The "All Things Mayweather/Pacquiao" Express!!!!!!

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During his championship run, going back to 130lbs, in which 25 of his 30 bouts (Augustus was a 10-rounder, Corley & Bruseles eliminators, Mitchell, Marquez, * Mosley non-title) have been for at least one version of a world title across five weight divisions, let's have a look at how many of his twenty-eight opponents in said twenty bouts (two of them rematched) were indeed "sluggers":

Genaro Hernández - not a slugger. Intelligent counter-puncher with good footwork and very educated body punching.

Angel Manfredy - not terribly skilled, no, but wouldn't call him a slugger. He was a boxer, just not an elite one.

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- okay, slugger. (but a game one, and Mayweather struggled a bit with him)

Justin Juuko - mostly a stand-up prototypical African style boxer, except a bit less jab-reliant than most, with a solid right hand and liberal use of feints.

Carlos Gerena - boxer-puncher, former Olympian, had an early points victory over Jesús Chávez and even at the end of his career gave a young Orlando Salido all he could handle in an MD loss.

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- yes, slugger. Mayweather pitched a near shutout in a stinker, while injured, though it cost him fans and nearly his contract with HBO.

Emanuel Burton/Augustus - by no means a slugger. Very awkward, capable spoiler who could have been a real contender if he took his career more seriously (and/or got robbed less)

Chico Corrales - tall boxer-puncher, essentially a smaller and less skilled (but that isn't to say unskilled) Hearns. Rated top 5 pound for pound when they fought.

Carlos Hernández - very good boxer, easily the Salvadoran GOAT.

Jesús Chávez - another very good boxer. Swept arguably the first three rounds against Mayweather and pushed him relentlessly throughout with intelligent pressure despite getting lit up.

JLC - classic swarmer, and damn fine one.

Victoriano Sosa - upright, very good boxer. Olympian.

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- kind of a slugger, yeah. Useless on the outside.

DeMarcus Corley - definitely no slugger. A world-class slick, awkward southpaw.

Henry Bruseles - not a slugger. Basically a poor man's Cotto, almost carbon-copy stylistically (was a friend and training partner of Miguel, and was coached by his uncle Evangelista) - in fact Mayweather vs. Bruseles was supposed to be a warm-up for a planned Cotto showdown, which never materialized.

Arturo Gatti - not a slugger, despite a penchant for getting drawn into brawls and being made to look foolishly ill-equipped against Mayweather because of the skill disparity. Gatti could box some. Just huge stylistic disadvantage here.

Sharmba Mitchell - southpaw cutie pie specializing in pot shots, a point scorer. Pretty much antithesis of slugger.

Zab Judah - slick, fast, southpaw boxer-puncher. Talented & skilled in a combined package more closely rivaling Mayweather's own than any other foe, but too mentally unhinged and undisciplined to compete for more than a few rounds.

Carlos Manuel Baldomir - slow as molasses, yes, and not terribly versatile, and often did have to use his chin as primary line of defense since he lacked the reflexive quickness to block, parry, or evade - and made to order for Mayweather for those reasons - but still not a slugger, just often misclassified as one. He didn't slug his way to his biggest victories over Gatti & Judah, he actually outfoxed them making clever use of his comparatively limited abilities as an athlete.

Oscar De La Hoya - among the greatest pound for pound boxers of the half-generation or so before Mayweather came along. Up there in the Mexican-American GOAT conversation.

Ricky Hatton - high-level swarmer, like Castillo.

Juan Manuel Marquez - bulked up and forced to lead (which isn't his game) and therefore looked foolish and ungainly in forcing the offense, but certainly not classifiable in any fight including this one as "slugger". Consummate technician, as much as Mayweather himself.

Shane Mosley - sometimes referred to as 'merely a fast slugger', but that is honestly a criticism better reserved for crude Mosley clones like Andre Berto (or to an extent Karim Mayfield and Shawn Porter). Mosley did incorporate some real boxing skill into Papa Jack's patented style of "power-boxing" - although he did often just rest his laurels on his once-blazing speed.

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- yeah, basically just a physically imposing southpaw slugger.

Miguel Cotto - at times in his career a bit left hook dependent, but never a slugger. Extremely skilled boxer.

Robert Guerrero - southpaw in-and-out stick-and-move artist, though he does get dragged into trenches by actual sluggers with mixed success (Kamegai, Salido - though he boxed Katsidis' ears off and repelled his attempts to make it a dogfight)

Saúl Álvarez - boxer-puncher; made the critical tactical mistake of emphasizing the "boxer" aspect resulting in his underwhelming performance in the loss to Mayweather.

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- a slugger, yes, but an unorthodox and highly effective one.



So:

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. 5, of 28. That's 18% of his opponents. If you want to stretch the definition to include (for various reasons) Manfredy, Gatti, Baldomir & Mosley (though you'd be wrong) that is still only 9 of 28, or 32%. Less than a third of the people Mayweather has beaten in championship bouts.

 

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