I rewatched some Mayweather/Marquez highlights...

And man, it's so easy to forget (with all the justified Pac mania) just how good Floyd is. Even though he was beating on the smaller, slower guy, his skills are brilliant. This video makes it particularly easy to see just how good he is defensively, because it slows down certain sequences that are normally too quick for the eye to follow and fully appreciate:

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Another thing that this reminded me of, however, is that if you want to beat Mayweather you have to do the brunt of your work when he's against the ropes. Getting him against the ropes is the key. In the few times Marquez manages to hit him with good, flush punches, it's when Floyd has backed up to the ropes. You feint with the lead hand, and wait for Mayweather to try slide away to the side, and then fire off your rear hand to catch him as he moves. Marquez does it more than once. He tricks Floyd into thinking that the left is coming, and when Mayweather goes for the 'check hook' while sliding away, the right hands catch him flush. He tried to smile it off, but normally when fighters smile it's to cover up their surprise/dsmay at being tagged. Also remember that Castillo got some great work done when he had Mayweather backed up against the ropes, and Hoya had a lot of his shots blocked/rolled, but still managed to land some nice ones, and again, one of his few flush shots was landed when Floyd tried to slide away against the ropes.

In the center of the ring, Mayweather is just way, way too fast. He can dart backwards like a fencer, and in that shoulder-roll stance it makes things bloody difficult, as Marquez found out. Against the ropes you cannot dart backwards, though, and so that's the place to push him into. Even better would be the corner...although you have to be careful not to lunge in with predictable shots, or you'll end up like Hatton. Pac needs to devote tremendous time and practice to:

- Feinting much, much more. I seem to recall Duran making use of brilliant feinting against Leonard, but I could be wrong there. All I know is that predictability is a death wish against Floyd -- you need to surprise him as much as possible. Pac needs to put so much pressure on him with his speed and faking punches that he backs Mayweather up against the ropes, and THEN the real work can be done.

- Practice that 'fake jab followed by left-straight' combo again and again.

- Constant bobbing and weaving.

As for Floyd, he's at the stylistic advantage, as far as I'm concerned. He doesn't even really need to do anything special, he just needs to go out there and box as he usually does. The only things he needs to probably pay more attention to than usual are:

- Much, much more jabbing.

- More circling, as in the Corrales fight.

- Up the workrate to avoid losing rounds on low output.

Pac really has his work cut out for him...if anyone can do it, Roach and him can, though.

 

Size definitely had a lot to do with the one-sided nature, I agree. Marquez looked slower, and just less fluid in many ways. It was a stylistic nightmare, too -- how can a counter-puncher overcome another counter-puncher who is far faster with both hands and feet, more powerful, with a longer reach?

To be fair to Floyd, though, even when up close, without his reach advantage, he was blocking and rolling nearly everything. Really nice to watch.