Recently, Floyd Mayweather Jr. stated, "All belts do is collect dust."
He wasn't just talking. Mayweather (40-0, 25 KO) will not be fighting for Shane Mosley's WBA welterweight title belt on May 1 in Las Vegas, because, he says, he doesn't want to. From Sky Sports:
"I did not want to fight for the WBA title," Mayweather said. "At this point, it's all about enhancing my legacy. "I've done a lot of things in this sport, things that a lot of fighters weren't able to do in the sport and didn't do in the sport. This fight with Shane Mosley will enhance my legacy." He didn't say anything about sanctioning fees, though certainly given his complete disinterest in the belt itself, paying to fight for it wasn't going to happen, either. Mosley (46-5, 39 KO) did want to defend the belt, which he won in January 2009 from Antonio Margarito. He hasn't fought since. You know, between this and the steroid testing, I'm at the point where I don't really care why Floyd did either of those things, or how selfish it was. The end result is good in both cases. Boxing, or at least these massive fights, deserves and needs this level of testing that Mayweather and Mosley have undergone. That's just the sports climate we live in. And this belt thing is not a big deal, but it's nice to see someone in Mayweather's position say very frankly, "Who cares about these stupid belts?" He's right -- that belt would have done absolutely nothing for him. Nobody cares about the WBA title belt. They care about Floyd Mayweather Jr. fighting Shane Mosley. Period. The belt is a prop. Who among the usual big fight, casual audience knows or cares that Mosley holds the WBA belt? Who knows or cares what the WBA is? Two of the best fighters in the last 20 years of boxing are going to fight on May 1. That's what matters. That's it. And they're still two of the best in the world, too -- two of the top five, you can say, and some might even say two of the three best. Like Sam Cooke said, that's where it's at.
Loading comments...