Mayweather vs. Mosley: Is this as good as it gets for Floyd?

By Jason Kim: For Floyd Mayweather Jr. his fight against Shane Mosley next month on May 1st might just well be the pinnacle of his career. It’s sad to say, but I think this could be the final really large mega fight of Mayweather’s career. He’s not likely to face Manny Pacquiao in the near future or every because of Mayweather’s demands that Pacquiao take the Olympic style random blood tests, which Pacquiao is totally against and not likely to give into to satisfy Mayweather.


Without a fight against Pacquiao taking place, there really isn’t anyone else with a big enough name to make a huge fight with Mayweather. Heck, it took Mayweather 14 years of his career before he finally faced Mosley. Mayweather probably won’t be taking on any other dangerous fighter like Mosley for the remainder of his career. There really isn’t any big names in the welterweight other than Mayweather, Mosley and Pacquiao.
Andre Berto, the WBC welterweight champion, isn’t hugely popular and has looked flawed vulnerable since capturing the WBC title. It’s doubtful that Berto will rise up become a mega star in the future, and he’ll likely get beaten in his next bout with Carlos Quintana anyway. It’s too bad that the Mosley fight could be the last huge fight of Mayweather’s career.

At 33, Mayweather is starting to look noticeably older, and you can imagine he’s probably going to start slowing down in the next couple of years. Usually, fighters start to show signs of deterioration of their reflexes by the time they hit 35. Mosley, 38, is kind of a different case in that he wasn’t just blinding fast, but also a very tough fighter who didn’t mind going to war with his opponents.

Mosley has had that part of his game to fall back on as he’s started to lose some of his hand speed in the past few years. Mayweather may not have that advantage when he reaches 35, if he’s still fighting by then. I expect Mayweather’s hand speed and youth to be the deciding factor in his fight with Mosley, but it’s not going to be easy because Mosley is going to take the fight to him and make Mayweather work hard to get the win.

I wish I could say that Mayweather will give in about the drug testing and seek out a fight with Pacquiao in the future, but I don’t see that happening. I expect Mayweather to stick to his demands about the drug testing. The Mosley fight then could be the zenith of Mayweather’s career. From here, I expect everything to go downhill for Floyd with him going back to taking on smaller fighters like he’s been doing the past couple of years.

I hope Mayweather doesn’t back to hand picking opponents from the lower weight classes, but that’s what I see happening. And if Pacquiao retires, there won’t be any pressure put on Mayweather for him to take on the best fighters. We could then be seeing Mayweather extend his career in one mismatch after another in dull fighters.

Source: boxingnews24.com