Boxing legend Floyd Mayweather (43-0-0, 26 KOs) is scheduled to fight Robert Guerrero (31-1-1, 18 KOs) May 4 in Las Vegas, but the pound-for-pound toughest fighter is already starting the war of words with his opponent.
Mayweather and Guerrero were shooting a commercial for Showtime (h/t Kevin Iole of Yahoo! Sports) when Money began to start his prototypical trash talking.
As fun to watch as Money’s comments can be, Guerrero wasn’t having any of it and made it clear that he wasn’t backing down from Mayweather. That helps increase the hype around this pay-per-view main event.
While this vintage intimidation tactic is one of the reasons Mayweather has been so successful over his career, Guerrero is a veteran fighter that knew exactly what Mayweather was trying to do and did not allow it to affect him.
Lucky for Mayweather, he’s one of the most gifted boxers in history and still has the ability to dismantle his opponent in the ring.
While Guerrero may not be intimidated by Mayweather’s words, the challenger's reactions to the trash talk may have given Money the mental edge in another way.
During the video, Mayweather and Guerrero talk about which style the duo will use against each other, leading to Mayweather telling his opponent to pick the style he would fight with during the bout.
When Guerrero laughed it off and told Mayweather, “Let's do it toe-to-toe,” he revealed a lot about his game plan. Fans can trash Money for being too confident or brash, but he is a smart fighter.
From the trash talking, Mayweather can assume that Guerrero wants the fight to be toe-to-toe because that’s where he thinks he has the advantage. At the same time, the desire to force Mayweather to fight that way indicates Guerrero understands his opponent will be on the defensive and avoiding toe-to-toe exchanges.
With that information, Mayweather can come out aggressive in Round 1 of their fight now that he understands his opponent will be patient in his style.
After likely stunning Guerrero with a flurry of punches in the early going of the bout—something Mayweather hasn’t done in the recent past—Mayweather could then begin to let the fight come to him and become the defensive fighter that has dominated for years.
That slight mental advantage early in the fight is all it takes to swing the momentum in these big bouts.
While Mayweather’s words may not have done damage to Guerrero’s ego, his opponent's rebuttal to the chatter has given Money the edge he needs to secure another huge win.
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