Floyd haters: Isn't it about time to discuss him in the same breath as SRR?

To me he's this generation's Jimmy McLarnin. The Belfast Spider started off as a flyweight and beat champions in every division he fought in (in spite of the fact that his only championship was at WW). McLarnin dropped a few decisions, and lost two of three to Barney Ross, so he wasn't unbeatable...but he was still pretty great.

Same thing with Pac. Not unbeatable- but definitely a great.

 

Very true, and truthfully it's too late to make it happen.

I also think SRL had more pop in his punches than Mayweather and may have also had a better chin. But you're correct they're certainly not all that far apart in terms of speed and sheer talent.

 

What makes a fighter is not there record not there belts and not how many fans they have. Its the challenges and fighters they test them selfs against. Unfortunatly for roy jones it was lacking by no fault of his own he did what he had to do and looked the real deal . But as with floyd ehen time passes this will affect there standing and its a shame. But floyd has to take his chance while still can and prove he his top dog .without doubt this generation. And untill him and pacman face of he cant.

 

I was gonna type a blind response only to read that most people already said it: skill wise then by all means.
Resume wise, then a big and resounding no.

 

Well you can't just add up all the strengths and weaknesses, rather if FLoyd wants to be recognized as an ATG, he actually has to be these attributes on display against quality level fighters, and maybe it's the era, but Floyd simply hasn't fought the level of comp to know where he stands relative to SRL or Hearns or Duran.

 

Sorry, you got me wrong.

But I guess if I disagree with your opinion, I must be young and not know any better.

Ill be the first to say I aint see **** live. But Ive gotten my hands on all the tapes I could find.

In my assessment, those are flaws in Hearns fight game. His strenghts made him an all-time great, obviously, but he was actually far from a perfect fighter.

 

I'm not knocking Pac he's one of my favorite fighters of all time, but let's not get carried away here, there's absolutely no one that Pac would consider fighting that Duran wouldn't fight, that's for damn sure. As much as I like Pac, I can't imagine Pac getting into the ring against Hagler.

 

These hypothetical matchups with the Fab four are just plain silly.

Floyd didn't even enter the WW division until his 9th-10th year as a professional. All those other guys outside of Duran were naturally MUCH larger than him and were fighting at MW by their 10th year. It's just silly to make these matchups when FLoyd was truly at his prime around 135-140 (albeit a brief stint at JWW.)

Duran is the only guy you can match him up with size-wise and I truly believe if both men were at their physical primes, Floyd would box his ears off. I've seen plenty of Duran at 135, he had power in both hands and above average defense, but FLoyd is a much more skilled boxer than Duran was and would use his reach advantage to outbox him from a distance all night long.

The other guys were fighting at MW and SMW for a decent amount of their careers and all started at WW aside from Duran (LW) and Halger (a small MW.)

If you want to compare the guy with ATG's, match him up with the proper men size wise like Benny leonard, Pernell WHitaker and Roberto Duran. Not Tommy Hearns who at one point was a Cruiserweight champ for god's sakes. Silly match making for ATG matchups

 

There really is not such thing as a perfect fighter.

Every fighter has flaws, even Floyd. His defense is excellent, but I've certainly seen fighters with better offense.

I've seen fighters transition for defense to offense (ie Duran) better.

But that doesn't mean that Floyd isn't an elite fighter he is, but he takes calculated risks as to who he's going to fight and when and under what terms.

Whereas Duran for example, just got in the ring and fought and he wasn't scared to fight fighters who could potentially beat him, cause nobody gave Duran as snowball in hell's chance of beating Hagler, but he was still willing to accept the challenge.

Hell even against Moore, about 80% of the boxing analyst picked Moore to beat him.

I would love to see a fight where Floyd was the underdog and managed to win it.

 

I'd have to echo Vanboxingfan that of the fab four, Hearns is the worst match for Floyd.
He would never get past those stinging jabs of Hearns.
Floyd wins by controlling the distance, and if he can't, he puts up a high guard and goes in.
Both things he can't do against the hard hitting, that also happens to throw P4P one of the best jabs in the sport, in Hearns.

I mean seriously, this shouldn't be even explained.

 

Maybe but Floyd isn't all that small. In fact he looked bigger than Canelo yesterday and he's certainly natually bigger than Duran.

 

Hearns was one of the best welters in history? This is where hearns was smashing everyone up???? Go back and know the history of fighters before u say silly things

 

At WW? I think Pac has a shot actually. That is if Hagler can even make weight.
But if Pac if moving up, then he will have it worse than Pac-JMM 4.

I think of the Fab four, while Hearns is FMJ's worst matchup, SRL would be Pac's.
Too much slickness and pop.

 

Hearns can be matched up with floyd as they are both welters

 

Hagler is around the same height. If a smaller duran can test himself against hagler im pretty sure floyd can.