In a fight billed “The One” that may go down as the highest grossing fight in history, veteran boxer Floyd Money Mayweather dominated 23-year old Mexican Saul Canelo Alvarez on Saturday, September 14, 2013. The MGM Grand was filled with fans of Canelo, but the ring brilliance of Mayweather took the crowd out of the fight. Canelo’s fans cheered every time he landed a punch, which wasn’t often, as he landed only 22% (117 of 526) of his punches. Mayweather on the other hand, dazzled the crowd with his defense and array of combinations, landing 46% (232 of 505) of his punches in decisively winning nearly every round of the fight.
So when it went to the scorecards after the 12-round bout, many at MGM, including a visibly upset Mayweather, was surprised that it was a majority decision. While two judges had the fight 117-111 and 116-112 for Mayweather, which was strange enough, as I found it difficult to give Canelo more than one round, one judge had the fight as a draw. How anyone, including a child, could watch that fight and say Canelo won six rounds is disturbing. The fact that it was someone who gets paid to be a boxing judge is why the sport has some skeptical fans. Ross is a 64-year old female judge, and her duties of being hired to judge top-level boxing events should be terminated immediately.
What’s next for Floyd? He will more than likely be fighting Saturday, May 3, 2014, as it is two days before Cinco de Mayo. He has fought the last two years on the weekend he called ‘Cinco de Mayweather’ and look for it to happen again. Who will Mayweather fight? The name that was tossed around during the press conference was Danny Garcia, who scored an impressive victory over Lucas Matthysse in the semi-main event. Garcia, from Philadelphia, needs to raise his profile significantly in the next eight months to face Mayweather and draw the type of attention to make himself a worthy opponent from the financial standpoint, like Saul Canelo Alvarez was. Unfortunately, he was not a worthy competitor in the ring.
There were numerous celebrities in the attendance for the fight, including Sean Diddy Combs, Denzel Washington, Jack Nicholson, LL Cool J, Magic Johnson, Charles Barkley, Rick Ross, Rosie Perez, Jalen Rose, Bernard Hopkins, Don Cheadle, and Michael Strahan, among many, many others. Lil Wayne, who performed a barely audible version of his hit ‘A Milli’ and pop superstar Justin Bieber walked Mayweather to the ring. Bieber also accompanied Mayweather to the post-fight press conference.
The next big fight on my agenda involves the legendary Hopkins. The Executioner, who will turn 49 in January, will defend his IBF Light Heavyweight World Championship against Karo Murat in Atlantic City. Hopkins could also be a possible opponent in eight months for Mayweather, if Floyd was willing to fight at 160lbs. Either way, without mentioning the world retirement, Mayweather said he will fight for two more years. If he fights twice in May and twice in September in both 2014 and 2015, that would fulfill his enormous deal with CBS and Showtime, and end the career of one of the greatest boxers ever.
