By William Trillo
Photos: Marlene Marquez
Love him or hate him it’s very hard to deny Floyd Mayweather Jr. his just due after his dominant unanimous decision victory over Shane Mosley on Saturday night. Prior to running his record to 41-0 with 25 KO’s Mayweather spent an inordinate amount of time running his mouth about his greatness and how he was going to dispose of Mosley, most of that came on HBO’s hit series 24/7. And as much as many of us hated to hear it, there is nothing we can do now but humbly stand back and say that he did just as he said he would.
In his dominant victory, Mayweather showed us he is probably the most gifted technical fighter in the game today, even the talented and rapid fire Mosley was no match for Floyd’s skill on this, and possibly any other night. Another thing that was stamped in indelible ink on the memory of anyone who saw the fight is, when faced with adversity early, when cracked so hard his knee’s buckled in round 2, Mayweather found a way to weather the storm and get through the round without going down and without losing his focus. In fact the blows delivered by Mosley seemed more like a call to arms for Mayweather and it’s easy to say he went on to win every round after that, thanks in part to that early wake up call.
Yes, at times ”Pretty Boy” postured and toyed with Mosley, he even resorted to talking to him during some rounds, but it was Mosley who paid the price as he fell into Floyd’s trap and as soon as he attempted to engage in conversation, Mayweather blasted Shane in the mouth. This wasn’t the first time Shane would fall into the snare that is the “Pretty Boy” trap, and Floyd was laying bait long before the two entered the ring on Saturday night.
From the demanded pre-fight drug testing to denying fighting for the WBA belt and then entering the ring second on Saturday night, something that is always set aside for the Champion, Floyd left Mosley playing second fiddle before and after the fight. At the post fight press conference Oscar De La Hoya spoke about how Floyd gets into your head before the fight, in fact Oscar, who knows first hand of Floyd’s mind games, said Mayweather is a “Master” at this tactic.
It worked against Oscar, it worked against Shane as it also worked against some 39 other opponents and the chances are it will work again before his career is over. Many of us may not like it, but when you put together the entire package of superior skill, both mentally and physically, Floyd Mayweather Jr. is going to be a very difficult fighter to beat.
Humbly Speaking
At the post fight press conference Floyd Mayweather Jr. spoke eloquently with the charm of a humble warrior who accomplished his task but still had respect for his fallen foe. Mayweather thanked Mosley, the promoters, advertisers and even said thank you to the media even though most of us have ripped him unmercifully at times.
Years ago, just prior to his fight with Arturo Gatti, Mayweather held a luncheon with the media in Los Angeles and at that time I was taken aback at how gracious the young man was and for a moment in time I saw a side of Mayweather I hoped we would see more often.
The fact is, for the most part we have not seen the humble Mayweather but instead have been subjected to his arrogant and brash attitude he directs at whomever he deems unworthy…which is most of us.
Yet, on Saturday night almost everyone to a man left the building talking not only about Floyd’s performance in the ring but his respectful performance on the podium after the fight.
I can’t help but think that if Floyd would project that humble attitude more often he would add greatly to his fan base and maybe he would get those 3 million PPV buys that he and everyone at Golden Boy is looking for.
Memo To Promoters, Managers & Clingers On…
GET OUT OF THE SHOT!!!
One of the best photo opps’ for any fight, especially the big ones, is when the fighters square off face to face in one final stare down before the fight. It’s compelling and can make for some great and more importantly, valuable photographs. That has all changed over the past year or two as now when the fighters go nose to nose someone from the promotional team decides to stick his Pie Hole right smack in the middle of the shot.
Newsflash losers….No One Wants To See Your Hideous Grill In The Shot….NO ONE!!
This dilemma has been eating at me for quite some time now but the proverbial straw that broke this camel’s back was this weekend when our photographer sent over pictures of the weigh in face-off and right smack in the middle of the Floyd and Shane was none other than Leonard “Hot Flashes” Ellerbe.
That’s all I can take and I can take no more.
Dammit Leonard….get your smug face out of the shot! And that goes for every other Tom, Dick and Harry who wants to get in on the face-off. Unless you are one of the participants no one wants to see you.
Period!
