the casual fans who felt you ruined Cinco de Mayo. What’s in it for you? (somehow I knew you’d ask) is a good question but the real question is what’s not in it for you. So you ready for my pitch? Put down the money stack for just a second I wanna say something important….. Fight Jermain Taylor NOW! Before you start giving me all of the obvious excuses why (please put the phone down, damn) you wont here are my six reasons why you should bang the drums for this fight.
#1: Money
Just walk into the HBO offices and play the risk/reward card like Roy Jones in his prime. Mention the size advantage and your personal safety more than bubba likes to talk about shrimp. You can even throw in the Mack truck/Porsche analogy because that gets em every time. There’s no telling how much HBO is willing to fork out for the spectacle of seeing you in there with (let’s face it) a super middleweight. Yes Jermain will try to dictate to you but you know what? You’re pound for pound status, victory over the Golden Boy and “retired” position will control the pace of this negotiation. Besides you’ve secured your ride to Canastota, while Jermain is headed for some ESPN overrated show. Lou Dibella is notoriously proactive in negotiations and I wouldn’t blame him for using the “mega fight” excuse to keep Jermain away from Pavlik just a little longer. If you have little more than tax ID #, logo and two fighters you can bet that HBO will go for the idea of a co promotion with “Mayweather Promotions”. You’ll make money as a fighter, co promoter and manager. In the words of Damon Wayans, mo money mo money mo money.
#2 it’s a winnable fight
Despite what anyone says about Corey Spinks and his style, many observers felt he beat Jermain Taylor. Corey Spinks Floyd, a guy that aint much bigger than you was able to freeze Jermain all not long with his ring IQ. So if Corey can give Jermain the “okey doke” what do think your chances would be Floyd? Even at 35 Oscar is quicker than Jermain Taylor and you held him to a 21% connect percentage. Word on the street is you’re a lot stronger than you look and spar bigger guys all the time so why not take this easy work? Taylor will never fight enough to come close to dealing with your kind of talent, he’s perpetually cold because he became a corporation before he sharpened his craft. You on the other hand started on your craft in diapers and your chief critic Manny Steward can’t close that gap on his schedule. You also hurt Oscar to the body, something Corey didn’t even bring to the table against Jermaine.
#3 Public sentiment
Every time you make a public appearance and say that HBO wanted to show only one side of you (on 24/7) your saying LOVE ME! Your human, and there aren’t many people ( aside from Roberto Duran) who wouldn’t wilt in the face of the massive adoration Oscar received in your last fight. Now I’ve come to realize that you’re over the top villain act was just a sensitive cat saying “fuck it”. If you ever want to come back to boxing understand something, the reasons we love fighters aren’t the reasons we love rappers. Playing the villain and talking about “icing muthafucka’s” when your style is more befitting your moniker (pretty boy) turns people off.
The quickest way to garnering public sentiment is this fight, because everyone loves the little guy. Why do you think the first 2 weeks of March Madness are so crazy (yes Floyd I know about the betting)? The excitement is the chance of seeing someone little beat someone big, hell even watching them come close is high drama. David vs. Goliath sells, Spud Webb vs. Dominique Wilkins, Allen Iverson in the Finals, internet start ups vs. fortune 500 corporations. Why do you think people love the first Rocky more than the sequels? because he was an underdog!. One picture of you staring into Jermains chest will spark something in people that will make them forget all about how they thought they felt about you. They’ll find themselves rooting for you to do something against the odds, for all the little people. Once you feel that sentiment (that guys like Oscar and Ray Leonard feel all the time) you’ll be hooked.
#4 History and separation
As of this date Jermain Taylor is the man in the middleweight and only a loss will change matters. A lot of observers believe he lost to Hopkins, Wright and Spinks but until the judges say so he’s the man. Will you be the fighter irrepressible enough to make the judges score against Jermain?. Talk about a feather in your cap, doing something Winky Wright, Bernard Hopkins and an underappreciated Corey Spinks couldn’t do. A lot of people believe that you’ve taken to desecrating Ray Robinson, Ray Leonard and Muhammad Ali by proclaiming yourself the greatest. A win over Taylor will allow you to say your better than Henry Armstrong too (do you even know of him?) because you’ve won two belts in progressively higher weight classes in a calendar year. It will be forever known as the “Floyd slam” and no fighter that started at 130lbs will even dare dream of doing the same thing. You’ll separate yourself from Pernell Whitaker, Shane Mosley and Oscar De La hoya whose middleweight belt was boosted from a victim named Sturm. You’ll separate yourself from Roy Jones because Jermain even at this stagnated point is more legit than John Ruiz ever was. Boxing’s most grizzled critics will have to do what you promised Oscar you’d make him do, Call you Pretty.
#5 you’ll piss off Manny Steward
From his perch behind a microphone Manny loves to take his shots at you and due to your persona a lot of us like it. Don’t tell me you don’t hate it when he calls you “a good little fighter” or starts comparing every move you make to :Manny voice: “Tommy Hearn’s”. Manny is a Detroit guy through and through, when you compare your Grand Rapids ass to Detroit’s own Walker Smith it shakes him at his core. Did you see him in the Spinks fight? Imagine making him fall apart with your own two hands and talking to him while you do it. The pain will only accumulate as Manny will have to come back as a commentator and “comment” on the hands you put on Jermaine. Plus in the build up you can let Roger go all “roger” on Manny and tell him he can’t train shit. And if none of this convinces you to make this fight consider this….
#6 Oscar will make the rematch
You think that casual fans believing Oscar won will bring him back but you my friend are wrong. Oscar is a different animal and a lot of people believe he exceeded expectations, that you took the air out of the fight. Oscar in his mind believes he won, but he also believed he beat Trinidad and we’re still waiting for that rematch. Believe me Floyd, Oscar is content and he’s had enough of your act. The only thing that will convince him to take another shot at you is plain old jealousy. Right now with public support and a lot of money the only thing that will irk him is seeing you with THE legitimate middleweight strap. Oscar will see an opportunity, remember he’s 0-2 (really) at middleweight and you can point that out to him. He will also see a chance to win the middleweight and junior middleweight belt at a catch weight (157). Writers like me will also point out that if Jermain wasn’t too big for you why was Bernard too big for him? Millie may have a fit but her man won’t sit there and watch you being called the “king of all boxing”. Your old man won’t stand for it either, he’ll be in Oscar’s corner for the next one and you can thank me for making it all happen. Uhhm, you can tell Leonard Ellerbe and Al Haymon to send my cut to them damn school loan people.
Thanks for your time Floyd.
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