Alexis Arguello v Floyd Mayweather Jr @ super-feather

Although Mayweather Jr was a 5 weight world champion, you only have to look at the fighters he beat, and ask yourself, how would Arguello had faired against Gatti, Baldomir, Castillo, Hernandez, and Del La Hoya?

 

Arguello rates quite a bit higher in my opinion in terms of ATG status, I just feel that head to head Floyd was phenomenal at 130 (if it being the only weight he held that status) and had the style to out-point Arguello.

But in terms of their overall careers, I rate Arguello at #23, while Floyd doesn't crack my top 35, which is as far as my ATG list gets.

 

Arguello would get outboxed easily by Mayweather. He's a little bit too straight-up and down for someone as quick and smart as Mayweather. Arguello could slip punches, but was more inclined to block then counter. Movement wasn't a particularly strong part of Arguello's arsenal. His ability to close the distance was good, but it was measured and precise rather than fast and unorthodox. Arguello was among the best punch pickers in the history of the sport. Technically sound. But that style is made for Mayweather, who was more elasticated from top to bottom.

I can see Arguello having problems with Mayweather's jab all night long.

Mayweather TKO10.

 

mayweather by decision

 

Really? A stoppage? I think you're vastly underestimating Arguello if that be the case. He matches up better with Floyd than Corrales does, and is far better than Corrales in pretty much every area, yet you feel he'll be taken care of the same way? I disagree heartily on this one Rob, even if I too choose Mayweather to win.

edit: Interestingly enough I agree with pretty much everything you said apart from the "TKO10".

 

I keep thinking about this fight. It's a great matchup. Mayweather blew out Diego Coralles, who although not in Arguello's league historically, presented some of the same challenges (tall, big puncher, pressing forward). It's interesting that Mayweather had problems with Castillo but none with Corrales. How much better was Arguello at 130 than Corrales?
I appreciate the arguments on Mayweather's behalf. But I think Mayweather, although brilliant at this weight, didn't quite have the experience to deal with Arguello over 15 rounds.

 

Arguello, while not as quick handed (especially on the inside) as Corrales, was much smarter and used his jab more effectively. He was just the superior fighter to Chico.

Arguello would give Mayweather some rough spots, but Mayweather would still emerge the clear UD winner.

 

Yeah stoppage. I'm not underestimating Arguello. I just feel that Mayweather is all wrong for him. I don't feel "he'll be taken care of the same way". Apart from a late stoppage the comparison ends there. Arguello would give Mayweather a few things that Corrales never showed him. The ability to get off, work the body, and land on Mayweather to give him something to think about. I certainly don't see Arguello getting dropped five times and dominated throughly. However, he'd get rattled with the jab too often for my liking. And Mayweather's ability to fire off 3-4 punch combinations down the stretch would see Arguello take too much and be stopped on his feet. Arguello never fought well backing up and defensively he wasn't exceptional.

 

If Mayweather were to attempt to fire off combinations in the center of the ring like he did against Corrales, he'd be open to the body shots and combinations of Arguello in return. I have been arguing this whole time with everyone else that he wouldn't do that, but would rather cruise to a Decision by using movement. If he did that, he'd open himself up a lot more against an accurate power puncher.

While he didn't fight great backing up, Floyd wouldn't be backing him up at all in my opinion, rather opting to fight on the move like he did against Corrales. Unlike the inept Corrales(by comparison), Arguello wouldn't follow him around, nor would he be caught off balance with combos the way Corrales was, because Arguello had such better balance and footwork. So I don't see a stoppage at all, especially if it's taking Pryor 14 rounds at 140 to overwhelm him. I just can't see a stoppage win for Floyd in any scenario, whatsoever.

 

Another massive problem for Arguello is that he never threw punches unless he was sure they were going to land. Thats certainly a great attribute to have as he was econonmical and resourceful with everything he threw. But Mayweather's ability to pull the trigger quicker and his fluid style would mean he'd catch Arguello inbetween the inactivity this would cause for Alexis; Arguello was a thinking fighter.

 

I agree with this all, I just highly disagree that he'd be able to hurt Arguello or overwhelm him to a point of stopping him.

 

I see Arguello having some success with the above, but IMO he'd be pushed onto the defensive for most of the time. As I said previously, Mayweather's jab would cause all sorts of problems for Arguello to mount anything too serious. Arguello could whack at 130lbs, but did he have enough power to trouble Mayweather and make him negative? I don't think so. Nothing authoritive to throw him off his gameplan. He aint doing it with single punches. As I said in my last post, Mayweather has the ability to stand stationary and trigger off 3-4-5's and get away again. One problem is that Mayweather gets caught at the end of an Arguello right hand as he's stepping back out. Possible he could drop him, but Mayweather's chin was solid at all weights. Pryor stood there for long periods and Arguello said to himself "shots are banging off my head too often, I better throw something back". Mayweather as you know would not fight Arguello like this, but he has the ability to do for short periods. Big problem for Arguello during the late rounds.

Mayweather would need to stay off the ropes, that I'm sure we can argree on. Long periods of time especially.

He'd certainly need to fight well backing up with when Mayweather launched attacks for long periods. Thats where we differ though. Mayweather can move through the gears as he's shown against many fighters. Do you think he's going keep Arguello behind the jab all night long and look for a boring points decision? Again, I certainly don't. And I see Arguello inability to land with anything over a sufficent period of time being a big problem for him.

 

We see this match-up on the same terms more or less. You see Mayweather taking Arguello on points, I see a late stoppage. The only difference I see is that Mayweather down the stretch would open up and hit Arguello with bunches of punches with would scatter his senses and for the ref to step in. Who did Arguello ever fight at 130lbs who had the ring generalship and speed or Mayweather? Escalera? Limon? Chacon? None of those.