Paul Spadafora

So show another boxer who got the better of Mayweather in sparring if it isn't a big deal.
Mayweather goes to the gym Paul is training at calls him out and is ignored at first until he kept doing it.
They spar and Paul handles him and all of the sudden its "just sparring" Mayweather Is not in shape,etc.

 

Hey, stop bumping 15yo threads that's MY thing!

 

Spadafora was obviously a talented guy who knew how to box at a solid level, but you only need to look at some of his fights to see how he would've lost pretty easily to the top names of his day. Doroftei was robbed, so was Oisin ***an, and he looked pretty pedestrian against the likes of Angel Manfredy, while Corrales and Mayweather absolutely blew him away. His drink and drug issues obviously hindered him, but if he had fought the likes of Mosley or Kostya, he would've been completely outclassed and outgunned IMO. David Price apparently knocked Anthony Joshua out in sparring; sparring is sparring. It's under the bright lights where it matters.

 

Did you see the video? All I know is Floyd never callapsed on the ground exhausted in a match. FM was known for his stamina. When have you ever seen FM exhausted in a fight? Now, it could be several things, to your point, PS was that good and wore FM out, FM was early in his camp and PS was already trained up for an upcoming fight or PS was the last of many sparring partners FM faced on that day of training. I feel if PS was able to do that to an in shape ready to go FM, on any stage, PS would have been at the top of the sport and remained there for a while. Provided his alcohol didn't end up side lining him.

 

To his credit, he totally outclassed Pito Cardona, who had recently beaten Ivan Robinson, and almost matched Stevie's performance against Manfredy, who was coming off one of the best wins of his career against Julio Diaz.

 

PS unfortunately was destined to be the huge "what if".
And are you going to tell me that those body shots that PS was putting on Mayweather didn't have an affect at all ?

 

He had the ability to match the top guys.
Watch him and the angles he was using you really don't see that too much especially in a southpaw.
Notice none of the big names ever really called him out if he was such an easy target then they would have.

 

Body shots are body shots, they will always effect the opponent, but again, was PS Mayweather's 1st sparring partner or 5th? Not too many opponents of FM were able to sustain a serious boy attack in real fights. Sparring is completely diffrent than a real match. Not taking anything away from PS, he was a good fighter, but let's not act like he was on FM's level just because he did well against him in sparring.

 

You nuthug FMJ and he’s also a convicted woman beater só it’s understandable that someone would miss the “sarcasm”. Perhaps you have a type?

 

If you are constantly going to the gym that a boxer is working out in and calling that boxer out MULTIPLE times to spar you and that boxer finally does and gets the better of you ............. Suddenly you are out of shape ?

 

OK, so by your logic, PS was better than Mayweather, but never amounted to much. A talent on par or better than a generational, arguable a top 20 ATG in Mayweather? That's what you are trying to say?
Without proper context to that session, it's impossible to determine one way or the other who was better. I'll say FM was the suprlerior fighter because what he did in the ring when it mattered. You go on a crown PS the best of a generation. Based on a sparring session. LOL

 

There's no suddenly about it. If Floyd was not in training camp, and Spad was, obviously one of the two will be in better shape. It's not rocket science.

But if you know details about Floyd's training regimen at the time of the sparring, feel free to provide details. Otherwise, just making a guess and acting as if true, is pretty pointless.

 

In 2025 Spadafora was asked about it and said it made him sick that people make a bi

Spadafora said himself that Floyd had a bad day and he had a good day. He also went on to say that on many occasions he got the brakes beat off of him in sparring against lesser opponents. That says it all folks.

 

Yeah, I'm not saying he wasn't talented; he was. I just think his ability gets overblown because of that sparring video. He struggled with some pretty limited guys on more than one occasion, and I know a lot of that was down to drugs/alcohol. Maybe if he were sober, it'd be a different story, but if he had stepped up, he'd have been wiped out. I think Mayweather would've flattened him, to be honest. There are plenty of sparring stories between fighters who then fight each other for real, and it doesn't play out as the sparring did.