With the 2005 boxing schedule underway, and boy, has it got off to a great start for the fans [especially the fans of the 140 division. ]

This weekend, Floyd" Pretty Boy" Mayweather will square off against Henry "El Nitro" Brusles, in Miami, then the next week, Arturo "Thunder" Gatti will face the experienced veteran, "Jesse" James Leija, in what can only be described as a match for a future match for Mayweather and Gatti.

These match ups are by no means coincidental. These two guys are the big money players in the division and if you had to pick the winners, you would pick Mayweather and Gatti. Are you getting the picture?

With Kostya Tszyu defending his I.B.F. Title against the exciting Englishman, Ricky Hatton, in June, in what will be the biggest fight and the largest P.P.V in British boxing history, you can just see the rival T.V. networks in America, hoping for a Mayweather, Gatti win so they can "Get ready to rumble" in June, also, which, if it comes off, will be great news for us- the fans. Lets not get too excited. First things first!

Henry Brusles is young, [24] has a good record [ W21 -13 KO'S, L2 - DRAWS 1 ] and has fought his way through the rankings, fighting 6 and 8 rounders up until 2002 when he fought his first 12 rounder.

Floyd Mayweather is also young [ 27] and you could say he has a "good" record. He made his debut in 1996 against Jesus Chavez and has fought and beaten good fighters like Genaro Hernandez in which he stopped in 8 rounds and in doing so, picked up Hernandez's W.B.C. Super featherweight title.

From there he dominated, outboxed, outfoxed, and demolished the division with his considerable talents, stopping good fighters , Angel Manfreddy, Justin Jukko, Emanuel Burton, and Diego Corrales who he battered into retirement by knocking him down 5 times. In 2001, he faced the wild bull from El Salvador Carlos" Famosa" Hernandez and beat him in a tough encounter, by winning on points. Before moving up to lightweight, he stopped Jesus Chavez in 9 rounds and staked his claim as one of the greatest in the pound for pound list. Beaming with confidence, he moved up to lightweight and immediately challenged the superb boxer Jose Luis Castillo. "Pretty Boy" won by unanimous decision and took Castillo's title.

After defending his title against Victor Sosa, in a fight he won on points, next up was the tough South African , Philip Ndou. Ndou had locked himself away in the mountain caves of South Africa, as he wanted to live rough, and try to experience , what it was like to live like an animal. In the fight, Ndou fought the best he could and gave the best performance of his career, but after weathering Ndou's storm in the first few rounds, Mayweather showing fantastic evasive skills, came on and hammered Ndou with tremendous, accurate fast power shots and stopped Ndou in the 7th round with a combination that would have stopped an African elephant.

After the fight, he told the boxing world that he only wanted big fights and he would face " anyone from 130 to 150"
With no where to go, and no challenges, Mayweather moved up in weight again. At Super lightweight, he knew things were hotting up and with potential fights with Tszyu, Hatton, Gatti, Cotto, big money fights. He was matched with former world champion, and Tszyu sparring partner De marcus " Chop Chop" Corley, in a W.B.C. eliminator fight.
Mayweather won convincingly on points against Corley, but even though he knocked Corley down twice, he didnt seem to have as much power as before.

On January 22nd, we will see if he has kept his power when he faces the puncher, Henry Brusles from Puerto Rico.

" Jesse " James Leija has fought them all. He made his debut in 1988, but his first big was in 1991. He beat Steve Mc Crory on pointsthenlater, he drew with "The Proffessor" Azumah Nelson, then in their rematch, he beat the Ghanian warrior over 12 rounds, to take Nelsons, W.B.C. super featherweight title. He then defended it against the the fantastic Gabriel Ruelas, a fight in which he lost on points.

By now it was 1995 and he challenged "The Golden Boy" Oscar De la Hoya for the W.B.O. lightweight title but was chopped down in 2 rounds. If fighting Nelson twice wasn't enough, he faced him again in 96, and lost to the ageing , but powerful ringmaster in round 6 . Unbelievably, in 1998, Leija and Nelson boxed their way into the history books when they fought each other for the fourth time. This time Leija won on points.

The next few years, he fought more big name fighters, names like Mosley[ lost by tko in 9th] , Ivan Robinson,[ unanimous decision win over 10 rounds] Hector Camacho jnr[ no contest] and "Irish" Mickey Ward ,in a messy fight that was stopped due to an accidental headclash. 2003 was also a bad year for Leija, who after all these years as a pro, wanted one more big payday, and one more chance at winning the world crown

. Kostya Tszyu gave him that chance, but to take the fight , he had to travel to Australia. In their fight, he had more bad luck, when Tszyu hit him so hard, that he broke his eardrum, meaning he could not continue. The fight was stopped and was ruled a 6th round tko. After resting and spending time with his wife and family, "Jesse" returned once more to the ring. He would return as an underdog, as he was matched with the highly touted, Francisco Bojado, but Leija took Bojado somewhere , he had not been for a while, - "to school" Leija used all his ring experience and his 16 plus professional years to teach the talented and young Bojado a lesson.

That 10 round split decision, and all of those years as a pro have given him the right and the chance at a big payday, and also the chance at Arturo Gatti's world title .

Arturo" Thunder" Gatti [ W38 L6 D0 ] made his professional debut in 1991. He has fought them all also, and has given fight fans years of excitement. If you dont like Arturo Gatti, then you dont like boxing. He beat Tracy Harris Paterson and won the W.B.C. super featherweight title in 1995, and has fought good boxers , Calvin Grove, Gabriel Ruelas[ fight of the year] Angel Manfreddy, Ivan Robinson[ fight of the year] Robinson again in a rematch, Joey Gamache, De la Hoya, Terron Millet, and in 2002, he was matched to fight Micky Ward in a 10 rounder , which on paper , was allways going to be exciting. When i watched the fight i was lost for words, it was the best fight i had ever seen. It was fight of the year, as never have there been such ferocity, and commitment by two boxers in a non title fight.

Gatti lost, but showed so much heart and guts, that everyone wanted to see them do it again. They did, and it was another war. Not as brutal as their first encounter, but equally as entertaining. This time Gatti boxed more and won on points by unanimous decision. Again, the boxing fans asked for more and in 2003, Gatti and Ward, fought for a career high, pay day and fought out another 10 rounds, with Gatti putting on a tremendous boxing show. He danced, he banged, he won by unanimous decision. 30 tough rounds by two of the toughest boxers to ever lay a glove on.

After a good rest, and a holiday, he was matched to fight Gianluca Branco in 2004, for the vacant W.B.C. Super lightweight world title that Tszyu had been stripped of through injury. Gatti won the title by unanimous decision and later that year, he defended it against the little strong man, Leo"the lion" Dorin. Dorin was strong and a come forward fighter but was stepping up in weight to face the bigger Gatti. In the fight, Gatti beat him easily and stopped him in 2 rounds.

On the 29th of January, with only a couple of fights left in him, he will be hoping to box out another big win and finally get it on in" his" career defining fight with Mayweather.

Yes fight fans, 140 is where the action is!
Author Gary Todd with Floyd Mayweather Jr
© Gary Todd 2004