Phenomenal-Nutrition wrote:jamesmcdonnell wrote:
At least Leonard went cherry picking for Hagler, a guy that almost everyone thought was going to annihilate him, can you imagine Floyd doing that after being inactive for almost 4 years, not on your nelly.
Floyd's a great fighter in terms of talent, but his late career is leaving a bit to be desired.
Wait a miniute Floyd started at 130 and is in his 4th weight class - and he wasnt big at 130. The equivilent of SRL jumping 2 divisions and fighting Hagler would have been Floyd fighting Tyszu/Hatton at 140 and that fight couldnt be made. Remember Floyds willing to fight DLH/Mosley/Hatton and if thats not a modern day Hagler-SRL I don't know what is.
I'm probably sounding like a Floyd nutthugger now so I'll stop lol
What do you mean wasn't big at 130, he's 5'10 1/2 for starters. What nonsense. Floyd, much like Oscar was, is pretty much a natural 140 lber.
The point is, the welterweight division has been flaky for a long time, look how many people have held the undisputed titles since Oscar and Shane first fought for it.
There has not really been an established king of the division. Judah was known to be flaky and had already been battered at 140, and then beaten by Spinks, who himself wasn't ever proven to be the man.
For me, to prove you are the top man in your division, you have to rule over it for a decent period of time, not win one title fight. Nobody has done that since Mosley went on his run before running into Forrest. Nobody since then has been able to put together enough of a run to be called the man. Just because you have all the titles, doesn't mean shit unless you can sustain your title run for more than one or two defences.
Marvin Hagler, whether he was slowing or not was THE MAN at middleweight and had been for seven long years, he was unbeaten as a champion, and was a guy who didn't know how to lose.
Leonard was inactive, and was taking on a guy regarded as an utter monster. Everyone with hindsight talks about how Hagler was on the slide, but although the likes of Mugabe gave him a hard fight, they in the end were utterly brutalised.
Fighting Oscar would be a big fightk, but let's not forget, Oscar is the one who is ageing and inactive, and who is being overrated based on his win over a very limited and already exposed Mayorga.
For me, this fight is much bigger for Oscar than Floyd. If Oscar wins, then it cements his legacy, but for Floyd, it's not really quite the defining fight for me.
Why not stay at 147 and fight Margarito and settle the argument, or Cotto, or Hatton?
I saw a look of discomfort on Floyd's face against Baldomir the other night when he was being hit early on, which leads me to believe he knows he cannot hang against a big hard hitting Welterweight. I reckon he figures that Oscar, being someone who moved up to the weight and a guy who relies on speed and reflexes is at the right stage for him to take him on.
I'm a big fan of Floyd's, but I think his talent falls short of the greatness that it perhaps deserves. The latter stages of his career have been spent collecting belts rather than proving himself to be the dominant fighter of his era.
I suspect there are a number of welterweights who would give him a much harder night's work than Baldomir, Margarito for all his supposed shortcomings, can take a man's head off with a single shot, something that we all knew Baldomir could not do. Margarito is a more polished operator than Baldomir, and whilst I thought that Baldomir was being underrated based on recent performances, it wasn't his technique and punch power that was being touted by me, but his determination and raw boned strength.
de la hoya by a late stoppage. 
