I'll take Mayweather in a really close one. Vernon's jab and reach would give Floyd big problems but i think he'd find a way to adjust and make the necessary changes. I'm not saying it would be an easy thing to do, but once Mayweather found a way to nullify Forrest's straight 1-2 i don't see Vernon adapting. Mayweather MD
Floyd easy. A guy who relies so heavily on his jab can't and won't beat Floyd, IMO. Floyd's last 6 opponents average a 15% connect rate with the left jab. When most the shots you throw are jabs and your whole style rests on everything being set up with the jab this seems like bad news to me. It's a total myth that DLH abandoned the jab in the 2nd half of that fight BTW, before somebody retorts with that (in fact he started throwing it way more), Floyd just adjusted & neutralised it in the 2nd half (though he was still consistently outjabbing DLH through the first 6, too). I don't see Forrest doing much better. The first 6 might be similarly close, but Floyd adapts, it's what he does. He has way more tools and he'll keep cycling through them until he finds the one that takes Forrest's jab away and leaves him naked. (conversely, a guy like Pac who already has a completely ineffectual jab to begin with and doesn't rely on it in the slightest, might be just the melody) Mayweather 8-4
He had enough faith in himself to take on the undefeated POWERFUL Corrales, take on Castillo in his first fight at lightweight and be the agressor against Mosley after Shane stunned him badly. So fuck you, basically. :shadow:
His resume from 140+ is basically written in small print between the capitalised lines of avoided challenges.
I'm calling bullshit on that homie. That's a myth, propagated by posters with less IQ than the average person. Don't fall for that shit.
Margarito, Cotto, Tszyu, Williams, Pacquiao, pre-geriatric Mosley. 6 fantastic match ups Floyd could have made these past 7 years and didn't. In the meantime he's fought an old Oscar, a geriatric Mosley and Hatton above his best weight. The over arching theme of the 2nd half of Floyd's career has been picky match making. There's always some excuse that can be brought up for each one at a given time but over the course of 7 years, the excuses become hollow. The wind doesn't determine your course in the long term - where you point your sail does. He basically put forth zero effort to fight any of them besides Oscar, preferring to rest on the laurels of his own self proclaimed greatness, as if he'd transcended the sport before even leaving it. I don't think Floyd's a coward as Ive said before but I think his attitude is fucking pathetic.
Sly will find a way, but you can't reasonably argue against most of this. For YEARS I'd give DLH shit for doing the exact same thing...Oscar and Floyd are similar in the sense they fought guys when they'd have the absolute best possible chance at beating them. the difference is Oscar coasted early but finished fighting everyone we wanted him to fight. Floyd has done the opposite, I wouldn't be surprised to see him want a crack at Margarito now or pursue a rematch with Hatton. Just had a thought... I watched Pardon The Interuption fairly regularly...Michael Wilbon cracks me up. he rarely if never refers to Floyd by name. You'll know he's talking about Floyd when he mentions "The Coward."
To copy and paste my response to Illuminati on another thread... We've played this game before. And it's just that...a game. With ANY fighter we can find names to list that they never fought and then say they ducked them. But this isn't always a fair assessment of the situation given all of the circumstances. Game 1: When Leonard returned from retirement in 1987 and beat Hagler (semi-controversially) he shamefully ducked: Benn, Eubank, Barkley, Toney, Nunn, McCallum and instead elected to fight a Hearns that was coming off a recent KO loss to Barkley. An Ancient Duran. Donny Lalonde who was basically a pretty boy bum...with a paper title. Is post hagler Leonard one of history's most cowardly punks? Floyd moves up to 147 to take on, after a brief warm up, the undisputed (TRUE) Welterweight champion of the world at the time (ZAB JUDAH..who beat Spinks who beat Mayorga who beat Forrest who beat Mosley etc...ect...) with the goal of eventually getting in the ring with the CASH COW (and legend) of boxing and still very capable...Oscar De la Hoya at 154lbs...in order to have achieved titles in every division from 130lbs to 154lbs. Judah loses to Baldomir in an upset. Most people believe that Judah is still the better fighter though and presents more of a challenge to Floyd stylistically (vis a vis Baldomir) and so since he still has a Welterweight Title, Floyd takes him on. After Floyd beats the man, idiot fans start screaming "Baldomir is the true champion not Zab" and so what does he do? He puts his date with Oscar on hold and fights the TRUE champion in that division. Margarito and Cotto are irrelevant at 147lbs at this time. Cintron who? He moves to 154lbs to take on Oscar de La Hoya who given his combination of talent (power, speed, chin) and size present a FAR GREATER risk to Floyd than the aforementioned (Muzse and Double L among others suspect Oscar will knock him out in fact). Floyd beats him and then understandably loses motivation because this was teh pinnacle achievement of his career. takes time off. Why not? Hatton who was undefeated at the time and had famous stoppage victories over Tszyu and Castillo calls him out. After a years rest Floyd responds and knocks him out. Floyd takes a break again (obviously losing interestin boxing..it happens). It's only after the fact that suddenly cotto and margarito are relevant. At the time when Floyd was destroying Gatti Cotto didn't feel he was ready and by the time he became ready Floyd was already fighting Oscar. Oscar...like fighting Tyson or Leonard..is the guy ANy FIGHTER WOULD FIGHT instead of the alternative, due to who he is and the money he generates.
A lot of this is pure garbage Sly. It's laughable at points. I'm always amazed at the level of revisionist history that goes into FloydIdiots defenses of their hero. And to use your line of thinking to bring it back to the point of this thread... Floyd wouldn't have fought Forrest after the two Mosley victories because Vernon wouldn't have proven to be a legend are box office giant yet. Pick an excuse, any one but you better believe there would be several to be had.
Floyd fought Corrales and Castillo who were not legends at the box office. So it's not just about that. Just saying that fighting Oscar at 154lbs was the pinnacle of his career. Not surprised that he lost motivation after that one.
Basically because the fact remains, the bottom line fact, that in the 8+ years since he left 135lb the only fighters with a top 5 ranking when and where he fought them were Oscar, Arturto Gatti, Carlos Baldomir and Zab Judah. That's one every 2 years and 3 out of 4 are borderline bums at the championship level, and very debatable picks at the time for the top 5. It's utterly, utterly, utterly pathetic. I stand by the old, wind, sails, direction analogy i made a few posts ago in this thread. Floyd talent doesn't make this cynical shit permissible.
I'm actually shocked to have stumbled on that realisation. Gatti, Baldomir, Judah. The only independently ranked (aka Ring or Boxrec) top 5 Junior welters & welters Floyd fought at the time & division Floyd fought them. And all 3 were borderline. Absolutely fucking shocking.
