Mayweather needs to fight Canelo

For those of you smart enough NOT to spend dime 1 watching Floyd Mayweather defeat Robert Guerrero in 12 rounds on Saturday night, a tip of the cap to you.

In his first fight in about a year and since he was released from the slammer, Money ducked and dodged everything Guerrero could throw at him and claimed a unanimous decision; the fight was scored 117-111, but even that looks closer than the fight actually was. Mayweather is now undefeated in 44 professional fights.

Guerrero tried, and he could take a punch, but he could land zero.

Immediately after the decision, Mayweather was asked about who he may fight next, specifically Canelo Alvarez. Floyd ducked the question, and expect him to duck Canelo, too.

Floyd would likely defeat Alvarez, but why take the risk? He has five fights remaining in his buhzillion deal with Showtime, and then he will likely retire.

Even though he is 36, he is in great shape and can duck and dodge every punch thrown at him. Time appears to be the only opponent that will eventually defeat him, but he may not defeat him before Floyd retires.

He remains a maddeningly boring fighter. It's ironic for as much of a showman and pitchman as he is outside of the ring, inside he is the opposite. He was too quick for Guerrero to land any single big shot. Every time it looked like Mayweather was open to a punch, Guerrero didn't throw it or Mayweather dodged it.

Mayweather will fight one more time in 2013, tentatively scheduled for September. Canelo is likely the next best possible opponent, which means there is almost zero chance of it happening.

Mayweather may be the best PFP fighter alive, but he is undefeated because he will not fight anyone, anywhere, any time. He cherry picks with the best, and expect him to throw some challenger roughly $3 million while he takes home over $30 million so he can remain undefeated.

There is a reason he is called 'Money".

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Paulie Malignaggi talks Floyd, Canelo & the Ghost's chances of an upset

OK, boxing lovers ... here you go: Saturday night in Las Vegas Floyd "Money" Mayweather will defend his title against the latest chump happy to take a cut of the cash - Mr. Robert "Ghost" Guerrero, please make this interesting. God knows his dad his trying.

Click here for more information on the fight.

Guerrero's dad, who is his son's trainer, really impressed the world during the final pre-fight press conference in Vegas on Wednesday.

"We're going to beat up that woman beater! The one that beat up his wife in front of his kids!" Guerrero's dad said. "He must have learned that from his dad! We're going to beat up that woman beater! He's going to get that from a real man!"

This is not going to help The Guerrero's chances of receiving a Christmas card from the Mayweathers.

Perhaps maybe Money falls asleep and Guerrero can hang around. That's all I got. No one can beat this guy. Although Guerrero says he is going to pull a Buster Douglas on Saturday night. By that does he mean he's going to get really fat?

To talk about this fight, and a few other things, is light welterweight champion Paulie Malignaggi, who will call the fight for Showtime. BTW - Malignaggi is scheduled to fight Adrien Broner next month. He was nice enough to talk to me to preview this fight.

The man is not short on opinions.

The Big Mac Blog: I've been crticial of Floyd because I don't think he fights anyone; is it a fair knock?
Paulie Malignaggi: At this point, who is the best he could fight? Maybe it's Guerrero. Who else could there be? Floyd and (Canelo) Alvarez can be a bigger chunk of money. Maybe you disagree there is someone better than Guerrero. As far as Canelo, it's almost like you are negotiating a lot more. I don't think Floyd is scared to fight that guy. What I wanted to see was the random drug tests for guys like Manny Pacquiao. The fact that he never agreed to that leaves me very skeptical. And I don't blame for Floyd not taking that fight if Manny didn't agree to those random drug tests.

