How Would Floyd Mayweather Jr. "The Best Ever" Fare Against Some of The Best Ever?

:good

 

It's funny, most of the guys being mentioned are guys that were naturally larger than Floyd, and started in weight classes about 3 to 4 divisions higher than him.

How about If you want to truly compare him with other ATG's that you try to match him up with guys that fought between 130-140 lbs since Floyd was in his true, absolute prime between 2001(corrales) to 2005 (Mitchell and Gatti.)

Now between 130-140 against guys of his ACTUAL size, I don't know if I give anyone better than a 50% chance of beating him outside of Duran, Benny Leonard and Henry Armstrong at 135. Those are the 3 guys who I'm sure would be favored over him, but I don't know if they definitively beat him anyway.

I think at 130 he'd have his way with many of the ATG's at that division including Alexis arguello and azumah Nelson. I think the version of Floyd who was fighting at 140 would be too much for Aaron Pryor or Julio Chavez sr, at that weight he was still an offensive and defensive virtuoso and I just believe he'd be too much for either guy at 140.

Most people that are very critical of Floyd like to match him up hypothetically with the likes of Ray leonard and hearns which boggles my mind since those men BEGAN their careers at 147, a division that took Floyd 4 divisions and about 10 years to finally venture into during his career. Those men fought at light heavyweight at the latter ends of their respective careers, it's not pragmatic whatsoever to try and match him hypothetically with those naturally larger men.

There's a Reason why there's weight divisions in boxing.

 

That's not true at all.

You ever watch Floyd mayweather fight between 130-140? He wasn't a singular punching, potshotting boxer that he is today. He was a master in all 3 facets of boxing- offense, defense and ring generalship.

There's a a reason he changed his overall style in his career, he's been fighting in his 4th and 5th weight classes during his 30's. He's obviously not going to fight in the same manner he did in the lower weights

And FWIW, I belive Floyd beats Benitez at ANY weight class. Granted, it would be a competitive fight that would probably end In a close decision, but I have Floyd beating him anywhere from 140-154.

Once again people are trying to compare him to the likes of Forrest, Vargas, hearns, Leonard, etc. these are all MUCH naturally larger men than him. They all began their careers several weight divisions higher than Floyd.

If that's the case, why don't we hypothesize how Salvador Sanchez or willie pep would do against hearns ore Leonard since people here love to matchup guys in completely different weight classes.

I tend to think if you're going to matchup ATG's against each other in hypothetical H2h match ups, you should probably match them when they were in their respective primes. Not when ATG's are in their early 20's fighting in their first weight class against a version of floydwho is in his 30's fighting in his 4th and 5th weight classes. It's ridiculous.

I get it, the guys a jerkoff and by far the most polarizing figure in the sport today. But it would be nice if people actually saw him fight when he was in his true prime, he was a MUCH different fighter between130-140.

 

i don't know, it's quite revealing that there are people who seriously believe floyd beats robinson.

 

Nobody thinks junior would beat Robinson. Ray Robinson is the by far the naturally larger man, he was a guy who fought all the way up to LHW. Aside from being the greatest WW In the history of the sport, he was also the MW kingpin for several years and is considered the best at that weight as well.

So yes, I think it's pretty clear that a guy who started at 130 lbs professionally and was a FW coming out of the Olympics probably wouldn't fare too well against a prime version of the greatest boxer in the history of the sport who just happened to be a much naturally larger man than him. How shocking.

 

i suggest you read the thread.

 

What people don't seem to understand is that Floyd isn't a natural welterweight in the same way the likes of Leonard were. He was able to move up to welterweight because there aren't currently any ATG welters around.

 

He'd beat them all.

Athletes get better with every generation. Deal with it.

 

Benitez is an excellent fighter who isn't very explosive. I know he was shot, but would Floyd get destroyed by Davey Moore in two rounds even at his most shot? I doubt it. Floyd has much sharper offense and can make people miss just as well as Benitez. I feel like Benitez and Sal Sanchez are two of the most over-rated fighters ever.

 

I have always said, take out the fights with Junior Jones and have Barrera die after his fight with Hamed and he goes down as the greatest feather of all time based on accomplishments and resume. Some fighters are seen through a gloss of hindsight. Benitez seems to me to be one of them. His greatest accomplishment besides the young title win is that Duran decision, done by limiting engagement. Benitez was kind of a boring fighter who didn't take risks in the ring. And Duran's weakness was a fighter who limited engagement, boxer punchers who moved interminably, save for the freakish Hearns connundrum.

 

And take a look at the opposition Benitez knocked out before he fought Cervantes. Fighters with losing records or no fight experience. Post Cervantes his resume is excellent in a very strong welter/jr middle era but De La Hoya's competition at welter and above is pretty stacked and he gets a whole lot of blowback for losing challenging fights.

 

I swear the kind of stuff you read on this forum.

 

Too much for Aaron Pryor?

Pryor is arguably the second worst style fight for Floyd behind Hearns.

 

Super Hans:think