How to defeat Floyd Mayweather

[puga]

I don't know about that....seeing as he's never been beat by pressure.

arguably , he already has..

[Sandor Clegane]

That's your strategy? Out-think Floyd?

Absolutely.

You have to have a winning mentality first of all. If you go into a fight with Floyd thinking, "He's too smart so I can't play chess with him." Then you've already lost. You've conceded. You need a winning mentality AND you have the confidence in your own game to fight him head on.

We've seen it before -- you CAN have some success with Floyd by setting up your offense with a jab and laying some traps. Forcing him into the role of the aggressor -- but Floyd WILL adapt, therefore, you must adapt with him. Give him different looks, start feinting, etc.

[Frank Ducketts]

It seems popular opinion on this board is that in order to defeat Floyd Mayweather, you have to make into a brawl. Cut off the ring, apply as much pressure as possible, and throw a lot of punches. The problem with this gameplan is several things:

1. You're trying to cut off the ring and apply pressure against Floyd Mayweather Jr - one of the most slippery and slickest fighters boxing has ever seen. This will have your fighter whiffing at air all night long, leaving him to get tired.

2. Floyd is one of the best counter punchers of all-time. Floyd WANTS you to throw a lot of punches and exposing yourself to his counters.

This gameplan is exactly want Floyd wants you to do. It plays into his strengths. You're walking forward as Floyd uses his legs to dance around you as you walk into his pot shots all night long.

You have to ask yourself, what does Floyd NOT want you to do? What does Floyd least expect? Floyd doesn't want to be the agressor - he doesn't want to be the one to have to make the first move. Floyd also doesn't expect anyone to try and outthink him - so this is exactly what you must try to do. You have to be able to think quickly, be patient, and set traps for Floyd. God-given hand speed doesn't hurt either...

Here's an example:



Above, you don't see Mosley applying pressure and throwing 500 punches He's posied and he's thinking and he's effectively lulled Mayweather into a passive state... Suddenly you see him take a half a step into his range and setting a trap. He occupies Mayweather with a jab to the body (the trap), while Mayweather is occupied with the jab, Shane puts a right hand right over the top catching Floyd off guard. Once again, an example of out-thinking Floyd.

Example #2:



Zab pretty much does the same thing that Mosley did in the above GIF. Zab, standing his ground, occupies Mayweather with a couple half-hearted jabs (the jab) then rips a straight left hand down the pipe.



Here we go again, Zab lets Mayweather act first, and counters the jab to the body. Zab was poised and he didn't fall for the feinted jab, instead he waited for the REAL punch, the jab to the body, and caught Mayweather coming in....

A final example:

Corley setting a trap for Floyd with a jab and landing a nice follow shot.



The above are all examples of fighters being poised, standing their ground, and thinking WITH Floyd. Using a jab to set up their offense. Now of course, both Zab and Mosley and Corley went on to lose their fights because of Mayweather's adaptability but also because they simple don't have the mental fortitude to stay sharp for a full 12 rounds.

Let's be honest, the idea that it takes pressure + punches to defeat Floyd stems from the Castillo fight - a fight that took place 11 YEARS AGO. We can all agree that Floyd is better than he was 11 friggin' years ago and he's solved this puzzle a long time ago. We've seen boxer after boxer try this same gameplan and they all ended taking an L home for their troubles. Corrales, Castillo II, Baldomir, DLH, Cotto...

Only man to have reasonable success since Castillo was Hatton. But Hatton had great foot speed and was capable of closing the distance quicker than Floyd could react. Hatton didn't have the conditioning to keep it up. Nor did he have the boxing IQ to know what to do once he caught Floyd. It's the dog chasing the car analogy - the dog chases the car but once it catches up to it, it has no idea what to do with itself.

The old 'apply pressure + punches' gameplan needs to be discarded. Thinking with Floyd sounds like a fool's task, but this is the avenue to victory. You have make Floyd come to you and set up your offense with a jab, and get Floyd to fall for your traps.

This is how you fight Floyd.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W7Nsy2WcP6s

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZuGZVkYuHM4

[RIpitRon]

First off the Castillo fight isnt how you beat Floyd today, in fact there is only 1 way too beat Floyd.

You must have the Chin of Hagler, The Speed of Leonard, The power of Foreman and the will to win at all costs. Without these skills in 1 mans body and the drive and mentality to win or die trying he will not loose unless he gets caught.

You can have the best damn game plan and it wont work, He will make you defensive, he hits just hard enough that you change the plan after a few rounds.

You can all come up with your own theory, but at the end of the day it will take a granite chin, Speed and power and a desire like no other. You wont out think him, you wont be able to adapt and you wont win. He is just that good!

[puga]

First off the Castillo fight isnt how you beat Floyd today, in fact there is only 1 way too beat Floyd.

