Mayweather vs. Ortiz: Where Money May Ranks Among All-Time Greats

After the now-infamous knockout win over Victor Ortiz last month, besides talk of whom Floyd Mayweather's next opponent will be, a lot of talk has focused on where Mayweather now ranks among the all-time best boxers in history.

His spot on the list of the greatest fighters will change if he ever faces off against Manny Pacquiao, but only time will tell if that comes to fruition.

Here are the 10 best boxers in the history of the sport, and Money May's spot in history as it stands today.

10. Sugar Ray Leonard

Sugar Ray Leonard (36-3-1, 25 KOs) is one of the most well-known personalities in boxing and had a prolific career in the ring.

Ray Leonard had a successful amateur career, which culminated at the 1976 Montreal Olympic games, where he won a gold medal in the light welterweight division.

Ray has given the boxing world many great battles in the ring, ones that have gone down in boxing history.

The most notable bout in Ray Leonard's career was his rematch with Roberto Duran, in which Duran plead "No mas" to the referee to end the fight.

Leonard was the first boxer to earn $100 million in boxing prize purses, and he turned his success in the ring to business ventures outside it.

Most notably, Ray Leonard was a part of the boxing reality show The Contender with actor and cinematic boxing icon Sylvester Stallone. He also made an appearance on ABC's Dancing With the Stars, among boxing promoting and other ventures.

9. Jack Dempsey

Jack Dempsey (66-6-11, 51 KOs) was a heavyweight's heavyweight. A man with insane punching power, he took the boxing world by storm back in the early 1900s.

Dempsey held on to the heavyweight title for a span of seven years between 1919-1926 and became the most successful boxer of his era.

Dempsey was the first fighter in history to generate a $1 million gate at one of is fights.

The boxing world may never have been the same if Dempsey had not stepped foot in the ring, displaying crowd-pleasing style and power.

8. Jack Johnson

Jack Johnson (73-13-10, 5 NCs, 40 KOs) was one of the great heavyweight boxers to come out of the early 1900s, and was known for his powerful uppercut and his bouts against "great white hopes."

In the "great white hope" fights, white boxers were pitted against Johnson in hope they could beat him and win his title, as racism was at a high during the early 1900s, and many boxing promoters weren't fond of a black man as their champion.

Johnson had an up-and-down personal life, which included prison time for what many feel was a bogus charge that had to do with him being black.

Johnson is one of two boxers to win a fight in five separate decades: the 1890s, 1900s, 1910s, 1920s and 1930s.

Johnson is an all-time great heavyweight and has been cited as a source of inspiration by the self-coined greatest of all time, Muhammad Ali.

7. Roberto Duran

Roberto Duran (103-16, 70 KOs) was a crowd favorite due to his brawling style of fighting. Known as "Hands of Stone," he compiled 70 knockouts during his career.

A four-weight title holder, Duran enjoyed a long, successful career in the ring.

Duran is the only person besides Jack Johnson to win a fight in five different decades: the 1960s, 1970s, 1980s, 1990s and 2000s.

Although Duran is known for his wins, he is also known for one of the most memorable losing moments in sports history.

During Duran's rematch bout with Sugar Ray Leonard, Duran was given such a beating he uttered the now infamous words "No mas," letting the referee know he wanted no more of the beating Sugar Ray was bestowing on him.

Duran will forever be in boxing's legacy.

6.Floyd Mayweather Jr.

With his knockout win over Victor Ortiz on September 17, 2011, Floyd Mayweather, Jr. (42-0, 26 KOs) cemented his legacy and spot in the top-10 greatest fighters of all time.

Floyd has wins over the likes of Oscar De La Hoya, Ricky Hatton, Shane Mosley, Arturo Gatti and Juan Manuel Marquez on his undefeated resume.

If Mayweather ever gets into the ring with Manny Pacquiao (for the record, I have Pacquiao at No. 12, just outside of the top 10 behind Benny Johnson), the winner of that fight would surely move up on the G.O.A.T. boxer rankings, and Money May would be a definite top-five fighter of all time with a win against Pacquiao.

With Mayweather still active in the ring, every win is another notch to his boxing legacy, and only time will tell how high Mayweather can go on the G.O.A.T. list.

5. Willie Pep

Featherweight boxer Willie Pep fought an astounding 241 fights during his 26-year professional boxing career, which began in 1940, and had a record of 229-11-1 with 65 knockouts.

Pep went 62 fights before he tasted defeat against Sammy Angott in 1943, and he went on to fight a staggering amount of fights afterwards.

Of course, another fighter will never amass the kind of record that Pep had, and for it he will always be a true boxing great.

4. Henry Armstrong

Henry Armstrong (149-21-10, 101 KOs) was a four-division champion, and is the only boxer to ever hold title in three different weight divisions at one time during his career, which went from 1931-1945.

Armstrong saw his greatest success in the welterweight division, where he holds the record for most title defenses in the welterweight division.

Armstrong was a very strong puncher, evidenced by his 101 knockout victories, giving him a staggering 68 percent KO-to-win ratio.

3. Joe Louis

Joe Louis (69-3, 1 NC, 57 KOs) is one of the top-three heavyweights of all time and an iconic boxer to all ages of the sport.

Louis was heavyweight champion for 140 months straight, an impressive run in any weight division, but even more so in the power-driven heavyweight ranks.

Louis was one of the first black athletes to gain nationwide celebrity during his career. He is thought to have helped break the color barrier in the golf world, which was predominantly white sport up until 1952, when Louis appeared in the 1952 PGA Open.

2. Muhammad Ali

Muhammad Ali (56-5, 37 KOs) called himself the greatest, but he was off by one as he come in at No. 2 on my list.

Ali was the most electrifying character to ever lace up a pair of boxing gloves, and he parlayed that into a successful career in the ring as well as out of it.

Floyd Mayweather, Jr. is also known for his gift of gab, but he creates controversy and gains legions of haters, while Ali grew his popularity with the help of his pre-fight taunts.

Ali won a gold medal at the 1960 Rome Olympic games, beginning a career that would be filled with awards and championship titles.

Ali was part of some of the most memorable fights in boxing history, including the epic Thrilla in Manila against Joe Frazier.

Ali beat an impressive list of fighters including such boxing greats as Frazier, George Foreman, Leon Spinks, Ken Norton and many others.

The sport of boxing would not be where it is today if not for Ali, his epic fights and his charismatic personality.

1. Sugar Ray Robinson

Sugar Ray Robinson (173-19-6, 2 NC, 108 KOs) is the real greatest boxer of all time, and he didn't have to self proclaim it to have it come to fruition—and yes, Muhammad Ali did say that Robinson was the greatest ever, for the record.

After Robinson dominated the welterweight and middleweight divisions, boxing writers came up with the idea for the pound-for-pound list after his dominance.

Robinson had about an equal amount of speed and power in each hand, a rarity in boxing, making him a duel threat in the ring.

Robinson is credited as the first person in any sport to have an entourage escort him to the ring; it is now the norm for a high-profile athlete like Floyd Mayweather, Jr. to have a group of people with him at all times.

Robinson won all but three of his first 131 fights (one loss and two no contests), with his second loss coming 11 years into his boxing career.

After a boxing career that spanned 25 years, Robinson hung it up, ending the greatest career in boxing's rich history.