Floyd Mayweather, Jr. (Photo : REUTERS)
Rising boxing star Karim "Hard Hitta" Mayfield (19-2-1, 11 KO's) thinks he has what it takes to deal the undefeated Floyd "Money" Mayweather (48-0, 26 KO's) the first loss of his career, joining a long list of possible September opponents for the sport's pound-for-pound king.
Who is Karim Mayfield, you ask? That's a great question -- one that Mayfield himself has yet to answer.
The San Francisco, California native has yet to score a career-defining victory over a big name but could possibly end up landing a mega bout against the sport's finest pugilist.
Mayweather recently singled out Mayfield and former titleholder Andre Berto, in addition to Bolton boxing superstar Amir Khan, as frontrunners for landing the big fight later this year.
After Mayweather's triumphant stand over long-time rival Manny "Pacman" Pacquiao last May, the brash American told the world that the last fight of his career -- which also serves as the last fight on a well publicized six fight contract with TV network Showtime -- will take place in September.
Khan, who is just short of begging for a Mayweather fight for the last two years, was shunned twice by the Mayweather camp -- one instance in favor of Marcos Maidana, and the second for Pacquiao.
Mayweather naming Mayfield and Berto as leading candidates and choosing either would turn out to be the third instance.
Mayfield for his part, thinks that if he does indeed get the call, he'd be the most dangerous for Mayweather.
"No disrespect to Andre Berto, he's a good fighter and we have a mutual respect for one another, but he's not as durable as I am. Berto has two losses against opponent's Floyd has already defeated," said Mayfield, in a press release via Sky Sports.
"I've never been dropped, battered or bruised in any of my fights. I bring a rough style to this fight, a style the fans want to see Floyd up against," he added.
Furthermore, Mayfield states he had sparred with Khan and Pacquiao before and gave them all they could handle -- Khan in particular.
"Every time I sparred Amir Khan at Virgil Hunter's gym, I put hands on him," said Mayfield. "So bad that Virgil [Hunter] had to stop the sparring sessions.
"Khan has also been brutally knocked out twice by [Breidis] Prescott and [Danny] Garcia. The man has no chin and he wouldn't last twelve rounds with Money Mayweather. He's definitely the safer route."
Mayfield feels that if Mayweather selects Khan as his next opponent, that he's taking the easy way out.
Give him points for optimism, but the fact of the matter is that Mayfield is a ball of confidence without the proper credentials to back it up. He may not be ready for a fighter of Mayweather's calibre, regardless of how he "sparred" with Khan and Pacquiao.
Mayfield went 1-2 last year, figuring in back-to-back decision losses to Thomas Dulorme and Emmanuel Taylor and has no notable victory over a named opponent on his resume. If he ends up landing the Mayweather fight the decision would be based on pure skill rather than on merit.
Mayweather chooses fights based on neither of those factors, but instead based on revenue, which makes Khan, who has a huge fan following, the most sensible choice by Mayweather's standards.
At 38 years old, Mayweather is certainly no spring chicken, with visible physical decline in speed and reflexes, particularly with movement -- but he's still one hell of a ring tactician and perhaps the most intelligent fighter in the history of the sport.
Mayweather's last few fights were against a string of high calibre opponents which include Miguel Cotto, Robert Guerrero, Maidana (twice) and Pacquiao. Indisputable victories over these future hall-of-famers didn't come easy, but Mayweather certainly made it appear that way.
Maidana and Cotto in particular did the most damage. Pacquiao, who was expected to give Mayweather the toughest fight of his career, ended up underperforming, citing a shoulder injury as the root cause.
Maybe Mayfield knows something we don't, or maybe not, but give him brownie points for unbridled enthusiasm.
