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Floyd Mayweather operates at an entirely different speed from mortal men. It’s as if his agility allowed him to carve out his own magical space in time. He’s got a defense that harkens back to Keanu Reeves dodging bullets in the Matrix: he moves between his opponents’ punches.
Still, there are two ways to beat him.
Number one would be brilliant gamesmanship. Take a look at Antonio Tarver’s last masterpiece against Roy Jones. Tarver didn’t outgun the faster Jones so much as he outthought him.
Number two would be an awesome punch. Witness Tarver’s second fight with Jones. It came like a gift from the gods.
Sharmba Mitchell has neither.
Apart from the bizarre spectacle of flapped and flopping shorts, what Mitchell does bring is speed. This would seem to make for an exciting fight against Mayweather, who brings the same.
The problem is that Mayweather brings one hundred times more of it.
In all fairness, Mitchell is a good boxer. He beat legitimate contenders, in particular Ben Tackie, while he was waiting for his rematch with Kostyu Tszyu. But the fact remains that he’s no more in Mayweather’s league than he was in Tszyu’s when the champion, now ex-champion, destroyed him in three.
If Mitchell doesn’t choke, he’ll be out-pointed in a really boring dance-off. If he does choke, he’ll fall flat somewhere in the middle.
All of which begs the question: why bother?
Boxing has two answers, neither one of which is satisfying. The first is that anything can happen. On a trivial level, that’s true. Sharmba Mitchell could knock Floyd Mayweather out cold -- and the ring card girl could sleep with me afterward. As a general principle, however, gravity should be assumed to operate unless proven otherwise.
The second excuse is even sillier. While promoters have a thousand ways of putting it, for this particular match it amounts to, “Well, he’s got to fight somebody, and Mitchell’s there.” Under this logic, an otherwise spectacular fighter throws away his prime for less money over a longer and lesser career. [details]
Still, there are two ways to beat him.
Number one would be brilliant gamesmanship. Take a look at Antonio Tarver’s last masterpiece against Roy Jones. Tarver didn’t outgun the faster Jones so much as he outthought him.
Number two would be an awesome punch. Witness Tarver’s second fight with Jones. It came like a gift from the gods.
Sharmba Mitchell has neither.
Apart from the bizarre spectacle of flapped and flopping shorts, what Mitchell does bring is speed. This would seem to make for an exciting fight against Mayweather, who brings the same.
The problem is that Mayweather brings one hundred times more of it.
In all fairness, Mitchell is a good boxer. He beat legitimate contenders, in particular Ben Tackie, while he was waiting for his rematch with Kostyu Tszyu. But the fact remains that he’s no more in Mayweather’s league than he was in Tszyu’s when the champion, now ex-champion, destroyed him in three.
If Mitchell doesn’t choke, he’ll be out-pointed in a really boring dance-off. If he does choke, he’ll fall flat somewhere in the middle.
All of which begs the question: why bother?
Boxing has two answers, neither one of which is satisfying. The first is that anything can happen. On a trivial level, that’s true. Sharmba Mitchell could knock Floyd Mayweather out cold -- and the ring card girl could sleep with me afterward. As a general principle, however, gravity should be assumed to operate unless proven otherwise.
The second excuse is even sillier. While promoters have a thousand ways of putting it, for this particular match it amounts to, “Well, he’s got to fight somebody, and Mitchell’s there.” Under this logic, an otherwise spectacular fighter throws away his prime for less money over a longer and lesser career. [details]
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