Sunday, May 5, 2013

Zanz can't dance,but he'll steal your money

John Fogerty once sang "Zanz can't dance, but he'll steal your money" about Saul Zaentz, the former owner of Fantasy Records, who owned the rights to Creedence Clearwater Revival's music and once sued Fogerty for "Plagiarizing himself" because a riff from a Fogerty single resembled one he wrote for CCR.

Well, Floyd Mayweather can dance and he will steal your money, at least on pay per view as he delivered another lopsided decision that was less than visually thrilling over Robert Guerrero in his defense of the WBC Welterweight crown in Las Vegas,
Mayweather, the WBC Champ, defeated the WBC Interim titlist ( I'll address that ridiculousness shortly) by 117-111 scores by all three judges.
I had the same score, which translates to 9-3 in rounds.

I never bought Guerrero as a legitimate threat to Floyd.
Golden Boy promotions had pushed Guerrero for a Mayweather bout for years and I never took it seriously as either a challenge for Floyd or one that would stoke public interest.
I was correct on both parts, but Guerrero's entertaining win over Andre Berto in a battle of overhyped fighters without a standout victory was enough for GBP to make this one, whether I liked it or not.
Mayweather is too skilled and too willing to fight in a safety-first manner to make anyone but an elite fighter have an interesting fight with him.
Styles make fights, which is why for all the flaws of Manny Pacquiao, he would have made Floyd fight and maybe have the chance of beating him, which for all the talent of Juan Manuel Marquez, his discomfort of forcing the action made him an ideal foil for Mayweather.

I'll stay from too much of a recap.
Just imagine a lopsided Mayweather fight without a knockdown and you get the picture.
Fans are beginning to push for WBC Jr. Middleweight champ Saul Alvarez to be the next contender for Mayweather, but I fear the bigger but plodding Alvarez would follow Floyd around the ring for a dull fight, although Alvarez is capable of landing the blow to end the fight that Guerrero was not capable of, no matter how many thought he could.

I try not to disregard the contempt for sanctioning bodies that so many have, but some of this borders on silly.
Mayweather holds the WBC title, but Guerrero held the WBC "Interim" title.
Interim titles exist because "fighters don't deserve to lose titles by inactivity, yet titles need to be defended".
That is silly, right there. If a fighter cannot defend a title in a year (and ideally less) then vacate the title with a mandate that when he is ready to return to action, he gets a title shot as soon as he wants it.

The WBA is even worse as they have a "Super " champion for champions that have unified belts, a "regular" champ when they have a Super champion, and the always popular interim title even when a champ is defending on a regular basis.
And that, my friends, is why the belts mean so little anymore...

No comments: