The Dark Prince.

The demonic "Money" furthers his argument as pound for pound best.

This weekend was a benchmark of sorts for me. Once again, I was duped into shelling out shekels for an over-hyped "super match" between Boxing phenom Floyd Mayweather, Jr. and, quite obvious in hindsight, a fading, shot, and ancient Sugar Shane Mosely. Not to take anything away from Money, but once again he showed why he is the Dark Prince of Boxing. No one can calculate the market better than he can. Obviously terrified that his 0 may go against the great Manny Pacquiao, Floyd took the Boxing world hostage by his self-serving demand that Pac Man acquiesce to Olympic style drug testing, rather than the traditional, and functional, Nevada State Athletic Commission's program. Whether Pacquiao was advised to decline Money's request, either from having to really hide something or from his actual fear of having his prana drained, we may not know. When that fight fell apart, Floyd found a hall of famer in Mosely who really had no choice but to fall in line with his request, which of course Floyd had to do in order to not appear two faced. The fact of the matter is, a fight that had the entire sporting world salivating may never happen, if Floyd's comments about it after the Mosely fight were any indication. He is clearly not budging from his position. And so, all of us are left to wonder and argue, in taverns, around the water cooler, or at home in our underwear. Who is the best pound for pound? There are certainly arguments to be made in both directions. But here is a rather meaningful question: When was the last time either man fought another great fighter in his prime? For Floyd, you would probably have to go back to either Ricky Hatton, who turned out to not really be that great after all, or Zab Judah, who also would not have to be considered great. In Manny's case, Joshua Clottey is a legitimate top five welterweight, but not a great fighter to be sure. could Miguel Cotto really be considered great after his assault in the ring at the hands of Antonio Margarito? Ricky Hatton had been softened up by Mayweather, prior to his head being softened up by Pacquiao. De La Hoya was already carrying his Boxing AARP card when Manny pummeled him senseless. Even Barrera and Morales were past their primes. The only fighter that either Floyd or Manny fought that could be labeled great would be Juan Manuel Marquez who, it could be argued, defeated Pacquiao both times. I disqualify Floyd's victory over Marquez because he was at a two weight disadvantage, and Floyd came in over the weight limit for that joke of a fight. Point of the matter is, neither man has a true history of fighting other great fighters. Not that there are that many to begin with.

We may never know who is the man. If these fighters miss this opportunity, shame on Boxing for it.

The only current fighter in the world to actually defeat other great fighters would be Argentine middleweight champ Sergio Martinez, who has arguably beaten the best fighters in his weight class, even with his controversial losses to them. He knocked out Kermit Cintron, and had the referee overturn the knockout out in one of the most shameful displays of incompetence in ring history. He defeated Paul Williams, in my opinion, but did not get the win. He then brutally beat former middleweight champ Kelly Pavlik in resounding fashion. All of this in less then 18 months, and all of those fighters at the very top of their division. Isn't it time for the Mayweather/Pacquiao twin pound for pound champs to do the same?