The Big Mac Blog: You called the Canelo/Austin Trout fight; my thought on that is that Canelo is good but not ready to defeat Floyd. That the timing is off; agree or no?
Paulie Malignaggi: Yeah. He may still be too raw. I don't think he fights enough of a round to beat Mayweather. He fights 60 seconds a round. Now that fight may get made. People may think Floyd is scared and that he doesn't want it. There is more to it than that. It's not because he is scared. Canelo looked far from good in that fight against Trout. He won that fight in San Antonio where there were 40,000 people cheering for him. You think it's going to be like in Las Vegas? You think a decision is going to go against Floyd Mayweather in Las Vegas?

The Big Mac Blog: You mentioned it - is Mayweather/Pacquiao dead?
Paulie Malignaggi: Yeah. I don't think we're ever going to see it. I don't know what would have happened had Manny been subjected to the random drug testing. Despite the pleas and the pleas from people, he never did it for a reason. I don't know, but for a guy to come out of nowhere the way he did it leaves me skeptical. It's the same reason Floyd was skeptical. You want guys to be clean and if you do not agree to be randomly drug tested there is no way to know.

I've asked a lot of questions about (PEDs in boxing). If fighters are going to move up in weight class they are going to criticized. Guys were jumping weight like they were crossing the street. It's not just about size, it's about stamina. You do start to wear down and guys can start to physically move you around. PEDs have no place in combat sports. You are already taking shots to the head.

The Big Mac Blog: Back to this fight - how can Guerrero possibly win?
Paulie Malignaggi: He is a southpaw, so automatically that makes him a bit different. Victor Ortiz is gifted physically but mentally he is shambles to fight a big fight. Guerrero has the mental capacity to maintain his composure to get it back his way if things go wrong. A lot of what Floyd does is psychological and you lose control. If the fight starts to slip away, Robert can regain some sort of advantage.

That's what made Floyd's fight against Miquel Cotto close. That was much closer than people thought. Cotto would not break. I don't think Guerrero will break. You are searching and probing for things that because Floyd is unbeaten. I don't mind this fight. I think Guerrero has earned it. I ask people all the time, 'If Floyd's not going to fight Guerrero, then who?'

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Coming up: Paulie Malignaggi talks the problem that is Floyd Mayweather

On Saturday night in Las Vegas, Floyd "Money" Mayweather returns to the ring to steal our money and beat up some chump who has no chance. This time it's Robert Guerrero. Please, make it close.

The fight is PPV on Shooooooooowtime! Yes, I will watch. And then I will whine and complain that Fraud set this fight up against a vastly inferior opponent, and that I am nothing but another stupid sucker wishing for a good fight.

Joining me shortly to discuss the Floyd Mayweather problem is light welterweight champion Mr. Paulie Malignaggi, who will serve as an analyst for Mayweather/Guerrero.

He has some interesting opinions on Mayweather's cherry picking opponents, Guerrero's chances, Canelo Alvarez, Manny Pacquiao and his own next opponent - Adrien Broner.

Check back for it. 

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Meet the guy who can beat Fraud Mayweather

With the prospects of a Manny Pacquiao v. Floyd "Money" Mayweather just about as good as a Beatles reunion, the sport of boxing has moved on to trying to find the next guy who may be able to defeat Fraud.

Give me the Pride of Mexico, Mr. Canelo Alvarez.

This is boxing's best chance to upset Mayweather. He's 22, talented, and hungry. He hasn't won enough money to get fat just yet.

If Mayweather is smart, and he is, bet big money he ducks Canelo if he wins his next fight, which is a big one - Sat. April 20 vs. Austin Trout - at the Alamodome in San Antonio. The fight will be televised by Showtime, and has the makings of a major, fun fight that will unify the WBA and WBC Super Welterweight belts. What boxing really needs are more belts.

(Fun factoid: It was 20 years ago at the Alamodome when Julio Cesar Chavez fought Pernell "Sweet Pea" Whitaker. A loooooot of people thought Whitaker won, but was robbed in a "majority draw" after 12 rounds.)

If you don't think the massively pro-Chavez crowd influenced those judges that night then you need to indulge the masses about meeting the Easter Bunny. Just expect Canelo to enjoy a similar support system.

