By Kirill Davydov: Looking at the build up of Floyd Mayweather’s last fight against Victor Ortiz reminds me of all the hype back in the days before watching a Naseem Hamed fight. To say the least, these are my two favorite boxers of all time.
I always wondered what a match up between these two would look like if both were in their prime, and at featherweight. Even though Floyd fights at 147lbs, he actually began his career at super featherweight.
Lets look at the tale of the tape:
The Prince had an impressive 36(31)-1-0 record at the time of his retirement. Mayweather is currently 42(26)-0-0. Naseem posted an amazing 83.78% KO percentage, as opposed to Floyd’s 61.9%. Naz was definitely the harder puncher of the two, but I believe that Mayweather has better precision. Floyd was actually scoring more KO’s in the lighter weight classes. The Prince possessed one punch knockout power as opposed to Floyd who gradually breaks his opponents down.
Naz is probably the hardest hitting featherweight in the history of the sport. The Prince boxed a total of 185 rounds, 303 for Mayweather. Mayweather definitely has the better ring smarts, and has been into the deeper rounds more often. Naz was a mere 5’4 1/2″ to Floyds 5’8″. Naz has a reach of 64″, and Floyd with a huge advantage at 72″. Naz was a slick southpaw with dynamite in both hands, Floyd is a classical orthodox boxer.
Since Floyd says there is no blueprint in beating him, it is assumed that the best way to fight him is to attack from odd angles, and not come in with a linear style. This sounds like the perfect style for Naz, who fired bombs from every imaginable angle. Also note that Hameds only loss came by a decision to Marco Antonio Barrera, who beat a prime Eric Morales in two of their three fights.
Morales is the last man to beat Manny Pacquiao, just makes you think. Hamed put up a good fight, and was not really hurt in the fight. The scorecards were 115-112, 115-112, and 116-111. I believe Hamed would have won the rematch. Either way, I would give the advantage to Floyd over Naz, just curious as to what others think. Article by KIRILL DAVYDOV
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