Truth: @RondaRousey Doesn't Hate Floyd, She Envies Him

Ah, let the fire burn!

Before you think I'm just making stuff up (or if you accuse me of properly dressing the above images to make sure the gloves matched thus implying that these are just ready to throw hands....ahem), let me make it clear.  I don't for one second think that Ronda Rousey likes Floyd Mayweather, and it's clear that Ronda Rousey isn't even worth Floyd's time, at least according to the way he replies about her.  

In his mind, anyone who wants to be recognized by him has to at least have something going for them - and while Rousey has an impressive 12-0 MMA record as of this writing, she amassed that record in a division sorely underserved by UFC in the first place.  To Floyd, this is probably akin to someone like Vasyl Lomachenko calling him out - Lomachenko is an exciting, dangerous fighter whose only loss thus far was against a dirty Salido with a crooked ref, but he's only had 3-4 fights as a professional.  Nowhere near the 48-0 of a Floyd "Money" Mayweather.  That's just Floyd being Floyd.  He's quite confident and quite mentally blockaded.  There are a number of reasons for this and the bulk are family related.  We won't get into that.

Recently, the UFC (and Ronda, to be fair) have had Floyd's name tossed about, because they are both undefeated and currently unmatched in their respective crafts.  This sounds silly: a female shoot fighter and a male boxer going at it.  Thing is, society would never allow such a fight because of the stigma that males should never fight females.  Floyd's problems with women he's dated simply make this the butt of plenty of jokes online, but the real joke is the notion that a female should not fight a male.

Women fought to be treated as equals.  Or rather, they fought for the same rights men have.  Unfortunately, some women (feminists) have spewed this out as "treated the same as a man" when they really don't mean that.  Surely, no woman wants or expects to test colons for a living?  (Don't answer that.)

Anyway, Ronda.  I say that she envies Floyd because while her words speak of a dislike of the man, her actions speak directly to envy and possibly respect of Floyd Mayweather the businessman, and it is here that I will share the proof of that envy.  Set aside for a moment Ronda's frequent jabs at Floyd's past.  If you can.  Turn off your emotions, in other words.  Logic must dominate here.

Ronda Rousey has sparred - yes, boxing - with Vic Darchinyan.

If you don't know who Vic Darchinyan is that's fine.  What's important to know is that Vic has had 47 professional fights (Floyd only hit 48 this year, defeating Manny Pacquiao), and both fighters had a dominant early professional career with more knockouts than not (Darchinyan continues to be a powerful fighter, where Floyd has transitioned away from knockouts due to hand injury).  Rousey fights (MMA) at 130lbs, Darchinyan has fought at featherweight which is just below that, Floyd has fought at super featherweight which is at 130 lbs.  

You've got to ask yourself.  Why bother sparring boxing?  If the intent is to practice striking,  MMA training seems to be a better suit for that, especially if CM Punk is to be believed about the progress of his training.  Is it possible Ronda's trying to convince herself that she can be a boxer should she run the course in MMA?  Why boxing?  Can't be inspired by women's boxing since the networks refuse to televise it, and while Ronda's waxed positive about Manny Pacquiao, he hasn't had the greatest streak.  Maybe inspired by a certain undefeated boxer who netted $300 million in a 34-minute fight solely by being undefeated for so long?

Ronda Rousey has become buddies with Mike Tyson.

No, that's not a typo and I know what you're thinking.  That's exactly my point.

Were I to ask someone random on the street what they remember most about Mike Tyson, I'll get one of three answers.

1. Him getting knocked out - "sparked" as it were - by James "Buster" Douglas.
   
2. Him biting Evander Holyfield's ear off during a PPV (notable mention: Mills Lane.)
   
3. The infamous interview with Barbara Walters where Robin Givens exposes him as an abuser, violent and unpredictable.
   

It's possible I might get a few who recall his "The Hangover" rendition of Phil Collins, or his guest role in Wayne Brady's dream about Bobby Brown's "Every Little Step" video, or the Mike Tyson's Punch-Out video game from decades ago, or him getting put on his rear end by Kevin McBride, a journeyman.   But by and large, the three above are what he's most known for, unfortunately.  It's the third that likely caught your attention.  Don't lie.

