Remember how easily Floyd Mayweather beat Canelo?

He was a good world class 154 fighter back then, (fighting on a "152" weigh-in, for Floyd's benefit).
Now he's a VERY VERY GOOD 168 fighter.
He's improved in skill and style, and increased his strength and power A LOT.

There's little doubt that Floyd Mayweather Jr. was a very GREAT fighter.

 

Floyd was in his prime at 36. He never took any real punishment in the ring and took excellent care of his body outside of the ring (no drugs, drinking,smoking, bad food). Canelo was inexperienced and weight drained.

 

This is a very good point, I watched the fight again this morning, and I thought Mayweather won by being cute, and movement ( such is my memory ) but NO !! he stood in the pocket, and simply jabbed and hooked Canelo at will, hard thudding head shots time and time again, nothing short of a master class, look I don't " Like " Mayweather as don't a lot of fight buffs ( for reasons I quite fathom ) but if you haven't seen this fight for a while, revisit please. keep well.

 

If Pac had beat Alvarez at 154 the way Mayweather did, you would be on here swearing that that was the best version of Alvarez. Your hate for Mayweather is only exceeded by your love of Pac.

 

152*.

And it would be a lot more impressive because Floyd's a lot bigger than Pac. But no. Clenelo today is 2X the fighter from 2013. You know this.

And seeing how Clenelo was bruised and puffed up and exhausted against Floyd from making 152, I'd say that Pac would have battered him.

 

This was before Canelo had a mean streak. This match was pretty much a sparring session compared to some of Canelo's later wars. Mayweather was always very respectful to Canelo, so Canelo had no reason to try and hurt Mayweather. Canelo was simply happy to have the opportunity to share with ring with a legend. That's how he approached it. Canelo fought Mayweather by showing him a ton of respect and allowing Mayweather to lead. There was no sense of urgency whatsoever from Canelo to put it on Mayweather. Anotherwords, Canelo took it easy on Floyd. To Canelo, just sharing the ring with Mayweather was an honor. He was content to just box Mayweather and let Mayweather get the decison.

Mayweather played a very important role in Canelo's evolution. Canelo had no need to try to win the decision here, because just going the distance, and getting a draw and 3-4 rounds on the other cards made him realize how good he was. Without even trying too hard to win, he came that close to beating Floyd. The loss to Floyd was the best thing to happen to him, because had he beat Floyd, he wouldn't have went back to the drawing board and re-dedicated himself in the gym so he could find that extra gear and consistent training to become a way better fighter.

The loss to Floyd has become like a constant motivating factor that continues to push Canelo to be the best he can be. But most people still refuse to see this match for what it really was. Like this topic claiming that Floyd beat Canelo "easily". LOL That's hilarious and it only plays into Canelo's greatness. Canelo fought Mayweather in a very low gear, due partly to the fight being on Mayweather's terms, namely the catchweight, and also just in the way that Canelo decided to fight Floyd that night. Instead of going after Floyd balls to the wall, and falling into traps, he decided to experiment with Floyd and let Floyd lead and be the aggessor so he could see how Floyd would decide to fight him.

And we saw a very different Mayweather than we ever seen before. We saw a very jittery and super cautious Mayweather early on who bit on a record amount of feints. But then we saw Mayweather eventually settle in to a groove by the middle rounds, and eventaully dig down deep and pull out what was a very close fight on the cards. Mayweather did it in a way that was admirable but anyone who knows anything about boxing knows that this was an extremely dialed in version of Mayweather. It took Mayweather raising his game to an A++++ level to win this fight, vs a Canelo who was not anywhere near his best.

If you know anything about boxing, we know that it took every possible advantage and every ounce of energy and technique from Mayweather to barely beat a Canelo who was pretty much just happy to be there and not even trying that hard to win.

