Floyd Mayweather vs. Shane Mosley: Don't Believe the Hype

The announcement that Shane Mosley, rather than Manny Pacquiao, would be Floyd Mayweather's next opponent was not met with universal approval.

Mosley did not appear an obvious choice of opponent for Mayweather, and many questioned his motivation in choosing to fight Mosley rather than Pacquiao.

Since then the HBO publicity machine has rolled into action. A couple of 24/7 s and a few well-publicized comments from both camps appear to have slowly convinced people to believe in this fight.

The Mosley camp, under the tutelage of Naazim Richardson, is quiet, confident, and soft-spoken, and its fighter is the epitome of all this. The Mayweather camp, by contrast, is, as always, brash, arrogant, and outspoken—none of them more so than Floyd Jr.

Could Mosley be the man to finally succeed where every other fighter to face Mayweather has failed? Will Sugar Shane find the answer to the perpetually perplexing Mayweather riddle?

The answer is probably not. Three separate opponents have already defeated Mosley. Two of them, Vernon Forrest and "Winky" Wright, have managed to do it twice. The last man to defeat Mosley, Miguel Cotto, subsequently suffered brutal stoppage losses to Antonio Margarito and Pacquiao.

No one has ever come close to beating or even hurting Mayweather. His fights may not be the most entertaining, but he seldom, if ever, looks in danger of losing. Mayweather rarely loses a round, let alone a fight.

Mayweather has given up attempting to project a good guy image. The 24/7 episode in which he gave out food to the poor in Las Vegas appears to have been a one-off, and Mayweather has once again reverted to type in the latest installment of the series. Badmouthing his opponent, flashing his cash, and proclaiming himself to be better than Muhammad Ali, it has been a vintage "Money" Mayweather performance.

A lot of people would like nothing more than to see Mayweather get knocked out, and these are the people he is hoping to persuade to buy the pay-per-view with his antics.

The reality is that Floyd Mayweather Jr. is a man with much to be arrogant about. No boxer has come close to matching Mayweather, and I see little in Mosley's record to suggest he will succeed where 39 others have failed.

Anything other than a lopsided Mayweather decision win this weekend would be a major surprise. Mayweather is so good that it is getting boring. It will be interesting to see how many people HBO has managed to convince otherwise.