I find it rather funny and ironic that Ronda's jabs are against Floyd because of allegations that he beat his ex-girfriend, yet she's perfectly fine giving Mike Tyson a pass for doing the same thing.  Actually, Mike did worse: Mike was accused of raping another woman and went to jail for that, though he denies to this day that it was rape and claims it was consensual.  We may never know, but that's a two-fer that Rousey apparently gave a free pass to, yet Floyd doesn't get the same. 

Ronda Rousey has her own acronym she's parroting.

Have you heard her in interviews telling women not to be a "Do-Nothing Bitch"?  Never mind for a moment the fact that she's using the word bitch to describe women, but she then went on to pitch "DNB" as her new thing, even going so far as to print shirts with this on it.  

Sound familiar?  It should - Floyd Mayweather has been running #TBE (The Best Ever) and #TMT (The Money Team) merch since he beat Oscar De La Hoya and started marketing this as a brand on various merchandise years ago (MoneyTeam.com).  Floyd created a brand out of nothing more than confidence and cash; Ronda's doing the same exact thing.  No hate on it, but let's call a spade a spade.

Ronda Rousey has aligned with the WWE - at least in spirit.

From brief mentions on Twitter to an outright appearance at WrestleMania 31 alongside The Rock, to a later deleted tweet wanting to piss Dana White off by going to WWE, to an interview where she all but guaranteed she would go to WWE after leaving MMA for good, it's clear that Rousey has the eye on the prize.  Here's the thing though: It's ironic that this was the choice given that Floyd Mayweather has already done it, and did it in spectacular fashion, first on network TV, then at WrestleMania 24 against the Big Show, then later as a guest host for RAW.  Mind you, while many criticized Floyd's match with Show, it was exciting for a great build up (a legit break of the nose and escape sequence) and a series of promos between the two; it felt "real" mostly because Floyd played a perfect heel.  At this point, Floyd was guaranteed money, and if WWE were to bring him back, he could close millions again.

Not to be undone by Mr. Mayweather, Ronda had her own moment at WrestleMania 31 (though not in a match), and has hinted it was a sign of things to come in the future.  Is it possible Ronda is a bit jealous of Floyd's spectacle and wanted to try and surpass what Floyd did?

Ronda Rousey is effectively ducking Cris Cyborg.

Now, this one is subjective since there's a weight issue at play, but by and large the community feels that Rousey should fight the one person left who might actually beat her easily, which is Cris Cyborg.  If you haven't heard of Cyborg that's because she's not contracted to UFC, and she fights in a totally different weight class.  This weight difference has been attributed to steroids, and for this reason Rousey refuses to fight her.  This of course just caused Cyborg to tweet an amazing response using Rousey's own catchphrase.

It reminds me of long ago when Floyd was in a similar position with Manny Pacquiao just before the "Sugar" Shane Mosley fight: "If you're clean, take the test."  He refused to fight Pacquiao without random blood and urine testing, and went on numerous rants about Pacquiao being able to knock down fighters like Mosley, where Cotto (one of the strongest fighters between 140 - 160lbs, according to almost everyone who's fought him) could not.

After this, Floyd would fight Shane Mosley, win quite easily, and at the end, pose with Mosley saying, "if you're clean, take the test." with Mosley shrugging his agreement with the statement (an irony, since Mosley and his son have both been busted for positive tests).

Moral of the story:  Mayweather fought a once-user of PEDs who went clean, and even offered to fight Manny should he accept to take tests (Manny declined because it would be "too close" to the fight and he was "afraid of needles" because they made him "weak".  The fight wouldn't happen for another 5 years, when Manny finally accepted the testing conditions).  Now that Rousey has nowhere else to go but Miesha Tate, is it possible she accepts Cyborg's challenge to prove she really is the best?

