Has Floyd Mayweather competed in any career defining fight?

[Ettt9350]

At super featherweight he beat the best in Genero Hernandez, Jesus Chavez and Diego Corrales.
At lightweight he beat the best in Jose Luis Castillo.(twice)
At light-welterweight he beat the best in Arturo Gatti.
At Welterweight he beat the best in Judah, Baldomir, Hatton, Marquez, Mosley, Ortiz, Guerrero, Maidana. (twice)
At jr middleweight he beat the best in Oscar De La Hoya, Miguel Cotto, Saul Alvarez.

Mayweather has beaten the best guys in every division he has been in.

[SaadOffTheDeck]

Gatti was the best?

[Ettt9350]

Gatti was the best?

At that time around 2005 i believe Gatti was better than both Tszyu and Hatton at 140 pounds. So yes Floyd beat the best 140 pounder in my opinion.

[IKSRTFO]

Gatti was the best?

At that time around 2005 i believe Gatti was better than both Tszyu and Hatton at 140 pounds. So yes Floyd beat the best 140 pounder in my opinion.

Floyd himself said it best before the Gatti fight, "Gatti's a C fighter."

[ReggieDiggs]

If he fights and beats Manny, or if he beat him 2 or 3 years ago, the goal post would have been moved again

So f#cking this. If Floyd beats Manny 9-3, Manny "ain't sh!t" Sunday morning. So it is written so shall it be.

That's just silly.

I agree its silly, but thats what happens everytime Floyd beats someone people think can challenge him. They "ain't sh!t" on Sunday.

[SaadOffTheDeck]

Gatti was the best?

At that time around 2005 i believe Gatti was better than both Tszyu and Hatton at 140 pounds. So yes Floyd beat the best 140 pounder in my opinion.

Gatti wouldn't have won a single round against either one of them.

[Freedom2013]

[crusader]

Give it a rest man.

[Jpreisser]

At that time around 2005 i believe Gatti was better than both Tszyu and Hatton at 140 pounds. So yes Floyd beat the best 140 pounder in my opinion.

Gatti wouldn't have won a single round against either one of them.

Tszyu would have beaten Gatti senseless, as would have Cotto. Hatton would have pounded him as well, and Mitchell would have outboxed him. I wonder if Gatti would have even beaten guys like Corley or N'dou.

[BAD INTENTIONS]

Let's see ... I'm basing this on the end of year Ring magazine p4p rankings.

Ricky Hatton was #8 p4p when they fought.
Juan Manuel Marquez was #5 p4p when they fought.
Shane Mosley was #3 p4p when they fought.
Diego Corrales was #5 p4p when they fought.

And almost every guy he's fought after Baldomir was top 3 in their division.

[fanman]

I'd say delahoya in this sense.
Mayweather was chasing after dlh since when he first turned pro and was getting £5k a fight. Because mayweather was basically robbed at the olympics and didn't get gold he missed out on that star billing. And he believed he could beat dlh, the golden boy, the biggest money maker and attraction, since early in his career. He chased him from lightweight up to junior middleweight. He finally got the fight as the p4p #1 v the #1 money attraction. Yet had to give up a weight division, choice of gloves, ring size, etc.
And the fight was close. Mayweather outboxed him, but dlh was so much bigger that every time he connected it did damage. Yet mayweather prevailed, and since then he has always been the a-side. It is interesting to consider that mayweather turned down a rematch due to not being offered 50-50.
So for a man obsessed by money and fame, this chasing down of the sport's star attraction, was the ultimate justification of his career. I believe he had may better and more interesting fights, but for these reasons i'd say this was his career-defining-fight.

[dookus]

Castillo I

[FreddyC]

Career defining fights are hard to find for Floyd.

I believe Oscar in his day (when he fought on his toes and jabbed) would've outpointed Floyd but of course he fought an older, alcoholic and drug binged version of Oscar (so did Manny) but ill give him some props because the fight was at a full 154lbs.

Shane Mosley was 39 or so, with over a year of inactivity after coming off a great win over Margarito. Don't let that win fool you though. Shane was well past his prime as well and it showed with how terrible his stamina was. At that point he was a 8 round fighter. But it's shane so ok.

I like Saul Alvarez but who knows how much the 152lbs catchweight hurt him and that was hypocrisy at it's fullest when floyd made him cut down after he constantly shat on Pacquiao for doing the same. Saul is still young in his career and inexperienced.

Ill give him credit for Hatton but the fight was at 147 so.....

Cotto was a good win for Floyd. Though Cotto fought the wrong style against him, thats not Floyd's fault.

Floyd took his time moving up in weight and maybe that was the smart move, letting the welterweights soften up but instead of fight Mitchell, Judah, and Baldomir (really?!?), he could've had Shane Mosley, Antonio Margarito, Paul Williams, maybe even Cintron or other more challenging fights.

I'm a fan of Floyd's style and fights, though i hate his outside the ring antics. My problem with this guy is that if a situation doesn't seem safe enough, or he doesn't see an angle where he knows he can win, or if the situation is too risky, he won't take it. He won't take that leap and challenge himself.

Im talking about Oscar moving up to middleweight (where he had no business in anyways) to face Hopkins, Duran moving up from lightweight to face Sugar Ray, Hopkins at 50 years old facing Kovalev, Cotto moving to middleweight facing Martinez, Sugar Ray facing Hagler, examples like that where you don't know who's going to win. Where it's truly a toss up where two great fighters go against each other and take risks and challenge and test themselves. Oscar may not have won all his fights but look at who he fought. Chavez Sr, Pernell, Tito (robbed), Mosley (robbed in 2nd fight), Bernard, etc. Bernard facing the best at middleweight for 10 years and now at light heavyweight. Even though guys like Forrest and Winky were tough match ups for anyone, Shane fought them both twice, and the latter at 154 where he was undersized. Win or lose, the mere fact that they take those fights says something and they're cut from a different cloth. Now you got managers like Al Haymon who do their best to keep their guys undefeated to keep the cash coming in.

Is Floyd a legend? hell yes. Is he an all time great?? i think so. Did he have great wins?? definitely (though he lost against Castillo, injured shoulder or not). Do i hold him at the heights of Bernard Hopkins, Oscar, Shane etc etc in this generation, or Roy Jones, Mike Tyson, etc in the 90s, or Duran, Sugar Ray, Hears, Hagler before them, or Ali, Frazier, Foreman, etc etc etc etc???? No. There's plenty of talent that he should've fought at the right times and didn't, Manny probably being the biggest one. (and no im not a Pacquaio fan, and i dislike the career path Arum laid out for him just as much as Floyds, but at least the guy came all the way from flyweight, clean or not, thats not easy).

[hurlock]

Hernandez.
Castillo
Cotto
Dlh