# Klitchko: "Floyd, Don't Do It Please"



## Z-man-mma-fan (Mar 4, 2007)

Did anyone watch the Klitchko Interview on Jim Rome is Burning? Good to see a big name in boxing respecting MMA and aknowledging that Mayweather, a great boxer, may be exciting and a big PPV draw but may not be a great mixed martial artist.

IMO Floyd realizes that he basically has all the money he could possibly need and wants to spend the last 2-3 years of his fighting carreer trying something new. He has gone down as one of the greatest boxers of recent years and probably wants to take his chance at being known as the greatest fighter of all time, which, if he wins and keeps a UFC title, he has a good chance of doing. Thats one huge IF though, and personally i dont think he will be a title contender. Who knows though :dunno:


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## Fedor>all (Oct 22, 2006)

I know I'll get shit for this off some Mayweather fans, but he seriously has no chance at fighting for a title.


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## MLS (Jul 18, 2007)

Fedor>all said:


> I know I'll get shit for this off some Mayweather fans, but he seriously has no chance at fighting for a title.


Im a mayweather fan and I agree with you. He wouldnt be able to just go in there and try and out box his opponent. He would really have to train tdd, but if he does have a good sprawl then he might be a force.


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## Hendo (Mar 2, 2007)

mlsman23 said:


> Im a mayweather fan and I agree with you. He wouldnt be able to just go in there and try and out box his opponent. He would really have to train tdd, but if he does have a good sprawl then he might be a force.


 Any decent striker could out strike Floyd any time. boxing glove are way bigger then a mma regular glove set. U cant block like boxing u cant dodge like boxing cuz u can eat a knee or a kick in the face real quick. Just decent leg kick could own floyd striking


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## kds13 (Nov 27, 2006)

A powerful boxer who likes to bang would have a better chance than Floyd at making the transition to MMA. Mayweather uses the big gloves to block shots and be defensive. He'd have trouble doing that with the small gloves. 

I loved that interview though. Klitchko was like, "I think he'd get hurt." He also said they were completely different sports and that MMA isn't easy. :thumbsup:


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## MLS (Jul 18, 2007)

Hendo said:


> Any decent striker could out strike Floyd any time. boxing glove are way bigger then a mma regular glove set. U cant block like boxing u cant dodge like boxing cuz u can eat a knee or a kick in the face real quick. Just decent leg kick could own floyd striking


Thats true, but floyd also has great head movemnet which would help him adjust to the smaller gloves.


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## madroxcide (Apr 22, 2007)

I could see it going 2 ways. If he changed up his game for mma and took a while to learn more with mma such as tdd, some wrestling and submission offense/defense he could do well, if he just came in thinking he is the shit he will get his ass kicked. Don't want to sound like i'm bashing him by any means but as others have said mma and boxing completely different.


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## joppp (Apr 21, 2007)

Boxing is almost a whole other ballgame compared to MMA striking. A boxer can be good at it yes, but he would certainly need to modify.

Even Thaiboxing world champion Kit Cope is struggeling and is certainly NOT KOing every opponent in 10 seconds.


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## traf_quake (Jan 17, 2007)

hey i love floyd as well guys but imo he'd get straight up mudered in mma

sure his hands are probly better than almost any mixed martial artist but look at guys like sherk, bj, huerta, ken-flo...these guys have spent as much time on the ground as well as stand up where as floyd has only worked on his hands

even if floyd made the transition i'm sure even with about 6 months of hard ground training won't even be close to enough to defend against the top guys. this is just like when michael jordan switched careers to play baseball. he was decent and picked up the game after not playing it for a long time but he only played in the minors and struck out all the time. just because floyd's the michael jordan in boxing, doesn't mean he's gonna be the shit in mma


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## Zemelya (Sep 23, 2007)

i think that Floyd should stop talking about it and start his mma career if he wants that
and we get to see what comes out of it.


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## AtomDanger (Oct 7, 2006)

Hendo said:


> Any decent striker could out strike Floyd any time. boxing glove are way bigger then a mma regular glove set. U cant block like boxing u cant dodge like boxing cuz u can eat a knee or a kick in the face real quick. Just decent leg kick could own floyd striking


Exactly.
Even "boxing" in an MMA fight is completely different than boxing. It isn't even the same ballpark. 
Worrying about leg kicks, takedowns, knees, elbows, the clinch, sweeps, etc...


