When was Floyd Mayweather Jnr in his prime?

I think his absolute best was at 130lb, but he has become a better ring general the older he has got

 

he was in his prime all the way to diego to juan.

 

2009-2011 were probably his best year.

In the last fight or two we saw the first signs of a slight decline.. (footspeed).

 

Trying to figure out exactly when Floyd Mayweather was best as an overall fighter is very, very difficult for a number of reasons.

He's changed alot as a fighter over the years and he deserves a great deal of credit for seemingly realising he can't do certain things he could do when he was 21. He's definitely deteriorated physically over the years imo. It sounds silly, but compare those little youtube videos of him doing the pads with Roger when he was at 130/135 to him doing them now and the difference in handspeed and fluidity is quite astonishing. He's still very fast now but he's lost an unreal amount of speed (which is obviously going to happen when you gain 15 years in age and 20lbs in size tbf), although this has been masked somewhat by his amazing ability to see things happen before they do, his timing, his accuracy and his punch selection.

He's always had a very high ring IQ (even when he was in his early 20's destroying Genaro Hernandez RIP) and this has only increased with age. Although he acts cocky and brash, he's not stupid and he realises his limitations these days and works around them. His ability to make in-ring adjustments has improved significantly. Halfway through the first Castillo fight he went from dominating the fight to being dominated and he couldn't make the adjustments required at the time (he did in the rematch but not at that exact moment). More recently in his career he's had to adjust on the sport to Judah's handpseed and to Mosley's right hand which comes from nowhere after his pawing jab. He did both on the spot and ended up winning both fights fairly easily despite looking in trouble at one point or another in both fights.

He's never been a big combination puncher but he opened up alot more in his earlier days when his opponent was hurt. He would step in up a bit and try and get them out of there (Corales and Manfredy fights, especially the Manfredy fight) if he sensed they were there for the taking. Recently he's had Marquez and Mosley clinging on for dear life and he's seemed content to not take any risks and to coast to a points decision, although tbf to him he has thrown combinations and opened up alot in his last two bouts against Victor Ortiz and Miguel Cotto. He seems to be more aggressive recently, a bit like he was in his earlier days. I think he's finally grown into his body which helps but i think he realises his legs would find it alot more demanding to dance for all 12. He's also developed his inside game tremendously and is now physically VERY, VERY strong for a welterweight despite only weighing 150lbs on fight night. Ricky Hatton is famously strong and Floyd bullied him on the inside, same with Victor Ortiz and Shane Mosley. He's brilliant at spinning an opponent and claiming the centre of the ring back when his back is on the ropes aswell, subtle little things like that often go unnoticed but he really doesn't miss a trick.

Overall, it's pretty much impossible to say exactly when his peak was. Physically, i'd say it was in the early noughties in his younger days at lower weight classes. He was a fantastic mix of speed, power, controlled aggression and ring intelligence. Nowadays he's alot more of a thinking fighter with his developed ring IQ and experience. I actually prefer him nowadays and watching him beat up bigger men despite being quite old and clearly having lost a step provides me with alot of enjoyment.

 

During his first retirement :-(

 

Boxalot u pretty much summed it all up

 

Unfortunately this is probably true.

I'd say vs Hatton was his peak in terms of the balance between skill and athleticism, although 147 was not his prime weight.

 

from Gatti to Juan

I was watching his Corley fight the other day, and he got hit quite a bit for his standards. If he was getting hit like that today, which he doesn't anymore, it would have made front page breaking news.

He improved his ring IQ greatly in the welterweight division.

 

2001-2005 I would say.

 

vs old de la hoya and he still barely beat him lol

 

:good This was my answer aswell.
Still nobody around his weight class who can beat him tho.
(Testament to Floyd's work ethic, He remains young)

 

I think you are on the right track the guy has made so many adjustments as he as aged its hard to say when he peaked. Physically, he might have been at his best weight at 135. But hell he schooled poor Oscar so bad 20lbs heavier that even all of the Golden Boy's money could only buy him a draw.

 

Hell of a post, Cuz. :yep:good

 

As a athlete it was the Corrales fight. As a complete boxer it was Hatton