Who Fought the Best Floyd Mayweather (2009-2017)?

[Ruthless-RKO]

Easy enough question..

Juan Manuel Marquez
Shane Mosley
Victor Ortiz
Miguel Cotto
Robert Guerrero
Canelo Alvarez
Marcos Maidana
Manny Pacquiao
Andre Berto
Conor McGregor
-------------------

He was probably never at his peak during this time, but still unbeatable.. So between these boxers and McGregor, who fought the best version of Mayweather, during his 2nd pro run.

[DrDuke]

It's tough to say. He dominated everyone, except Maidana in their first fight, which was close. Overall his fights were about the same. Sometimes he took good shots, which, however, had no effect on fights themself, like in Mosley, Maidana 2, Pacquiao and even McGregor bouts. But still he demonstrated similar performanes, I don't know, what fight to pick and based on what.

[Ruthless-RKO]

It's tough to say. He dominated everyone, except Maidana in their first fight, which was close. Overall his fights were about the same. Sometimes he took good shots, which, however, had no effect on fights themself, like in Mosley, Maidana 2, Pacquiao and even McGregor bouts. But still he demonstrated similar performanes, I don't know, what fight to pick and based on what.

The Maidana 1 fight was tough because he wasn't expecting Maidana to fight that way. Obviously, he adjusted and won the rematch with any question.

I do agree with what you're saying. It may be a simple question to pick an opponent, but it is a hard decision to make because he did dominate everyone.

Maybe Cotto did. Put this in reverse. After their bout, Mayweather said Cotto was his toughest opponent. Mayweather dominated that bout too, but the fact that he said Cotto was his thoughest, would that not mean Mayweather would have had to be at his best too? That's just one way to look at it.

[DrDuke]

It's tough to say. He dominated everyone, except Maidana in their first fight, which was close. Overall his fights were about the same. Sometimes he took good shots, which, however, had no effect on fights themself, like in Mosley, Maidana 2, Pacquiao and even McGregor bouts. But still he demonstrated similar performanes, I don't know, what fight to pick and based on what.

The Maidana 1 fight was tough because he wasn't expecting Maidana to fight that way. Obviously, he adjusted and won the rematch with any question.

I do agree with what you're saying. It may be a simple question to pick an opponent, but it is a hard decision to make because he did dominate everyone.

Maybe Cotto did. Put this in reverse. After their bout, Mayweather said Cotto was his toughest opponent. Mayweather dominated that bout too, but the fact that he said Cotto was his thoughest, would that not mean Mayweather would have had to be at his best too? That's just one way to look at it.

This have some sense. Furthermore in the period from Ortiz fight until Alvarez fight Floyd was near-flawless. 4 perfect fights in a row, there was no other such streak after his comeback in 2009. Ortiz fight was short though, so can be excluded. So, 3 fights. Probably his peak was at those 3 fights. Cotto bout was the toughest of them. But, yeah, it will be only a one way to look, if we call it his best performance based on facing a solid counteraction and winning fair and square. On the other hand, he made 2 flawless master-classes in a row against Guerrero and Canelo, so probably that was his peak from another point of view. So, Cotto, Guerrero and Canelo fights are probably the most likely to be picked.

[jamamb]

i actually didnt think he dominated cotto, i had it 116-112 (same as espn and associated press) and cotto was competitive in a lot of rounds he lost. judges had it too wide imo. clear win but not quite domination for me

and obviously he didnt dominate maidana the first time though it was much easier the second time, judges actually had that that second fight too close

im not sure that he wasnt at his best during this period. he stuck to boxing more and was harder to hit i think. less entertaining for me but probably the most effective way to use his attributes, and vs a tougher level of comp then his early career that was filled with guys like victoranio sosa, augustus, manfredy, bruseles, etc. i think moving up to face bigger guys made him more careful and brought out the pure boxer more

[gilgamesh]

I'd probably have to say Mosley. Because Mosley hurt him about as bad as you can hurt a guy in the 2nd round without dropping somebody, and Mayweather came back to school him the next 10 rounds after that.

[HomicideHenry]

I thought Mayweather as a lightweight to junior welterweight (1998-2005) was his best. His knockout power diminished once he hit 147-154, as he would only have 3 kayos from 2006-2017.

His speed & elusiveness was superior to everyone at 147-154 but... Certain men did make him look vulnerable, and arguably the best man to do the job was former WBO Middleweight champion Oscar De La Hoya... But others did have their successes, like Zab Judah who for the first four-five rounds his southpaw style was beating Mayweather until "Money" figured it out & dominated him.

If we go strictly by the #'s I'd say Maidana performed the best of them all, and I personally thought Mayweather actually lost the fight. Not since Castillo had Mayweather looked so vulnerable. However he won the return bout so convincingly that it made you think maybe he did narrowly win the first fight.

But none of those guys fought "the best version of Mayweather". I'd argue that Arturo Gatti (five fight win streak) fought the best version of Floyd Mayweather as he was out-punched, out-smarted, and completely schooled from bell to bell. The same Gatti who two years before had life & death wars with Ward. For Mayweather to win like he did made him look amazing.

[Ruthless-RKO]

I thought Mayweather as a lightweight to junior welterweight (1998-2005) was his best. His knockout power diminished once he hit 147-154, as he would only have 3 kayos from 2006-2017.

His speed & elusiveness was superior to everyone at 147-154 but... Certain men did make him look vulnerable, and arguably the best man to do the job was former WBO Middleweight champion Oscar De La Hoya... But others did have their successes, like Zab Judah who for the first four-five rounds his southpaw style was beating Mayweather until "Money" figured it out & dominated him.

If we go strictly by the #'s I'd say Maidana performed the best of them all, and I personally thought Mayweather actually lost the fight. Not since Castillo had Mayweather looked so vulnerable. However he won the return bout so convincingly that it made you think maybe he did narrowly win the first fight.

But none of those guys fought "the best version of Mayweather". I'd argue that Arturo Gatti (five fight win streak) fought the best version of Floyd Mayweather as he was out-punched, out-smarted, and completely schooled from bell to bell. The same Gatti who two years before had life & death wars with Ward. For Mayweather to win like he did made him look amazing.

The 2009-2017 doesn’t mean I think Floyd was at his best during those years. This was his comeback sketch. Who fought the best Mayweather in that time period.

[drunkenpiper36]

I thought the Castillo fights were competitive and fun to watch. His stoppage win over Hatton was also a nice performance.

[gilgamesh]

I thought the Castillo fights were competitive and fun to watch. His stoppage win over Hatton was also a nice performance.

What part of 2009-2017 do some of you guys not understand?

[drunkenpiper36]

My bad. I didn’t read all the stipulations. Thanks for the heads up

[ewenhay]

Good question.

Difficult to answer. Some really good performances early in that spell before the handpicking and advantage stealing got out of hand near the end.

He beat Marquez and Alvarez so easily he barely broke sweat. The fights against Cotto and Moseley were excellent performances too.

Most of the other wins on that list were unsatisfactory for one reason or another.