Floyd Mayweather did it again.
All of it. He tagged the latest notch in his belt, Robert Guerrero, with lead right hands all night, landed power punches at will (over 60 percent), and made him look foolish in the ring.
Mayweather's performance was so brilliant, Guerrero was barely able to touch the undefeated welterweight, causing the crowd to boo during the seventh round. It looked like a complete mismatch.
In reality, Guerrero earned the right to face Mayweather as much as anyone else (let's just leave Manny Pacquiao out of this). Floyd is simply on another level, and there wasn't much a year-long layoff or a summer stint in jail could do to bring him down. Mayweather, who reunited with his father for this fight, went back to basics, focused on defense, and broke Guerrero down in each and every round, openly mocking Guerrero's nickname (“The Ghost”) with his elusive performance.
Mayweather insisted on a September return to the ring after his victory. Many fans will hope to see Canelo Alvarez in the ring against him. Though the fight seems inevitable at some point, they are unlikely to meet this soon in Mayweather's six-fight contract with Showtime.
That is the fight many boxing analysts circle as one that could potentially catch Mayweather off guard. 36 is a dangerous time for fighters. Muhammad Ali, Joe Louis and Larry Holmes all lost their undefeated record around the same age as Floyd.
His next fight will be the shortest layoff Mayweather has had between fights in years, typically limiting his ring appearances to once-per-year. That, maybe, will throw him off-guard and someone may stand a chance.
A short layoff is how desperate and far critics must search to find a weakness in Mayweather's guard at the moment. It's probably how Guerrero felt in the ring for most of Saturday night as he missed with punch after punch.
It's a feeling his foes should get familiar with.
