Mayweather vs. Pacquiao: Winning Superfight Does Little for Money's Legacy
Saturday night's unanimous-decision victory for Floyd Mayweather over Manny Pacquiao might ultimately serve as a kind of Rorschach test. Fans are going to look at the result, and what they see in it will mostly confirm whatever opinions they held about the pound-for-pound king heading into the bout.
For Mayweather's hardcore fans, the fight proved what they have been claiming all along: Their hero is untouchable. By easily handling the other biggest star of this generation and remaining undefeated, Mayweather added one more line in his argument for status as "The Best Ever."
To the legions of Mayweather haters, it proved once more that he's a coward more interested in running than fighting.
To unbiased fans, the verdict is somewhere in the middle. Mayweather proved what we already know about him—that he is a brilliant defensive fighter and ring general but hardly a thrilling fighter.
Moreover, he's shone in an era when the talent was historically weak.
Mayweather has beaten some great fighters to be sure. Pacquiao, Juan Manuel Marquez, Oscar De La Hoya, Miguel Cotto and Shane Mosley, among other men Mayweather has defeated, are all first-ballot Hall of Famers.
But they don't measure up well alongside the stars of the 1980s, like Sugar Ray Leonard, Marvelous Marvin Hagler, Tommy Hearns and Roberto Duran.
Mayweather has beaten every man to get into the ring with him for nearly 20 years. It's been 48 up and 48 down. The vast majority of those opponents have been world champions of at least some variety.
And he's made it look easy against the top-rated fighters of his generation.
I think there are a few valid critiques that can be made about Mayweather's resume. It can be fairly argued that he deserved to actually lose his first bout to Jose Luis Castillo, when he was fighting with a broken hand.
But both Rocky Marciano and Joe Calzaghe, two other notable champions to retire undefeated, had contested decisions on their records. Marciano was lucky to get past Roland La Starza early in his career. I had Bernard Hopkins beating Calzaghe in 2010, and BoxRec indicates that judge Adalaide Byrd did too.
In terms of fights he didn't take, I would have loved to have seen Mayweather fight Paul Williams in 2008. I wish he had fought Mosley and Pacquiao earlier, as well.
However, these are quibbles. Of course, when it comes to examining resumes for all-time, pound-for-pound status, quibbling is what we do.
Mayweather will continue to be viewed as an all-time great, with his true place on the list endlessly debated. But his win over Pacquiao will change few opinions that were not already established long ago.
