Will Mayweather fight someone his own size? -- BoxingNews24

By Sean McDaniel, BoxingNews24

There are rumors in the boxing world that unbeaten Floyd Mayweather Jr. (40-0, 25 KOs) will opt to fight 37-year-old Nate Campbell (33-5-1, 25 KO’s) next Floyd’s scheduled March 13th bout at the MGM Grand, in Las Vegas, Nevada. I don’t know about you, but I’m not so sure that Campbell, a lightweight up until late last year, will be the kind of opponent needed for Mayweather to take some of the fans away from the Manny Pacquiao vs. Joshua Clottey fight on the same night.

Nothing is certain as to who Mayweather’s next opponent will be, but if the rumors about Campbell being the guy are correct, I think Mayweather won’t be doing himself any favors by making this pick. I could understand it if Mayweather was a lightweight and if this fight had taken place two years ago shortly after Campbell defeated then unbeaten Juan Diaz to take his WBA and WBO lightweight titles.

However, Campbell didn’t look good in beating lightweight contender Ali Funeka by a 12 round majority decision last year in February 2009, in a fight that could have gone either way. Campbell also didn’t look good in his last fight, a no contest against Timothy Bradley. The fight only lasted three rounds, but Campbell didn’t appear to have Bradley’s number in the three rounds that were fought. But most of all, if Mayweather chooses another smaller fighter to fight, it gives the impression that he doesn’t want to fight opponents his own size.

In contrast, Pacquiao has been steadily moving up in weight and taking on bigger and better fighters in the past two years. Pacquiao has beaten David Diaz, Oscar De La Hoya, Ricky Hatton and Miguel Cotto. Some boxing fans would say that each of these fighters are flawed and would be beaten by a lot of other top fighters, but Pacquiao still accomplished something by moving up in weight and taking on bigger fighters.

But for Mayweather to be taking on smaller fighters, and if he chooses the soon to be 38-year-old Campbell, Mayweather would be choosing an older one as well. Mayweather doesn’t owe it to anyone to take on a top welterweight or a talented light middleweight like Paul Williams, but he won’t be doing himself any favors if Floyd does choose another small fighter. Mayweather has beaten Ricky Hatton and Juan Manuel Marquez in his last two fights. Both are good fighters for their own weight classes, but neither of them was in the same weight class as Mayweather.

Campbell is only an inch shorter than Mayweather, but the problem here is that Campbell has fought as a lightweight up until recently, and in his one fight at the higher light welterweight class, Campbell looked slow and sluggish during the Bradley fight. If you’re a Campbell fan, you could say that he was just getting warmed up, but he looked like he was having a tough time getting out of 1st gear against Bradley. I

f you consider putting Campbell in with a bigger, faster fighter than Bradley, I think we have the elements of a mismatch. But most of all, this isn’t the kind of opponent that will excite the boxing community. From what I’ve read on various boxing forums on the Internet, few fans are interested in seeing Mayweather fight Campbell. The fighter they do want to see Mayweather fight is Paul Williams. Will Mayweather do that? No, probably not in this lifetime unfortunately.

Source: boxingnews24.com