If the Nevada State Athletic Commission allowed it, Floyd Mayweather Jr. would likely wear a diamond-encrusted, platinum mouthpiece during his bouts. His mouth, after all, is the “Money” maker.
Not to disregard the flamboyant boxer’s skills, the uber-talented, undefeated, multi-division champion stands alone as the sport’s best pure boxer. His defensive discipline, amazing quickness and tremendous conditioning have allowed the boxer to rack up 42 consecutive victories.
Or as Mayweather likes to put it, “Forty-two have tried, forty-two have failed.”
It seems like yesterday when a younger, faster version of Mayweather was only drawing 6k fans for his fight with “Chop Chop” Corley, 4k for his bout with Henry Bruseles and 7k versus Sharmba Mitchell. These days, the boxer formerly known as “Pretty Boy” fills up arenas and living rooms for every fight. His status as boxing’s top pay-per-view draw now allow him to routinely pull out wads of cash for the cameras, parade around with his equally obnoxious cohort, 50 Cent, and incessantly talk about his expensive toys and trinkets.
What’s changed since those paltry numbers of the mid-2000s? The WWE.
After raising his public profile on the heel of victories over the late Arturo Gatti and Oscar De La Hoya, Mayweather’s manager, Leonard Ellerbee booked him for some promotional appearances with the WWE. There, the polished fighter perfected his brash, unpolished persona and the benjamins haven’t stopped rolling in since.
This weekend, Mayweather and his mouth will move up to the super welterweight division (154 lbs.) for just the second time to face WBA champion Miguel Cotto. The Puerto Rican star will attempt to mute his opponent with pressure. Cotto has the skills and the heart to have a fighting chance. He’s a good enough brawler to make Mayweather uncomfortable and a good enough boxer to hold his own. However, the speed difference will prove striking and one of Cotto’s usual strengths, counter-punching, will become a glaring weakness against the brilliant defensive tactician.
Though Mayweather will earn a healthy paycheck and will probably walk away with a victory, time is running out on a proposed mega fight with Filipino boxing sensation Manny Pacquiao. With Pacquiao’s foray into politics and Mayweather’s foray into prison, it seems the two are interested in everything except fighting each other. Failure to land the bout before they are past their primes would not only deprive boxing fans of its most coveted bout, it would keep Mayweather from earning a chance to silence the critics in the ring.
Old man Hopkins falls
Speaking of loud-mouthed, defensive wizards, old man Bernard Hopkins was beaten decisively last weekend by Chad Dawson. Hopkins, like Mayweather, was a defensive fighter who earned his millions on the strength of his personality, rather than his gritty work in the ring. The 47-year old Hopkins will go down as one of the greatest fighters of his generation after an impressive 20-fight winning streak as middleweight champion followed by an even more impressive run as he earned the light-heavyweight title at 41, then regained it again at 46.
As evidenced by the fight with Dawson, Hopkins fights were almost all universally rough, with the old-timer being a master of tricks including low blows, hip shots, headbutts, etc. But even though his style of fighting has rarely been pretty, it’s always been pretty effective.
Hopkins hasn’t stated whether he’ll continue fighting or ride off into the sunset. With Dawson’s clear victory, there’s no sense of him continuing at light heavy. There’s a slight chance he’ll try his hand at heavyweight but “The Executioner” will most likely call it a career and continue cashing in with his mouth either as a commentator or possibly a trainer.