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## Liddellianenko (Oct 8, 2006)

Z-man-mma-fan said:


> Did anyone watch the Klitchko Interview on Jim Rome is Burning? Good to see a big name in boxing respecting MMA and aknowledging that Mayweather, a great boxer, may be exciting and a big PPV draw but may not be a great mixed martial artist.
> 
> IMO Floyd realizes that he basically has all the money he could possibly need and wants to spend the last 2-3 years of his fighting career trying something new. He has gone down as one of the greatest boxers of recent years and probably wants to take his chance at being known as the greatest fighter of all time, which, if he wins and keeps a UFC title, he has a good chance of doing. Thats one huge IF though, and personally i dont think he will be a title contender. Who knows though :dunno:


He would need to train a ton of groundgame and forget half of what he has learnt from professional boxing. IMO it's actually easier to be an MMA fighter being an amateur boxer that concentrates less on defense and just likes to bang, rather than a pro boxer that nowadays relies 95% on good defense using those giant gloves and 5% on actual punching. That's why boxing is losing popularity too.. it used to be about just fighting back in the bare knuckle days, but it's evolved into a strategy sport exploiting it's own rule restrictions with less and less relation to fighting.


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## attention (Oct 18, 2006)

traf_quake said:


> hey i love floyd as well guys but imo he'd get straight up mudered in mma
> 
> sure his hands are probly better than almost any mixed martial artist but look at guys like sherk, bj, huerta, ken-flo...these guys have spent as much time on the ground as well as stand up where as floyd has only worked on his hands
> 
> even if floyd made the transition i'm sure even with about 6 months of hard ground training won't even be close to enough to defend against the top guys.


Totally agree... Mayweather KNOWS the ins and outs of boxing... and exploits the no-hit areas and stop-and-go action of boxing to the point of making a boxing match BORING.

His reflexes and habits will get him destroyed in mma... by any decent mma fighter, not just the top tier guys either.

Floyd has a big mouth and should either put up or shut up.
I would pay good money to watch him getting his ass handed to him in mma.


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## jdun11 (Apr 23, 2006)

Floyd is what, 30?? If he trains MMA solid for 2 years before he gets into a pro fight I think he will do just fine. The guy is an incredidible athlete!! If there is one thing we know its that great athletes flourish in MMA. Granted Floyd will need to train long and hard to be good but with talent like that he cant fail. He just needs to get in a solid camp and start from the bottom like everyone else.

But if your saying, send him to some MMA gym for a few months and throw him in there with likes of Urijah Faber or Jeff Curran than the guy would obviously get killed.

I mean 5 years ago Marcus Davis was just a boxer and now he is a skilled and dangerous fighter. Floyd is on a totally different level athletically than Marcus Davis. Send Floyd down to Greg Jackson or Pat Militich for 2 years and he will be a tough fight for anyone.


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## streetpunk08 (Jul 15, 2006)

I was watching this interview and as a boxing fan he really is a class act. He knows why boxing is down with the lack of exciting fighters and he's very intelligent. He's right though Floyd would get hurt in mma.


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## hollando (Apr 11, 2007)

ummmm

i dunno guys

to say that floyd wouldnt stand a chance is silly

the guy will go down as one of greatest in boxing.....at least give him a chance if he were to take the time and make a transition to mma....by that i mean......learning wrestling, bjj, takedown defence, wrestling, leg kicks and all the other things needed to be a great mma fighter

other than that feel free to pick on his shitty attitude


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## hollando (Apr 11, 2007)

jdun11 said:


> Floyd is what, 30?? If he trains MMA solid for 2 years before he gets into a pro fight I think he will do just fine. The guy is an incredidible athlete!! If there is one thing we know its that great athletes flourish in MMA. Granted Flolyd will need to train long and hard to be good but with talent like that he cant fail. He just needs to get in a solid camp and start from the bottom like everyone else.
> 
> But if your saying, send him to some MMA gym for a few months and throw him in there with likes of Urijah Faber or Jeff Curran than the guy would obviously get killed.


i dont usually agree with alot you spill out jdun

but hell man i agree with you on this

if were willing to give brock freaking lesnar a chance

we can sure as hell give this guy a chance.....but like i said im gonna tear this guy apart on his attitude 

plus rep


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## streetpunk08 (Jul 15, 2006)

He has a puncher's chance that's about it, he would have to revamp everything he knows about fighting and style. He would need alot of training quickly.


