Floyd Mayweather v Tony Canzoneri @ 130-135

Excellent match up and I feel the responses you will get will be equally split between those who see any 30s fighters as a wild swinging chumps who trained on broads and whiskey and those who view Money as a pampered primadonna who wouldn't have the guts to last in the good old days.

As always there is a split between P4P and H2H and how much you feel these two ways of judging a fighter blend together. Tony's legacy is NUTS wins over ATGS Kid Choclate, Kid Berg, Lou Ambers, Jimmy McLarnin, Baby Arizmendi plus over forgotten but excellent fights like Benny Bass, Billy Petrolle, Bud Taylor, Bushy Graham, André Routis, Johnny Dundee, Frankie Klick. Also fought but lost to Barney Ross, Sammy Mandell, Johnny Jadick.

Now Floyd's record is nothing to be sniffed at, and who knows how he would do in a era of 100+ fight records, as much as we don't know how Tony does in today's ring. Also while the guys above mean little to a 20 year old fan now, Mayweather's opposition will also fade in the memory for fans born in the future and old timers will have to patronizingly say "listen you young fool Emanuel Augustus would have been a handful for anyone despite his 38-34 record!".

Canzoneri seemed to very much have the style of the time for lighter men. Low hand, lots of head movement, very very quick hands. His jab was thrown from odd angles, often tripled up, not to rack up points but to throw the opponent off balance and open them up for his furious hooks. Solid puncher with both hands and always fighting in perpetual motion. Seemingly endless stamina and surprisingly canny ability to cut off the ring and swarm. I would argue he had a more conventional style for his time than Mayweather has in the modern era, he was just exceptionally good at it.

I don't feel Mayweather fought anyone with that style, the ability to throw a ton of punches and keep up that work rate while cleverly using the ring to position himself to throw blows whatever the angle. Guys like Maidana and Castillo were more pressure fighters with limited defense, while Tony was much more mobile and intelligent. Floyd also didn't like to be taken out of his rhythm and much of his genius was his ability to make his opponents fight his fight. I am not convinced he could do that with Canzoneri, who was as quick with his punching as with his head movement but was not bothered if he had to ship a few punches' to get inside. Tony was only KO'd once in 144 fights so had a superb chin.

On the other side of the argument we have to take into account that Floyd was an intelligent fighter who would have a game plan and would be the most accurate and unflappable fighter Canzoneri would have ever faced. He would slip and block many of Tony's punches and could well frustrate him into making mistakes. I feel Mayweather is an underrated puncher, not a KO artist but with enough pop you couldn't just walk through him.

I can't really decide if Tony simply has too big an engine and wins through sheer volume of punches and unlike other Floyd fights he doesn't tire after a strong start or if Mayweather simply shuts him down and frustrates him. Probably a crazy comparison but I could see it being a bit like Calzaghe vs Hopkins, one guy desperate to make a fight while the other pulls out all the tricks in the box to smother their work. We could also have a Leonard vs Duran 2 situation (but without the No Mas!).

I am now fully prepared to be flamed by the "older is better" crowd

 

Canzoneri ud

 

I’m going to get booed out of this forum but there’s no way physically prime Money May loses to a 5’4 fighter.

 

Good matchup, I'd favour Canzoneri by close decision

 

it IS the only factor, PBF in Canzoneri's time would have been competing as a WW cum MW and Tony C in Floyd time would have been fighting either side of Bantam - NEVER the two would meet!

Mayweather's STATURE IS the Only Factor, the same is true for ALL Modern Fighters today Fighting DOWN in Divisions from where they 'would' have been fighting at in the past!

 

Great post!

 

Thanks very much!

 

Good points and great quote thanks!

 

Many seem to think Mayweather was at his absolute best at JLW. If he made 130 with day-before weigh-in, I don't believe he would have had too much trouble making (same-day) 135 back in Canzoneri's time. So if you time-machined modern JLW Floyd back in time, he could easily have met Canzoneri at LW.

 

I don't know if you're right but certainly an excellent post ..