Ronda Rousey has been getting criticized for her wins lately.

Rousey's fights, with the exception of McCann and Tate, have been annoyingly short, despite her fights being the main event with often boring undercards.  Some people are starting to get upset with paying nearly $60-70 for a PPV only to have the star attraction last under a minute because her competition isn't on her level.  

But others have noticed troubling patterns with Rousey's fights, and it's always the same.  Rousey lacks in two areas: striking and striking defense.  She's wide open for a good striker (McCann nailed her way too many times), yet isn't fast or strong enough to strike back in response.  Thus, an opponent that can maintain distance and strike effectively keeps Rousey's offense (ground) at bay.  When Rousey starts getting constrained in this manner, she resorts to judo, which is her absolute strong point, but as seen with Miesha Tate, if her opponent is good at defending against submission holds, they can last at least long enough to change strategy to last the distance.  Tate eventually got caught both times, but she lasted longer than any other due to this weakness.

As a result, people are criticizing Rousey's constant ground-based offense when really, it's all she has for now.

Compare this to Floyd, where his criticisms lie in the fact that he has mastered how to be a "point fighter" - that is, he does enough to win rounds and impress judges, but doesn't go for broke because he doesn't need to.  He doesn't care about knockout wins, only wins, and with the exception of Victor Ortiz, hasn't done a lot to even knock opponents down.  

Mayweather/Pacquiao was the highest grossing fight but drew the most ire, with people sorely upset at paying over $100 for a PPV that was essentially 12 rounds of Manny Pacquiao lost and confused against a smarter fighter who was exerting very little energy yet still managed to come out superior.

The other criticism with Floyd is his use of the clinch, which while it's a fraction of fighters like Ali, Leonard,Klitchko and Tyson, is abnormally high in the welterweight and super welterweight divisions where action is often fast and furious due to the lower weight.

Lastly, as with Rousey and Cyborg, it took time and irritation to get Manny to accept Floyd's terms to a fight that Floyd himself predicted would be criticized years ago - and he was spot on.  This isn't because of anything except his knowledge of how he would beat Manny and his own fight strategy, which he knew others would find "boring".  Rousey will eventually face Cyborg if she has no other options beyond Tate, but it'd be a reluctant acceptance rather than her wanting to be "the best".  Same as Floyd.

So what are we left with?

Floyd has stated he plans to retire soon so he can go on to do other things and build his brand.  Rousey has hinted at a possible retirement so she can go on to do other things and build her brand.  Both want to go out undefeated and both want to go out as symbols of their respective sports.  No, I don't buy for a moment that Rousey is anything but envious of Floyd "Money" Mayweather, and I don't begrudge her that, because no matter what you think of Floyd the man, he understands promotion and marketing even better than Don King ever did.  Rousey should look to emulate that for women, because if she can stay the path she'll one day pull $300 million for one fight.

Then we'd get to see if Floyd would take that fight like he said (he wouldn't).

Analyzing The Fight of the Century (#MayweatherPacquiao, or #MayPac) - Manny Pacquiao

It's been dubbed the richest fight in the sport; the "revival of Boxing", the return to excitement.  After nearly 6 years of doubts, the fight between the two most currently decorated fighters in Boxing is to take place in Las Vegas.

Everyone's taking sides.  Even HBO (who normally backs Pacquiao/Top Rank) and Showtime (who has an alliance with Mayweather Promotions).

But despite the hoopla, there is one thing to specifically think about: this is by no means the biggest fight ever (I would argue that accolade goes to Lewis/Tyson, for international reasons.  Pacquiao is largely popular in the US and Asian countries, Mayweather largely in the US only (he used to fight overseas but stopped when he left Top Rank).  It isn't that the fight isn't large, it's just the largest possible fight given the current roster of boxers.  And that's sad, when you really boil it down.