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## hollando (Apr 11, 2007)

streetpunk08 said:


> He has a puncher's chance that's about it, he would have to revamp everything he knows about fighting and style. He would need alot of training quickly.


well yah hed have a punchers chance....he is a boxer....but to he sure as hell has some potential


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## MLS (Jul 18, 2007)

jdun11 said:


> Floyd is what, 30?? If he trains MMA solid for 2 years before he gets into a pro fight I think he will do just fine. The guy is an incredidible athlete!! If there is one thing we know its that great athletes flourish in MMA. Granted Floyd will need to train long and hard to be good but with talent like that he cant fail. He just needs to get in a solid camp and start from the bottom like everyone else.
> 
> But if your saying, send him to some MMA gym for a few months and throw him in there with likes of Urijah Faber or Jeff Curran than the guy would obviously get killed.
> 
> I mean 5 years ago Marcus Davis was just a boxer and now he is a skilled and dangerous fighter. Floyd is on a totally different level athletically than Marcus Davis. Send Floyd down to Greg Jackson or Pat Militich for 2 years and he will be a tough fight for anyone.


agreed. He is an athlete not just a boxer. I think if developed a good sprawl he could be a force. Dealing with the leg kicks shouldnt be that hard for him because he is fighter who fights off instinct. So leg kicks would be like punches once he trained for them.


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## Z-man-mma-fan (Mar 4, 2007)

Liddellianenko said:


> He would need to train a ton of groundgame and forget half of what he has learnt from professional boxing. IMO it's actually easier to be an MMA fighter being an amateur boxer that concentrates less on defense and just likes to bang, rather than a pro boxer that nowadays relies 95% on good defense using those giant gloves and 5% on actual punching. That's why boxing is losing popularity too.. it used to be about just fighting back in the bare knuckle days, but it's evolved into a strategy sport exploiting it's own rule restrictions with less and less relation to fighting.


what the hell are you talking about? bare knuckle days? what kind of ******* boxing do you watch exactly?

really though, if a boxer was 95% defence he'd get out decisioned in EVERY SINGLE FIGHT. Id say its closer to a balance of 50/50, thats what good boxers are anyway. Trust me, guys spend alot more time punching. Take a match like Liddell/Silva or even Forrest/Bonnar I, the punch count in an average boxing match is MUCH HIGHER than those 2 slugfests, with forrest/bonnar being one of the top 3 all-standup fights in UFC history, if not the best. Knockdown count in an average boxing match would probably be higher too. These guys' hands are very active compared to an MMA fighter, which is why Floyd could really be something if he was serious with this.


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## thedude86 (Jun 22, 2007)

Liddellianenko said:


> He would need to train a ton of groundgame and forget half of what he has learnt from professional boxing. IMO it's actually easier to be an MMA fighter being an amateur boxer that concentrates less on defense and just likes to bang, rather than a pro boxer that nowadays relies 95% on good defense using those giant gloves and 5% on actual punching. That's why boxing is losing popularity too.. it used to be about just fighting back in the bare knuckle days, but it's evolved into a strategy sport exploiting it's own rule restrictions with less and less relation to fighting.


yeah i definatly agree, thats the whole reason im not a mayweather fan hes boring to watch. All he ever does is run from people and hide behind his gloves. I miss people like Tyson who would just go out their and brawl. Mayweather wins fights but hes definatly not the type to go out their and bang.


