When Floyd Mayweather knocked out Ricky Hatton on that December night in Las Vegas it looked like it was the jewel in his perfect career. But after Manny Pacquiao forced his way into the division with stunning performances against De La Hoya and Hatton, a new contender emerged as the best fighter on the planet.
The boxing world attacked the credits of Pacman’s victory over De La Hoya, and it was nothing against Pacquiao. They felt that De La Hoya was a spent force and this is undeniably true but his brave performance against Mayweather just 19 months before showed that he wasn’t a bum. This was further shown by the fact that he was able to go 8 rounds with Manny.
It wasn’t just the victory over Hatton that led to Floyd retiring. The next best welterweight, Miguel Angel Cotto was defeated by Margarito and hence dispelled any chance of setting up a fight with Mayweather. The future findings over Margarito, and his loaded gloves, have cast doubts over this defeat, and for me Cotto is still a threat. This is what makes the whole situation so intriguing.
It is set, Mayweather beats Marquez and Pacquiao beats Cotto and the dream fight is created, Money May vs Pacman. But can Pacquiao beat Cotto? It is by no means certain. Cotto has chased a fight with Mayweather for half his career, he is relatively unknown outside of Boxing circles and looking to make a global impact, and let’s not forget that he is the World Welterweight Champion.
One thing that needs to be realised is that attacking Mayweather’s ego was not enough to get him back in the ring. He wants money and he doesn’t hide this fact. The largely confident displays of Mayweather in the past few weeks are nothing new, the appearance on WWE was a highlight. The interesting thing for me was that he was largely the same, which adds weight to my feeling that he portrays this character purely for commercial reasons. He is a product and boxing welcomes this product back with open arms.
When it comes down to the fight, Mayweather and Juan Manuel Marquez are very similar in style. An on the toes, defensive approach based on speed and footwork, and in my books Floyd is the quicker man. The fight between Cotto and Pacman, however, is an instant classic and adds to an exciting and important end of the year for boxing.
For many the dream fight is Floyd Mayweather Jr vs Manny Pacquiao, but for me I’d like to see Miguel Angel Cotto get the credit he deserves and put his name up there with Boxing’s greatest.
