Floyd Mayweather Jr faces more criticism than perhaps any other fighter alive today, and in some cases with good reason.
Many fans don't believe Mayweater carries himself the way one of the best fighters in the world should. There are the issues of the Xylocaine, the extra testing fiasco with Pacquiao and the lack of decent competitionm over the last few years when better opponents were available.
Perhaps because he was once the top pound for pound fighter in the world, or perhaps because he has shied away from testing himself over the last few years, Mayweather is the most hated man in boxing today. If anything though this should be somewhat flattering to Mayweather, in that he's held up to a higher standard than any other fighter as well, because he was once at the top, people expect a certain kind of behavior from him.
His latest fight against Shane Mosley, a perfectly respected welterweight champion, was supposed to rebuild a lot of the respect and admiration that many of the fans lost over the last few years that Mayweather was coasting. Mosley is probably the number 3 welterweight in the world behind Pacquiao and Mayweather himself, and he's certainly a better fighter than the plodding Joshua Clottey that Pacquiao faces next month.
The big question then is whether Mosley alone is enough to return Mayweather to the top of the welterweight rankings and make up for his perceived lack of effort of late. As usual there were quite a mixed bag from the fans I spoke to and who contacted me about this one:
Scott Holst, Pittsburgh PA:"When Mayweather wins this he's back at the top of the rankings. Marquez is better than Clottey and Mosley is better than Cotto, so this win puts him above Pacquiao"
Bill Brandyke, Columbus Ohio: "There's nothing Mayweather can do to get back up on top other than fight Pacquiao. Even if you argue Mosley is better than Cotto you're still left with tiny Tim Marquez against Clottey, which puts the recent records of both in Pacquiao's favor"
Its difficult to try to compare Marquez and Mosley to Clottey and Cotto. While some would no doubt remind me that Cotto beat Mosley, at the same time there is the missing third man Antonio Margarito, who levels out both fighters. Clottey and Marquez are harder to compare because while Clottey is a bigger and higher ranked fighter, I think Pacquiao would struggle more with Marquez again than he will with Clottey. He'd beat them both easily, but just stylistically Marquez is still the tougher fight.
Robert White, Philadelphia PA: "Mayweather didn't even want to fight Mosley, he just had no other choice and now hes stuck"
Regardless though Robert, he's still taking the fight, and he could have fought someone a lot easier than Mosley is he really wanted to. He might have preferred an easier opponent, but most still think he will beat Mosley, he might just have a harder time doing it than he would have against someone lesser.
Freddie Maynard, Pittsburgh PA: "Mayweather is a great fighter, he just isn't motivated enough to prove it all the time. He will still dance rings around that little midget Pacquiao later this year though, then everyone will start believing in him again"
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