Floyd Mayweather Jr. goes toe-to-toe with his old friend Brian Kenny.
No one has yet beaten Floyd Mayweather in the boxing ring, but ESPN's Brian Kenny gave Mayweather a beating in a hotly contested interview Wednesday. Kenny dodged Mayweather's verbal insults for 13 minutes and peppered Mayweather with strong arguments, making his case that Manny Pacquiao has taken the title of best pound-for-pound boxer in the world away from Mayweather, and that if Mayweather wants it back, he has to take it in the ring.
Kenny opened the interview by referring to Mayweather as the "former," best pound-for-pound boxer, and Mayweather demanded to know why he's not still the best. When Kenny informed him, "Because you retired," Mayweather went off.
"I forgot, I'm talking to Brian Kenny, a guy who's never laced up gloves a day in his life, who don't know nothing about boxing," Mayweather said.
But Kenny held his ground, and later in the interview made the key point that Pacquiao has absolutely destroyed both Oscar De La Hoya and Ricky Hatton, while Mayweather went the distance in beating both of them. Mayweather replied to that with more insults and with arguments that De La Hoya and Hatton were better fighters when he fought them than they were when Pacquiao fought them. But Mayweather was unconvincing in trying to state the case that he still deserves to be ranked higher than Pacquiao.
And after Kenny answered some questions from Mayweather, he reclaimed control of the interview by questioning why Mayweather has chosen to fight lightweight Juan Manuel Marquez in his first fight after coming out of retirement.
"You are going after a guy who is two weight classes lighter than you," Kenny said. "Why don't you answer one question from me. You're picking on the lightweight champ. You're the welterweight champ. That's two weight classes lighter. Why not go after a guy like Shane Mosley? Shane Mosley is the champ in your weight class."
Mayweather didn't have a good answer for that, and ultimately, Kenny's point can't really be refuted: If Mayweather wants to be considered the best in the world, he's going to have to prove it in the ring against Pacquiao. I sure hope we all get to find out.
13 янв 2011
