Who Has The Best Chance of Beating Floyd?

[Rican]

There have been many posts about Mayweather and how he should fight Cotto next and pretty much a lot of bickering as to Floyd's legacy. I guess a good question is: Who in the welterweight division or even junior middleweight has the best chance of defeating Floyd and why?

[The Rookie Fan]

Williams because of all his physical advantages and his high punch output. He has also shown that he can take a punch so PBF by KO is unlikely.

All he has to do is not go after Floyd, not try to hurt him. Just stay outside and Tommy Gun his a** for 12 rounds.

But this fight will never happend because Williams is not a big name and has not established himself as a champion yet.

[Tysonbruno]

Himself

[albsur2006]

Floyd vs welterweight contenders

Miguel Cotto - Cotto showed some quickness against an old SSM, but against Mayweather I think that he'll look slow. If he couldn't stop Paulie Malignaggi @ 140 and Paulie actually won like 4 of the 12 rounds what makes you think he's gonna be able to stop Mayweather. Plus, Cotto has major defensive weaknesses that people never exploit. I haven't seen an elite fighter in a while that is as susceptible to uppercuts as Cotto is. Floyd will take that to the bank and UD Cotto or possibly stop him late in a fight of the year candidate.

Antonio Margarito - This isn't 2006 and nobody's falling for that "most feared welterweight" this time. Tony looked unreal against Golden Johnson but Mayweather won't be in awe of Margarito's size. Mayweather knows that he couldn't sit on the inside with Margarito as often as he did Hatton, so he won't try. Mayweather will potshot Tony all night and make him look slow as hell and win a very boring wide UD.

Kermit Cintron - Kermit looked absolutely horrible in his last fight but I think he suffers from the Zab Judah syndrome a little bit. He'll come fully prepared for a Floyd fight. Cintron is a BIG puncher but he would be finding air all day. Cintron also has switched his style from stalking to counterpunching recently. You don't try to counter punch an elite boxer like Mayweather. Cintron would probably land a couple big shots on the arms and shoulders but nothing effective. Cintron would take punishment all night and get stopped on cuts or lose a wide UD in a decent fight.

Shane Mosley - Maybe 1999-2000 Mosley would have had a shot. I've always believed that the Shane Mosley that defeated ODLH in their first fight at 147 could have given problems to any welterweight from any era. He was as determined and talented as anyone. But in 2008, Mosley is simply too old and has lost his quick reflexes. He still appears to be quick on his feet and with his body movements but Cotto proved with his right hand that Mosley's "speed" is all smoke and mirrors. Shane has never really been truly fast and quick defensively, he's always used his speed on offense. Mayweather's speed is extremely effective speed on both offense and defense and it would prove to be too much for Mosley at this point. BTW, if Mosley can't deal with Cotto's right hand lead, Mayweather would torch him all night with his. Mayweather wins a clear UD in a pretty well paced and good fight.

Oscar De La Hoya (The Rematch) - No. Mayweather will not agree to a small ring and will demand ODLH come down to 147. Oscar at 147 was weight drained in 1999, and it will be even worse in 2007. Oscar's stamina problems have dogged him throughout his career and it's only gonna get worse. He would need to fight the same fight for all 12 rounds to even have a shot at beating Mayweather and he can't even sustain the stamina needed to fight with Floyd for 6. Floyd will take a UD in a slightly better fight than the original.

Paul Williams - Ding, ding, ding. Now we finally have a match. Williams freakish size and most importantly, his workrate will give Mayweather problems. Mayweather has always fought in a very measured pace and found ways during rounds to take a break for extended periods of time on the ropes while his opponent punches himself out or expends his energy by trying to bully him. Williams works at a distance behind a flurry of punches and Floyd would not be able rest on the ropes and win the rounds like he usually does because Williams 100 punch a round output would dwarf Mayweather's usual output. Mayweather always appears fresh because of his world class training regimen and measured pace but in this fight we will truly see if Floyd's stamina is second to none (I think it is). The problem with Williams is that his defense sucks and even Sharmba Mitchell was able to land huge shots on him. Floyd will be able to score, the question is how much will Floyd score if he allows Williams to throw 100 punches a round. If Floyd can raise his tempo and increase his workrate considerably, I think he wins a UD. If he can't, Williams will win the fight. IMO, it's not like Hatton-Floyd or Floyd-ODLH, this is the definition of a true toss up fight.

[ICB]

Paul Williams or Mayweather himself.

[Kel]

Williams because of all his physical advantages and his high punch output. He has also shown that he can take a punch so PBF by KO is unlikely.

All he has to do is not go after Floyd, not try to hurt him. Just stay outside and Tommy Gun his a** for 12 rounds.

