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Mayweather vs Mosley
By Roy Luarca
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 19:16:00 03/16/2010
HOLLYWOOD—Boxing pundits were nearly unanimous in praising Manny Pacquiao’s total domination of Joshua Clottey Saturday night.
Floyd Mayweather Jr., however, was unimpressed, claiming that Clottey ‘exposed’ Pacquiao as a one-dimensional fighter when the Filipino ring icon beat him and retained his World Boxing Organization welterweight crown.
“Personally, I think Pacquiao got exposed in that fight for being one-dimensional,” Mayweather told Tom Jenkins of Cagereport.net.
“You can have all [the] offense ability in the world but with no defense you’re not going to last long against a good counter puncher such as myself.
“Look at the way Clottey was getting through. Each time he threw something it landed. Then at the end Pacquiao’s was all busted up. When’s the last time you’ve seen my face all messed up like that? That’s the difference between an amateur and a true pound for pound boxer.”
The unbeaten Mayweather, of course, was deemed to be world No. 1 until he retired and Pacquiao bamboozled the opposition. Mayweather even made his comeback announcement last May 2, the day Pacquiao demolished Briton Ricky Hatton in two rounds. Even when he returned and beat Juan Manuel Marquez last September, however, Mayweather never reclaimed his lofty position from Pacquiao.
Perhaps envious of the success Pacquiao has attained, Mayweather has always found a way to criticize the lone fighter to become a seven-time champion in as many divisions.
This time, Mayweather dared to criticize the way Pacquiao fights, conveniently forgetting that the Filipino superstar is hailed as a livewire and is largely considered as the most exciting boxer ever.
“I think Pacquiao gave the fans a boring fight, he was punching his arms for all 12 rounds. At least when you watch Floyd Mayweather you know you’ll be seeing non-stop action for 30 minutes straight and that’s what you’ll see on May 1st.’’
The 33-year-old Mayweather is slated to do battle with fellow American Shane Mosley on that date for the World Boxing Association welterweight crown. Originally, Mayweather was supposed to fight Pacquiao on March 13, but negotiations fell through when Team Mayweather insisted on Olympic-style drug testing.
Mayweather also downplayed the 50,994 attendance posted by the Pacquiao-Clottey tussle, saying that he had drawn more in the past and generated a (gate) revenue of $2.5 million for one fight.
As to Pacquiao’s immense popularity, Mayweather said: ``The only reason why he's popular is because he's an ethnic minority and from the Philippines so it's something special. If he was from Africa he would be just another boxer.’’
Source: sports.inquirer.net
