As great as he is, Floyd loses to Paul Williams

This may come as a shock to you, but I'm entirely capable of enjoying "one of the biggest fights of the decade" and simultaneously contemplating other matchups.

I'm flattered you find my posts to be that important, but I fear you may be taking this message board a little too seriously.

 

First of all, Floyd isn't going to be walking Williams down. He can win, but it won't be because he stalks the retreating Punisher. Come on, now.

Mayweather's brilliance is that he beats everyone on the outside thanks to superior quickness and incredible timing and accuracy, while on the inside he smothers his opponents' offense and counters cleanly while not getting punishment himself.

In other words, damned on the out, and damned on the in.

What is unique about Williams is that, for the first time in his career, Floyd will square off against a guy who can outfight him in the center of the ring. Think about that for a second. Judah had his moments and Castillo pushed a less experienced version of Floyd, but no one has been able to sustain an attack in the middle of the ring.

Let's think back to the ODLH fight to a time when Floyd had difficulty. He legitimately lost several rounds in that fight, and why -- the jab. Hoya ran out of steam and himself was at a reach disadvantage, yet he was able to attack Floyd and maintain a tight defense to keep Mayweather from countering. On the inside, Oscar was sloppy and ended up looking pretty bad.

Williams doesn't have the defense to deal with Floyd's offense, but how much offense does Floyd have in terms of volume? That's the issue here. Williams can jab at such a long range that even his sloppy defense won't hurt him as much, and Mayweather will have so much leather coming at him -- which he doesn't like any more than anyone else -- that he'll be stymied.

Moreover, Williams throws that southpaw jab from his chin and with a backhanded motion -- there's a pretty good chance he can get to Floyd with that punch around and over Floyd's left shoulder.

Sure, Paul will square up and fall in and fall back out, but he'll be punching so much that Floyd will be forced into defense. And he hits harder than you give credit, occasionally sitting down and hurting guys with the straight left.

I'm not saying Floyd can't win or that the fight wouldn't be competitive, but I think Paul will outwork the economical Mayweather and negate much of Floyd's attributes.

The elbows and rolling inside and allowing guys to punch themselves out into his gloves on the ropes -- ain't happening. The potshotting while the opponent poses in the middle of the ring trying to get inside -- ain't happening.

Williams is throw, throw, throw, and a guy lacking power like Mayweather -- and one with such a significant size and reach disadvantage -- is looking at a very troubling challenge.

Like we all say, though, it's unlikely this fight ever happens.

 

I was torn whom to cheer for, to be honest. I've had negative feelings about both guys in the past. As the fight wore on, though, and given Floyd's class throughout the entire night, I'm happy for him. Maybe now he'll act better and not behave with such a chip on his shoulder. I hope so.

You seem to have a chip on your own shoulder. No idea why.