By Kevin Mitchell, Guardian.co.uk
When Floyd Mayweather Jnr boasted this week, "I'm better than Sugar Ray Robinson, better than Muhammad Ali," he did more than insult two legends (one dead, the other, sadly for all of us, ill-equipped to respond). He revealed the sort of hubris that often precedes a fall.
Boxing sometimes gets it right, and this is one of those occasions, a bout that brings together two fighters who could fairly claim to be among the finest sub-middleweights of all time, indisputably pre-eminent in the modern era. Yet, for Mayweather, victory over Mosley is a formality; the only regard he gives his opponent is for having the courage to show up.
This is not a one-man show, though. It is a proper contest, one with no sanctioned title at stake but the right for the winner to say, I am the best … out of two. Because, whoever wins, he will still have to beat Manny Pacquiao to lay claim to boxing's most meaningful crown, as the pound-for-pound king of the world. That is why the fight matters. It is Act I of a two-act play, a defining drama the fight game desperately needs.
Mayweather, unbeaten in 40 fights and ungracious in 33 years of living, will discover that, while his own perception of his place in boxing history is exalted, Mosley alone shares with Pacquiao the ability to stretch him to the limit. It is a place he has rarely been.
Mosley, in defeat, will give Floyd's ego and his skills a nightmare examination over the whole 12 rounds. He might even put him down – and that would raise an almighty cheer, near and far. Mayweather ought to be humbled by the experience.
For too long, however, "Money May" has treated boxing as a fiefdom rather than a place of work. He has little respect for other fighters, even those near to him in ability. And respect is the first virtue a young boxer learns when he walks into a gym. Without that perspective, a boxer at any level is drawn into habits and thinking that lead to destruction: over-confidence; arrogance; laziness. Nobody is immune.
Mayweather is not alone in paying history and the better ethics of his discipline scant attention. Eddie Futch, in a rare lapse of wisdom, suggested Mosley reminded him of Robinson, when Sugar Shane was preparing for his first fight against the late Vernon Forrest, in 2002.
Mosley, like Mayweather, was undefeated, with an almost identical record, 38-0. He had just knocked out the New Jersey-based Bristol welterweight, Adrian Stone, in three rounds. Like Mayweather, among his victims were Oscar De La Hoya and a string of stellar names. He was 31 and universally acclaimed with all the enthusiasm that Mayweather now is heaping on his own head.
But Sugar Shane wasn't Sugar Ray. He lost that next fight to Forrest – as well as the rematch six months later.
Mosley stayed for the long haul, though, and looked sensational in beating up Antonio Margarito in his last fight, a worryingly long 15 months ago. That's why the younger, quicker, slicker Mayweather will win.
Could Mayweather have beaten Robinson? Boxing records show there were 14 fighters called Ray Robinson - and only one real Sugar Ray. He beat every type of fighter there was, from brawlers to bums to artists - 173 of them in 200 contests across 25 years from lightweight to light-heavyweight. It is a laughable question.
Source: guardian.co.uk
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