Floyd Mayweather: Solving the Riddle

Photo Credit: Mark J. Rebilas/USA TODAY Sports

50 have tried. None have prevailed.

Floyd Mayweather Jr. is, without question, the premier boxer of his generation. A master technician and defensive wizard, Mayweather’s unrivaled ring IQ and athletic ability has seen him beat a slew of fellow stars including the likes of Oscar De La Hoya, Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez, Miguel Cotto, Shane Mosley and Manny Pacquiao. Opinions on the man may vary, but there’s no denying his talent.

Yet when assessing Floyd’s legacy, one of the most common things you’ll see is reference to that glittering ‘0’ on his record. Indeed, one of the great myths of the post-Mayweather era is the exaggerated importance of being undefeated. As a result, there is a common misconception amongst some fans that because Mayweather is unbeaten, he is unbeatable.

In this piece, I’ll be looking to disprove that falsehood by comparing the approaches of a number of fighters against Mayweather, and analysing the common techniques they used to have varying degrees of success in solving this era’s most complex riddle. Today we’re focusing specifically on how to pressure Mayweather, and taking a glance at some of the weaknesses in his seemingly impenetrable defence. But before we kick on, it’s important to briefly familiarise ourselves with one of Mayweather’s most recognisable techniques.

The ‘Philly Shell’

Whilst its name varies considerably, the most popular term used to describe Mayweather’s trademark half-guard is the ‘Philly Shell’. An erroneous label? Probably, but for the basis of this article I’ll use it as a shorthand mainly as it’s an instantly recognisable term.

A staple of his defensive success, Mayweather’s deep understanding of the shell’s properties and its lineage allows him to have an in-built response to an opponent’s every attack. Let’s look at this more closely.

The picture above highlights some of the basic components of the Philly Shell. First of all is the lead shoulder, which is rotated inwards in order to shield the chin with the arm protecting the body. As you can see, Canelo’s right hand sails harmlessly past Mayweather as a result of the ‘shoulder roll’, and Mayweather is now coiled in a position to fire a right hand counter due to the rotating motion. The rear glove is additionally used to to parry jabs and block the left hand, particularly hooks. Mayweather’s total command of the Philly Shell allows him to have an answer to whatever punches an opponent may throw, and is the foundation of his brilliant anticipation - something that Mayweather’s defence is predicated on.

So how do you crack the code? With his back against ropes, Mayweather is a very difficult fighter to have success against when in his Philly Shell. First of all though, you have to get him there.

Maneuvering Mayweather

If there is one mild criticism of Mayweather’s game, it’s his tendency to instinctively move back in a straight line rather than laterally. This is partially due to Mayweather’s confidence in his own ability against the ropes, but also as a response to certain threats from an opponent - something that we’ll soon find can be exploited. Two opponents that were consistently able to trouble Mayweather with pressure and push him back were Jose Luis Castillo and Marcos Maidana. Both men adopted remarkably similar strategies in order to do so; use of level changes, feinting and varying their setups and rhythm.

I mentioned earlier that Mayweather is a highly cerebral fighter - he instinctively analyses what an opponent is doing, and reacts to it accordingly. In the case of Castillo, the Mexican was able to establish the threat of the right hand off of his body jab as well as gradually close distance with subtle steps forward. Mayweather’s answer was to step back, thus neutralising Castillo’s right by being out of range.

Because Mayweather’s system now associates the body jab with the right hand, he becomes highly receptive to level changes. Castillo identifies this and uses it to his own advantage, employing a variety of jabs & feints to back Floyd towards the ropes.

One more time, to hammer the point home.

A key part of Castillo’s success was establishing patterns & breaking them - something that we’ll be talking about a lot throughout this article. Mayweather is brilliant at getting a read on opponents and adjusting to counter what they’re doing, which is why it was essential that Castillo constantly mixed up his approach. One moment he’d jabbing upwards from a crouched position, the next leading with a left hook. In the video below, note the diversity of Castillo’s attacks off of that level change. Castillo also played around with the rhythm of his shots, keeping Mayweather guessing and throwing off his timing.

Maidana clearly took a few cues from Castillo’s performance, and followed the Mexican’s blueprint to similar effect. Like Castillo, Maidana set up the threat of the overhand right off the body jab, and with Floyd stepping back in response he used this to manoeuvre his opponent to the ropes. Look how Maidana starts off with a level change - seem familiar? Someone did their homework.

As mentioned previously, diversity is vital against Mayweather. Once he began to familiarise himself with Maidana’s movement and entries, the Argentine responded by adjusting his timing and remaining defensively responsible in order to avoid incoming counter-punches.

Watch how Maidana catches Mayweather unexpectedly with a right hand by changing rhythm. Mayweather’s high-guard, with a tempting glimmer of space down the middle, invites a jab which he’s expecting. But Maidana surprises him with a jab and a body-jab feint, before exploding off-beat into a right hand that catches Floyd. The same idea applies to Maidana’s entries - without a discernible pattern that Mayweather can pick up on, his anticipation is stifled.

Another hallmark of effective pressure is an ability to cut off the ring, especially when looking to dictate where the fight takes place (in this case, the ropes). Whilst Mayweather’s swift changes in direction can make doing so very difficult, Castillo and Maidana were able to cut off exits by mirroring Floyd’s movement; moving right when he moved left, and employing a quick L-Step to take away Mayweather’s avenues of escape. Shot selection is also key - punches such as the left hook can be used to corral an opponent in a certain direction, and both men exhibited this.

