Below is a compilation of fight stats from Floyd Mayweather Jr.'s last five bouts, covering his run at welterweight and one fight at junior middleweight against Oscar de la Hoya.
A few things to take out of these stats:
- There's this perception among very casual fans and those that simply hate on Floyd that he's a jabber and runner. Neither are true. Mayweather's never worked a ton off his jab, preferring instead to fully utilize his insane speed and reflexes, power punching on counter opportunities.
- If you're not yet familiar with Floyd (hey, new fans come in all the time, believe it or not): He doesn't lead the action. It's exceedingly rare. Maybe if he smells blood like he did with Ricky Hatton after the check hook-into-ringpost knockdown, but he almost never throws more punches in a round than his opponent. He's also almost never outlanded in any round. As you can see, Floyd has a 2-to-1 advantage in connects per round in his last five fights.
- Who was the best opponent on that list? Oscar, for sure, as Oscar was up at his weight (154), and Mayweather was clearly uncomfortable with those few extra pounds (Floyd weighed in at 150 for the fight). He dominated Baldomir and Mitchell, and while he had some early trouble with Judah and Hatton, he wound up taking both of them to school as the fight wore on.
- That last point? It's a big one. Guys have to work so incredibly hard to get to Mayweather and hit him that their conditioning is tested on a whole new level against Floyd, whose own conditioning and dedication to staying in absolute peak condition is second-to-none.
- Marquez is no doubt in for the toughest night of his career, at least in terms of being able to hit his opponent. Floyd's defensive genius comes through in the numbers, and if you're still not a believer, I don't know what to tell you. Keep in mind his offense is 80% (or so) created by his defense. In the now-immortal words of the idiotic Matt Millen, who watched the great Tate Forcier pick apart the Notre Dame defense during crunch time last Saturday, "Watch...the creating."
