Did Floyd "retire" in 2007 because he was shook by the 147 division heating up?

[$Bullsfam$]

It was definitely some shady shiz. But he carefully fights when he knows will win. I definitely think he smartly waited out for Cotto, Margarito, and Mosley to fall off. Definitely could of really defined his career then and really thats what made room for Pac to shine beating all these guys in the process. Then Pac falls off and Floyd still looks the best.

Not saying Floyd isn't great, Hopkins and him are the best defensive technical boxers in this sport since Whitaker. He could of just been so much greater. It does kill some of his luster but he's still the man.

I'll really be impressed if after Guerrero he speaks out and gets Pacqiuao to fight him if he really wanted it he could give Pac a generous 65-35. Thats still a crapload of money. Then fight the winner of a Trout vs Canelo meeting. Let Marquez and Rios/Alvarado 2 winner battle it out be a good going out fight for Marquez, maybe a 5th Pacqiuao fight ONLY if Pac makes it a close decision loss to Floyd if he cant catch him with a shot.

[Ray*]

Anyone that thinks a boxer who had Oscar De la Hoya rematch on the table and retired was avoiding Arum based fighters must either be ******ed or lack boxing knowledge.

[$Bullsfam$]

Anyone that thinks a boxer who had Oscar De la Hoya rematch on the table and retired was avoiding Arum based fighters must either be ******ed or lack boxing knowledge.

Cotto and Margarito weren't exactly Oscar De La Hoya numbers and names just younger and tougher. and Floyd already beat him clearly. Their was no need for a rematch it would have done nothing for Floyd. Oscar got a gift scorecard.

If not a duck it's definitely very shady and tough to argue in favor of his retiring. I'm just saying he could have took his career to a much greater level had he fought certain guys earlier. The Pac fight not being made hurts both of them too. Its just hard to say he's greater then guys like Whitaker, Leonard, Duran, Hearns, Hagler, Robinson when they all fought the best and toughest guys in their era.

[Rk16]

Seen as Cotto and Shane turned down the chance to fight him before he fought Oscar I doubt he held any fear about facing them
I think Floyd thought he was made for life with the Oscar and Hatton money but he went through it a lot faster than expected
Truth be told Margarito was relevant for one fight and then got knocked out by Mosley
Floyd was gone for a year and a half and these opponents only had a couple of fights by the time of his return but because none of them could keep winning its deemed like it was some great time for ww
He came back to fight Pacquiao who was considered better than all these other fighters

[-PBP-]

thats how I see it as well!!...the Cotto fight was bigger than the Pac fight imo

Hell no. Floyd vs Cotto never even came close to being bigger than the Pacquiao fight.

Cotto and Margarito weren't exactly Oscar De La Hoya numbers and names just younger and tougher. and Floyd already beat him clearly. Their was no need for a rematch it would have done nothing for Floyd. Oscar got a gift scorecard.

If not a duck it's definitely very shady and tough to argue in favor of his retiring. I'm just saying he could have took his career to a much greater level had he fought certain guys earlier. The Pac fight not being made hurts both of them too. Its just hard to say he's greater then guys like Whitaker, Leonard, Duran, Hearns, Hagler, Robinson when they all fought the best and toughest guys in their era.

If Floyd fought all the guys mentioned in this thread he would still rank below all of them in terms of resume. What's the #1 criticism of Floyd's resume when comparing him to other ATG's? This comes up in every single argument about his resume.

Floyd has never beaten an ATG fighter in his prime?

If he beat Williams, Margarito and Cotto that would not address that issue. Yes, he got the hell out of dodge when the division got hot and that seems a little shady. But the guys he supposedly "avoided" would just have been a few more solid wins over ranked opponents on his resume. If the Pacquiao fight was made in 2009, nobody would of gave a **** about Cotto, Margarito and Williams.

[The Hammer]

Floyd wasn't even in the same weight class those years

Floyd fought people from smaller weight classes, JMM had to move up from 135 to 147.

[V.WEBB]

The guy has YET to fight a fighter promoted by Bob Arum. Think about that.

[The Big Dunn]

Floyd said Gatti was "just a clubfighter". I don't know if that's true or not...

But if you don't understand Tszyu and Forrest were more of a threat to beat Floyd than Gatti, then you don't know shit about boxing.

what I do know from speaking directly to floyd in vegas and sitting next to gatti on the plane ride home after the ODH/bhop fight is that their management teams and HBO had begun building up to a planned gatti floyd fight because both were signed to the network.

if know as much about boxing as you claim, then you know the truth about kosta, shane and all the other garbage you've spewed in this thread. yet you wont acknowledge it.

[check hook]

Anyone that thinks a boxer who had Oscar De la Hoya rematch on the table and retired was avoiding Arum based fighters must either be ******ed or lack boxing knowledge.

I'm glad you bought up this very salient point. I was about to do so after noticing to my amazement no one had. Floyd fought ODLH in May of 2007. Had he not retired his very next fight would have been a rematch with ODLH in Sept or Nov, or even possibly the following May. He baulked at that idea because he felt he wasn't being offered a fairer split after the numbers came in for fight one.

Let's assume he rematched Oscar in Sept of 07 and won (him winning being a very safe assumption). What would his next fight be in May 2008? Would it be Cotto or Margarito? Well NO!!! It would be Hatton. That's May 2008. Presumably he wouldn't fight again until later in the year or the year following. Margarito fought Cotto in mid 2008. It's probable that still would have happened with Mayweather rematching ODLH then fighitng Hatton, and if you actually look at not just the PROBABLE, but almost certain chain of events if he didn't "take a vacation" he wouldn't have fought Cotto anyway. People would be calling for him to fight Margo, that is unless ofcourse Margo fought Shane first (they fought early 2009). Given Floy'd propensity for layoffs it is likely Margo train get's derailed by SSM and the Floyd fights SSM.

If you actually look at it and Floyd didn't take a vacation it would look something like this:


Sep or Nov 07 = rematch ODLH
May 08 = Hatton
Nov or Dec 08 (keeping in mind he fought Cotto in June) = Margo (unlikely, but possible)
May or Sept 09 = SSM who just beat Margo in Jan 09.

Floyd's first order of business had he not "retired" would have been ODLH, and then Hatton. Margarito and Cotto wouldn't have even entered the equation until these two fights had occured.

Some of the reasons Floyd retired, and he's actually mentioned this in an interview before was:

1. He deserved more for ODLH rematch given the magnitude of the numbers which he (rightly) viewed he played a big part in. Remember it's about 900k better than Oscar had done with any other fighter.
2. He really did want some time off
3. To make himself a bigger drawcard on his return once the sport had time to miss him and he could get the hype of a comeback.

It had nothing to do with Cotto. I'm not sure why everyone thinks that. If he was avoiding any fighter of the two (Cotto or Marg) it would have been Marg.

[check hook]

Cotto and Margarito weren't exactly Oscar De La Hoya numbers and names just younger and tougher. and Floyd already beat him clearly. Their was no need for a rematch it would have done nothing for Floyd. Oscar got a gift scorecard.

If not a duck it's definitely very shady and tough to argue in favor of his retiring. I'm just saying he could have took his career to a much greater level had he fought certain guys earlier. The Pac fight not being made hurts both of them too. Its just hard to say he's greater then guys like Whitaker, Leonard, Duran, Hearns, Hagler, Robinson when they all fought the best and toughest guys in their era.

Seriously, don't be ridiculous. The gift on the cards was because of Oscar's stature and in all likelihood to further justify a rematch. If he didn't take time off the rematch would have been the first fight. About Pac, it hurts both of them, and maybe Pac more now that JMM sparked him out.