Hate or Love Him, Floyd Mayweather's Unparalleled Career Should Be Appreciated

Appreciating the incredible boxing career of Floyd Mayweather Jr. is easy. In fact, it’s as simple as recognizing two inarguable facts.

First, Floyd Mayweather is truly one of the best fighters ever.

Strip away all the outside-the-ring legal issues, the self-created glitz and glamour of his “Money Team” persona, the who-he-should’ve-and-could’ve-fought-and-when arguments of fans and media, the self-imposed villainy he so often uses to promote his fights. What you are left with is quite clearly one of the most well-rounded prizefighters in the history of the sport, one who would have been competitive with any other great fighter in his weight class from any other era.

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Here’s everything you need to know about Mayweather as a fighter put as succinctly as possible: He's as good a fighter as boxing has ever produced. In fact, The Sweet Science's Matt McGrain considers him one of the top 25 fighters in boxing history.

"I beat everybody," Mayweather said, per USA Today's Bob Velin. "Right now the top guys in boxing are (Manny) Pacquiao, Canelo (Alvarez), (Miguel) Cotto, and of course I faced all three. And we know what the results were."

We sure do.

At any weight he’s ever competed in boxing, from when he began his professional career at 130 pounds in 1996 against Roberto Apodaca to the highest he ever ventured up the scales—154 pounds against Miguel Cotto in 2012—as soon as the bell rang on fight night, for every single fight of his 19-year career, Mayweather was probably going to win. And then he did.

How many other fighters could have said that? Certainly no one else from this era, or even the one prior to it.

Mayweather is a masterclass boxer of the highest order. To watch him fight is to see a great artist employing the use of his favorite medium. Sure, Mayweather is a gifted athlete, but the core of his success as a fighter has less to do with raw talent and more to do with an unrivaled work ethic that focused on fundamental boxing skills from the earliest age possible.

John Locher/Associated Press

Mayweather is a superb defender. Too often, he is labeled by misinformed fans as someone who “runs” away from contact. But when he moves, Mayweather isn’t retreating and raising a white flag in surrender. He’s moving his attacker into position to be hit, and he’s putting himself in the best place possible place to do the hitting.

That’s boxing.  

And Mayweather’s attributes don’t stop at his impeccable defense. He’s an exceptional counterpuncher with one of the best hit rates in history. He is as accurate at landing punches as any other fighter ever. He lands clean, effective punches on the regular, and he does so without the risk of being hit back in return.

But every fighter gets hit sometimes. Pernell Whitaker got hit. Nicolino Locche got hit. Willie Pep got hit. Having a great defense doesn’t mean never getting hit. Mayweather is no exception.  

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Mayweather has an underrated chin. Shane Mosley clocked him twice in Round 2 of their tussle five years ago. Fresh off a career-defining knockout win over Antonio Margarito, Mosley staggered Mayweather and knocked him silly and tried to finish the job.

But Mayweather recovered. He always recovers. He adjusted. He always adjusts. And he easily won a 12-round decision.

In fact, Mayweather’s single greatest attribute might actually be his ability to adjust to what is in front of him on fight night. Look back at his decision win over Zab Judah in 2006. The fast-handed southpaw, Judah, was teeing off on Mayweather in the early rounds before the era’s best fighter adjusted to Judah’s attack and subsequently won the last eight rounds in a row.

Or see how Mayweather has fared in the two rematches of his career—against Jose Luis Castillo, who probably gave a young Mayweather the toughest fight of his career back in 2002, and Macros Maidana in 2014.

Each man's aggression gave Mayweather fits in the initial fights. But both return bouts were easy decision wins for him.

So whatever you think of Mayweather as a human being is of no consequence on fight night. Even if you can’t stand the guy, even if you think he’s a terrible role model for young people, even if you are disgusted by his long and well-documented history of domestic violence—you have to admit one thing about him: Man, the guy sure can box.

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And it’s OK to admire that part of his life. Unsettling attributes of a person’s private life don’t make their public sporting accomplishments any less impressive.

And if you’re going to admire him as a fighter, you might as well admire him as a business man, too.

Because the second inarguable fact about Mayweather is that he’s made more money than just about any other fighter ever. Heck, his payday from the May 2 bout with Manny Pacquiao earned him in one night more than most other star athletes make over their entire careers. 

Let that sink in.

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This, of course, came just after he earned more in 2014 than any other athlete in the world according to Forbes. That’s right, Mayweather made more money than Tiger Woods, Roger Federer, LeBron James and Clayton Kershaw, and he did so in what's become a relatively fringe sport in our society. 

Yes, Mayweather is an all-time great fighter, but he might be an all-time greater business man.

He knows what sells. He knows how to sell it. He knows how to maximize profits. He’s savvy to how the business of boxing works, who he needs and who he doesn’t, and he’s been richly rewarded by American capitalism for his efforts in ways most people can only dream about.

Appreciating these aspects of Mayweather’s career is really quite easy. He’s a boxing legend, and if Saturday’s fight against Andre Berto is the last time he steps foot inside a boxing ring, the man who walks away from the sport at age 38 will have enjoyed quite possibly the most successful boxing career in history.

Maybe we should all take a moment to appreciate seeing it.