He may not win many popularity contests, but Floyd 'Money' Mayweather does what matters. He wins.
He's had 39 fights and has won them all, often against some of the world's greatest boxers, such as Oscar de la Hoya and Ricky Hatton.
But is he as good as he says he is? And how does he compare to the boxing legends such as Tyson or Ali? Pound-for-pound he is the best in the world, but is he near the best of all time?
Certainly, his accomplishments so far are phenomenal.
He is only one of eight ever quintuple boxing champions, having won belts at super featherweight, lightweight, super lightweight, welterweight and light middleweight.
His win record is also outstanding, winning 39 of 39 fights, something very few boxers have done. In fact, only two come to mind — Rocky Marciano who won all 49 of his fights with 43 knockouts, and Great Britain's Joe Calzaghe.
However, his 39 fights is a relatively small number compared to some of the other boxing greats. For example, 'Sugar' Ray Robinson and Archie Moore both fought more than 200 bouts in their careers, each recording over 100 knockouts.
However, these boxers also suffered a number of losses in their careers.
Mayweather's scheduled fight with Oscar de la Hoya will go some way to letting us see just how good the brash 31-year-old is.
If he can beat another quintuple champion twice, and can make it to 40 fights won and zero lost, then he deserves his place among the boxing greats.
So, we have established that he has the championship qualities of a great, and the win record of a great, but does he have the 'fear factor?'
There have been a number of boxers greatly feared by their peers in the ring. I'm not sure Mayweather has that. Sure, his opponents are aware of his lightning-quick hands and his ability, but they don't seem scared of him.
'Iron' Mike Tyson is a prime example of a boxer with the fear factor.
He was often referred to as 'the baddest man on the planet,' and during his amateur days, boxers were known to lose on purpose so they wouldn't have to face him. This was partly because of his aggression inside the ring, an aspect of his game that was almost unrivaled.
However, Mayweather tends to stand off a bit, and while this is tactically good, fighters will always think they have a chance to go on the offensive and do some damage to him.
One aspect of Mayweather's game that he is better than almost anyone at is trash-talking his opponent.
Before a fight, he always comes across as cocky and arrogant, and he backs it up in the ring. Only one boxer comes to mind that had the same level of confidence as Mayweather — Muhammad Ali.
So, he can match the man widely regarded as the best of all time on the microphone, but could he do it in the ring?
I don't think so.
Mayweather is a great fighter, but Ali was something else and will be in the top two of almost anyone's top 10 boxers ever list, usually sparring with 'Sugar' Ray Robinson for the top spot.
So, Mayweather has the record, the championships, and the ability on the mic of a legend. Can the greatest pound for pound fighter in the world today compete with the greats, though?
I don't think so just yet, but a win against de la Hoya would let him just creep into my top 10 of all time.
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2 months ago
Mayweather top ten of all time? NO WAY PAL! He is good but not that good, i can think of several fighters who would have beat Mayweather off the top of my head. I see him losing to a prime Shane Mosley at 135, Julio Ceaser Chavez Sr. at 135, I think Tommy Hearns would have gave him fits at 147, and im not sure he can beat Miguel Cotto or Antonio Margarito at 147 now! Thats not even getting into fighters outside his weight class. The closest fighter in recent memory that exhibited similiar dominance is Roy Jones Jr, and Roy did things in his prime ive never seen Mayweather do. Is he a great boxer? yes, pound for pound best boxer in the game today? probably. best fighter of the last decade? arguably. top ten of all time? not a chance.
2 months ago
I don't think hes that great yet either, but you can't argue with his championships and his win record - and he can only beat the people hes been put up against, and hes beaten them all. If he reaches 40-0-0 then i think he deserves to be 10th.
2 months ago
10th as in top ten of all time fighters in history? cmon! no way! not even top 25.
2 months ago
after looking on your profile im 100% certain you know more about boxing than me, but from the boxers i have seen (the ones i havent from your last comment are Miguel Cotto, Antonio Margarito and Shane Mosley) i would say that yeh, pound for pound, hes up there. Hes nowhere near the top like he claims, but to be a quintuple champ - youve gotta be bloody good!
2 months ago
and bloody good he is. but remember barney that professional boxing has been around since the 1800's so there are hundreds of great boxers. Ring magazine recently did a top 100 of all time and im not sure i remember where floyd was, but he wasnt in the top 25. But people forget just how many boxers there are and have been. Hell there can be 5 or 6 world champions in each division at any given moment! Mayweather is in all probability the best boxer at any weight on the planet today, and until he loses or retires for good it will be hard to argue otherwise. what he needs to do to solidify his place on all time lists is clean out the division in which he currently reigns over, home to several great fighters he has not beat yet. If he does so, and remains unbeaten it will then be hard to argue his place on all time lists. so really the only thing holding floyd back is floyd, as he is taking the path of least resistance/highest reward right now rather than fighting the best.
2 months ago
After listening to thirty seconds of an interview with this joke, one can determine that Mayweather's IQ is a negative number.... I know, I didn't think it was possible either.
Boxers are hard to compare between eras. There are no Joe Fraziers or Rocky Marcianos or Ali's in our time, and there probably never will be again.
This kid is decent at best, with the competition he's gone against, he might rank top 50 of all time. maybe.
from 2 months ago
Eric there will never be those kind of boxers again. Back in the day those guys were a lot tougher and also pretty insane. guys used to end up with 100 or more fights at the end of their career, many being 15 rounders that dont exist anymore. It was a good time for fans but not good to their health long term. The best boxers nowadays try to get the most money for doing the least for the most part. Its what is killing the sport.
2 months ago
skill set wise,a resounding yes.he hasn't had a great win since the corrales fight though.a fight that meant something.he has two of those epics waiting for him in a cotto and margo fight.if you wanna compare floyd to ali,then corrales was his liston,cotto his frazier[better skills though]and margarito his forman.
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