Floyd Mayweather: Not Even Fighter of The Month

I just received my BWAA invite to their 2007 awards dinner on May 1, 2008. The second I saw Floyd Mayweather was voted "Fighter of The Year" by boxings finest, I threw the invitation out. Mayweather being voted FOTY is another layer of proof that todays boxing writers are more fans than anything else.

Miguel Cotto clearly faced and defeated better opposition than Mayweather did, not to mention he won more convincingly. Mayweather beat Oscar De La Hoya by split decision in 2007. The trouble with that is Oscar hasn't won a big fight since 2002, and has been a part-time fighter since 2004. Floyd followed the De La Hoya fight up with a 10-round TKO over undefeated Jr. welterweight, Ricky Hatton. In that fight, I had Mayweather up a point going into the final around. Other than the final blow Mayweather landed to end the fight, nothing else beyond him struggling with the limited Hatton will be remembered. On the other hand, Cotto stopped Zab Judah (who Mayweather had to come from behind to win a decision against in late 2006), and decisioned Shane Mosley, who beat Oscar De La Hoya in 2000 & 2003. For the record, I had Mosley over Cotto by a point.

Along with Cotto, Kelly Pavlik had a better 2007 than Mayweather did. Pavlik scored a pair of seventh round stoppages over hard hitting Edison Miranda and undisputed middleweight champ Jermain Taylor. Like Cotto, Pavlik fought two of the better fighters in the division in which they campaign. Compared to Mayweather, who chose a semi-retired fighter, and another who campaigns in a division beneath him.

I'm not going to take the time to compare Mayweather's body of work to other fighter of the year recipients, you do it, because it makes me ill when I do it. In closing, Floyd Mayweather being voted FOTY is another reason why boxing is sometimes hard to take serious and 90% of boxings finest writers should start covering hunting and fishing.