Taking a step back, we can at least try and ponder what got us to this point and what we may expect to see on May 2nd.

First, Manny Pacquiao.  Once greatly feared as a featherweight who later moved up in weight and dominated larger fighters, Pacquiao has a Hall of Fame resume, from Barrera to Morales (eventually) to Marquez to De La Hoya.  Pacquiao's most powerful weapon is his speed, period.  Prince Naseem Hamed once stated that he was a powerful puncher, but the real key to his knockouts was that his opponents never saw his punches coming.  Such is the case with Manny.

Shane Mosley, in an interview, stated that Manny's angles aren't the problem.  It's just that his punches hurt regardless of whether he's on the move or planted, and some you don't see coming, which knock you off your game plan worse than punches you do see.  Mosley was quick to commit to the fact that he had never experienced that sort of hit from any boxer, and Marquez echoed the same - the punches are thudding blows, not glancing shots.

But the other side speaks a different tune: the fighters that got dominated by Manny all share one critical trait: They don't adapt as the fight goes on.  They have a groove and a routine that they have rehearsed over and over again in sparring and training, they've watched videos and they think they have the formula.  When they get in the ring, they feel confident.  De La Hoya, despite being older, felt that he could dominate Manny because he was bigger.  Shane, despite being older, felt he could dominate Manny because he was bigger and at least as fast or faster than Manny.

What neither counted on was the fact that Manny's punching ability didn't care about height, weight or location.  He targets the opponent's head and really only needs to get one shot to stun the opponent, then he will strike repeatedly.  Watching slow-mo of Manny's punches shows that he focuses on one specific area and attacks it relentlessly, and the stun effect is enough that the opponent can't get out of the way until Manny lets up.

This isn't a weakness for Manny.  It's a strength and one he depends on to beat his opponents.  It causes them to mostly cover up consistently and just take hits and lose rounds, even if they don't get knocked down or out (Rios and Bradley, for example).

But that weakness exposes critical flaws in Manny's strategy.  The boxers that performed best against him, weren't afraid of him.  Three of those have victories against Pacquiao: Erik Morales being one of the most notable.

The first fight between the two was exciting, dominant and at times downright scary.  Morales' claim to fame was that he couldn't stand to be hit; thus when Pacquiao would hit him, Erik would go nuts and just start throwing punches Tommy Hearns style, and Manny would go into defense mode (Manny's defense is admirable, but not the best in the business).  Pacquiao was a frightening mess by the end of that fight.  While he would go on to win the next two fights, the second was close, with Erik taking his foot off the gas in the second half and the third was just a dominant victory for Manny.  But that first fight exposed one piece of the blueprint: Manny doesn't do well with fighters that tag him good enough and frequently enough.  He will take the shot, get stunned a bit and then cover up.  He doesn't go on the move.

It's been suggested that Freddie Roach pegged this as a net effect of the fact that Manny used to only throw effectively with one hand, and training him to fight with both hands was the key.  Indeed, this did seem to improve his ability to guard against this, but the second boxer, a then-undefeated Timothy Bradley, seemed to unravel this plan.

Bradley was and is not known as a power puncher.  Many compare him to Floyd in terms of his fight style and boxing prowess.  While this is slightly true, Bradley is less refined, less precise, and certainly not as fast as Floyd Mayweather.  That said, Bradley has inklings of talent with his ability to defend against his opponent's assaults.  But his problem is that he always feels he has something to prove.  This gets him in trouble because he wants to go to war to prove that he deserves his spot.  That works against regular boxers.  It doesn't fly against powershot throwing bombers.

When Bradley faced Pacquiao the first time, the result was a fight that exposed yet another critical flaw in Manny's strategy: he doesn't do well with pure boxers that stick to their strategy and keep their cool.  Bradley got a split decision because at least part of the time, he showed boxing excellence that caused Manny problems in the ring.  Manny wasn't nearly as explosive throughout the fight, and most of the time Bradley went down, he was stumbling over his own legs due to Manny's speed. Bradley never got chin checked cleanly.  While the result was controversial, nobody can say that Manny completely dominated Bradley.

