Saturday night in Atlantic City, one of the most anticipated fights in the boxing world will take place. On paper, it's a great match up for fight fans but boxing purists, those who know the game from the inside, know this is a total mismatch.  

Floyd Mayweather Jr. versus Arturo Gatti, 'Thunder and Lightning' is the billing for this fight. This fight is about a lot more than just winning for Floyd Mayweather. Floyd Jr. is one of the best fighters in this era, or possibly any era hands down, yet he has created such a horrible image for himself outside the ring that now he is faced with another opponent, another hopeful to defeat him, but Arturo Gatti is the weaker of the two. Floyd Jr. is fighting for respect because he has become one of the Bad Boys of boxing and not very many people want to see him win. Now, that doesn't mean he doesn't have any fans, he has his share as well, but they are nowhere near what they should be for a fighter with his charm, talent, charisma, and good looks.  

Floyd has brought the bad image on himself, and now he has to win every fight in order to keep the one thing that most everyone still agree upon about him, and that is that he is one of the best fighters in the world, if not the best, today. You can't get many people who will deny the fact that he's a great fighter, they will certainly say that without any hesitation. And more often than not, follow it with… ‘but he's a ‘complete asshole;’ and whether it's merited or not that is the perception he has given to so many who once adored him, not only for his skills but for the way he carried himself.  

A great fighter that was likable and was easy to embrace, Floyd Jr. was like that once upon a time. He made you want to root for him, and being his fan meant you were ready to jump on his wagon, ready to take that long journey of success with him, every single step of the way. Once there were many fans, now there are few. Not only have fans fallen of the wagon, they now want someone to shut his mouth and make him disappear altogether.  

The reality is that it won’t be that easy. I honestly believe that Arturo Gatti certainly isn't the answer. Floyd Jr. is a special fighter, one of those that will go down in history, a pugilist that will be compared with the greats, long after his career is over. Gatti is a good fighter with an entertaining style, admired not for his ability, but for his lack of it. Gatti is a blood and guts warrior because he has no choice but to fight that way. No one wants to be busted up and on the brink of defeat in any given fight. It's great for the theater of boxing, but not for the longevity of a boxer’s life.  Those kinds of fights take their toll on the human body and can cause brain damage, slur of speech, memory loss and countless other side effects that stick with you for the rest of your life. Gatti, too, will be remembered throughout the history of boxing, but for a much different reason.  

The fight itself, if you match skill against skill, it's a wipe out. The two men should not even be nowhere near the same ring, let alone fighting one another. An indication of what the inside boxing public thought, when asked at the press conference how many people thought Gatti was going to win, one person raised his hand and spoke up. It was Gatti's promoter, who happens not to be a member of the press. She spoke like a Mother who knows her child is being sent off to a war he cannot win, and her words were spoken in order to make her child feel as though there is a glimmer of hope in his quest. The words were meant to give him comfort, to let him know he is not completely alone, and hope that who knows, that encouragement might just be enough, but I don't think so, nor does anyone else think so either.  

They have great reasons to think the way they do. Gatti has six loses against some pretty good fighters, but none of those fighters, with the exception of Oscar de la Hoya,  were destined for greatness and not one of them, with perhaps the exception of Oscar de la Hoya, would have a hope or a prayer of defeating the man that will be in front of Gatti on Saturday night. Therefore, who in their right mind would choose Gatti to win this match? I think Floyd Jr. will stop Gatti inside of ten brutal rounds, severely punishing Gatti, as he has never been before. Unfortunately for Floyd Jr., even in beating Gatti, he will never receive the acclaim or the fan support he had early in his career or that of the fighter he will have just defeated. Winning is not the only answer when you are a public figure in a popular sport, someone that is all too often under microscopic vigil. Some child, some writer, or a possible fan is clinging to your every move, your every word. If Floyd Jr. ever wants to become a Super Star, he has to change his ways or he will be remembered as a great fighter with no appeal to the buying public, and the word asshole will certainly come up somewhere throughout the conversation.  

I know, because there once was a time when people felt that way about my nephew.  They would talk about his ability as a fighter, then hint about how they felt about him as a person. Once I would say to them, go ahead, you can say how you feel about him, I'm not going to be upset, they would feel so relieved to let it out knowing there will be no repercussions coming back their way. That one word would always come out, they would say, he's an asshole. I would say, that's fine and if that's how you feel, maybe he gave you reason to feel that way. I think it's sad that one of the best fighters in the era is so disliked by many. Then again, only two kinds of fighters get paid in boxing, the Good Guy or the Bad Guy. So far, it's done nothing for him, but maybe it will work for him. It isn’t likely, but we all choose our own path and only Floyd Jr. will have to understand why he chose the path he has been traveling. If he wants to be LOVED, he has chosen the wrong path, If he wants to be HATED he's on a fast-track to that accomplishment. If all he wants to be is RESPECTED, he must keep winning.