Win or Lose Against Manny Pacquiao, Floyd Mayweather's Legacy Will Be Complete

If you know one thing about boxer Floyd Mayweather Jr., it's probably the fact that he makes an obscene amount of money twice a year for 36 minutes of work. Despite boxing's increasingly niche appeal, he consistently tops the Forbes list as the highest-paid athlete in the world.

Seriously, it's a lot of money—upward of $50,000 for every second he spends in the ring.

But if you know a second factoid about Floyd, it's likely this: Mayweather has never felt the bitter sting of defeat in a professional boxing match. Forty-five men have tested him, but each has failed. Mayweather's mastery of craft, mental toughness and unerring instincts have proved too much for even the best opponent.

Name	Floyd Mayweather
Record	47-0, 26 KOs
Age	37*
Height	5'8"
Weight	146.5 (last fight)
Stance	Orthodox
Reach	72"

The zero in 47-0 has become Mayweather's identity as a fighter. To him, it's the path to boxing immortality. It's the thing that distinguishes him from his real opponents going forward—the best boxers the world has ever seen. In the battle for his historical legacy, Mayweather sees his undefeated record as a knockout punch. 

He couldn't be more wrong.

The great boxers, men who have faced the test of time and emerged legends, are defined by how they survived adversity in the ring. Being undefeated isn't the point of boxing. Greatness isn't defined by jots in the historical record. It's forged in the fires of adversity.

Muhammad Ali didn't lose his place in history after he lost his first fight with Joe Frazier, when he was knocked to the mat for the first time in his career. It simply set the stage for his heroic return to glory in their second and third fights.

Ray Robinson saw another man's hand raised 19 times in his 202-fight career. The other "Sugar Ray," Leonard, also fell victim twice in his Hall of Fame career. Neither is penalized for his failures.

Fighter	Wins	Losses	Knockouts
Muhammad Ali	56	5	37
Sugar Ray Robinson	175	19	109
Joe Louis	68	3	54
Roberto Duran	103	16	70
Jack Johnson	77	13	48
Rocky Marciano	49	0	43
Henry Armstrong	151	21	101

It was their willingness to meet the best fighters of their era, the courage to test their convictions in the ring, that make them unforgettable. It's only by facing his fears, through mastery of the most difficult moments, that a man's place in history is secured. Of the greats, only Rocky Marciano maintained a clean sheet—and his lack of competition consistently works against him in every historical survey.

Luckily for boxing fans, Mayweather's single-minded focus on his undefeated record seems to be aberrational. Modern fighters are returning to the old-school mentality, with the encouragement of the television executives making important monetary decisions about the sport's future.

"We've seen an enormous shift away from fighters caring about undefeated records as an end in and of itself. Risk has been taken on," HBO director of sports programming Peter Nelson told Bleacher Report. "And there has been a rallying cry among fans to see the highest level of competition. They don't want the stars anointed and protected. They want to see them challenged."

Showtime's boxing boss, Stephen Espinoza, agrees. And counter to popular perception, he credits Mayweather with the shift back toward tough fights.

"Getting [fighters] to buy in and sign on to the project was critical," Espinoza said. "We sold them on the fact that we were going to elevate the whole sport by broadcasting tough fights. …In that way, Mayweather provided a bit of a model as well.

"Mayweather didn't have to fight Canelo [Alvarez]. He could have fought anyone he wanted. But when Mayweather, who is choosing his opponents, chooses arguably the toughest opponent available, it's easy to say to everyone else, 'There are no easy fights here.'"

It's an anecdote that reminds us all that, despite his reputation, Mayweather has fought many of the top fighters of his era. It's not really fair to blame him for their failure to drive him into deep waters. In some ways, he's the victim of his own excellence.

"I think that I don't get my credit that's due because I think that I make A-level and B-level fighters look ordinary," Mayweather told the media last year. "But that comes from just having a sharp mind and just really, really pushing myself in training, pushing myself very, very hard in training and so when it's time to go out there and perform, everything is easy."

Before his fight with Manny Pacquiao was announced Friday, Mayweather's historical legacy was inevitably going to be built, not around any of his significant accomplishments, but around the whirling Filipino dervish he refused to face. Fair or not, Mayweather's 18 years as a world champion would be pushed to the background, discussion centering instead around the fight he didn't have the courage to take. 

That's what makes this fight so important. Win or lose, facing Pacquiao, the second-best fighter of his generation, removes the glaring scarlet "C" from Mayweather's entry in any boxing encyclopedia. With cowardice removed from the equation, it's easier to focus on his long list of impressive accomplishments. Instead of a Pacquiao-sized asterisk blocking our view, his true contributions to the sport can come to the fore.

The focus on Floyd can now return to his unquestioned prowess in the ring. Discussion can turn to the list of his conquests and triumphs, without the specter of Pacquiao looming over everything, casting an enormous shadow over his every victory.

Facing doubt is the hallmark of the true greats. By taking this fight, Floyd Mayweather becomes a winner, joining the list of eternal champions—even if he falls short. 

Jonathan Snowden covers combat sports for Bleacher Report. He's the author of Total MMA, The MMA Encyclopedia, and Shooters: The Toughest Men in Professional Wrestling.