Floyd's retirement reminds me of Barry Sanders retiring in his prime ...

I think everyone knows the situation here no smoke screens etc, floyd is being smart and not being a warrior

 

Since Floyd won his rematch with JL Castillo at 135 (the first fight he was given a real gift!)

He didn't fight the best guy at 140 when he was at that division (Kostya Tszyu).

He didn't fight the best guy at 147 (Miguel Cotto) or even the second best guy (Antonio Margarito).

He squeaked out a decision over an old DLH then quit in order to avoid a rematch with him.

He beat a Ricky Hatton who was a junior welter fighting at welter.

Now he wants to retire???? Please...one, I think this is BS anyway because Floyd's instinct is to run when the going gets tough. Two, I think he is going to comeback when he feels like the coast is clear ie DLH is way too old to be a threat, Margarito is gone, and Cotto has been beat.

 

does it matter that at the same points in their careers, Cotto wasnt on Floyd's level. The fact is that Floyd was a different type of fighter all together. He came out already with great tools. He really didnt need much work to become better. Floyd has been the same fighter for the past 8 years or so. He never really needed to improve, so therefore he was nearly always a great fighter.

However, with Cotto, he was not as naturally gifted as floyd, so he has actually evolved as a fighter. Floyd didnt need to evolve. Cotto has gotten better each and every fight. So fitz saying he will never be on floyd's level is ridiculous. Fitz also saying that Cotto didnt do the same things as floyd at the same points in their careers also doesnt matter.

it doesnt matter if cotto was slightly protected b/c with both floyd and cotto, the end result is the same, GREATNESS. Yes, floyd's overall career at this stage is better b/c he accompliished things faster. But if he stops now and cotto extends his career on the same path he is going now, then he will catch floyd in terms of accomplishments, and could potentially surpass him.

fitz is arguing that Cotto will never be on floyd's level as far as skill. that might be true b/c Floyd was just different, much like jones. these are 2 fighters that changed the game, but that still doesnt mean Cotto will never on his level. Currently Cotto is just a step below that level.

cotto is a different type of fighter than floyd. I guess its just what fans like. Personally, I'd rather watch Duran/Chavez style fighters over PBF. leonard was great and duran/chavez were great. i'd say they were all equally great. Just b/c leonard was more gifted doesnt take away from their greatness.

 

Everyones always going to say he "ducks", even if he's 60 years old and asked to fight in a cane match vs sugar ray leonard to see who's really better. It makes no sense. Look at his history on boxrec http://www.boxrec.com/list_bouts.php?human_id=352&cat=boxer alone and you'll see that he's a great fighter and has done nothing but take the best fights that he possibly could. You have to remember that Winky Wright and Shane Mosley both turned down a fight vs mayweather, two fights that mayweathers camp wanted and a lot of us would have wanted to see those two as well. I didn't know cotto turned him down in 05' fitzgerald, but that's just another example. The cotto/mayweather fight would have been just as exciting and hyped up as hatton/mayweather, but the outcome would've still been the same... a mayweather win (I would still want to see it though).

 

Same can be said for De La Hoya and Gatti, in fact even more so.

 

When did Floyd call out Cotto in 2005???? I don't remember that. I think if he did it would have been the first words you would have heard out of Floyd's mouth when Cotto called him a ***** this year!

Instead, Floyd hid behind the excuse that a Cotto fight wouldn't sell any tickets (which is a bold faced lie!).