In the history of Boxing, there have been greats who specialized in knocking opponents out and greats who specialized in the "Sweet Science" of the Sport. Over the past hundred years, fans witnessed Jack Johnson, Joe Louis, and Mike Tyson knock boxers out with relative ease. We also saw what George Foreman did to elite fighters such as Ken Norton and Joe Frazier. What about Roberto Duran or Roy Jones, who once knocked a World Champion out with the punch coming from behind his back. You see, the Gladiators generally go for the kill. An era later, Floyd Mayweather began his reign following Jones, Whitaker and Trinidad.
During the "Money Mayweather" era some fans fell into the rhetoric often expressed by Legendary Commentator Larry Merchant, and later Fox Sports Analyst Skip Bayless, both citing that Mayweather couldn't "HIT". They would often say his fights were boring because he never took an aggressive approach to his matches. I often thought this was hilarious because FMJ has 27 knockout. He has knocked out 27 professional boxers in his career, several of them were World Champions. People who have followed his career know that he injured his hand early on and struggled with pain for years to come. Even with this reality, he managed to end his career with 50 wins. I find this impressive for a dude that couldn't hit.
A funny thing when I debate boxing with casual fans is the fact that none of them can name a time when a boxer "RAN" through Floyd punches. If a person can't hit, you will risk getting close to land hard punches. Remember what Canelo Avarez did to Amir Khan? He walked through his punches and destroyed him. Remember what happened in the Mayweather fight? Floyd systematically schooled Alvarez and gave him solid blows all night. Each time Canelo got close, sharp jabs, body blows and straight rights kept him retreating. The same fate manifested in the Shane Mosley, Miguel Cotto, De La Hoya, Zab Judah, and Manny Pacquiao fights. I thought Floyd Mayweather couldn't hit though.
I remember Shane Mosley speaking on Floyd's deceptive power of Fox Sports Undisputed. He informed Shannon Sharpe and Skip Bayless that Floyd's power was just like Canelo Alvarez power. You see, power comes from accuracy and precision as well. Look at the systematic breakdown of Ricky Hatton, Diego Corralles, Phillip N'dou, and Sharmba Mitchell. To be honest, the only time a fighter tried to walk through Floyd's punches is when he moved up to face light weight champion Jose' Louis Castillo who came into the fight over 10 pounds the limit. This was the toughest fight in Floyd's career up to that particular point. Outside of the Castillo 1 fight, no boxer in 50 professional bouts walked through the punches of the man with the so called "Pillow Hands". If you watch fights in the intense fashion that I do, you will see the power of clean punches. At the end of the day, boxing fans understand my stance.
PS: You can look at the picture I used for this short blog. If you are a casual fan, you wouldn't recognize the clean (hard) punches Floyd hit Manny with. You were probably "Jedi Mind Tricked" into thinking he ran all fight. He was clean and showed underrated power his entire career...PLEASE watch the video below as well.....
Peace : Tony Hanes