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In our last installment, we examined the infighting of Floyd Mayweather. Today we’ll explore methods his opponents have used to exploit his tendencies.
Looking for weaknesses in a fighter like Floyd Mayweather is a difficult task. The very fact that we have to look at losing efforts, in order to piece together routes to success, speaks to that difficulty. He doesn’t take himself out of a strong stance without intention. He doesn’t forget his guard in exchanges. The truth is, Mayweather has very little clearly-defined weaknesses. He can do everything with a high degree of skill, like remaining defensively sound and offensively sharp in all areas.
If there’s nothing that he does poorly, opponents must rely on taking away the things he does best. Every fighter, including the greats among all combat sports, have tendencies that can be exploited. Areas he prefers to work in, or certain techniques he likes to throw, that can be attacked, exploited or taken away from him.
Mayweather prefers to move around on the outside and snipe pot-shots at his opponents. On the inside, he likes to ruthlessly control his opponent’s head to deny him offensive opportunities. He’s reluctant to engage in pocket exchanges unless he can secure himself a positional advantage. These are all habits that can be planned for, and exploited.
Cracking the Crab’s Shell
Due to his proficiency in shoulder rolling, Mayweather’s left side is near impenetrable unless he’s caught squared up (which rarely happens). The right side of his body and face however, are more apt to be exploited due to his glove and forearm being responsible for covering that side. He’s proven to be open for the left hook to the body on numerous occasions. His right hand drifts high in exchanges, waiting on the left hook (or straight against a southpaw), leaving an opening to the body below his forearm.
This opening is even more pronounced against a southpaw. When they step deep outside his lead leg, Mayweather is more concerned with guarding against the straight then protecting his body.
The positioning of his rear hand can be manipulated. Jose Luis Castillo hooks the body to bring Mayweather’s hand down, before going back up top and landing a clean hook to the head. Note that Castillo enters with a body jab, which Mayweather reaches to parry, bringing us to our next point.
Mayweather can be a bit of a perfectionist at times. While many fighters operate on the principle that it occasionally makes sense to take punches to give them, Mayweather seeks to defend everything thrown at him. This can lead to him exposing himself by parrying body jabs.
Mayweather’s primary defense to the right hand relies on his shoulder being rotated inward to cover his chin. Reaching out to parry the body jab causes his shoulder to rotate slightly in the opposite direction, exposing slight daylight for that right straight. Of course, if he leaves the body jab alone, opponents can keep picking at it and scoring (a principle that Mayweather exploits to greatly effect himself).
Shane Mosley famously tagged Mayweather after frustrating him with the body jab. Note the slight squaring in Mayweather’s shoulders when he reaches out to parry it, and the opening that gives Mosley to shoot his right hand through. Fortunately for Mayweather, he was able to buy some recovery time by grabbing onto Mosley’s glove.
Marcos Maidana used the body jab to back Mayweather up to the ropes to set up his flurries. In the second sequence he lands a straight to the body as Mayweather tries to counter the body jab with his lead hook.
Mayweather’s bladed stance presents his back to his opponent and with it, his kidney on the left side. Targeting the kidney is technically illegal in boxing, but Mayweather himself has never cared too much about what is or isn’t technically illegal. You can see Maidana going for the kidney in the above clip when Mayweather rotates his shoulder inward.
Pressure
The classic method of taking away an outfighter’s weapons of choice is by taking away the space he likes to work with. Indeed, many of Mayweather’s toughest fights have come against opponents who looked to crowd him, take away his space, and force him onto the ropes. We’ll focus more heavily on the Maidana fight, since that represents the most current version of Mayweather that struggled with effective pressure.
Maidana would often change levels and come in underneath Mayweather to push him back from a place of superior leverage.
This lead nicely into counter hooks to the body when Mayweather tried to use his jab to back Maidana off.
https://gfycat.com/ColorfulOrdinaryAfricanwilddog
Maidana also landed his body-shot counters when he had Mayweather on the ropes, waiting for an elbow to open before slamming in a hook or catching a few shots on his guard (or face) before returning one to the body.
