Floyd Mayweather Jr. Outclassed Juan Manuel Marquez

I recently picked Juan Manuel Marquez to upset Floyd Mayweather Jr. I figured, because of Mayweather's long absence from the boxing ring, he would definitely have some rust to shake off. How wrong I was. As I've said before, every time I went against the grain and picked against Mayweather, he made me eat crow; no different this time!

Floyd Mayweather Jr. started off quickly and looked like he never went anywhere. He pretty much dominated from the opening bell to the last round.

It was a case of a great bigger man beating a good smaller man. We have to put Marquez's size into perspective; just 18 months ago, he was fighting at 130 pounds. Marquez fought Mayweather at the highest weight he's ever had to fight at. Juan's punches didn't have the same snap, and he obviously didn't carry all that extra weight as good as Manny has, for example.

But take nothing away from Mayweather's performance; regardless of his size advantage, I figured it would at least be a competitive fight, in large part because of Floyd's long lay-off. That certainly wasn't the case. I'm not shocked that Mayweather won, but I am surprised at how he dominated. He made it look like a walk in the park.

Even after such a brilliant display of boxing from Mayweather, he will still have his hard-core critics. They'll say he beat a smaller man yet again; his cherry picking continues. If that's the case, should Mayweather bypass a match-up with Manny Pacquiao, should he come away victorious against Miguel Cotto, and opt to fight the winner of the Mosley-Clottey fight? These are legit questions to ask yourself. If Mayweather fights AND BEATS Manny, his critics can still use the size advantage angle - but if he goes on to face Clottey or Mosley, he'll be belittled for ducking Manny. I guess some of these questions will be answered after we find out who wins between Mosley-Clottey/Cotto-Pac.

Whatever the case, I'd favor Mayweather against all 4 challengers. I know styles make fights, but Mayweather is on a whole different tier than the rest. After watching him fight Saturday, after going against Mayweather, and after eating crow AGAIN, I'm going to be hard pressed to ever pick against him again. That much I know.

Mikkel Kessler Successful In Tune Up

Mikkel Kessler was successful in his tune up fight against Perdomo. Kessler started slow and calculated behind his jab, until the action finally picked up in the 3rd round. Just as soon as the action picked up, it was over. Kessler ended up stopping his challenger in round 4.

The Viking Warrior had an easy night; he's now due to face Andre Ward next.

I thought Kessler looked as he usually does - calculated with great boxing technique. Mikkel does all the little things right. His jab is one of the best in the game. Although I thought Kessler looked a little slower than usual; you could attribute that to his long lay-off.

Mikkel Kessler will have to be at his best when he faces Andre Ward come November. In my opinion, Ward has the potential to beat Kessler. But if Mikkel is at his best and gets his jab going, he should come away with the victory.

There is an X-factor involved in the fight with Kessler/Ward, and that is, how well Kessler handles fighting away from Denmark. The fight is going to take place in Oakland, California. Kessler has fought outside his home country on a few different occasions, so he should respond okay, but Ward will definitely have the home town advantage.

Shane Mosley Will Face Joshua Clottey

It looks like Shane Mosley found an opponent finally. He will be taking on Joshua Clottey, December 26.

Once again, Shane Mosley showing he will fight anyone. And once again, Shane Mosley showing he's one of the most avoided fighters in boxing today. The same holds true for Joshua Clottey.

Joshua Clottey is no slouch. He will be an extremely tough opponent for Shane Mosley to win against. Many boxing fans thought Joshua Clottey should have got the decision in his fight with Miguel Cotto.

I'll be giving an in-depth analysis of the bout closer to the fight date, but I'm definitely leaning towards Joshua Clottey to come out the winner.

In reference to Shane Mosley being avoided. He just recently came off a spectacular victory over Antonio Margarito, and is arguably the number 1 welterweight in the world - yet has to face Miguel Cotto's leftover. Shane Mosley should be fighting Manny, Cotto or Floyd Mayweather Jr., NOT Joshua Clottey. The Mosley-Clottey fight is great for Clottey though, and will be great for fans.

What a fight this should be!

The State Of Boxing

Is the sport of boxing being 'swallowed' by MMA like UFC announcer, Joe Rogan argued in an ESPN debate with boxing promoter, Lou DiBella? Well, yes, in a way boxing IS being marginalized.

For years the sport of boxing was the ONE combat sport - mainstream combat sport - which the public turned to to relieve their day to day frustrations, and to get entertainment. Two guys fist fighting is universal; it transcends religion, race and language. Two guys fist fighting is a language in itself.

