Who Is The Smartest Fighter Floyd Ever Fought?

1. Marquez
2. Cotto
3. De La Hoya

 

:deal End thread.

 

True. Still....DLH has a good ring IQ....And maybe that has been due to all the Elite level trainers he's had over the course of his career. Juan is very smart as well but he wasn't physically prepared for the jump up in weight and stylistically the fight fell in Floyd's favor as he is the better counter puncher which forced Juan to be the aggressor.

Ortiz apparently has a fairly decent ring IQ....when compared to a tree.

 

Exactly how I feel. It was a great example of Floyd's inside work and overall skill because of the success Chavez had and how it pushed him.

 

Probably Marquez.

That's a little unfair, as Mayweather is a special fighter. Getting outboxed by Mayweather doesn't mean that your style only works on 'bums'. Marquez is a very good fighter.

That being said, it was still surprising to see just how easily Mayweather shut him down. I think Marquez was just facing too many problems in that fight -- it was Marquez's first time at that weight, Mayweather was naturally bigger, with a much better defence, faster handspeed and general body movement, ring intelligence to rival Marquez, and the kind of cautious, evasive style that doesn't gel well with Marquez's emphasis on counterpunching.

I'm rewatching the fight at the moment. Mayweather uses the jab much more than usual against Marquez. In the early rounds pretty much all he's doing is jabbing and jumping in with left hooks. Marquez's only real success came with two or three flush right hands to the head, and a couple of body shots that he landed, all of them when Mayweather was at the ropes...aside from that he just isn't able to land much.

The main problem is that when Marquez hangs back and tries to counterpunch, Mayweather is just too quick and defensively aware -- even when Mayweather misses, he instantly darts back out of range and makes Marquez's attempted counters fall short. When Marquez decides to initiate the offence, Mayweather neutralises it with his defence -- Marquez's combinations either hit gloves or air. When Marquez just decides to wait from range and look for opportunities, Mayweather pot shots him with jabs. In the later rounds Mayweather started mixing in straight rights, too. Credit to Marquez for never giving up and continuing to really try throughout the fight, though. Mayweather is just too good.

 

Its a testament of a good swarming 130 pounder fighting a great 130 pound skill fighter. Two fighters in the weight classes they belonged in at the time.

How would Chavez a career 130 pounder have done if he had moved up and fought the Mayweather that Marquez fought at 147 lbs???

He would have been Gatii'd, thats what would have happened.
Chavez would have been fat and bloated and not had the strenghth to swarm and put the type of pressure on Mayweather he did at 130 lbs.


Mayweather hardcores want to pretend that weight has to do with nothing when it comes to beating fighters moving up to fight him.

Skill fighters benefit from being the bigger fighter as well. That just does'nt hold true for power punchers.

 

Chess match my ass. DLH only knows to jab and hook, he has nothing else.
Against Mayweather the plan was to jab and swarm. DLH was renderered inneffective swarming because he's just not good at that style.

DLH was competitive against Mayweather becaue he had size, weight, and a solid jab. Outside the jab however he's not good and timing and putting combinations together vs fighters in the upper echelon.

Has DLH been cerebral and had a boxers sense of timing, he have whopped Mayweather at 154 lbs!

 

Roach's? The jab is the only way DLH knows to fight. Jab and hook. If it does'nt work, he does'nt know to incorporate any other wrinkles to the game plan.

The one thing Roach needed to do to have DLH beat Mayweather was have him cut the ring off when he fled, and pound the body when Mayweather played defense on ropes.
DLH failed in everyone of those departments.

 

Like this post.

 

Everything you said is accurate. I dont agree however with your final assesment that Mayweather is just too good.

At 147 lbs with the way Mayweather leads with his shoulder and then is able to pull back simply because he's taller and has a much bigger reach, that fact is just to much for an aging lightweight to overcome.

A way to counteract the lean back defense Mayweather used vs Marquez is to swarm and use strenghth on the inside. Attack the body and use weight to lean on Mayweather.
At 147 lbs being smaller and just having moved up from 135 lbs???? That just was'nt possible. Marquez could'nt compete with Mayweather in any physical department.


Excuse me, yes Mayweather did use skill on Marquez but that was'nt the deciding factor that tilted the fight Mayweather's way.

Take two equally skilled fighters and give all the physical advantages to one. Who will win? :nut