What makes a fighter great? Is it speed, timing, deception, intelligence.. all of the above?
Now what makes a fighter the greatest?
That is an enigma; a perfect fighter is water, and fire. He seeks to destroy yet never abandons his defense. He is pragmatic in all situations and conditioned for twice the battle at hand.
Mayweather's natural trait is defense. He shows the opponent a willingness to back up and soak up damage in order to breathe and regain rhythm.
Floyd loses the first few rounds in most all of his fights to figure out his opponent without revealing his cards; if Floyd was a poker player, he'd check Aces to the River every damn time.
His patience correlates to his timing, the lack of early volume or damage from Floyd confuses opponents and forces them to push the pace. Many men have under rated Floyd's right hand, but they forget he was a prolific knockout artist at his natural weight of 140 pounds.
Both Diego Corrales and Ricky Hatton were skillful brawlers as durable as titanium, but a prime Floyd Mayweather Jr. nullified their damage with his patented shoulder roll, and he let them taste a right hand worthy of a gold medal.
The Japanese say we have three faces: the one we show to the outer world, the one we show to those we deeply confide in, and the one we only show ourselves...
Floyd too has three faces...
The Ego, The ID, The Facade:
With power comes respect, and although Floyd carried a brash and apathetic attitude, he absolutely resepected every man that got in there with him. There was never a moment Floyd didn't train for his next world title fight, and the Ego he showed to the world was just another exhausting layer to break through.
Does that kind of ego remind you of someone?
Floyd tests the will of his opponent long before they walk out to the ring. The duality of Floyd is always interesting to watch. He enjoys verbally assaulting his opponents but only with truth.. only with their flaws in the ring. Floyd is an analyst of the boxing game, and he kills men with truth of their own lack of skill. The facade of a man who could care less about his opponent is the lie Floyd has sold us. He enjoys the hate because it brings attention, and he is far smarter than anyone gives him credit for.
Maybe this post was too vague in explaining why he is the greatest, but that takes years of understanding the layers to the vast amount of champion caliber opponents he has not only beaten, but decimated in the ring. The masterful shoulder roll and ability to counter some of the best counter strikers to ever live (in Mosley and Marquez).
Speed, power, ferocity... it was never enough against the greatest mind in boxing history. #50-0
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