Floyd Mayweather is the highest regarded name in the sport of boxing right now. He undoubtedly has a track record of winning big fights. In fact, he has a track record of never losing. On May 4, he is scheduled to take on relatively unknown 147-pound welterweight champion Robert Guerro.
Guerro, 30, has compiled a 31-1-1 record, against mainly low key fighters. Guerro’s last fight came as a big win for him, as he outlasted Andre Berto.
Mayweather has taken on the winner of an Andre Berto fight before, as he fought and won on a controversial knockout against Victor Ortiz last year. But for true boxing fans, these fights are nothing but a waste of time. For those who follow boxing, there are many bigger names.
Guerro, a natural lightweight, has been begging for the fight for quiete sometime, and he finally received his demands. However, Guerro recently had a shoulder surgery, and he has not had a knockout in his last five fights – key indicators that he will have a tough time with Mayweather. Though he is a gritty fighter, he will likely be no match for Mayweather’s superior technical boxing skills.
In order to make the fight look more appealing, Mayweather bluffed on Twitter that he was going to take on Devon Alexander, yet another unfamiliar boxer to many. Albeit, the Manny Pacquaio fight has lost the luster it once had, but it would still be a much better fight than the alternatives. Constant failed negotiations between two of boxing’s biggest promotion companies, Top Rank and Golden Boy, doomed what surely would have been the highest grossing fight of all time. Mayweather already holds this crown from when he squared against the Golden Boy himself, Oscar Dela Hoya.
Mayweather made a monumental decision to switch his Pay Per View stations from HBO to Showtime, a move that will drastically change the dynamic of the PPV boxing. Ironically enough, it was Mayweather who ridiculed Pacquaio for fighting on Showtime when he took on “Sugar” Shane Mosley, alluding to the notion that HBO was his family and he would never leave them. Mayweather, to his credit, hypes fights up with his potty mouth trash talking, providing the appearance that his inferior opponent has a “fighting” chance.
Other potential fights for Mayweather this spring could have involved either Saul “Canelo” Alvarez or Sergio Martinez, two men who box at 154 pounds. Alvarez was initially scheduled to fight on the undercard of Mayweather versus Guerro, but decided to fight on a separate date because Mayweather would not guarantee him a fight in September. While Mayweather is going back to 147 pounds for this fight, he fought his last fight at 154 pounds, taking Miguel Cotto’s belt in the junior middleweight division. Thus, there is no excuse for why he did not fight the bigger name fighters, other than the fact that they were potentially more dangerous for his unblemished record – something he shows immense pride for.
While “Money” Mayweather will make millions of dollars regardless, he is not capitalizing on the bigger cash payouts, which would have involved Pacqauio, Alvarez, or Martinez. Unfortunately, the sport of boxing has been consumed with the promotion aspect rather than the fighting, which has been detrimental to the sport. Promoters are now allowed to hand pick fights, thus never fulfilling our desires of seeing the dream fights we hope for.
Evan Smith is a third year student majoring in political science with a minor in communication studies. He can be reached at ES777403@wcupa.edu.