Mayweather shines, sort of...

The consensus among members of the fight press is...well there isn't one. Okay, the scribes generally hail the return of Money and pretty generally apotheosize the man, or at least the man at his craft in the squared ring. We praise his power, his speed, his nearly extrasensory ability to see what the opponent will do seconds, minutes, perhaps years before he does it, whether its a punch, a duck, a step or a feign. It is as if -- as one writer put it -- Floyd Mayweather, Jr. perceives the world in slow motion.

In that respect he embodies a fantasy that every one of us has had: that we are in a fight with some boorish nemesis, maybe a bar fight, to make it colorful. With the touch of our tongue to our molar we can instantly cause time to slow to a crawl and we are able to duck punches throw counters, then simply move out of the way while the goon crumples. That is what Mayweather does. But it is also generally agreed upon by all and sundry that his kind of perfection makes for a boring fight. And I, too, agree with this. Watching a Mayweather fight, perhaps his first bout with Castillo excepted, is like watching a man chase a horsefly for twelve three-minute stanzas. AS one commentator wrote, "Those who paid the $50 PPV charge for this...lost $50."

And there may also be a consensus, at least among the less charitable bloviators that Mayweather is all about his perfect record, teeth and nose, and not at all about getting into the ring with someone who could seriously threaten any of those. Not true, I'll argue. The reason he chooses to fight whom he does is as clear as his new middle name. Hatton, de la hoya, even Marquez are money fights.

Who can give Mayweather real trouble? judging from his fight with Castillo, it would be a fighter who is quick enough to duck some of Mayweather's punches and persistent enough to chase him into the ropes. And of course strong enough to, well, actually punch through his remarkable defenses. Miguel Cotto, I think, would be that fighter. We'll see how he does versus Pacquaio, a fight I think Cotto -- and I know this makes me a poor bookie -- could win. Mosely, of course, could hurt Mayweather, but Sugar and Money may never mix it up. We'll see about that.