By Chris Williams: Photo credit: Sumio Yamada – Floyd Mayweather Jr. summed it up best when he described the different between him and WBC welterweight champion Victor Ortiz, saying “The difference between between and you [Ortiz] is I can adjust and adapt. If I get hit with a good shot I’m going to shake it off. I’m still coming at you. I’m a good finisher too. Your trainer talked about me being dirty. So if I hit you and hurt you, don’t grab me, don’t hold on at all. I’m gonna finish you off easy.”
Mayweather is dead on correct about this. The difference between him and Ortiz is Ortiz can’t adapt to new situations. We saw that in his loss to Marcos Maidana when he came out trying to slug and found out that he didn’t have the chin or the power to fight that kind of battle against the hard hitting Argentinian. Instead of adapting and trying to change tactics, Ortiz ended up quitting when the going got tough in a 6th round TKO in June 2009. And in Ortiz’s 10 round draw against Lamont Peterson, Ortiz came out trying to box against a weak puncher, and instead of adapting by running over Peterson the way he could have and should have, Ortiz kept boxing and messed up his chances to win the fight.
Mayweather, though, can switch between boxing and slugging at a moment’s notice and work off of what his opponent is doing in the ring. We saw that in Mayweather’s wins over Oscar De La Hoya, Ricky Hatton and Juan Manuel Marquez that Mayweather could adapt to what they were doing by turning on and off his power game.
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