Rank these guys in terms of ability... HOPKINS, DLH, LOPEZ, MARQUEZ ?

Marquez would need to win it against a still good Mayweather. That's all. To get a heap of praise, Mayweather needs to be no more faded than he was a couple years ago. To get slightly less praise, Mayweather needs to be close to that form. And so on. Understand?

And I should add even if JMM gets close to Mayweather in the form of the Hatton fight he will get some praise from me, even if he doesn't win it.

Explain to me some of his nuances. Beyond saying that sometimes he allows himself to get hit wiht lesser shots to counter with better stuff I don't think there is much nuance to it. He is not a good defensive fighter, even by aggressive counter puncher standards, if you want to put himinto that category.

Casamayor did not have the speed to get off like Floyd at or near his best would. Nor was he ever the pot shotting and clutching type to any great extent, he liked to mix it up.

I thought he looked awkward trying to bring the fight to Norwood and MAB. I certainly didn't walk away from the MAB fight thinking anything other than put MAB in his prime and he beats Marquez. I of course had JMM by 2 points, you probably had it by 6-8...maybe more...

As for the John fight, John did **** all, but Marquez did little better even though he was trying to land coming forward. It's hard to land upon a runner, but I think many guys would have put a beat down on John in such a scenario where Marquez couldn't because of the limitations of his come forward fighting ability.

I can agree to that. Mind you, I think what works really well on Mayweather is having good speed and having a good jab. I don't think marquez is near exceptional in either regard.

Marquez is more skilful, I'd be stupid to say otherwise. But the Hatton fight was a different type of fight. Marquez cannot press a fight like Hatton so he's not going to be all over him like that. With Mayweather being cautious and backpedalling it's really going to test Marquez's ability to fight whilst coming forward I feel. As you know, its pretty hard to land on Floyd in combination also the way he moves out of range all the time. DLH, who still had some flurrying ability, could not get much accomplished in that regard. His best weapon was the jab which worked well whilst he threw it. Marquez has not shown me a stellar jab and will be relying moreso on getting into exchanges to unleash combos. Hard to do with Mayweather's style.

He's never consistently taken power shots to the head. I do think he has a decent chin to withstand some shots, he has been blasted with single shots here and there, but if Marquez can lond to his head in combination he ill be the first to do so and who knows what will happen.

I do think, if the first Castillo fight is any indication, that Mayweather has some grit and can dig down deep when he has to. I'll be interested to see if Marquez can force him to dig deep becuase rare has been the occasion where he has needed to.

I think since he has left featherweight he is progressively starting to plod more and more and just trying to absorb punches and counter rather than making a great effort to get out of the way of shots with leg movement. A more conservative approach to save energy and probably to stay in range more, but he is getting caught stationary more and more as time goes on.

Depends on your definition of hurt really, but he has wobbled a bit in quite a few fights, but usually recovers. I would say he has been hurt quite a few times, but like Larry Holmes, hurting him and stopping him are different matters.