Heroes & Villains

He's cocky, obnoxious, egotistical and downright filthy rich, which makes him the envy of the community. No, I'm not referring to Kanye West. I'm talking about Floyd "Money" Mayweather Jr., the former pound-for-pound king of boxing who is coming out of a two-year retirement to fight Juan Manuel Marquez on Sept. 19 in Las Vegas.

Like him or hate him, Mayweather is the man that moves the meter. He is half man, half promoter. His mouth will bring attention to a fight and his fists will entertain people in the arena.

Though he was born and raised in Grand Rapids, Mich., Mayweather is now a full-time Las Vegas resident and isn't bashful about enjoying the fruits of his labor in Sin City. The only thing Mayweather loves more than himself is money. The man loves to make money and loves to spend it (hence the nickname and the title to his record label "Philthy Rich Records").

Beyond all the bravado and the oozing swagger, Mayweather is also a smart guy. You don't get to be a multimillionaire without being business savvy and you don't get to be 39-0 in the ring without having the capacity to stay away from harm's way.

A monster payday awaits him in a much anticipated bout with new pound-for-pound king Manny Pacquiao. Boxing promoters are already lining up to get a piece of this megafight, which has all the star power to be the biggest event in the sport since De La Hoya-Mayweather, and pay-per-view buys should be off the charts.

So, with so much money riding on the table, why take on Marquez, considered by many as the No. 3 pound-for-pound fighter in the world?

Simple. Pretty Boy Floyd needed a warm-up fight before he takes on Pacquiao and he picked a good enough opponent to earn a decent payday, but not good enough to stop him. In other words, Mayweather truly believes he can beat Marquez without getting beaten up.



Mayweather didn't come out of retirement to lose. Even though he lives in the gambling capital of the world, he doesn't like to take risks. He always walks the safe route when it comes to his sport. He knows how much money is at stake, and he's not about to lose an opportunity to break the bank.

Marquez has been tirelessly working on speed in his preparation for one of the most important fights of his life, going to great lengths to get his 36-year-old body to be quicker, which includes drinking his own urine to supply his body with some "piss power." But Marquez can drink all the urine he wants, he's still not going to be able to catch the ultra-quick, 32-year-old six-time world champion.

Marquez is not your typical Mexican fighter. He's not going to engage in an all-out slugfest. He is a counter-puncher who depends heavily on his technique to win bouts, which is the perfect foe for the equally defensive Mayweather, who relies on his superior boxing skills to win fights.

To get Mayweather's undivided attention, you have to take the fight to him and relentlessly attack him from all angles. It's similar to forcing a football team out of a Cover 2 zone defense. You have to pound the ball on the ground and bring a safety near the line of scrimmage.

At this stage of his career, Marquez doesn't have the punching power nor the hand speed to threaten Mayweather and force him out of his defensive shell, which has never been cracked in 39 fights.

Don't be disappointed if there is no knockout because both fighters are very economical in terms of the number of punches they throw each round, and neither one likes to brawl. Marquez is very good at in-game adjustments. The problem here is, he will be fighting a guy who is the BEST at making in-game adjustments.

Mayweather claims he doesn't watch tape of his opponents because he doesn't feel the need to game-plan for a certain type of fighter. He reasons that his skills are so much better than anyone that he just needs to focus on himself and the rest will take care of itself.

Floyd Mayweather should defeat Juan Manuel Marquez in a 12-round decision this Saturday night and Manny Pacquiao should dismantle Miguel Cotto in November, igniting the Mayweather-Pacquiao hype machine in 2010.