Mayweather’s Reading Ability Belies How Smart He Is

Published

11 years ago

September 2, 2014

Fighting, whether it’s boxing, wrestling or mixed martial arts, is the toughest sport known to man. Yes, all the other major sports require some form of skill, strength, toughness, stamina, speed, mental concentration and athleticism, but not to the degree that fighting or one-on- one combat does. You show me a great fighter in any combat sport and I’ll show you someone who is very smart and who is also quick to analyze and process things pertaining to situations that change in milliseconds.

No two fighters in the world fight or move alike. They are all built differently and every part of their body is different. There are other one-on-one sports, but no one is physically trying to prevent you from accomplishing what you’re trying to do with the intent to hurt or disarm. In addition to that, in most fighting confrontations, each combatant knows what the other is trying to do and vice-versa. And that makes fighting that much tougher.

Recently, rapper 50 Cent challenged Floyd Mayweather to read a page of Harry Potter, which was later downgraded to reading The Cat in the Hat on Jimmy Kimmel Live. This escalated when an audio recording of Mayweather surfaced with him reading a transcript…..”I’m Floyd Mayweather, and I’ve joined IHeartRadio for the Show Your Stripes movement to support the hiring of vets. Go to ShowYourStripes.org, a website that connects veterans with employees and helps businesses find candidates with the best training.” Mayweather’s reading didn’t flow smoothly and he certainly didn’t sound like a national news anchor reading copy.

Once the audio went viral over the internet, the venom really spewed in Floyd’s direction. He was called dumb, stupid and illiterate. Mayweather responded by posting photos of two pay checks totaling over 71 million dollars on the internet and mocked those who delighted in calling him dumb.

Only, Floyd isn’t dumb. You can’t be a great fighter and be dumb; in fact you have to be very smart and quick on your feet to be a great fighter/boxer. It requires much more than just athleticism and skill.

Muhammad Ali, the most widely known athlete, not just fighter in history, graduated at the bottom of his high school class. Yet in 1968 and only 26 years old, he went on Firing Line and held his own with conservative icon William F. Buckley, and boxing wasn’t discussed once during the 90 minute program. Buckley mentioned during one of his last interviews that Ali was one of the smartest and quickest on his feet thinkers that he ever interviewed or debated. For not being highly educated, Ali sure knew how to control the emerging new media and transform himself from a fighter who wasn’t taken all that seriously when he turned pro after winning a gold medal at the 1960 Olympics, into one of the most recognizable faces on the planet.

Ali was a great communicator and understood people. He also understood psychology and worked his big name opponents to death before their in-ring confrontations. He also grasped that the quickest way to reduce great fighters to their lowest common denominator was to get them mad. This is evidenced by how many boxers have looked anything like professional fighters when getting into it at a press conference. Or how MMA fighters Jon Jones and future opponent Daniel Cormier looked flailing away at each other during their recent confrontation at a press conference. Isn’t it amazing how much better a fighter’s technique and skill come out when they aren’t mad? In all of Ali’s 61 fights, it’s safe to say that his antics had the least effect on Ken Norton and Jimmy Young as far as name opponents go. He tried everything in his book but never unraveled them once. Maybe he realized they were a tough style match-up for him, but they added to his degree of difficulty by not getting mad and keeping their cool during their bouts with him.

Everyone knows that Ali wasn’t book smart or very educated, but he was a very smart man and more than held his own in and out of the ring with all those he crossed paths with. He barely got out of high school yet was asked to give lectures not pertaining to boxing at Oxford and some of the highest learning institutions in the world.

How about Bernard Hopkins. He spent almost five years in prison and didn’t graduate high school. Has there ever been a better self-managed athlete in any sport? If so, I don’t know of them. Hopkins wasn’t a gold medalist, doesn’t necessarily have a fan friendly style, he’s not the kid next door, and he didn’t have any corporate or establishment money working behind the scenes trying to advance his career. In fact, once he captured the middleweight title, the establishment was trying to knock him off, and he was smart enough to see it. That’s why he never got out of shape and kept his eye on every fighter who he knew he’d one day most likely have to defend the title against. Hopkins was also smart enough to learn the business of boxing, insuring that he wouldn’t get ripped off and taken advantage of like many other past great fighters were.

