Who has shown Floyd’s all-around abilities against Canelo currently that would suggest he would beat Floyd? The answer is we will never know because Canelo has obviously improved significantly since that fight, but his level of opponents were all inferior to Floyd in terms of all-around skills. Plant, Saunders, Jacob, GGG, are nowhere near as skillful and smart as Floyd was in the ring.
I agree. Canelo still looks shaky against skilled boxers. When he cant just walk a guy down it gives him fits. Some skills you have to pick up through experience and even with his world class experience now, i still dont think he WILL beat PBF. Prolly hope for a big punch or use his weight. floyd is gonna be able to run rings and jab the **** out of this version canelo anyway.
The thing is... This fight actually secured it for me that Floyd would beat this version of Canelo. Everything Plant actually did right, strategy wise, worked. The things Mayweather would be doing, worked. Plant failed because he wasn't smart enough to stick to it thoroughly, not smart enough to extrapolate it beyond B level implementation, and not talented enough physically (reaction time, endurance, true speed, lack of power, ect) to capitalize on what he was doing right. Mayweather would again bring everything that gave Canelo issues tonight, and levels more, with none of Plants weaknesses and shortcomings.
I hate when this gets asked because it doesn’t make sense. Floyd’s max weight was 154 and he wasn’t in his prime which would be 135-147. While Canelo max weight is 175 and his prime is in the 160-175 divisions. When they fought was the only time that fight could’ve happen and the result was Floyd 12-0.. Let’s just acknowledge that two greats was able to fight since that rarely happens these days..
I try not to bring in the weight for arguments sake. But yeah no way theyll actually meet in their primes.
Then it’s a hard argument because Floyd style when they fought at JMW was not his style when he was in his prime. And the same can be said for Canelo since he’s fighting in his prime at 168 completely different than he did at JMW.
Canelo had 44 fights under his belt, that's not green! Mayweather was past prime going on 37. Plus Canelo came in 20 pounds heavier than 154. He wasn't weight drained.
Except of course that Canelo is much bigger and better than he was at 154 and that at 168 Mayweather would look like a midget that got lost from a dwarfism convention going against The Hulk. 154 was Floyd's absolute limit and even at that weight he had to drain fighters down. No way in hell does he face the Avengers version of Canelo and survive.
A rematch with Mayweather and Canelo at his peak would have had to happen at 160 or a CW. DONT think a rematch would have ever been realistic, but in a hypothethic fight at their best, weight excluded, maybe Canelo.
That all sounds like histrionics to me though man. This much better Canelo isn't really better at anything that disrupts Mayweather. The things he's better at is more effective against traditional fighters. Being patient, better stamina, picking his shots better, walking people down, bobbing and weaving, feinting. These things make a huge difference. But they are all neutralized by Mayweathers positioning and mastery of distance. Canelo 2.0 has upgraded software, but on largely the same hardware. That hardware is not going to beat Mayweather. Dimensionally. Stylistically. Or talent wise. As far as size... it's not as big a factor here as advertised. The dimensions are still the same. Mayweather still has the height... still has the reach... and the advantage in weight will be neutralized by the styles and speed differences. Their first fight wasn't close for a reason. Thinking that Canelo is just that much better now that he goes from being dominated, to outright winning, doesn't make sense to me and I don't see any evidence for it.
Canelo's mistake in the first fight was his plan. Thinking he could out box Floyd was a dumb plan by the Reynosos. He could have had more success using a similar style to Castillo, Cotto and Maidana, who all gave Floyd fits. Even a faded DLH gave Floyd a close fight so it's not that hard to imagine that a prime Canelo, who is better than those guys, at the time they fought Floyd to defeat Floyd.
For arguments sake, I'll give a way Canelo can beat Floyd. Even in the same weight Canelo will pack more umph, both in power and thickness. So I think this modern Canelo will work that body exclusively to slowly chop down Floyd. Canelo will also have to rough floyd up by pushing him to corners, simply cuz he doesnt have the footwork to cut off floyd's ring. Luring Floyd to a pocket brawl, even for just 20-30 seconds will be too costly for Floyd. I would also want canelo to set traps, but i dont think floyd will fall for that. Frankly, Canelo will have to act like a much much much bigger guy. Floyd doesnt have the power to hurt canelo's chin, but canelo has the power to knock anybody out. So he'll have to swing for a homerun everytime he throws, whether its to the body or not. Canelo's head movement will also be critical, he'll have to put on a clinic like hes never done before to negate the boxing of floyd. Id wanna see Canelo like he did in GGG 2, but a lot more rougher too, use his shoulders and shove floyd about.
don't forget that floyd lost mobility at 154, which is why he only fought blown up welters there (cotto, oscar).
