Today's version of Canelo versus the prime Mayweather Jr. (at 154lbs)?

[Enlightened-One]

A lot of people attempt to undermine Floyd Mayweather Jr’s victory over Canelo in 2013, by claiming that the American “cherry picked” a “child” with only “one good win”.

So I’m wondering whether this claim is true and also discuss if Canelo’s performance against Jacobs suggests that the 28-year-old iteration of the Mexican would be capable of beating the prime version of Mayweather at 154lbs?

To help gauge the situation better, let’s consider the following facts:

• Canelo was unbeaten (with a 42-0-1 record), a world champion for almost three years, had been competing in the pro ranks for eight years and was engaging in his eighth world title fight when he fought Mayweather. Having previously defeated several world champions (i.e. Miguel Vazquez (twice), Carlos Manuel Baldomir, Lovemore N'dou, Kermit Cintron, Shane Mosley & Austin Trout) and was also regarded (at the time by ESPN & The RING) as the very best fighter the 154lbs weight division had to offer, coupled with having previously headlined several PPV events.

• In stark contrast, Floyd Mayweather Jr. was 36½ years old and had competed in only one bout within a 16 month period. Money May was already past-his-prime when he took the Canelo fight.

• Money May’s weight on the morning of the Canelo bout was only 146lbs, where the stipulated catchweight was 152lbs (a weight suggested by the Mexican himself), with Alvarez eventually rehydrating to 165lbs by the time he entered the ring.

Thoughts?

[man]

canelo has standard technique and
floyd figured out how to deal with that.
end fo story. prime pac is among the
very few who would have come close
to winning.

[DrDuke]

Still Mayweather.

[Lackeos]

Stylistically, no version of Alvarez will be a good match-up against Mayweather. Alvarez is neither tall nor rangy for the weight he competes at. Alvarez's elite defense doesn't matter against Mayweather. Alvarez's great but sub-elite offense would not be enough. Alvarez's respectable power wouldn't KO Mayweather.

If you want to bother Mayweather, try matching him up with someone taller, rangier, and offensively brilliant. Examples may include Tommy Hearns, Sugar Ray Leonard, Erislandy Lara, maybe Paul Williams, prime De La Hoya, maybe Felix Trinidad, Sergio Martinez at 154, etc.

[punchoutsb]

Stylistically, no version of Alvarez will be a good match-up against Mayweather. Alvarez is neither tall nor rangy for the weight he competes at. Alvarez's elite defense doesn't matter against Mayweather. Alvarez's great but sub-elite offense would not be enough. Alvarez's respectable power wouldn't KO Mayweather.

If you want to bother Mayweather, try matching him up with someone taller, rangier, and offensively brilliant. Examples may include Tommy Hearns, Sugar Ray Leonard, Erislandy Lara, maybe Paul Williams, prime De La Hoya, maybe Felix Trinidad, Sergio Martinez at 154, etc.

Great post. Alvarez would never beat Mayweather, but I’d take a prime Martinez over him at 154.

[IKSRTFO]

Stylistically, no version of Alvarez will be a good match-up against Mayweather. Alvarez is neither tall nor rangy for the weight he competes at. Alvarez's elite defense doesn't matter against Mayweather. Alvarez's great but sub-elite offense would not be enough. Alvarez's respectable power wouldn't KO Mayweather.

If you want to bother Mayweather, try matching him up with someone taller, rangier, and offensively brilliant. Examples may include Tommy Hearns, Sugar Ray Leonard, Erislandy Lara, maybe Paul Williams, prime De La Hoya, maybe Felix Trinidad, Sergio Martinez at 154, etc.

There's a reason he went to face Alvarez but claimed Martinez and Williams were too big.

[boxing_rocks]

Current version of Canelo can't make 154. He would beat Mayweather at 160.

[NateJR]

No version of Canelo beats a prime Floyd.. Not even the current version at 160. Canelo is great and very skilled, but aside from power and strength Floyd pretty much Trump's him in all other categories.

[greg]

..I'd say prime Mayweather beats any version of Canelo 8 times out of 10..

[Onetimeonly]

Floyd 10-2 or so. Though Canelo couldn't make 154 now and Floyd's prime was 130.

[Enlightened-One]

There's a reason he went to face Alvarez but claimed Martinez and Williams were too big.

I don’t recall him ever saying that. Can you support this allegation?

[boxing_rocks]

canelo has standard technique and
floyd figured out how to deal with that.
end fo story. prime pac is among the
very few who would have come close
to winning.

Really? Cotto fight was pretty close, and current Canelo is a better fighter all around.

[IKSRTFO]

I don’t recall him ever saying that. Can you support this allegation?

https://www.boxingnews24.com/2013/04/ma ... nez-fight/

[EJA]

Still Mayweather.

[Enlightened-One]

https://www.boxingnews24.com/2013/04/ma ... nez-fight/

The same website as the link you provided also claimed that Money May was willing to face Martinez at a catchweight. Also, Floyd Mayweather Jr. said the following the year prior to your article being published:


And even though there were several big fights available for Sergio at light middleweight around the same time period (i.e. in 2012/13 when Canelo, Cotto & Mayweather Jr. were competing in that weight class), the Argentine refused to leave his 160lbs comfort zone and hadn’t competed at 154lbs since February 2009. In fact, Martinez remained a 160lb-er for the remainder of his career.

