Combined 117-0....How do you stop these 3?

I would say you needa great trickster and ring general. Somebody who is absolutely outstanding at working angles with superb balance and footwork. Good stamina and chin would also be a must.

ATG's I would favour - Bernard Hopkins @168, Archie Moore @175

ATG'S he would beat - Dick Tiger @168, Kid Norfolk @175

You overate this guy putting him in with these boys. He has GOOD but not great fundamentals, a GOOD but not a great chin, GREAT but not outstanding power. Any serious world class fighter could beat him, Jones with speed, Monzon with punching, Hagler with hustle etc. etc.

ATG'S I would favour - Most of them, with Monzon as the pure poison and Duran as a weird but good shout.

ATG'S he would beat - none of them.

He's a a head to head monster in my view, but I do think he is beatable at WW. However, I do not think that Cotto will be the man to do it. I think that the best way to beat Mayweather would be the Calzaghe model. That is, outbox the opponent but also employ consistent pressure.

ATG'S he would beat (concentrating on WW) - Holman Williams, Cocoa Kid

ATG'S I would favour - Roberto Duran would make him wish he had never laced them up, but Hearns is the real poison.

Time is the only thing that is going to do for Joe Calzaghe, looking at his weight class(es). But that is a serious problem for him because he rellies so heavily upon speed.

Pavlik is good but limited. Joe Calzaghe would stop him IMO.

Mayweather is not going to get beaten by Oscar, Ricky or Cotto and I expect him to retire after Cotto.

 

:good

That pressure thing is bascially bull****. He needs to be outboxed in the pocket by a guy who can hit harder than him.

 

He is intelligent - I think you are right about that. I think, though, that Cotto is "too technical" to be able to beat Mayweather. I think you have to be able to improvise if you don't have him completely outmatched physically (like Hearns). Cotto doesnt' have lazer guided accuracy or the neccesary footspeed. I think he loses big to a potshotting, elusvie Mayweather.

 

That's it - I don't think anyone active can do so. How far away from doing so do you think De La Hoya was though?

 

This is a good observation. I thought that Hatton had the same problem against Mayweather, if he won a round (if), the price was huge. Mayweather demands so much out of his man in his resting rounds, such is his athleticism. It's an important factor. By the way though, according to Oscar himself, it was not the case that he actually gassed - more that he was worried about gassing and cut the work-rate. I don't agree, by the way, that he wasn't outboxing Floyd at any stage. I think early, when he was working the jab, re-countering Floyd's counters (an area I think Floyd might be weaker on at 147 & 154 than people think - having his counters countered) he was doing just that. But this is where size and power becomes very important, and Floyd's power, too, is often a little underated. There's no guarantee that someone would have the heart to walk through Mayweather to land in round-losing efforts, though I think it should be a crucial part of any Cotto effort.

Well, he has the punch, but Floyd is so fast/cautious. I think I would only be gambling on Tszyu if could get slightly better than 3-1. That is, I would expect Floyd to go unbeaten in a trilogy.

 

OK, a few things. First, Cotto leaves himself open high on the head and to the belly. I will not make direct comparisons, because Cotto is fundamentally better, but Corales, because of his height and ducked chin (when he's not throwing etc.) Corales' chin was often a difficult target for Floyd to reach, not least because he was making very tight angles of Coralles' rushes. Mayweather showed some good and targeted body punching in these circumstances. Cotto is not vulnerable to the body in my view, but the point is that scoring opportunites are present. Mayweather should be careful if he is boxing the top of Cotto's head, of course, because his hands are vulnerable but it's a target, Cotto's head movement is not exceptional. How Cotto responds to these forrays is crucial in my view, because Floyd can make a move and hook of any rushes should Cotto get impatient with getting potshoted in this way.

Cotto, as you say, is quick, but when a quick fighter gets in with an ultra-quick one, I always feel the quick man needs to be very very careful about rellying upon getting in with his speed. Cotto should be looking to get in behind shots when Floyd reaches inflection points (trying to decide whether he should go to the ropes, go left, go right, punch).

"Cotto is basically a much better version of Castillo." Better, certainly, how much better remains to be seen, though I don't think you neccesarily overate Cotto. Regardless, he better be much better, because as far as I can see, Mayweather showed himself to be vastly superior over the course of 24 rounds. I agree with you about Cotto's jab though - that could be the key punch. Still, Mayweather seems to have a way of making the opposition uncomfortable about throwing this punch. I will be watching the Oscar rematch with great interest to see if Oscar can take his jab to the next level. If he can, we will learn a good deal more (And I reserve ther right to change my pick!).

I sympathise with this point of view, but I also insist that you never KNOW until you KNOW. I also agree it's the test that Mayweather MUST pass. The win would possibly send Floyd into my top 30, all time. One thing I would like to know, imagine that Cotto brings exactly the plan you describe and is being hooked of his jab, ships some hurtful shots and loses the first two rounds on all cards.

What's his new plan?