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The title was taken from the ESPN article ....
Not sure if anyone already posted this. But this was an article on ESPN about Floyd's hit and don't get hit approach, and how it stacks up with other top fighters today.
"Hit and don't get hit," goes the old adage in boxing. And from a statistical perspective, at least, it seems no one is better at living up to that credo than Floyd Mayweather Jr.
According to Bob Canobbio, owner and founder of CompuBox -- a computerized scoring system that counts every punch a boxer throws and lands -- Mayweather's average connect rate of 46 percent, compiled during his past nine fights (a "prime" designated by CompuBox), ranks as the best among current active fighters.
Power In Numbers
Baseball has Bill James and the Oakland A's Beane counters. The NBA has its Sloan Conference. Even the NFL, often seemingly stuck in a "Mad Men" time warp, is starting to answer the siren song of statistical analysis.
But boxing? Turns out the sweet science isn't so scientific after all.
Our hope is to change that, or at least to get fight fans talking and thinking about how even basic statistics can help reveal truths about the sport we love.
Skeptical? You should be. Boxing stats have been virtually ignored, in so much as they exist at all. Whereas baseball has batting averages and ERAs (and now WHIPs and OPSs) -- treasured artifacts that also spark cogent, data-driven debate -- boxing has win-loss records, knockouts and ... little else.
But maybe we can help nudge the sport, and its fans, toward a state of statistical bliss. We don't expect the numbers we cite to prove anything more than a meticulously considered pound-for-pound list would. Any numbers geek will tell you stats are reductive, not predictive -- ghosts of performances past, not heralds of things to come.
Bottom line: Our little endeavor in analytics is meant to start the conversation, not end it. If you disagree with our findings, let us know. Just keep an open mind and your slide rule handy.
By how much? Well, fellow pound-for-pound greats such as Sergio Martinez and Miguel Cotto (both 34 percent during their primes) just don't hold up. And Nonito Donaire, it seems, isn't as flashy as his "Filipino Flash" nickname suggests, averaging only 29 percent. Mayweather's only competition in the accuracy stakes is super middleweight champion Andre Ward, at 38 percent.
More impressive than Mayweather's own connect percentage is that of Floyd's opponents against him. They land a mere 16 percent of punches thrown, the lowest collective figure recorded in CompuBox's 4,000-fight database.
While most of boxing's cognoscenti debate who should be crowned pound-for-pound king, few would question Mayweather's dominance as the era's best defensive fighter. That's an important distinction. Because although all fighters hit as often as they're physically able, the best boxers connect often and avoid being hit too frequently.
Given that, what can we surmise about Mayweather's station using the CompuBox data? Subtract the average connect percentage of Mayweather's opponents from Mayweather's own hit rate during that designated prime, and the numbers reveal an enormous chasm between Floyd and today's other top fighters.
With a plus/minus connect percentage rating of plus-30 percent, Mayweather is at least twice as effective in the hit-and-don't-get-hit game as any of his contemporaries. Ward, who ranks fifth in Dan Rafael's March pound-for-pound rankings, is next best behind Mayweather with a plus-15 percent differential. And the rest of boxing's elite -- Donaire (plus-7 percent), Martinez (plus-3 percent) and Vitali Klitschko (plus-13 percent) -- don't remotely compare.
In fact, Mayweather's plus-30 rating at welterweight (seven fights, all of them spanning his designated nine-fight prime) measures up as the best of his career. After having dominated at junior welterweight (plus-28), lightweight (plus-22) and junior lightweight (plus-23) during a period that often makes up a fighter's athletic prime, Mayweather, at age 35, seems to be at the peak of his powers.
http://espn.go.com/boxing/story/_/id...-boxing-greats
How 'Money' stacks up
A comparison of Floyd Mayweather Jr. to his current contemporaries in the plus/minus category -- the difference between a fighter's connect rate and that of his opponents.
Fighter +/- Prime
F. Mayweather +30 9 fights
A. Ward +15 7 fights
V. Klitschko +13 8 fights
Y. Gamboa +12 6 fights
M. Pacquiao +11 7 fights
T. Bradley +8 6 fights
N. Donaire +7 7 fights
Not sure if anyone already posted this. But this was an article on ESPN about Floyd's hit and don't get hit approach, and how it stacks up with other top fighters today.
