By Mike Freeman, CBSSports.com
I've mustered every ounce in my gorgeous body to try and get excited about it. I've tried. Really, really tried. Read every blog on it with great exigency and followed every word out of the champion's mouth like a star-struck teenager and still my heart doesn't race. No matter what I try it's extremely difficult to get excited about Floyd Mayweather's fight against Shane Mosley.
The problem is that everyone knows what this fight really is. It's the junior varsity. It's the appetizer, the undercard. It's not real or substantial. As much as I love boxing (no one enjoys or defends the sport more) this fight is in many ways indefensible.
It's not just that Mayweather will likely obliterate Mosley. A Mayweather loss would be a significant upset. It's that the only fight which truly matters is Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao. That's it. That is all.
Anything else is a waste. The notion we should all be sold on this fight is ridiculous.
Nothing else in boxing matters except Mayweather and Pacquiao. Boxing is trying to sell us Battlefield Earth when everyone is waiting for Avatar.
This is exactly the kind of silliness that has wounded boxing (perhaps mortally) and allowed mixed martial arts to rise from the brutal eccentricity and non-regality of its human cockfighting beginnings to now, where MMA knows what it's doing and boxing continues to not have a clue.
For boxing to have any chance at regaining the respect of the casual American sports fan, the respect it had for decades going back to the early part of last century, the Mayweather-Pacquiao fight is a must. Anything else is a distraction and further proof that boxing needs an intervention.
The irony is that boxing could've used a Mayweather-Pacquiao fight to steal some of the forward momentum the UFC took away. Interestingly, some in the UFC are actually making the same knucklehead moves that hurt boxing. Anderson Silva's showboating disgrace is the kind of thing that, if it occurred in boxing, there would be several Congressional investigations and just recently Tito Ortiz was arrested for suspicion of alleged domestic violence against a porn star. (When UFC behemoths and porn stars can't get along then the world is coming to an end.) Self-made grime stuck to boxing and if the UFC isn't careful the same thing will happen to it.
Instead of taking advantage, boxing keeps punching itself in the face.
What truly hurts this fight is the correct perception that Mayweather is going to inflict a butt whipping on Mosley, bashing him from every angle with every kind of punch. The only way that doesn't happen is if Mayweather fails to take the fight seriously and every indication is he's taking it extremely seriously.
"I've always said before there's no remedy on how to beat Floyd Mayweather," said Mayweather, using the time-tested third person. "Everyone is trying to solve the problem and like a difficult math problem no one can solve it."
Mayweather also claimed he was a better fighter than Muhammad Ali and Sugar Ray Robinson. Mayweather couldn't carry Ali's spit cup, particularly since Ali consistently took on the biggest and the best. As for Robinson, he would hit Mayweather once and Mayweather's kidneys would land in Florida and his liver in Cali.
Mayweather has attempted to expand interest in the bout with his usual pre-fight obnoxiousness and occasional dabble into step-n-fetch-ery, but try as he might Mayweather can't energize this fight because this isn't the right fight.
Some fight analysts, citing the attraction of the Mayweather brand, are claiming this bout could generate three million pay-per-views. I'll be one of the suckers buying because it's my job but why anyone else would shell out $50 to watch the JV fight is a mystery.
Boxing is once again abusing the trust and loyalties of a dwindling but passionate fan base and it's a shame. Just a damn shame.
For more from Mike Freeman, check him out on Twitter: @realfreemancbs
Source: cbssports.com
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