In the second fight, Bradley was absolutely impressive the first half of the fight, boxing smooth and clean and not giving Manny a chance to get off.  In fact, Bradley was the aggressor through round 4, not Manny.  This was a beautiful hybrid approach: Bradley was boxing effectively but using the aggression Morales was doing that kept Manny subdued and unable to get his "punches in bunches" going as accurate as usual.

But then (according to Bradley's camp) Bradley hurt his calf and was forced to try for a knockout while defending.  Given how Bradley was still moving rather effectively, and given Manny couldn't knock Bradley down, I question the calf explanation, but it was clear that Bradley was out of gas by round 8.  Still fighting like a warrior, and Manny didn't seem to have the right answer to fully put him away.  Manny walked with a unanimous decision, but two of the three judges had the fight like I did: Bradley was close to another split decision, and likely would have taken it had he not shifted game plans mid stream.

Which brings us to the third and probably most important fighter:  Marquez.

"Dinamita" Juan Manuel Marquez, would battle Pacquiao in a series of four bouts that exposed two more flaws.

With Marquez, Manny was never able to truly control the fight.  Marquez was arguably dominated in the first fight, but Marquez's performance led us to the second and third fights, which were left questionable as many observers felt the fights could have gone either way each time.  Manny likely wanted to prove that he truly was the better fighter by accepting the rematches, but at the end, Marquez sealed the deal with a brutal 6th round knockout of Manny in their fourth fight.

At the time of the knockout, Manny was clearly ahead on the scorecards.

This one moment continues to haunt Manny whether he wants to admit it or not.  It hasn't really affected his ability to fight, but since this brutal knockout, Manny has not been nearly as effective at completely stopping opponents.  All fights have gone the distance with Manny winning on points and not taking nearly as many risks.  What's important though is to analyze how it got to this point - how Marquez got to this point.

Marquez is a natural counter puncher with power.  He's not a fast puncher, and his defense is good but not great.  However he has power with his counters, and his power increased each time he fought Manny.  When Marquez faced Mayweather, it was literally a boxing clinic, with Floyd getting off first each and every time and Marquez simply too slow to keep up with the "Pretty Boy" of boxing.  Floyd never really hurt Marquez, let's be clear.  But he made Marquez look average when he isn't.

When Marquez later would face Bradley after beating Pacquiao and Ruslan, Bradley would, just like Floyd, expose Marquez to a boxing clinic that surprised many, but seemed to validate that Bradley was the real deal.  He was able to do what Floyd was able to do to the guy that Manny could never truly decisively put away, and because of whom Manny kissed canvas.

It was theorized that Manny was distracted about a fight with Floyd when he got knocked out, but I don't believe this is the case.  I believe that Marquez used the aggression technique seen by Morales and increased his punching power for countering, then waited for Manny to make a mistake.  I believe Marquez lured Manny into a false sense of victory by fighting in the trenches and even taking knockdowns just so he could get that one shot off.  In other words, the first critical flaw in Manny's strategy was overconfidence; the second was having his aggression used against him when fighting a pure counter puncher.

All of this leads me to the fifth and probably most important critical flaw, one that Manny and Freddie don't seem to have addressed: Manny's vulnerability to a right hand punch.

Looking back at all of Manny's opponents, both those he beat and those he didn't, there is one common thread.  When connecting with a good shot on Manny, it's 99% of the time a right hand, often an overhand right.  We saw it with Cotto, we saw it briefly with Algieri (who didn't have anywhere near enough power to use it right), we saw it a lot with Bradley, we saw it with Morales, and we definitely saw it with Marquez (above).

Taken into perspective, here are the weaknesses Manny Pacquiao has to contend with when he faces Floyd "Money" Mayweather.