Also, in 2013, Sergio Martinez was a HBO fighter and Floyd was with Showtime. The fight would have never been big enough for both TV networks to have worked with each other to cover that fight.

And as we’ve seen with the likes of Tyson-Lewis and Mayweather-Pacquiao, HBO & Showtime flatly-refused to do business with each other unless mega-money was involved.

And let’s not forget that within a year either side of the date of that unsubstantiated article you’ve provided, we saw Mayweather Jr. gain a comfortable victory over Miguel Cotto, with Sergio Martinez getting obliterated by the same Puerto Rican Hall-of-Famer. So there’s no proof that Floyd was “scared” to face the Argentine at 154lbs – in fact, it’s a tad silly to even propose such a notion.

So now everyone understands the real reason why Floyd never faced Martinez, since it was very likely due to business reasons rather than any perceived “fear”.

Moving on, what did you really mean when you mentioned Paul Williams' name?

[BroughtonRulesRefuge]

- Ignoring the nonsensical thread title, it's sweet to see moneyfraud sissies in a group hug. Only thing missing is Barney and the inability to use the greatest collection of boxing data in history, so I give you relevant timeline developments of Canelo vs Floyd.

Age 15 Canelo beats the 19 yr old future LW champ, and 2 years later repeats, both at JrWelt. TUE still in AMA diapers.

A series of 147 lb fights for Canelo, but age 19 enters into a series of 150 lb catchweights starting with Cotto's contender brother and ending with TUE sparmate/ex champ Ndou and stealing Magic Hatton from TUE who's still in AMA diapers.

Canelo age 20 beats Ring #5 Ryan Rhodes for 154 belt and ends that weight class with unification with udefeated Trout. TUE age 21 beats Hernadez in his last bout for 130 lb bauble with maybe 5 defenses before moving up to 140 at age 28 for Gatti and Sharmba Mitchell.

Age 28 Canelo beats Golovkin at 160, #5 Fielding at 168, and Jacobs at 160, all title fights as he lands the richest sports contract in history as bean counters proclaim.

TUE still Pretty Boy making peanuts. Now Canelo still has 9 tough fights left on his contract and could still have setbacks, but we ain't never gonna see him run squallin' for his daddy like TUE did for Maidana and the aborted build up for the Tenshin Banty exhibition.

Btw, Manny signed a promo agreement with that outfit, so we could potentially see that rematch and more in a few years,

[ewenhay]

I don’t recall him ever saying that. Can you support this allegation?

Lol. I predict a 10 pager.

[JimStone]

Fairly easy night for Floyd. Canelo does the basics extremely well and is physically bigger, stronger and more robust than everyone else in and around his division. Floyd's skillset trumps all that in spades.

[paddy chavez]

Canelo is a much better fighter @ 160 than 154 so if it's @154 then Floyd all day if we're talking to canelo of today fighting at 160 but coming in @175 vs Floyd @150 I think I'd go with canelo purely as I think his body shots would hurt the 20 pounds lighter Floyd and I don't see Floyd hurting a big Saul. ...

[ewenhay]

The question was at 154.

I don't see the fight being much different than their original one. Alvarez might have the clout over Mayweather now though to buy 2 judges' decisions instead of just the one.

[oogiebe]

The question was at 154.

I don't see the fight being much different than their original one. Alvarez might have the clout over Mayweather now though to buy 2 judges' decisions instead of just the one.

Yup! Floyd would be that much better having learned from the first fight.

[squiggy]

Mayweather always beats him. I don't know what Canelo performance even raises the question.

[ClivePatrickLyons]

Canelo will never beat a Great boxer like Mayweather I don't believe Canelo has improved that much to turn the tables against a Prime Floyd easy work for Money even if 3 Adelaide Birds did the fight the other two would listen to their conscience.

[ClivePatrickLyons]

Canelo is a much better fighter @ 160 than 154 so if it's @154 then Floyd all day if we're talking to canelo of today fighting at 160 but coming in @175 vs Floyd @150 I think I'd go with canelo purely as I think his body shots would hurt the 20 pounds lighter Floyd and I don't see Floyd hurting a big Saul. ...

Its really none of my business Mate but the question is a Prime and at Jr Middle.

[Paci]

Stylistically, no version of Alvarez will be a good match-up against Mayweather. Alvarez is neither tall nor rangy for the weight he competes at. Alvarez's elite defense doesn't matter against Mayweather. Alvarez's great but sub-elite offense would not be enough. Alvarez's respectable power wouldn't KO Mayweather.

If you want to bother Mayweather, try matching him up with someone taller, rangier, and offensively brilliant. Examples may include Tommy Hearns, Sugar Ray Leonard, Erislandy Lara, maybe Paul Williams, prime De La Hoya, maybe Felix Trinidad, Sergio Martinez at 154, etc.

Word.

I would like to seen him against a Prime De La Hoya, Manny and Trinidad. Then again he would just do what he always does, win.

Mayweather had no real rival other then Manny, sort of. But my feeling is that he would counter Manny like Marquez did in their last fight. If they fought early on.