If you were Nazim Richardson...

Work the Body- Not sure how easy this will be since Floyd now uses the “philly shell” type of defense which seems to really effectively cover the body. He didn’t use that style defense in the Castillo fight and that fight might have been the reason he switched. You can tag the body, but you essentially have to aim for the elbows and hook, which will require you to be pretty far inside. While making this an inside fight might be a good idea, it kinda runs counter to Nazim’s whole “swim without getting wet” philosophy of getting in, scoring punches, and getting out.

Establish the Jab – Now this is Nazim’s wheelhouse. Shane needs to have a sharp, accurate jab. If both of those criteria are not met, Floyd will sidestep and counter over it. Controlling the action is good but giving Floyd more countering opportunities is bad. Double-edged sword.

Adversity – Something about Floyd seems to tell me that when faced with adversity he will become fairly repetitive….

Speed – Not fast enough to beat him to the punch but at least on the level of Floyd, which is what matters. If Mosley can have awkward moves coming into the body of Floyd, he has a good chance, but the speed of Floyd makes this really difficult.

My gameplan would be essentially to have a bunch of plans and figure out which one will work after Round 1. In Round 1 I would tell my fighter to simply make Floyd come at him, don’t make one offensive move toward him. Make Floyd come from the right, left, throw punches on the run, and get a feel for the speed of Mayweather. From there see what he is doing badly and try to take advantage of it. Part of me thinks that offensive Floyd really isn’t all that good and that’s where the chinks in the armor are going to be.

I think the De la Hoya plan but only done better and for more than a few rounds. Shane is bigger than Floyd and has the strength to push and bully Floyd around, get physical.

Pump that jab. Go for the shoulder and throw the right to the body. Maybe even faint the jab, step in and work the body, the faint will interupt the counter.

Out work him or make him work. Easier said than done.

Put Floyd out of his comfort zone, make him think and stop doing things on instinct. Even fight dirty and piss him off.

Come in with more than one plan. Change it up on Floyd, dont let him get used to one attack (in fighting). If something is working use it then mix it up then come back to it. Basicaly make Floyd think about what will happen not just react to it.

Work the body — Perhaps this seems obvious but I don’t think that the importance of this can be too overstated. The only person to ever really bother Mayweather was Castillo and he went to the body like mad. Mosley is clearly a very different boxer from castillo but ever since his days at lightweight he has shown that he can body punch well enough to change the outcome of the fight, with a boxer as hard to hit cleanly as Floyd is, he will need this not just to wear him down but possibly also to be seen to be outworking Mayweather.

a.) Mosley will not risk going to the body on Floyd due to the fact that Mosley’s problem to leave his head vulnerable due to his lack of head movement. He stands straight up when he fights and doesn’t follow through. For example: Cotto vs Mosley — everyone knew Cotto’s jaw was suspect. Mosley landed great shots on Cotto, yet Mosley knew Cotto’s ability to lay leather yet continued to slug with Cotto. I saw no intention of going to the body. I doubt Mosley will keep that up for twelve rounds under the brutality of Floyd’s straight right hand. I just can’t see it. End of story.

Adversity — This is a slightly vague area which has been mentioned a few times by posters on here; how will Mayweather react to actually being hit cleanly by a power shot? After all, times when this has happened have been few and far between and Mosley hits pretty hard and with very good accuracy. We can’t tell but I wouldn’t be totally surprised if Mayweather falls apart a bit when he gets hit flush a few times. What would happen next? Maybe he becomes even more defensive, maybe he actually gets into a war. I’m not saying that he will struggle mentally with adversity which he is unaccustomed to, but it is a possibility.

b.) You mean when he was beaten to the punch by Judah, pushed around and bullied by Castillo in their first fight, smothered for ten rounds against Hatton and caught a huge right by DeMarcus Corley? Oh wait, what about all those people who thought the bigger Corrales was bigger, stronger and enough to take Mayweather out or those who found the larger De La Hoya would out power the smaller Mayweather at 154, a weight he’s never even been to — that adversity? They all lost. Margo stood there and took Shane’s power — Margo’s gameplan = countering punches with his face. Luis Collazo is the best case of an overactive Boxer trying to do too much with limited Boxing ability; no where on the level of Floyd Mayweather. Mayorga managed to land shots on Shane until he was KO’d, I won’t even start on Vargas. Moving on…

Speed — Just don’t try to be faster than him, it isn’t going to work. In your prime, maybe, but not now. It’s not even that he’s that much faster than you but his reactions still look great while yours have faded a bit and he was faster regardless of this. Mosley needs to go in with the intent of setting up powershots not trying the Judah approach of throwing Mayweather off by beating him to the punch. That was a good plan, but Mosley simply doesn’t have the speed to do that.

c.) Floyd’s ability to counterpunch will nullify any form of speed Mosley attempts to present. I’ve said before in another post, Mosley’s biggest asset in this fight his is power. Mosley will look to be the slower man, even if he uses the jab and doubles it up, Floyd’s straight right is used just as well as his jab. Mosley’s inability to stray from being hit by right hand’s is what will keep him from instituting his gameplan. Mosley’s “power vs power” will not work out to his advantage here. He has to use every inch of that ring if he hopes on coming out of that fight victorious.

