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Pittsburgh Fight Sports Examiner | Scott Heritage
Floyd Mayweather is feeling his age catch up with him slowly but surely. At some point every fighter realizes that they are slowing down, and that they can't do some of the same things they used to be able to.
Fortunately for Mayweather even at less than his best he's still a lot better than most, and will look to prove that once again when he takes on the comparatively ancient Shane Mosley on May 1st.
Speaking to his friend and longtime go to man in the media, Floyd sat down with David Mayo of the Grand Rapids Press today, and touched on all the usual subjects. How he doesn't get the recognition he deserves, how he is more intelligent than all of his opponents and so on ad nauseam.
(Incidentally, if the only way to stand a chance against Floyd is to be more intelligent than him, then perhaps he should take on one of the Klitschko brothers, who each hold a Ph.D. and can speak four languages)
More interestingly than the usual spiel though, Mayweather and his team acknowledge seeing signs that he is slowing down as he gets older. Could this have been why he took on Marquez in his first fight back, measuring just what he had left for another run?
Ron Burgess, Pittsburgh PA: "Do you think Floyd knowing he's slowing down is why he didn't want to fight Pacquiao?"
It could well have been one of the reasons, as well as wanting to be more in control of the terms of the fight. It could still happen after his fight with Mosley though, and Floyd will only be older and slower then, so we'll have to wait and see. If the fight does happen then obviously he isn't slowing quickly enough to affect his performance. If the fight doesn't go ahead for a fresh set of problems, then this seems a lot more likely.
Jesse Elliot, Pittsburgh PA: "Do you think Mayweather has declined and if so why is he still winning?"
Well if Floyd himself is admitting it, then it's probably true. He isn't a lot noticeably slower than he ever was, but once the decline starts it keeps going. Mayweather's style of moving and pot-shotting needs him to be fast, and his speed will be the first thing to go. That being said he has never taken a lot of punishment in his career, so as long as he increases his work rate, he might still be able to win at a high level even if he gets hit more often.
Pol Canonce Barugo, Leyte Philippines: "Mayweather was placed in a very compromising situation where he was really dent on this random blood tests by going to the commission level prodding the boxing community that he really want to clean the sport but his prime motive was really on going for the edge with Manny coz he knows that the guy could stained his zero loss record. He was put in the most difficult position when the Haiti Earthquake caused the Mosley-Berto fight cancelled. He was very hesitant in the post fight interview about fighting Mosley but was forced nevertheless to fight Mosley coz he will be really 100% exposed as cherrypicking opponents.Now you can run all you want inside the ring once you face Mosley come May 1 hehehe. You will be shaken by Mosley's strong and power punch combos!"
There is a good chance this will happen so long as Mosley has the right game plan and doesn't think he can just turn up and win without careful planning. I've been reading interviews where Mosley says he intends to out-box Floyd which he frankly isn't capable of. He needs to cut down the ring and use all the same tricks Oscar De La Hoya used in his close fight with Floyd. If he can do that, then Shane's power and strength will come into play and Mayweather will find himself outgunned against someone he can't shake off.
Source: Examiner.com
