In terms of talent/skills/ability who is better than Floyd Mayweather Jr.?

Gary Lockett for starters.

 

Sometimes I think the definition of skill is s little warped!!! Why do we consider being elusive (Pep) to be more of a skill than cutting off the ring (Chavez). I really don't like these sorts of questions for that reason...

 

Different fighters use different skill sets to get the job done...I agree with GDG its quite hard to narrow down the exact definition of "skill" in boxing.

Needless to say there have been quite a few fighters who put it all together better then Floyd..But he is one of the best of his era and should be considered up there.

 

Prime versions:

SR Leonard
Duran
Hearns
Hagler
Hopkins
Whitaker
R. Lopez
De La Hoya
ect....

 

Too many to mention really. Floyd is up there with Hopkins as the most skilled fighter of this era after Roy Jones, but in the top 3 of his own era would not make him particularly highly ranked if you go through all the eras in boxing history. For me, he pales in comparison to the likes of Whitaker, Ray Leonard, Duran and Pep. The best fighters excel in their toughest fights, and IMO Floyd pretty much flopped against his two best opponents - Castillo and a past-prime Oscar. He showed skills in fights such as the embarrassment of Arturo Gatti, but that's not proving skills in the way that Jose Napoles did or Ruben Olivares did or countless others did. JMHO.

 

:good

Mayweather looks world class against Gatti, whereas a Ray Leonard looks world class against a Benitez

 

He has an all time great staredown. :yep






As for Mayweather, i think he's up there with almost anyone in terms of skill, talent, ability, etc.

 

In terms of certain abilities, such as defense, movement, reactions general boxing ability of hitting without getting hit, he's arguably THE BEST. Offense isn't his biggest strength and obviously many are above him, although in terms of speed and accuracy he's up with the best, and his ability to break a man down is underrated. Chin/Strength/Power are all underrated talents of his too.

In terms of overall raw ability not many rate ahead of him, maybe Roy Jones, Robinson, Whitaker, Ray Leonard are above him and maybe Duran/Charles but there's a quastion mark there imo. I also think he's a better overall boxer than Pep and Hearns. He has far more physical ability than an Archie Moore or Barnie Ross. Certainly the likes of Hagler, Chavez, Benny Leonard, Armstrong, Arguello just aren't as skilled or talented, although Benny is actually quite similar in style but not quite as good. Langford rates high from earlier in the century but its clear skills progressed far more since his day

As for his legacy it should be allot better, he's become a ego maniac of a narcisist cut off from the real world since the DLH fight. There should be fights with Cotto/Mosley/Tyszu/Hamed/MAB that all never happened, which were partly due to politics/timing/avoidance on both sides.

Hopefully he gets some more super fights on the tail end of his prime that are a bit more inspiring than Marquez (which is a pretty good opponent for a comeback fight in fairness)

 

I agree he is up there too, some do not tho.

The guys that I feel are ahead of Mayweather that employ a `boxing` type style that Ive seen a fair bit of are Pep, Ali, SRL, Whitaker, Robinson.... of course you also have your Duran`s & Chavez`s but they had their own kinda style & it makes it a little more complicated when comparing those guys with the outright boxers aka mainly distance boxers.
I give FMJ an overall edge on RJJ, again, Im in the minority but thats the way it goes.
Hearns is a better offensive boxer than FMJ also but FMJ is better defensively, not a huge difference between them IMO, both top tier operators.

:good

 

You are arguably TALKING ****.

Ever heard of a guy called Pernell Whitaker? Or Willie Pep maybe?

 

And Whitaker looked world class against Nelson and Chavez. And Duran looked world class against Ray Leonard, etc etc etc......

That's the crux of it right there.

 

Learn to read I rate Whitaker over him, Pep I rate below him in terms of overall talent

 

I think there is a lot to be said for fighter with the consistency of Mayweather Jr. Undoubtedly a great fighter, but he hasn't put his skills on display against world class opposition often enough for my liking. This is due to his own negligence.

Do I think his overall skill set is actually worthy of comparison with the names we've been mentioning? Probably, but I wouldn't feel right doing it purely because the difference in competition is drastically different.

The names are there at 147lb. It is up to him now.

That said, he was superb against Corrales. :good

 

Mayweather looked world class against plenty of people, if you agreeing with someone claiming the best opponent FMJ has looked class against is Gatti you're only demonstrating your own ignorance