For Canelo, losing to Mayweather in the way in which he did, by being out jabbed and gaining Mayweather's respect, was even more of an honor to him than if he beat him. It wasn't important for Canelo to beat Mayweather. It was much more important to make that fight happen, even against the advice of his promoter. In the end it was better that he lost, the match with Mayweather played a big role in his development. I don't think people to this still really get this. He wouldn't have gone on to become the fighter he is if he didn't fight Mayweather the way he did, and lose precisely in the way he did.

 

Floyd didn't fear Clenelo. He feared Pac, though.

 

Mayweather didn’t fear either one and never had to leave first gear in either fight. At least Alvarez made Mayweather show his craft. The Pac fight was a joke. A bad joke on everyone that paid to see that farce.

 

Floyd didn’t even get a UD. It was a MD as one one judge scored it 114-114.

Can we all take a minute and appreciate the absolute unmitigated ego of that judge (CJ Ross) in flaunting the fact that she was bribed? Straight up didn’t care to even hide it.

That’s big wang energy right there.

 

Floyd was also past it. It's a case of styles. It's clear from the Saunders fight Canelo still struggles with slippery movers although he eventually figued Saunders out. But to say Saunders has 50% the ring iq of Mayweather is generous. Hypothetically speaking, If Canelo could go back to the past, cut weight, and fight that version of Mayweather, he'd still loose in my honest opinion although the fight would be a lot closer. But because the fight would be competitive, Floyd would probably get robbed anyway

 

It was a different kind of fear I think. He didn't fear him in the way he feared Pacquiao, but he did know how good Canelo was and made sure to train hard. But unlike Pac, Mayweather always respected Canelo, and knew back then Canelo was just a young kid who would do anything to fight him. But he saw the talent, he wanted to have Canelo's name on his resume, and that also propelled Canelo to Super stardom. Because now Canelo and Mayweather are forever linked. Canelo went into that fight just being happy to be there, and just looking forward to sharing a ring with Mayweather and he chose to experiment with Floyd rather than do whatever it took to win.

 

I think there were reports that Canelo hydrated to 165 or 166 on fight night against Mayweather but they're unconfirmed

 

They always exaggerate Canelo's fight night weights. How much you rehydrate to really doesn't matter all that much anyway, unless you're constantly leaning on your opponent in clinches. You could argue that it makes the punches more powerful, but on the flip side it could also slow down the speed of punches, making it harder to land big shots. It really depends on the fighter, I know many fighters intentionally try not to rehydrate a lot because it makes punches slower.

So this whiole idea that even if Canelo out weighed Floyd by 10-15 lbs on the night, even if that was true, it's not necesarily an advantage. That water weight could make you slower or it could make your shots have more power. It really depends on the fighter. Like Floyd himself never rehydrated much weight at all from weigh in to fight night, so he could retain his speed, which obviously gave him advantages on fight night.

 

Really, you seriously think that Canelo wasn't trying his damndest to win? And it was close?? Ha! I've read it all now, go watch the fight again. It was a one-sided drubbing, with Canelo hitting air all night and Floyd in the pocket hitting Canelo at will, who was getting steadily more frustrated and annoyed as the fight went on. I've read some deluded stuff on this board, but that's a new one!

 

Floyd feared Pac.

During the lead up to the fight, Floyd uncharacteristically halted all trash talk and smiles. No gum chewing, clowning around, or barking in the opponent's face. Also never talked about his health with regards to any other opponent.

In the match, Floyd walked Clenelo down and stood toe-to-toe, a tactic he dared not try against Pac. He got aggressive maybe 4 times and got stunned 2 of those times. Later on, he told his bodyguard that Pac was the hardest he'd ever been hit. Floyd also clinched the most he's ever clinched in a fight and at one point DOVE at Pac's waist when Pac just got close (not even punching). Floyd also landed the lowest number of punches on any opponent in his career. And keep in mind, Pac's much smaller and not difficult to find.

Then he was berated by his daddy in the corner after the 6th round. "You fighting like you scared, man!"

All facts. Not opinion.