The Welterweight Super-Four
In December last year, a lot of talk in the sport revolved around the possible super fight between former pound for pound King, Floyd Mayweather Jr. and his successor, Manny Pacquiao. When that fight fell through (for reasons I need not elaborate on) Manny Pacquiao quickly found a replacement opponent in Joshua Clottey and that was that. Mayweather had to search for an opponent and after a few names such as Hatton and Malignaggi popped around (much to the dismay of critics and fans alike) and Shane Mosley finally entered the talks.
Mosley was set to fight WBC Champion Andre Berto on January 30th however that fight fell through after Berto pulled out as he had recently lost family members in the tragic earthquake in Haiti. After a little drama, which you come to expect with Mayweather, That fight was made thanks to Golden Boy Promotions and now we have some mouth watering action in the hottest division in boxing right now. Showtime's Super Six Super Middleweight contest had been countered by HBO's Welterweight Super Four.
Manny 'Pacman' Pacquiao is the consensus No.1 Welterweight in boxing today. Floyd 'Money' Mayweather shot back into 2nd place following his landslide victory over Juan Manuel Marquez after a 21 month layoff from the sport. 'Sugar' Shane Mosley, who possibly has the greatest credentials in the division, sits in 3rd on the back of a one-sided destruction of Antonio Margarito. The welterweight ranked at 5 is Joshua Clottey.
Since Miguel Cotto who is ranked No.4 has plans to move up to the Junior Middleweight division and challenge Yuri Foreman for his WBC title, it is safe to say that Pacquiao, Mayweather, Mosley and Clottey are the four best welterweights in boxing today. The first 3 also occupy the 1st, 2nd and 3rd in pound for pound rankings in the eyes of most non-sanctioning ranking bodies.
So now that we have the competitors lined up, let's take a look at the schedule. First up, Joshua Clottey has the opportunity to regain the WBO Welterweight Championship that he lost to Miguel Cotto last June. His opponent is Manny Pacquiao, the man who dethroned Cotto last November via 12th round stoppage. This fight is set to take place on March 13 at Cowboys Stadium, Texas in what is shaping up to be a historic event, equally due to the nature of the venue.
The Ghanaian Clottey has a big Welterweight reputation, since his 1995 debut he has taken on some steep competition. His notable victories in the division are against Diego Corrales, at the time undefeated prospect Shamone Alvares and most recently Zab Judah. Clottey has used the Judah fight as an example of how he deals with fast southpaws whilst acknowledging that Pacquiao is in a different league. He also has suffered close losses to Carlos Baldomir, Antonio Margarito and Miguel Cotto but has never been stopped in his professional career.
Clottey's opponent needs no introduction. Manny Pacquiao has been campaigning at Welterweight since 2008 and has insulted the division by moving up in weight and destroying the best competition available in the form of Oscar De La Hoya (TKO 8) and Miguel Cotto (TKO 12). Perhaps he hasn't had enough outings to be considered the best Welterweight out there, but you would be hard pressed to find people who would bet against him.
However it would have been just about even money had he taken on the man they call 'Money' however negotiations revolving around drug testing prevented that fight. Why Manny wouldn't take a 50+ million dollar blood test only he and his team know. My Uncle put it in perspective for me when he said he would jump in the ring and take Pacquiao and Mayweather's best shot for a single percent of that purse. Either Pacquiao's integrity has a Billion dollar price tag on it, he didn't want to fight Mayweather or something fishy is going on as Teddy Atlas suggested on ESPN. Regardless he has a tough fight ahead of him now and his opponent confidently claimed to boxingscene.com's Bill Emes that Pacquiao would have to be on something to stop him. Let's just wait and see.
The second leg of this tournament involves two future first-ballot Canastota residents in Floyd Mayweather Jr and Shane Mosley for Mosley's proverbial piece of the alphabet pie, the WBA Welterweight title. Although such titles mean little to most of the boxing community, when a boxer can hold several of them at a time he can generally throw a bit of weight around in that division and in terms of history.
Mayweather's most recent fight was against Lightweight Champion Juan Manuel Marquez and although he received his share of criticism for taking on a smaller foe, I still remember those same critics saying before the fight that Marquez has a chance of beating Floyd with his tenacity and counter-punching ability, that Marquez's battles with Pacquiao prove that he will be capable of overwhelming Mayweather, that Mayweather will be rusty.
Floyd scored a shutout and the critics changed their stance and found another way to criticise him, after all, that's what they get payed to do. Since Mayweather moved up to Welterweight with a victory over Sharmba Mitchell 5 years ago he has beaten Judah, Baldomir, De La Hoya (at Junior Middleweight), Ricky Hatton and Marquez. These are hardly light duties, especially considering there was a near 2 year layoff in the time span. During this Welterweight reign he picked up the IBA, IBF, IBO and WBC titles.
Shane Mosley meanwhile has constructed a legacy that would even do his 'Sugar' brothers Robinson and Leonard proud even though he has experienced a pair of losses each at the hands of Winky Wright (MD 12 and UD 12) and the late Vernon Forrest (UD 12 and UD 12) as well as a loss to Miguel Cotto (UD 12). (It is important to note that the way Cotto's name continues to pop up in this conversation gives credit to the level of competition he has taken on throughout his career and I hope he is able to excel in the Junior Middleweight division).
Back to Mosley, despite having 5 losses on his record , it is excusable when you take into consideration the calibre of opponents he has faced as well as the division hopping he has had to do in order to land fights. Mayweather vs. Mosley has been cat and mouse over the last decade, however in Mosley's case he has been the cat more often than the mouse, having to chase fights rather than have them come to him as he simply isn't the cross-over star that Mayweather is.
Since jumping from Lightweight to Welterweight in 1999 he has been moving to and from 147 to 154 frequently. His big wins have been against De La Hoya (twice), Fernando Vargas (twice), Luis Collazo and most recently his one sided demolition of the seemingly invincible Antonio Margarito. This victory came at a time when Mosley was showing the tell tale signs that he had been training with the inevitable Father Time instead of Nazism Richardson, and has put his career firmly back on track.
All in all, the coming months have a lot in store for boxing fans, but this scenario undoubtedly takes the cake. This is a sport that was supposed to be dead a month ago in the Mayweather-Pacquiao aftermath. Hopefully the winners will meet in a super fight at the end of the year involving any combination of the four fighters.
The winner of that will definitely be the best welterweight and pound for pound fighter in the world today and will go down as one of the greatest Welterweights of all time (bar Clottey, who may still have a bit to prove but will be well on his way and at 32 will still have time). Will Joshua Clottey turn the boxing world on its head? Will Manny Pacquiao continue to reign supreme? Will Shane Mosley finally find superstardom in his twig light years? Will Floyd Mayweather remain undefeated and prove to everyone that he truly is the best?
I can't wait to find out who will be the protagonist in this Welterweight fairytale.