False. Floyd's effectiveness has steadily declined as he's moved up in weight. His prime, by far, was 130.
Fair points, as always. I just get the feeling that Arguello was more 'up' for the better fighters, clear when he had a genuine fight with Aaron Pryor, at a higher weight and kept fighting until he was stopped. He would be 'up' for PBF and his combinations would be too much for Floyd IMO. At 135 it's a toss up. I'd still favour Arguello, but that's down to my obvious bias'.
How do you know this? If a fighter says he was hurt, and his trainers say the same thing, how is it that you know otherwise? He definitely didn't look his best. How do you reckon? He doesn't fight as offensively, but his defense is better, his straight right hands are just pain amazing, and his ring IQ in general seem to be better to me.
Cotto isn't a 50/50 fight. Cotto is a very flawed fighter and would be throughly outclassed and possibly stopped by PBF. PBF has Cotto beat in every department except power.:deal
Exactly PBF is a much smarter fighter at the higher weights his ring IQ and ability to adjust to all styles is without peer.
His defense is no better, he's just a far more defensive fighter because he's nowhere near as effective in other departments. He's always had a very good straight right, the difference between the current Floyd and old school Floyd is that his arsenal was far more varied and dangerous. His ring IQ was never lacking, he shows the same limitations in that regard now as he did then. Sure, he's shown the ability to adapt at higher weights, but that's because he never needed to adapt at lower weights, period. He wouldn't be half as successful against the greats at WW as he would be against the greats at 130-135.
IT has nothing to do with weights, its just a case of time. He's gotten smarter over the past 10 years.
We are talking about fighters that can beat Floyd, not guys who made their name facing ex-140 lb fighters who can't beat Floyd lol.
That may be the case in terms of experience and abilty to adapt to bigger opponents, that doesn't change the fact that he was FAR more effective at lower weights.
First off any fighter who gains weight is going to get better in one area, and look less effective in another. That is the price you pay when going up in weight. Floyd has become more defensive because Floyd was dealing with guys who had power, and he was dealing with the weight. Comparing Floyd to greats who were naturally heavier than him will influence people to think Floyd can't beat them and they may be right. It is probably better to compare Floyd to guys around his best weight.