But this fight will never happend because Williams is not a big name and has not established himself as a champion yet.

Hatton can take a punch but like we saw....its the punch you dont see or expect that can seriously stun you.

[CutMeMick]

I clicked in here and didn't read any replies I just clicked 'Reply' but without reading I'm gonna guess everyones posting 'Williams'
Because of height
Style
Output in punching
etc. etc. etc.

The biggest misconception about Williams is when someone here and I wont mention any names as to not offend that person. Said and I quote:
"Williams is like Hearns"
I rememer OumaFan and myself jumped all over his ass for making that comparison....

The kids good no doubt and showed a lot against Margarito. Aside from Margarito we haven't seen how the kid will handle anyone of the top dawgs at WW.

[The Fightfan]

Call me crazy but I think Cintron is the man.I think he can take Floyd out early.

[Bookkeeper]

I clicked in here and didn't read any replies I just clicked 'Reply' but without reading I'm gonna guess everyones posting 'Williams'
Because of height
Style
Output in punching
etc. etc. etc.

The biggest misconception about Williams is when someone here and I wont mention any names as to not offend that person. Said and I quote:
"Williams is like Hearns"
I rememer OumaFan and myself jumped all over his a** for making that comparison....

The kids good no doubt and showed a lot against Margarito. Aside from Margarito we haven't seen how the kid will handle anyone of the top dawgs at WW.

I did not see that post but Paul Williams is nothing compared to Tommy Hearns unless you are comparing size (Maybe that's what he meant), but Williams has the best shot of beating PBF in my mind, but I don't see Williams sticking around at 147 long enough to take that bout.

[CutMeMick]

I clicked in here and didn't read any replies I just clicked 'Reply' but without reading I'm gonna guess everyones posting 'Williams'
Because of height
Style
Output in punching
etc. etc. etc.

The biggest misconception about Williams is when someone here and I wont mention any names as to not offend that person. Said and I quote:
"Williams is like Hearns"
I rememer OumaFan and myself jumped all over his a** for making that comparison....

The kids good no doubt and showed a lot against Margarito. Aside from Margarito we haven't seen how the kid will handle anyone of the top dawgs at WW.

I did not see that post but Paul Williams is nothing compared to Tommy Hearns unless you are comparing size (Maybe that's what he meant), but Williams has the best shot of beating PBF in my mind, but I don't see Williams sticking around at 147 long enough to take that bout.

Oh! no that person ment it as fighters.
I think he went as far as saying they were both punchers.
Keep in mind this was when Williams had just beat Rios. So Williams hadn't been seen much on the lime light.
In the event I had seen him and I believe a couple of others had also seen Williams prior to that.

[Irish Rover]

Cintron and Margarito dont have a chance imo. Two more Baldomir fights for Floyd imo (Okay that might be unerestimating them a tad ). Mosleys ship has sailed. No way is he beating Floyd. And as for a DLH rematch it would be an absolute stroll for Floyd this time around. He already comprehensively outboxed DLH and anyway nobody wants to see that fight.


Cotto has a serious chance and williams due to his akwardeness would be very tough for Floyd. Either of those could definately beat PBF but you'd still have to have PBF as the favourite.


If Floyd fights and beats those four (Cotto, Williams, Margarito, Cintron) he is all time great status imo and possibly the best Welterweight of all time.

[gudnite vienna]

if it was possible for winky Wright to get bak down to Junior Middleweight, i think he would be in with a great chance and would definaltly take some rounds of Mayweather and make it an extreamly close fight..

I dont believe he could make the weight now though!

[Mar]

Himself

Couldn't be said better......i'd want to see him against paul williams if anybody. I don't think any of them would beat him right now though.

[ono]

Nobody can beat him.

Cotto probably has the best shot but i can't see him beating him.

[The Rookie Fan]

Most people should know by now that Williams is no Hearns.

The reason I say Williams is based mainly on his high punch putup and because he showed in the Margarito fight that he can stay outside if he wants to. If I am not mistaken there will by an 6+" reach difference and if you add the hight difference to that it will be more like 10". That is a big cushin. All he has to do is not get any crazy ideas of trying to get inside and KO Floyd. Just keep punching even if he does not hit anything.

If there is one problem with Mayweather is that sometimes he does'nt do enough. He waits a little too much to counter and sometimes allows the other fighter to outwork him like he did Hatton and Oscar.

I am not fooling myself in thinking it will be easy. Even if he does that it will probably be a real close fight as Mayweather will pull out all the stops and do every trick in the book as he sees Williams taking the lead.

Kel, Williams got hit with some serious bombs by Margarito in the 10th and 11th round and he still came back strong in the 12th. I don't see Floyd doing any serious damage unless Williams gets unreasonably careless.