And when it comes to ring combat, Hopkins is as smart as they come. He’s great at understanding his opponents’ strengths and weaknesses and usually takes away their strengths and forces them to fight from their weakness. On top of that he’s earning some of his biggest pay days and enhancing his legacy at the end of his career. How many athletes can that be said about? No, Bernard will not be getting calls to read radio spots once he finally retires, but he’s every bit as smart and intellectual as the guy writing them.

What about Floyd Mayweather? In Floyd you have a fighter who isn’t a former gold medalist, he doesn’t have natural charisma, he’s not the best boxer you’ve ever seen, nor is he the fastest or the hardest puncher. If that weren’t enough, he has a reputation of not fighting the toughest and most worthy opposition when they are at their most dangerous. His managerial skills as far as picking opponents are every bit as good as his ring skill. Actually, they are better because he’s one of the top three fighter-managers ever.

Floyd realized around the time that he fought Oscar De La Hoya, in mid 2007, that he couldn’t be promoted as the kid next door like Oscar. He also didn’t possess flashy and blow you away skill like Sugar Ray Leonard or Roy Jones, and he wasn’t a destroyer like Thomas Hearns. So what did he do? He transformed himself into the ultimate cocky bad guy who, in the style of a WWE wrestler, relishes playing the villain. And all that has done has made him the highest paid athlete in the world the last two years, and that’s without making one cent from endorsements like Peyton Manning, LeBron James and Tiger Woods.

Mayweather has never taken a beating in any fight, so he’ll retire with his health and wealth. This leads me to conclude that for a guy who some say isn’t too smart because he may be moderately illiterate, he’s done really well for himself. Remember, he can be taught to read like everyone reading this was… However, we could never be taught or learn to fight like he can. And there’s no such thing as a great fighter who isn’t a very smart and shrewd person.

Fighting is the hardest thing to do athletically. To be a great one you must be a very quick thinker and not only process information quickly, but you also must have the capacity to apply what’s needed and throw away what doesn’t apply, all in a moment’s notice. Floyd Mayweather may not be the guy you want to read advertising copy, but he sure is one smart man.

Frank Lotierzo can be contacted at GlovedFist@Gmail.com

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Frank Lotierzo

Friday Boxing Recaps: Observations on Conlan, Eubank, Bahdi, and David Jimenez

Published

3 days ago

March 8, 2025

Arne K. Lang

Friday Boxing Recaps: Observations on Conlan, Eubank, Bahdi, and David Jimenez

March 7 was an unusually heavy Friday for professional boxing. The show that warranted the most ink was the all-female card in London, a tour-de-force for the super-talented Lauren Price, but there were important fights on other continents.

Brighton

Michael Conlan, who sat out all of 2024 on the heels of being stopped in three of his previous five, returned to the ring in the British seaside resort city of Brighton in a shake-off-the-rust, 8-rounder against Asad Asif Khan, a 31-year-old Indian from Calcutta making his first appearance in a British ring.

Conlan, a 2016 Olympic silver medalist who famously signed with Top Rank coming out of the amateur ranks, is now 33 years old. Against Khan, he was far from impressive, but did enough to win by a 78-74 score and lock in a match with Spain’s Cristobal Lorente, the European featherweight champion.

Conlan, who improved to 19-3 (9), absorbed a lot of punishment in those three matches that he lost. With his deep amateur background, Michael has a lot of mileage on him and he would have been smart to call it quits after his embarrassingly one-sided defeat to Luis Alberto Lopez. His frayed reflexes speak to something more than ring rust. Heading in, Khan brought a 19-5-1 record but had scored only five wins inside the distance.

Conlan vs Khan was the co-feature. In the main event, Brighton welterweight Harlem Eubank, the cousin of Chris Eubank Jr, improved to 21-0 (9 KOs) with a dominant performance over Conlan’s Belfast homie Tyrone McKenna. Eubank was credited with three knockdowns, all the result of body punches, before referee John Latham had seen enough and pulled the plug at the 2:09 mark of round 10. It was the fourth loss in his last six outings for the 35-year-old McKenna (24-6-1).

