Floyd Mayweather: Boxers We'd Like to See Him Fight More Than Victor Ortiz

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Morgan Freeman could read the phonebook and compel us doing it. 

Mike Tyson could fight Peter McNeeley and make it one of the largest sporting events in history. 

Floyd Mayweather fighting Victor Ortiz is compelling for one reason only: Has Floyd lost something? 

Seriously now. How much are you really willing to find that out? Is Victor Ortiz really the best choice for someone as gifted as Mayweather in the twilight of his career? 

Once it's established that Floyd hasn't lost a step and all his faculties remain—this is, on the surface—a gross mismatch and most likely a very dull fight will ensue. Ortiz doesn't bring much to the table unless he has Buster Douglas up his sleeves.

"He's younger," Floyd has said, trying to entice us.

Are you able to contain your excitement with such masterful marketing? Please keep both hands on the keyboard. 

The problem is that Floyd's skills in the ring create a dynamic with his fights similar to what grandmasters at chess create against their opponents: one man plays for both players. 

Nobody does this better than Floyd.

The question is only whether Floyd might have something happen to him that happened to Roy Jones Jr., one of the only fighters who displayed similar dominance. The key difference between their careers is that Roy went for greatness with his fight against John Ruiz in a quest to win the heavyweight championship (albeit a questionable title given Ruiz's credentials) and the weight gain cost him immensely when he came back down.

Jones was never the same. Had Jones retired after winning that belt, you'd think about him in a completely different way. Apart from his place in boxing history, when it comes down to it, you just wouldn't feel so awful for him the way you can't help feeling now.

Floyd never took a big chance like that. Does he deserve credit for this or criticism? Depends where you're coming from. 

There are still many matches out there in boxing, besides the obvious Filipino, karaoke-singing elephant in the room, that present fascinating challenges for Floyd. Will he take any of them? We'll have to find out.  

Miguel Cotto

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Top Rank and Floyd Mayweather's falling out most likely cost us a number of great fights we'll never get back. 

Again, Roy Jones Jr. comes to mind when thinking of what avoiding major representation cost a fighter in terms of big fights. Jones Jr. lost millions over the course of his career to, presumably, avoid losing other millions falling prey to the corruption of boxing. Rumors circulate he's still under significant financial strain, so there you go. Boxing usually reduces fighter's lives to a mean joke and few escape the clutches unscathed.  

Miguel Cotto's career was stolen from him by a cheap, venal cheater who I believe should be serving time in a prison for attempted murder. I don't want to even go into Antonio Margarito's mocking with the loaded wraps incident before his fight with Pacquiao.

That boxing bestowed a fight against Pacquiao to Margarito after what he did to Cotto remains one of the greatest indictments against everything the sport now stands for. 

Cotto gives everything he has in every fight. He displays all the qualities you could ask for in a great champion. But he lost something after his tragic battle against Margarito that he's trying to get back. It speaks to his courage and character that he has the guts to challenge Margarito in his next fight. 

Regardless of whether Cotto stands much of a chance against Mayweather, he's long deserved the chance to compete. Nobody would give more if given the opportunity. Cotto represents an enormous amount of what still inspires fans about the sport of boxing. A megafight against Mayweather is long deserved for this future Hall of Famer. 

Eris Landy Lara

I was in attendance for Lara's revolting theft at the hands of the judges against Paul Williams. Many of us in the press section stood and berated the judges immediately after the moment the decision was handed down.

Lara had pulverized Williams time and time again with lethal straight lefts and Williams just kept eating them, round after round. It was a tremendously lopsided fight and should've been stopped several times. We'd seen an exceptional performance rewarded with another indication of how rotten this sport can be.  

I have nothing against Williams or the heart he displayed that night in sustaining through a sickening beating from Lara. Williams is a great a champion who leaves nothing to spare, but Lara was not just superior on that night, he dominated Williams in a landslide. It was a spectacular performance, thoroughly commanding, and his ability would give any fighter in the world issues. Including Floyd. 

There was a long stretch of time where Floyd had an opportunity to face Paul Williams and never pursued it with any vigor. Williams, after Sergio Martinez, is a different man. He fights just as hard, but he's not the same. That being said, I'm not sure if Lara couldn't have spanked Williams at anytime of his career. Due to Williams wanting nothing whatsoever to do with Lara again, don't look for any future fights to determine anything between them.

You may not know much about Erislandy Lara, but he just might have better tools to beat Mayweather than anyone Mayweather's fought. La Finca, Cuba's elite boxing school for a slew of past, present, and future Olympic champions, developed and nourished Lara's abilities from an early age.

The difference between him and most fighters they produce, he clearly has a matured professional style. He showed that against Williams. He landed bigger shots than anything Mosley landed against Mayweather. The difference is, Lara landed a hundred of them, not three like Mosley did. That's what makes it exciting to think of Lara vs. Mayweather.

Saul "Canelo" Alvarez

Saul "Canelo" Alvarez is 21-years-old and well on his way to being someone special in the sport of boxing. He's won 37 fights already without a loss, is getting stronger with each fight, and he's generating a rare form of excitement and finding a significant following.

"Canelo" wants to leave a name behind that people remember. We remember when most fighters had the determination to wow us, now that's the exception in the sport. My guess is, this will only swell the affection toward the career of Alvarez. 

One fight in particular that Alvarez engaged in is important on several levels. When Alvarez fought Carlos Baldomir, the latter weighed in 2.4 pounds above the agreed upon 151 pound limit, and Alvarez declined to take the 20% off Baldomir's purse as penalty. He went on to obliterate Baldomir in the 6th round. It was the first time Baldomir had ever been knocked out. 

