Classic Forum's Reaction to Mayweather's Retirement and ATG Status

Refreshing.

 

All time top 30, and getting inducted into HOF on first vote.

 

I may be in the minority in thinking DLH won, but I bet I am in the overwhelming majority that think Floyd struggled mightily with DLH.

The shoulder injury is a legitimate excuse, and in the rematch he clearly beat Castillo, but he still struggled and basically he had to stink the joint out to win. I didn't consider it a convincing display and all I could think from that fight was luckily he was facing a Jose Luis Castillo and not a Beau Jack, Julio Cesar Chavez, Carlos Ortiz or Ike Williams, to say nothing of a Roberto Duran or Henry Armstrong, because it quite simply would not have got the job done.

Baldomir ring a bell? A performance to rival the best of Cory Spinks' stink outs.

 

That's about how I see it too. It's a shame he's retired-- there's only one other fight out there now that he needs to win. Cotto's name on his ledger would have bolstered his legacy to no end similar to what Tarver's did to Hopkin's had Bernard packed up right after. If that had happened no one here would be arguing about his place in history.

 

Similar to SweetScientist I think DLH drew with PBF.

But whether or not you thought Mayweather won, I dont see how you can say clearly beat?

Mayweathers approach was far too minimalist for that, he was only throwing a handful of punches per round.

I think it was a borderline fight with any interpretation of a victor being an aesthetic one.

 

Best 130lber ever, top 20 P4P ATG

 

Watch the fight again and this time don't score the punches Oscar missed

 

I will.

Meanwhile you should watch it again and discount the Mayweather hype.

 

Could he be ranked as low as #1? Can't get any lower than that..

 

I don't want to get personal but diminishing Mayweather's performance based on it not being exciting is hardly something a fan of Pernell Whitaker should be reciting. Almost his whole career could be dismissed if we judged by those standards. Mayweather took the most effective and least damaging strategy to win, hard to criticise over that.

In order to judge how he would do against those great fighters, take into account the Castillo fight, plus all his other fights against pressure fighters (albeit not on the level of those guys), for example Hatton, Jesus Chavez, Ndou and Baldomir. These guys were all beaten dominantly.

And not to sound like an apologist but lets not forget that against De La Hoya he was up in weight, in a smaller ring, with DLH's choice of gloves. He was the favourite, but there were alot of factors against him. Yet he still won

 

That right there is the difference between Mayweather and Whitaker. Whitaker took chances and stood within range of fighters nearly all fight. He didn't throw 30 punches a round and dart out of distance at every conceivable opportunity. He threw 80-100 punches per round because he always fought in range. That's why an old past his best Whitaker was still able to land more on DLH than what a prime Floyd could on an old DLH.

And style is one thing, but let me make this absolutely clear, 30 or 40 punches a round is NOT going to get the job done against ATG's, I don't care how good Mayweather is defensively.

Chavez and Hatton all took rounds off him, and they aren't near the level of some of the great pressure fighters of the past who Floyd is being ranked with by many.

That's cool. We shouldn't forget that. We also shouldn't forget that DLH started at 130, was about 5 years past his prime and didn't and never has fought in a style where he could use his size and strength advantages. He's always been a boxer. That DLH was able to put that much pressure on Floyd and have him on the ropes so often says more about Floyd than it does about anything else.

 

I hope he stays retired and I don't think much of his ATG status.