Harlem Eubank wants to fight Conor Benn next and says he is willing to wait until after his cousin “wipes Benn out.” Chris Eubank Jr vs Benn is slated for April 26 at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. The North London facility, which has a retractable roof, is the third-largest soccer stadium in England.

Toronto

Local fan favorite Lucas Bahdi and his stablemate Sara Bailey were the headliners on last night’s card at the Great Canadian Casino Resort in Toronto. The event marked the first incursion of Jake Paul’s MVP Promotions into Canada.

Bahdi, who is from Niagara Falls but trains in Toronto, burst out of obscurity in July of last year in Tampa, Florida, with a spectacular one-punch knockout of heavily-hyped Ashton “H2O” Sylva. His next fight, on the undercard of Jake Paul’s match with Mike Tyson, was less “noisy” and the same could be said of his homecoming fight with Ryan James Racaza, an undefeated (15-0) but obscure southpaw from the Philippines who was making his North American debut.

Bahdi vs Racaza was a technical fight that didn’t warm up until Bahdi produced a knockdown in round seven with a sweeping left hook, a glancing blow that appeared to land behind Racaza’s ear. The Filipino was up in a jiff, looking at the referee as if to say, “this dude just hit me with a rabbit punch.”

The judges had it 99-90, 97-92, and 96-93 for the victorious Bahdi (19-0) who was the subject of a recent profile on these pages.

Sara Bailey, a decorated amateur who competed around the world under her maiden name Sara Haghighat Joo and now holds the WBA light flyweight title, successfully defended that trinket with a lopsided decision over Cristina Navarro (6-3), a 35-year-old Spaniard who “earned” this assignment by winning a 6-round decision over an opponent with a 1-4-3 record. The judges scored the monotonous fight 99-91 across the board for Bailey who improved to 6-0 and then returned to the ring to assist her husband in Lucas Bahdi’s corner.

Also

Twenty-two-year-old super bantamweight Angel Barrientes, a Las Vegas-based Hawaii native, delivered the best performance of the night with a one-sided beatdown of Alexander Castellano whose corner mercifully stopped the contest after the seventh round as the ring doctor stood in a neutral corner chatting with the referee.

The gritty Castellano, who hails from Tonawanda, New York, brought an 11-1-2 record and hadn’t previously been stopped. A glutton for punishment, he appeared to suffer a broken orbital bone. Barrientes improved to 13-1 (8 KOs).

The show was marred by an excessive amount of fluffy gobbledygook by the TV talking heads which slowed down the action and made the promotion almost unwatchable.

Cartago, Costa Rica

Fighting in his hometown, super flyweight David Jimenez scored a lopsided 12-round decision over Nicaragua’s Keyvin Lara. The judges had it 120-108, 119-109, and 116-112.

Jimenez, now 17-1, came to the fore in July of 2022 when he upset Ricardo Sandoval in Los Angeles, winning a well-earned majority decision over a 20/1 favorite riding a 16-fight winning streak. That boosted him into a title fight with the formidable Artem Dalakian who saddled him with his lone defeat.

Jimenez’s victory over Lara was his fifth since that setback. It sets up the Costa Rican for another title fight, this time against Argentina’s Fernando Martinez who acquired the WBA 115-pound title in July with an upset of Kazuto Ioka in Japan. Lara, who unsuccessfully challenged Ioka for a belt in 2016, falls to 32-7-1.

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Price Conquers Jonas on an All-Female Card at Royal Albert Hall

Published

3 days ago

March 7, 2025

Arne K. Lang

Price-Conquers-Jonas-on-an-All-Female-Card-at-Royal-Albert-Hall

Ben Shalom’s BOXXER Promotions was at London’s historic Royal Albert Hall tonight with an all-female card topped by a welterweight unification fight between WBC/IBF belt-holder Natasha Jonas and WBA champion Lauren Price.

Liverpool’s Jonas, who turns 41 in June, has had a sterling career, but Father Time has caught up with her. The 30-year-old Price, an Olympic gold medalist, had faster hands, faster feet, and hit harder. The classy Jonas (16-3-1) acknowledged as much in her post-fight interview: “She beat me to the punch every time.”

The scores were 100-90, 98-92, and 98-93.

