Mosley vs Mayweather

[Mr140]

Well Lyle to tell you truth the Mosley fight with Cotto could of gone either way and if he jumps on him early he might have a chance to knock him out i not sure what place Cotto is in right now but Mosley is on fire and after completly dominating the man of the divsion Margarito and with his new trainer i think he while not stop just there we while see though.

[RozzySean]

OK - here are my thoughts on the matchup itself. It's hard for me to break down, because both Mosley and Floyd are such unique fighters. I can't think of anybody that Mosley has fought who fights Floyd's style. His only recent fight against a slickster-type was against Collazo. He's decent fighter, but he's no Floyd Mayweather.

I looked back through boxrec to see if there were any names on Floyds list that are stylistically like Mosley. Zab Judah is the closest. They obviously aren't a perfect comparison, but it's closest we got. They are both boxer-punchers with fast and hands and quick feet. Zab is a southpaw and touch faster, probably, and Shane is orthodox, bigger and tougher, certainly.

My first reaction is that Mosley doesn't have a chance. 39 have tried and failed, and he's fought great fighters of all styles. Floyd is too fast, too elusive, too good a counterpuncher. Floyd may not be known for his jab now, but once upon a time, he had a damn good one and he's great mover. While we know the blueprint for giving Mosley a hard time, Floyd is so good he many not need to follow that blueprint to win. Nobody has even come close be beating him since Castillo, and Floyd became a better and smarter fighter since that fight and he won a rematch convincingly, showing that he can learn to overcome a style that was troubled him. He proved again he could beat that style by beating Hatton. Shane on the other hand, lost both rematches with the fighters that beat him. He made both fights much closer the second time around, but he still came up short. This is open and shut for Floyd, right?

So I have to ask the age old question, how do you beat Floyd Mayweather? Not only has he never been beaten, nobody has come close since Castillo. Why not use Castillo I as a blueprint? I don't think it works. Clearly Floyd learned some lessons about fighting swarmers. He beat JLC clearly the second time around. Hatton has his moments, but he still ended up getting stopped. So maybe a bigger (but equally fast) version of Hatton with a granite chin could take him the distance in a competitive fight. Well, that's basically what Oscar tried to do with him. He didn't fight exactly like Hatton, but he tried to swarm and bully Floyd, but he just ended up getting pot-shotted all night and rolling and countering when Oscar got him on the ropes. The result was a competitive fight, but a clear win for Mayweather.

Now I gotta get creative. Who else has had small amounts of success against Mayweather who didn't try to swarm him? Has anybody won a few rounds off him without swarming? Only two guys and only one against the current, fully evolved PBF. One was Emanuel Augustus back, who used his awkward, unconventional, and slick style to give Floyd a bit of a puzzle to solve. That was back in 2000. Recently only Zab Judah, for three or four rounds had had any success. Still, Zab made Floyd look human for four rounds. This makes me believe that Mosley can make a very good fight with Floyd. While Mosley has never fought anybody like Floyd, Floyd hasn't been up against somebody with the combination of handspeed, size, power, and chin of Mosley. He's fought faster, he's fought bigger, he's fought some big hitters but never has he fought somebody that has all of that together.

Like Lyle said, Mosley is good against brawlers, but he's also beaten Oscar, who has a decent jab. Vargas also has a decent jab, but I would consider him a boxer-puncher with a brawlers mentality and a suspect chin. We know that having a good jab is the key to beating Mosley, somehow he overcame Oscar who has probably as good a jab as Cotto. What was the difference? Forrest, Winky, and Cotto all have better rights than Oscar. Oscar's jab is a big naked because he's overly reliant on the left hook. It's not just he jab. It's having a good 1-2 that beats Mosley.

I'm not sure that's a good sign for Mosley. Even though he's not classic 1-2 boxers, Floyd is a two handed fighter. Even if he's not jabbing his left hook is excellent and his cross is the fastest in the business. Stylistically, he's not open the Shane's overhand right because he rolls it and counters off it. His defensive hand position with his right makes him almost immune to the left hook. The most effective punches against him I've seen are Oscar's jab, (which he stopped throwing because he Floyd was countering over it with rights) and Judah's straight left (but Judah was mentally week and fell apart once those stopped landing he he started getting countered). Shane will never quit, but he has gotten frustrated.

I think that if anybody has the tools to get to Mayweather, it's Mosley. I just don't think Cotto has the speed. I see the tools, but I can't figure out the gameplan. Not for the life of me do I know how Shane should try to break down Floyd. However, in Mosley's favor, is Nazim Richardon. Nazim has made Shane start to jab again, and he would need it have a prayer at Mayweather. If anybody can come up with a gameplan, it's Richardson. If Nazim has trained Shane for the Cotto fight, I think there would have been a different result.

