Part II: Some words for Floyd Joy Mayweather Jr.

Floyd: You've been undefeated, and for the most part, untouched, during your long and successful career. I only remember once during a post fight interview where your face even looked like you had been in a fight (Oscar). You are clearly one of the best and most talented fighters of our era. Your sense of timing, distance, and ability to rely on your counter punches and movement has made you an extremely effective and efficient boxer. I know that it is not just good luck and good genes that you have gotten this far. You are one of the hardest working fighters in the game. Even watching fights of you back when you were 18 you fought like a wiley vet, picking off shots, countering with clean shots to the body and head, mixing up your attack and patiently picking off your opponents as they came at you. You won your first major belt at the age of 21, against the man of the division Genaro Hernandez, and locked down that division by blowing out Angel Manfredy in your next fight and then obliterating Diego Corrales in probably the breakthrough fight of your career, with Diego being the tall lanky powerpuncher that many thought had a great chance of destroying you. At lightweight you showed the dog in you to stand 12 hard rounds with Jose Luis Castillo, and when people voiced their opinion that you lost (I thought he edged you on the scorecards as well), you gave him an immediate rematch and made your victory more clear in another close fight. To me you were haterproof at 130 and 135, but since then you've picked your opponents. I do not blame you for taking the belts from Judah and Baldomir, that makes good business sense, as does the fight at 154 with Oscar, but you could not have picked a worse time to retire. The welterweight division in 2008 was as hot as it had been in a couple of decades.

Of course I have to respect your personal reasons for retiring, but at the same time you must understand that this did not enhance and in fact probably diminished your legacy as a great. Since then, watching you interview is very painful for me, as someone who wants to see you achieve greatness pas 135 but hates the fact that you contradict yourself with every interview and talk to us the fans like we're fools. I know that you like to play the heel image, but I am sure to you it is much more important that we enjoy you as a fighter, than as a person. It is likely that I will never meet you, so I could care less how you are outside the ring, but I would like to see you apply and prove your skill inside the ring with the killer welters. I certainly respect the fact that you are taking on Shane Mosley after your fight with Pacquiao fell through, because Shane to me is more dangerous, but why fuel the image that you are afraid to face a tough opponent? Especially Manny Pacquiao who is the hottest product in the business right now? What better way to enhance your legacy and silence your critics than to convincingly beat Manny Pacquiao, which a lot of experts believed you would anyway? As corrupt and exploitative as boxing is as a business, I will never blame a fighter for trying to get the most money for least risk, but you're in a unique position, that is the riskiest fights are also the most profitable fights. I hope you recognize that, which you seem to be with the Shane Mosley fight, a fight you should win, and afterwards face Manny Pacquiao, or even go up to 154 and face Sergio Martinez and/or Paul Williams.

You have a great opportunity here Floyd. If you don't take advantage of it, I and many people like me, will forever give your legacy an Incomplete. You can obviously make money in other ways, with your ventures in the music business, and the fact that you, being articulate can get a job anywhere as a boxing commentator. Boxing is biggest but far from the only moneymaker for you. But you who for so long has claimed to be Sugar Ray Robinson's superior, the best boxer who ever lived, able to adapt to and defeat any situation you face, MUST rise up and prove this. It's not enough to talk about history, that's something for long retired boxers, you're still active and fairly young. Your legacy is still being built. You have proven before that you have the full package of skills and conditioning, you have to do it again. Society is one that always asks what have you done for it lately. If you are only going to rest on your past, then you are basically retiring yourself even though you are still officially and active fighter.

Part I: Some words for Emmanuel Dapidran Pacquiao

Manny: Congratulations on your latest win. You beat an immovable object in Joshua Clottey, a man who was not weight drained, had a good chin, taller, bigger, a shell of a defense, and good infighting skills. It was a decent consulation prize for those of us who wanted to see you take on a fresh opponent and wanted to see an underrated challenger like Clottey get a shot on the big stage against the biggest star in boxing. However I gotta say my friend, since the Miguel Cotto fight you have been disappointing me a little. This may be a hangover to the fact that like the rest of the world, I had been enthralled by your improvement, out of the ring personality, and the Taz devil mentality you fight with. Some of it's not your fault at all, it's your fans who will answer any boxing related question with "Manny's the GOAT", or "how dare you question" this that and the other about your boxing abilities or integrity outside the ring. BUT, I wish you had not dropped out of the Floyd fight for two reasons, one inside the ring and one outside the ring.

To start, we have not yet seen you go up against a slick defensive fighter who's able to move away from your attack. The last guy who comes remotely close to that that you fought was Juan Manuel Marquez, and there's an argument to be made that you have not yet beaten him in two fights. I believe you won the first because of that monster first round you had, but the second one I think he edged you man. I think you've improved enough to where now you would beat him, even if it was at 130 again, but it would still be a difficult fight. You had a couple of those guys calling your name, Joan Guzman and Nate Campbell, but your team ignored them. If you had fought and beaten Floyd, you would get no argument from me as being the best all around fighter since Shane Mosley was a lightweight. Now I understand Oscar, Hatton, and Cotto were the big money fights, so I don't blame you for taking those, but at the same time you need to tell your fans to chill on saying you're better than Sugar Ray Robinson or Henry Armstrong, cause your skillset and resume both fall way short of those two guys.

The outside the ring reason of course being the fact that they drummed up some ridiculous accusations that you're doping. I'm in the camp that says show me some solid evidence or witnesses and then I'll listen, but you have to realize that in the public eye you're guilty until innocent, and even if not, people are still going to talk about this issue until you make it go away with a random blood test protocol. If people are STILL gonna talk about it after, then you just gotta let it be, but not until you've done all in your power to quiet them.

This is not to say I don't acknowledge your greatness as a fighter. Definitely to go division hopping like you did and dominate some of the better fighters each division had to offer you have proven your ability and that you'd be a threat to beat anyone south of 154, but by doing that you have been able to avoid a lot of different styles without anyone calling you out on it. I know that you yourself are not afraid to face anyone as long as the negotiations line up right, but it doesn't change the fact that there's some guys out there that we would like to see you face.

Part II will have words for Floyd Joy Mayweather Jr.