The young dude who really has me impressed right now is Andre Ward.

Mariano Rivera is some kind of weird statistical outlier. It’s not even fair to compare how he does things to other people.

and on a happy note….. did anyone see Yuriorkis Gamboa blow through Rogers Mtagwa? HOLY GOD. Mtagwa is a serious tough guy. And Gamboa just ran right through him.

T3, agreed. there is no need to have a “complete” arsenal simply for its own sake. Mariano Rivera gets folks out with one pitch so should we care that he doesn’t throw a curveball?

mizzo, to what I think your point is, Arum was definitely part of the problem. Floyd caved in on ring-size, date of fight, and an incredible 10 mil per pound over-the limit fee. he came off his stance on blood testing from one day before the fight to a 14 day window. So Pac won’t come off a 24 day window for 40 million? It just makes no sense. If Shane or Clottey pull an upset everything is off the table. That is not the kind of money that you mess around with over 10 day difference of testing. Either Pac is juicing or getting the worst advice from Arum who might be ensuring that the fight might still be there later — a promise that can’t be guaranteed.

Mizzo: Uh, there is a big game on Sunday — any thoughts??

Also, that Pac fight didn’t happen because of Pac. Period. And the fact that Floyd is taking a huge risk in fighting Shane with 40 mil on the table shows you that his ducking ways have ended.

Thank you. Trust me people, being closer to the situation, I KNOW Floyd ducking Pac is absolutely absurd. Be smarter. When the time comes, I’ll tell you why. I’ll say this. A couple of years ago I covered a panel of Floyd, Arum and King. There were salvos thrown from all three men and if the public knew what went down, there opinion of Floyd would totally change.

And about Roy: i think with hindsight the Gerald McClellan thing had far more of an effect on RJJ than we realized at the time. Plus….. he was still dazzling even as a HEAVYWEIGHT. I think the biggest flaw with Roy, and Floyd will never have this problem, is that Roy was a great athlete who turned out to be a damned good fighter while Floyd is a great natural boxer who turned out to be a damned good athlete.

@T3: There could be chapter and verse about all the things Ali did that trainers go into hives when they see fighters do now. Ali had, for one thing, the fastest pair of hands in heavyweight history, maybe in all boxing history. He could get away with fundamental mistakes not a lot of other guys could. And, to be clear, I don’t even have a problem with head-hunting most of the time. It’s just that if the book on a guy is that he doesn’t have much stamina because of a brutal weight-cutting process (Baldomir) but he has a chin like an anvil case, you go to the body. That’s it.

While I get what your saying about “wow factor”, that factor is usually only attributed to offense, and I understand why that is just the way I understand that the public prefers a 10-9 baseball game over one that is 1-0. HOWEVER, in his very last fight — especially defensively — there was an incredible wow factor.

Connect %:
59% — Mayweather
12% — Marquez

WOW!

Punches landed last three rounds:

105 — Mayweather
15 — Marquez

WOW!

That seems like a strong finisher to me. And he did it after almost a two year layoff on a hall-of-fame fighter who NO ONE has ever looked good against — not even Pacquiao.

WOW!

And no — “weight — has nothing to do with the fact that Marquez was swinging wildly at air all night. That is speed and defensive genius. “WOW” is in the eye of the beholder. My point is that “the wow factor” has almost always been synonymous with knockouts which is precisely why I can’t get into any semblance of a rational conversation about Mike Tyson with friend that I grew up with watching him. All of them believe the story that if only Tyson stayed focused, stayed with Kevin Rooney, and stayed away from Robin Givens, blah, blah, blah that he would have been the best heavyweight who ever lived.

I’ve come to learn that nothing does more to blind people than the violent knockout whether it be Liston, Foreman, Tyson, or now Pacquiao. Don’t get me wrong Manny is an absolutely wonderful fighter who I love, but no one ever notes that he never really ever faces elusive fighters, let alone one of Floyd’s caliber. Marquez was the only one — sort of. I think that Pac’s “wow factor” can’t be fully assessed until he faces a fighter who refuse to stand in front of him.

Also, that Pac fight didn’t happen because of Pac. Period. And the fact that Floyd is taking a huge risk in fighting Shane with 40 mil on the table shows you that his ducking ways have ended.

As someone who has watched a lot of boxing you begin to see, if you watch long enough, where a guy feels the most comfortable. For instance….. Meldrick Taylor felt the most comfortable in close, trading shots at close range. Even though he had the talent to stay on the outside and box it wasn’t what he was about. Conversely….. Juan Manuel Marquez is a first-rate counterpuncher. He spends time working on it, knows the best punch to counteract your attack.

It’s not that Floyd is a bad fighter. It’s that he no longer possesses the dynamism that the P-4-P king should possess. When you consider yourself the Best in the World there should be a WOW factor. A “Oh my god we’re watching the (insert great fighter here) fight tonight.” Floyd is simply not that kind of fighter. Roy Jones was. Pacquaio is. Trinidad was. and…. Shane Mosley was. That’s all.