Who could Floyd Mayweather Jr have fought...

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Floyd has a strong case for being TBE. I don’t need to break it down again but put it this way...it’s not just based on him being undefeated.

 

Fine but the only taller fighters Floyd didn’t fight were Margarito and Williams...and again...they were not relevant at the time when Floyd was supposedly ducking them. After Floyd moved up to welterweight zab Judah (who beat Spinks who beat Mayorga who beat Forrest who beat Mosely) and Baldomir (the lineal and undisputed champion) were relevant. After Floyd got all the 147lbbelts the next challenge was Mayorga/Vargas dismantling De La Hoya. Williams and Margarito? Please...that’s pure revisionism....

 

And people love to dismiss the hatton fight now but at the time Hatton has stopped both Tszyu and Castillo and was undefeated and considered a baaaaad man. That was a great matchup.

Anyway, any talk about Floyd being a ducker shouldn’t have ended with the Canelo fight. Canelo was young, prime, undefeated, highly regarded and bigger and Floyd was older.

 

Floyd has no case for being TBE imo. I wouldn't have put him there if he'd beaten Manny in his prime but he would have a much stronger argument if he'd done it. At the end of the day, nobody can claim to be the best to ever do it and avoid fighting the other p4p great in your era, who just happens to be in the same weight class.

Floyd's undoubted talent, skill and boxing IQ make him an all-time great without question, but THE BEST EVER warrants another level of scrutiny. Floyd chose money over legacy, which is absolutely fine, it's the toughest sport in the world and too many great boxers end up broke and destitute. Good on him for making it out the other side with his riches and marbles intact, but you can't have your cake and eat it too.

 

Him choosing money over legacy is a myth also. His money was earned because of what he had accomplished. Without going into the details, consider the following:

Number of consecutive title fight victories
Number of weight classes with titles won
Number of years spanning title winning victories (longevity at the top)
Number of HOF fighters beaten
Number of champions/titlists beaten
Floyd has beaten the who’s who of boxing in the 130-154 divisions over the last 20 years

His accomplishments are quite staggering actually

 

His 50th fight completely shits on this argument.

 

You contradict yourself all over the place.

 

His last fight at age 40+ was an event where a bigger, younger supposedly stronger guy from another fighting discipline challenged him in a half a billion dollar fight. Name ONE great fighter in the history of boxing that would have turned down such an opportunity...just one.

 

I do no such thing. They call me Mr Consistent.

 

It was an exhibition. Stop using it to bolster your number then.

49-0

 

It was a sanctioned boxing match. Ergo...50-0

 

Fact is...Floyd has TBE accomplishments. Longevity and consistency at the top alone makes him worthy of consideration for the argument. It’s only hatred for the man himself that makes fans reluctant to consider him as such as well as the fact that he was relatively boring in terms of style compared to guys like Robinson, Duran and Leonard.

But even when you consider how relatively boring his style was....why would a boring fighter command so much money? The ONLY possible answer is that this “boring fighter “ was exceptionally talented and just kept dominating.

In any other sport, a universally recognized exceptional talent that keeps dominating at the top would be under consideration for GOAT status. Boxing however by its nature has bias rule over objectivity.

The Sly One has Spoken!!

 

To the Degree Floyd Has a Case, it's SOLELY Predicated on Him Being Undefeated Bruh...

Floyd Says as Much Himself...







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Floyd isn’t the most articulate or the smartest so he’s probably not the best person to state his own case, believe it or not.

Let’s consider this OBJECTIVELY...

Pound for pound essentially means....”Best fighter when you consider his size relative to others.”

Let’s compare him to Leonard for example...

Floyd’s prime/peak weight was 130lb. Leonard’s was 147lb. Therefore it is unfair to compare 147lb Floyd to 147lb Leonard when considering P4P greatness. Compare 147lb Floyd to 160lb Leonard if anything...although it’s close to comparing to 168lb Leonard in fairness when considering relative size.

In Floyd’s case a 130lb frame fighter, went all the way up to 154lb and beat the top fighters at that weight in De La Hoya and Canelo. That would be like Leonard moving up to 175lb and beating Michael Moorer and Virgil Hill. That’s what we’re talking about here.

