The Floyd Mayweather Style Guide Part 2: Ring Generalship

The MM Analyst

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You can see part 1 here

The greatest fighters in all combat sports have one thing in common – they possess a seemingly preternatural sense of where they are at all times on the fighting surface, as well as the knowledge of where they want to be and how to get there. Ring generalship separates the good from the great. How many fighters have we seen falter at the elite level because they couldn’t effectively cut the ring, or lacked the footwork to stay on the outside?

Floyd Mayweather exemplifies the concept of ring generalship. He remains aware of his position in the ring at all times and is constantly working to increase his positional advantage. Though Mayweather’s craft is deep, he knows that winning every battle against an elite opponent is simply impossible, and thus possesses a wealth of tactics for getting out of dangerous positions and turning them into advantageous ones.

Footwork

As an outfighter, Mayweather prefers to operate primarily at long range, outside of his opponent’s punching distance. In part 1 of The Floyd Mayweather Style Guide, we examined why attempting to draw him in and counter is a fool’s errand, so that leaves his opponents with the strategy of pressuring. The idea is to move forward while cutting off Mayweather’s escape routes, eventually trapping him in a corner where he has no more distance to exploit.

Obviously, Mayweather is aware of this and has crafted his game around defusing pressure. In order to cut the ring, his opponents must move forward while also tracking his lateral movement. By rapidly changing directions and feinting direction changes, Mayweather will trick his opponents into committing to a side that he’s no longer moving towards. Once they plant their feet, he can sneak out the other side.



There’s a few things to note here. First, Mayweather retreats in a bladed stance, but squares up as he’s within a step of the ropes (there’s that preternatural sense of ring position). Squaring his stance gives him the ability to push off toward either side and facilitates lateral movement. As Mayweather feints a move to his left, Marcos Maidana begins following him and is forced to over-compensate as Mayweather hop-steps toward the other side. Mayweather hops to his left again and Maidana is forced to step out with his rear leg, squaring him up and removing his ability to force Mayweather backwards. Maidana steps back to re-align his stance and pivot into Mayweather, but by the time he does Mayweather has already escaped the ropes and is ready to circle back off when Maidana follows.

Distance Control
Despite Mayweather’s incredible speed and craft in changing directions, merely circling the perimeter of the ring will never be enough to throw off an effective pressure fighter. This is because the man occupying the center of the ring has a much shorter path to travel in order to cut his opponent off. As I explored in greater depth in an article on the footwork of Alexander Gustafsson, an outfighter must be willing to close distance at some point to lessen the distance he needs to travel off the ropes (or cage).

Mayweather is as effective in closing distance as he is in creating it. He clinches early and often. He’ll use the clinch as a tool to close the window on an opponent’s counter after landing a punch or to take himself out of dangerous situations.



Here he leans into the ropes, swatting at Andre Berto‘s jab in an attempt to draw out a more committed punch, and ducks into the clinch as soon as Berto commits with his right hand. Mayweather makes sure to get the underhook on his left side and uses it to turn Berto onto the ropes before the referee breaks the clinch – a crafty, veteran move that puts him back in the center of the ring.

When an opponent has Mayweather stuck on the ropes, he’ll raise his lead shoulder, bring his right arm up to cover against the lead hand, and lean back on the ropes to create distance between his head and the power hand. He’ll alternate pulling his head back and dipping it down toward his right side in order to draw out commitment from his opponent, and use their punch as an opportunity to take his back off the ropes.



Mayweather waits for a committed punch before rolling under it. As he lowers his head, he whips his rear foot around and pivots 180 degrees on his lead foot, switching places with his opponent and putting his back to the center of the ring.

His stance is another tool he uses to draw opponents into committing:



Here Mayweather steps across himself and squares his stance to convince Berto that he’s in position to be hit, only to roll his head out and sidestep into the corner when Berto steps in with punches. Berto commits to a lead hook as he follows Mayweather into the corner, giving Mayweather the opportunity to slip out beneath his elbow.

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Loving this series man.

Can't believe this forum is ignoring such quality analysis.
 
What exactly is ring generalship or octagon control?

They seem to be different. In Boxing the the fighter who establishes his style to dominate the fight is the one that has the generalship. For example Floyd vs Pac. Pac had the middle of the ring in most of the fight but the first rounds, but he was clawned all over the ring from Floyd afterwards, so he had the ring control actually. Pac although having the mid never appeared to control anything. It was Floyd toying with him.

In MMA it seems the fighter who shows to be more aggressive to win that. In Woodley vs Maya they noted that judges may have it hard to score due to Maya having control and it seems that via MMA rules they may have been right. But in a boxing match Woodley would have been given the generalship, due to him favouring fighting near the ropes and that it is an effective take down defence according to Woodleys style to stay on the ropes. So Maya was not really controlling anything, he was playing the game Woodley wanted him to.
 
Very good analyses. I would advice anyone to drop by on youtube and check Wilson Kayden analyses on Floyd. They are excellent and there is almost 1 hour long video on him.
 
They seem to be different. In Boxing the the fighter who establishes his style to dominate the fight is the one that has the generalship. For example Floyd vs Pac. Pac had the middle of the ring in most of the fight but the first rounds, but he was clawned all over the ring from Floyd afterwards, so he had the ring control actually. Pac although having the mid never appeared to control anything. It was Floyd toying with him.

In MMA it seems the fighter who shows to be more aggressive to win that. In Woodley vs Maya they noted that judges may have it hard to score due to Maya having control and it seems that via MMA rules they may have been right. But in a boxing match Woodley would have been given the generalship, due to him favouring fighting near the ropes and that it is an effective take down defence according to Woodleys style to stay on the ropes. So Maya was not really controlling anything, he was playing the game Woodley wanted him to.

They're the exact same thing, MMA fans, judges and commentators just don't understand the rules very well.
 
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