I don't think Hopkins merits much mention after 2002 or so... two losses to an absolutely ordinary affleete and a loss to Jennifer Beals counts against him hard, IMO Both Pac and Mayweather have used handpicking, catchweight shenanigans and god knows what else for much of their 140+ campaigns, at the very least, so they sort of cancel each other out... I'm left to pick on the basis of who I think would win if they fought each other (regardless of when)... that would be Mayweather
Pacquiao. No doubt. Too bad for Mayeeather his illustrious career will have been overshadowed by an absolute phenom.
How about wins over Oscar Delahoya, Jermain Taylor, Tarver, Pavlik, Roy Jones, Pascal? He also had a close fight with Joe Calzaghe. He was definitely one of the best of the first decade.
He had a pretty good decade for sure but he doesn't have a win over Taylor, and the Pascal victory was not within the decade. The Roy Jones rematch is also meaningless.
Pacquiao without question.The most exciting, explosive fighter during that period. A lot of his fights are really enjoyable the second and third time round
It's a shitty divide in terms of time. Include 1999 and I would give it to Lennox Lewis. Apart from that, I won't give fuck all to Marquez or Pacquaio because of their cheating. Floyd Landis Mayweather it seems is now in the same bracket. Margarito and Mosley, cheats. Wlad lost twice, Vitali took 3-4 years off. Calzaghe was undefeated but could have fought better comp. He deserves a mention. In fact none of them are worthy. I think I would give it to Winky Wright, who managed to fight a lot of big names and a lot of bigger stronger guys who had all sorts of advantages and managed not to get mangled, despite being at a power disadvantage- both physically and managerially. Wright is the sort of guy who comes up in the old Ring Magazine articles. I don't remember Oscar, Floyd or Manny being all that desperate to fight him. When Tito tried, he got slapped down. Winky Wright, Fighter of the Decade.
:: Good man. As for Winky I was a big fan and remember getting slaughtered on here on a regular basis for saying so
Oscar/Floyd avoided him. Fought MW champ to a draw. Beat fuck out of Vargas and was raped on the cards. Smashed Mozley twice when Oscar couldn't. Was a routine road warror before Glen Johnson was even born. Schooled Titty and Quartey
Floyd Mayweather imo. And Winky schooled Ike? did that happen or did he just narrowly win a decision over a well shot version?
he has zero wins over Taylor... Oscar De La Hoya is about as good a middleweight as you are, Roy Jones was shot 8 years ago, never mind when he fought Hopkins... that fight was a fucking farce
honestly I'd retire if I was JMM. What on earth else can he prove? It can only go downhill from here. Unless he is careless with money he should retire on top of the world imo
Calzaghe. Undefeated, ducked by Hopkins, finally got round to cleaning out his division with comprehensive wins/schoolings in unification fights against younger, well-fancied opponents, stepped up a division and beat an ATG to become a two-weight champion... MTF
Yeah I know. It was amazing how obvious this fact became known...after Calzaghe beat the living snot out of him. MTF
I am trying to figure out at just which juncture in the time-space continuum did he become overrated.......1st round, 2nd round, or maybe as late as the 12th round when even Fatty Shaw could see that Jeff just didn't have a fucking chance, and so, humanely, and with 2 seconds left in the fight, ordered Lacy's corner to pull him out.
I had Floyd down as numero UNO but he lost out because of his bullshit, not because of any lack of ability. In fact, he is such an able bodied fighter that it counted against him in the end. If there is a guy who could have stood in against the biggest names irrespective of their primes or his, its Floyd. But he threw it away.
Sure, but the Fact is, Guys are Looking for a Way of PUNISHING Floyd, by Naming Someone Else as their Choice for "Fighter of the Decade"...REED "Gets" Why it's Happening.... REED:hammert: