ESPN "Boxing moves on without Floyd"

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It is not a unique situation in boxing.

Once a boxer reaches a celebrity status in the sport, he decides who he wants to fight and when he wants to fight them -- usually for the most money possible. Most recently, that was the case with Ray Leonard and Oscar De La Hoya.
Floyd Mayweather is traveling that path right now. His journey has taken him down some non-boxing-related roads -- "Dancing With the Stars" and "WrestleMania."
There's no question that Mayweather is the most talented boxer in the sport. The fact that he plies his trade in the welterweight division has brought into question just what his role will be in shaping the future of the division and, ultimately, what his boxing legacy will be.
Miguel Cotto has brought that question into sharp focus. That's because, unlike Mayweather, Cotto is not a celebrity boxer. He is the craftsman who is only interested in perfecting his trade in a specific arena -- the boxing ring.
Cotto has continued to march through the welterweight division, and based on his five-round destruction of Alfonso Gomez at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, N.J., on Saturday, it looks like that march will be unabated -- until and unless he meets Mayweather.
Cotto said he doesn't need Mayweather, and he can't make Mayweather fight him because "I'm not a promoter."
Does Cotto need Mayweather to certify his standing atop the welterweight division? Does Mayweather need Cotto to bolster his claim to greatness?
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If Cotto can't fight Mayweather, then a fight with Antonio Margarito, right, is the next best thing.


Emanuel Steward, who pulled double duty on Saturday night working the corner of Kermit Cintron in his title match against Antonio Margarito and then working the HBO broadcast for the Cotto-Gomez fight, believes Mayweather should not be included in the welterweight mix.

"He's a money fighter," Steward said. "He doesn't fight anybody."

Mayweather's next appearance in the boxing ring will be a rematch against De La Hoya in September. Cotto's next fight is against Margarito, who stopped Cintron in a sixth-round knockout Saturday night, on July 26. Mayweather-De La Hoya is viewed as nothing more than a money grab. Cotto-Margarito is seen as a ring war.

Cotto has already lined up Margarito. His future prospects include the winner of Carlos Quintana-Paul Williams, Joshua Clottey, Luis Collazo, Andre Berto and Julio Cesar Chavez Jr.
Cotto has already beaten Quintana, Shane Mosley and Zab Judah. None of Cotto's prospective matches has the big-fight potential as a fight against Mayweather would.
Trainer and ESPN boxing analyst Teddy Atlas doesn't believe you can take Mayweather out of the welterweight equation.

"Mayweather is there, even though he's an event fighter," Atlas said. "He's not retired. He's not inactive. He's undefeated. He's still at the top of the heap. I don't see how you can't include Mayweather."

Atlas believes that Mayweather and Cotto should fight soon to give boxing fans a competitive match.

"If I was a fan, I'd be little upset with the powers that be for forcing us to see De La Hoya and Mayweather again," Atlas said. "Based on what happened the first time, it feels like you're being used, you're being manipulated. You have a businessman [De La Hoya] who has lost all of his big fights fighting the best guy in the sport. What's going to change from the first time?

"Let's open it up so we can see something different. Let's see something less predictable. Let's see someone else get a chance to play that part against Mayweather."

Atlas doesn't believe that Cotto needs Mayweather because at this point, Cotto is not interested in being "an event fighter."

"He can continue to collect paychecks from HBO for fighting lesser guys," Atlas said. "He can bide his time until he faces Mayweather. He will only need Mayweather if he wants to become more well-known outside of Puerto Rico or beyond regular boxing fans."

Bert Sugar, a noted boxing historian, says Steward has a point about Mayweather being "a money fighter," but he doesn't see how he can be taken out of play in the welterweight division.

-- Bert Sugar, on why Floyd Mayweather is still a player in the 147-pound ranks

"It's like playing bingo at a Catholic church. You have to be present to win," Sugar said. "Mayweather's not dealing with a card, but he's on the side. Even if he's only a presence, he's still in the mix."

Sugar said the current crop of welterweights -- Mayweather, Cotto, even Margarito -- stacks up favorably to those in the early '80s -- Sugar Ray Leonard, Thomas Hearns and Wilfred Benitez. Though Leonard was a superstar, he kept himself in the mix. Perhaps that was because there was no "Dancing With the Stars" at the time. It was a different era for boxing.

"Can you imagine those guys not fighting each other?" Sugar said. "Each one of them got into the ring against the other, and we got some clarity in the division."

Sugar said that is because they all knew that they would have to do more than provide lip service to the notion that they were the best in the division.

"It's Mayweather that keeps telling you that he's the greatest thing since sliced bread," he said. "He's going to have to start proving it. Legacy is the magic word. I'm not sure he's going to get it by beating De La Hoya and [Ricky] Hatton.
"If he doesn't get in the mix, he's never going to be thought of as great."
Tim Smith is the boxing columnist for the New York Daily News.

 

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