Ward Kovalev did 160.000 buys??

I like Mayweather jr better but he would have lost to mosley at lightweight around that time. he struggled with the size/weight of castillo when he moved up to 135 lbs initially, and mosley would have the same advantage. except with more skill, speed and power than castillo

 

Mayweather struggled initially because he was injured. He wasn't faking the injury...his southpaw switching was uncharacteristic and he has only ever done that when he needs to give his left hand/arm a break. Regardless, as you know, boxing isn't as simple as "he struggled with the size/weight of castillo when he moved up to 135 lbs initially, and mosley would have the same advantage. except with more skill, speed and power than Castillo".

You can say the same thing with Mosley compared with Mayorga. I could say, for example:

"he (Vernon) struggled with the aggressiveness and strength of Mayorga when he fought him initially, and mosley would have the same advantage. except with more skill, speed and power than Mayorga".

But Vernon beat Mosley easily the first time but was stopped by Mayorga the first time.

Shane was a completely different type of fighter to Castillo.

 

Personal taste obviously but I prefer watching ward to Wright, i found his style howling

 

mayorga was stronger and more reckless than mosley. he had a stronger lower body than mosley when he was in shape at welterweight.

 

The 2000 versions of Mosley and DLH both would have been Mayweather who fought them in 2009 and 2007 respectively.

The point I was making in discussing Kovalev vs Ward is that you have to give Ward credit for going up in weight to fight the best in the division. He faced adversity, got off the canvas and won a close decision. It's not that different from Floyd's first fight with Castillo (in 2001) that many felt he lost.

That was the last time Floyd went up a division to face the absolute best in that division...no BS catchweight fights. I'd also argue that Kovalev's P4P stature was higher than Castillo's at the time he and Floyd fought. Floyd didn't exactly show what a warrior he was that night either.

Regarding the Hatton fight...Hatton's best weight was at 140 and even there he was never a puncher. He wore you down. He wasn't the threat Kovalev was so Floyd outboxing him then taking him out wasn't exactly a huge revelation nor was it unexpected.

 

I agree with you. Ward gets major props from me for moving up and facing Kovalev. Kovalev is dangerous for fellow lightheavyweights let alone a supple middle moving up. Also I found it exceedingly impressive that he was able to get knocked down and rocked and outboxed to come back and control most of the second half of the fight. he showed championship class in doing that.

 

Vernon should have won the rematch with Mayorga but he was scared shitless of getting hit with another bomb. It's one thing to fight defensively but he was so worried about getting blasted again that it affected his offense. And look how Cory Spinks (along with his trainer, Cunningham) was able to use a game plan to smother and avoid Mayorga's power for 12 rounds. The difference was the fear factor. Vernon had already been been tagged flush by Mayorga. Spinks hadn't.

 

Not just that. Psychologically he was affected when gave Vernon those free right hands. He lost confidence in his own power. Instead of standing his ground he ran he held or ran from Mayorga which gave the judges every excuse to score against him. On appearance it was one tough guy who wanted to go to war and another who couldn't wait for it to be over.