Bye, Felicia: Retrospective Glance @ "Pretty Boy" Floyd Mayweather Jr.

It's been said, but no current welterweight or junior welterweight can beat Floyd Mayweather. It'd have to be an elite middleweight who can just overwhelm him in power and strength. That's the only way he could be beat. That just goes to show how amazing he is.

Great thread, btw. I agree on all points:good

 

You're correct. They absolutely did. He has tried to put the pressure on his opponents in the later portions of fights but always ends up hurting his hand(s) so will have to resort back to his usual style. It happened in his most recent fight as well as other recent years like Canelo, Guerrero and Maidana.

 

I don't know if his style changed because of hand issues. I'm guessing that he became more conservative in his fighting style as he aged and made more and more money. Why mix it up with another guy and risk physical damage when you can smother your opponent, win the fight and enjoy the fruits of your labors. Marvin Hagler once said "it's hard to do 5am roadwork when you're sleeping in silk pajamas". Floyd has been sleeping in silk pajamas for a long, long, time.

I give props to Floyd for even getting into the ring that past 5 years. Dude has more many than god and didn't have to fight...well, he had to fight to maintain his lifestyle...he certainly saw what boxing did to his father and uncle. Those were his models.

People forget that he did fight with bad intentions earlier in his career. Ask Ricky Hatton about it. Or Angle Manfredy. If they were alive, ask Gatti and Corrales.He stopped getting KO's as he 1) aged and 2) put more money in the bank.

 

In all fairness IB, despite a superbly-written and well ****yzed piece, I believe it's far too soon to expect emotions regarding Floyd to have dissipated already. As technically gifted as he was, there's no getting away from the fact that the guy was an a*hole and certainly plssed off too many fans with his pantomime villainy and (arguably) over-cautious opponent selection (not to mention his safety first ring style in the latter years).

Give it time and, as you say, history will likely remember him far more kindly I'm sure. But coming just months after the embarrassment that was the Berto clash (a choice of opponent that did nothing to bolster his reputation and served as a middle finger to the fans....be honest, even his most vehement followers struggle to justify such a shlt 'farewell bout'), any Mayweather post is still bound to attract the venom that you mentioned above.

 

Power was never 8.5. His power was never really above average, so about a 5 to 6 at most, maybe even below average. Most fighters probably do hit harder than Floyd, bums or not, so yeah, he was probably below average.

When you dominate and land super accurate punches at will then you are going to stop most people even with below average power (but not close to feather fisted). When you go up weight classes, you won't be able to do it as much, like Floyd.

Is his ring IQ really that high or does he just have some of the best reflexes ever? What are examples of his ring IQ? I just think he has top 5 best reflexes ever, and that makes him and guys like Whittaker look like they have higher ring IQ. It's no doubt high, but it can get overrated and confused with the reflexes.

 

Young Mayweather is probably the most gifted boxer I can remember. Even though, strangely, if he fought his older self he'd probably have lost in my opinion. That's due to his growth into the fighter with the the highest Ring IQ probably in the history of the sport.

Even in so-called weaknesses he's often stated to have no power - but that's mostly from guys who have little idea of the physics behind power. His timing was so impeccable that when he hit you (and he did, more often than not), it always hurt. Not one fighter in his full career walked through his punches. He wasn't a swarmer who overwhelmed his opponents like Pacquaio, so people often label Pac as having significantly more punch-power when that's not necessarily the case.

Force = Mass x Acceleration

His right-hand lead was, for me, boxing at its purest - stance, footwork, shoulder level, head movement and punch delivery all working as one.

It will be a very long time before we see someone of his ilk in boxing again, in my opinion. We were blessed to have two guys as good as Mayweather and Pacquaio at the same time.

 

To beat him, you need to average out pretty well across the board in terms of ability and I think you probably need some physical advantages too. Height and reach are probably the biggest advantage you could have, but you'd have to be able to utilise them.

Just throwing punches isn't enough, but you won't beat him unless you can throw over 1000 punches. They have to matter too though, you can't have a land percentage of like 15% - you're looking for the success rate of Cotto, with the work-rate of Maidana I. A basically impossible combination.

I'd put Hearns up as the most likely, but I don't think his output was high enough. Crazy though, to have to put forward a guy who ended up fighting at Cruiserweight as the guy to beat him in the first place.

 

If it was simply reflexes, then it wouldn't have improved with age. Perfect example you give too.

 

Mayweather would've easily beaten Porter and here is why:

- He could use the idiot proof blue print laid out by The Special One™

- His soul is still in The Special One's™ IKEA trophy cabinet in Sheffield.

- Unlike against The Special One™ USADA wouldn't have refused to do testing given the fee Mayweather pays them so Porter would've been fully drug tested and prior to the Devon Alexander fight, when 'Kell Brook Jr' started working with Victor Conte, Porter wasn't half as good as he is now.

- Conversely with USADA's involvement and Mayweather's idea of a level playing field we know Mayweather would have been juiced to the gills.

 

Of course I do. But when people see a guy that dodges everything, it's immediately "high ring IQ". It's mostly reflexes. But again, yes these two guys are smart in the ring.

 

I would rate Malignaggi a 1, Khan around 3, and Floyd around a 5. If a 5 guy lands accurately and constantly right on the chin/temple, he's going to stop guys. 8.5 is REALLY high, that's implying he's a very good puncher. At most, he'd be a 6.5.

You don't think most fighters hit harder than Mayweather? Including many bums? I do and it's really not that crazy a thought.