Meldrick Taylor v Floyd Mayweather, Jr

Wlad might have him beat

 

Wlad is head and shoulders the best at heavyweight, but he lost to Sanders and Floyd beat Manny who was pfp 1 other than Floyd and maybe a top 20 ATG.

 

Two things can be true I guess. Floyd wasn't really ever a southpaw killer though. He figured out how to deal with them a lot better later in his career but they usually did give him problems in ways his orthodox opponents never seemed to.

 

Fair

 

This seems like a results vs actual performance thing. On paper he beat every southpaw he fought, in practice they gave him a lot harder fights then most of his orthodox opponents

 

A lot of people are using the Judah fight as a measuring stick which makes sense due to the speed of both Judah and Taylor, but I see it a bit differently.
I think Zab's explosiveness and counterpunching made him a but tricky for Mayweather for those few rounds. Mayweather was cautious because Zab had the ability to catch, and hurt someone, in between their punches. His workrate was not all that high though. Taylor is different altogether, I believe. I think he'd use his excessive work rate and pressure to try and over tax Mayweather's defensive abilities. I think Mayweather would try to use the same tactics he did against Jesus Chavez and let Taylor punch himself out while Floyd parries, shoulder rolls, and counters. Taylor is a step above Chavez though so I'd expect him to take a lot of rounds depending on how cleanly Mayweather can land on him to stay the judges. I'd expect Floyd to realize the fight is close, and step up the offense, which he is more than capable of. I guess the outcome of the fight depends on when Mayweather switches to plan b and how many rounds Taylor already has in the bank. I agree, and doubt Mayweather stops Taylor.

 

I think Meldrick would have been difficult but Mayweather like him or not can adjust his style much more then Taylor could and I think this would be the difference.