FLOYD Mayweather Jr. is absolutely right. He has remained unbeaten because the blueprint—all the past plots laid out to assassinate him—had proved flawed and, therefore, futile.
Well, Mayweather will not admit this. But the secret to his invincibility is his rare ability to vault to a rarified level—remain unreachable by going on a separate orbit—like a magically crafted rocket ship.
He could go extraterrestial during a fight?
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Yes, not a single successful blueprint.
However, the latest plot initially suggested by Teddy Atlas, the tested warrior and boxing strategist, has offered what appears to be a workable anti-Mayweather solution.
Pull Mayweather back to earth, Atlas suggested.
No, he did not put it exactly that way.
But, for starters, Atlas said Canelo Alvarez should skip an outright hunt for Mayweather’s supremely elusive head.
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What Canelo could do instead is go for the shoulders, attack the chest, or rip the rib cage.
No, not necessarily because the body cannot see and is therefore an easier target.
OK, there’s this old boxing tenet which says: Kill the body and the head dies.
In the case of Mayweather though, banging the body before everything else should start the slurring of a masterful body-and-mind boxing system.
The idea is to jam the fuse box itself in order to ground the rocket ship or, in the case of Mayweather, bring the unbeaten master of disaster back to earth.
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It definitely won’t be easy, and Canelo has been warned against getting deluded.
The princely, red-haired power puncher must not try to do the job believing he’s bigger, younger and physically superior.
He must rely on ability, and avoid trying to overwhelm using his superior heft.
Canelo must box with utmost proficiency, pick the right spots to launch attacks, and move out of the middle where he could be the recipient of great counter punches.
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Now, this one did not come in the form of a follow-up to Ted Atlas’ pocket of advice and tips.
But Canelo Alvarez could be greatly enlightened with what the great Roberto Duran had to offer.
Said the Hands of Stone: “If I were going up against a guy like Mayweather, I would bust him all over the place-the arms, the ribs. Forget about the head, it’s smaller than the body.”
Anyway, for a bonus to the throng of Alvarez adorers, it must be noted that their young idol has also displayed the ability to wiggle off and snap out of the patented grab-and-grapple normally utilized by Mayweather against unwilling opponents.
That’s a big plus factor.
But so far, there has been no hint on what to do in case Mayweather springs another extraterrestial trick from up his magnificent shoulders that have shielded him from defeat through the many years of fortune and greatness.