“Pretty Boy” Floyd rambles on

Every interview I see or read with Floyd Mayweather Jr., the more he starts to sound like his father. By that I mean he sounds like an angry homeless dude.

Mayweather, the former welterweight kingpin (39-0 with 25 knockouts), did a conference call a couple of days ago to promote his soon-to-be-overhyped return to boxing, a Sept. 19 bout with Juan Manuel Marquez (50-4 with one draw and 37 knockouts). Kevin Iole over at Yahoo! Sports said Mayweather was “rambling” and “frequently incomprehensible” as he discussed his comeback.

Iole says Mayweather complained about the way the media portrays him, that he’s been accused of ducking quality opponents. “They can write what they want to write,” Mayweather said. “I don’t read that negative stuff. ‘Floyd’s ducking this guy,’ or ‘Floyd can’t beat that guy.’ You all never get on there and talk about the real thing. Go talk about Manny Pacquiao being knocked out twice. Talk about stuff like that. Talk about Shane Mosley taking steroids. How can Shane Mosley be the official welterweight champ if (Carlos) Baldomir was the undisputed champ and I beat him?”

The bottom line, though, as Iole makes clear, is that Mayweather, who hasn’t fought since beating Ricky Hatton two years ago, needs to fight  Pacquiao to prove he’s still the best and to prove he’s the top attraction he claims to be. (Mayweather’s two biggest pay-per-view fights were with Oscar De La Hoya and Hatton, both of whom were a bigger reason for people to tune in.)