"Hit and don't get hit," goes the old adage in boxing. And from a statistical perspective, at least, it seems no one is better at living up to that credo than Floyd Mayweather Jr.
According to Bob Canobbio, owner and founder of CompuBox -- a computerized scoring system that counts every punch a boxer throws and lands -- Mayweather's average connect rate of 46 percent, compiled during his past nine fights (a "prime" designated by CompuBox), ranks as the best among current active fighters.
Power In Numbers
Baseball has Bill James and the Oakland A's Beane counters. The NBA has its Sloan Conference. Even the NFL, often seemingly stuck in a "Mad Men" time warp, is starting to answer the siren song of statistical analysis.
But boxing? Turns out the sweet science isn't so scientific after all.
Our hope is to change that, or at least to get fight fans talking and thinking about how even basic statistics can help reveal truths about the sport we love.
Skeptical? You should be. Boxing stats have been virtually ignored, in so much as they exist at all. Whereas baseball has batting averages and ERAs (and now WHIPs and OPSs) -- treasured artifacts that also spark cogent, data-driven debate -- boxing has win-loss records, knockouts and ... little else.
But maybe we can help nudge the sport, and its fans, toward a state of statistical bliss. We don't expect the numbers we cite to prove anything more than a meticulously considered pound-for-pound list would. Any numbers geek will tell you stats are reductive, not predictive -- ghosts of performances past, not heralds of things to come.
Bottom line: Our little endeavor in analytics is meant to start the conversation, not end it. If you disagree with our findings, let us know. Just keep an open mind and your slide rule handy.
By how much? Well, fellow pound-for-pound greats such as Sergio Martinez and Miguel Cotto (both 34 percent during their primes) just don't hold up. And Nonito Donaire, it seems, isn't as flashy as his "Filipino Flash" nickname suggests, averaging only 29 percent. Mayweather's only competition in the accuracy stakes is super middleweight champion Andre Ward, at 38 percent.
More impressive than Mayweather's own connect percentage is that of Floyd's opponents against him. They land a mere 16 percent of punches thrown, the lowest collective figure recorded in CompuBox's 4,000-fight database.
While most of boxing's cognoscenti debate who should be crowned pound-for-pound king, few would question Mayweather's dominance as the era's best defensive fighter. That's an important distinction. Because although all fighters hit as often as they're physically able, the best boxers connect often and avoid being hit too frequently.
Given that, what can we surmise about Mayweather's station using the CompuBox data? Subtract the average connect percentage of Mayweather's opponents from Mayweather's own hit rate during that designated prime, and the numbers reveal an enormous chasm between Floyd and today's other top fighters.
With a plus/minus connect percentage rating of plus-30 percent, Mayweather is at least twice as effective in the hit-and-don't-get-hit game as any of his contemporaries. Ward, who ranks fifth in Dan Rafael's March pound-for-pound rankings, is next best behind Mayweather with a plus-15 percent differential. And the rest of boxing's elite -- Donaire (plus-7 percent), Martinez (plus-3 percent) and Vitali Klitschko (plus-13 percent) -- don't remotely compare.
In fact, Mayweather's plus-30 rating at welterweight (seven fights, all of them spanning his designated nine-fight prime) measures up as the best of his career. After having dominated at junior welterweight (plus-28), lightweight (plus-22) and junior lightweight (plus-23) during a period that often makes up a fighter's athletic prime, Mayweather, at age 35, seems to be at the peak of his powers.
http://espn.go.com/boxing/story/_/id...-boxing-greats
How 'Money' stacks up
A comparison of Floyd Mayweather Jr. to his current contemporaries in the plus/minus category -- the difference between a fighter's connect rate and that of his opponents.
Fighter +/- Prime
F. Mayweather +30 9 fights
A. Ward +15 7 fights
V. Klitschko +13 8 fights
Y. Gamboa +12 6 fights
M. Pacquiao +11 7 fights
T. Bradley +8 6 fights
N. Donaire +7 7 fights
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