Continue reading...
Looking for weaknesses in a fighter like Floyd Mayweather is a difficult task. The very fact that we have to look at losing efforts, in order to piece together routes to success, speaks to that difficulty. He doesn’t take himself out of a strong stance without intention. He doesn’t forget his guard in exchanges. The truth is, Mayweather has very little clearly-defined weaknesses. He can do everything with a high degree of skill, like remaining defensively sound and offensively sharp in all areas.
If there’s nothing that he does poorly, opponents must rely on taking away the things he does best. Every fighter, including the greats among all combat sports, have tendencies that can be exploited. Areas he prefers to work in, or certain techniques he likes to throw, that can be attacked, exploited or taken away from him.
Mayweather prefers to move around on the outside and snipe pot-shots at his opponents. On the inside, he likes to ruthlessly control his opponent’s head to deny him offensive opportunities. He’s reluctant to engage in pocket exchanges unless he can secure himself a positional advantage. These are all habits that can be planned for, and exploited.
Cracking the Crab’s Shell
Due to his proficiency in shoulder rolling, Mayweather’s left side is near impenetrable unless he’s caught squared up (which rarely happens). The right side of his body and face however, are more apt to be exploited due to his glove and forearm being responsible for covering that side. He’s proven to be open for the left hook to the body on numerous occasions. His right hand drifts high in exchanges, waiting on the left hook (or straight against a southpaw), leaving an opening to the body below his forearm.
This opening is even more pronounced against a southpaw. When they step deep outside his lead leg, Mayweather is more concerned with guarding against the straight then protecting his body.
The positioning of his rear hand can be manipulated. Jose Luis Castillo hooks the body to bring Mayweather’s hand down, before going back up top and landing a clean hook to the head. Note that Castillo enters with a body jab, which Mayweather reaches to parry, bringing us to our next point.
Mayweather can be a bit of a perfectionist at times. While many fighters operate on the principle that it occasionally makes sense to take punches to give them, Mayweather seeks to defend everything thrown at him. This can lead to him exposing himself by parrying body jabs.
Mayweather’s primary defense to the right hand relies on his shoulder being rotated inward to cover his chin. Reaching out to parry the body jab causes his shoulder to rotate slightly in the opposite direction, exposing slight daylight for that right straight. Of course, if he leaves the body jab alone, opponents can keep picking at it and scoring (a principle that Mayweather exploits to greatly effect himself).
Shane Mosley famously tagged Mayweather after frustrating him with the body jab. Note the slight squaring in Mayweather’s shoulders when he reaches out to parry it, and the opening that gives Mosley to shoot his right hand through. Fortunately for Mayweather, he was able to buy some recovery time by grabbing onto Mosley’s glove.
Marcos Maidana used the body jab to back Mayweather up to the ropes to set up his flurries. In the second sequence he lands a straight to the body as Mayweather tries to counter the body jab with his lead hook.
Mayweather’s bladed stance presents his back to his opponent and with it, his kidney on the left side. Targeting the kidney is technically illegal in boxing, but Mayweather himself has never cared too much about what is or isn’t technically illegal. You can see Maidana going for the kidney in the above clip when Mayweather rotates his shoulder inward.
Pressure
The classic method of taking away an outfighter’s weapons of choice is by taking away the space he likes to work with. Indeed, many of Mayweather’s toughest fights have come against opponents who looked to crowd him, take away his space, and force him onto the ropes. We’ll focus more heavily on the Maidana fight, since that represents the most current version of Mayweather that struggled with effective pressure.
Maidana would often change levels and come in underneath Mayweather to push him back from a place of superior leverage.
This lead nicely into counter hooks to the body when Mayweather tried to use his jab to back Maidana off.
https://gfycat.com/ColorfulOrdinaryAfricanwilddog
Maidana also landed his body-shot counters when he had Mayweather on the ropes, waiting for an elbow to open before slamming in a hook or catching a few shots on his guard (or face) before returning one to the body.
Continue reading...
