excuse me while i get something off my chest..

Like I said, if you want to make a consistent argument that both of these fights should not be allowed due to the risk of injury to Pacquiao and Mayweather, go ahead. As it is, the contradictions are just glaring.

Who am I a fanboy of today?

 

all well and good however according to espn the contracted weight was changed at the last minute to 147(obviously in order for floyd to save face and for the promotion to go ahead!)
If you see the look on marquez's face when floys weight is announced he looks bemused and clearly looks at oscar etc behind him!

To me marquez has been screwed over......

im still loking forward to the fight but in my eyes this is ****!

 

Thats not saying its unfair is it though pal ? Ok I was taking something away from Pacquiao however I genuinely didn't mean it that way. My apologies, i'm just bitter that he's being forced to put his title on the line at a weight he doesn't want to fight at :good

My other point still stands though. Mayweather pulled a ***** move. Yes I know Marquez accepted it however in reality after 4 months of training for it I hardly think there was any other choice was there ? We can all sit here and say that he could have pulled out etc etc but would we, considering what he stands to make from the fight and on the very slim chance he pulls off the upset what it could do for his career he has no other choice.

Just for future reference though Cobbler.... 'his hand was forced' is an term of phrase. It basically means somebody was backed into a corner. In no way should it be mis-contrued to mean that he was literally forced :good ( I realise you probably already knew this and was being a smart ass but i'd just like to clarify)

 

Calumbo. That was the first thing I noticed at the weigh in. Marquez's face. He genuinely didn't look too pleased. Hardly likely that Oscar and Golden Boy would have done anything about it though considering this is likely to generate around $100m when all is totalled, and we know how much Oscar loves that Money

 

i think its a good fight but yeah mayweather is holding all the aces, but i dont worry about jmm, i think he can more than take care of himself!! throughout boxing smaller men have taken on the bigger men, this is nothing new, nor is it anything new that fighters are trying to control all the outside factors in their favour ie weight , ring size , venue, gloves, money, time etc i dont see the big deal, there does seem to be an issue with floyd as if hes doing things so bad that have been done loads of times beforeby other fighters that guys respect. floyd came from feather/super feather! wtf! i think hes done ok and look forward to some good match ups at welter hopefully then judge him when he retires for good.

 

Thought so.

 

This is the problem with catchweight fights. I've said it for the last 6 weeks that Cotto has no business in coming in at 145 vs. Manny. Just scale on at 147 and take your fine because no one will call off the fight. Well the Southern California boys at Wild Card Gym, who have a lot of political clout, got the organization to issue a diamond belt prize on this so they forced Cotto's hand. But in this Mayweather/JMM fight, you're seeing the paradox associated with catchweights and its wild west loopholes.

 

There are rules of engagement in every sport but boxing is magnified because this is not 11 on 11 where a face mask is only 15 yards. There are rules of engagement and responsibility and Floyd has taken a shortcut plain and simple on this magnificent comeback tour. Up till few hours ago I was singing this dude's praises but I'll be damned if I brush this **** aside as long as I've been following this sport. It's a shortcut..not manslaughter like Panama Lewis or Margarito..but still a shortcut.

 

When i saw it i was like WTF? then I thought it must be a marketing ploy...i thought maybe they knew floyd couldn't get down to that weight.... They also knew that if it were revealed early that public interest would dissapate...so they decided to allow it to be revealed after the anticipation level peaked. Nobody from either camp seemed surprised or upset. Having these stupid catchweights makes no sense to me anyway..

 

anyone thought it kinda intriguing that the last 24/, gave a recap of the weigh-in? For the 3 letter network that needs at least a day to weed out any liability for errors & omissions/(professional liability) purposes, this was def a moment to show some "nuts" or maybe a little stupidity rolling with the Floyd wagon so hard.

tonight will be very interesting as Floyd has disrespected the rules of engagement of this here sweet science, no more excuses needed!

 

i agree about the catchweight situation, there are MORE than enough weight classes as it is. i dont see all the fuss about a couple of pounds anyway. i think if the smaller guys want to fight the bigger guys.......why argue, i think its exciting when a fighter has the balls to challenge bigger men. true though it is disrespectful that they had an agreement and hes gone back on his word. i also agree that cotto should come in at 147, if your challenging the champion wheres your right to make demands about his weight?

 

its a great fight and i had given marquez a good chance but today im feeling wide ud or stoppage for floyd, those extra 2 pounds keep playing on my mind

 

seriously dude, 2 pounds, isn't going to be the difference in winning and losing surely, i wish i had a better boxing knowlege to argue this point but i have read of many instances where a fighter has given away alot more than 2 pounds and won big fights. these guys are our generations elite, surely giving away weight in big fights is nothing new??

 

No one made Gatti fight Mayweather, in fact Gatti's promoter didnt want the fight, he asked Gatti not to do it, but it happened because Gatti wanted it. That fight as we know was an awful match. It was for money.

*I actually agree with most of your opening post and totally share your enthusiasm for this.

Whether it is 2ibs or 3ibs difference between fighters is one thing, but I understood this was going to be at 144ib. We know what both fighters weighed in as. But, the point is that Mayweather is a naturally bigger fighter, and whatever weight he is when he steps into the ring will be his optimal weight. Marquez has came up from lightweight and I will simply say he is naturally the smaller fighter.

If we look at Cotto-Judah. The former was a naturally heavier fighter and a well schooled boxer (like Mayweather) and his strength really showed, he literally beat the crap out of Judah.

If Mayweather had have weighed in at 144, it would have been a iittle more fairer, considering he already had a big weight advantage with Marquez being the naturally smaller man.

That doesnt mean I am not excited about this, I can't wait, i think watching Mayweather is a joy to behold, he is an elite ATG.

Marquez is a great boxer himself, who would have had a better chance of victory if he was fighting a smaller Mayweather. I still think Marquez is going to give Mayweather a tough fight and this is by no means a one-sided match like the Gatti - Mayweather fight. I am curious to see how Mayweather handles Marquez 3 and 4 punch combos, how will Marquez handle Mayweathers power, will Mayweather have lost any of his timing and movement due to his long layoff?

 

Like i said boxing's rules of engagement are more magnified then other sports. In football a flagrant foul by John Terry gets him suspended but the game itself doesn't really follow that another player's life could be in jeopardy from John's stupid ****. In boxing your hands are basically a lethal weapon which brings the definition of the sport into so much more scrutiny than a common team game like football. Pretty easy concept when you look at it from a scale perspective which is why we have divisions.