You give Pacquiao credit for beating Cotto/Margarito @ a catch weight?
The catchweight means nothing. I give him credit for beating Cotto's ass and for putting on a vintage performance against a done Margarito.
The Cotto win was great. The Marg win was just cannon fodder. When you are the guy that brings in the money, you can demand anything you want.
Canelo...Floyd has no business at 154. The weight isn't the problem, but the weight combined with heavyweight gloves means he can't consistently back off big guys.
Castillo gave him a tough fight in the rematch as well, it was just a much clearer win for Mayweather. It was still tough.
The rematch was closer than the first fight because Floyd moved too much.
There is not a very reasonable way to give Castillo the first fight. Floyd won the first 4 rounds, and was winning clearly before both point deductions. That's 6 points and a draw. The absolute best Castillo could hope for is a 6-5-1 close loss....and Mayweather won more than just those rounds.
I give Mares literally no chance. His come forward style is made to order for Donaire. If he can take that left hook(which he can't), he could get inside and outwork a very inactive Donaire. I give Rigo a much better shot because he can outbox Donaire. Donaire doesn't throw enough punches to set up a KO without his opponent coming forward. On the outside, he can time him and frustrate in a close cat and mouse fight.
He's much more accomplished than Rigo. A victory over Mares would mean more than a w over Rigo. Call me crazy but I think Mares has the style to beat Donaire. Donaire doesn't know how to fight on the inside. He has to keep his distance to throw and land his shots. Just look at his fight against Mathebula. The most effective gameplan against a tall rangy guy would be to get inside with combinations to the head and the body, but instead he kept his distance and kept getting hit with the jab. I know Mares is not tall and rangy but if he can smother Donaire and pin him against the ropes it'd be interesting o see how Donaire reacts.
He couldn't get inside on Mathebula, because Mathebula was committed on the back foot.
I see some of you bringing up Duran, but he was blowing up huge in between fights. Even without gorging himself, I'm sure he was walking around in the 170s before he fought Ray Leonard.
Whats weird is when you do hear a guy that wants to prove hes the best and wants to fight the best, "people look at him like hes speaking a foreign language."
Then why doesn't Sergio fight the best in his own division? He's fighting guys like Barker, Macklin, and Murray lol.
Sergio is a natural 154 pounder and fought at that weight until he was 34 years old. He only went to 160 because he was given the opportunity to fight Pavlic and win the middleweight title. Ward is a big 168 pounder. If Martinez fought Ward at 168 he would probably be outweighed by about 15 pounds in the ring. I don't think Martinez is a coward or a bully. Mayweather can turn down the fight with Martinez at 150 if he does not think it's fair. So far Mayweather has shown no interest in fighting Martinez. Martinez and Ward are not big moneymakers.
Ward was 176 against Dawson, and Martinez at his highest was 170...The size differential is much greater between Floyd/Martinez than Martinez/Ward
Maybe because martinez is already a small middleweight.
http://www.boxingonbluray.com/images/sergio_martinez_vs_sergiy_dzinziruk_screen.jpg
Ward weighed 176 against Dawson. Martinez is much closer in size to Ward than Mayweather is to Martinez.
And ortiz came in at 162 against floyd at 147. You gonna tell me ortiz should me a middleweight?
What does Ortiz have to do with Sergio not being a small middleweight like others have claimed?
Another reason why I see Canelo winning this is because during the close competitive rounds, I see Canelo taking those rounds simply because his punches are getting a better reaction from the crowd, not so much the crowd but actually being more effective. Trout best be careful with that comparison, Canelo is an actual Jr MW who can crack, and most importantly has a right hand, which I'm sure Cotto's biggest fans can admit Cotto's right hand is non existent at times/ decent at best.
Canelo's power is overrated. Especially as he's been matched against old, faded, smaller men. His TKOs over Cotto and Gomez were disgraceful ref jobs.
A couple of steps to far for Wilder. He'll fight his first former champ in August. Maybe 2 more fights at that level and then take on a top 10 guy like Thompson next year.
I guarantee Canelo/Cotto will do less than May/Guerrero. The demographic that determines the success/failure of PPVs are the average American white guy who might buy 2 PPVs a year and that's all the boxing he will see. Mayweather has turned into a sports icon like a Peyton Manning or LeBron James. Neither Cotto nor Canelo have that kind of stardom.
Will be great if and only if the right fights get put on. We need fights that the average person will watch.
Guys like Rios,Matthysse,Mares,Santa Cruz,Kirkland,Berto should be headlining cards. What will probably happen is total mismatches and flat out stinkers.
Can't believe HBO is actually putting up $1.8Million for this crappy ass fight. This fight is worth $500k at best.
They want ratings, Mexicans are going to watch in droves..and it's going to be a pretty entertaining fight for as long as it lasts.
His legs and stamiona were already begginning to go before going to HW. Roy usually walked around at 185-190, but he put on an extra 10, and then tried to sweat out 25 to make weight in the 1st Tarver fight. In that fight, he took a ton of clean punches that, while weight drained, ruined his punch resistance. Tarver caught him with a pearler of a shot in the 2nd fight, and that was all she wrote.
Because it's almost exclusively to give one fighter an advantage.
Example, Cotto wanting a catchweight at 150 to fight Margarito and ending up at a 153 limit. He clearly wanted to take something out of him.