Floyd Mayweather Jr - Still A Beacon of Brilliance!

Floyd Mayweather Jr - Still A Beacon of Brilliance!

By Jason Petock, DoghouseBoxing (Sept 21, 2009) Photo © German Villasenor

I wrote a piece earlier in July of this year that was extremely pro Mayweather, and it was met with the harshest of criticisms and even blatant threats and insults directed at me by those who call themselves boxing “fans”, yet continually choose to berate and deface all that the sport stands for with their ignorance and negativity. You would have thought when I wrote something that in my opinion was not only honest but essentially telling the basic truth as not only I see it but as several other boxing purists have seen things in regard to Floyd Mayweather Jr's career over the years as well, that those who didn't agree with me could at least accept defeat in a more dignified manner. But I didn't have to wait too long for that, because this Saturday, Juan Manuel Marquez did it for them when he got completely dominated and given a pure boxing clinic by Mayweather, who even managed to floor him in the second round with a crisp left hook that sacked the brave yet over matched and clearly outclassed Mexican fighter and Champion. For a fighter who was out of circulation for almost two years, Floyd hadn't missed a step and his performance was truly spectacular, as he threw accurate, powerful punches with pinpoint precision and spent the entire bout busting up Marquez and throwing a major exclamation point on the end of his statement of being the Number One fighter in the world at this point upon his magnificent return.

Of course with all this being said there will still be the naysayers, those out there who will never fully acknowledge Floyd Mayweather Jr. for his talents inside of the ring. When a fighter is that dominant and refuses to be beaten and speaks his mind at the same time people hate him for it. Bernard Hopkins has faced this same quandary for years and years in his professional career as a boxer, with the media and fans holding a general disdain for the man because he has always been so outspoken and dominant, yet never fully giving him the acknowledgment that we all know he truly deserves as one of the best. Floyd is no different and the sooner that the boxing public can accept and understand this fact the better off we will all be for it. I don't blame Floyd for being bitter, he's a pure boxer that loves the sport and gives 110% to it at all times, yet he gets picked apart on a continual basis by much lesser men who always feel that in their distorted viewpoints that he never does enough, or fights the right people, or mixes it up enough. I think the man can do no wrong and it's nice to see someone who isn't afraid to be themselves. It's rare these days actually.

I was fortunate enough on Saturday to see the fight at a movie theater, which I was extremely excited about, so much so that I got there several hours early just to secure myself the perfect seat. Well, I got that seat, smack dab in the middle of the movie theater, right in the center of all of the seating with the perfect view of the enormous screen. This was the first time I've ever seen a fight on a screen that big and it was like I was in heaven. If I ever get wealthy (in this life or the next), I know that a movie theater is what I would invest my money in for my home, so that I can watch boxing like that all the time. Simply amazing. What struck me about seeing it at the movies was the crowd itself that was present. Everyone was pro-Marquez, anti-Mayweather. I know I had stated in my prior pro-Mayweather article that I was rooting for Marquez to win. But let's be honest here, I knew in the back of my mind that he would get beaten, I just had to tell myself, as well as the reader's out there that I wanted Marquez to win because sometimes you have to go for the underdog in these types of circumstances, even when you know who's actually going to pull it out of the bag sometimes. You want to believe that even in Mayweather's greatness that there is someone out there who can defeat him. Maybe Shane Mosley has his number, we'll see.

For those of you out there who did see the fight and left before the exit interviews and post fight commentary (there were several sore losers at the movie theater who didn't stick around and headed for the door), I have to tell you that you really missed probably some of the best sound bites and exchanges during the entire evening. First we got to see Shane Mosley and Floyd Mayweather Jr. argue back and forth and lightly talk about fighting one another (whether this is pre-fight negotiation hype or build up or not – I'm all for it) in a tense moment that gave us a tiny glimpse into a possible future fight for the enigmatic “Money” Mayweather. But the crème de la crème of the evening so to speak came in a final exchange of blows to punctuate the evening that occurred between Floyd Mayweather Jr. and the ever vociferous and somewhat annoying blowhard Max Kellerman. These blows weren't physical in nature but they had just as much impact and were just as entertaining. As Kellerman tried to conduct an interview with Mayweather, Floyd grabbed the microphone and said something to the effect of, “You talk enough as it is, let me talk”. Those weren't his exact words and as I wrote this article it was extremely late so please forgive me for my warped paraphrasing, but you get the meaning here. I said proudly out loud for all the laughing and stunned remaining audience in the movie theater to hear and absorb, “It's about time”.

As a boxing public we tend to get so caught up in what the announcers have to say and the wicked webs they weave that we often lose sight of what is most important, and that is a fighter's performance. We hang on some announcer's every word, and let what they say and feel about fights and fighters dictate what we think and feel as well. Sometimes this can serve a valid purpose, but more often than not it seems like the public becomes easily swayed, and tend to adopt announcers viewpoints rather than their own in the process. You've seen it time and time again, especially in big time fights, where an announcer will be partial for one fighter or even slightly biased towards a fighter and you can sit back and see those who are mystified by their opinions like fateful victims entranced by a cobra's swaying motions. This isn't to say that all announcers are bad or misinformed, it's just to say that you should use your eyes and hearts to judge fights people instead of listening to what others have to say all the time. The subsequent robberies of Bernard Hopkins in his losses to Jermain Taylor should be an example to many and testament enough of that point. I digress. Let's get back on track (had to throw that in there, it still bothers me like a thorn in my side, imagine how B-Hop must feel). Anyway.

Floyd “Money” Mayweather, Jr. returned to the ring on Saturday with a dominant and impressive performance to reveal to us all that he hasn't lost any of his character, ability, or prowess in the ring. He's still just as charismatic, thought provoking and professional as he always has been and if you can't see the entertainment value in that then you might as well be clinically blind at this point. He has all the tools in his toolbox to shut up all of his critics, and as long as you continue to criticize the man he will continue to dismantle and destroy those who you put before him to defeat him and end his reign. I'd also like to take a moment here and recognize Juan Manuel Marquez for the brave and noble fighter that he is. He fought the best he could against a better, quicker, stronger fighter and has nothing to be ashamed of. He is a true classic Mexican fighter and a proud warrior who still has a lot of fight left in him and is still a relevant Champion and boxer in regard to the climate in his respective and more appropriate division. He attempted to move up in weight and found that his opponent wasn't beatable on Saturday or any other day of the week. But you have to give credit where credit is due, and Marquez stepped up to the plate and did his best against a top tiered Champion and tactician in Mayweather, but he just couldn't pull it off. Saturday was Floyd Maweather Jr.'s coming home party. Welcome home Champ.

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Jason at:
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