I'm not sure Mosley can win, but I'm convinced that Mosley would be Mayweather's toughest fight to date and if anybody can beat him, it's Shane. It would be close, entertaining, and worth the 54.95.

[Taeth]

IMO its pretty clear that somebody like Pacquiao who is very fast, but southpaw has the best chance at beating Mayweather. Mayweather's one defensive flaw has been against the left cross, and against southpaws in general because he comes forward against them.

The reason Floyd is terrible for Mosley is because IMO he is still too good defensively for Mosley to really land anything effective, Mosley doesn't have a great jab like Oscar did to really stop Mayweather from throwing punches nor does he have Oscar's size or height. Also the two punches that land very easily on Mosley are the jab and the right cross (like Vargas, Forrest, and Cotto all landed with ease on Mosley).

[RozzySean]

IMO its pretty clear that somebody like Pacquiao who is very fast, but southpaw has the best chance at beating Mayweather. Mayweather's one defensive flaw has been against the left cross, and against southpaws in general because he comes forward against them.

The reason Floyd is terrible for Mosley is because IMO he is still too good defensively for Mosley to really land anything effective, Mosley doesn't have a great jab like Oscar did to really stop Mayweather from throwing punches nor does he have Oscar's size or height. Also the two punches that land very easily on Mosley are the jab and the right cross (like Vargas, Forrest, and Cotto all landed with ease on Mosley).

The logic behind saying Pacquiao is solid and it works based on what we saw from the Judah fight. Floyd did figure out how to handle it, though, just like figured out Castillo in the second fight, but it's still a good point and I can't argue with it.

I'm not sure Floyd is "terrible" for Mosley because I don't think Floyd has a "great" jab and he hasn't bothered to use it much lately anyway. Can he dust off that old jab from 5 years ago? Also Oscar is only 1.5 inches tall, his reach is actually shorter, and Mosley is probably the stronger of the two. IMO, right-crosses only land cleanly on Mosley behind a good hard jab to disrupt his timing and hide the right hand. The fighters that beat him were excellent 1-2 punchers. Floyd throws a lot of naked straight rights and left hook - right combos. It's not his style to work off the jab like Cotto, Forrest, and Winky. I'm not sure Floyd will be able to have his way offensively with Mosley the way you think he will, and in all of Mosley's losses, it's been the opponents ability to disrupt his offense that was allowed Mosley get the worst of it. You don't rate Mosley's defense in the first place. I don't think he's a defensive wizard, but I give him more credit than you do on that front.

The other point you make is that Floyd may be too good defensively. Maybe or maybe not. Albsur pointed out that Mosley's jab is the kind that is prone to getting countered by Floyd's rights. Also true. This is where is comes down to Shane's own offensive ability, athleticism and Nazim Richardson coming up with with a plan that will surprise Mayweather so that Mosley can get to him offensively and spoil the offensive gameplan of Mayweather. Mayweather can and has been hit and hit by lesser fighters than Mosley.

That's a tall order, but it may be possible. For example, you know that Floyd will look to counter over the jab with straight rights. You know he will roll the cross and counter with a right uppercut or cross. He has certain patented moves that give people fits. Shane has the handspeed that he might be able to bait Mayweather with the jab into throwing the right and get off a counter left hooks, hook off the jab and return with right hands that are faster and harder than anything he's seen. Shane would have to fight a smart fight and choose his spots, but he's the most all around physically gifted fighter Floyd will have fought, if happens.

Against Oscar, he didn't have to worry too much about the right hand. He needed to neutralize the jab and be careful not to eat the big left hook. Hatton is also primarily a left hand puncher and (at least until the Malignaggi fight) not using his jab much. Although Shane doesn't have a power jab, he does have great power in both hands...his left hook and right are both KO, punches, and he can turn southpaw for stretches effectively.

[El Kabong]

Well Lyle to tell you truth the Mosley fight with Cotto could of gone either way and if he jumps on him early he might have a chance to knock him out i not sure what place Cotto is in right now but Mosley is on fire and after completly dominating the man of the divsion Margarito and with his new trainer i think he while not stop just there we while see though.

Cotto took everything Shane had and beat him....Margarito didn't

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cfpybbJF4wU


Cotto's style was just bad for Shane, he didn't allow Shane to tie him up, he had good defense, he backed Shane up....what more do you want? I am actually more excited about a Mosley-Cotto II than a Margarito-Cotto II!

[Mr140]

Lyle that fight was so close it could of gone any way i had it like a draw or somthing i just sayinging it was a close fight and as for Margarito i think he wont be fighting for a while because of the brutal beating he took he while take off at least a year or maybe like 10 months then get back.