Who could have beaten Mayweather?

By Bob Smith - 05/23/2013 - Comments

floyd#300By Bob Smith: As it stands now, Floyd Mayweather Jr. fights are beautiful in that the viewer gets to see him display his defense, quick attacks and counter-punches, and also speed and power but are “boring” in the sense that he completely dominates anyone that he fights. This has been the story for several years now, and even though he is 36, amazingly, this continues.

I honestly don’t see a fighter today that could cause Mayweather problems, much less defeat him, Some say that Saul “Canelo” Alvarez would be a good match for Mayweather, but the resume of Alvarez is weak, and though he did show significant improvement in his fight versus Austin Trout, anything remotely resembling a catchweight will negate the major advantage of the punching power of Alvarez, and Mayweather will insist on something that approximates a catchweight.

Who then could have posed a challenge to Mayweather in his boxing lifetime? I argue that two boxers had a chance to beat him at their respective peaks: Manny Pacquaio at his peak in the mid to late 2000s, and Sergio Martinez, from roughly 2009-2012, had they fought at 154 pounds.

Regarding the former, I still think that the vaunted Mayweather defense would be enough to allow him to get a decision – the bigger threat would be the power and natural talent of Martinez – in fact, even his father more or less openly acknowledges that Martinez could hurt Mayweather and is too big for him, So, Mayweather rightly did not take that 154 pound fight, but that may have been the best chance of anyone to defeat Mayweather in his boxing lifetime.

The question then becomes, who could possibly have defeated Mayweather, looking back in time? Perhaps three names come to mind: Pernell Whitaker, Roberto Duran, and Sugar Ray Leonard. Yet the defense and ring generalship and power of Mayweather would lead me to favor him over both Whitaker and Duran – in my opinion only Sugar Ray Leonard could have posed a challenge to Mayweather and I would favor a prime Sugar Ray Leonard over Mayweather.

While the boxing IQ and ring generalshio of Sugar Ray Leonard may not be on the level of Floyd Mayweather, it approaches this level, and I favor Sugar Ray Leonard in both speed and power over Mayweather. At the same time, the stamina and flexibility and ability to adjust of Mayweather is legendary, so even then it is a tough call, but I give a slight edge to Leonard because of his speed and power and combinations.

Both are and were very smart fighters, and though Mayweather trains harder and has a better defense and stamina, I think that the natural speed and power advantage and brilliant combinations of Sugar Ray Leonard would give him the decision win – and again, this is only a prime Leonard fighting at welterweight or junior middleweight.



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