ANGE FINDER
WITH Ben doughty
Reunited within twenty minutes we were soon drinking more beer and laughing at the irony of our peripheral Vegas adventures turning out to be hugely more
exciting than the main event we had all come to see.
Please don't misunderstand me, I am glad to have finally seen Floyd Matweather jnr. live and he is everything
I already knew him to be. Smart, quick, amazingly
accurate with those familiar staples: left jab to the body,
counter right hand and lead left hook but I sat there
wanting more from him.
It was interesting to note that Floyd was actually most
effective when he went looking for Maidana and forced
him to back up but the WBC welterweighzt and light
middleweight champion seems resolute in his desire to
go the distance every time out unless you annoy him in
the manner of Victor Ortiz
Gene Tunney once said that a successful prizefighter
should have two aims I’m mind, to avoid harm and to
make money.
Based purely on that agenda, Mayweather is surely the
greatest prizefighter of all time but, for the sake of balance, I will leave the final world to Shane Mosley ( not
THAT Shane Mosley, you understand.)
“That was an amazing three days and I am definitely
coming on the next trip but if Mayweather faces anyone
besides Khan or Pacquiao then I don’t need a ticket to
the fight.”
.
The night before the big show, I was lucky enough to be
invited to a private party to launch Russ Anber's new
Rival Boxing shop near Las Vegas airport.
To term star studded would be a relative injustice with
boxing royalty like Sugar Ray Leonard, Roy Jones and
Lennox Lewis in attendance alongside a whole host of
80s and 90s boxing luminaries and current stars, Deontay Wilder and Jean Pascal.
Despite his well documented fistic genius, Roy Jones
turned out to an extremely affable fella and was more
than happy to join me in the car park for a chat about his
illustrious career.
I asked him if Floyd Mayweather suffers in comparison
to the two Sugar Ray's, Messrs. Robinson and Leonard
because he hasn't had the same level of competition
available?
Quick as a lunging left hook, Roy shot back, "He HAD
it but didn't fight it (his leading rivals) He didn't fight
the same calibre of competition as those guys faced. We
don't know how he would do if he got knocked down by
someone almost as good as him, so you can't give those
same accolades away."
I'm response to my inevitable question as to why he continues to fight when he is clearly years beyond his brilliant best, the man called RJJ was adamant, "Nobody told
me when to start and nobody tells me when to finish.
When people like Larry Byrd and Michael Jordan play
on beyond their best, they're not the same, but nobody
takes credit away from their accomplishments.
You can still understand everything I say and I'm having a ball when I fight so what's the problem?. Am I
supposed to go out partying every night now or something...?"
When put that like what could I say?
Stay safe and keep punching.
Vegas, 2014
DECEMBER 2014 BRAWL SPORTS 5