How good was Floyd?

[mikeeod]

In my opinion, Floyd was great. He was that rare athlete who was naturally gifted but also an extremely hard worker who had phenomenal skills and ring IQ. I’m not sure if you were asking how “good” his skills were or how “good” his career was, but for me the answer to both is “great”.

Floyd started at 130 and was not a big man (Chico Corrales was much larger at 130), yet he went up and won vs elite 147/154 pounders. He was able to accomplish this through speed, stamina, and because he was so much better/ more skilled over everyone else. Starting with his career, he had some great wins over Chico (unified a portion of the belts and cleaned out 130 since Freitas and Casamayor weren’t in a rush to fight him), won the lineal title at 135 from a very tough/formidable Jose Luis Castillo, stopped the undefeated Ricky Hatton, and beat Oscar, Shane, Canelo, and Manny. I don’t hold his lack of knockouts at the higher weights against Floyd, I feel he was like Sweet Pea Whitaker in that he moved up way past his ideal weight and still dominated but didn’t have the pop to knock the much larger men out.

As great as Floyd’s career was, I feel his skills inside the ring were even more impressive. Watch his fights vs Chico and Hatton and try and name one thing Floyd didn’t do masterfully. Great jab. Great footwork. Great counters. Great work to the body. Great defense (multi-layered with head movement, slipping, parrying, blocking…etc.). Good punching power. Great footwork. Fighting inside and outside, off the ropes and center of the ring, and dictating pace, distance, and location of the fight. Boxing IQ that allowed him to make adjustments and completely take over competitive fights.

I can see the arguments against Floyd. While I don’t agree with them, I can see how people have come to those perspectives, especially considering the emotional reaction to the Money Maywesther/TBE schtick he moved to later in his career. I think Floyd was very much like Ali and Ric Flair in that he understood the heel/bad guy creates more passion and therefore sells more tickets. Floyd was a great fighter, was a great promoter ( of himself), and is a successful businessman.

[VG_Addict]

What if Floyd fought and beat Casamayor and Freitas at 130, Dorin and Spadafora at 135, Hatton at 140, prime Pacquiao in 2011, Bradley in 2012, and Canelo without a catchweight in 2013?

Where would he rank all-time? Top 10? Even beating prime Pacquiao and Canelo without a catchweight would dramatically increase his ATG standing. I think doing all of the above would give him the best resume since SRL.

[mikeeod]

What if Floyd fought and beat Casamayor and Freitas at 130, Dorin and Spadafora at 135, Hatton at 140, prime Pacquiao in 2011, Bradley in 2012, and Canelo without a catchweight in 2013?

Where would he rank all-time? Top 10? Even beating prime Pacquiao and Canelo without a catchweight would dramatically increase his ATG standing. I think doing all of the above would give him the best resume since SRL.

I think the prime PAC fight would have helped push his case higher. Floyd beat Hatton at 147 but they were the same size and that is the exact fight it would’ve been at 140, so he gets full credit for that one in my book. Freitas and Casamayor would have been good wins- but both of those guys were around Corrales’s level and wouldn’t have added much at all. Dorrin and Paul Spadafora were average fighters on the level of Angel Manfredy, Jesus Chavez, Famoso Hernandez…etc., they become footnotes like the others Floyd beat at their level. I would’ve liked to have seen the Bradley fight but again, what could he have done against Floyd to win? It would have been interesting but Floyd was levels better.

I can see a case for ranking Floyd in the top 10 of ATGs. Difficult for me personally to rank him over Ali, Robinson, Armstrong, Leonard…etc., but he accomplished so much that I can’t see how he couldn’t be top 15.

[VG_Addict]

What if Floyd fought and beat Casamayor and Freitas at 130, Dorin and Spadafora at 135, Hatton at 140, prime Pacquiao in 2011, Bradley in 2012, and Canelo without a catchweight in 2013?

Where would he rank all-time? Top 10? Even beating prime Pacquiao and Canelo without a catchweight would dramatically increase his ATG standing. I think doing all of the above would give him the best resume since SRL.

I think the prime PAC fight would have helped push his case higher. Floyd beat Hatton at 147 but they were the same size and that is the exact fight it would’ve been at 140, so he gets full credit for that one in my book. Freitas and Casamayor would have been good wins- but both of those guys were around Corrales’s level and wouldn’t have added much at all. Dorrin and Paul Spadafora were average fighters on the level of Angel Manfredy, Jesus Chavez, Famoso Hernandez…etc., they become footnotes like the others Floyd beat at their level. I would’ve liked to have seen the Bradley fight but again, what could he have done against Floyd to win? It would have been interesting but Floyd was levels better.

I can see a case for ranking Floyd in the top 10 of ATGs. Difficult for me personally to rank him over Ali, Robinson, Armstrong, Leonard…etc., but he accomplished so much that I can’t see how he couldn’t be top 15.

I can't see Bradley beating Floyd, or even having any real success. Everything Bradley does well, Floyd does better.

And it's telling that Spadafora is more known for giving Floyd trouble in sparring than for anything he did in his pro career. He went life and death with Sosa and Dorin. Floyd gets criticized for "ducking" Spadafora, but I don't think anyone would realistically pick Spadafora to beat him. I doubt even Spadafora himself believes he would have beaten Floyd.