Morgan Campbell: A Writer on Sports and More

Records say Floyd “Money” Mayweather is undefeated, and most so-called boxing experts regard him as the top fighter in the world pound-for-pound. But those of us who really understand the sweet science know Mayweather is creation of careful matchmaking and clever marketing, and that he’s spent his career ducking tough fighters like Shane Mosley.

I mean Canelo Alvarez.

Wait, have Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao fought yet? Nope?

Ok, then real boxing connoisseurs know Mayweather’s scared of him.

And to the list of fighters striking fear into Mayweather’s gold-plated heart I’ll add a fighter who has provided a foolproof blueprint to spoiling Money’s undefeated record.

Paul “The Pittsburgh Kid” Spadafora.

The Pittsburgh Kid would do the exact same thing to Mayweather. All night. Every night. Forever.

His undefeated record is no fluke. During his late-1990s run to a world title he proved himself the best defense-first southpaw this side of Sweet Pea Whitaker. He rarely lost rounds, never mind entire fights.

Those stories about Spadafora getting the best of Mayweather in a six-round sparring session? They’re not just boxing tall tales. It actually happened. The video is embedded below, and when you watch it you’ll understand why Mayweather still loses sleep over Spadafora.

What does this video tell us about how to beat Mayweather?

Clearly, Mayweather has no clue how to handle a southpaw. Just ask Victor Ortiz.

I mean Robert Guerrero.

I mean Spadafora.

And handspeed?

Mayweather was flummoxed and can’t possibly adjust. Right, Zab Judah?

The blueprint is right here, and impervious to both bullets and fools.

Now, people who know nothing about boxing will argue that the two rounds pictured here were pretty even, with Spadafora gaining a noticeable edge, but not a gigantic one. But experts understand that this was about as one-sided a thrashing as anybody has ever received anywhere — ring, octagon, parking lot, hockey rink, wherever. When people tell stories about the day Spaddy beat the tar out of Mayweather in training, they do so without exaggerating a single detail.

No hyperbole.

No legendary accretion.

None.

This was a lopsided beatdown, as the video clearly shows.

Mainstream boxing know-nothings and Mayweather sycophants will also claim that one sparring session on one day with two fighters in different stages of training says surprisingly little about how those fighters would fare if they each spent six weeks preparing to fight the other.

They might even offer some lame false equivalency, and tell you that besting Mayweather in ancient sparring session is sort of like hitting a homer off Justin Verlander in a spring training scrimmage his rookie year. It’s an impressive feat whenever it happens, but no cause for Verlander to spend a career pitching around you.

Right here a smart Aleck would also wisecrack that the blueprint to beating Mayweather includes a time machine to transport you to 1999 or 2000, when Roy Jones was the world’s best fighter and Mayweather was a young champion on the fringe of the pound-for-pound list, still developing strength, technique and strategy.

But if you truly know boxing, you realize that boxing skill isn’t a variable but a constant. If one fighter is superior on one day and under one set of circumstances, he’ll always be better. Forever. No matter what. To suggest Mayweather has improved or Spadafora has regressed since that session  bends the laws of physics, boxing and common sense. Can’t possibly happen.

And if you really understand boxing, then you know Mayweather is little changed from the fighter who lost a totally fair, legitimate and non-controversial decision against Serafim Todorov in the 1996 Olympic semi-final.

If you think you see Mayweather’s scoring blows going uncounted or Todorov receiving points for phantom punches, disregard it. That’s just bias and brainwashing blinding you to the facts. Real experts know Todorov took Mayweather to school, which is why Money has neither asked for a rematch nor challenged gold medallist Somluck Kamsing.

He’s as scared of them as he is of Spadafora, and knows any of the three would dismantle his multimillion-dollar brand with a thorough beating.

Mayweather recognizes he’s exactly the same fighter now as he was whenever this sparring session occurred. He’s just as limited — seriously, when has Mayweather EVER adjusted mid-fight and neutralized an opponent’s early success? Mayweather clearly has no tools beyond a shoulder roll and fancy padwork. And if you think he’s the most versatile fighter of his era… again, bias and brainwashing.

Mayweather is Justo Sencion with better marketing and matchmaking, and he’ll be exposed the moment he faces a real champion like Miguel Cotto.

And Spadafora? He’s still just as sharp, so Mayweather’s continued ducking and dodging makes sense.

Never mind that Spadafora in his prime struggled to a draw with Leonard Dorin. Or that his various legal run-ins have sidelined him so often that even hardcore boxing fans lost track of him. Or that he’s a marketing non-entity whose last three fights have taken place at a race track in West Virginia.

He can only tackle the fighters with the guts to confront of him.

Mayweather isn’t one of them.

And he never will be.

Because Spadafora has The Blueprint.

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