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## hollando (Apr 11, 2007)

thedude86 said:


> yeah i definatly agree, thats the whole reason im not a mayweather fan hes boring to watch. All he ever does is run from people and hide behind his gloves. I miss people like Tyson who would just go out their and brawl. Mayweather wins fights but hes definatly not the type to go out their and bang.


you miss people that beat there wives and ripp off fighters ears with there teeth


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## N1™ (Apr 8, 2007)

anybody know what weightclass he would have fought in in mma ? he seems to have been all over the scale in boxing ( lighter classes ) ?


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## jobbernowl (Oct 15, 2006)

He has the athletic ability to be a threat in the division but he would definitely need to train at least a year in MMA


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## hollando (Apr 11, 2007)

norway1 said:


> anybody know what weightclass he would have fought in in mma ? he seems to have been all over the scale in boxing ( lighter classes ) ?


my money is on the 155 weightclass


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## Flak (Jul 1, 2007)

I have a different take.

Is Floyd really that far head and shoulders above everyone else, or do most boxers just suck these days?

It's all relative.


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## Z-man-mma-fan (Mar 4, 2007)

Flak said:


> I have a different take.
> 
> Is Floyd really that far head and shoulders above everyone else, or do most boxers just suck these days?
> 
> It's all relative.


It WAS all relative, before his fight with De La Hoya, who was a tested and true former champ. Beating him solidified Floyd in many people's minds.


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## MMAmatt (Apr 8, 2007)

floyd pros - Hard to hit, quick, good striking skills

cons - people will know that and take him down, clinch, kicks, being anything but one dimensional etc... even if he does learn another aspect of the sport it will be like a vet tooling a noob in those aspects. He`d have to keep everything standing, and some of the guys arent slouches standing as well, plus the fact that he doesnt train with small gloves, nor does he train in a cage.


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## DropKick (Apr 19, 2007)

Floyds hands are extremely fast and his puches have pin point accuracy. He's also a very elusive fighter and he doesn't just block punches, he slips most of them. Floyds beaten some very good fighters in his career, convincingly too. If he dedicated himself to MMA and trained for a year or two at a good camp there is no reason to believe he couldn't excel in MMA. I hate his atitude as much as anyone, but you can't deny his talent.


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## chilo (May 27, 2007)

Zemelya said:


> i think that Floyd should stop talking about it and start his mma career if he wants that
> and we get to see what comes out of it.


only thing problem about that is, floyd is all about the $$ and if he doesn't get what he expect to get (which he probably wont), the deal wont go through.


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## DropKick (Apr 19, 2007)

I heard Mark Cuban offered him a pretty substantial amount to fight in his org. I'll try to find it.

http://sports.espn.go.com/sports/boxing/news/story?id=3165552

I guess no offer really, just Cuban speculating on what it would take. $30 Million pay day? I don't see that happening.


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## PanKrato (Mar 5, 2007)

madroxcide said:


> I could see it going 2 ways. If he changed up his game for mma and took a while to learn more with mma such as tdd, some wrestling and submission offense/defense he could do well, if he just came in thinking he is the shit he will get his ass kicked. Don't want to sound like i'm bashing him by any means but as others have said mma and boxing completely different.


Gotta agree.
But I still think Mayweather won't do too well. Maybe after a while he'll become a force, but immediately? 1-0% chance IMO


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## Organik (Aug 28, 2006)

i still want to see it, i wonder if they'll call him prettyboty after tho.. mabe it will be Floyd "Mutilated Grin" Mayweather


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## thedude86 (Jun 22, 2007)

hollando said:


> you miss people that beat there wives and ripp off fighters ears with there teeth


thats his personal life who gives a shit about that im talkin about how he boxed. He went out their lookin to knock people out right from the beginning and i thought his style was sick.


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## Liddellianenko (Oct 8, 2006)

Z-man-mma-fan said:


> what the hell are you talking about? bare knuckle days? what kind of ******* boxing do you watch exactly?
> 
> really though, if a boxer was 95% defence he'd get out decisioned in EVERY SINGLE FIGHT. Id say its closer to a balance of 50/50, thats what good boxers are anyway. Trust me, guys spend alot more time punching. Take a match like Liddell/Silva or even Forrest/Bonnar I, the punch count in an average boxing match is MUCH HIGHER than those 2 slugfests, with forrest/bonnar being one of the top 3 all-standup fights in UFC history, if not the best. Knockdown count in an average boxing match would probably be higher too. These guys' hands are very active compared to an MMA fighter, which is why Floyd could really be something if he was serious with this.



