How to defeat Floyd Mayweather

[Public_Enemy]

Who knows. I believe you have to set up your offense with the jab but it's not that simple. You need good defense, good footwork and you have to fight a little dirty as well. There's so many attributes that a fighter needs to possess. No fighter I can think of has them all. And then you need the ability to adjust and adapt.

Floyd seemed really lazy or ****y defensively (not sure which one) on that Mosley gif. Why was he even trying to parry that jab to the body? He definitely didn't expect Mosley to come up top so quick and powerfully.

The judah counter to Floyd's jab to the body was beautiful. But a lot of fighters don't have the speed to land that hook. It wasn't powerful but it knocked Floyd off balance.

[-PBP-]

I didn't really see this thread as "The Blueprint to Beat Floyd Mayweather".

I think its more along the lines of "relentless pressure and aggression is not going to work". Yes Castillo was effective with it but there are no Jose Luis Castillo's currently in the fight game from 140-154. Today's pressure fighters do not have the skill and the ring intelligence of one of the greatest lightweights of this era in Castillo.

The fighters in the gifs had their moments and they were able to create opportunities because they have good handspeed, good reflexes and are able to think in the ring. The problem is that none of them were really elite fighters, or at least at that stage in his career with Shane Mosley.

[James_Toney]

there's is no blueprint.....

and simply applying pressure isn't enough....

you think guerrero didn't plan to do that?

you have to try unconventional things, but the problem with that is you're more vulnerable to counters....


my advice... wait for him to age...

[pac2]

didn't mayweather come forward on canelo? Yep he can fight moving forward or backward, His defense allows him to do that. Thats how mayweather can push a bigger person backward because of his defense, and it helps that Canelo can't fight moving backwards. The difference with Mayweather and every other fighter is Mayweather is a complete fighter. Offense and defense rings smarts, can fight on the front or back foot etc. Every other fighter has one or a couple of things missing they might have fast hands but don't have any defense, or a stamina problem etc. The only way to really beat Mayweather is to knock him out cold. Not to knock him down thats not enough you have to knock him out cold thats it get lucky and hit him with something that will knock him out cold thats it. If you just knock him down he will just get up make an adjustment and outbox you the rest of the rounds you have to KO him.

[BrokenHat]

There's no current welter that could beat Floyd.

But the way to beat him is the way Oscar was going. You gotta do that, but not be 34 and be doing coke and alcohol. Then you have a chance. But even then.

A big 154 could bully and beat floyd maybe, like Martinez in his prime. That would've been genuinely exciting. Unfortunately, Canelo's a bit of a paper champ.

[boxingfeind]

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.

You are right and wrong at the same time.Setting up your offense with a Jab might only work for landing a couple of punches,if Floyd misses when he`s trying to parry your in coming punches,(which is part of the reason he gets caught sometimes),or if you throw your punches at an awkward angle which is another reason Floyd gets caught sometimes.But no tactic that allows you to land punches on Floyd works for long because Floyd adapts real quick.

Setting traps on Floyd is very difficult because Floyd with his years of experience knows almost every trick in the book.I noticed when he had Canelo and Marquez in the corners,Floyd made sure not to over commit cause he knew they were trying to get Floyd to be over confident so they can catch Floyd with something.And i noticed when Floyd sometimes throw punches, he ducks right after in case of in coming counters.And Floyd a lot of times, move back when fighters throw the Jab so he wont be in punching range if they throw something behind that jab.And sometimes when Floyd counters he`ll duck and move to the other side so he won`t be countered.


The real key to beating Floyd is to have a lot of speed,a higher ring iq then Floyd and keep changing your tactics up to keep Floyd confused.Or just simply being very fast and skilled and having a huge height and reach advantage over Floyd and using those advantages well.

[SHO_RULEZ]

IMO, that was my favorite part of the Sugar Shane fight! It was early, round 2 or 3...Shane BLASTED Floyd with the best punch of the night! Floyd was like, WHOA! Shane realized he was stunned and immediately pounced on him ! Floyd tried to grab to buy some time, but Shane was like get the F of me ! Floyd slowly took him apart after that, but I'll always remember how ferocious Shane acted after that punch!

[boxingfeind]

ill still use the castillo blueprint, the simple fact is in all those gifs it was in the first 4 rounds when floyd hasn't loosen up yet and got into his zone.

castillo was on floyd thru 12

Floyd was basically a one armed fighter in the 1st Castillo fight,because Floyd messed up his shoulders in sparring in perpetration for the 1st Castillo fight.If you watch Floyd in the corner after the first or second round,you`ll see that Floyd was complaining about his shoulder.

[sicko]

Some of those things maybe win you a ROUND OR 2 against Mayweather but Mayweather is not going to allow you to do the same **** to him over and over against without making the proper adjustments to take that away from you

If Mayweather did the same thing and fought the same way every fight then yeah some of these Strategies would work THE ENTIRE FIGHT but that is not the case. Nobody knows what Mayweather is going to do or how he will fight going into the fight, he used his legs and feet more against Guerrero to show he still got it but with Canelo he was in the middle of the ring and in the Pocket plenty of times and Canelo was so hesitant to throw punches out of fear of missing him and getting countered

NOBODY has the game plan the defeat Mayweather and even if you do that don't mean you can pull it off EFFECTIVELY FOR 12 Rounds against him without him figuring it out

Canelo knew he wasn't going to beat Mayweather after the first 4 Round, Guerrero as well! If Mayweather respect you he may GIVE YOU A ROUND OR 2 like I thought he did for the Cotto fight then he turns it back up and end any Confidence or Rally you thought you had going against him

[Young Money]

You need a cagey style like Hopkins to beat Mayweather.

He matches him with ring IQ, makes the fight ugly, gets dirty on the inside and mauls him. Combined with some "accidental" head butts and you take Mayweather out of him comfort zone.

Floyd is just as good at knowing these tricks + he is very athletic, so it would be difficult to employ.

I really think Hopkins is clever enough to give him a good chessmatch type fight.