Open letter to Mayweather from a Boricua fan: Part 1

Photo by Herbert Diaz

Greetings Mr. ‘Money’, I hope you’re enjoying spending millions of dollars on clothes, cars, McDonalds, etc … as I write this letter in my living room, with an unbearable heat and barely decent shower, thanks to the great drought in Puerto Rico.

I will be asking you a few simple questions about your famous list of the top 5 boxers in history – but the questions will be asked one by one, night after night.

First, I will tell you that you’re not the number one boxer in history for many reasons but I will save that for another session. Today I will only ask a couple of easy and logical questions.

You placed the great Roberto “Hands of Stone” Duran in the number two spot in your boxing all time list. Yeah, sure he is one of the best ever, but number two? I don’t believe it. How can you place Duran in that position when Sugar Ray Leonard is not even in your top 5 ?

I’ll refresh your memory, my friend, my little friend Floyd. It is true that Duran took Leonard’s unbeaten record in a great battle but five months later, Leonard retaliated in the best way and made Duran surrender in a humiliating fashion by saying “no more”. Then many years later, they were measured for the third time and again, Leonard emerged victorious.

So if you believe that Duran is better than Leonard because he took his undefeated record – you just don’t care about the rematches and you must also consider Esteban De Jesus being better than Duran because he defeated him while he was undefeated. Using your logic Joe Frazier is better than Muhammad Ali and Antonio Margarito is better than Miguel Cotto and should be ranked accordingly on the list of boxing all time greats, right?

This is not all. There is more regarding the crazy idea that Duran is better than Leonard. In the ring Leonard was definitely better than Duran and now I’ll show you how they fared with other opponents at that time. Do you remember who were the best, most dangerous fighters in those weights besides them (Duran and Leonard)? No? Do you know who Wilfred Benitez, Thomas Hearns and Marvin Hagler are? LOL, your look says it all LOL, you now remember right??

Guess what? Leonard defeated Benitez, Hearns and Hagler. And you know what? Duran also fought them, and was defeated by all of them, including a defeat by KO in the second round by Hearns. I know many fans will assume that because you are Mayweather Jr. you know for sure what you’re talking about regarding the history of boxing. But clearly that is not the case.

Inside the ring, you are a master, very few boxers are born with your talent, and you probably will be among the top 20 best boxers of all time but talking about the history of boxing and analyzing it, we know that a “nobody” like me can give you the same beating you gave Gatti in 2005.

Why? Because while you train and spends hundreds of thousands of dollars on bets, brand new clothing, expensive “champagne” for your friends and other stuff, I’m devouring boxing books and scrutinizing individual boxers’ bios while I drink a Coke without ice while wearing a worn and very old shirt.

PS: I know you will read this letter in your 20×20 jacuzzi filled with water and bubbles while I await your response in my tiny shower using my saved cold water buckets.

A sweaty hug from Puerto Rico.

-Alejandro ‘Zafa’ Reyes-