The Commutative Property

Remember Ricardo Mayorga's logic before his bout with De La Hoya as to why he was certain to beat The Golden Boy? Shane Mosley, Mayorga reasoned, beat Oscar twice. And Vernon Forrest beat Sugar Shane twice. And I, proclaimed Ricardo, beat Forrest twice! You see? It's simple mathematics, man! By this rationale, the Matador would have had us believe that not only was he going to beat Oscar, but he would beat him again in the rematch.

Well, we all know how that worked out. Math, as one would imagine it so often has in the past, failed Ricardo Mayorga once again. But my point here is not to discuss the Matador - it's to illustrate that by the boxing theorem he advocated, one Ricky Hatton already has defeated a Mayweather in the ring by the commutative property. As most fans of the Fat Man know, Ricky won his first meaningful belt, and the lion's share of his respect in the fight world, in his 2005 defeat of the great Kos Tszyu, an upset that made Hatton the Ring fighter of the year.

Ten years prior, Tszyu defeated a 34-year-old journeyman with a 54-11 record going into the fight. About the only thing this pug had going for him was his nickname, a doozy - "The Black Mamba." It was Roger Mayweather, Uncle Rog, now trainer of his philthy rich nephew, the universally regarded Money Money May.

As you'll see below, despite the fact that he was 34 and out of gas and had legs skinnier than a turkey's, Uncle Rog still had some tricks up his sleeve for Tszyu. Headbuttin. Grabbin and wrasslin. Groin-punchin. Ole Rog was a veritable treasure trove of squared circle illegality, and people, I ask you - would you expect anything less?