Mayweather vs. Ortiz: Will Rust Be a Factor in Money's Return to the Ring?

On Saturday night, we're going to see something we haven't seen in well over a year.

That would be Floyd Mayweather, Jr. back in the ring. For the first time since last May, he's got himself a fight.

And the stakes are high in this bout. Money is going up against 24-year-old Victor Ortiz, who was last seen stripping previously unbeaten Andre Berto of the WBC Welterweight belt. It's a belt that used to belong to Mayweather, and he wants it back.

Most pundits agree that he'll get it back. So does Vegas, for the record. A lot of that has to do with Mayweather's legendary technical majesty. It also has a lot to do with his 41-0 record.

But should there be at least a seed of doubt? Instead of assuming Money is going to chew Ortiz up and spit him out, does the possibility exist that Mayweather will finally get a notch in his loss column?

Well, yeah. Of course the possibility exists. It's not like a heavily-favored boxer hasn't ever lost before.

Nevertheless, I do think there's more to it than that. We can talk all we want about just how good Money is as a fighter, but the one thing I think we all need to keep in mind here is that it's been a long time since we last saw Money being good in the ring.

At least by boxing standards. It's been 16 months since Mayweather's last fight, a 12-round thumping of Shane Mosley. If you don't want to count Mosley as a legit opponent—which is understandable—you have to go back to 2009 and Mayweather's bout with Juan Manuel Marquez to find his last "legit" fight.

In so many words, it's been a while. Because of that, one wonders if maybe Mayweather will show a little rust around the edges. Maneuvers that might have been easy, say, a year ago might not be so easy to pull off now.

Ah yes, the obvious counterpoint here is that Mayweather had a 21-month layoff between his bout with Ricky Hatton in 2007 and Marquez in 2009. Point taken, sir, point taken.

However, that Mayweather was a slightly younger man than the one that stands before us today. He's 34 now, right about that age when even the best fighters start to waver into their twilight years.

To clarify, none of this is to say that Mayweather is altogether doomed against Ortiz. Instead, what I am suggesting is that we really don't know what version of Mayweather we're going to get on Saturday night. It's either going to be the dominant fighter we're used to, or it could be an entirely different, less effective version of Mayweather that we're going to have to get used to.

Nothing would surprise me. A word to the wise: it's a good mindset to have for this fight.