In advancing her record to 9-0 (2), Price built a strong case that she is the best fighter to come down the pike from Wales since Joe Calzaghe. As for her next bout, she hopes to fight the winner of the March 29 rematch in Las Vegas between Mikaela Mayer and Sandy Ryan. That match, with all of the meaningful welterweight hardware at stake, would be a hot ticket item if potted in Cardiff.

Semi-wind-up

Caroline Dubois staved off a late rally to successfully defend her WBC lightweight title with a majority decision over South Korea’s spunky Bo Mi Re Shin. The judges had it 98-92, 98-93, and 95-95. Although the 95-95 tally by the Korean judge was quite a stretch, Shin performed far better than the odds – Dubois was a consensus 35/1 favorite — portended.

Dubois, a 24-year-old Londoner trained by Shane McGuigan, is the sister of IBF heavyweight title-holder Daniel Dubois. Reportedly 36-3 as an amateur, she advanced her pro record to 11-0-1 (5). Heading in, Shin (18-3-3) had won nine of her previous 10 with the lone setback coming via split decision in a robust fight with Belgium’s Delfine Persoon in Belgium.

Other Bouts of Note

Kariss Artingstall returned to the ring after a 14-month absence and scored a unanimous decision over former amateur rival Raven Chapman. The scores were 98-91, 97-92, 96-93.

The prize for Artingstall, who happens to be Lauren Price’s partner, was the inaugural British female featherweight title and a potential rematch with Skye Nicolson who would relish the chance to avenge her last defeat, a loss by split decision to Attingstall in the quarterfinals of the Tokyo Olympics. Nicolson, who was part of tonight’s broadcast team, defends her title later this month in Sydney against Florida’s Tiara Brown.

It was the first 10-rounder for Artingstall (7-0). Chapman (9-2) had an uphill battle after Artingstall decked her in the second round with a straight left hand.

In a mild upset, Jasmina Zopotoczna, a UK-based Pole, won a split decision over Chloe Watson, adding Watson’s European flyweight title to her own regional trinket. One of the judges favored Watson 97-93, but each of his colleagues had it 96-95 for the Pole. Although there was no great furor, the verdict was unpopular.

Zapotoczna, who fought off her back foot, improved to 9-1. It was the first pro loss for Watson who is trained by Ricky Hatton.

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Avila Perspective, Chap. 316: Art of the Deal in Boxing and More

Published

5 days ago

March 6, 2025

David A. Avila

Avila-Perspective-Chap-316-Art-of-the-Deal-in-Boxing-and-More

So, they want to save boxing?

A group of guys with recent ties to the sport of boxing and bags of money suddenly believe they can save a sport that is older than any other sport since the dawn of mankind.

Boxing is the oldest sport.

When cavemen roamed the planet, you can believe one tribe bet another tribe their guy could whip the other guy. Thus began the sport of boxing. There was no baseball, soccer or horse racing.

Even the invention of the wheel was still a few generations away when men were duking it out with other men for sport.

Throughout history mentions of one man fighting another man without arms are written in the Tales of Ulysses and other literary references.

Boxing will never die. Period.

Here is the reason why.

Boxing requires only two men in their underwear with no weapons and no requirement of classes in jujitsu, kickboxing, wrestling or advance training facilities. You can prepare in your backyard with one heavy bag and a pair of boxing gloves. It’s simple.

MMA, on the other hand, requires money.

Boxing is for the poor. Any kid can walk into a gym and begin training. When they become adults, then they start paying to use the gym.

Don’t let people fool you and tell you “boxing is dying.”

People have been saying those same words since John L. Sullivan in the late 1800s. You can look it up.

The phrase “boxing is dying,” is said by people who want you to pay them money to save it. Kind of sounds like the guy currently sitting in the White House who is going to save America by firing Americans from their jobs and allowing Russia to take over Ukraine.

Don’t believe these people.

Boxing does not need saving.

Why would Dana White, who has stated for decades that MMA is bigger than boxing, though no MMA fighter can equal the purses of a Saul “Canelo” Alvarez or Tyson Fury, why is he involved in boxing?

There is big money to be made in boxing, especially with internet gambling sites being allowed all over the world. And boxing is popular worldwide. MMA is not.