"The crowd can't do anything but cheer for him," Trout said today on a media conference call with Canelo and De La Hoya. "If they don't have anything to cheer for then they won't be able to cheer."

Moving on ...

Canelo is 41-0 with 30 knockouts.
Trout is 26-0 with 14 knockouts.

The first thing people want to know is if will the winner of this fight be matched up against Mayweather in the second of his two scheduled fights in 2013. 

Canelo didn't bite. He says his focus is Trout, and that's it. A wise move. Trout can beat him.

"He's a world champion, very difficult style, strong southpaw," Canelo said. "But this also gave me the motivation to go on and fight one of the best and we consider him as one of the best out there. ... The key is not to be desperate."

Give these fighters credit - they are promoting the hell out of this and appear to respect not only their sport but their predecessors and the need to sell boxing hard by giving the masses quality mathchups and not prop bet evenings.

"I would love to bring it back to the golden age where the best fought the best," Trout said.

The best fight the best? How novel.

That means Fraud needs to fight someone who can kick his butt and not just some guy grateful to get a big check.

That guy is Canelo.

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Roy Jones Jr. talks to the Big Mac Blog about Pacquiao-Marquez IV

Not sure this is the fight everyone wanted, but ... we take what boxing gives us.

On Saturday night in Las Vegas, Manny Pacquiao will fight Juan Manuel Marquez for the fourth time; click here for the HBO site. Call me a sucker, but I think I'll be dumb enough to buy and watch. Probably even Tweet; follow me on @MacEngelProf to read me whine and complain about this fight on Saturday night.

(Speaking of ... Interesting link from Deadpsin.com with a link to an interview with fight promoter Bob Arum who basically accuses Fraud Mayweather of ducking The Pacman.)

One of the great fighters ever, Mr. Roy Jones Jr., was nice enough to chat with me last week about this fight.

The Big Mac Blog: Who do you like in this fight?
Roy Jones Jr.: It all depends on what Marquez shows up. It all depends on what Manny shows up. Both fighters have shown they are capable of showing up. Both want to end this. The last time these two fought I could have sworn it was a draw and they gave it to Pacquiao. Both are going to put a lot out there. 

The Big Mac Blog: What does Marquez have to do to win this fight?
Roy Jones Jr.: Marquez is going to have to take crazy chances to win. Pacquiao is the guy everyone wants to see. Manny has a loss (Timothy Bradley) he shouldn't have lost. Marquez fought (Floyd) Mayweather and didn't fare too well.
Manny has no reason to fight this fight. He has all the pressure to win this fight.
Marquez has no pressure to win this fight. He wants to prove he is the champion and he is going to have to take more chances to win this. 

The Big Mac Blog: Thoughts on us actually seeing Manny fight Mayweather?
Roy Jones Jr.: I don't think we'll see it. The reason I say that is that they keep messing around. Even though Manny beat Bradley, it takes something away from Manny, you feel me?
Anybody Floyd has to fight he doesn't have to train for. We know he's going to win before he walks into the ring. The only guy Floyd would have to train for is Manny.

The Big Mac Blog: You brought it up - is there anybody you talked to who felt Bradley actually won that fight?
Roy Jones Jr.: I have talked to a few guys who say they felt Timothy Bradley deserved that decision. On more than one occasion people have said that to me. I said, 'No. They robbed the man,' and walked away. If you argue with an idiot that makes you an idiot.

The Big Mac Blog: The way you are talking you think Pacquiao wins this fight, yes?
Roy Jones Jr.: He should beat Marquez. I think Marquez has been smart in his fights before with Manny - if hits that one-two counter and gets out of the way. Marquez is not the puncher that Manny is. If he gambles and he catches one of those punches he's going to go down.
He's older and he's had two more of those brutal fights on him. It's tougher for Marquez because he's not the puncher that Manny is. If the puncher hits you, he can knock you out at any time. That's what gives Manny the edge.  

 

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