He showed a beautiful display of skillful offense and defense while at the weight. Hard to imagine anyone in boxing history getting the best of him there.
Sandy Saddler was a Jr. Lightweight champ, and fought numerous non-title type fights around that weight. Saddler would probably love to turn a Saddler v Mayweather fight into a typical "anything goes" type Saddler fight, especially with Floyd being only 21-24 years old at the time. In 1950, when Saddler was fighting up at Jr. Lightweight Division weights, he was 116-7-2.
Head to head he has a strong case. I think his defense and movement would be poisonous for Arguello. Not saying Alexis couldn't beat Mayweather, but in a 3 fight series, I think Mayweather takes at least 2 of those, especially in 12 round fights. This is especially true if Floyd uses his legs to stic and move, instead of leaning back to slip shots along the ropes. Saddler, Azumah Nelson, and Flash Elorde were all tall timber but again, in 3 fight series' Floyd might have the edge. Julio Cesar Chavez is the toughest match up head to head. As far as resumes go though, Arguello is the clear number 1 in my opinion. He fought at 130 during what was hands down the best era ever at the weight and he crushed the opposition. The guys he didn't dominate from bell to bell he still found a way to finish (Bobby Chacon) and the guys he didn't finish he did dominate (Gerald Hayes). This isn't to say Floyd's resume at 130 isn't great. It would have been better though if he'd gotten matches with Robert Garcia, Joel Casamayor, and Accelino Freitas. But it wasn't meant to be I guess.
I think, as has been mentioned above, that Arguello's CV at the weight is still the gold standard. However, Mayweather's resume at 130 is still pretty damn impressive and bears comparison with just about anyone's and, crucially, I do think he's the best all-round fighting specimen we've seen at Super-Featherweight. I'd make him favourite over all the other Super-Feather title holders in history, Arguello included. Depends on what you value most; CV, all-round performances and virtuosity at the weight or a mixture of the two. Or which of them you give more focus. Either way, Arguello and Mayweather are a clear numbers one and two in my opinion.
Yes... The only ones I could see giving him a real fight at that weight is Chavez and Camacho.... And that's probably it
