.jpg)
Filipino Sports Examiner | Dennis "dSource" Guillermo
Though nothing is official yet as of press time, Floyd Mayweather Jr.'s announced agreement to fight Shane Mosley on May 1 has caught some of the even most hardcore boxing fans by surprise.- pleasantly surprised to be precise.
Perhaps trying to shake his doubters and critics off, Mayweather made the right move by picking Mosley as his next opponent. Quite frankly, there was no other choice unless it was either of his manager Leonard Ellerbe's other wards Paul Williams or Andre Berto.
After the proposed superfight against Manny Pacquiao fell through, boxing fans wondered whether Mayweather truly wanted to fight Pacquiao or was simply ducking top flight opponents again.
A lot of criticism surrounded his choice of opponents such as the smaller and older Juan Manuel Marquez whom he easily beat last September. So when talks that he was interested in fighting Matthew Hatton and the likes of Paulie Malignaggi and Nate Campbell surfaced, even his own fans were beginning to think he was indeed cherry-picking to remain undefeated.
What more with Pacquiao choosing the bigger and tougher Joshua Clottey to take Mayweather's place for his March 13 mega fight? Did Mayweather truly have a choice?
Think about it. There isn't a more beatable and bigger name out there than Mosley for Mayweather. And had he chosen another smaller or over matched opponent, it would surely mean career suicide for him.
It's funny if you think about it, that announcing to fight an older Mosley is news at all when talking about Mayweather. But it is a surprise for a reason. Mosley will be Mayweather's biggest challenge in almost half a decade.
So why the sudden change in Mayweather's actions? You can blame it on Pacquiao. Back then, Floyd had nobody questioning his legitimacy as the sport's best, but after exiting the sport, Pacquiao has captured boxing fans' imagination by beating bigger and tougher opponents each time out. His exciting and crowd-pleasing fighting style made Mayweather a thing of the past. So when 'Money' came back to try and reclaim his throne, fans weren't having any of the cherry-picked fights any longer. Beat the best or go back to retirement was the clear message fans sent to Mayweahter.
It's amusing if you think about it, how some Floyd-nuts are jumping in joy and celebrating the proposed bout against Mosley as if Floyd had won already. Mosley is more than capable of beating Mayweather and to be quite honest, I expect him to give Floyd the toughest fight of his career.
But before I go any further, I am interested to see the stipulations in the fight contract and whether both men will go through the WADA-style drug testing down to the day of the fight as Mayweather originally wanted Pacquiao to do. It is also interesting whether the public will be informed of the test results right away and how much media coverage it will get. Golden Boy Promotions and Team Mayweather have been real quiet as of late which usually means they're cooking something big similar to what happened when they came out with the whole Pacquiao steroids press release.
Make no mistake about it, this match-up would never have happened if it weren't for Pacquiao. It's only befitting that the winner of this bout gets the winner of Pacquiao-Clottey. Who said the falling out of Pacquiao-Mayweather was bad for boxing? Now we have a Final Four set-up of sorts before the real main event. Exciting times indeed to be a boxing fan.
Note: Get a chance to ask Floyd Mayweather Jr.'s adviser Leonard Ellerbe all the tough questions as he stops by The Boxing Truth Radio station tonight at 6PM Pacific. Log on to www.TheBoxingTruth.com or stay on this page and hit the play button on the syndicated TBT player below.
Source: Examiner.com
