Sometimes you can bring along a prospect too fast. Floyd Mayweather will be a champion, eventually, but not Saturday night. Gennaro Hernandez is not quite enough past his prime to relinquish his belt.

Mayweather was an American hero at the Atlanta olympics. The media story then was that his father, himself a boxer in the 70s, couldn't be there because he was doing time for drug trafficking. His uncle, Roger Mayweather, was a pretty fair middleweight in the mid-80s.

Mayweather is 17-0 with 13 knockouts against middling competition. That's good, but Atlanta was only three years ago. Mayweather is coming along all right, but a title shot now is premature. Worse, apparently his dad is out of prison and interfering with his training.

Gennaro Hernandez is 36-1-1. He fought Oscar De La Hoya in 1995, and failed to answer the bell for the seventh round, although the fight was still a contest. Mayweather is no De La Hoya. If you look at their last ten bouts, Hernandez has fought the class of his division, Mayweather the journeymen.

Look at this as an opportunity with moderate risk. The fight was announced universally at -120 for both fighters. Last we looked, the Mirage in Vegas had Mayweather at -140, Hernandez at +110, so the action is moving Mayweather's way. Consider the contrarian view. Back to fight odds
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