• Aggression: Floyd is not known as an aggressive fighter these days.  The last fight he was truly aggressive in was against Gatti, which was likely Floyd's best overall performance.  In that fight, Floyd was so precise and dominant that Arturo Gatti could never get a shot off.  It is unlikely that Manny will have to deal with this out of Floyd - but he should watch out for it, because if Floyd gets one key shot off and stuns Manny, he will take advantage of a combo opportunity.

• Boxing: Floyd loves to outbox his opponents when he has nothing to prove.  Many have said that the first Maidana fight went to split decision because Floyd decided to fight in the trenches, where the second one was more of a boxing clinic.  I believe that Floyd is not going to be moving too much because he feels he wants to prove that he can take the best Manny has to offer, unlike those before him.  Remember, many felt that Canelo Alverez was almost guaranteed to stop Floyd Mayweather - and instead was made to look like a rookie, catchweight notwithstanding.  It's proven that Manny has trouble with pure boxers, and Floyd is likely the best of them.  This will be Manny's worst nightmare through the night, and he has to learn how to cut Floyd off and force him to war (which nobody has been effective at).

• Overconfidence: It's been stated that Manny is looking to make this a "holy war" - that it's his personal mission to stop Floyd.  I would argue that Manny Pacquiao has to set his emotions aside and treat this as just another fight, just like Floyd is doing.  Robert Guerrero and Victor Ortiz (notably the latter) let their emotions get the best of them and lost for it.  Floyd maintains composure throughout a fight, even when Maidana was biting and fighting dirty.  Manny has to maintain control over his strikes and cannot allow the emotions to drive his punch stats.  If he gets overconfident, he'll run right into a counter right and may very well end up like he did at the end of Marquez IV - which will only serve to validate Floyd as TBE for being the smarter fighter.

• Counter Punching: Floyd's favorite punch is the overhand right after he slips a punch and a right hand lead to setup a combo.  Manny can only prevent this by staying busy: he has to crowd Floyd and prevent him from effectively countering his single setup punches.  I see that as hard for Manny because his punches are wild and free without the setup punch.  I also see that Manny can't head hunt throughout the fight and instead must target multiple parts of Floyd in order to throw off Floyd's ability to target any one spot on Manny.  Manny can take a body shot fairly well and he can take a head shot fairly well, but if he's off balance or running in (as in Marquez IV), the shot will have multiple times the effect on him, and he has to stay away from that but still get in range for his shots.

• The Right Hand: Floyd's right hand is a deadly weapon especially if he throws it as an uppercut through the guard.  Manny likes to earmuff when he defends; he can't do that frequently against Floyd otherwise he'll eat uppercuts all night.  His best strategy is to deflect as best he can any right hand he sees coming - assuming he sees it coming - and stay on the move to try and dodge the right.  If Manny gets in close, he'll get countered with the right but it won't hurt as much.  If Manny stays busy and crowds Floyd, he may be more accurate in the trench than Maidana was, but he also might not be able to protect himself from countering, as seen when Floyd faced Canelo and was still able to counter even with his back on the ropes.

Does Manny have a chance? Yes - as long as he doesn't let his emotions get away from him and focuses on the precision of strikes rather than "taking this guy out" as he claims to be focusing on.

Why a "#Boxing Network" Makes Sense

NFL Mobile.  MLB.tv.  The WWE Network.  UFC FightPass.  All of these are great if you're a fan of a given type of sport.  But each of them falls short in certain areas.  Of these, WWE Network comes the closest in terms of the right idea.  It reminds me of the failed XFL.

What?  You don't remember the XFL?  That doesn't surprise me.  All you need to understand about the XFL is that it was a model for the so-called "80/20 Rule" - that is, 80% of it was bad, 20% of it was good and was poached by NFL.  So how does that apply to boxing, or any of the networks above?

Fallout: Ruslan Provodnikov vs. Chris Algieri

This blog isn't intended to discuss the fight in detail.  I will use the fight to make a point about boxing "fans".  I'm getting really tired of seeing the same thing over and over again.