It's not all about the money for this kid. Does this make it a little sweeter imagining such an attitude confronting Floyd, who has set aflame hundred dollar bills inside clubs? For me, it does. It proves "Canelo" is fighting for something more. It proves Alvarez has a shot at not just doing something great in boxing, but after he does, he might not be satisfied. 

Alvarez is trying to be the great champion of our future. A battle against Floyd might cement that reputation in the minds of boxing fans around the world. It also might deliver Floyd his first loss. 

Amir Khan

Amir Khan is the most obvious heir to Manny Pacquiao. He's a force in the ring and a highly pleasant, respectful presence outside of the ring. Khan could be a crossover star with women in a way we haven't seen since De La Hoya (70% of a few of those pay-per-views Oscar was selling were from women!). With Freddie Roach steering the ship, his marketability could go through the roof. 

Last year I'd bring my wife to watch Khan, whom she'd never met, have his training session with Freddie. We were all going to have dinner after the session. She'd brought along a book to read suspecting watching a man go through the paces of exercise might not be the most engaging way to spend 90 minutes.

I pleaded with her to give Khan's shadowboxing her attention for just 30 seconds. For the rest of the afternoon she never opened her book. She couldn't believe boxing, applied by a world class athlete in his prime, could be something beautiful.

At dinner I asked him about who he'd rather fight between Pacquiao (his regular sparring partner) or Floyd.

It took him all of a split-second to blurt out, "Floyd, man. Floyd. In a heartbeat."

So what does a fighter of Amir Khan's caliber, having worked extensively with Pacquiao, see in Floyd Mayweather that we don't. What does Khan see in Mayweather that makes him not doubt for a moment he'd have a better chance dealing with Floyd?

As with Mosley's pressure rewarding him with nearly stopping Mayweather, Khan lands bigger, he throws more, and Khan wants to go down as a boxing great because of an abiding love of the sport. What Khan has done after suffering his shocking loss is a remarkable achievement in itself, but he's going to do a great deal more.

He may be the most viable opponent of any out there we'll see Floyd face. Nobody could be more happy about that, it seems, than Khan himself.  

Yuriorkis Gamboa

Yeah, yeah–I'm aware Yuriorkis Gamboa fights at 126 pounds and is going to have to bulk up to an excessive degree before this fight would ever have a hope in hell of taking place. But wait a minute? What weight class did Floyd and Manny start out from? 

No, I get it. It'll never happen. But where this fight captures my imagination is just in the styles and athletic majesty of these two fighters. Gamboa has the fastest hands and feet I've ever seen. They're even more blinding when you watch him live (which is next Saturday against Ponce De Leon).

There's just something amazing about a man who routinely leaves an entire press core of boxing journalists like fawning, slack-jawed children watching one of their friends dunk a basketball for the first time.

Gamboa has perfected the art of instilling awe in way we haven't seen since Tyson. Had Gamboa been born into a heavyweight's body, he'd be the most marketable boxer in the world right now. As it stands, he's a full grown man who weighs 126 pounds.

It takes most boxing fans a while to appreciate the little guys, but after you do, it's hard having the other weight classes hold your appreciation the same way. 

Gamboa getting a piece of Floyd Mayweather feels a bit like Jake LaMotta getting a piece of Joe Louis. 

I can think of few more exciting things than, moments before the match is wrung into action, Floyd and Gamboa staring off at one another. It would be the first time Floyd's reflexes, speed, and footwork might give him doubts against another human being in the world.

That alone is a thrilling prospect, the possibility that Gamboa himself knows of his own extra gears he has against Mayweather and how he choses to unleash his magnificent offense against the greatest defensive fighter of his era (Willie Pep is the greatest ever, don't kid yourself).

Manny Pacquiao

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Manny Pacquiao was just an after thought here.

Can a boxing fan still hunger for an opponent leading up to a contest with Victor Ortiz? I mean, he's younger. He's marginally bigger. He's changed the tattoo on his back!

If these three massively enticing selling points don't satiate your boxing appetite, frankly, I'm not sure what will. 

You're right to say that Victor Ortiz is no Peter McNeeley. And I would agree with you. McNeeley has personality. McNeeley has a far more interesting narrative (albeit sounding a lot like a Massachusetts version of Jersey Shore).

I would rather hear McNeeley regale me with lines on par with "wrapping him up in my cocoon of horror" than most things Victor Ortiz could ever hope to do against Floyd during their match. 

It's a travesty (in terms of boxing) that Pacquiao and Floyd, given all the money thrown at staging such an event, can't come to terms and put this show on the road. We should be discussing staging the last chapter of their trilogy by now, not questioning if this fight will ever happen. 

You can and should blame all sides of this equation for this one not happening. I'm not much of a fan of UFC (I'm not saying it isn't compelling, I'm just not that familiar with it beyond Ander Silva's fights), but I admire the spirit of Dana White taking personally the desire to ensure the best fights possible for the fans are on every card he showcases.

This may be an apples and oranges comparison, however it isn't in the hearts of fans who've gone out somewhere to watch a series of fights in both sports. UFC is trying to prove itself. Boxing hasn't felt that way for a while. It's a shame boxing doesn't attempt to compete against the UFC with the quality of its product. It simply says, as Arum does, there's no competition. Well there is.

And if boxing had any interest of showing the best of what it has to offer, it would get on its horse with lining up Manny Pacquiao vs. Floyd Mayweather and see how that stands up to anything the UFC has in response.