More people know who Canelo is than UFC’s Alex Pereira.

I respect the UFC fighters. They put in hard work and battle injuries throughout their careers. But MMA is simply not as big as boxing. The purses of MMA fighters at the top level don’t come close to boxing’s top money earners.

Why did Conor McGregor, Nate Diaz and others quickly switch to boxing when called?

The money in boxing is much bigger.

Follow the money.

NYC

A rumble is planned for Times Square in New York City.

Vatos from Southern California are fighting dudes from Nevada and Brooklyn. Sounds like a script from the Gangs of New York.

Where is Leonardo DiCaprio when you need him?

Ryan “KingRy” Garcia (24-1, 20 KOs) will meet Rollie Romero (16-2, 13 KOs) in a welterweight match set for May 2, on Times Square in mid-Manhattan. This is one of three marquee bouts planned to be streamed on DAZN.

Others matched will be Arnold Barboza (32-0, 11 KOs) versus super lightweight titlist Teofimo Lopez (21-1, 13 KOs), and Devin Haney (31-0, 15 KOs) against Jose Carlos Ramirez (29-2, 18 KOs) in a welterweight contest.

This is the proposed match by The Ring magazine backed by Turki Alalshikh who, along with Golden Boy Promotions and Matchroom Boxing, is sponsoring this fight card.

It was also announced that Alalshikh, TKO Group Holdings, and Sela are forming a promotion company.

TKO owns UFC and WWE.

SoCal Fights

Southern California will be busy with boxing cards this weekend.

This Thursday, March 6, is Golden Boy Promotions with a boxing card featuring Manny Flores (19-1, 15 KOs) versus Jorge Leyva (18-3, 13 KOs) in a super bantamweight match at Fantasy Springs Casino. DAZN will stream the boxing card from Indio, California.

On Saturday, March 8, the Fox Theater in Pomona, California hosts a boxing card featuring super middleweights Ruben Cazales (10-0) vs Adam Diu Abdulhamid (18-16). Also, super featherweights Michael Bracamontes (10-2-1) meets Eugene Lagos (16-9-3) at the historic venue promoted by House of Pain Boxing.

On Saturday March 8, Elite Boxing hosts a boxing card at Salesian High in East Los Angeles featuring East L.A. native Merari Vivar (8-0) against Sarah Click (2-8-1) and several other fights.

On Saturday, March 8, an event hosted by House of Champions features top contenders Joet Gonzalez (26-4) vs Arnold Khegai (22-1-1) in a featherweight main event at Thunder Studios in Long Beach, Calif.

A Big All-Female Card in London

On Friday, March 7, the historic Royal Albert Hall in the Kensington borough of London will host an all-female card with two world title fights including a unification fight in the welterweight division.

Natasha Jonas (16-2-1) and Lauren Price (8-0) meet 10 rounds for the IBF, WBC, and WBA belts.

Jonas, 40, the current WBC and IBF titlist, recently defeated Ivana Habazin and before that edged past Mikaela Mayer in a win that could have gone the other way very easily. She will be facing Price, an Olympic gold medalist and current WBA and IBO titlist.

Price, 30, hails from Wales and has an aggressive pressure style that saw her win a battle between punchers with a third-round knockout of Colombia’s Bexcy Mateus this past December in Liverpool. Before that she defeated the always tough Jessica McCaskill.

In the co-main event, lightweights Caroline Dubois (10-0-1) and Bo Mi Re Shin (18-2-3) meet for the WBC world title.

Me Re Shin, 30, fights out of South Korea and has knockout power. She was one of only two fighters to stop Venezuela’s Ana Maria Lozano who has 38 pro fights. That says something. She lost a split decision to Delfine Persoon in Belgium. That really says something.

Dubois had two competitive fights, first, against Jessica Camara that ended in a technical draw due to a clash of heads. Before that she defeated Maira Moneo. Dubois has very good talent and is still young at 24. Is she ready for Mi Re Shin?

Times Square photo credit: JP Yim

Fights to watch:

Thurs., March 6: DAZN, Manny Flores (19-1) vs. Jorge Leyva (18-3)

Fri., March 7: free on DAZN, Lucas Bahdi (18-0) vs. Ryan James Racaza (15-0)

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