Depending on who you listen to, Floyd Mayweather’s September 17th clash with “Vicious” Victor Ortiz is either a gimme fight or a stern challenge with serious upset potential. According to one camp, Floyd Mayweather is a demi-god, with talents and skills placing him beyond the reach of other world class boxers and making him a GOAT candidate (ironically, fans of Manny Pacquiao make similar claims). On the other hand, Mayweather’s critics are quick to point out how carefully stage managed his career has been for the last four or five years, and accuse him of cherry picking his way to fame and wealth.
Both of these are extreme positions and both are focused on the pros and cons of Mayweather (almost ignoring the merits of Victor Ortiz), and as such neither reflects reality. The best way to illustrate that is by looking at the career of a third fighter, Oscar de la Hoya.
Is Mayweather in a Class by Himself?
The answer to this question is yes, Mayweather is a cut above the current crop of world class welterweights, but he is not in a class above all other welterweights in boxing history. He isn’t even above all other welterweights in modern memory.
Think back to his 2007 clash with Oscar de la Hoya, the fight that made Mayweather’s superstar status (just as it did for Shane Mosley, Felix Trinidad and Manny Pacquiao). The Golden Boy was 34 at the time (Mayweather was 30), and ostensibly should have had a good year or two left. However, de la Hoya had fought only once in the previous 15 months, and that bout was 12 months prior to meeting Mayweather. He was rusty, unfocused and nearing the end of his career, and he lost for it. However, despite all his late career deficits, it isn’t like Oscar de la Hoya was humiliated by Floyd Mayweather. Pretty Boy was fairly cautious that night, and Oscar came within a hair of earning a Draw on the scorecards that night. He certainly wasn’t shut down the way Shane Mosely was in 2010.
The point of all this is that if a rusty, 34 year old guy looking forward to his second career wasn’t stomped by a sharper, younger version of Mayweather, why is anyone making GOAT claims about the Pretty Boy? Like Mayweather, Oscar de la Hoya came up from 130 lbs after the Olympics. Unlike Mayweather, de la Hoya was met by a class of established, great 147 lbs fighters when he got to the top – Pernell Whittaker, Felix Trinidad and Ike “Bazooka” Quartey. Shane Mosley joined the party later. Mayweather just has Manny Pacquiao and a slew of guys who, in the late 1990s, would have been lower-tier contenders.
So, thinking back to Oscar vs. Floyd in 2007, who would you bet on in a fantasy fight between the two men in their primes? In an another illustrative case, who do you think is the tougher Ghanian welterweight – Ike Quartey or Joshua Clottey? Mayweather looks great because there is only one other guy around who is in his class and in his prime — Many Pacquiao — and thus far Mayweather hasn’t fought him. That is a far cry, however, from saying no one has ever been in his class.
Victor Ortiz
In its elliptical way, this study now returns to Victor Ortiz. “Vicious” Victor isn’t in the Mayweather-Pacquiao class. Yes, Ortiz whipped Andre Berto in April, but in December he struggled to earn a draw with Lamont Peterson. He is good, but good in the sense that Miguel Cotto and Joshua Clottey are good, and that is a step down from the division’s pair of titans.
However, at the same time I cannot shake the plain fact that Mayweather has one-upped Oscar de la Hoya’s late career in recent years. If Oscar fought infrequently, Floyd retired and then came back to fight infrequently. Many accused de la Hoya of cherry picking opponents in his mid-career; many accuse Mayweather of doing the same recently, in his late career. Finally, it is Mayweather who is now 34 years old, and instead of looking forward to a second career as boxing’s most powerful promoter, Mayweather is looking forward to multiple appearances in court.
I’ve learned the hard way to not bet against Floyd Mayweather, so I expect him to triumph in Las Vegas next weekend. Despite it all, Mayweather loves boxing, so I expect him to be as well-prepared as possible, and that simple fact points against a big upset on the 17th. I just don’t expect Pretty Boy to receive the same cakewalk he enjoyed in his bouts with the aged Shane Mosley or the too-small Juan Manuel Marquez.
