Are we being too hard on Floyd Mayweather Jr.?

Are we being too hard on Floyd Mayweather Jr.?

By Eric Marks, Doghouse Boxing (May 18, 2009)

Now that Floyd Mayweather Jr. has ended his retirement and is preparing for a July 18th fight with Juan Manuel Marquez, grumblings can again be heard about Mayweather’s choice of opponent, specifically his desire to fight the smaller Marquez rather than fighting a natural welterweight. Mayweather is of course used to being criticized for his “high reward low risk” fight philosophy, and perhaps such criticism is warranted, but let’s take a quick walk down memory lane and see if the continual chastising of Mayweather has merit.

Floyd’s fight with Carlos Baldomir illustrates the point. As fans will recall, Mayweather bypassed an 8 million dollar or so payday for a fight with Antonio Margarito to face Baldomir largely because it was an easier fight and most importantly fighting a tough foe like Margarito would have jeopardized the mega-fight with Oscar De La Hoya on May 5th 2007. At the time, this writer was willing to cut Floyd some slack because of the magnitude of the fight with De La Hoya.

Now Floyd is in a similar position by sidestepping a Shane Mosely, Miguel Cotto, or Paul Williams for Marquez in an effort to ensure he gets the only real mega-fight to be mad in boxing: Manny Pacquiao vs Floyd Mayweather. Fans are salivating at the thought of Mayweather vs. Pacquiao….so can you blame him for not wanting to fight the other welterweight stars particular after a 17 month layoff?

There was no reason Mayweather should have fought Ricky Hatton when he could have faced a higher caliber opponent his size. And should Floyd get by Marquez and then Pacquiao, no excuse exists for not fighting the best fighters in the welterweight division. No doubt, Mayweather is a cautious fighter and history will probably point this out as a limitation, but perhaps we should ease up on him for the time being, suspending judgment until after the inevitable gargantuan fight with Manny Pacauiao.

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Eric at: ericmarks66@hotmail.com