MAYWEATHER WIN A QUALITY QUALIFIER By George Elsasser

The battle at the boardwalk of bag ladies last nite over HBO, was vintage Floyd Mayweather Jr … and a quality of a qualifier over a rugged, proven veteran in DeMarcus Corley places Floyd in that dandy mix of talent rich jr. welters.

Mayweather was in charge from start to finish, but not exactly a walk in the park over stanzas one thru four … and courtesy of the one called "Pretty Boy," it began with something of a Mayweather version of Sugar Ray Leonard in the 1980, Montreal initial meeting with Roberto Duran.

Much as Leonard once made a point in that first Duran battle … a decision loss …  he proved he was more than a pretty face with good moves as he battled from start to finis in the trenches - and while Corley is no Duran in the power department, the Mayweather message was to prove he belongs with the top-dogs at 140.

The toughness was visible early on as Floyd captures stanzas 1-2-4 … maybe number three goes to Corley in a coin flip … regardless, come round five it is exit Mayweather with the Leonard look of 1980, and enter a Floyd version of vintage Roy Jones Jr. as he moved the game to the outside.

And from numero cinco on, the nite clearly belonged to Mayweather … the speed of hand and the quick moves dictated the action … and the step left, step right always followed with something pretty.

True grit kept Corley alive and battling back with assorted offerings … even after being dropped in candle eight - the Mayweather sequence began with a three-punch combo that went two right uppercuts followed by a whistling left hook.

And again in round ten Corley is down after an early Mayweather flurry … still, the beat continued to the final bell.

The  tallies of the ringside judges were unanimous for Mayweather at 119-107, 119-108, 118-108 … but Corley earned a curtsy or two for a determined effort that  found him short in the scoring department but long on guts.

Post Scripts: Mayweather  ~ a multi-talent in the skills department … better than average punching power … and speed of hand as good as it gets … has also proven the chin is real … only knock, and only a tap, is the attention span … at times catches punches he should not. But guess is he’ll tighten the defense a bit when in with the big bangers at jr. welter.
                      Corley ~ A good one that can still fit in nicely at  jr. welter as a road block to the new faces that seem to be everywhere at 140.
 

GEL
 

5-22-2004