Older may constitute wiser, though not necessarily more enthusiastic.
Floyd Mayweather turned 33 Wednesday, with a fight against Shane Mosley approaching May 1, for which time has grown short in several applications.
The negotiating period shrank because of Mayweather's failed talks for a Manny Pacquiao fight. Next week's press tour is a mere three cities -- New York, Washington, Los Angeles -- because the blockbuster came together so quickly.
And when formal training begins after that junket, the Grand Rapids native acknowledges that jump-starting motivation presents a self-examination.
Getting to the gym is a chore.
And getting on the treadmill, literally, can feel like being stuck on one figuratively.
"But once I get going, I'm fine," Mayweather said.
It's a feeling anyone a few years on the untrustworthy side of 30 can grasp, including the 38-year-old Mosley.
Mayweather said he will begin camp without any opponent-specific plan, including not hiring the speediest sparring partners for one of few rivals who can challenge his own speed.
"I don't have to bring anybody in special," he said. "Other fighters are like, 'Oh, I'm facing Floyd Mayweather,' but to me, they're just fighters. All of them are the same. They're just fighters. They're all just one-dimensional."
Mayweather said Mosley "is basing the fight on thinking that he's faster and hits harder and is stronger," and counter punches by saying he has faced opponents before who can match or exceed him in those traits.
Zab Judah was at least as fast, in addition to being left-handed, he said. Several opponents were better pure punchers.
At the top of the championship food chain, he said, it takes more.
"It comes down to two things: who's the smarter fighter and who has the best timing?" Mayweather said.
The intelligence doesn't change from 21 -- the age at which Mayweather won his first championship -- to now.
The ability to react upon it can.
Mayweather acknowledges there are subtle signs that he has slipped some, knows what they are and coyly refuses to discuss them. His father, Floyd Sr., said he has seen some tell-tale signs, too.
To date, through 40 professional fights, no one has successfully exploited any such weakness, real or perceived, even as the challenges grew more difficult and the criticisms more pointed.
"If you go back on my career, at one time, Genaro Hernandez was the best junior lightweight in the world," Mayweather said, referring to his first title-fight opponent, in 1998. "Then they said, 'Well, that wasn't the guy to beat, the guy to beat is Angel Manfredy.' Then, I beat Angel Manfredy. And you can keep going on.
"I went to lightweight and beat the best lightweight in the world, Jose Luis Castillo, twice. Then, there were the guys who were undefeated, and somebody had to dethrone them first, so I dethroned them first. Then, there was (Arturo) Gatti, they said he was reborn, and I dominated.
"They build these guys up so high, so high, once I beat them, they say, 'Oh, he really wasn't all that.' Once I beat him, he's not all that. But before I beat him, he was King Kong. So my focus never changes -- do what I do, be happy and stay positive."
All of that notwithstanding, Mosley, if he has a good night, figures to present one of the more difficult challenges of Mayweather's career.
If he doesn't, of course, it will be because the topic du jour -- age -- got him.
And Mayweather will move forward, to the next fight, the next birthday, with the same cocksure attitude, unchanged since the cradle.
"As far as Shane goes, sometimes things look different from the outside than they do once you get into that squared circle," he said. "I'm pretty sure that fighters that you've interviewed, that I've fought, have said he's totally different once you face him. Other fighters ask them, 'Is he really that good?' And they say, 'He's really that good.' "
E-mail David Mayo at dmayo@grpress.com and follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/David_Mayo
Source: mlive.com
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