You must have the Chin of Hagler, The Speed of Leonard, The power of Foreman and the will to win at all costs. Without these skills in 1 mans body and the drive and mentality to win or die trying he will not loose unless he gets caught.

You can have the best damn game plan and it wont work, He will make you defensive, he hits just hard enough that you change the plan after a few rounds.

You can all come up with your own theory, but at the end of the day it will take a granite chin, Speed and power and a desire like no other. You wont out think him, you wont be able to adapt and you wont win. He is just that good!

the power of foreman huh?...lol , why need that when floyd got rocked by the power of past prime mosley , or a coming off a loss chop chop corley ...why need a chin like a hagler when floyd could'nt rock a canelo who got rock by a jose cotto?...you must think floyd is some type of a mutant , more like a b1tch that knows who not to fight....

[Frank Ducketts]

Look, all you need is a big left like Torrecampo, body shots like Singsurat, a jab like Hussein, and a big overhand right from Juan Marquez. Use these parts to build the ultimate fighter, and do you know what you get?

A variety of punches that took Pac's soul!

[JaYDeuce11]

hahah yea that feint to the body followed by overhand right got Pac good by Marquez

Pacquiao's shot to beat Floyd was his straight left after the feints BUT he doesnt have that good of a body attack, which can throw floyd off.

The whole time Canelo was saying hes gonna attack his body, but went from alot of head shots.

Cotto has the best body shots, thats why he had the best showing out of all Floyds opponents.

[r__mutt]

Solid post, thanks for that.

Game plan aside, I think the real key is having the same kind of (not necessarily the same amount of) boxing IQ that Floyd does - the ability to adapt on the fly, the ability to out think an opponent. It seems that a lot of his recent opponents go in with a game plan, or several game plans, but when Floyd foils their plan, they're left dumbfounded.

I don't know if there's anyone out there right now that can pull that off - Lara is a skilled boxer, but I don't think he has that kind of ability. I think a prime, or at least primer, Sergio could've given it a go, especially with the size advantage. Like Floyd, Sergio has a fairly defined style, but always made adjustments in order to win (his right hand adjustments in the Macklin fight, the overhand right in the 2nd P. Will fight).

I also think that any fighter going up against Floyd has to try their best to wipe the slate clean. Floyd is just such a different beast that it requires radical changes in training/thinking/approaching the fight. While we've already established that Floyd is an expert at solving opponents, he still has some staple moves - lead right, counter left hook/uppercut, his various shell moves. It seems to me that a Floyd opponent would want to train specifically for some of those moves - getting some serious studying in, having sparring partners mimic them over and over.

You would also have to figure out Floyd's timing, if that were even possible. On the flip side, you would have to really mix up your rhythm throughout the fight, almost like fighting in odd time signatures.

Of course, that sounds a bit ridiculous, and most fighters would barely have time to just get the necessary work in order to be in shape.

[ADP02]

Solid post, thanks for that.

Game plan aside, I think the real key is having the same kind of (not necessarily the same amount of) boxing IQ that Floyd does - the ability to adapt on the fly, the ability to out think an opponent. It seems that a lot of his recent opponents go in with a game plan, or several game plans, but when Floyd foils their plan, they're left dumbfounded.

I don't know if there's anyone out there right now that can pull that off - Lara is a skilled boxer, but I don't think he has that kind of ability. I think a prime, or at least primer, Sergio could've given it a go, especially with the size advantage. Like Floyd, Sergio has a fairly defined style, but always made adjustments in order to win (his right hand adjustments in the Macklin fight, the overhand right in the 2nd P. Will fight).

I also think that any fighter going up against Floyd has to try their best to wipe the slate clean. Floyd is just such a different beast that it requires radical changes in training/thinking/approaching the fight. While we've already established that Floyd is an expert at solving opponents, he still has some staple moves - lead right, counter left hook/uppercut, his various shell moves. It seems to me that a Floyd opponent would want to train specifically for some of those moves - getting some serious studying in, having sparring partners mimic them over and over.

You would also have to figure out Floyd's timing, if that were even possible. On the flip side, you would have to really mix up your rhythm throughout the fight, almost like fighting in odd time signatures.

Of course, that sounds a bit ridiculous, and most fighters would barely have time to just get the necessary work in order to be in shape.

You need to know how to get on the inside with Floyd. Use feints such as Castillo did or use the jab/double jab then once you have Floyd stopped in his tracks you need to have a decent left followed by a decent right hand. You need to mix it up and also follow up with an uppercut occasionally as Floyd likes to glide low after he punches, especially.

[Reloaded]

You got to land and nobody can , 10s of 1000s of punches thrown at him by how many World Champions and only 3 solid landed shots have happened , and Floyd has enough chin and smarts to survive and come back and dominate .

Keep dreaming kids , Floyd is the best from 130 to 147 in history because nobody can catch him and pin him down , and no man smaller than him has a snowballs chance in hell of beating Floyd .

Marquez " Floyd Mayweather is invincible "