Establish the jab — Mosley never used to be much of a jabber, in his first fight with De La Hoya he barely threw any, but in his most recent matchup he showed a nice stiff jab that worked well in keeping Margarito at bay. When De La Hoya fought Mayweather he was most effective in the first half of the fight when he used his strong jab to try to keep Mayweather off balance as much as possible. If Mosley wants to be able to set up clean shots to the head then he needs to be very disciplined with those jabs and throw a considerably large amount of them.If he does this then Mayweather will be unsettled and easier to hit.

d.) Once again, Margarito just comes forward. A blind man with a trained jab could his Margarito 10 out of 10 times. In Floyd’s case, he will use the ring. Create distance and strike. Once Mayweather finds out that Mosley is ineffective in the pocket, it spell the end and create yet another one-sided affair. This fight will clearly show that even in his hey-day, Mosley could not contend with Mayweather. Age will certainly show here.

If Shane can make Floyd think that he is not unbeatable, it is his fight to lose. I think if Floyd’s confidence takes a hit, he will be but off his game.

The only person I believe that could defeat Mayweather is Father Time. Mosley presents great challenges, just not enough that would disrupt Mayweather’s ability to win. I’ve been in thousands of conversations regarding Mayweather’s opposition over the past years. From Castillo to Hatton — all say the same thing; all choose the “other guy” over Mayweather. Which they have a right to, I’m not knocking them for that. However, if Floyd continues to win and defeats opponents that others find will, again, disrupt Mayweather’s ability to fight. I don’t see how Shane is any different.

Once Mayweather defeats Mosley, the excuses will come out: He hasn’t fought in 18 months; he was 38; the blood tests did him in; et cetera. After that, the masses of Mayweather-haters will continiously attempt to create another Boxer with the creative know-how to defeat Floyd Mayweather. Pacquiao is not that Boxer. Try again.

My prediction: Floyd Mayweather by lopsided UD

Given the recent news, I think that Nazim’s best tactic is simply to give Floyd whatever he wants to drag his ass into the ring. The main point from the top I agree with is adversity, I don’t think that Floyd will react well to that at all as he’s more a boxer than a fighter now.

Great post as usual DrunkenCutman, just caught up with it only now

thanks, man.

I just received an education my friend!! Great post, and there are a lot of good tactics there, especially the combinations and the bullying. If you watch Floyd train in those 24/7 episodes, everything is a rhythm and timing is vital. Floyd memorizes which combos are coming and reacts to them; dipping, diving, dodging and ducking, all while preening for the camera. If Shane disrupts that rhythm by throwing unorthodox combinations he has a shot.

Again, excellent post!!

Brilliant posts Areglado and Don From Prov . Great great breakdown Areglado . This is the sort of stuff that makes BLH the best boxing site on the net by a frigging mile . I still favour Floyd unfortunately but like you fellas I give Shane a good chance . Shame it wasnt 5 years ago . Cheers Blokes.

The southpaw comment Floyd senior supposedly made doesnt surprise me at all . Floyd looked like a different fighter against Corley and Judah .

If I were Mosley’s trainer, I would not do very much except perhaps some fine-tunning on what SSM does not do so well. And there is little of that. I would concentrate on what PBF does rather than what SSM does and focus on that. The thing is, you have to hope that SSM has not grown too old. Which one will show up? The one who slaughtered Cheato or the one who looked a bit lethargic against Mayorga until he lowered the boom in the last round.

For me, this is no longer a perfect storm fight. More like an imperfect storm in which you have a fully rested PBF fighting a guy who has been in a lot of wars and who could grow old overnight. I see PBF winning it handily. But I will do an analysis later.

Interestingly, a few years back, I did one for ESB called the “Perfect Storm” and it garnered a monster number of posts. Not because it was paricularly well done but because it was done during a time when SSM really looked like he could do some damage to PBF who was hated or loved depending on the poster.

I’d have Shane spar with Bernard , quality sessions with the elusive Ex would sharpen Mosley’s timing and teach him the finer points of old school rough-housing (key against Floyd IMO).

Floyd will be expecting those stoccatto jabs Shane likes to throw, I’d have Shane work on stepping in with a shotgun jab aimed at the chest, then have him mix up some fast 4 punch combos, alternating the heat. Don’t load up on every shot , let your speed do it’s thing. Show him something new each round, switch it up, keep him guessing. Throw the uppercut at the end of a combo, Floyd likes to dip low, make him pay. Every time he punches, fire back, catch him mid flight.

If you walk Floyd down he’ll slip and slide all night, standing in front of him might be risky but this won’t be won playing it safe. Sell the feint, read his reaction, get off first, make him pay. Floyd’s toughness might be under-rated as it’s rarely called upon, so call upon it, make it ugly.

Oh and if I were Nazim, I’d have a sit down with Areglado and Prov. Cheers Drunken Cutman, Ted, JC40. Good stuff.

I like the idea of sparring with BHop. Mosley is going to have to take his game to another level to win this fight. Become a junkyard dog and give Floyd everything AND the kitchen sink. I believe Mosley can win this fight but it’s going to take every fiber of talent and ability he has in his body.

Great stuff Goaty!

Very good Snake!!!!

Im being repetitive but the jab , the jab , the jab . First and best way to beat a counterpuncher who fights off the back foot .

Just putting my two cents worth in . Mosely is naturally more comfortable being an attacking fighter than Leonard but is shorter with less range , Arreglado . Hearns best weight was 154 in my opinion . From 147 – 154 he only lost one fight . The Leonard one. I think Tommys jab and hand speed would be too much for Shane . Shanes vulnerability to the right hand would be a worry too. Its all opinion and supposition but always fun to mull this shit over . Cheers blokes.