Floyd Mayweather could be coming out of retirement in 2026 for a big rematch and one final fight with Filipino legend Manny Pacquiao.
And if he and Pacquiao choose to do that, it will be a huge fight for many reasons.
The story of it that both are older now and the fact many want to see the rematch after Pacquiao cited injury in the first fight and so on, the fact was though, Mayweather won the fight hands down and was the better boxer.
Whatever Pacquiao said after.
Key to this and his professional boxing career of going 50-0 and fighting pretty much everyone of his time and beating all the best fighters was of course his defense.
Some called it a borrowed style from the original Philly Shell and before that the Philly Crab but really the shell, not the crab, was the legit fight style that fighters in Philadelphia actually used back in the day in reality.
Why Floyd Mayweather’s Defense Was Revolutionary
Others had variations of this like James Toney and this defensive posture whereby Mayweather used his shoulder to make his upper body a slim target by effectively turning his shoulder clockwise to become a side-on target rather than a square on one, not only made him harder to hit but he was one of the few, maybe ever, that was able to use this to deflect punches off his shoulder as well coming his way.
While often times getting off his own punches straight away be they counters after blocking a punch with his shoulder.
He also had many things in his defensive weapon belt like traditional blocking of punches and parrying of punches but again, not always purely defensive, often to launch his own stuff mid flow of defending what was coming back at him in lighting fast simultaneous fashion at the same time as getting his own punches off, often connecting on be wildered opponents then being out of range or simply to the side completely of an opponent unable to be hit by them.
This level of genius was rarely seen in his time and even in today’s times, the same can be said sometimes when Shakur Stevenson used his own defensive repertories in this realm.
When all is said and done, Mayweather was one of the great champions ever seen in boxing.
