Fighters who would defeat PBF at 147

I thought the first Maidana fight was close.

As far as Cuevas goes, does anyone think the Floyd of 2007 wouldn't beat him?

You have to remember he fought DLH at 154.. he came in at 148 and DLH came in the ring weighing 166 lb that night. Basically, you had a true welterweight fighting a super middleweight. Most of his opponents wouldn't be welterweights in past eras, whereas Floyd would be.

 

Fair point although I'd be less sure on whether all that added weight actually helped Oscar, personally. And, as I've pointed out previously, he hasn't fought a guy taller than 5'7 or so since. Alvarez aside (and he's an exceptional exception, if you get me) I'm not sure he's ever fought a guy who wouldn't have made same-day 147 back in the day.

 

Ortiz, Maidana, Cotto, and afaik Mosley, all came in in the 160s. Alvarez is a junior middleweight who comes in in the 170s.. basically a light heavyweight. Not sure what Baldomir came in at, but probably in the 160s as well. Ortiz is definitely taller than 5'7" btw, so is Mosley. I have no idea how any of those guys could possibly make 147 in the same day without possibly dying in the ring.

The smaller guys he fought at 147 were Mitchell, Judah, Hatton, Guerrero, and of course, Pacquiao.

As for whether the added weight helped Oscar or not, I wouldn't really call that "added weight." It's not like Oscar bulked up for that fight. That's just what he weighed and how big he was. He was not meant to make 147 again, and he looked like a corpse when he did.

Which taller fighters would you have had him face post-De La Hoya?

 

I find it difficult to believe that you can't see the enormous difference in class between every single guy Floyd has fought in the last 10 years and "someone like" Donald Curry

 

I think they all would have made it fine with some slight changes in prep. These guys ballooning up in weight is mainly a tactical choice and i'm not even sure its a smart one.

I'd have had hm face Margarito, williams and Cintron when those fights were live. At least one of them.

 

That argument goes both ways. You could say that the gulf in class between Floyd and every single guy Roberto Duran fought at 135 is enormous, so Floyd beats Duran at 135. But it's silly.

 

How? They were, for the most part, in excellent shape. There is not much weight for them to lose.. you're not adding 15+ lb of water back in a few hours. 5, maybe. Floyd doesn't drain, so he's consistently fought bigger guys his entire career. You think Jose Luis Castillo and Diego Corrales (for instance) would've made 135 in the same-day weigh in era?

 

But you also have a hell of a lot more to go on... Floyd fought and comprehensively defeated plenty of good fighters at 130 and 135... There's no doubt he's one of the top fighters ever in that weight range... But at 147? I think Curry beats Floyd because he's a better welterweight

 

Your taking the amount of muscle they carry as a given when it's in the context of the weigh in rules as they are; in 1981 guys weighed less relative to their frames - they were slimmer and harder. Castillo & Corrales would certainly have had to campaign a bit higher than their lowest weights, i dont think any of Floyd's welterweight opponents would have tho.

 

Maybe.. I honestly haven't seen enough of Curry to make a conclusion on that. But again, you're basing him being a better welterweight on his career spent fighting guys his own size - guys who might be fighting at 135 today. I think we're overlooking the fact that in a modern context, Mayweather is basically a welterweight who has regularly fought and beaten what are effectively super middleweights.

 

I'm not sure how the amount of muscle they would carry would change; the point is to get to the lowest weight class possible, dehydrating assists in that, adding muscle is counter-productive to that. I don't see any of those fighters as adding a lot of muscle, and there were plenty of muscular fighters back in the day. Can you cite some specific examples?

 

Same goes for Pac on the welterweight-fighting-middleweights/super middles thing, btw, but he's gotten much more credit for beating up bigger guys.

 

I'm not sure specific examples are possible, really. i guess the only way to get into this would be to compare the bone structures of guys at weight class from before 36hr weigh ins (there are formulas which calculate expected weight/musculature given height, wrist and ankle size) and compare them. My guess is that the differences would be far less than in-ring weights suggest (although im not gonna go & try to prove it::)

 

I'd also point out that adding or removing 15 lb of muscle on a 147 lb frame is pretty significant. I don't think you can say the 147 lb fighters who come in at 162 today just happened to add or could easily drop 15 lb of muscle.

 

curry would beat mayweather jr, for sure

 

There is a light-heavyweight in terms of weight and there is a light-heavyweight in terms of size. Fuck.

 

Tens of dozens, for sure.

Floyd isn't even a top 75 welterweight if we look at it objectively.

 

Small guys coming in fat means fuck all, it probably hinders them as much as anything else. The only guy who had "Functional" weight advantage over anyone, ever, was Floyd. Marquez and Hatton, for example.