Floyd's not more athletic. He relies on fast twice reflexes and his reach and length. His style is centered around the shoulder roll, countering, and getting on his bike to retreat/get his opponents to reset. None of this is extreme athleticism. Pac's like a Tazmanian devil and all over the place. Not saying Floyd isn't athletic, but he's not more athletic than Pac.
This is true, and thats what makes it so difficult to answer. It's much easier to look fast and athletic when you are boxing off the back foot and relying on reactions to squeeze of a single lightning fast counter. Much harder when you're the one pushing the pace and ripping off 4-5 punch combinations. Athleticism is also noticeable in a fluid, coordinated athlete. Pac was always off-balance and herky jerky. Watch Roy, Floyd, Duran, Sugar Ray, Ali, Loma - these guys are fluid as water and never off balance, never robotic.
But if you consider that Pac is always off balance, yet the ONLY GUY to legitimately KD him was a roided JMM in the last 20 years, that speaks to athleticism. That means he maintains his balance VERY WELL even when he's off balance. Note: Mosley body slammed Pac to the ground, but Bayless credited him w/ a KD.
For years people claimed that pac was faster of both hand and foot until they got in the ring and that was proven false. I said the exact opposite of that for years and was proven right. Like i said earlier throwing a pull counter and slipping a counter is far more athletic than pac has done. Being able to fight backing up or off your back foot is far more athletic than anything pac has done. Youre right about one thing fast twitch muscles/reflexes affect overall athletic ability making pbf more athletic than pac.
Excellent point about balance that has to do with athleticism. Pac was often off balanced while pbf wasnt.
Throwing a pull counter and then slipping a counter is not considered being athletic. It means you have excellent fast twitch responses. Toney was incredibly slick, maybe even slicker than Floyd, but he was hardly athletic.
Toney was a stationary fighter but he never displayed athletic footwork which is why he couldn't deal with rjj because he was the superior athlete. Throwing and landing a pull counter then slipping the counter is athletic jmm who was a master counter puncher and as skilled as they come couldnt do it. Why? Because lacked the athleticism to pull it off. He had the skill level but without the skill and the athletic ability he couldnt pull it off.
JMM couldn't do it because he's not 5' 8" with a 72" arm advantage. And it's not his style. Just like it's not Floyd's style to throw more than 2 punches at a time. The last combo 3+ punch combo I remember him ripping off was against Ortiz.
Faster in combination but not in speed/reflexes or defensive ability. Jmm looked helpless in there with pbf. Jmm alsi said years ago that pbf was better than pac and would beat him if they ever fought.
The pull counter has nothing to do with reach it has everything to do with skill reflexes/athletic ability. I agree with you as pbf moved up he became less of a combo puncher when he was at the lower weights he was a good one. The last time i was impressed with his combo ability was against gatti and Hatton.
Reach (and length) have everything to do with it. Floyd's physical attributes ALLOW him to establish the necessary distance to slip a punch to within 3-4 inches while allowing him to launch a flush counter (due to arm length) and be in a position to duck a counter.