I'm not talking about our generation or boxing fights we would've been able to see, but the overall history of boxing in general.. it's been around for thousands of years, and for 99% of that time, there were no gloves or weight classes. Those came around in the late 1800s. And those gloves got thicker and thicker with time.. from 8oz (back in the Bradock/Baer days) to 12 oz to 16 oz (today), and the techniques got more and more unrealistic and glove dependent. But the techniques of exploiting those giant gloves fully (peek-a-boo and other defensive styles etc.) were only developed in the 1960s and 70s until they became the norm today and have evolved into a dominantly defensive strategy. Today, all pro boxers rely on keeping your hands up and blocking most strikes while looking forever for an opening to slip a heavy punch. And the fights get progressively more and more boring because they reward guys that are really good at covering up and bobbing around, throwing the occasional strong punch rather than a powerful all out slugger. Look at Lennox Lewis, the guy's the most successful boxer from the 90s, all he did was defend.

The punch count doesn't matter as much because most of those punches are blocked. In an mma fight, any punch can knock you out.. in a boxing match, only a perfect punch with tons of power that gets past the block is able to KO, which is very rare in pro boxing nowadays indeed. And pro boxing bears very little relation to real fighting anymore, because real life has no gloves, and there goes 99% of boxing defense right there.


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## Zuke (Sep 22, 2006)

If Marcus Davis can get as good as he is in 5 years, Mayweather can get better than Davis in 3 years. Yes, right now he'd get killed. Just give him sometime and who knows he may suprise you. He may not be champ, but if he is better than average that would be an AMAZING trasition.


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## Grotty (Jul 21, 2006)

Dont forget Mayweathers hands are dodgy, he would probably break them in his first fight.


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## No1Brawler (Sep 23, 2007)

Liddellianenko said:


> I'm not talking about our generation or boxing fights we would've been able to see, but the overall history of boxing in general.. it's been around for thousands of years, and for 99% of that time, there were no gloves or weight classes. Those came around in the late 1800s. And those gloves got thicker and thicker with time.. from 8oz (back in the Bradock/Baer days) to 12 oz to 16 oz (today), and the techniques got more and more unrealistic and glove dependent. But the techniques of exploiting those giant gloves fully (peek-a-boo and other defensive styles etc.) were only developed in the 1960s and 70s until they became the norm today and have evolved into a dominantly defensive strategy. Today, all pro boxers rely on keeping your hands up and blocking most strikes while looking forever for an opening to slip a heavy punch. And the fights get progressively more and more boring because they reward guys that are really good at covering up and bobbing around, throwing the occasional strong punch rather than a powerful all out slugger. Look at Lennox Lewis, the guy's the most successful boxer from the 90s, all he did was defend.
> 
> The punch count doesn't matter as much because most of those punches are blocked. In an mma fight, any punch can knock you out.. in a boxing match, only a perfect punch with tons of power that gets past the block is able to KO, which is very rare in pro boxing nowadays indeed. And pro boxing bears very little relation to real fighting anymore, because  real life has no gloves, and there goes 99% of boxing defense right there.


I dont know where you got your information from but its basically rubbish. 
First of all, boxers these days box with 8-10oz gloves, not 16. Back in the old days the gloves were basically worthless, they had very little padding and the padding could be pushed up so the knuckles wud have veritually no padding. 
Second of all, boxing around the 1900's timeframe was boring as shit, have you ever actually watched a match from that time cause i have and it was boring as hell. 45 rounds and before that, no limits. This meant that fighters would fight at a much slower pace. Those were the London Prize rules. 
Thankgod for the Marques Queensberry rules which got the rules to how it is now. And Lennox Lewis was a masterful boxer with devastating power, one of the best heavyweights ever.

And also, have you ever spared using boxing gloves? its not as easy to block blockes as you make it out to be, thats why theres many deaths in boxing per year. If everyone was defending 95% of these shots, there wud be no KO's.


