Could floyd have gone to 160 and been successful

[KostyaTszyu44]

well theres the question...would floyds skills be enough to overcome the pretty damn substantial size difference he would have to deal with at 160 lbs? could he have been successful? or if he comes out of retirement and moves up would he be successful? (by successful i mean win a belt or two, beat pavlik or abraham)

[Silencers]

He could maybe beat the lower contenders in the division and maybe even some of the top contenders but I doubt he would beat the best there, the size difference is just too much.

[KostyaTszyu44]

i dunno im a big believer in skill overcoming size

i think if floyd was cautious and fought to the best of his ability he would do well, even take pavlik the distance who knows maybe even beat him


but the drawback is that he might lose speed with the weight he would have to gain and that would affect his movement which would be an integral tool for him to win

[kayjay]

The early rounds of the Oscar fight suggest otherwise. Oscar is no middleweight and he bullied Floyd.

[Silencers]

It's not just losing speed, the physicality of having a middleweight leaning on him, a middleweight punching at his shoulders, arms etc. will have an effect on him, skill only gets you so far.

[KostyaTszyu44]

It's not just losing speed, the physicality of having a middleweight leaning on him, a middleweight punching at his shoulders, arms etc. will have an effect on him, skill only gets you so far.

yeah agreed it would be very tough for floyd

but roberto duran, at 38 years of age went up to middleweight to defeat iran barkely, who was a big strong middeweight, he was an inch shorter than floyd, started a weigh class higher yes but was nowhere near as slick and defensively sound as floyd (duran had good defence but floyds is on a whole other level)

if a near-shot duran with defence nowhere near as good as floyds could beat a big strong middleweight like barkely why couldnt floyd do the same but against pavlik or another?

[boxing_great]

yeah agreed it would be very tough for floyd

but roberto duran, at 38 years of age went up to middleweight to defeat iran barkely, who was a big strong middeweight, he was an inch shorter than floyd, started a weigh class higher yes but was nowhere near as slick and defensively sound as floyd (duran had good defence but floyds is on a whole other level)

if a near-shot duran with defence nowhere near as good as floyds could beat a big strong middleweight like barkely why couldnt floyd do the same but against pavlik or another?

because duran has hands of stone, and has a better chin than mayweather.

[Silencers]

yeah agreed it would be very tough for floyd

but roberto duran, at 38 years of age went up to middleweight to defeat iran barkely, who was a big strong middeweight, he was an inch shorter than floyd, started a weigh class higher yes but was nowhere near as slick and defensively sound as floyd (duran had good defence but floyds is on a whole other level)

if a near-shot duran with defence nowhere near as good as floyds could beat a big strong middleweight like barkely why couldnt floyd do the same but against pavlik or another?

Mayweather isn't Duran, part of Duran's success in moving up was that he could take an unbelievable punch, could Mayweather do that? We don't know. Because Mayweather will get hit sooner or later by a middleweight. Mayweather has better defense, but as I said, skill only takes you so far.

And Duran wasn't shot or near shot at that point, he was shot around the mid to late 90s when he fought Joppy, Duran went on to have a good win over Jorge Fernando Castro and a controversial loss to Hector Camacho, not signs of a shot fighter.

[Dynamite Kid]

i agree with Silencer and Kayjay

PBF could beat some of the lesser known names in the division but Pavlik and Abraham would man handle him in close and let be honest Pav and Abraham are huge 160 lbs fighters they look more like LHW than MW

Floyd would not have the balls to stay in the pocket against fighters as strong and powerful as these two and the height would probaby make a huge difference in a fight with Pavlik

[C.Y.]

The early rounds of the Oscar fight suggest otherwise. Oscar is no middleweight and he bullied Floyd.

oscar lost most of those early rounds.. i only had oscar winning 3 rounds the entire fight