When you are 47-0 there are a lot of things you can highlight as strengths, but we are going to speak specifically on some of the things that make Floyd Mayweather the pound for pound king.
THE STRAIGHT RIGHT HAND
NBA players have go to moves and boxers have go to punches. For Mayweather it is his straight right hand. What makes it unique is that most orthodox fighters throw a right cross. But Mayweather throws his right hand like a jab, but with the power of a cross. Speaking of the jab, most orthodox fighters lead with the left jab to set up their offense, whereas Mayweather will often shoot his straight hand like a jab and it throws his opponents off-balance.
Mayweather often will hold or duck after throwing the straight hand, it isn’t a punch used as a combination, but a single bullet shot that he fires over and over again.
MAYWEATHER’S DEFENSE IS MUCH MORE THAN SHOULDER ROLL
The Shoulder Roll defense is like the Triangle Offense, in theory it sounds good for every team to do, but it helps if you have Michael Jordan, Scottie Pippen, Shaq and Kobe. One of the misconceptions is that it is the only defense that Mayweather has. It is much deeper than that, especially as Mayweather has gotten older. He uses a combination of the shoulder roll, foot and head movements and ring intelligence to make it at almost impossible for him to get hit cleanly (it can be done, we will go over that in the Mayweather weaknesses).
Mayweather’s anticipation of punches maybe the best of all-time, he has made A & B Level fighters look like C-D level fighters because his defense is so good.
BEST COUNTER PUNCHER & TRAP SETTER IN BOXING
It isn’t so much that Mayweather doesn’t have power, it is that he has fought guys a lot bigger than he is lately. Also Mayweather prefers to hit and get out of danger as opposed to trying to finish off combinations. The most you are going to get from Mayweather is a one-two, not three-four-five punch combination. The most famous trap Mayweather sets is the check hook.
https://youtu.be/iq7rmZGmLG0
Mayweather’s offense is about capitalizing on his opponents mistakes. Quality over quantity punches. What you will see in the video below is how Mayweather has adjusted over the years. He was a much more aggressive younger fighter but now he is more calculating.
This is what Pacquiao will have to deal with when he steps in the ring on May 2nd. Next week we will talk about Mayweather’s weaknesses.