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Don’t bet against Mayweather…even against Golovkin

Fighters Network
22
Jun
Photo by Chris Trotman/Golden Boy Promotions-Getty Images

Photo by Chris Trotman/Golden Boy Promotions-Getty Images

The man is too damned good for his own good. Because he is so skilled, his fights come off as mismatchesÔǪwhich leads to fans feeling they didn’t get their money’s worth after plunking down hard-earned cash to watch him on pay-per-view.
So, what’s Floyd Mayweather Jr. to do?

Me, I say go out of your comfort zone. I know; I know, easy for me to saybut I happen to think he might be the best defensive boxer of all time. So, when I hear people say no way Floyd Mayweather should look to 160 for potential foes, being he owns 147-154, I say balderdash. I think Floyd is such a skilled boxer that, even if, say, a Gennady Golovkin holds a severe power edge over him, if they were to fight at 160, Floyd could 1) get to 160 pounds and be strong and mobile and be Floyd and 2) be that defensive savant and befuddle the Kazakh kid and get a UD 12, while avoiding getting his chin checked.

However, I get itÔǪpeoples’ eyes have been opened. All the data and anecdotes on brain injuries, on concussionsÔǪprincipled people, those of conscience, are less open to seeing boxers in over their heads, are less quick to dismiss people taking punchesÔǪbecause even a more casual fan now knows, perhaps, about CTE (chronic traumatic encephalopathy). But do these same folks react with the same scoffing when they ponder 185-pound wide receivers getting tackled by 260-pound linebackers flying at them at 20 miles-per-hour? Do they not understand the mismatch aspect to that interplay? And really, when was the last time Floyd was buzzed? Man doesn’t get even tagged cleanÔǪWhy are you worrying about him like he’s a newborn and his brain-parts haven’t fused yet? Especially when he gets paid in excess of $50 million, on average, to partake in two fights a year…

Blah, blah, blahÔǪI’m barking up trees with this debate and I know it. Most people think I’m off-kilter with this argument.



Sure, the Golovkin people are all aboard with me but beyond that, even some folks you think might be on my train hop-off don’t want to join me in this theoretical journey of reasoning. Like, for instance, Top Rank Promotions’ Bob Arum. You might think Bob might be open to saying that Floyd would be well served to exit the comfort zone and take the challenge that a, say, Roberto Duran would have grabbed. But no:

“I think his popularity, his unfavorable rating triumphs by far over his favorable. A lot of people tune in to watch Floyd lose. Talking about who he fights next, could he fight a 160? That’s not fair,” Arum told me when I brought up the Floyd-at-160 subject. “He would get hurt at 160; 160-pound guys are much more powerful!”

Yep, Arum thinks Golovkin, at 160, could and would hurt Mayweather. Oh yeah, Golovkin agrees. “Of course I’d beat him,” Triple G told TMZ and he thinks that’d be the case even if he drained down to 153.

I don’t agree. I’d never bet against Floyd, wouldn’t be prudent with that majestic ability and focus.

This argument might have to be one for the ages, never to be solved

Follow Woodsy on Twitter. THAT is prudent.

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