Who are the smartest fighters in the ring today?
I think by far the top two, in order, are Bernard Hopkins, and Mayweather. After that probably Juan Manuel Marquez and Andre Ward.
Comparing the top two, a lot of what Floyd does is based on his naturally athletic ability whereas Hopkins has been winning fights strictly on his ring IQ with no real physical advantages i.e. he's winning fights by out smarting his opponents, which is why I rank bhop as the smartest fighter in the game.
Floyd has amazing natural athletic ability. He can do things, and get away with things, hopkins simply cannot do. Like his pull-counter, that's something most guys can't physically do efficiently (not the way he does it anyway).
Most of the adjusting Floyd does in his fights are simply getting his opponents speed & timing down, then he knows the correct amount of distance he needs to keep. He adjusts in the ring. That's why he typically takes a couple rounds before he performs well (like against Mosley, Judah or Ricky Hatton for example).
Hopkins studies his opponents, comes up with specific gameplans for each of his opponents. He takes away his opponents best weapons and uses it against them. For example, once he took Pavlik's 1-2 away from him, he knew he wouldn't have anything else in his arsenal. The same was true against Tarver. Against Winky, he knew his best weapon was his jab, so he smothered him, never allowing him to utilize his best weapon. Again, these are specific game plans that he executes. Even in his losses, like to Calzaghe, there was a gameplan and he executed it. He knew calzaghe's best weapon was volume punching, so as an older man, he had to cut that down but moving laterally a lot and tying him up frequently. The only issue there was his stamina in the second half of the fight. Against Pascal, he knew he had to be the aggressor and press the action. You can go throughout his entire career and see examples of how he fights everyone differently.
Floyd to me pretty much does the same stuff in each fight. He goes in there, feels them out, adjusts to the speed/timing of his opponent and that's it. He'll then know how to beat them to the punch or counter. Whereas bhop will fight completely different based upon his opponents strengths & weaknesses. At age 46, he's beating guys 18+ years younger than him who are not only younger, but stronger, faster, in better condition, etc. It's almost all intelligence that's winning him fights.
I think by far the top two, in order, are Bernard Hopkins, and Mayweather. After that probably Juan Manuel Marquez and Andre Ward.
Comparing the top two, a lot of what Floyd does is based on his naturally athletic ability whereas Hopkins has been winning fights strictly on his ring IQ with no real physical advantages i.e. he's winning fights by out smarting his opponents, which is why I rank bhop as the smartest fighter in the game.
Floyd has amazing natural athletic ability. He can do things, and get away with things, hopkins simply cannot do. Like his pull-counter, that's something most guys can't physically do efficiently (not the way he does it anyway).
Most of the adjusting Floyd does in his fights are simply getting his opponents speed & timing down, then he knows the correct amount of distance he needs to keep. He adjusts in the ring. That's why he typically takes a couple rounds before he performs well (like against Mosley, Judah or Ricky Hatton for example).
Hopkins studies his opponents, comes up with specific gameplans for each of his opponents. He takes away his opponents best weapons and uses it against them. For example, once he took Pavlik's 1-2 away from him, he knew he wouldn't have anything else in his arsenal. The same was true against Tarver. Against Winky, he knew his best weapon was his jab, so he smothered him, never allowing him to utilize his best weapon. Again, these are specific game plans that he executes. Even in his losses, like to Calzaghe, there was a gameplan and he executed it. He knew calzaghe's best weapon was volume punching, so as an older man, he had to cut that down but moving laterally a lot and tying him up frequently. The only issue there was his stamina in the second half of the fight. Against Pascal, he knew he had to be the aggressor and press the action. You can go throughout his entire career and see examples of how he fights everyone differently.
Floyd to me pretty much does the same stuff in each fight. He goes in there, feels them out, adjusts to the speed/timing of his opponent and that's it. He'll then know how to beat them to the punch or counter. Whereas bhop will fight completely different based upon his opponents strengths & weaknesses. At age 46, he's beating guys 18+ years younger than him who are not only younger, but stronger, faster, in better condition, etc. It's almost all intelligence that's winning him fights.
