TERRY MOSHER
For you who may have rushed out to spend $100 or more to watch Floyd Mayweather dance around Manny Pacquiao in a boring welterweight title fight, I warned you that the hype was going to surpass the fight.
Mayweather, who ran his unbeaten record to 48-0, one shy of Rocky Marciano’s 49-0 mark, may be the best defensive fighter of any era. He is so quick and runs so well that it’s like trying to catch a humming bird, it’s nearly impossible.
I don’t know if you remember the time that light heavyweight Billy Conn took on the heavyweight champion Joe Louis. Conn thought he was smarter and quicker than Louis and could beat the Brown Bomber. Louis will always be remembered for being one of the greatest heavyweight boxers of all time, and the bet that Conn could beat him was almost absurd.
But, you know what; Conn for 12 rounds had Louis beat in their 1941 bout. He danced and stayed away from the Brown Bomber. Then Conn outsmarted himself. He got so cocky that he figured he could now take out Louis. So he got in a slugfest with Louis in the 13th round and, not surprising, he came up the loser with that strategy when the Brown Bomber showed why he had that nickname by knocking out Conn.
Mayweather, better known as the Money Man, knew better than to turn Conn on Pacquiao. From the seventh round on, the Money Man kept his distance, stuck the Pac-Man with his jab and lowered the boom on an occasional right to easily dance away with his title and over $100 million.
The Money man is no fool. He reminds me of Will O’ The Wisp, Willie Pep. There is a reason Pep had that nickname – he could be here, then there, in an instant, much like the Money Man.
Pep, a featherweight, turned pro in 1940 and won his first 62 fights before tasting defeat. He won 229 of his 241 fights. If he were still alive today (Pep died in 2006), Pep would be a natural guest on Dancing with the Stars.
I don’t have an answer how you beat somebody who is as quick and smart as Money Man. I had incredible hand-eye coordination and was quick with my hands as a young guy. But I couldn’t dance worth a hoot, and proved that in an eighth-grade PE class.
Our PE teacher, who also was our basketball coach, had a box-off with our class. He set up a boxing bracket and we went at it. I won easily on one side of the bracket to reach the finals. I was just too quick with my hands, and certainly was no dummy.
I faced off against Don in the finals. Don was a great athlete who had an anger issue. He would eventually wind up like his dad, who languished on the streets getting into fights and drinking way too much.
Don overwhelmed me. He had no fear and was ready to demolish me from the start. His anger kicked in and he went after me and it was all I could do to hold him off. Eventually, our PE teacher/coach stopped the mismatch. If only I could dance.
Years later I ran into Don in a bar back east and he tried to bait me into a fight. By then my college education kicked in and I mentally danced away from him, and nothing happened. It was the last I would see or hear of Don.
The public verdict is now in on the Mayweather-Pacquiao bout and it is not good. Most people think they got robbed because the fight was more about dancing then fighting. People want to see Leonard-Hearns fight; a blood-bath. I saw the 1981 Leonard-Hearns fight at Caesar’s Palace in Los Vegas and it was thrilling to watch (our human instinct tends to the violent side) and the people who paid to see it probably still remember it.
I doubt, though, that many people will want to remember the Mayweather-Pacquiao bout. What is there to remember?
In an earlier column, I wrote that the hype for this fight was way over-board. Pac-man was never going to be able to catch the Money Man if he wanted to run away. And that is what he did. He scored just enough to win the fight, came out of the ring without a bruise and with a check for over a $100 million.
Can anybody beat the Money Man? Not if he gives boxing up before his legs go. And from what he said after the fight, he will just fight one more time, in September, and call it a day.
If Money Man changes his mind, and takes on Pacquiao in a rematch, I doubt if you will be fooled a second time in surrendering another $100 or so to watch. He is not called Money Man for nothing. He knows how to build interest, but after this fight I doubt even he can build enough interest to make it financially interesting for him.
And I know one thing, if I was still young I would want to take dance lessons before taking on Don again.
Be well pal.
Be careful out there.
Have a great day.
You are loved.