PUT UP YOUR DUKES, OR DUCKS? BOXING: SOME CRITICS -- NAMELY ARUM, STEWARD -- THINK MAYWEATHER HAS AVOIDED FIGHTING THE BEST WELTERWEIGHTS.Byline: Robert Morales Staff Writer Floyd Mayweather Floyd Mayweather is the name of two persons, father and son:
"I feel I'm not fighting for respect," said Mayweather, who Saturday will defend his welterweight championship against Ricky Hatton Richard Hatton MBE (born October 6 1978, in Stockport, Greater Manchester, England), is a British boxer. He is seen by many as one of the greatest British fighters of all-time and is currently one of the top 10 pound for pound fighters in the world. at MGM MGM in full Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Inc. U.S. corporation and film studio. It was formed when the film distributor Marcus Loew, who bought Metro Pictures in 1920, merged it with the Goldwyn production company in 1924 and with Louis B. Mayer Pictures in 1925. Grand in Las Vegas Las Vegas (läs vā`gəs), city (1990 pop. 258,295), seat of Clark co., S Nev.; inc. 1911. It is the largest city in Nevada and the center of one of the fastest-growing urban areas in the United States. . "I feel that I've earned my respect. Just to get rated, pound-for-pound, the best fighter in the world, it's obvious you had to do something right and somebody had to respect you to put you on that plateau." Most boxing writers consider Mayweather (38-0, 24 KOs), who has won titles in five weight classes, to be the top pound-for-pound fighter today. But others wonder how a fighter who rarely goes toe-to-toe and has not fought the best in his division, can have such an accolade bestowed upon him. Bob Arum Robert "Bob" Arum (born December 8, 1931 in New York City) is a Harvard-educated lawyer who helped the White House during President John F. Kennedy's time there. He also worked for the US Attorneys Office for the southern district of New York, in the Tax division. , chairman of the board of Top Rank Inc., promoted Mayweather for the first several years of what is now an 11-year professional career. "Mayweather is a damn good fighter and he has a lot of boxing skills, but I think his deficiencies are his reluctance to mix it up, his lack of punching power Punching power is a term that describes the amount of momentum in a person's punches. Knockout power is a more specific term for the probability of any strike to the head to cause unconsciousness in an opponent (usually referred to as a knockout). , his persona in the ring," Arum arum, common name for the Araceae, a plant family mainly composed of species of herbaceous terrestrial and epiphytic plants found in moist to wet habitats of the tropics and subtropics; some are native to temperate zones. said. "I would never vote for him as the best pound-for-pound fighter." Not only doesn't Arum believe Mayweather is the most impressive fighter in the world, he doesn't think Mayweather is the best in his division. He said that there are three, perhaps four, other welterweights who would defeat Mayweather. He included his fighter, fellow world champion Miguel Cotto Miguel Cotto (born October 29, 1980 in Caguas, Puerto Rico) is a professional boxer. He is a former World Boxing Organization Light Welterweight champion and is the current World Boxing Association Welterweight champion. , in that equation. "Look at his opposition," Arum said. "He fought (Zab) Judah, and he struggled with Judah. He then fought (Carlos) Baldomir, if you could call it fought. Baldomir is slow as molasses molasses, sugar byproduct, the brownish liquid residue left after heat crystallization of sucrose (commercial sugar) in the process of refining. Molasses contains chiefly the uncrystallizable sugars as well as some remnant sucrose. . Once Mayweather piled up enough points, he didn't engage against Baldomir. "And he fought Oscar (De La Hoya La Hoya is a municipality located in the province of Salamanca, Castile and León, Spain. According to the 2004 census (INE), the municipality has a population of 30 inhabitants. ), if you want to say he fought. Oscar ran out of gas chasing Floyd and Floyd won a very close fight. And now he is fighting Hatton, who, for a welterweight, is a midget." Hatton, at 5-foot-6, will be in just his second fight at welterweight. Trainer Emanuel Steward Emanuel Steward (born July 7, 1944 in Bottom Creek, West Virginia) is a boxing trainer, commentator and inductee of the International Boxing Hall Of Fame. Biography Steward was born in West Virginia, and by the age of 12, he had moved with his mother to Detroit, Michigan. doesn't understand all the fuss about Mayweather, either. Steward mentioned Cotto, Antonio Margarito Antonio Margarito (born March 18, 1978) is a boxer from Tijuana, Mexico. Margarito is the former WBO world Welterweight champion. Amateur career Margarito compiled a record of 18-3 in his relatively brief amateur career, indicating that he turned pro quickly because he , Paul Williams Paul Williams is the name of several musicians:
"I think a guy who fights against the best competition, and his performance against the best," Steward said, describing his idea of a great pound-for-pound fighter. "How can you be (the best) pound-for-pound when you don't want to fight the best?" Mayweather, 30, was offered $8 million to fight Margarito some time back. Turned it down. Mayweather has scoffed at the idea of fighting Mosley. When asked about fighting Cotto, Mayweather refused to entertain the notion. "This isn't Cotto's thing," Mayweather said, meaning he was on the call to talk about Hatton. Arum has said that Mayweather will never fight Cotto because it's too dangerous of a fight for Mayweather. Steward intimated that Mayweather needs to fight Cotto, as well as the others, if he wants to truly be boxing's pound-for-pound king. "To me, the guy that's out there who nobody may want to look at, I look at Miguel Cotto," Steward said. "Here is a guy who fought the best that he could at 140 (junior welterweight). And he whipped everybody. He's been knocked down, always finds a way to come back and win fights. Then moving up to 147 and fighting the best up here. Never dodges anyone." Never runs from an opponent, either. To Steward, that's all Mayweather does -- run from the best and avoid the best. "Great fighters like (Muhammad) Ali, he wouldn't have said, 'Well, I don't want to fight this guy because he doesn't mean anything,'" Steward said. "He fought everybody, went all over the world, fought all the best fighters in their countries. (Sugar Ray) Robinson did the same thing. Joe Louis. Those were great pound-for-pound fighters. I've never known a great fighter who picked and chose his fights." Other than not fighting the other top welterweights, the biggest knock on Mayweather is that he has become a smaller version of Roy Jones Jr. -- a fighter with beautiful skills who thinks defense first. One who doesn't take many chances. Mayweather may be aware that his stay at the top could be terminated if he doesn't start taking more chances. He talks the talk, but doesn't necessarily walk the walk. When told that there were lots of complaints from fans not happy with his unwillingness to go toe-to-toe with De La Hoya, Mayweather made a promise. "Well, you won't have to worry about that this time," he said. "You're going to get that from the opening bell." CAPTION(S): photo Photo: Floyd Mayweather is considered the best pound-for-pound fighter, but some dispute that claim. Larry Maestas/Daily News |
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