Why is Mayweather so damn hard to hit

Everything that has been said so far has been pretty accurate, but let’s not forget his great fitness as that was always top notch as well.

 

Floyd isn`t a southpaw.

 

His feet were faster against De La Hoya than Whitaker`s were, Floyd moved off the center line after jabbing but Whitaker was more stationary and had more trouble punching at DLH because he was unable to avoid counters as well as Floyd was.

 

Eve in the pocket they couldn't touch him,still had a good chin nonetheless

 

A few things:

Always in great shape and well prepared, never seemed to have an off night

He had a great stance and positioning that had a built in defense where everything was pretty much covered

He was a great athlete and had great reflexes so coupled with his technique and fundamentals he was enhanced by his attributes

Eyes he always seemed to see and anticipate everything coming his way

He was a very crisp and sharp puncher. Not a knock you out with one punch but enough to make guys think and it made them freeze up

I think after a few rounds he would have his opponents figured out and then tamed to predictable attacks that he saw coming

He also did great set ups like pull counters to make his opponents even more cautious about opening up

 

Let me reface this by saying I very much like the song "paranoid android" by Radiohead.

But your comment, are you kidding? Mayweather is the absolute master of one of the most intricate and difficult defensive styles in the history of boxing: the Michigan shoulder role. It has absolutely nothing to do with his "arm length".

Your comment is on par with Dan Rafael's scorecard for Willaims-Hurd.

Please review some film. Start here:

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Sorry, I should have had elaborated more... Mayweather can use his shoulder to lean far back and still be able to counter because of his arm length.

 

Reflexes, also his boxing training. He's so well schooled that his defense is autopilot.

 

This

 

At the beginning he was not so hard to hit. But later on.... he just knows too much about boxing. You will be told that it is his reflexes, his shoulder roll, his speed, his waist... whatever, the truth is that he is the highest IQ I've ever seen in the ring, his boxing is a continuous trap to his oponent, a trap inside of a trap inside of a trap... He's setting up his oponents all the freaking time. He knows too much to be hit very often.

 

Distance, head movement and shoulder tuck.

 

I agree with him being a crisp sharp puncher. I also agree with the posters mentioning his cat like reflexes.

I boil it down to two modes of fighting.

Floyd on full defence would wait for you to make a move and his quick reflexes would get his head out of the way in a hurry. Or he would use his feet to maintain range. Or shell up and let you hit him but nothing but glancing blows would land. He's mostly allowing you to throw in this stage, relying on blocking, dodging, tiring or frustrating you.

Floyd on offence (but still keeping defence in mind) would always be getting off first landing stinging right hands disrupting your rhythm taking the steam off the punches coming back at him.

 

he made every one want to head hunt

 

His amazing footwork and use of angles makes it very hard to land clean on him. But, when he faces boxers with similar hand speed and timing he does tend to get hit more often, so good matchmaking also helped.