When would you say both guys prime ended? In my opinion, Mayweather's prime ended with the Hatton fight. The hand and foot speed, the coordination, the reflexes, they were all top notch in that fight. He was going on 31 in that fight and took almost two years off afterwards. He's looked good in several fights since then, but never at that level. For Pacquiao, I think his prime ended with the Margarito fight. He was a whirlwind in that fight and looked very explosive. He's had some good performances since then, but his punch output has gone down and he doesn't look as fast or explosive.
Prime is a relative term. Floyd has managed his career well (Im not saying ducking) since moving on past 135 lbs. He does a lot of pre-fight contract **** (locations of fight, gloves, ring size, timing of bouts, catch weights etc...) and maneuvering that gives him lots of advantages. A lot of time that **** helps a lot. I respect him for that. But at 135 lb you could stick him in with anyone in history, in any ring and with any gloves etc... and he'd whoop some ass. So I'd say he was basically prime when he was down there. Pac I'm less certain of.
You're exaggerating/making up stuff here. Maidana was the only opponent where there was any issues with gloves. Alvarez was the only catch weight fight. Timing of bouts is not all on him. He doesn't chose the ring size either. All Vegas fights must take place in a standard 20 x 20 ring. You're entitled to your opinion, but I think you're off base about his prime ending when he left 135 and still only 26/27 years old.
Floyd has relied a lot more on technical savvy rather than speed since the Hatton fight and subsequent retirement. He came back, blew out Marquez, but has never really looked as solid as he did against Hatton once he figured Hatton out. Pacquiao is definitely harder to place. He looked worse after Marquez III, but it's possible that he fell out before that but he wasn't fighting anybody that could challenge him the way Marquez could. I would mark the end of Pacquiao's prime at Marquez 3 because it was the only time he started to look off. Maybe the mosely fight, definitely not the Margarito fight. Harder to place for him.
Just to clarify, I thought the Margo fight was the last fight where Pacquiao was in his prime. You're right though, it's not so clear cut with him.
No I'm simplifying because I don't feel like going back over the last 20 years of boxing I've been watching. Besides you missed my point. Prime is a very relative thing. Let me put this another way. If you were Floyd's promoter would you throw Floyd in with any WW in history no questions asked. Just sign the contract? Nope. I would you put him in with pretty much any 135 lb and win lose or draw expect a close and competitive fight? Sure why not. You see prime is a relative concept. Do you mean athletic peak? Mental peak? Or just when he'd whoop the most ass? Anyways I personally have to go with the later because as much as I enjoy my abstract reasoning abilities, like all time p4p ranking its too metaphorical an exercise to really amount to much more then mental master#$tion. Floyd was the most dominant at 135lbs. Therefore he was prime.
Trust me, I got your point. However, I believe you're mixing up best weight class with prime. And if I were Mayweather's promoter, I'd be willing to put him in there with anyone at 140 or 147 in the history of the sport as long as the money was right. Not to say he can beat everyone at those weight classes, but he would be able to hold his own. He was actually the most dominant at 130 lbs. He didn't fight many fights at 135 and N'Dou was his really only dominant performance at that weight class. Meanwhile, he fought 3 times at 140 and dominated all 3 opponents.
Sure that's all true. I didn't check boxrec or anything before making my post. Don't have the time for that right now and to be frank when it comes to floyd I don't really care right now. I've spent years ****yzing the guy and its pretty clear he's the best of our generation. Definitely one of the best ever. Poking holes in his game or slicing and dicing it is all good but at times a little pointless. At 140 lb I can see being comfortable with putting him in with some of the ATGs of the weight class simply because there isn`t a long history to that division....but 147 lbs? Nah you'd have to say he'd get his ass kicked by almost everyone in the top ten of that division's history. Anyways you can spruce up my argument about the lower weights to essentially include 130-135lbs with some performances at 140lbs against essentially no bodies plus a guy whose in the hall of fame for being a *****y human punching bag. And for the record I am simplifying my argument about his best weight division=prime....but seriously if you look at when Floyd was exhibiting the highest level of ALL elements of the art of boxing and against the highest level of competition (not just the most well known) it was when he was in his early to mid 20s and fighting at the lower weights. Honestly take the scoring criteria for boxing. Watch Floyd's best performances at the lower weights and his best performances at the higher weights. Give him an overall score in each fight for each category. Add up your score cards and I'll be willing to bet you'll see what I mean.
