Unpopular Opinion, perhaps? But Shawn Porter beats a prime Mayweather

Yes, very forward foot heavy.

 

That is true, mechanically nothing you see people doing in the gym translates into utilitarian strength in a boxing ring. Benching does somewhat approximate leveraging yourself against the opponent in a clinch, though, so it could benefit a guy with a mauling style to be able to crowbar someone onto the ropes and smother them.

 

Porter isn't an explosive fighter, though. A true puncher needs that refined fast-twitch strength, but Porter is more of a super-sized Ricky Hatton (a bit less rooted in fundamentals of the craft; a bit more athletic overall) - quick & heavy-handed and with a freight train's self-propulsion. He comes at you and flaps you down relentlessly with heavy arm punches, death by a thousand cuts.

He is honestly no more of a 1-punch kayo artist than Mayweather himself. In fact, if you gave him a free whack at, say, Ortiz, he probably wouldn't spark him cold with any given two-piece in his repertoire. That said, over twelve rounds (or even ten, with room to spare) in actual "live fight" conditions, when you factor in shoves/elbows/rabbit-punches and partially blocked legal blows, all contributing to a sum of damage by attrition, I do think Porter inevitably gets Ortiz by TKO. He can take Ortiz's more explosive power shots, but Ortiz can't weather the long-term storm that is Porter.

Porter requires mauling/wrestling strength to ragdoll victims, sap their strength, and break them down with volume - not explosive punchers' strength. He punches maybe 5% as sharply as someone like a Randall Bailey (and yet h2h Porter would stop Bailey 10x of 10, because styles make fights and his pressure would be something Bailey had no defense against)

 

True but it's pretty obvious Mosley was a strong guy, physically bigger than Porter or Mayweather too. But my point stands, strength has to still be applied and Mayweather knew how to control a fighter like Porter on the inside for most of the fight.

 

Talk about unpopular opinions since he cultivated this image of being such a darling of fans and media, but Mosley in his day was every bit as much a weight bully as, say, Adrien Broner. He was a natural 154lber if not in truth a middleweight (he was kinda big even at super welter) stuffed into a lightweight sausage-skin for a time. No wonder he was knocking people cold left and right.

 

See there, @CST80 - I'm capable of a balanced analytical breakdown of Porter with equal weight given to his strengths & weaknesses (and even pick him confidently under 100% of circumstances to steamroll a well regarded guy I like quite a bit) - so I'm not entirely deluded by my disdain for his style.

 

True he was a monster of a light weight, they say he was 150lbs come the night of the fight. He jumped upped 2 weights divisions easily because welter was even then below his natural walk around weight. I wouldn't say he was a natural middleweight but yeah probably a natural light middle.

 

Tweener, maybe - a "man without a country", in limbo. Big for 154 but a tad small for 160.

 

The number of times that i have seen Porter smother his own work... Floyd would school him and it would be bad.

 

Educated pressure gives PBF trouble not uneducated like Porter brings. Porter also fights dumb and smothers his own work at times on the inside he also has no jab squares up too much and is easy to hit. His power also isn't anything special. He would be figured out in 3 rounds or so and outboxed for the rest of the fight. He could give an faded version of PBF a hard fight like Maidana did but still lose a decision but I think Maidana stylistically is a harder fight for PBF than Porter 1 he has more power 2 he's more awkward 3 he has a looping overhand right which can land over PBF's shoulder roll hitting his temple and 4 he's far more dirty. A prime PBF who beat Hatton at 147 would expose Porter's flawed limited and crude style and make easy work of him.