The fighters who've lost to Floyd Mayweather explain why he's so impossible to beat
He enters his May 2 fight with Manny Pacquiao with an undefeated record of 47-0. There's a case to be made that Pacquiao can pull an upset, but most expect Floyd to win this fight the same way
he has won fights for years — making his opponent miss early, timing
his counters to perfection, and
eventually winning on points.
There's a radical juxtaposition
between Mayweather's persona out of the ring (obnoxious, offensive,
appalling) and his style within it (calm, intelligent, pragmatic). Over
the years the fighters who've lost to Mayweather have spoken about his
boxing brilliance in glowing terms, and explained what makes him so hard
to beat.
Ricky Hatton (lost by knockout, December 8, 2007)
"I was fighting a genius, a
boxing artist. I was getting more and more frustrated. Lose your cool
against Floyd Mayweather and what you do is you get knocked out." — to Showtime
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Oscar De La Hoya (lost by split decision, May 5, 2007):
"Now we have to give credit to
Mayweather because what Mayweather can do is what Mayweather Sr. calls
'walking your opponent down.' So what he does is he gets in the pocket
and covers himself and he'll walk you down. And he'll let you throw
punches and Pacquiao is probably going to keep throwing punches in
bunches and he might tire himself out while Mayweather is just blocking
everything. And then Mayweather can just come, throw his combinations of
two or three punches, win the round, put the rounds in the bag, and win
the fight." — to HBO
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HBO
Canelo Alvarez (lost by majority decision, September 14, 2013)
"He doesn't expose anything.
He's a fighter that if with three punches he wins the round from you,
he's fine with that. He doesn't expose anything and give a beautiful
fight. He doesn't care in what way he wins as long as he wins." — to FightHype
"He's very fast and accurate and
moreso when he's just trying to make points. I didn't really feel his
punches were that strong. But he's making points and he's very fast." — at his post-fight press conference
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Showtime
Shane Mosley (lost by unanimous decision, May 1, 2011)
"I felt that I had the advantage
on Floyd. I was very certain that I could hit him with good shots and I
thought that could be the difference. I caught him when he thought that
he was out of the way. I kind of slid it, a veteran move, and caught him
right on the button and rocked him. He was surprised and I was like,
'Wow, this is my chance. I'm going to get him. I'm going to knock him
out.' But I just couldn't. He made the adjustment. He was able to
capitalize. After that the fight was over. Mayweather did what he was
supposed to do as a champion to win." — to Showtime
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Showtime
Juan Manuel Marquez (lost by unanimous decision, September 19, 2009)
"Mayweather has had great defense, long arms, and he's very smart." — to Showtime
"Mayweather’s reaction time is amazing. He sees what you are about to throw and is out of there before you can punch." — to WSJ
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Zab Judah (lost by unanimous decision, April 8, 2006)
"His defense is still
impregnable, his hand speed is still super fast, his conditioning is
always marvelous. What can you say? The guy, he’s probably one of the
hardest working fighters in boxing." — to Mark Giongco
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HBO
Paulie Malignaggi, who thinks Mayweather is going to beat Pacquiao, gave this great description of Mayweather's defensive skill in 2013 before the Canelo fight (via Yahoo's Kevin Iole):
"He makes you miss a lot in his
fights, but he doesn't make you miss the same way. If he made you miss
the same way all the time, guys would start timing it and start hitting
him. He'll make you miss the right hand in different ways. He'll make
you miss the left hook in different ways. … He varies the ways he's able
to defend and that is what makes him so difficult."
While there's an argument to be
made that Pacquiao is a tricky matchup for Mayweather, there's a reason
Mayweather is undefeated, and a reason he's a significant favorite to
remain that way on May 2.
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