I had a thread on how to fight stick and move as a shorter fighter against a taller fighter I got Some Nice advice on that thread Floyd vs coralles was a great example of that Can someone breakdown how floyd won that fight against a taller oponnent from the outside it was a masterful display and my favorite mayweather fight
From what i recall, Mayweather's speed and accuracy were the difference. That and the fact that Mayweather took away Corrales jab as he was evading and countering up until the point the knockdowns came. Floyd was very offensive at the lower weights, i dont think Corrales could time him at all coming in due to his footwork and speed. There are alot of variables involved, not just the fact that a shorter fighter beat a taller fighter but you have to look at the skill level itself. To sum it up, Mayweather beat him because Mayweather was untouchable for the majority of his career.
Just prime floyd being floyd with cat like reflex's are one of the best check hooks in boxing history, This was the last time mayweather was ever an underdog in any fight. Corrales also had 10lbs on him on fight night when they weighed in on fight night for HBO's tale of the tape.
Haven't watched this fight in about 12 or 15 years, but honestly the thing i remember most about that fight was the KO that completely spun Corrales around like a dancing ballerina. It was a masterful performance and proof that timing and punch accuracy are greater than power. Ive never considered Mayweather to have a ton of speed. When i think of speed i think of Shane Mosely or Zab Judah... Mayweather's greatness comes from his ability to time his opponents coming in and land very effective shots while maintaining a low punch output. This attribute is far more effective than speed or power, and it's not something that diminishes as quickly as speed or reflexes , which is why Floyd was able to dominate guys at the age of 40, when other guys like Mosely and Judah had long since lost their ability to fight. But going back to the Corrales fight, it was also a great win because Corralles went on to have a pretty good career after this fight. I remember at the time the elitist boxing ''experts' were making all kinds of excuses for Corralles, saying that his mind wasn't right because he was facing prison time (for beating a woman)... I dont buy none of it! Those same experts were picking Coralles by KO before the fight. And furthermore i find that top athletes often perform exceptionaly well in their perspective sports during trying times or times of loss in their personal lifes That was about as well as Chico could have fought against Floyd under any circumstances, and he had been steam rolling guys up until that point
Like most mayweather fights, the opponent can go into a fight having been dominating all their past opponents then even after fighting mayweather still go on to dominate but for that one fight against floyd people will make excuses for floyds ability to nullify their best attributes. I recall george foreman pulling up the other commentator during the corrales fight trying to pull the same ****, Foreman was having NONE of it saying NO this is a MASTERCLASS by mayweather.
I have always said PBF's clinic against Chico Corrales was the greatest exhibition of the sweet science of this era, hit and not get hit at it's finest. His speed accuracy reflexes movement defense countering all top notch and would stand the test of time in any era. He completely took apart a dangerous KO artist with ease.
An extremely dangerous opponent that I believe at the time was ranked higher than him in their respective division and was also top 5 p4p. And Floyd took him completely apart.
The body jab was the key weapon here, and set up everything else alongised feints. Brutally brilliant.