R1- Jesus Chavez comes out aggressive to the pleasure of the crowd that is clearly rooting for him. However, Mayweather is keeping him on the end of his jab and using his terrific upper body movement to catch basically everything that Chavez throws at him. Mayweather is also able to run Chavez into several right hands and is very accurate when he decides to go to the body. Chavez gets buckled by an overhand right late in an exchange, but shows grit and continues to bring the fight to Mayweather after.

R2- So weird seeing that Harold Lederman gave Chavez the first round. Despite that, Chavez does everything needed to command this round. Chavez keeps Mayweather pinned against the ropes early on and is gradually able to find holes in his philly shell due to his constant hooks to the body being thrown at varying lengths and angles. The jab of Chavez is closing out combinations for him successfully, with one example being when Mayweather blocks a double left hook to the body and head, just to take a jab to the face. Mayweather is able to land with counter punches and overall hold his own during the exchanges, but Chavez is beating him to the punch, landing two to his one at times, physically manhandling him, and making Mayweather hit gloves and arms for a change. Definitely the best round anyone had against Mayweather at this point in time.

R3- Mayweather advances to the center of the ring and pops Chavez with a right about as soon as thr bell sounds. Chavez responds with a big rally, but Mayweather catches an absurd amount of it on his arms, shoulders and elbows. Despite being the aggressor and the far busier fighter, Mayweather keeps him running into uppercuts, left hooks and short right hands. Like the Corrales fight, the jab to the body is also being very effective for Mayweather.

R4- The upper body and head movement of Mayweather is just ridiculous, as he is able to evade a big onslaught from Chavez and continuously see punches coming in order to roll under them while crouching. Mayweather is picking off hooks and rights and nice angles and continously using his jab with great accuracy to prevent any lulls. Chavez finally gets in a couple of rights near the end, but this was easily Mayweather’s round.

R5- Despite walking into virtually every right uppercut that Mayweather throws, Chavez is pushing Mayweather around the ring and drumming both sides of his body with hooks. Chavez is landing with the overhand right at times and wisely following up with a left hook or a jab after missing with it. Interestingly enough, Chavez keeping his head buried as low as he is seems to make him a harder target for Mayweather than usual and he is still able to wing in several shots over the top from this position. Still a competitive round by default due to all the counters and combos that Chavez took, but still a round that I’d give him a definite edge in.

R6- Mayweather is now using the ring more and not letting Chavez cut him off or trap him so often. Chavez is constantly running into the jab to the body and despite Mayweather not standing in front of and trading with Chavez in this round, he is still countering just as good.

R7- Funny how Foreman says Mayweather has been “missing all night with the straight right hand”, when he had been landing it at will even in this round. Even with that being said, Chavez gets back into his groove with his accelerated pressure and volume. Chavez wins an early exchange with a big left hook-overhand right combination. There is no snap behind it, but the jab of Chavez is scoring and letting him get in range for his combinations. Mayweather appears to be more stiff than usual in this round, as he is letting Chavez get in his chest and pin him on the ropes, is there to be hit by looping shots over the top, and takes several quick flurries to the sides of his body. In the closing moments, we see a turn of events as Chavez slips a series of shots from Mayweather.

R8- With the fight being very tight and competitive up to this point, Mayweather would gain control from here. Even sitting on the ropes at one point to do so, Mayweather bobs and weaves his way out of a volley from Chavez. Foreman claims a left hook hurts Mayweather, despite it seemingly getting caught on the glove. From there, Mayweather starts to throw the right uppercut and with authority, as he continuously snaps the head of Chavez back. The two break out into a firefight and the crowd becomes absolutely exhilarated. Mayweather’s hand speed and superior angles let him dominate this sequence, as he peppers Chavez with left hooks and overhand rights with bad intentions all over them, even landing with a step through right after a succession of said shots to help him get back in range and land some more of them. Epic round and a big one for Mayweather.

R9- The left hook has opened small cut over the right eye of Mayweather. Chavez goes for broke at the start, assaulting Mayweather’s body and sneaking some shots upstairs. After the first thirty seconds or so, Mayweather puts on a counter punching clinic, as he is able to viciously snap back the head of Chavez with right uppercuts over and over. Mayweather also gets into a good enough rhythm to where he can simply slide quick hooks back to back from each hand on the face and body of Chavez. Chavez shows heart by refusing to stop coming forward and throwing, but he is still taking heavy damage. Chavez is pulled out in between rounds due to the excessive punishment he had been taking. In his final and toughest task at super featherweight, Floyd Mayweather Jr. conquers a buzzsaw of a brawler in an underrated, five star war. The styles clashed perfectly, but the overall superior boxing ability of Mayweather kept him a step ahead for most of the fight and guided him to victory. Overall, this was easily one of the best fights of 2001 as well one of Mayweather’s all time most entertaining fights. While Mayweather got hit a lot more than usual, he did show that he can get into a fire fight without abandoning his technical abilities. Like the Hernandez win a fight prior, this win would age well for Mayweather due to the fact that Chavez would go on to grab a world title. Just by a hair, I would rank Mayweather as the best fighter of 2001 over Bernard Hopkins by a hair due to not only the masterclass against Corrales, but the fact that he had recorded three dominant wins over current or former world champions at the time. On top of this, I think Mayweather should be looked at as the best super featherweight of all time or at least the most unbeatable one. Upon this victory, Floyd would move up to lightweight and debut there with the most infamous moment of his career.