Q&A: Is Floyd Mayweather really the “cherry picker” some say he is?

Question by Martin: Is Floyd Mayweather really the “cherry picker” some say he is?
interesting eastsideboxing.com article…

In the case of Mayweather, you have to remember, he’s the proverbial “man-we-love-to-hate”, so it’s fashionably correct to look at him in the current, yet fail to acknowledge his efforts of the past. I’d be the first to strike down his outside-the-ring antics, but I can truly say the man is very skilled at what he does and there was never a discussion about him ducking fighters until he began to irritate people with his self promotional antics. When Genaro Hernandez was the man, he took the challenge and defeated him. When Corrales (RIP) was the man, he overcame a great height, reach, and 18lb deficit on the night of the fight and made it look easy. When he faced Castillo and some felt he lost, he solidified his claim of fighting “injured” by giving an immediate rematch and subsequently dismantled the same Jose Luis Castillo..

We saw this many other times beyond that point, culminating in a streak that made him the only fighter (that I can think of) in history to defeat three pound-for-pound competitors in a row – (Ricky Hatton at the time was the undefeated jr. welterweight Ring Champion and ranked within the top 10 P4P globally, Marquez was listed as the #5 P4P fighter in the world, only losing to Pacquiao and the undefeated Chris John within a near 10 year span, and Mosley was listed as a top 3 P4P fighter at the time they met). There are many out there that will contend that he didn’t face the best fighters of the welterweight division, but it should be duly noted that the same reason his fight with Pacquiao has been so difficult to ink borders on the same reason why he didn’t fight those contemporaries that most would have liked to see him face. That reason is that the two key figures were Top Rank fighters, (Cotto/Margarito), and the bitterness between Arum and Mayweather has never truly simmered. Neither side is EVER willing to give in. With Margarito, Arum new that Baldomir’s camp put up an $ 8M offer, yet Top Rank never increased the offer – making Baldomir the default selection, considering he was the lineal champ with two straps and offered comparable money.

With Cotto, back in ’05, it’s common knowledge that his camp turned down an offer to face Mayweather as jr. welterweights, and as welterweights, there was never an offer presented at all by Top Rank. So, some can dispute Mayweather’s path to greatness, but the reality is that the period in which the questions began, (’06 as a welterweight), every single fight he took had major implications. Zab was a solid matchup, Baldomir was lineally recognized, ODH was a jr. middleweight champ and cash cow, and Hatton, Marquez and Mosley were P4P recognized fighters. I can live with that track record, personally. In regards to LeBron, I’ll just say that he honored his contract, and ended his obligation. That entitled him to play WHERE EVER he chose, which just happened to be with his best friends. In the Olympic games, we assemble the best team available to solidify victory. These three friends (Wade, Bron, and Bosh) simply sacrificed quite a bit to duplicate that very same template. True pioneers…..because I can guarantee you this won’t be the last time you see this effort attempted.
source

http://www.eastsideboxing.com/news.php?p=24400&more=1

Best answer:

Answer by JOE
Check the link below, we all know Mayweather is definatley a God gifted boxer. But when you scrutinize his record you find alot of flaws. Yeah he gave Castillo a rematch, but what happened when Delahoya asked for one?? He was the only boxer EVER to give him a good run for his money, AND that fight generated record PPV buys and ticket draws.

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