Now we’ve looked at how opponents have successfully forced Mayweather to the ropes, the logical question is “what comes next?” Here’s where the puzzle gets challenging, and the real fun starts.

Prising the Shell Open

Let’s start off by comparing and contrasting the approaches of three different fighters in trying to solve Mayweather’s Philly Shell; Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez, Marcos Maidana and Miguel Cotto. Very quickly, we’ll see some common themes emerge with regards to what’s successful and what isn’t.

We’ll begin with Canelo. Despite being on the receiving end of a Mayweather masterclass, the fight itself was more competitive than many would think and the Mexican had his moments. Take the clip below for example - there’s a number of good things that Canelo does here. When Mayweather folds over his hip to avoid the 1-2, Canelo swings his rear leg around whilst keeping his lead foot on the inside of Mayweather’s to prevent the American from ducking-and-pivoting out (one of his most common methods of getting off of the ropes). The lead foot placement acts as a barrier and obstructs Mayweather from escaping, whilst Canelo can then wrap his arms around Mayweather and force him back towards the ropes.

In the next clip, look at how Mayweather rotates his upper-body to the left slightly when throwing an uppercut. Canelo fires a left hook to make him rotate further, in the opposite direction that Mayweather wants to. The nature of the Philly Shell means that Mayweather is always looking to rotate inwards so that his lead shoulder protects the chin. But because he’s rotating outwards instead, the chin is briefly exposed - giving a small window to land the right hand. He sees his chance, and takes it. Canelo then takes advantage of Mayweather’s tendency to bring his rear glove upwards in anticipation of a left hook, instead targeting the body with the space under Mayweather’s elbow being exposed.

Whilst Canelo had spots of success like we saw above, he often played into Mayweather’s hands on the ropes. He gave the American too much room to pull back & duck, and was too predictable at times which allowed Mayweather to make full use of the Philly Shell’s ingrained counter-punching properties.

Marcos Maidana was also able to shut down Mayweather’s duck-and-pivot, in a style very similar to the Canelo clip. He brings his rear leg around whilst keeping his lead foot inside Mayweather’s, and forces him more upright with a shovel hook. Maidana then grabs onto Floyd and moves him back.

One thing Maidana did do better than Canelo at was taking away Mayweather’s room to pull back against the ropes, chiefly by putting his head on Mayweather’s chest and pushing him. This straightened Mayweather up and forced him to rely more on his forearms for defence, as well as exposing the body.

Maidana was also able to exploit Mayweather’s right-side by mixing up the levels on his hooks in order to to manipulate Mayweather’s rear glove, which created openings as a result. He’s not the only one to have success in doing so either. Canelo and, more consistently, Castillo took advantage of this too. The Mexican veteran would consistently throw a lead left hook downstairs, creating a pattern, which resulted in Mayweather lowering his right hand. Castillo would then defy Mayweather’s expectations by coming upstairs with the left hook, catching him clean. Floyd may be a master of guard manipulation (see his fight with Diego Corrales, amongst others) but he is vulnerable to this himself.

Whilst Maidana’s crowding approach may have been effective (if seemingly crude at times), it was also exhausting and would have certainly contributed to the Argentine running out of steam later on. In contrast, Miguel Cotto opted for a more efficient approach and opportunistically took advantage of what Mayweather gave him.

Just like Canelo, look how Cotto creates a window for the right hand by hooking to the body, which manipulates Mayweather to rotate outwards and slightly square himself up as a result. We’ll be looking at how to set up the right against Mayweather in greater depth another time, but some of the examples today should give you a clue.

Cotto then jabs, and Mayweather folds over his right hip to avoid what he anticipates to be a follow-up right hand. But Cotto is patient, and instead uses his gloves to manipulate Mayweather’s head before creating an opening to the body and landing a left hook.

If there’s one thing to take away from the clips above, it’s that each opponent’s success is linked by a common thread - unpredictability. With a lack of glaring weaknesses, it’s crucial to curb Mayweather’s strengths and throw him off his game. Deception and variety are key here; by giving the American a number of different looks, an opponent is forcing him to constantly re-calibrate and thus blunting his anticipatory skills as a result. The path to consistent success is by being inconsistent, in a sense.

It’s a credit to Floyd’s perceptiveness that, even then, he will eventually adjust to an opponent’s tactics (be it down the stretch or in a rematch) and find a way to win. Maybe the relentless stalking of tough-as-nails Antonio Margarito, combined with his high-volume, would’ve changed that. Or perhaps Kazakh wrecking ball Gennady Golovkin, one of the finest pressure fighters in recent memory, could have been the man to claim Mayweather’s prized ‘0’. Historically there are a number of fighters who would have been able to have success at pressuring Floyd; Julio César Chávez and a one Roberto Durán spring to mind. It’s hard to imagine that if Maidana, as under-appreciated technically as he is, was able to push Mayweather back than Durán would be able to do the same & then some.

To summarise; Floyd Mayweather Jr. is undoubtedly a defensive genius, but there are slight chinks in the armour. As we’ve seen today, a number of fighters have been able to effectively apply—and build off of—pressure. This is just one of the solutions for ‘solving the riddle’ of Floyd.

In the future, I’m sure this topic will be revisited again with a focus on other techniques. Until then, think like Floyd: stay away, and stay safe!