Frankly Speaking: Mayweather Sr. is Full of @##%

By Keith Terceira

Once again the manure has hit the fan, and that fertilizer comes from the mouth of Floyd Mayweather Sr. who seems to put his Nike in his proverbial mouth every time someone mentions the name Manny Pacquiao to him.

He just cannot resist the temptation of casting aspersions on Manny Pacquiao’s accomplishments in the ring no matter how unfounded or how inaccurate.  At least now, with lawsuits in progress, he is making the attempt to lightly veil his belief that something chemical is enhancing Pacman’s career.

In yet another recent interview with Boxingscene.com, Mayweather Sr. is quoted as saying

“”And now he is knocking guys out who are six feet tall. How can that be? Something like this has never ever happened in the history of boxing.”

For a man that has been around boxing as long as Floyd senior has he should be better informed on the history of the sport. Boxing is littered with athletes that progressed from lighter weights at 16-17 years of age and stopped people as they went up in weight.

Take for instance the late-great Barney Ross who began as a featherweight Golden Gloves champion and moved all the way to Welterweight Champion of the world. Ross was never taller than 5 foot 7 inches , roughly the same height as Pacquiao.

Difference is that Ross was never the big puncher that Manny has been with only 22 ko’s, yet as Manny has progressed in weight it’s his speed and accumulations of punches that are creating the stoppages not one punch power.

Joe Gans “The Old Master” fought from the 120 pound range all the way up to the 140 pound range and accomplished knocking out his opponents at all weights from the accumulations of blows.

One of the greatest fighters of all times Sam Langford fought from 139 to 204 pounds in his career and no one has ever accused Langford of being anything but legendary. This was long before the word steroid was created. Langford was somewhere between five feet six inches to five feet, eight inches tall depending on who your source is .

According to Boxrec.com , Langford won 178 bouts with 129 knockouts , so when you put that into the context of this day and age, neither Mayweather Jr. or Manny Pacquiao could hold a candle to Sam Langford.

What I find hilarious is that a man that is always screaming black pride and stirring the pot of hatred doesn’t know about Langford or that Pacquiao isn’t that unique in the history of the sport.

Joe Gans who was defeated by Langford never was much more than 145 pounds and in later years when consumption was getting the better of him was not larger than 136 so it is safe to say Langford was around 140’s when he defeated Gans. Joe Walcott’s brother Belfield Walcott was also defeated by Langford and he was rarely larger than 140.

Middleweight Champion Harry Greb started his career at 142 pounds and fought all the way to 175 pounds . Fact is that Greb fought at 142 in 1913 and stopped Young Battling Nelson then a year or so later he fought at 170 ½ pounds and lost to Joe Borrell. Perhaps he bulked up on some Andro, or was it not around then. One can look at Grebs record and see that he could fluctuate his weight by 10-20 pounds in the matter of weeks or months, and in this modern day of mega weight classes that’s two divisions.

We can go on and on , even not so famous guys like Johnny ‘Bandit’ Romero who fought in California between the 20’s and the 40’s and finished with a record of 135-48-6 with 87 knock outs. Bandit fought from 139 to 170’s or light heavyweight in his career and stopped a great many.  Romero had the benefit of being five foot ten.

So the weight swings and success were not uncommon during the growth of boxing. The difference is that Pacquiao and Mayweather for that fact are just great fighters at any weight they box at. To cast doubt on Pacquiao is to cast doubt on your own son who when matched up age for age across their careers have had similar success.

Sorry, let me get back on track!

So Charley Rose ranked Sam Langford the best all time heavyweight, Nat Fleischer ranked Langford number seven all time heavyweight champion and Herb Goldman ranked Sam as the second best all time light heavyweight. All this occurred long before the birth of Victor Conte, Balco, and HGH.

I ask you Mr. Mayweather what accusations do you make against Sam Langford, the greatest African Canadian/American boxer of all time, or against Joe Gans the first recognized African American World Champion.

The list of hungry, turn of the century fighters, who turned pro much lighter than they ended their careers, with having some success is much too long to post. The only difference truthfully is that there was only one belt in 8-9 divisions instead of 17 divisions, a dozen sanctioning bodies, and a boat load of titles. That is the only reason some of boxing’s greatest fighters did not rack up the titles that boxers do now.

Some fighters like Sam Langford never got a shot at a world title because of his skin color, though Langford was both a Mexican and Australian title holder.

So please, get the facts straight when you accuse people of things that are obviously incorrect because they don’t cast a shadow on just Manny Pacquiao they also lessen the accomplishments of  all of Boxing’s greatest athletes.