Roach says "Manny will fight shane at 142 not 147"

[RP33]

Floyd is getting the criticism because there are a ton of elite, tough welterweights out there and he chose to fight Marquez, whose last fight was at 135, and has made a career at 130 and below. Floyd has five fights where he could fight boxers who won't be smaller and won't be weight drained. And on that note, other than Oscar, when has Floyd fought a bigger fighter?

It is more that from a fan's perspective, I want to see Floyd challenged. I'm bored seeing him fight smaller men so he can showcase his skills.

You're making it seem like Floyd is a monster puncher who keeps KO'ing smaller guys.. Floyd has fought PLENTY of guys his size throughout his career, and several guys that are bigger.. besides DLH.. Diego Corrales was undefeated and had tons of power at 135 and floyd took him out..

i will agree that there are "bigger" guys to fight at WW, but if he lost to a margarito or a clottey or a paul williams couldn't you play devils advocate and say that they beat a guy who moved up in weight and only fought "smaller" guys at 147 while he was in the weight class?

bigger and smaller are relative terms..

as far as manny saying he'd fight shane at 142 and not 147, does that mean he wouldn't fight floyd at 147 either? Interesting concept..

It comes down to is roach worried that 147 is too high for manny? or does he just not want moseley at his best weight.. if you asked him, i'm sure he would say that it's too high a weight for manny but we all know that it's really because he wants moseley to be drained.

First, take into consideration that I give Floyd total credit as a boxer. He isn't my favorite boxer, but I am by no means a hater. But even if I were a Floyd fan boy, he hasn't had a career defining win in five years. Think about it, what were Floyd's biggest wins? I'd go as far as to say that he hasn't had a career defining win since the second Castillo fight. Not that he didn't remain undefeated and didn't dominate good boxers, but he hasn't had a career defining win in quite a while. My memory may be fading me here, but on average, I think I'm right. Beating Hatton and Marquez won't do it for me either. But, what if he beat Paul Williams or Miguel Cotto or Shane Mosley? Or two of the three?

I've wanted to see him to test his skills against welterweights. Yet since he fought ODLH at 154 and appeared fine at that weight, he has fought blown up light weights and junior middle weights.

I'll try and respond to your post, point-by-point.

1. Floyd is not a monster puncher, if anything in his arsenal is below par, it is his punching power.
2. Who has Floyd fought that was bigger?
3. Who has Floyd fought that at their natural weight was bigger?
4. If he lost to Margarito or Williams, I would say Floyd wasn't a great at welterweight. That he picked on smaller guys. And also that Floyd has fought at 147 for the last two-three years so it isn't a situation of bigger guys picking on a little guy, Floyd has made a living for two years fighting in their weight class, so I wouldn't put down their victory.
5. The thing is each of the people you mentioned have fought each other. Cotto has fought Mosley and Margarito, Mosley has fought Cotto and Margarito, Margarito same, Williams has fought Margarito. Meanwhile, the number one of that weight class hasn't fought one of them. If he is too small to fight welters, he shouldn't be fighting at welterweight against smaller fighters (Now, personally, I'd never bet against Floyd against any of those guys, but you posed the hypothetical).
6. Bigger and Smaller are relative. Being a "natural" welterweight is relative. However, there is a case to be made that Margarito, Cotto, Mosely, and Clottey are all natural welterweights. Shane has fought around 147 for a long time. He has fought as high as 154 and as low as 135. He is a natural welterweight. Antonio Margarito has fought as high as 154 and as low as 135. He is a natural welterweight. Cotto has never fought above 147 - he is a natural welterweight. Paul Williams has fought as low as 147 and as high as 160 atlthough he may be a natural junior middleweight who can fight at 147. Floyd. Floyd has fought as high as 154 and as low as 130. He too may be a natural welterweight or maybe not...but, either way he fights at 147.
7. 147 may be too high for Manny. Would you bet on Manny against Mosely or Mayweather at 147? I wouldn't. Would you bet on Manny against Mosely or Mayweather at 142? Maybe - I still wouldn't. But, maybe.

I feel the same way, generally about mayweather from what you've described, except he's my fav fighter to watch.. but i will not give him any more credit than he deserves, so don't think im coming from there..

as far as #1 in your post, you just reiterated what i said, so, not sure the point there..

#2 - #3.. corralles wasn't naturally bigger? DLH wasn't naturally bigger? It's not like he asked them to drain weight to fight them, so still not sure how you can discredit that.

#4.. a bit of a contradiction here.. you're putting down floyd for fighting smaller guys while he is at 147 (meaning he hasn't fought any true welterweights) but you wouldn't put down THEIR victory (meaning cotto/clottey/margarito) if they beat him? This was EXACTLY my point. If Floyd wasn't such a big mouth and constantly proclaimed himself as the best fighter then it would be REAL easy to say, "well floyd hasn't fought anyone his size, of course Clotty/Cotto/Margarito beat him.. big deal".. Except it would be a big deal because of his P4P status.. just like it would be a big deal if floyd beat JMM/Manny and that he beat Hatton..

I think we sometimes, as boxing fanatics, get too caught up in technicalities.. i'm not saying that weight classes should be overlooked completely, but Floyd could careless what his weight class is considered. He's fighting at or around 147, and he wants the biggest and best pay days from the most popular fighters.

#5.. again, i feel the weight class bit is trivial, but i do agree that TECHNICALLY speaking, if he is going to stay at 147, then he should fight true welterweights.. but with that said, the JMM fight is at a catch weight i believe, so that throws the whole "if he is going to consider himself a welterweight" nonsense out the window..

#6.. again, i agree with your assessments on the fighters you mentioned except floyd.. Floyd fought the majority of his career at 130, fought a few fights at 135, a few at 140, a few at 147 and for his fight at 154 he weighed in at 150.. remember that the weight classes are weight limits.. in a discussion such as this sort, where every pound counts, this makes a difference.

point of the matter is that just because floyd may have fought a fighter who came up in weight, that doesn't mean he is automatically the bigger man. DLH/Pacman was quite a weight difference, but mayweather was never involved in anything that drastic, it's just that his status as a "welterweight" seems to get in the way of the truth behind the technicalities of weight classes..

when discussing PBF it's more P4P status than weight classes.. ask a casual fan, meaning one of the millions of fans watching his fights, if they knew hatton came up in weight to fight floyd.. in fact, i can't think of a time watching a floyd fight where someone in the room said, "floyd is just too big for him".. he was just better.. he would do the same to cotto/moseley etc.. but those fights won't make as much money as other he has to choose from, which is why we probably won't see them.. i HOPE we do, but we probably won't.. Paul williams would be a stretch, i'd be the first to admit that.. but in the same respect, williams went up to 160 in weight and it would almost be a david/goliath matchup.