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## UseOf_A_Weapon (Aug 6, 2007)

i wanna see mayweather vs. one of the diaz bros. they talk some much s*** on him its insane. the great part would be either one of the diaz bros would probably pull out a first round win. haha.


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## jdun11 (Apr 23, 2006)

Floyd will most likely fight at 145 :thumbsup:


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## davidm724 (Feb 17, 2007)

I hope Floyd does do it, even though it's unlikely, and gets punished.


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## Keevel (Feb 4, 2007)

Fedor>all said:


> I know I'll get shit for this off some Mayweather fans, but he seriously has no chance at fighting for a title.


MMA fighters have a longer sweet spot to shine in their careers. I can See Mayweather going straight MMA and doing well enough to get a title shot before he retires.

Hand rant: If Mayweather gets a good MMA trainer, who KNOW how to tape a hand he'll be fine. They do a much better job (on average) using the tape to protect hands in MMA today than they do in Boxing. A good tape man is one of those little things that makes a surprising difference in how landing a punch feels. I watch boxers and some MMA strikers and just can't believe the poor tape jobs some of them have onn their hands. If you're not setting it up properly to serve it's function, why do it at all?


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## kamikaze145 (Oct 3, 2006)

So is he actually going to fight mma or is this just speculation?


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## Fedor>all (Oct 22, 2006)

Keevel said:


> MMA fighters have a longer sweet spot to shine in their careers. I can See Mayweather going straight MMA and doing well enough to get a title shot before he retires.


How do you see this? MMA is a sport you don't simply pick up and become great at in the matter of two years. Mayweather is way behind everyone in the MMA world because he's starting too late. Striking in boxing and MMA is also quite different, through slight nuances that go unnoticed by the untrained eye. 

I highly doubt Floyd would ever get a title shot unless he was fed nothing but strikers that would want to trade, until said title fight, in a poverty-row organization. Even if he got the shot, he'd most likely get pumped.


We're truly entering a phase in MMA now where other combat sport/general sport athletes are convinced that they can simply transition to the big leagues of MMA in the matter of 1-2 years. The only athletes I'd consider truly capable of making the transition are those whom have trained wrestling/BJJ/kickboxers since youth.

In short, athletes that think they can make the transition to MMA easily should look at what happens to guys like Johnny Morton and Francois Botha.


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## tutex (Jan 12, 2008)

hollando said:


> i dont usually agree with alot you spill out jdun
> 
> but hell man i agree with you on this
> 
> ...


what you didnt mention brock lesner is a WRESTLER it was proven in the early ufc days that wrestlers and other grapplers beat stand up fighters any day. lesner has probly the most important factor of mma down wrestling. May weather knows how to punch and thats it. Honestly he stands a 0% chance of winning against a guy like sherk.


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## FlawlessFighter (Jan 6, 2008)

of course he doesnt wan thim to doing it. Floyd and De la Hoya are the only 2 biggest name in the sport


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## davidm724 (Feb 17, 2007)

tutex said:


> what you didnt mention brock lesner is a WRESTLER it was proven in the early ufc days that wrestlers and other grapplers beat stand up fighters any day. lesner has probly the most important factor of mma down wrestling. May weather knows how to punch and thats it. Honestly he stands a 0% chance of winning against a guy like sherk.


Saying Mayweather only knows how to punch is a pretty ignorant thing to say. The guy would be working with some of the top trainers in the country to round an MMA game. This isn't UFC 1 where everybody came in with what discipline they've worked on half their life. He will know what to work on, and you have to consider Mayweather is blessed with extreme athleticism, ability and talent. With a year of consistent training in kickboxing/muay thai, and wrestling/jiu jitsu, I believe he could do pretty well against some mid-level opponents. Don't get me wrong though, with all the shit he's talked about MMA and its fighters, I'd like to see him come in confident and then get smashed. Hopefully he goes through with it (unlikely) and earns some respect for the sport. I'm sure he talks so much crap about MMA because it is such a big threat to boxing, and that's pretty understandable. However, I really hope that he does this, and changes his mind about the sport. Honestly, I think that is one of the best things that could happen for MMA, and it would be nice to see some humility from Mayweather for a change.


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