Floyd dominated in weight classes that he was too small for...he dominated simply because he was that much better than his opponents that it nullified the difference in natural size. He maintained this domination over championship level opponents over 20 years and through 5 weight classes....this specific achievement puts him in a class of his own actually. Pacquiao managed multiple weight classes too but he also lost a couple times in the process. Floyd did it without defeat. Leonard attempted it and was defeated alone the way. Duran defeated a few times along the way. Hearns too. Floyd achieved all of that without defeat. Other guys that have remained undefeated did so by fighting largely in the same weight class and through far less championship fights.

So it’s not just that a guy who peaked at 130lb dominated at weights much higher but a guy who peaked in his early 20s...continued to dominate into his 40s when he was a much lesser fighter due to age. It means that he was so good at his peak that even as he was disadvantaged in both size difference and age...he was still too good to lose.

Stats are OBJECTIVE and if you look at he numbers you cannot minimize his achievements. As I said, he is denigrated just based on his personality. He has a clear case of being the GOAT.

 

Correct. No context is required.

 

What possible context minimizes those stats though ? He fought CHAMPIONSHIP caliber opponents over 20 years! He also beat more undefeated champions than any other fighter I can think of.

 

So did Rocky Marciano and he retired undefeated unlike Ali.

Looking at things objectively Marciano > Ali.

 

No. Ali had 4 times more championship fights and four times as many HOF fighters on his resume. Most of marciano’s undefeated record was amassed pre championship. Marciano has something like 6 title fights and was champion for just 4 years. Floyd with approx 30 championship fights over 20 years. Not comparable at all.

 

Numbers don't lie. Stop bring context into this.

 

The stats I spoke of include the context of championship fights you disagreeable Manitoban!!!!

 

Marciano = undefeated
Ali = not undefeated

 

Ok, now I see that you’re just trolling..and I fell for it. Lol

But anyway, undefeated by itself is meaningless. Undefeated despite over 25 championship fights and titles in 5 weight classes over a 20 year career is not.

People are too hung up on Floyd being undefeated as if that’s his only achievement.

 

The Floyd hatred is strong in this forum. I can feel the hate flowing through the forum. That’s good though, good. Take your forum weapons, and strike me down with it and your journey to the dark side will be complete.

 

Actually no. I think Floyd gets adequate respect on here. I've never heard anyone make any disparaging comments about his ability. I also agree with you that his resume is a little underrated actually. I give him credit for the DLH win for example. The thing is, if Ali had avoided Frazier or Foreman when they were at their peak, all the stuff about being "the Greatest" would have rung hollow. He fought them. He beat them. It's what makes his legacy what it is. Floyd himself said during the Pacquiao pressers "it's about timing, now is the right time" - this was fuckin 6 years after the fight should have been made. That fight was Floyd's 'Frazier', it was his defining fight, he's responsible for his own choices man.

 

Honestly, it Boils Down to BRAVERY...Ali Wore it on his Sleeves, Whereas Floyd LOST His in Regards to Pacquiao...

He was CLEARLY Spooked by Manny and it Wasn't Until Marquez Brought Manny Crashing Back to Earth that Floyd Stopped Having Nightmares About Him...







REED

 

Floyd’s has many defining fights. Corrales was his defining fight at the time. Castillo rematch. De la Hoya and if you don’t like that one then what about Canelo? Pacquiao in 2010 would have simply been icing on the cake but the cake was already baked. I get your disappointment over the pacquiao debacle...I share it...but Floyd’s legacy has already been established by that point and is not comparable to when Ali faced Frazier as Ali was still building a legacy at that point.

 

I’ve said this before and will say it again:

If Floyd had s bravery problem he would have never fought the following fighters;

Corrales, castillo, De La Hoya (who had his father spooked), Canelo, even Hatton and Mosley and Cotto.

He took on way too many dangerous assignments for a supposedly cowardly fighter

 

Floyd, When Are You and Pacquiao Gonna Fight?

Floyd - Well, Like I Said Before, Pacquiao Have a Promoter and I'm My Own Boss






REED

 

Wow, DLH who was a part time singer at the time, and was using boxing has a way to stay in shape. between coke binge Such courage to face that guy