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Theres a crazy myth that’s been regurgitated over and over by the sports media and fans who don’t know better for the last year or so. The myth is that Floyd Mayweather ducked Antonio Margarito and is scared to fight him. I know this myth provides fodder for the masses and gives everyone the chance to stir the pot, but the problem is that it’s simply not true.

I’ve touched on this issue before on Sportaphile, but in this post I’m going to break things down thoroughly so I don’t have to debate my readers over and over in the comments.

Aside from what I just previously mentioned, there are two major reasons that people love to believe this myth, and I’ll discuss each reason below.

*Why People Willingly Believe This Myth*
This part is simple. Floyd Mayweather is VERY easy to dislike to a large percentage of sports fans. People look at Floyd and see a loudmouthed, ignorant, spoiled rich black man, and it turns them off. He prances around in expensive suits, throwing money in crowds of people like they’re peasants (while we’re in a recession no less), and it does a perfect job of making him look like a jackass. Since Floyd is the one who willingly created this image for himself, thats his fault and I don’t feel sorry for him in that respect. However, when you dislike someone… you’re more likely to believe negative things about them without investigating the truth.

*Floyd Mayweather Is NOT Willing To Sacrifice Himself For America’s Love*
When you think of America’s most celebrated boxers, they’ve all shared a few common qualities. They all put on a show, and they all stayed in the game well past their prime… in other words they gave their life to the sport. Americans love blood and guts, and we want to see Floyd Mayweather in a WAR.
We want to see him hanging on for dear life while trading haymakers to the temple with his opponents.

When you think of historic boxing matches, you think “The Thrilla In Manilla”, you think Hagler vs. Hearns, you think, Castillo vs. Corrales…. you think about men never being the same after the punishment they took that night. Floyd Mayweather is too smart of a businessman out of the ring, and too smart of a fighter inside the ring for these things to happen. America resents him for not “going out on his shield” and giving them what they came for.

Floyd has always guided his career on the notion that “I’m going to do what makes the most financial sense, and I won’t put my body and health in jeopardy for a sport that doesn’t give a shit about me”

So, this brings us to Antonio….

*Why Floyd *actually* declined to fight Margarito*

The quote thats thrown around by Floyd naysayers is “Floyd turned down $8 million dollars to fight Antonio Margarito… he’s scared! He ducked him!” Here’s how I responded to that on this very blog about 2 weeks ago..

“Floyd Mayweather didn’t fight Antonio Margarito because he had nothing to gain by doing so. In the latter part of his career, Floyd was all about making an impact and doing big name fights, the average person has absolutely no idea who Margarito is. Also.. lets not forget Floyd turned down TWENTY MILLION to rematch with De La Hoya, a man who he has already beaten.”

There’s also the perception that Floyd ducked Margarito to fight stiffs/tomato cans/lesser fighters. Which is another myth. Margarito’s camp lobbied to fight Floyd of Summer 2006, Mayweather turned those offers down and opted to fight Zab Judah in the spring, and then Carlos Baldomir later in the year.

At that time, Zab Judah was arguably as big of a name or bigger than Floyd Mayweather (remember this was well before “Dancing with the Stars”), I believe Zab still had the IBF Welterweight title at the time. Carlos Baldomir was the WBC Welterweight champion of the world and had recently defeated Zab Judah in an upset.

In the summer of 2006, Margarito didn’t have a name whatsoever. You can make an excellent argument that Margarito’s claim to fame was that Floyd Mayweather declined to fight him, he didn’t have anything else to hang his hat on.

From there on, Floyd went on to box Oscar De La Hoya (the biggest name in sport) and retired. He un-retired to fight Ricky Hatton who called him out on national television.

In the last 2 years, Margarito’s made a name for himself by compiling impressive victories and steamrolling the #1 name in the division. All he has to do is keep calling Mayweather’s name and I can almost guarantee Floyd will put his gloves back on.

*What’s Going To Happen When/If Floyd Fights Antonio*

If you think Mayweather will simply lay on the ropes like Cotto did while Margarito lumbers away throwing bombs…..you’re sorely mistaken. I remember during HBO’s 24/7 series, people would look at Ricky Hatton wailing away during sparring… hitting a stationary target and yelling at the top of his lungs. The theatrics fooled a bunch of people, and they actually believed simply charging forward and throwing bombs works against a fighter of Mayweather’s caliber.

Oscar charged forward and pressured Floyd for 12 rounds. He never landed ONE significant punch and he lost.

Ricky Hatton charged forward and pressured Floyd for 10 rounds. He never landed ONE significant punch and was knocked out silly for his troubles.

If you don’t like Floyd Mayweather… fine. But please don’t act like he isn’t the smartest, most elusive fighter in the business. Margarito is slow, has horrible defense, and is mediocre at everything that doesn’t involve pushing forward like a neanderthal.

Don’t believe the hype… seriously. Margarito can’t even beat Paul Williams, let alone Pretty Boy.