Last Saturday should have been Floyd Mayweather’s night. After two years off, the former pound-for-pound champ stormed back on the scene with a unanimous decision over Mexico’s Juan Manuel Marquez. After entertaining with his fists for an hour it should have been time for Mayweather to entertain with his words. Unfortunately, HBO’s Max Kellerman decided to let his ego steal the show.

If you didn’t see the fight, you didn’t miss much. For 12 rounds, Mayweather – arguably the most precise puncher of all time, picked Marquez apart with his laser-guided jabs. It was the type of display most had hoped for and expected from Mayweather, but questions still remained.

First, why of all the fighters out there would he fight the 36-year-old Marquez, who is much smaller than he is? It may have been because Marquez went the distance twice with undefeated Manny Pacquiao. The other question was why Mayweather weighed in at 146 pounds, two pounds over the already favorable catch weight of 144 pounds, forgoing $600,000 to Marquez as per the fights contract? These questions were asked, but Kellerman decided it was better to hear his own voice than to let Mayweather answer.

Kellerman, despite his performance on Saturday, is usually a very good boxing commentator. A boxing junkie, he got his start in the 1990s at ESPN working as a commentator for Friday Night Fights before hosting Around the Horn. Normally it would be veteran Larry Merchant in the ring with his slow-motion delivery rattling off a question every 35 minutes or so, but recently HBO has begun alternating the two.

Kellerman made two crucial mistakes in the interview. After Mayweather refused to answer the question about his weight – which was a great question, even if it fell flat – Kellerman tried to imply that Mayweather should pick on someone his own size like “Sugar” Shane Mosley – who just happened to be standing with Bernard Hopkins in the ring next to Kellerman. If there was any fight to be brought up it should’ve been between Mayweather and Pacquiao, not Mayweather and Mosley, a 38-year-old long past his prime.

A quick conspiracy theory – Mosley and Hopkins both are managing partners in Golden Boy Promotions, Oscar De La Hoya’s promotion company, which does a substantial amount of its work with HBO. It is not outside the range of possibilities that the altercation that ensued was nothing more than a promotion for a fight that has already been agreed upon. Either way, there was no reason for him to bring it up, considering most expected this fight to be a tune-up for Pacquiao.

After Mosley jumped up to the microphone, angering Mayweather, Kellerman calmed things down only to let it slip away by talking too much again. He asked Mayweather why he chose to fight Marquez; right then would have been a good time for Kellerman to stop talking. Instead, Kellerman preached to Mayweather why he thought Marquez was the choice. It wasn’t enough for Kellerman to just ask the question – he felt the need to tell Mayweather why he made the choice. It was as if he was unable to make the transition from commentator to interviewer. At that point Mayweather had reached his limit and grabbed the microphone, saying that he was doing too much talking – before Kellerman had the producers cut the mic, ending the interview.

Credit goes to Kellerman, though, for admitting his error in the days following the fight, telling TheSweetScience.com, “Floyd’s perception is `This guy won’t let me talk,’ and on replay I can see what he means. It’s not like he wasn’t justified.”

It’s great that Kellerman understands his mistakes and is man enough to admit that, but that doesn’t change the fact that so many questions were left unanswered. It seems unfair that a fighter with a mouth as quick as Mayweather didn’t answer anything.

Was Marquez the choice because he is a preview of Pacquiao? Will we finally get the Pacquiao megafight that everyone wants to see, or was Mayweather back just to cash in and keep the rumors that the IRS is after him as just that – rumors? I don’t know, I just wish Max Kellerman would’ve gotten us some answers on Saturday night.

Ryan Travers is a senior in the College. He can be reached at traversthehoya.com. Illegal Procedure appears in every Friday issue of Hoya Sports.

“