From the early 1900's, all the way up to Ali's time, boxing was the most popular sport in America, besides baseball. Then other sports, such as football started to gain in popularity and overtake baseball and boxing as America's favorite sport. But boxing never had a competitor. Baseball is totally different than boxing. It co-existed for years beside baseball as America's beloved fighting sport. And while football is a physical and oftentimes violent sport, it has no parallel with boxing. For years, boxing was the ONE true combat sport.

Boxing never had a competitor until the sport of MMA was created. It's a combat sport just like boxing is, but the difference is, MMA allows not only boxing, but other martial arts and wrestling. Today, MMA is seen as the pure combat sport, while boxing is seen as a limited form of fighting. And make no mistake about it, that is true; boxing IS a limited form of fighting compared to MMA. But, to me, boxing is more aesthetically pleasing to watch. Sadly the mainstream doesn't think so. Boxing today is very much a niche sport.

Can we blame MMA for the lack of interest in boxing today in America and in other parts of the world? Absolutely not! If you remember, boxing has been struggling since the late 1980's. Apart from Tyson, boxing wasn't seeing the success and popularity is seen in the 70's and earlier. The 90's were the same way. Oscar De La Hoya, Mike Tyson and a couple of other mainstream boxing stars were the exception, but beyond them, the state of boxing was hurting. It's been that way ever since! Boxing has been a niche sport for a very long time. We cannot blame MMA. We need to blame the greedy promoters and the way the sport is managed today.

The reality of the situation is this; MMA will always be more popular from here on out. In reality, boxing had to evolve, and it evolved into MMA. It was only a matter of time until someone took all the combat styles and mixed them into one sport. Boxing fans need to except that. But that doesn't mean boxing cannot co-exist with the sport of MMA! If anything, the boxing promoters should be learning from the UFC.

We probably have more talent today in boxing than in anytime in history. But it's the marketability that hurts the sport; no personalities, no big time stars, no advertising dollars from big companies so the sport can be broad casted on CBS, NBC or ABC - which means the sport will always have less exposure, etc.

The sport of boxing can grow! It will never be bigger than MMA, because of simple evolution, but it can learn from the UFC on how to conduct business and how to gain interest once again.

There needs to be more oversight in boxing. Bad decisions are hurting the sport. These alphabet soup organizations need to be a thing of the past; it causes too much politics and restricts the biggest fights from happening. Each weight division should have ONE champion! Less confusion is always a good thing. And these damn promoters. These greedy promoters have been sucking the blood from boxing for years. It starts and ends with the promoters!

Until some of the aforementioned points are addressed, the state of boxing will not change from where it stands now.

Classic Fight: Roberto Duran Vs. Sugar Ray Leonard

Shane Mosley Suggests Below Average Ticket Sales For Mayweather-Marquez

Floyd "Money" Mayweather doesn't seem to be the big draw he is always claiming himself to be. Shane Mosley, a partner of Golden Boy Promotions, has recently hinted that ticket sales for the Mayweather-Marquez bout are below average. You can read the full article about the ticket sale drama at the link below:

http://www.boxingscene.com/?m=show&id=21946

Compare this to the Cotto-Pacquiao fight/ticket sales; only 24 hours after the fight was officially announced, the place where the fight is to be held was virtually sold out; only 1,000 or so tickets were available.

Floyd Mayweather's skills inside the boxing ring cannot be denied - but his drawing power needs to be questioned.

Whether you like, or dislike Floyd Mayweather Jr. shouldn't matter in this instance; this is a boxing problem. Bad ticket sales (if true) reflect on the popularity of the sport. Floyd Mayweather has been absent for nearly two years. He's making a comeback to fight one of the sport's best - so ticket sales shouldn't be as bad as rumored.

There are a lot of things wrong with the sport of boxing, which I'll expand on some other time. But let's just hope Mayweather and Marquez put on a memorable boxing show, for the sake of the sport.

Roy Jones Jr. Vs. Bernard Hopkins - Repeat Or Revenge

Bernard Hopkins hasn't fought since he beat Kelly Pavlik, and is looking for an opponent. Most boxing experts say he will either face Chad Dawson or Adamek. I think Bernard Hopkins against either Dawson or Adamek would be interesting, and great from a fan's perspective; but I'll tell you, I would really like to see Bernard Hopkins swallow his pride and face Roy Jones Jr.

Roy Jones Jr. isn't what he used to be, but isn't shot either; he still possesses speed and decent power. And since reformatting his boxing stance/style, and implementing basic boxing fundamentals into his game, he's a different Roy Jones Jr.

Jones has recently went on record and publicly stated he would be interested in facing Bernard Hopkins. This is a fight most boxing fans would like to see, and I feel Hopkins would garner more interest from the boxing world were he to sign a contract to face Roy Jones Jr. than he would taking on Dawson or Adamek.

Roy Jones Jr. Vs. Bernard Hopkins; repeat or revenge. After all these years, it has a certain ring to it.