Pressure is not the way...

If you dont have the reach on Mayweather, then its pressure, skill, defense.

If you're his size or smaller, I think pressure is the key, but its got to be educated pressure.....lots of pressure and anticipation of when Mayweather is going to explode with a hard counter.

Just as Mayweather is good at anticipating, the pressure fighter has got to be in that ballpark also.....the greats, even the fighters that come foward applying pressure, are really good at anticipating incoming.

The fighter that came the closest to beating Mayweather was JL Castillo, just a shadow of the fighter that JC Chavez was.

JC Chavez is the kryptonite, but even then, it would be one hell of a fight.:bbb

 

All of Floyd's tough fights have been tough because the guy was pressuring him. Castillo, Hatton, Judah and De La Hoya all had the success they had because the were pressuring him, not because they were out-boxing him.

Pacquiao is quicker than every single one of those guys I just mentioned, AND he is in his prime.

 

Everytime I see a mult-choice poll, my policy is to select ALL options. :tong

Anyways, there aren't many fighters that will ever have an arm-length's advantage over FMJ. You have to really, really scout him in order to get a feel for how he will counter and what he will counter with, and then dictate his counters with feints. This requires knowing your own movements and figuring out what you do and what Floyd's counter is likely to be.

HOWEVER, don't forget that Floyd will also go on the offensive in order to throw you off. If you're not careful, he'll get in phone booth range before you realize it.

 

I've always felt that there are two ways to beat Floyd.

The first one is the blueprint De La Hoya tried to use: keep Floyd at the end of a longer, stiff jab, give him nothing to counter, occasionally be busy so that the judges can see it and be impressed, and go for a points victory. In that bout, however, De La Hoya tired, stopped using his jab, Floyd adjusted and pressed his speed advantage, and took the fight in the late rounds.

The second way is with pressure. However, there's no way you can beat Floyd with pressure alone. The fighter applying the pressure has to have at least some, preferably either all or as many as possible of the following attributes:

Speed. He has to be fast because that cuts into Floyd's chances to counter. Slow pressure fighters, as we've seen, get picked apart by Floyd.

Accuracy. Floyd isn't going to present him much of a target. He has to be able to hit it anyway

Workrate. At most, Floyd fights a couple of punches at a time. Someone who can put out a manic work rate can impress the judges on workrate alone against Floyd's one or two at a time counters. Even better, he may be able to make Floyd go into a defensive shell where he will abandon offense entirely for periods of time, which is a great way to win rounds.

Stamina. He still needs to be fast and busy in the 12th round.

Good chin. Floyd's not a big puncher, but he will get his shots in. Plus, whoever is pressuring him is probably either going to walk into those shots or get hit with them in the middle of throwing a punch or when he's somehow not ready for it. That adds onto a punch considerably. He needs to be able to take it, laugh, and keep coming back like nothing happened.

Strength. He needs to be able to push Floyd around and bully him into order to make the gameplan work. This is both to impress the judges and to possibly hurt Floyd when he connects.

Fearlessness. One of the biggest weapons Floyd has is making his opponents tentative. When you can't hit the guy you're fighting but he keeps hitting you every time you try, it makes most people reluctant to open up. This is the worst thing you can do against Mayweather. Whoever is applying the pressure needs to be willing to make the fight at all times and never let up.

Obviously, looking over those qualities, it's a pretty rare fighter who has them all, or even many of them. As a result, it's very difficult to beat Floyd with pressure, but it's not impossible. Some distinctly lesser fighters than Mosley or Pacquiao have had at least periods of success against Floyd with pressure.

 

only one way you can beat floyd. you wait for him to get old. lets face it, he's arrodant and not everyone loves his style, but it is damn near perfect.

yes jones beat toney, but toney had an injury to his shoulder.

i say that cos toney is the closest fighter to floyd recently, and jones is as unpredictable as pac is

 

dont throw big shots, throw hundreds of little combined shots like calzaghe used to... lets see him block them ****ers!!! Obviousely you'll have to cut off the ring in order to do this, but i seriously dont think you can knock him out so the best bet is to outpoint and outpunch him, sort of like the way Calzaghe beat roy jones.

 

Of course pressure will work against Floyd you numbnut mother****ing General Forum idiots. Mayweather is a boxer and effective pressure can always break those kinds of fighters don if applied correctly. Floyd has just rarely faced a fighter who can apply it well enough to give him problems because he himself is an all-time great boxer.

Anwyay, Castillo applied pressure effectively and many seem to think he did it well enough to deserve the decision... as well as De La Hoya who managed to back Floyd up against the ropes and keep him defensive for much of the early portions of their fight. Too bad Oscar ran out of gas because he had a prety good gameplan going there.

 

Pressure is the way to go!

Mayweather seems not to know what to do if you put it in his face.

He looked perplexed when Hatton was doing it, except that Cortez was overzealous in breaking it up. He did not know what to do when Castillo was really pushing him.

Pressure nullifies counterpunching, or even if Mayweatyher can throw a punch and connect, the short arc of the throw would mean that it would not be a very powerful punch.

Now, if you have the reach of Paul Williams or Hoya, then stff jab, is the bread and butter.

Between the two strategies, I am leaning towards Clinching and close quarter fighting as the startegy that Molsey would employ.

 

Chavez is the only pressure fighter I can think of that started at the same weight as Floyd (130 lbs) that Id pick to beat him using that style... but he wasnt JUST a pressure fighter, he had excellent punch accuracy & technique, way better than any other pressure fighter of the last 20 yrs, like Floyd, he is a very rare talent.

Mayweather is gonna be one hard man to topple, personal likes/dislikes aside.... he IS the most talented boxer currently active today.

 

If I saw that happen just once I could die and go to boxing heaven. Tactical boxing fan's wet dream. Pacquiao's timing does seem almost that good at this point. Floyd's lead left hook is a marvel of human engineering. Manny misses and he's got problems. The amount of skill and science involved... Hallelujah.

 

I always thought Paul Williams can beat Mayweather either at 147 or 154.

He is very long, quick with his punches, has a sturdy chin to continue his offensive attack up to 12 rounds, and his workrate will be very obvious as Mayweather's output will pale in comparison.

And no, he is not unbeatable. He is not just taking enough challenges given his talent.

 

Floyd's counter combos would leave Pac confused. Pac never really penetrated Clottey's defense... so how is he going to destroy Floyd very unlikely.